On a regular day, the Scamander Dragon Conservatory was bustling with life. The dragons, all rescued and non-releasable, stayed in their exhibits while children ooh-ed and aah-ed, pointed fingers and read the information plaques in hushed voices, as if the dragons might hear that they were talking about them and break through the triple enforced glass. The Keepers of the Conservatory would bustle about, sometimes amongst the dragons, sometimes amongst the patrons, either attending to the winged beasts or sharing bits of trivia with the children and other visitors. The gift shop, which proudly advertised that all proceeds went to the care and rehabilitation of rescued dragons, was always full of children and adults alike, looking to purchase stuffed toys, paper weights and books. A man with the name Floyd embroidered onto his breast pocket sold fire breathing candy in a dingy little stall next to the gift shop, and the only times he didn't have a gigantic queue before him were lunch break and closing hours.
Today was a Wednesday. A regular, middle of the week day for the rest of the world, but it was the only day the Conservatory was closed to the public. The halls were completely empty, the gift shop had its windows barred by shutters and Floyd stayed home, relaxing his sugar-burned fingers for a day. Only a few Keepers were in the premises, to feed the dragons and check in on them. The Rubeus wing, reserved for meetings and fundraisers, was generally empty as well, save for the lone janitor who cranked up hits from the Weird Sisters' last reunion tour.
But on this specific Wednesday, Conference Room B of the Rubeus wing was in use by two Keepers. Rose Weasley and Katherine Brigsby sat at a table fitted with a fireplace in the centre and gazed into the fire. Professor Weizner was before them, lines of worry etched into the glowing coals.
"Thank you for meeting me at such short notice, Keepers Brigsby and Weasley. I had not wanted to bother your fine Conservatory on your day off, but I'm afraid it simply could not wait. Two Hungarian Horntail eggs have been stolen from our Institute and we need your help."
Rose and Katherine looked at each other. When Nona from the main office had told them that Professor Weizner of the Vienna Institute of Dragon Sociology and Research wanted to speak with them, they would never have guessed this was why.
"A Portkey to London was stolen from a colleague's office as well, so we have reason to believe that whoever took the eggs must have brought them to your neck of the woods, possibly to sell them on the black market."
Rose ground her teeth down in frustration. As a rescuer, she had seen the cruelty of smugglers and poachers too many times before. The very thought of a mother separated from her young made her seethe. She looked to her left to find an angry flush tinging Kathy's cheeks.
"Professor, you need to go to the Auror office with this," Kathy said, leaning forward. Her voice trembled ever so slightly.
"I did, Brigby, I did. They said that other than keeping an eye out for the eggs, there wasn't much they could do. But that isn't good enough, and you both know it. Once a purchase is made, the eggs are as good as gone. And poor Henrietta- her first babies in years- she's been distraught ever since they went missing." The professor's eyes sparkled with tears.
"Please, you have to help us," he pleaded.
"Professor, we don't have anything to go on here," sighed Rose. She wanted to return the eggs to their mother as much as he did, but finding them would be like locating a needle in a stack of haystacks.
"I am faxing a picture from our security camera to your Floo address, perhaps that will be of some help?" The fire belched out a small photograph and Rose caught it before it landed on the table.
In the grainy picture, they could make out a hooded figure, whose hands appeared to be of two completely different colours.
"Looks like our thief is using a Polyjuice on its last legs," Kathy whispered.
"So he's either Caucasian or brown," Rose replied.
"And about six feet, six feet two inches tall?" Kathy said, looking between Rose and the professor.
"You both are already making more progress that I have. Please keep thinking, meanwhile I will arrange travel permits for us to come to London." Professor Weizner was looking away from them and they heard the rustling of papers.
"We'll do whatever we can, Professor," Rose said.
"Godspeed, soldiers," Weizner said, and his face disappeared from the flames.
Rose wheeled out a whiteboard and handed Kathy a pen. Taking one for herself, she began writing on the board.
PERP: WHITE/BROWN, 6'-6'2''
MISSING: 2 HUNGARIAN HORNTAIL EGGS
LOCATION: LONDON
"If the guy had to steal a Portkey, he must not be a Londoner, no? Otherwise, he could've just apparated here. So he's got to have a place to stay," Rose said.
Kathy drew an arrow leading away from "PERP" and scribbled, "Hotel? Buddy's place?"
