The Dragon Keepers
Disclaimer: Any thing you know, I don't Own. Not even the character of Paula, who was somewhat based on my chem teacher. Nice lady. On with the story! -
Molly Weasley watched the scenes play themselves out before her. She and Arthur as well as Ginny, Ron, Harry, Hermione, and the Twins had gone to visit Charlie in Romania. She was pleasantly surprised by the dynamic of the dragon center. Charlie's team comprised of himself; Batu, a native Romanian; Mia, a fiery American with little patience; Kat, a girl who was only a little less vague than Luna Lovegood, who cooked for the group; and Fiona, an Australian who somewhat resembled Tonks in eccentricities, who had excellent flying skills.
Of all these it was Fiona, or Fi, who interested Molly the most. At first glance she seemed wild and irresponsible, but over the visit she revealed her true colors.
Mia had been graced with taking care of her toddler niece, while her brother and sister-in-law were in Puerto Rico for an assignment (the two parents were anthropologists). Maggie, the sister-in-law, had dropped off little Cora a couple days into Weasley and Co.'s visit.
Mia, while loving her family very much, didn't seem too thrilled by the visit. "Come on, now, of all times. We've got an extra dragon to take care of AND the general manager scheduled the Reserve Inspection this week. I don't have time to take care of a kid."
Kat stepped up. "We'll all take care of her, right Fi?" Fiona, who had been leaning against a wall looking amused, now had an uneasy look on her face. "Well-"
"Right, Fi?" The cook did not seem to likely to lose this argument.
Fi had a look of defeat and acceptance on her face. "Right."
0o0o0o0
Later that night all the males had congregated around the little wireless in the living room, and all the females had gathered in the kitchen. Kat had started cooking again, and Cora was sleeping in the unused dining room. Mia was telling a story about where one of the smaller, less aggressive dragons had hoisted Charlie up by his pants leg and because Charlie, being himself, hadn't worn a belt, he fell out of his ripped jeans. Luckily, the dragon, an Antipodean Opaleye (much displaced) had taken a liking to Charlie and seized his ankle proving for a very amusing sight.
Ginny was almost on the floor laughing when Cora started to wake up in the other room. Molly had started to get up when Fi rushed over to the trundle bed in the darkened room. She lifted the now smiling toddler onto her hip. "There's a good girl."
Mia watched from her place on the counter. "Wow Fi, I didn't know you were so good with kids."
Fi bounced back over to the kitchen, making Cora giggle. "I got to take care of my little sisters when my mom was at work, after my dad left. Ow, ow, ow, Cora honey, can you let go of my hair? Thanks, sweetheart."
Hermione giggled. "I think she thinks you're a god or something."
Fi grinned, "I have that effect on small children, dogs, and men over 17."
Charlie managed to trip over the crowd in the living room into the kitchen. He walked over to the fridge and stuck his head in. "Ah, come on," his head cleared the top of the fridge door, "No beer, what's up with that?"
Kat had a look of slightly faked outrage. "I got you Fentiman's! What do you want from me? Besides alcohol is bad for you."
Mia interrupted, "You want a kick, try a some of that ginger beer. At first it's okay, then BAM. Worse than vodka."
Charlie looked beseechingly at Fiona. "Ugh, don't look at me, you know how I feel about that."
Charlie sighed, "Sorry, wasn't thinking."
Molly surveyed Fiona. She was about as tall as Charlie, with short, light brown hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. She had small unobvious tattoos on both shoulders. They only added to her appearance.
"Okay everyone except Mrs. Weasley, out. Go play nice with the mass of testosterone in the living room." Kat shooed everyone out of the room. She turned towards the Weasley matriarch with a smile. "Oh, it's nice to breathe."
"What was that about with Fiona?"
Kat leaned against the counter next to the stove. "Fi's dad was an alcoholic. He ran out on them when she was 10. Any time Fi even hears a can pop open she flinches."
Molly could afford to be sympathetic. "Oh poor girl."
Kat nodded as the small timer on top of the stove beeped. "Shhhhhhhh!" She turned off the annoying beep with a press of a button. She opened the stove and took the large piece of beef nicked from the dragons feed shed. "They always get the choice cuts," Kat had confided in Molly, Ginny, and Hermione. Now Kat shuffled the pan of mashed potatoes and the frying pan of spinach around on the stovetop to make room for the roast. She stuck a large knife pulled from a block in the wall into the meat and called, "Dinner!"
The living room moved into the kitchen as the testosterone overpowered.
0o0o0o0
A few days later…
"Knock, knock…" The reserve's general manager, Paula, had come to check on the group to see how they were coming in the preparations for the Reserve Inspection.
Fi tripped down the stairs with a bucket in her hands and a towel on her head. She faced the boss saying, "Uh, we've got some house guests. You probably know that though 'cause you're the boss and all, and you approve that kind of thing."
Paula Kennewick looked like a bikers wife. She had tanned, freckled skin like you see on Floridian and Californian housewives and blonde, sun bleached hair. She had been a bartender until her last child was born, when her father, the previous Gen. Manager, died and she took over the position. It was a familial post.
Paula let out a grin. "I just came to see how y'all were doing. Michael MacFusty wants his Hebridean Black back. And no I don't know how your legislation is going. We won't know until next week when the Ministry people come to do the Inspection."
