Black Stained


Chapter 11: Romania


She had been afraid to travel all the way to Romania, but the journey had gone well and they arrived savely. The first thing she had felt, however, was the strong magic around here. It teased her and stung a little, but she had gotten used to it the longer she was there. Like he had said: It was a beautiful place. She enjoyed the outside more than she had expected to. The sun was rising and spread a beautiful light across the large reserve. It was huge, bigger than she had expected, too. They stood on top of a hill, watching over the reserve. He pointed out some things and told her a few specifics, like where the full-grown dragons were and the baby's, where the hospital was and where the encampments with all the residents were. They decended from the hill and he led her across the green fields. They arrived at a small cabin, which had been appointed to her, and he waited outside while she dropped off her bag and left to fill in the last paperwork.


'So, miss Potter, welcome to Romania!' Her new boss said.

She smiled a little awkward.

'How was your journey? Did Charlie here treat you all right?' He asked, trying to make her a little more comfortable.

'Oh, it went great, really great. Charlie is very nice, he helped me out a lot.'

Indeed he had.

Her new boss was a male, probably in his mid-fifty's and had very piercing blue eyes. He had a couple of scars on his face and a big one across his eye, which was milky white, meaning he was half blind. Out of respect she didn't stare at it.

'Very good. He's a good lad.' He smiled again, wrinkling one of the scars on his left cheeck. 'Now, if you would, there is some paper work left to fill in.'

'Of course.'

He handed her some papers from the drawer and she quickly read them through. She believed it was alright and signed. She handed back the papers.

'Thank you.'

He carefuly placed them back in the drawer, stood up from his chair and walked around his desk.

'Charlie will show you everything around here, I'm sure, and will explain to you what the routine around here is.'

She stood up too and shook his hand with a firm grip. She left the office and looked for Charlie. She found him not too far, speaking to an acquaintance, she presumed. He looked very muscular next to the other skinnier man. It was a bald, mid-thirthies guy, with a tanned skin and dark eyes, he seemed nice. She approached them and he noticed her and said something to Charlie. Who then turned around and greeted her, motioning for her to join them. She walked over to them and Charlie introduced them to each other. His name was very compicated, but everyone called him Tuck, and he was a native Romanian.

'Very nice to meet you, miss.' Tuck bowed slightly, grinning.

'You too, Tuck.' She responded with a smile.

'Tuck here, takes care of the full-grown dragons, like me.' Charlie explained.

'Which is very dangerous, by the way.' Tuck winked.

'Don't start bragging, Tuck.' Charlie teased. 'We both know I've got more scars than you.'

'Who's bragging now?' Aral said.

They laughed at her comment. From afar a woman called out to the men and they greeted her.

'I quess I'll show you the rest.'

Charlie led the way and Tuck left to start his shift. Aral kept quiet now.

'You alright?'

'Yeah, it's just new.' Aral explained.

'And a bit freightening.' She confessed.

'Yeah, I understand.'

'You understand a lot.'

He smiled at her words.

'To make it less frightening for you to be here, I will show you the little ones.'

They walked over a gravel road and passed the encampment on the south side of the reserve. He motioned to his right and said:

'Here are the bigger cabins. Mostly for people with family's and some officers, like our boss.'

The cabins were quite bigger than Aral's, completed with a porch even.

'Do family's live this closely to the dragons?'

Aral asked, surprised.

'Well, most of them don't. There are some who have a cabin further away, across the hills.'

He pointed with his tumb behind him, meaning the hills behind the office. As far you could call it an office, it was a tent with an enlargement spell on the inside and luxurious furniture. Not much to call an office, Aral thought.

'And there are hardly any children, 3 at the moment. And they are all going to school now, so hardly any danger.'

They now passed an encampment with smaller cabins.

'Here are the smaller ones, like ours.'

Aral could spot hers, small and on the corner, front row to the left. Next to her cabin there was a grass field and her eyes travelled further up to finally rest on a circular building with a dome. Plants were scattered around the place and some grew on the walls of the building. The magical pressure returned and she felt her heart beat quicken with every step she got closer to the dome. Charlie noticed her uneasiness. But she took resolute steps and showed no fear.

'They carry a lot of magic.' She commented.

'Yes, and remember they are very funerable.'

She nodded. She had been filed on everything and understood mostly about the dragons, the little ones, anyway.

'It will take a while, untill you get used to the feeling.'

She nodded again.

Charlie stepped in front of her suddenly and turned towards her. She almost bumbed into him, but she stopped just in time.

'I know we've talked about it already and prepared you for it. But still...'

He looked into her eyes, his eyes filled with worry and he frowned.

'We aren't sure if this may help me. I know.'

She assured him.

'I just don't want anything to happen to you, okay?'

She laughed and turned away from him.

'I would be more concerned about the dragons than me, really.'

She shook her head and continued walking, not really wanting to have this conversation again.

'By the way, where is the fearless dragon trainer I've heard so much about? I thought his name was Charlie, but apparently I have gpt the wrong one!' She teased.

He followed her and his lips formed into a grin. She was being a little positive again, which always was a good sign.

'Well, I quess we'll just have to find out how this will end.'

Aral smiled at him and stopped before the entrance of the building. There was a arch instead of a door, which was overgrown with beautiful plants. There was also a sign, but she couldn't read the words, for they were in Romanian.