"Most smugglers sell eggs to weirdos who want a cool pet," the irony that she said this in the Rubeus wing escaped her, because of the urgency of the situation, "or to poachers, for blood and scales and whatnot. So, the eggs have to be incubated," Kathy said, pacing back and forth before the board.
"Horntails need temperatures well above a thousand Fyre units, so…" Rose paused and pointed her wand at the fireplace.
"Thermokrasia!" she said, with a flourish of her wand. The number 876 glowed above the flames.
"So the perp would need a fire hotter than your everyday fireplace," Kathy murmured, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.
"Wait, I know who can help us with this," Rose said, rummaging through her purse. She found her e-Owl and set it down on the table and dialed. The dial tone filled the air as she turned the speaker mode on.
"Rosie poo, how are you?"
"Hey Uncle Percy, I'm alright," Rose said, pressing a finger to her lips because Kathy had burst out laughing.
"I was about to call you, see, tomorrow is casserole day, and I know how much you love my casserole-"
"Uncle Percy, I need your help, it's kind of an emergency," Rose said.
"What is it, Rosie?"
"If I wanted to start a fire of over a thousand Fyre units, how would I go about it?"
"Well Rosie, temperatures high that would be impossible in city limits- unless in some very outdated fireplaces."
Rose's and Kathy's eyes lit up.
"Outdated?" Rose asked.
"Yes, high temperature fireplaces tend to scorch Floo travelers, so they were outlawed in 1927. All homes and residential buildings since then have to be maintained at temperatures below 923 Fyre units," Uncle Percy said.
"What about if the fireplace wasn't used for Floo purposes, like in a hotel room?" Rose asked. Kathy bit her thumbnail as they waited for Percy's answer.
"Ah yes, most hotels have a common Floo point for safety purposes, so the rooms need not have fireplaces up to Floo code. I'm sure many of London's older establishments have high temperature fires still in use. But Rosie, why on earth would you want temperatures so high?"
Kathy began writing on the board, "Hotel older than 1927" as Rose picked up her e-Owl and answered, "We're rescuing two Horntail eggs, Uncle Percy, I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, okay?"
"Sure, Rosie poo, I'll see you!" Percy almost sounded sing-song in his delivery.
"So either our guy's staying at an old hotel, or at a buddy's house. But since the hotel's the only lead we have right now, we should follow it," Rose said, wordlessly summoning a Yellow Scrolls from the main office.
Rose whispered a simple searching spell and immediately entries in the Scrolls began glowing bright orange. Glancing at the Scrolls, Kathy and Rose began filling the board with the names of hotels, all established before the year of 1927.
"Hotel de Lutin, why does that sound familiar to me…" Rose stopped with her dry erase marker hovering over the board.
"I know! The piece of shit Lewis Larson is staying there, it was in last night's Quibbler," Kathy said, catching the copy she'd summoned mid-air.
The headline "TWO TIME CONVICTED SMUGGLER BACK IN LONDON" stared up at Rose and Kathy.
"Maybe our perp is there to make the sale, and Larson's there to check out the goods before he makes the purchase," Rose said, underlining Hotel de Lutin on the board.
"Let's go," said Kathy, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.
-x-
Hotel de Lutin was the sort of place to make anyone feel at home. With its hand painted sign and rustic wooden architecture, the entire building was reminiscent of a warm cabin on a cold day, just the sight of it conjured up imaginations of hot cocoa and warm blankets. But as Keepers Weasley and Brigsby stared up at the sign and looked around at the wooden pillars, all they could think about was an anxious mother and her twin eggs. They walked up the three steps when Kathy's pocket buzzed.
"The prof just got a permit for 1am tonight," she said, returning her e-Owl to her pocket, "How do you think a dragon expert can stay in a room and read about dragons?"
Rose had a sudden memory of platinum blond hair, Teaching Assistant forms and excited discussions of lesson plans and experiments. Rose shook her head to clear her thoughts.
"Some people are just meant to teach, you know?" she said. Kathy shrugged.
Katherine and Rose took a step back and surveyed the building.
"We have to look into each room," Kathy said simply.
"Yup."
"How?"
"We could filch uniforms?"
"That might take too long, and if we get caught, we'll get kicked out." Kathy shook her head.
"Wait, I have just the plan."
"Hello miss, would you like to hear about our Lord and Saviour, Leslie Tinkleman?" Rose tried her best to disguise her voice as she proffered a very real brochure to the stunned hotel guest.
