AU Hero!Charlie. My take on what happened shortly after Charlie left Hogwarts. No pairings. No other warnings or triggers.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) forum - Ancient Runes, #7: write about a strong character.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) forum - Hopscotch: tissue, despicable
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) forum - September Event "Back to School": (location) Classroom
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments) forum - Chocolate Frog: Write about Charlie Weasley.
Title: Nature Is Your Teacher
Rating: K+ (for brief moments of suspense LOL XD haha)
Genre: Drama, Friendship
Word count: 1905
Charlie Weasley was one of the few souls graduating from Hogwarts in 1991 who knew exactly what he wanted to do. He had been working his last three summers with Professor Kettleburn in order to learn as much as possible about dragons.
Silvanus Kettleburn, the international expert on Care of Magical Creatures, was the best mentor Charlie could ever dream of. The man might be a few screws loose and short an arm and a leg, but Kettleburn was THE expert when it came to dragons, hands down. The older man knew everything about dragon care from egg to fully-fledged, fire-breathing monster. Kettleburn himself boasted he had raised no less than five Norwegian Ridgebacks, three Common Welsh Greens and two Hungarian Horntails from egg to adulthood.
Charlie idolized and worshiped the man, even beyond his schooling years. If he remembered anything, it was the last thing Kettleburn told him before the graduation ceremony.
"Charlie, my lad, it's been a real pleasure working with you and teaching you." Kettleburn gave Charlie a friendly pat on the back.
"The pleasure is all mine, sir," an eager Charlie responded. "Really, sir, I've learned so much from you. I could never thank you enough."
"Just remember: the whole outdoors is a classroom. This," Kettleburn extended his lone arm, "this is your environment. The air, the trees, the water, the earth. All of nature is your teacher. And through nature, we can learn much more than what books and parchment show us."
"All of nature is your teacher" lingered in Charlie's mind, even when he had reached the small town in Romania where he would stay before starting work on the dragon reservation.
"Hello," a young man greeted Charlie on the first day of the job. "I'm Pip. Welcome to the reservation!"
"Hullo, Pip," Charlie responded, firmly grasping the other man's hand. "I'm Charlie."
"I know." Pip didn't let go of Charlie's hand for several moments. Finally, Charlie was able to take his hand back.
"You've got a firm grip there," Pip commented.
Charlie blushed, but said nothing.
"That's good," Pip smiled. "We need strong people here. Dragons are no fools. They're cunning and tough, but their fire is the least of your concern. We have spells to counteract fire. Watch out for their claws, their tails and their body movements. Sometimes, dragons are so big they don't see small fry like us." Pip laughed at his own joke. "We have to make sure we're not in the way. You got that?"
Charlie nodded and followed Pip into the first building on the left.
After registration and orientation finished, Charlie was left to his own devices.
"We like to give our first-timers a tour of the reservation," a woman said, "but we also know that many of you are away from home. So for the first day, you'll get to relax and adjust to this unusual setting. Tomorrow, we'll do the tour and start you off on your jobs."
For Charlie, the months flew by. The first two weeks were wonderful. He was first given the task of cleaning the sick facilities. It was a dirty, despicable job, but he was working outdoors, so he didn't mind much. On weekends, he played some pick-up games of Quidditch with a few of the other new recruits.
After the second month, Charlie was promoted to scouting for sick dragons. An easy task, considering how big and loud the dragons were.
Now, almost a year into his job, Charlie was excited to become the newest person on the dragon reconnaissance team.
"Basically," the team leader, Martin, explained, "we go out collecting and tagging new dragons and checking up on the dragons we already have listed here."
Charlie learned how to tag, classify and handle female dragons with newborns, how to address dominant males and how to handle a situation in which two males fought over territory.
"We want you to be safe," Martin said, "but we also have a duty to protect the reservation." The list of spells to use included the Confundus charm (which came with a warning about air safety) and Lumos, the light spell.
"What most people don't know is that dragon eyes are particularly sensitive to light. Their noses are much better attuned than their eyes as their scent of smell has to reach up to five hundred kilometers. However, a sudden blinding light will not render a dragon immobile. It will buy you time to figure out a way to separate two aggressive males or to prevent a dragon from incinerating a whole patch of land."
Charlie would never have thought his first test came soon after that speech. It was just when he was about to celebrate his first year at the reservation when an alert went out that two rampaging male dragons were on the loose.
"Where did they go?" Martin asked.
"They flew out of the reservation," the female announcer replied, checking her notes.
"And how did that happen?" Martin's brow was furrowed, which meant the man was trying to hold in his temper. Charlie noted the look of fear on the faces of his colleagues.
"They - I don't know," the woman admitted. "It's the Welsh Green and the Horntail. I don't know who was in charge or what happened. I just get the alerts."
Martin nodded his head and summoned his team.
