Hello again!
When I wrote Alicia Doreen and the Werewolf Professor I knew there was more in store for Alicia and Remus. In the sequel we explore more of their lives and relationship. Here is a summary of book 1 to freshen the memory.

Alicia Doreen is one year away from graduating Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In her final year they get a new teacher, Professor Remus Lupin who spikes her interest from day one. They carefully test how close they can get to each other without breaking school rules. Eventually they can't hold back any longer and fall in love. Remus has many secrets to share, that he is a werewolf and that he was once friends with a notorious wanted criminal, Sirius Black. Alicia finds Sirius Black, and decides to trust him for Remus' sake, but she doesn't tell him about it. As their love grows, her nervousness grows too. The future is uncertain for both of them. When Sirius finally confronts Remus, Remus forgets the full moon and turns into a werewolf with people present. Alicia saves him and the others, but the secret gets out. Remus is fired right before the end of the year. Alicia tries to fight the injustice but finds out that there is too much prejudice in the society for that. She leaves Hogwarts and is ready for her life together with Remus Lupin, her werewolf professor.

Book II

Chapter one: Life amongst dragons

There were few places in the world as stunning as Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The mighty castle stood strong as ever in the Highlands of Scotland, next to the glittering Black Lake. It was a cloudy day with a fair amount of wind blowing over the hills. The castle was easy enough to spot from a great distance. That is, of course, for magical folks.

It had been ten minutes if not more; the time Alicia Doreen had taken to stand on an outcrop of hill to admire the view. The wind was doing its best to blow her away, but it was the castle that did the job. Even though it had not been that long since she last saw it, the magical school was a sight for sore eyes.

'It never stops to amaze, does it?'

Alicia didn't have to take her eyes off the view to know it was Charlie Weasley who had decided to join her. He stopped next to her, hands in his pockets, ginger hair waving in the wind. He had decided to braid a part of his hair to the back, as was a custom of his. He remained silent after that one sentence. There was a big smile on his face as he was flooded with similar emotions to Alicia. He also had spent seven years in that castle.

'It's good to be back,' Alicia said at last. She took a deep breath of fresh air and punched her colleague in the side. 'We should get back and help the others.'

Charlie smiled down at her, his teeth showing. 'All right Fata foc. I suppose we will have enough time to stand around and admire the view.'

As Charlie descended the hill, Alicia looked back one more time and felt good and bad emotions rise in her.

It promised to be an interesting month.

The life of Alicia had changed quite a lot in four months. When she looked back on it, it kept surprising her it had only been four months. That was the last time she had seen Hogwarts. The last train ride home, a new life waiting for her.

A new life that couldn't wait to teach her some lessons.

She shook her head, making sure it was clear. In a moment she would need a clear head. They were transferring the Swedish Shortsnout from the traveling container to a more spacious cage. She was in charge of opening the locks on one side. She had to be in sync with Mihal who was doing the other side.

'Now!' Charlie shouted from the top of the container. He opened the first latch, and Alicia and Mihal followed suit. Two others opened the door completely. There was a tense moment of silence, in which everyone had that irrational thought that the dragon had escaped during their journey. It was so tempting to lean forward to take a peak…

But then there was a loud roar and a jet of fire. The blue dragon walked out of the container into the cage, where she would be boarded up partly. This was to make sure she didn't start a forest fire. But there were still enough gaps between the boards to see the creature flailing its neck around. She was not pleased to find herself in yet another confined space.

There was one person who's task it was to distract the dragon until the container was shoved backwards and the cage would be closed from behind. It was crucial to keep the dragon occupied, or there would be hell to pay. Luckily everyone on the team had enough experience to know what to do.

Everyone sighed in relief when the cage was closed. Some protective spells were placed around it, and then in was time for the next one.

'Fata foc, go with Charlie and prepare the Fireball. Check everything twice before saying it is safe,' Mihal instructed. Alicia nodded and found Charlie already waiting. He was wiping ash from his hands. Most of the traveling containers could be used only once. Having a dragon in them was a strain on any material and magic protection.

'That went well,' Charlie said airily.

Alicia chuckled. 'In a good mood Weasley?'

He wiped his black fingers on her sleeve, what earned him a slap. 'One down, three to go right? You can do the distracting on the Fireball.'

Alicia stopped in her tracks. 'You are kidding, right? I've not done that before! No, I shouldn't do that. Too much is at risk.'

He raised his hands. 'You sure you don't want to do the Fireball?'

Alicia shook her head.

