Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon.
Fairy Tail AU One Shot
'In which Natsu is a dragon keeper.'
Natsu groaned as he watched the resident female Catalonian Fireball slump onto the ground, back from her daily flight, causing the ground to quake and a few trees to crash to the ground in the wake of her rough landing. He had to apparate out of the way of a few loose boulders and tumbling trees once.
"She's a troublesome one eh, Happy?" He glanced up to grin at Happy, a blue exceed, who had decided to be his partner at the Dragon reserves in Wales. It was a regulation for all Dragon trainers to have a partner exceed, who, like dragons, were one of the few rarest magical creatures in the world. Happy's colony in particular resided near the mountain ranges where the Dragon reserves were located, on a floating island in the sky guarded by a permanent barrier of invisibility wards. Sometimes Happy would bring him up there, and they'll have the most awesome dinner consisting of fish.
"Aye, but that's what makes her fun." Happy snickered sprouted his wings to bring Natsu down to greet Le Sinistre, who was already rolling lazily on the ground, leaving crushed trees and forestry in her wake.
"Oi, Le Sinistre, is that going to be your new nest?" Natsu shouted, "Or are you just doing that for fun? You know we have to clean up after your smelly butt after this mess right?"
He heard her give him an irritated growl in the process and he laughed.
"C'mon let's get back to meet the others for dinner then!" Natsu walked up to the dragon that was now lying belly up and patted her snort endearingly. "I bet you are really hungry after that flight you just took." She had flown beyond the borders of the reserve and way beyond the mountain ranges, until the borders of the forest and nearest village could be seen, the furthest that she flew before. Thank god for the invisibility wards placed up.
The dragon gave an answering growl, and rolled onto her forelegs, her scales a brilliant red in the evening sun and her rows of spikes down her back shifting with every movement she made. Natsu admired the magnificent creature with her snout turned up to the sky, and wings spread wide, prepared for a flight. He knew it was the right path to take, being a Dragon Keeper, although it meant he would be far away from the close friends he made while studying in Hogwarts. But there was times he yearned to visit them and party with them just like they used to, guzzling fire whiskey and free-for-all duelling.
Hell, there were even times where he missed his rival Gray, who was in the midst of becoming an auror with Erza when he left for the reserve. He snickered at the thought of his rival. It was ironic that the bastard himself, who had an uncanny habit of stripping anywhere and anytime, a crime itself, was aspiring to be a keeper of the law. They used to have a lot of fights regarding that subject.
A huge plume of dust erupted into the air, the familiar sound of the air catching underneath wings- specifically dragon wings filled the air.
"Happy!" He shouted, burying his nose into his scarf and using his arm to prevent the dust from entering his eyes. Why was today of all days the day he forgot to bring his goggles out? He grinned as his felt Happy's claws catch onto the back of his jacket, and his feet lifted off the ground. Very soon he was soaring above the plume of smoke and in the direction of the center of the reserve, where a huge crowd of dragons of all breeds was already visible, circling and soaring near the entrance of a cave.
"C'mon, I think Gajeel would need a lot of help in handling these overgrown lizards." Natsu smirked. Gajeel was his fellow co-worker at the Welsh Dragon Reserve. He had arrived a little later than Natsu, although he had graduated from Durmstrang earlier. Something about not being able to find the right path to take until a few years had passed. He was usually in-charge of tending to the feed, since he was a newbie, and the feeders usually would be able to interact with most of the dragons, allowing him to gain the much needed experience.
"Aye!"
They landed in the clearing infront of the cave, dodging the stray tail or wing of the nearby dragons. Feeding time was always the most crowded.
"Oi, Salamander!"
"What is it Metal Head!" Natsu shouted back, turning to face Gajeel. He was almost a head taller than Natsu, with spikey black hair that reached his back and metal piercings decorated his face and ears. Everyone was sceptical of the thought of wearing metal up in the cold mountains in Wales, but Gajeel had scoffed and showed them intricate runes carved into each and every one of his piercings. The rune of warmth was elegantly carved into the metal surfaces, courtesy of an extremely talented witch, Levy McGarden, who was a Ravenclaw in Natsu's year.
Natsu himself had often wondered how they met.
"You got some letters from home. Charle just came with a bunch of them. They arrived by owl in the nearest village a while ago. " Gajeel inclined his head to their camp, a nearby cave that was enchanted to keep out the cold and looked bigger inside than the outside. "I think there are some for you."
"Really!" Natsu perked up and was ready to sprint all the way to camp; it was six months since he last heard from them at all. "Wait, don't you need help with feeding, newbie?" He grinned smugly at Gajeel.
He was answered with a cocky grin. "If you haven't noticed, I just got my cat." He pointed over his shoulder at a huge brown cat, who was currently wrestling with a baby dragon, a Common Welsh Green Natsu guessed.
Natsu gaped at the sheer size of that cat. Since when did exceeds grow so big? He shot an accusing glare to Happy, who shrugged and told him promptly that exceeds came in all shapes and sizes, before flying over to tug at the small wings on the baby Common Welsh Green.
Patherlily got a face full of dragon fire as the dragon struggled to swat Happy away.
