"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup."

-bumper sticker

Chapter 21: Deep in the Heart of Texas

There was friendly chaos greeting her in the hut. The Weasleys had brought their brother Charlie with them for this visit, and he had brought one of his newest charges.

"It's a Ukrainian Ironbelly!" Hagrid looked the happiest Saira had ever seen him.

"A what? Oh, gods!" Saira's mouth dropped clear to the floor as she stared at the creature in front of her. Only two feet long, not counting its tail, the grey baby dragon was barely a fraction of its full grown size. Despite that, it was merrily puffing smoke out of its nose and mouth as it raked its long claws across the floor of the hut, stirring up dust. It paused to look at Saira with curious ruby red eyes.

"Aw, she likes you!" Hagrid leaned down to scratch the dragonlet behind her ear.

"Hagrid, what is your hut made out of?"

"Er, wood. Why d'you ask?"

"Um…no particular reason." Saira had a feeling this wasn't his best idea ever.

"Right then. This here's Charlie, the big brother of these ones," Hagrid grinned at the twins as he introduced their brother.

There was no denying that the three boys were family. It was more than the red hair, stocky builds, and freckles. All three had the trademark Weasley grin, which promised as much earnest good nature as it did trouble. Charlie shook hands with Saira, and she noticed a sizable burn on his upper arm.

"Ouch, what happened there?" It looked painful.

"I work as a Dragon Keeper. One of the little ones caught a cold a week ago."

"Wait, he caught a cold, and you got burned?"

"Well, when he sneezed, you see…"

Saira shook her head. It was a wonder that there were any wizards left in the world at all if they choose to do things like play house with dragons. She thought about asking if Dumbledore knew exactly what was scurrying about on school property, but changed her mind when Hagrid scooped the scaly beast into his arms as tenderly as some might pick up a child.

The dragon puffed dramatic plumes of smoke, twitching her tail about indignantly. But, when Hagrid began feeding her bits of meat from his plate, she quieted down. She was apparently not inclined to singe the hand that fed her.

"She seems pretty tame…" Saira's voice trailed off, because she wasn't sure what dragons were like in general. It wasn't everyday that one turned up in Trafalgar Square.

Fred explained: "Charlie got this one from a friend. There was an accident when she was barely more than an egg, and her mother was too sick to care for her. By the time her mum got patched up, she didn't recognize her own child! So Charlie's been taking care of her for a spell and she seems pretty fond of people. She'll probably grow out of it in a bit as dragons tend to do, but until then she's great fun to be around."

"Erm, how is Norbert?" Hagrid looked wistful.

"Thriving!" Charlie had an enthusiastic smile. "He's one of the biggest ones his age. You did right by him, Hagrid."

"They just grow up so fast…" there was a touch of nostalgia in Hagrid's voice.

"And so, missus Hansen—how goes teaching these days?" George poured himself a butterbeer and sat down.

"Better than it would have gone if it hadn't been for you and Fred. Some of the students still aren't completely convinced that I'm not secretly a witch."

"That'd be the Hufflepuffs, no doubt…" There was a twinkle in George's eye.

"Hey, now!" Hagrid gave him The Eye. "Her brother was a Hufflepuff."

"Come then, tell us it's not true!" Fred approached the situation pragmatically.

"Well…" Saira thought. "If we break it down by house, most of the Griffyndors think it was a fabulous stunt, the Ravenclaws have already worked out the theory behind the spell, and, yes, the Hufflepuffs aren't quite sure what to make of me. But it's the Slytherins who've been the most interesting."

"Doesn't seem like much has changed since I went to school." Charlie had a wry smile.

"Well, maybe not for the reason you're thinking. Most of them actually guessed not only how I did it, but why. And no other house considered my motive. They're pretty quick on the uptake."

"Likely as not it only took one of them to figure it out, and the rest pilfered the answer," George decided.

"Well, let's just say there are a few Gryffindors the same could be said for…" Saira grinned.

"Well, you know—we're like family. We take of each other in Gryffindor," Fred explained.

"But not in Slytherin?" Saira arched an eyebrow.

"Maybe they thought if more of them got it right, you'd give them some extra house points," Charlie offered.

Saira shook her head. Going up against three Gryffindors in defense of Slytherin seemed like a Sisyphean battle. She changed the subject.

"How's your injury, Hagrid?"