"Um, I'm not sure I'm quite interested-"
"Are you sure? Leslie Tinkleman believes in world peace, a loving God and of course, stricter punishments for parole violations," Rose breathed excitedly, almost too convincingly.
Kathy nudged her foot. She'd had a good look inside over the guest's shoulder and this room, like the seven before it, had nothing of interest.
"All right, miss! Thank you for your time!" Rose said abruptly, marching to the next room.
Kathy knocked and the two waited. A man, Caucasian and about six feet tall, opened the door and asked gruffly, "Yes?"
"Would you like to hear about our Lord and Saviour, Leslie Tinkleman?" Rose said. After saying the same thing so many times, she almost didn't have to think about it.
Kathy saw a large cauldron placed inside the fireplace. She tapped Rose on her back as discreetly as she could.
"What, that cult leader?" the man asked with narrowed eyes.
"Why is it," Rose asked in her disguised voice, "that if lots of people follow someone, it's a religion, but if only some people follow someone, it's a cult?"
The man opened his mouth to give his (likely rude) reply, when someone cleared their throat behind Rose.
Ten minutes later, Rose and Kathy were seated in the hotel's lobby where Donny Price, the owner, sat before them.
"You're a Weasley, aren't you?" he asked, pointing.
"Yes, sir."
"Why are you going around peddling that crap, then, huh?" he demanded, throwing a distasteful look towards the brochure on the table between them.
"With all due respect-" Rose began, but Donny Price cut her off, "I have received three complaints about you two already. I can't have you disturbing my guests."
He turned to Rose, "I don't want to do this, trust me, I know your family, but you leave me no choice. Please leave my premises."
"No!" Kathy and Rose blurted out in unison.
"I really am sorry, but you have to leave."
"Listen, Donny, right? One of your guests stole two Hungarian Horntail eggs all the way from Vienna and the mother is losing sleep with worry. We're trying to get the eggs back to her." Rose had leaned over and was gripping Donny's hand where it rested.
"Is that why you were going door to door? To find the eggs?"
"Yes, Donny, please, you can't kick us out!" Kathy said, leaning forward and gripping his hand as well.
Donny frowned and look down at the table top.
"What kind of monster steals someone's babies?" he asked finally, looking at Rose and Kathy.
They sighed in relief and Rose slumped back in her seat. When Kathy turned to look at her, she remembered that they weren't out of the woods yet. They still had no way of entering the thief's room to make the rescue.
"I can hook you both up with some uniforms. You can get in there with a cart and pretend to be from room service," Donny said. Rose and Kathy smiled.
"And, I have a tracker we used on a thieving busboy," Donny stood and led them to the door, "Let's go catch that evil little son of a bitch."
-x-
Kathy, now wearing a wide brim hat and dressed in the Lutin's customary baby blue and white, looked up at the number 304 and knocked. Rose stood a few metres off, a wine cart next to her, poised and ready.
The door swung open and the same irritable man stood before Kathy.
"Room service!" she said, pushing her cart inside.
"I don't recall requesting it," the man said, looking at her in confusion as she began cleaning spells for the drapes.
"Sanitation is one of Hotel de Lutin's top most priorities, Sir," Kathy replied, shaking the curtains for extra measure.
"Can't it wait?" he asked, stepping before the fireplace.
Before Kathy could think of what to say, Rose Weasley, also wearing a large face-obscuring hat and dressed in the Lutin's uniform, swept in.
"Here is your complimentary wine, Monsieur," she said, producing a bottle from the cart.
"I did not ask for any wine, Miss," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"It is on the house, Monsieur, we like to keep our guests comfortable. Perhaps a Madam Sangre would be more to your taste?" Rose flashed the label at the man right as Kathy began wheeling her cart out.
He leaned in to read the text on the bottle when his eyes settled on Rose's face.
"Wait, aren't you that cult girl?"
Something clicked in his mind and he whipped around to look at the fireplace. The cauldron was still in its place, but it was clearly visible that its contents were missing.
Letting out a frustrated roar, he took off through the door. Panicking, Rose ran after him to see Kathy sprinting down the aisle towards the stairs. She'll never make it, Rose thought as she fumbled for her wand.
At the end of the hallway, suddenly, Donny Price appeared.
"You're a real bastard, you know that," Rosie heard him say.
She watched in shock as the man began patting Donny down.