'Fine. Then you get the Horntail.' He continued walking. Alicia couldn't believe him.

'Tell me you are shitting me.'

'Christian! Fata foc is distracting the Horntail!' Charlie shouted at their fellow colleague who was preparing the cage for the most aggressive of the four dragons. Instead of arguing that three months of internship was not enough to perform such a task, he raised two thumbs up.

'Do you want to get rid of me? Because there are nicer ways to say so,' Alicia said anxiously.

He chuckled and dragged the youngest member of the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary along to their next task. 'We all learned the hard way. You told me not to go easy on you because you are a girl. So I won't. I was given these sort of tasks early on too. It is a good way to determine your courage. I need to see how you perform under pressure.'

She rolled her eyes, trying to hide her fear in annoyance. 'Fine,' she said. She was in fact not fine.

With the mental note that she needed to be distracting a very large very dangerous beast soon, she did her best to look at the others as they lured out the Chinese Fireball and Green Welsh. She also still had to be focussed on the job of opening the latches. In this line of work, there was no room for mistakes.

The stress was building up. In the next moment she found herself standing on the far edge of a currently empty cage. At the other side, a wooden door was separating her from a homicidal creature. Other than the Swedish Shortsnout, the Hungarian Horntail was impatient to get out of his container. She could see jets of fire come out of holes in the wood. There was a stamping inside the container that nearly made Alicia topple over.

But she had been training for this. Balance was important, because one misstep could be your death. Quick response was also important, because one second of thought could be your death. Knowledge of effective spells was also very important, because using the wrong spell…well…you know. There were a lot of scenarios in which she could die. But she wasn't going to. Because she knew what to do.

'Ready?' Mihal shouted at her from his spot next to the container. Alicia shouted back that she was.

'Now!'

The door opened and the Horntail didn't waste a second in moving forward. Alicia shot sparks up from her wand, which was an effective way to get her attention. She saw the vertical slit of one eye focus on her. Then the dragon made to draw a breath. When the mouth opened, Alicia could see the fire starting in her throat.

Before the dragon could spit fire, Alicia had thrown another distracting spell in her direction. She stopped her attempt to roast Alicia, and chased her instead. Then it was time to run. She gave everything as she ran to the side of the cage where someone would open a human-sized door. She could feel the earth shake beneath her as the Horntail followed her.

With a mighty scream Alicia lunged for the door that opened just in time to let her through. The door was closed a second later when Alicia was face down on the forest floor. She could feel the heat of the fire on the other side of that door where she had been two seconds ago.

The cage was closed and the protective spells were administered. All she could hear for a minute was the blood rushing in her ears and her erratic breathing. Then she was lifted from the ground and raised onto the shoulders of cheering men. They were chanting her new nickname. Charlie appeared in front of her. She looked down at her mentor and smiled.

'I knew you could do it!' Charlie beamed. 'Piece of cake, right?'

Alicia laughed out loud. 'Oh sure!'

When she was placed back on the ground and patted on the shoulder or back by everyone, Charlie looked very pleased with himself. 'You had it easy, compared to the poor sucker that has to challenge that dragon.'

That evening they were having dinner at their camp. There were multiple bonfires so everyone could keep warm. Most of the men weren't used to Scotland's wet weather, and so that was the main topic for a while. Alicia loved hearing grown men complain about something as rain, while she had no issue getting a bit wet. She kept making 'awwwh' sounds and saying 'poor you. Rain makes you melt does it?' These remarks started a whirlwind of items that were thrown at her.

Sometimes it was hard being the only woman in a man's world. She was looked down on a lot by the tough guys who had weather beaten faces and were sporting many scars and injuries. When she got to Romania in the first place, everyone was laughing at her. They kept giving her directions to the ballet school in town. Many mornings did she find pamphlets for kid dancing classes in her bed. It was a running joke for a while, but luckily it started to get old later.

Charlie was a good support for her. From the start he was appointed as her mentor. He didn't seem to mind that she was shorter, weaker and female. He only saw potential that he could shape. And he did! Alicia had been working out, so she had a lot more muscle power these days. That was very necessary too, since everything they worked with was big and heavy. Charlie taught her many things already, but it was still just the start.

It was the start of her second month in Romania, when an owl came in with the message that a local town was being destroyed by a dragon. They had all moved out, but it was Alicia who had stopped the beast from roasting a group of school children. She had thrown herself in front of the fire and had protected the muggle children. That had finally earned her respect with the guys. The taunting had stopped and she was accepted like any other member. She also earned a nickname.