Gajeel gave Natsu a smug look. "I can do the feeding by myself now."
"If you had the help of your exceed it doesn't really count." Natsu muttered under his breath and turned to his stomp his way to camp.
"His name is Patherlily by the way! We could have a competition between our cats!" Gajeel shouted after him. Natsu couldn't be bothered to reply. Happy had already gone to say hi to the newly joined exceed, he could introduce Natsu one day.
He had a dinner calling his name and letters to read.
He wondered if Lucy wrote to him.
Then he remembered the sad smile she gave him when he left for Wales, the slight upturn of her lips coupled with watery eyes that made him feel a pang of guilt. He was breaking his promise that they'll always be together, and he knew that Lucy was one of the most affected by his departure, but he also understood that Lucy wouldn't stop him. Lucy knew that he would leave one day, but she also had faith that he would return.
He could almost picture her choking out, "Don't get eaten okay?" and his heart squeezed painfully in his chest.
He really hoped she did write.
He missed her dearly.
That night, after Natsu had his fill of dinner and flipped through the pile of letters and packages he received (a crate full of fire whiskey from Cana, a bottle of mermaid tears from Erza, a wooden fairy charm from Levy, among others); he was desperately searching for the familiar curling script of his name to be scrawled on a specific parchment which had a slightly sweet scent. It was an expensive, but also Lucy's favourite brand of parchment.
There! He picked the letter up and quickly ripped it open. He pulled out a sheath of paper and laughed. It was so like Lucy to write an essay of a letter to him. He frowned when he realised the pile contained more pictures then letters.
And he read.
Dear Natsu,
I hope you are having fun in Wales. I never thought you would have headed to the mountains. I always pegged you for the desert type, but you would do anything to see the dragons.
I think Gray and Erza have already told you about how they have passed their tests and are now certified aurors. Surprisingly, Auror Macao has taken them under his wing, although I am sure in their apprenticeship, Erza is the one holding the reins. I wonder how long would it take for the Magic council to approve of their promotion to an official Auror. They always had a slight disdain for Hogwarts students due to Head Master Makarov. I feel it's such a pity, we do have many talented pupils, if only they were willing to overlook the fact we came from Hogwarts.
In the months you have been gone, I have been checking up on Wendy from time to time. She has been doing great, although she sometimes whines about how jealous she is of you, getting to spend time learning and living with dragons, she really misses you a lot. We owl each other regularly, keeping track of each other since you are gone.
I have starting writing my book of children fables. Often, I look towards our times together or I head to the meadows in the Heartfilla Estate for anything magical to inspire me. It's going well.
I have been travelling much myself too. With this letter, I have attached some photos of my adventures in Egypt, China and Japan. They were mostly business trips with my Dad, but Erza, Cana, Mira and Levy had tagged along for the Japan trip and we had lots of fun.
Levy is studying religiously to become a professor at Hogwarts. I sincerely hope that she wouldn't meet batch of students quite like ours, rowdy, loud and incredibly destructive. She might have to call on Gajeel to intimidate them into obedience, we all know that sweet little Levy never has the heart to raise her voice at anyone.
I hope you are doing well over there. Are there any interesting dragon mix breeds over there? Or even different magical creatures that you have met? Or even fairies?
Do fairies even exist high up the mountain? Levy insists that Wales has remained as one of the more magical places, with a large amount of magical creatures still remaining in existence in the forests around them, so there are high chances of fairies in the forests in Wales. Tell me if you do see them okay?
Please do keep in contact and write whenever possible! Wendy still hopes to receive a letter from you soon, preferably with dragon scales attached.
We miss you a lot.
Love,
Lucy
Natsu flipped through the numerous pictures, watching as the girls beamed and tottered unsteadily around in the photos, dressed in yukatas and clogs. In another, Lucy was grinning at the camera, making the victory sign, before a strong gust of wind blew away her cap and sent it careening out of the edge of the photo. Natsu laughed as photo-Lucy gaped at the direction her hat flew and narrowed her brows before immediately whipping out her wand and mouthing 'accio hat.' With a flick of a wand, her hat back into her hand and she beamed triumphantly at the camera.
In evey photo, Lucy was grinning and laughing at him.
He could almost see her clutch her sides and throw her head back and hear the tinkle of her laughter in his ears.
He never thought he could miss someone other than Igneel that much.
Six more months Luce, he stared tenderly at another picture of her laughing and grinning. Wait for me until then.
AN:
Basically Fairy Tail characters in the Harry Potter verse. I was toying with the idea of doing a meeting of Natsu and Lucy, where Natsu was a dragon keeper while Lucy is an upcoming author, determined to get detailed sketches of magical creatures in Wales.
As for Gajeel in Durmstrang, well, he doesn't really suit the whole Hogwarts feel. He was more of the tall, dark and mysterious, like how Krum was haha.
This was based on the one year time skip in the series of course, but like after they have graduated and gone their merry ways to different occupations. But they do still keep in contact, ready any time to party.
But honestly, I can't see anyone of them in stuffy robes and house colours, maybe Levy yes but Gajeel and Natsu? Nah.