"Hey, hey! What exactly are you doing?" he demanded. There was a scuffle and a minute later, the man emerged victorious, gripping Donny's wand.
"Now you give that back-" And then Donny was cut off because the man punched him squarely in the nose.
Rose gasped and ran towards them. The man looked back at her and took off down the stairs.
She picked up Donny's crumpled form and saw that his eyes were closed.
"Someone, get a Healer," she cried, "Please, someone!"
A tall man pushed through the crowd that had gathered.
"I'm a Healer," he said, crouching next to Rose.
"He could be dying, please help him," she begged.
"He's not dying, young lady, he's just concussed," he said, examining him with the sweep of his wand. He turned to a woman standing nearby, clutching the neck of her robe.
"Is this your room, ma'am?" he asked.
"Yes, you can lay him down on the bed," she said, stepping aside. Deciding that matters were taken care of, Rose ran downstairs in search of Kathy or the egg thief- whoever she found first.
She asked if anyone had seen a shady man running. A little boy pointed out the door. Rose sighed.
"What about a panicked maid?" she asked the same boy. He pointed to a small broom cupboard. Rose knocked.
"I'll blow your balls off if you make another move," screamed Kathy from inside.
"Kathy, it's me."
The door swung open to reveal Katherine Brigsby hugging a large towel bundle to her chest.
"Go to the Conservatory. Call the security to help you and call the Auror's office if you feel like you need it," Rose said, placing a reassuring hand on Kathy's shoulder. Kathy nodded and stepped into the main office to apparate away.
Rose's legs felt like jelly as the adrenaline exited her system. The thief long gone, she decided to check in on Donny. She passed a few guests milling around, looking in her direction and whispering to one another.
"Rosie?"
Rose had not expected to hear that voice. She whipped around, messy red braid swinging, to see Scorpius Malfoy standing before her.
"Scorpius?" she asked, disbelief plain in her voice.
"Nona said you'd be here!"
"I uh, I am here," she said lamely, cursing herself the minute she said it.
"You look great, Rosie," he said, looking her up and down. Rose flushed ever so slightly.
"You also look great," she replied, "What brings you here?" She was looking over Scorpius' shoulder, at the staircase that led to Donny.
"Well, Rosie, I just got back from a trip and everywhere I went, I saw happy people and I couldn't stop thinking about us, and how happy we were." Rose swallowed, for a second, all thoughts of Donny and the thief evaporated. She stared at Scorpius wide-eyed.
"Scorpius, I'm actually working right now," she said.
"Now? Here?" he asked.
"Yes, I'll talk to you later, is that okay?"
"Will you meet me at dinner here?" he asked, holding her wrist gently.
"Yes, I'll see you at dinner," she said, squeezing his hand before turning to the stairs once more.
Rose knocked at door number 312 and eased it open. She saw Donny lying in bed, the covers drawn up to his chin.
"Donny?" she asked gently.
"Rosie," he said groggily, opening his eyes, "Did you get 'im?"
"No, Donny," Rose said, sitting in a chair next to him, "He got away."
"But- the babies?"
"Kathy has them, they're safe now." Rose reached over and patted Donny's hand. He folded his hands over his chest and settled into his pillows.
"I'll die a happy man, Rose," he said, smiling and closing his eyes. Rose's eyes filled with tears as she laughed.
"You're not dying, Donny, you're just concussed."
Donny opened his eyes and looked at Rose.
"Oh…" Then, he focused on a spot in the distance and frowned.
"Rose, I got the tracker on him."
"What?"
"I got the tracker on him when he took my wand." Donny reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a tiny e-Owl screen. On it, a red dot glowed. He passed the device to Rose.
"It says he's near the canal in New Fenway Market," she said. The dot was moving abysmally slow and Rose felt almost offended. He was almost too confident that she was not hot on his trail. She wasn't, but that wasn't the point. Rose turned back to Donny. He gave her a determined smile.
"Go get him," he said. Rose gave him a resolute nod and hurried out of the room, down the stairs and out of Hotel de Lutin. She took out her wand and began running towards New Fenway, which was about a kilometer away.
New Fenway Market was advertised by builders as a newer, better Diagon Alley. Big shops from the Alley promptly signed up to open branches in the new Market, which is why if you visited, you would find a Madame Malkins, a Florean's and a Flourish and Blotts. Newer businesses flocked to the new Market as well- the rent was cheaper and foot traffic had been promised. Soon, New Fenway Market became a new business hub for Wizarding London, and it was almost always packed.