They were just laughing at Christians retelling of the story how Alicia screamed as she ran for the door, when Mihal came back and quieted everyone down.

'I have been to the school. There are four contestants this year because there was a mistake. An extra students name came out of the Goblet of Fire. No one knows how that happened,' Mihal told them.

Alicia closed her eyes and did a quick prayer in case anyone was listening. Don't be Harry. Don't be Harry. Don't be-

'That extra student is Harry Potter. The wonder kid who survived the Death curse,' Mihal continued.

'Shit!' Alicia exclaimed as she threw her plate on the ground. Everyone was looking at her now. She noticed Charlie with his hands in his hair.

'Sorry. I know him. I suppose those things can only happen to that kid,' Alicia said quickly.

'My brother is his friend. I have seen him before. Great kid, doesn't deserve all that bad luck,' Charlie said with a distant voice.

There was a moment of silence in the group before Mihal continued. 'After dishes we feed the ladies. Be careful not to make the holes too big in the boarding. I don't want to have to tell Dumbledore why the forest is on fire.'

The mood was grim that evening. Everyone was speculating why they allowed an underage student to participate. Bets were placed which student would get what dragon, and also what students would win from their dragons and which ones would sure be roasted. Harry being set on fire by the Horntail was a popular choice.

Charlie had muttered something about how his mother had been worrying about something he didn't understand before. He kept to himself that evening but was just as focused on the job. He never allowed his emotions to influence his work.

After the sun had set the sky turned clearer. The rain stopped and the moonlight was bright. Alicia looked up quickly and noted that in three days the moon would be full. Old habits die hard.

There was a commotion going on at the edge of the camp. The Horntail was trying to shoot fireballs up in the sky.

'We need to stun her! Everyone at the ready. One, two three…stupefy!'

About ten of them shot the stunning spell at the angry Horntail. It took a very long time for the creature to go down.

'Alright you can come closer, but be careful. This one is very unpredictable,' Charlie said to someone beside him. Alicia rounded the cage and found a very familiar figure in the dark.

'Hagrid!' she shouted, happy as a little girl that got to see her daddy again after a workday.

He looked up and spotted her. Alicia ran up to him and disappeared into a bear hug. 'Hello Alicia! Good to see you. Blimey! I had some trouble recognizing you there. With all the scars and all.'

She entangled herself from the half giant and shrugged. 'Dragons leave marks. How are you? Are you…alone?' Only then did she notice the woman that was with him. She towered over Hagrid, which made Alicia wonder why she only noticed her now.

However the woman was not paying attention to the small blonde girl, but to the unconscious dragon. 'Magnifique!' she kept saying as she looked the creature over.

Charlie crossed his arms. 'Hagrid, you shouldn't have brought her. The champions are not supposed to know about the challenges. She will surely tell her student.'

Hagrid hardly paid attention to this. He was also distracted by the dragon. Alicia watched him as he talked to Charlie and who she assumed was Madame Maxime, Headmistress of Beauxbatons. She felt a bit like the outsider in the picture, even though she could entertain Hagrid with knowledge of dragons. But Charlie seemed to handle it, so she was content just watching them.

There was the sound of a snapping twig somewhere to her left. She looked into the darkness, but couldn't spot anything moving. She peered a moment longer before stepping closer to Hagrid.

'You chose the right job Alicia. Look at these beauties!' Hagrid beamed over the dragon.

She laughed and looked at her old friend. 'I have you to thank for that. You introduced me to Weasley. I will never forget that.'

Hagrid seemed a bit touched, but he waved it off. He probably didn't want to cry in front of the others. They talked about lots of things in the meantime. Hagrid told her the updates about the Triwizard Tournament, all the new changes to Hogwarts and every new creature he was taking care off.

'And who teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts this year?' she asked in the end, not looking him in the eye.

'Alastor Moody. One of the best Aurors we have in Britain. He is a bit…well barmy. But I think Dumbledore wanted some extra protection this year,' Hagrid told her, not noticing her sudden cold expression and crossed arms.

'To protect Harry?' she asked, curious now.

He sighed. 'For a part, yes. I still hope they find a way to pull him out. He doesn't want to participate, I can tell you that. He did not put his name in the goblet himself.'

'I never thought so. Trouble just finds him,' Alicia said with a sad expression. 'Do you think he will be safe?'

Hagrid looked down. 'I hope so. He has Dumbledore to protect him. I trust in him.'

Alicia huffed. 'If he really cared for Harry, he would have pulled him out of the Tournament.'