BACK TO THE PRESENT
Charlie watched as Errol fluttered off into the air, the late afternoon sun shining down from above as the dust-grey owl made its ungainly way all the way back to Britain. Knowing Errol, he'd probably pass out halfway, get snagged by a passing Muggle airplane, hitch a ride on the rest of the way, then drop right into the Weasley living room- all while still unconscious.
Charlie leaned back into his chair and winced as the mild burn he'd sustained across his shoulders made itself known. The dragon hide cloak and the log he'd been sheltered behind took the brunt off of the blast of flame the Sawscale had directed at him, but even then, the heat had been enough to put what felt like a first degree burn across his back. That was dragonfire for you- dragons had been known to melt their way through marble castles to get at the tasty screaming humans inside. As far as they were concerned, the castles were just to keep in the flavor.
A knock on the door of his cabin jarred him out of his rather morbid thoughts, and Charlie hurriedly got up and opened the door to reveal Kate standing outside of the door, a slightly quizzical expression on her face and a formal-looking envelope in her hand. "Come to the bonfire," she ordered, glancing at the envelope in her hand as if she couldn't quite believe that she was holding it. "We got something from the Ministry."
"The Ministry?" Charlie frowned. He'd assumed that the Ministry didn't really send much stuff over to the dragon monitoring outposts when he was studying for this, and judging from Kate's quizzical expression, he was right about that. "What did they say?"
"Haven't opened the envelope yet… just come on," muttered Kate as she turned around and walked briskly back to the roaring bonfire, with Charlie following close behind. Adam and Harris were already waiting there, and Charlie stood waiting next to them as Kate took her position in front of the team and opened the envelope. "Alright… On the behalf of the Ministry of Magic," she read aloud. "The Triwizard Tournament is hereby reinstated… The Triwizard Tournament?" She raised a slim eyebrow at this, and Thompson and Harris exchanged meaningful glances.
Charlie sucked in a surprised breath. The Triwizard Tournament was an old and dangerous sport that had been shut down due to numerous casualties and injuries sustained by the contestants, but if it was being started up again, there weren't a lot of reasons that they would call on a dragon monitoring outpost except for one…
"And the Ministry of Magic," continued Kate, a troubled look on her face. "Requires four dragons for the tournament… nesting females… normal health… different species… all other duties temporarily suspended unless necessary… with a monetary reward of 500 Galleons a dragon turned in?" Kate, for the first time Charlie had met her, seemed almost awestruck.
"Bloody hell," growled Harris, though his scarred face was a little softer than usual. "That's a lot of dosh, that is. Finally get the bloody funding we need…"
"This is amazing!" exulted Adam, his thin face bright with excitement. "We've never had the money to be as good as we liked, and now-"
"Wait," interrupted Charlie. Three sets of eyes swiveled to face him, and he very quietly dry swallowed before continuing. "Why is the money split for each dragon? Shouldn't the money just be given if you catch and turn in all of the dragons?"
A moment of silence. Then a sigh from Adam. "It would be like that if there was only one dragon monitoring outpost. But with the dragon handling teams… there's a sort of competitiveness with each other, and they'd have all gotten the same letter. So it stands to reason for the Ministry to split the reward so that all of the teams can cash in so they get dragons faster that way."
Charlie felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "We're competing with the other dragon handling teams?"
"Pretty much," confirmed Kate quietly, still staring at the letter. "Now, there's only three teams in Romania, and one of them isn't that bad- keep to themselves and their own region, but the other-"
"They're a bunch of arseholes," growled Harris darkly. "Always butting in on the dragons we track down, snagging them at the last minute and taking the credit- Team eight is a load of tosh."
Way to put it, thought Charlie sarcastically, but Adam shrugged wearily in agreement. "We're going to have competition from all over the globe to get these dragons in. And they have to be all different species, nesting mothers, perfect health…" He sighed, rubbing his hands down his face wearily. "It's going to be hard. And with only four dragons, it won't take long for the money to get handed out."
A cog suddenly clicked into place in Charlies thoughts. Couldn't they just... "But we've still got the Hungarian Horntail!" said Charlie, excitement creeping into his voice. "It was a nesting mother, right? We could send it in and get a jumpstart on the other teams-"
There was a pause from the rest of the team as they considered this.
"Heck, we could do that," said Adam thoughtfully. "Great idea, Weasley." Katie gave Charlie an approving glance, causing him to flush slightly and clear his throat. Harris gave a glance. Not an approving glance, but just a glance like he was considering not killing him in his sleep for once.
"Not bad… and 500 Galleons straight off the bat, with one of the dragons down to us," Kate muttered. She shrugged. "Guess the Ministry won't take it too amiss if we turn one in this early." She wheeled around, turning to the dragon pits- the next one over the Sawscale pit had the Horntail in it, if Charlie recalled correctly. Harris and Adam followed suit, but Charlie, flushed with excitement, rushed ahead of the rest to check up on the Hungarian Horntail they'd be turning in to the Triwizard Tournament. The cool Romanian air blew against his face as he jogged past the rest of the team, his thoughts abuzz with excitement, pride, and a couple other emotions that couldn't really be put down into recognizable English.
Charlie skirted the Sawscale pit (to an annoyed hissing noise from the captured dragon) and rushed towards the Horntail pit, skidding to a stop at the edge.
What he saw made him freeze in horror.
"Oi, Weasley!" called Kate from behind him, annoyed. "Could have fallen in, it's sort of a rule not to run around the dragon pits…" She spotted his expression of horror. "What? What happened?"
"Boy probably shit himself," muttered Harris, his usual sullen expression on his grizzled face replaced with something a bit more soft- anticipation, maybe. "Horntails are damn scary first, second, and third time around-"
"Charlie!" called Adam as he caught up with the wheezing redhead. "What's…" As he walked up to the pit and peered inside, he froze. "Oh, no."
"What the bloody hell is going on?" growled Harris, coming up behind both of them with Kate following right at his heels. "I swear to Merlin's hairy left- oh, BLOODY HELL."
"Charlie, what…" began Kate, but she froze as well as she gazed at the scene in front of them. "Shit."
"Shit is right," agreed Charlie heavily, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
The enchanted shackle was split. The chain was cut. And the Horntail, their first shot at finally doing their job the way they wanted, was gone.
