CHAPTER THIRTY
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May 10th 2006
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Home schooling Arty turned out to be, without a shadow of a doubt, the best decision Hermione had ever made. Arty, who had previously struggled in muggle primary school with having to hide his knowledge of the magical world, thrived with Hermione teaching him. She had gone out and spent a, frankly, ridiculous amount of money on a huge pile of muggle workbooks for Maths, English and Science, which they worked through on weekday mornings, then in the afternoon they either went to places of interest, such as museums or heritage sites, or they focused on trying to control his increasingly common magical outbursts. There were obviously stressful moments, when Hermione had to put her foot down and insist that Arty do his work when he tried to slack off because he was at home, but that was to be expected. In all, Hermione was so thankful for the opportunity that Charlie had provided her with.
"Mummy?" Arty asked, looking up from his times tables work wide wide eyes and Hermione hummed, finishing the line in her book before looking up, "can we go and see daddy at work this afternoon?"
"As long as you've finished your six times tables by then, I don't see any reasons why we shouldn't," she smiled and Arty grinned, nodding, "how are you getting on?"
"I'm upto seven times six!" He grinned and Hermione rose her eyebrow questioningly, holding back a chuckle as his face screwed up in concentration, "um… 42?"
"Well done!" Hermione grinned, ruffling his hair as she stood up and peered over his shoulder, impressed that he had only got one wrong, "when you get to twelve times six, we'll stop for the day and go see daddy, ok?"
"Ok Mummy!" He said happily and Hermione grinned to herself as she walked into the kitchen to get a cup if coffee.
She was in awe of how smart Arty was, having been told by his teacher that he struggled with concentration. She frowned as the kettle boiled, wondering whether it was the other children who distracted him or some other issue that held him back in a school environment. She knew from her own experience that children, despite their innocent appearance, could be horribly vicious to those that they deemed to be different, especially if their parents had never taken the time to tell them the effect that words could have on other people. She had made sure that Arty knew from a very early age to never say unkind things or do anything that he wouldn't want anyone to do to him and it broke her heart that other parents wouldn't do the same. She had always wondered whether the parents of bullies had been the bullies in their own time, having never experienced how awful it was to be picked on.
"Mummy!" Arty shouted suddenly and Hermione frowned as she hurried into the living room, seeing Arty frowning at the fireplace and gasping as she looked, finding Molly's face hovering in the flames.
"It's ok, Arty," she said, gesturing back to his work as she crossed the room and kneeled in front of the fireplace, "Molly? Is everything ok?"
"I'm not sure," Molly sighed, shaking her head and flicking her eyes over to Arty and frowning as she looked back at Hermione, "can I come through?"
"Of course!" Hermione exclaimed, immediately jumping to her feet and stepping back, only for Molly to step out moments later, pulling her into a hug.
"We need to talk without little ears around," she whispered in Hermione's ear, making her frown as she pulled away, nodding before turning to Arty.
"Arty, my little love, why don't you go and play with your dragons for a while, hmm? Grandma wants to talk to me." She said, forcing a smile on her face and feeling uneasy.
"Ok Mummy! Hi Grandma!"
"Hello, dear," Molly sighed, hugging him as he ran over and then gently pushing him towards his room, "run along now, we won't be a moment."
"There's been an attack, of sorts, at the reserve," Molly muttered quietly once Arty was safely out of earshot and Hermione whimpered, her hand flying to her mouth as her eyes flew open widely, "poachers, apparently, have released the wards on six enclosures."
"Is Charlie… is he ok?" Hermione choked and Molly sighed, pulling Hermione to the sofa and sitting both of them down, holding her hands in her own.
"I don't know," she sighed, shaking her head, "Arthur let me know as soon as word reached the ministry. Harry has been sent to help subdue the escaped dragons."
"Oh god," Hermione groaned, clearing her throat, "what… how did they know what wards were being used? I don't understand."
"No-one does at the moment," Molly said gently, smoothing Hermione's hair in a very motherly fashion, "Arthur has volunteered to go to the reserve to help but I made him promise to let me know as soon as he got to Charlie."
"Ok," Hermione sighed, rubbing her eyes and nodding, "I promised Arty we could go and see Charlie at work this afternoon. I guess that isn't going to happen now."
"Why don't you come to the Burrow instead, dear?" Molly asked and Hermione nodded, frowning.
"I don't think I want to be on my own right now, anyway," Hermione sighed, "I mean, I know I've got Arty here, but…"
"Ginny is there, too," Molly nodded, "with the boys, so we can all help support one another until we hear anything."
"What do I tell Arty?" Hermione asked sadly and Molly smiled kindly, squeezing her hand before standing up.
"You leave that to me," she said, "You get on over to the Burrow and we will be along shortly."
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Flames were flying left right and centre as Charlie and his second in command, Max, stood in the middle of a protective dome, shooting stunners and other spells that could be used to subdue the flying beasts. He still had no idea what the hell had happened. One minute he had been doing his usual paperwork and the next minute all hell had broken loose, with no apparent reason or explanation.
"If we don't get out of here soon," Max shouted above the flames and roars of the dragons, "we're going to cook, Char. What should we do?"
"I don't know!" Charlie yelled back, firing off repeated stunners and incarcerous spells, flinching as he felt burning heat pass straight over them, "at this point I want to say fuck everything else, we just need to get out of this alive!"
"Agreed!" Max cried, shrieking in frustration as ropes shot out of his wand and bound the legs of one dragon, only to be burned away by another, "what's your plan?"
"How good are your shield charms at a full sprint?" Charlie yelled and Max shot him a terrified look, "It's the only option, mate! It's either that or we end up as roast keeper!"
"Shit!" Max screamed, "I don't know, but I guess we'll find out, right?"
"Right, cast on the count of three and hold it for as long as you can. We run toward the main gates, South West, got it?" Charlie instructed and saw Max nod tiredly, briefly closing his eyes and picturing Hermione and Arty to build his conviction and courage before opening them and grabbing Max's hand, "we don't seperate, wands up... One, two…"
On the count of three, both men cast the strongest and most heat resistant shield charm that they could, taking off in a dead sprint in the direction of the main gates. As they came into view in the distance, Charlie almost breathed a sigh of relief, his strength doubling as he could see the finish line in sight. Just as he began to think that they would be fine, however, his arm was jerked sideways and he snapped his head around to see Max falling to the ground, his wand flying from his hand and the protective charm cast from it fell. With only his own charm to protect the both of them, he felt fire heat his skin and screamed as his shirt caught fire. Using all of his strength, probably only fuelled now by pure adrenaline, he pulled Max back up to his feet and half dragged him over to the gates, falling through them.