Today was no exception.
As Rose ran, crowds cleared for her and gave her strange looks. She looked at the device in her palm and saw that she was close. Suddenly, in the middle of the Central Square, she spotted the thief.
"Oi!" she yelled, before realizing that announcing your presence to someone you are pursuing is rarely a good idea. The thief turned and tried to run when she hit him with a tripping spell. He stumbled and Rose raised her wand.
"Expelliarmus!" she shouted.
His wand flew in the air in a magnificent paranola. Rose felt confident that this would be fairly straightforward from here, when he drew another wand.
"Pick-pocketing piece of-" she muttered, when her wand shot out of her hand. It landed on the wall rising above the canal and Rose lunged for it. The moment her fingers enclosed around the unicorn hair and chestnut, she felt someone grab her shoulders and throw her head first into the canal.
As she fell, Rose wondered if she could levitate herself, or possibly use a levicorpus, or perhaps creating an air cushion beneath her was the best course of action. But all her planning went- almost literally- down the drain when she fell in with a splash. Swiping dirty, brown water out of her eyes, Rose looked up towards the market. She could make out the thief peering down at her over the edge of the wall. Aiming her wand at him underwater, she fired off a disarming spell. She heard his shout of surprise and smirked. Before he could recover, she shot a binding spell at him- the one she used at the Conservatory to splint fractured wings. Rose heard another sound of shock, followed by a satisfying thunk.
"Asshole," she mumbled, swimming towards a flight of stairs that led out of the canal.
-x-
Hotel de Lutin was known for its dinners. Starting at 7pm and ending at 11pm sharp, the hotel's buffet was stuff of legend. The spread boasted of over eleven different appetizers, two or three hearty main courses, and enough desserts that you often needed all of four hours to try every single one.
Scorpius looked at his watch and wished he had been more specific than "dinner" when he asked Rose to talk. At least then he wouldn't have waited until 10:55pm to find she was not coming. He flagged down a waiter for the cheque when a very dirty looking Rose Weasley deposited herself in the seat opposite to him.
"Rosie?", "Ma'am, are you alright?" Scorpius and the waiter asked together.
Rose turned to the waiter first.
"I'm fine, is Donny Price here?" she asked.
"He's resting, Ma'am, he's had an exhausting day," he said.
"I know all about it," Rose said with a tired smile, "Would you tell him we caught the guy?"
The waiter nodded and said, "Sure, Ma'am, I'll send Marion to help you with the food, you look pretty drained yourself."
"Thank you so much."
The minute the waiter left, Scorpius leaned forward in his seat and asked, "What happened?"
"I chased a dragon egg smuggler," Rose said, trying to run her hand through her hair.
"And you caught him?" Scorpius was impressed.
"Yes," she said simply, downing the glass of water before her.
"And this?" Scorpius motioned to her general person.
"He threw me into the canal at New Fenway."
Scorpius flinched at that.
"Can I clean you up?" he asked, raising his wand.
"Yes please," Rose nodded, "My hands were shaking too much after I caught him, and then the Aurors wouldn't stop asking me questions-"
"Is that what delayed you?"
"Yes, and then I went over to the Conservatory to check in on Kathy and the eggs."
"Everything okay?" Scorpius knew how much dragons (and most other animals actually) meant to Rosie.
"Yes. The eggs are in an incubator and the professor in charge of them will arrive sometime after 1 in the morning, so everything will be alright." Rose sighed as Marion brought her a tray laden with appetizers.
"You guys are the best," she said, surveying the tray.
Scorpius smiled at Rose as she started eating. When she was halfway done with all the starters, she wiped her hands on a napkin and sat back.
"You said you wanted to talk? About what?"
"I told you, I've seen happy people everywhere and-"
"You thought of us. But that wasn't us for a long time," Scorpius nodded and Rose went on, "Don't you remember all the fights we had before the end?"
"I know, I know," Scorpius mumbled.
"I would get so frustrated, waiting for you to respond to my texts, waiting for you to be the one to call. And you don't know this, but there were nights I cried myself to sleep, feeling like the annoying, needy, clingy girlfriend." Scorpius saw that Rose wasn't quite meeting his eye, focusing instead on his pastel green collar.