Fiona and Charlie wanted to start a program where a few keepers (namely themselves) taught a few, select, non-aggressive dragons to interact safely (!) with student groups. The two were anxious to hear back from the 'stuffy politicians who weren't worth their salt'.
Fiona was joined in her thinking by Mia. "The Hebridean Black, that's the one in the back pasture next to the Romanian Longhorns." The Romanian Longhorns were native to the area so their pasture was the largest, the size of a small town.
"Handle it, and fast. The jack's been hanging around my office all day. I expect him and his dragon to be gone by breakfast tomorrow, ya hear?"
The two female keepers nodded. Mia went to open the gear chest while Fi shouted up the stairs "FELLAS, WE GOT STUFF TO DO!"
Batu and Charlie fell down the stairs before righting themselves. Batu and Charlie seemed very rumpled as Charlie said, "There's no need to shout."
0o0o0o0
Four hours later Mia came running into the house that contained the lodgings for the reserve's Southern Section team. "Kat, Kat! We got problems!" Batu and Fi came in supporting a bleeding Charlie. Kat grabbed her medkit as Batu lowered Charlie into a chair. He had a large cut on his forehead and one on his shoulder, and a burn on the back of his neck. Molly rushed forward, leaving room for Kat to do her work. "What happened?"
Charlie shuddered, "One of the Longhorns didn't like me 'playing' with his new friend. Aggressive basta—owww!" He was cut off as Kat put a disinfectant on the wound. The Longhorns claws contained a venom that made any wounds made by them impervious to magic. Kat looked toward Batu. "Can you get me a bite stick, please?" Batu nodded and went toward a group of square drawers. He got a leather wrapped bitestick and passed it to Charlie, who took it with a harsh laugh, "Turn is about fair play, right?"
Batu answered Ginny's inquisitive look, "I almost got shish kabobed last month."
Charlie's bitestick came in handy as Kat stitched up his war wounds. Mia stood on hand with bags of ice. "Well, we made old Fusty happy." Fi's head snapped up from where she was holding Charlie's arm still. "Yeah, Fusty's happiness is so important to us, rah, rah, freakin rah!"
Batu leaned over to mutter to the gathered Weasleys, "Fi gets a little testy when one of us gets hurt." Mia agreed, "Specially Charlie." SMACK! "Hey!" Kat didn't even look up, "Children. Play nice now."
Kat continued to work on Charlie's shoulder. She cursed. "Damnit! Charlie, why did you have to provoke the Dragon. There's a shard in the cut. I'm gonna have to enlarge it to get it out." Charlie had a worried look through the bite stick.
Kat didn't seem fazed. "Fi, grab the anesthetic needles." Charlie seemed relieved. Fi handed Kat a leather pouch which, when opened, contained a few dozen small needles. Kat carefully arrayed the needles around the cut.
Mia looked toward the Weasleys saying, "Y'all might want to leave the room."
A few minutes later they all were glad that they had vacated the room when they heard an "EWWWW!" and an "OWWWWWW!" the latter accompanied by several very nasty curse words in several languages and a sharp kick connecting, apparently with someone's leg.
A few hours later Charlie was under threat of the great and mighty KAT to stay in bed. Everyone was guilted into spending some time talking or amusing Charlie. Late that night, when it was Fi's turn to play nursemaid, she sat next to Charlie and began to tell him a story. Charlie's laughs awoke Molly who crept toward her second eldest son's room.
As Molly peaked through the cracked door she saw Fiona blushing as Charlie whispered something in her ear. She then stifled a laugh. Molly smiled to herself as she backed away.
My boy's finally grown up and fallen in love. She might have been jumping to conclusions but Molly knew true love when she saw it.
0o0o0o0
On the last day before the Weasleys had to leave Fiona came running up the three wide steps that led to the kitchen from outside. She burst into the room, "Charlie, Charlie, Charlie!"
The aforementioned Charlie looked up startled from his coffee, "What?" he said loudly.
Fiona started to jump up and down as she held a piece of paper up with both hands. "They said yes! They Said Yes! THEY SAID YES!"
This got Charlie to stand up and grab the paper from her hands in disbelief. With an amazed laugh he swung her up into his arms and spun her around. He set her down with a soft, "Wow."
Fi still had an overjoyed look on her face. "I'm gonna go rub this in the faces of the guys from the Northern Section Team!"
Charlie sat back down slowly. He looked at the gathered confused. "Our legislation was passed. We got permission to try to train dragons for human interaction. Maybe now we can start to change the public's opinion of dragons."
Molly pondered her second son's dedication to dragons. Everyone expected him to join a Quidditch team when he left school, but his passion for dragons surpassed his passion for Quidditch and he surprised everyone by leaving England for wild and untamed Romania. It had done him well.
0o0o0o0
When it came time for the Weasleys and Co. to leave Molly was content to go. Any worries about Charlie living out here were banished by what she had observed. Kat knew exactly how to make unruly dragon keepers eat and take care of themselves. Mia and Batu could take care of each other and anyone around them. As for Charlie and Fiona, well, Molly knew it was only a matter of time until she had a wedding to plan.
Fini
DONE! This took about a week to write. I'm just slow. The fact that the ALA conference was held in my city and I had an opportunity didn't help much. I don't love this but I think it's not too bad. Tell me what you think. Cookies to all of you. =)
BTW thanks to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the spoof(ish) book done for comic relief.
Thanks to Anne Onymous for telling me the I didn't know what erstwhile meant. you were right. I was wrong. Correction made. =) !