"We have two dangerous dragons on the loose. We are situated next to two towns, both of which contain small populations of Muggles. However, there is a third town just north of here that is solely a wizarding community. If the dragons have gone there, use as much magic as possible. But if the dragons have gone after the Muggle towns, we must capture and conceal them first. You got that?" Martin eyed each member of the team before giving out orders.
"Charlie," Martin pulled Charlie aside after orders were given. "I'm counting on you to find the Welsh Green, all right? Let the older staff handle the Horntail."
Charlie replied, "Got it!" before leaving with his team.
Martin sighed and gathered the supplies he would need to calm down a fully-grown male Hungarian Horntail. "And so the hunt begins," Martin muttered as he and his team stomped out of the reservation.
It took Charlie ten minutes to find the Welsh Green's tracks. Unlike the Horntail, the Welsh Green enjoyed walking among the trees. Its green colour meant that foliage provided camouflage, something very necessary for such a large dragon. Unfortunately, the Horntail was much larger and thus preferred to fly. Checking over his shoulder occasionally, Charlie suddenly felt like he had a very bad feeling as his team trudged towards the riverbank.
"Don't tell me, but is there something flying right behind us?" Charlie asked his buddy Seth.
Seth slowly turned his head barely forty-five degrees before he stopped in his tracks.
"I think," he whispered as softly as possible, "the Hungarian Horntail isn't going north."
Charlie froze and signaled his team to stop as well. Taking cover under a huge leafy tree, Charlie drew figures on the ground.
Thumbs up all around, Charlie nodded and the team broke up once more.
"C'mon," Charlie pulled Seth back the way they had come. "If the Horntail hasn't seen us, chances are we have a shot at surprising it. Did you bring the rope?"
"Yes," Seth replied, "but it's only enough for a Welsh Green."
"Leave it to me," Charlie responded, taking the rope from Seth's hands. Using magic, Charlie transfigured the rope into metal chains. On his command, the other team members shot warnings into the sky, momentarily startling and confusing the Horntail.
"Now!" Charlie yelled, running out into the open.
Seth and three other wizards tried to stun the Horntail while Charlie spun the metal chains and threw them around the flying dragon.
"Hold on, Charlie!" Seth yelled in fright as the Horntail's powerful wings created a mini windstorm.
Charlie pulled as hard as he could on the chains, but to no avail. With one powerful sweeping motion, the Horntail dove upwards, dragging Charlie behind it.
"CHARLIEEEE!" Seth screamed.
Charlie hung on as tightly as he could. "Not on my watch!" he muttered, dragging himself up onto the Horntail's back. He pulled himself forwards until he was riding on the dragon's back.
"Come on, Larten," Charlie whispered. "Come on, boy. Let's go back down."
Using all his strength, Charlie pulled the dragon's ears back and pointed its snout downwards. Like a torpedo, the dragon careened into the earth, creating a huge, dragon-shaped mud pool.
"Charlie, Charlie!" Seth ran over. "Charlie, are you okay?" he asked his friend.
Charlie was panting as the dragon rolled over in the mud.
"I guess he just wanted a mud bath," Charlie said in a very anti-climactic manner. "Do any of you happen to have a handkerchief? I seem to have lost mine."
"Er," Seth hesitated, momentarily taken aback by Charlie's nonchalant manner. Searching his pockets, Seth came up with a tissue, matches and his wand. "Sorry, mate, I only have a tissue."
Hours later, Charlie was still retelling the tale of how he stopped the Horntail from causing massive damage.
"Whatever happened to the Welsh Green, by the way?" he wondered aloud.
"Oh, the Welsh Green was standing down by the river. It got tired and just wanted to cool down and eat," Seth replied, sitting down next to Charlie. "What's even more amazing is how the Horntail has taken a liking to you. Horntails are notorious for not liking anyone. Must be you have magic with it or something."
"No, I just, you know," Charlie blushed, feeling his ears turn as red as his hair. "I just pulled its ears and pointed its snout earthwards. You know, no big deal."
Seth snorted into his mashed potatoes. "Yeah, no big deal for the large, burly Charlie who is as strong as two dragons."
"Very funny, mate," Charlie mumbled. "I hope they don't try to make anything out of this."
"Oh, they will. You'll never live it down," Seth assured him.
"Oh, great," Charlie muttered, eager to get away from all the attention people were giving him.
Two days later, Martin awarded Charlie the "Dragon of the Year" award.
"This award goes to the most courageous, foolhardy member of the dragon reconnaissance team. After his team recovered the Welsh Green dragon, he single-handedly took on a Hungarian Horntail and forced the dragon to the ground. For his incredible strength and determination, we are proud to award Charlie Weasley our Dragon of the Year!"
What no one told Charlie was that the Dragon of the Year award was a running joke for the person who, at the end of the year, would be woken up by having water dumped on their bed. Then, the person was to do all the chores.
But for Charlie, who loved the outdoors, the chores were the fun part. He hated the wake-up, though. Cold water baths are ew! he thought, shivering disgustedly.
Smiling, Charlie thought about Kettleburn's words. Nature is your teacher and the world is your classroom - how true he was!