"Garden's comin' 'long great, thanks fer askin'." He winked. "Anyone else on staff sufferin' from a strange, severe, and thankfully brief affliction?"

"Well, Sinistra and Kentaro were busy setting up for the duel on Friday."

"Now? It's only Tuesday!"

"Right."

"Oh. Oh!"

Saira chuckled.

"Duel?" George looked interested. "Think we can take wagers on it? Who's giving it a go?"

"Well, it'll be Professor Kentaro against anyone silly enough to challenge him, from what Sinistra says. I think students get to try first, and then any member of the faculty who's interested."

"I'll vote for ya," Fred teased.

"Right; I'll bash him over the head with my ungraded assignments…" Saira mused.

"No, no—you distract him with all your charm, and then we sneak up behind him an' let loose our newest invention!" George looked excited.

"I like the sound of this." Charlie leaned into hear what his brothers had in mind.

"The brand new flagship from the soon-to-be-famous Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes: The Texas Twist!" George held his hand out to Fred, who placed a bright orange bottle in his brother's hand with a flourish.

"Ooh, what's it do?" Hagrid looked interested.

"It's a miniature bottle of tornado-packing virulence. But, it only works once you've drunk it. Allow me to demonstrate…" George uncapped the bottle and grinned. "Just a small demonstration," he promised Hagrid, who had stepped away from George and turned his body to shield his young charge, who now lay sleeping in his arms.

George bottomed up and took a small swig, recapping the bottle when he finished. They all leaned in, watching. And waiting. George sat calmly, a secret smile on his face. He opened his mouth as though to speak—

And the worst belch in the entire world swept through the hut. The hot and humid air that propelled it swept around in rapid circular currents, spreading the putrid smell and making them all dive for cover with horrified expressions. All except Fred, who had covered his nose and ducked behind Hagrid's shelves the second he'd seen his brother's mouth open.

"Fantastic!" applauded Charlie.

"Oh, yuck! Ug!" Saira wrinkled her nose and held her stomach.

"You've got a winner, boys!" Hagrid looked proud.

"Thank you!"

"Our pleasure, really."

"And can you imagine if I downed the whole bottle, the way you're supposed to?" George looked like he was about to offer to demonstrate. Charlie intervened with a question.

"So, how'd you name it? Isn't Texas in the United States?"

"Yes, and George and I did a bit of research," Fred explained. "We decided that, since Texas has a history of spawning foul things that spew hot air, we should give it proper tribute."

Saira, being familiar with international affairs, howled outlaughter.

"You two are amazing," she admitted, wiping tears from her eyes. "Amazing."

"Aw, shucks…" Fred said, pretending modesty.

"Anything for a lady!" George agreed.

"Ah, the both of you…" Charlie shook his head, smiling. Nothing he said would be able to conceal the fondness he had for his younger brothers.

"So, what's our prize?" asked George.

"Eh?" Hagrid looked puzzled.

"Well, for providing the night's entertainment. We two could do with a chance to market our newest invention…perhaps in the Hallowed Halls of Hogwarts." Fred looked pointedly at Hagrid.

"No, boys, yer not gonna get me in on this! I'll not be accused of bringin' mayhem into Hogwarts, solely on Dumbledore's account, you understand."

They both turned to Saira with pleading faces. She considered.

"You could take them to the ball," suggested Charlie.

"Hey, bro! We can work our own magic with the ladies, thank you!" Fred tried to sound indignant.

Saira considered it. She could bring two guests, after all. And who else would she invite?

"Well…I don't see why not," she began. The twins jumped into the air and gave each other high fives. Hagrid shook his head, imagining great smelly bursts of air storming the castle.

"But there are two conditions, seeing as how there are two of you."

"Anything!" Fred agreed.

"Well, one is that you can't actually bring this tornado spell to the feast. You can tell people about it, but I think it'll cause too much of a commotion. In fact…if this is any indication of what you two can do, how about you agree not to bring anything majorly destructive with you? You can advertise your shop, but don't bring down the roof of Hogwarts."

The twins considered. On one hand, it'd be harder to get people interested without demonstrations. On the other, they had enough of a reputation to draw people in once the word was out. They looked at each other for a second and then nodded.

"What's the other?" asked George.

"I get to call in one favor from you both, while we're there. It won't be a bad one, I promise…" Saira's eyes twinkled the way they did when she had something up her sleeve.

"Sounds fun."

"Sold, mate!"

The three of them shook on it with affected solemnity.