Disclaimer: The HP universe belonges to J.K. Rowling

Another big thank you to my awesome Beta Clover Bay!


Hermione happily packed her things again, she was really looking forward to this trip. It was Arthur, Molly the three youngest Weasley children, Harry and her who would be going.

Bill and Fleur didn't want to travel yet, since Victoire was still so young. And Percy couldn't get time off from work.

When they arrived at the preserve Charlie welcomed them with a broad grin and a torn, blood-stained shirt.

"Charlie my boy," Mrs Weasley cried happily hugging her second eldest son tightly around his middle, the top of her head only reaching up to his chin. "What happened to you dear?" She asked worridly once she took his dishevelled appearance in.

"Ah just work. Lara is a little touchy today and I got in her way. I didn't have time to change yet." Charlie replied casually.

His mother looked as if she was going to faint, "Lara?" she stammered.

"Yeah our newest addition - a Chinese fireball, only two years old and quite temperamental, she's a beauty. I'll introduce you later. Let me show you where you'll be staying."

Charlie led the way and everybody followed eagerly, only Molly's knees seemed to have gone slightly weak. There was a difference between knowing what your son did for a living and then actually being there and seeing it, sometimes she could curse the Weasley traits to be brave, daring and adventurous.

They were to stay in three tents, one for Molly and Arthur, one for the boys and one for the girls. Their accommodation was in the visitor area that was a few hundred metres away from the actual preserve. Visitors were only allowed inside the preserve with one of the staff members.

"Okay get settled in while I get showered and changed; after that I'll pick you up to give you a tour." Charlie said and left quickly.

Half an hour later he was back looking fresh and clean.

Together they entered the preserve. All of them were slightly nervous especially Harry since this reminded him of his last encounter with a dragon in his fourth year.

They walked around and Charlie happily told them anecdotes and facts about the dragons. The whole preserve was in a rocky mountain area. Each dragon had its own enclosure because they prefer their solitude. They walked along a small trail that led them through the hilly terrain. To the left and right of the trail was a steep hillside, ropes on each side where the only security measures.

Most dragons lay on cliffs dozing in the sun, only few preferred the coolness of their caves.

"Can't they just escape and fly away, I mean they're not in a cage or anything?" Hermione asked timidly.

"Oh no they can't we've put quite a lot of spells on each areal to prevent that," Charlie replied.

After Charlie had let them around the preserve for good two hours, they were all starving. They had dinner together at the staff kitchen, since Charlie cooked, the meal turned out to be rather humble.

"Well, you actually have kitchens in your tents, so tomorrow you can go to the nearby town, to get food and then prepare your own meals," Charley said meekly after he saw the rather unhappy faces of his siblings after they tried his cooking.

They also met some of his co-workers there. Svetlana a middle aged Russian woman and Matti from Finland were dragon keepers like Charlie, then there were also Deidre from Ireland and Julia from Germany the two mediwitches. They all seemed really nice and outgoing and welcomed them to the preserve warmly.

"So tomorrow, I'll have to work until three o'clock. But you guys can either go to the nearby wizarding town, or you can go the preserve they have here for rare plants, then there is also a lake not far away where you can go swimming. I'll pick you up at 3:30." Charlie told them on their way back to their tents.

That night Hermione was able to sleep almost until sunrise before she was woken up by nightmares. She spent the next few hours until the others woke up sitting outside the tent watching the sky turn from black to red and light blue. Her thoughts came and left she was too exhausted to pay them too much attention.

Soon after breakfast the day turned out to be unbearably hot, so they decided to spend the day by the lake that Charlie had told them about. When Charlie arrived later it was still too hot to do anything so he joined them in the water.

In the evening when it finally started to cool down they went to the wizarding town. It was only a twenty minute walk away. They bought some groceries at the market and then went to a small restaurant to have some authentic Romanian food.

For the next day Charlie had offered them to watch the feeding of the dragons. So at 11 o'clock they waited in front of the visitor entrance to the preserve where Charlie wanted to pick them up.

Hermione wasn't sure whether that was a sight one really had to have experienced and it seemed Molly thought along the same lines since she looked slightly nauseated. The others, however, where already chatting excitedly.

Charlie and Matti were supposed to feed the four Romanian Longhorns, the two Hebridean Blacks, the Antipodean Opaleye, and finally Lara the Chinese Fireball.

Both men flew on brooms into the enclosure of the first Romanian Longhorn. Usually the dragons knew that they would be fed at this time of day and where a bit more peaceful than they normally were, but no dragon keeper ever went into the enclosures on their own.

Inside the enclosure they dropped two dead sheep and a goat and quickly left the enclosure again. Hermione found it quite a revolting sight to see the dead bodies of the animals plummet to the ground, the dragon managed to catch the first sheep before it hit the ground and swallowed it whole, then it continued devouring the rest of its meal.

These procedure was repeated with the other dragons as well, Hermione had taken on observing more the dragons and less their food and found it remarkably less nauseating.

She came to the conclusion, however, that both the Romanian Longhorn and the Hebridean Black were rather ugly creatures.

The Antipodean Opaleye was less happy to see Charlie and Matti even though they brought her food. She spit fire at them and screeched viciously. It was sitting on a huge nest on a cliff near the bottom of the mountain. Ah that explains it, thought Hermione, she is protecting her egg.

The two dragon keepers deftly escaped her flames but at one point Matti was not quite fast enough and the end of his broom caught fire, but Charlie extinguished it without further ado with a wave of his wand, now all of them understood why no dragon keeper ever went into the enclosures alone.

The Opaleye watched the two men closely until they left her enclosure before she went to get her food. When the dragon moved, Hermione was surprised to see how beautiful she was. Her scales shimmered in the sunlight like pearls and her moves were gracefully.

They were all very curious to meet Lara that Charlie had told them about. When they arrived at her enclosure they were surprised to see Svetlana there waiting for them. But soon they understood why she was there.

The fireball really was temperamental. As soon as she realized someone was there she came out to investigate and it was pretty clear soon that she wouldn't mind spicing up her diet with some humans. Charlie and Matti had to fire several stunning spells at her and then put up a magical cage that locked her in while they left several pigs for her.

As fast as their brooms would fly they left the enclosure and only a few second afterwards Lara was conscious again and angry and roaring and spitting fire in their general direction. Then she saw the pigs and was somewhat appeased and started to devour them happily.

Ron's only comment was: "That was so cool! I'm starving what's there to eat for lunch?"

While Hermione still wasn't smitten with the creatures she felt more interested in them now than before. So she asked Charlie if he had some books he could lend her.

He just grinned at her broadly and handed her three books the next time they've met.

XYX

Hermione had started to wander off alone whenever the opportunity arose. She had come to love the preserve for rare plants that was situated in a semi circle around the dragon preserve. She just walked along the small trails passing by huge trees, herbs that made the air around them smell enticing and flowers with delicately shaped blossoms in all kind of colours.

It was absolutely peaceful, the only sounds being the chirping of the birds and the soft rustle of the leaves. Hermione loved to just lay in the grass underneath a tree, feeling the sun and the wind on her skin and in her hair with her eyes closed while she concentrated on the heavy and sweet smell in the air and the noises around her.

She felt absolutely at peace a feeling she had almost forgotten about.


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