'What does it say?'

'Little Fire.' He answered with a chuckle.

She smiled. Little fire...

'Let's see if they like you. Do you've got your dragon skin?'

Aral checked her pockets and took them out. They were smooth, scale like gloves with a blueish grey colour. She put them on and felt a strange aura coming from her hands, now covered in the scales. Strange, but nice. Charlie let her enter first, like a gentleman. She hadn't realized first, but as soon as she stepped through the entrance she knew she had stepped through a protective barrier. She tensed at first, overtaken by the sudden magic. But nothing happened and Charlie stepped in behind her. His breath tickled her neck.

'You alright?'

'Yeah,' And she realised. 'I really am.'

She turned around and smiled up at him.


She had been introduced to two other care takers, one woman -Nicki- and a man -Levi-, with whom she will be working. Levi was another Romanian and Nicki was Dutch, to Aral's surprise, because she spoke very convincingly English. They both greeted her and showed her the dragon they were handling at the moment.

'This little one is a Romanian Longhorn.'

Levi handed over a small dragon with long, golden horns. She carefully took the dragon, trying not to get stabbed by it. The Longhorn looked at her a little distrustful. Funny how tiny animals can judge you anyway.

'His name is Zooth.'

Aral didn't really know what to do and just stood there waiting for something to happen. The dragon spread his wings a little, making a funny sound.

'After the sound he makes?' Aral quessed.

'Yes.' Nicki replied. She had a smooth, nice voice.

When nothing happened Aral decided to put him down on the table in front of her. There were some toys and Zooth focussed on them.

'So where are we excactly?' Aral questioned.

'We are in the surgery. Here we treat the ones that need it.' Levi explained.

'How many are there here? I mean surely not all little ones are parted from their mothers.'

'No, mostly they stay with their mothers. It's a nasty business coming in between a mother and its child. But sometimes we don't have a choice, the mother or baby can be sick and can't help themselves so we need to interfere. There are about 20 of them here now.'

They all looked very sad. They had a big heart for these creatures and Aral felt it affect her too. She was going to love them, she knew.

'Well, I'll do my best to help.' She said.

Levi and Nicki nodded at her thankful and they brightened up.

'We'll show you the areas where they stay.'

There were four doors around the circular surgery. The surgery turned out to be the centre of the building. They opened a door and let her through. She stepped into the room and her eyes widened with excitement. The room had been enlarged and seemed to be out in the open air, but she knew it possibly couldn't be. She supposed it was a charm simular to the one they used on the ceiling of the great hall in Hogwarts. She saw three dragons circling in the air and diving down to the ground, to rise again and play in the air. Aral was standing on a field of grass and rocks, some places of the grass had been burned.

'This is the air room.' Nicki smiled at Aral's excited face. 'Here stay the dragons most drawn and used to the very open air-environment.

Some of the little dragons noticed them and turned their heads, curiously hopping their way over. Levi put Zooth down and let him join the rest. Aral looked at Charlie, who smiled at her and nodded at her encouragingly. Slowly she took a few steps forward, trying not to scare or anger them. But they didn't show any bother and simple watched the new woman approach. One curiously tilted its head and hopped towards her. She looked at it and stopped walking when it spread its wings suddenly. She stood there frozen, waiting for something to happen. In her third year, the year of Buckbeak, she had learned not to do anything when a dangerous animal was near, unless of course she had no other choice.

'That's a-'

'Hungarian Horntail.' Aral finished.

'I wouldn't come too close, this one's got quite a temper.' Levi warned.

She didn't move, but she didn't feel scared either. She just stood there waiting.

'Like his mother.' Charlie said.

She noticed this comment and frowned at first. Then she made the connection.

'The mother is the Hungarian Horntail from the tri-wizard tournament?'

'Yes.'

'Why is he here?' Aral frowned and looked at it, checking for any wounds or cause explaining why it would be here.

'In the dark times of the war, wizards tried to tame the dragons, to make them fight for them. Of course these wizards were on you-know-who's side and they managed to turn some of the dragons, although they were never able to control them. Bithyna - his mother - didn't like the wizards, not that she ever liked us... But she protected her eggs at any cost.'

Levi paused for a second, probably recalling some horrid memories.

'When she came here, her condition was bad, very bad. We were able to help her and the eggs hatched, but the damage was too great.'

'She died.' Nicki's words stung.

Although it was the same dragon that almost killed her brother in their fourth year, she felt sorry for it. Every creature deserves to live a life much better than that. Aral's attention turned back to the Hungarian Horntail. It almost looked like he just understood what they had told her, his demeanor changed to something that looked very much like sadness. She slowly reached out her hand and hovered it in front of the little dragon. She felt the urge to comfort it and take away the pain, he might be having. For a short moment she thought he was going to let her pet him, but she thought wrong. He suddenly sprang back and flew away, seeming a bit distrustful still.

'Trust takes a while. Even with creatures.' Charlie said when Aral walked back, a little disappointed.

'They do seem to like you. It took me at least a week to be able to get close to them.' Levi laughed, encouragingly.

Aral gave him a smile and sighed, relieved. She was starting to get more comfortable, starting to feel like she belonged somewhere. Here. They left the air-room, Aral and Charlie said their goodbyes to the other two care takers and left. They walked side by side towards her cabin.

'You will do great, Aral.'

'Let's hope so.'