"You weren't, Rosie, I was just so frazzled with the new country, the new university, I should've handled it better."
Rose swallowed and nodded.
"I thought you forgot the hurtful things, that's all. Or maybe they weren't as hurtful to you."
Scorpius felt his chest clench.
"Of course they were, Rosie," he whispered, "I just was thinking about the good stuff. Like our spot."
Scorpius could see that Rose's eyes were moist, remembering the place they used to hike to and sit at for hours. He went on.
"I was thinking about your head on my shoulder, and that little kiss you'd press right here." Scorpius touched the base of his neck.
Rose teary eyes met his.
"I thought of you telling me about the dragons, and whatever Lara Bean was up to-" Scorpius stopped when Rose started crying.
"Rose, what's wrong?"
"Lara Bean died a few months ago," she said, wiping her eyes with her napkin.
"Rosie, I didn't know," he said, placing his hand over hers. She gestured with her other hand to continue. Scorpius hesitated before he went on.
"And I was thinking about coming home to tell you the latest potion we worked on, or the newest reaction parameter we tweaked. And I missed you like crazy," Scorpius finished, taking Rose's hand in his.
Rose wiped the last of her tears and smiled sadly.
"We can't have that with you in the Netherlands and me here," she said.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about actually. Northridge University offered me a position here."
Rose blinked in confusion.
"Northridge? But they just opened!" she said. Scorpius nodded.
"Scorpius, they have little to no repute right now." Rose was frowning at Scorpius like there was something wrong with him.
"I know, but they're looking to be a serious option for students graduating from Hogwarts and Beauxbatons in the next five years," Scorpius said earnestly.
"You mean the kind of serious option that your current university already is?" Rose asked.
"Yes, Rose, I know it isn't ideal, but there aren't any dragon conservatories in Holland, are there?"
Rose blinked some more and dropped her eyes to her hand clasped in Scorpius'.
"You would take the job at Northridge for me?" she asked, tearing up all over again.
"Yes, Rosie, I would."
She seemed to consider Scorpius' answer and withdrew her hand. Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she bit her lip.
"Have you ever thought about applying to the Vienna Institute?" she asked.
-x-
Auditorium C of the Rubeus wing was packed. Everywhere Scorpius looked, people were milling about, chattering away. He pushed through the crowd to the first row of chairs, where pieces of paper that said "RESERVED" were tacked onto the seats. Scorpius spotted Hermione, Ron and Hugo, who were waving him over, and he shuffled into the empty seat next to them.
Scorpius tried to look through the crowd at the stage, but he couldn't spot Rose.
"She's over there somewhere," Hugo said, pointing the the left portion of the stage. Suddenly, someone said, "Everyone, please settle down," and slowly the crowd thinned until Scorpius could see Rose, the third of three. She stood with her chest out, her hands firmly clasped behind her, and seemed like she was trying very hard to look at one single point. He waved and Rose turned slightly to look at him. She gave him a nervous smile and waved back before returning to her position.
One of the senior officials of the Conservatory stood behind the podium in the middle of the stage.
"Ahem," she said, "Please settle down everyone, we will begin now."
It took a few moments for everyone to find their seats. Then, clearing her throat again, the official spoke, "Welcome everybody, to this awarding ceremony. Before we get into the actual proceedings, I would like to tell you all a little bit about the Scamander Dragon Conservatory. The Conservatory was started over eleven years ago for the care and rehabilitation of injured dragons. With time, we began programs to educate the public about these creatures that many think of as 'monsters'. Seven years ago, the Rubeus wing was established to better facilitate the education programs here at the Conservatory. We have since hosted school trips, summer camps, workshops and more. We started out with just seven members of staff, and today, we are proud to be a family of over fifty employees, all dedicated to the cause of dragon care and research. Everyone who works here- our keepers, janitors, researchers- contributes in their own way to our mission. Of course, without the constant support of our donors, our partners- and you, our visitors- none of this would be possible. We look forward to your love and encouragement in all our future endeavours as well.
"Coming to the reason we have all gathered here today. This evening, we will be awarding the highest honour we can confer to three exceptional individuals. This award was named after someone very special to the Conservatory, Lara Bean." Rose made a sound that sounded like a cross between a sob and a gurgle.
"Lara Bean was one of our non-releasable dragons and was with us for many, many years. Everyone that met her were charmed by her, and a exceptional few had the opportunity to be charred by her." The audience tittered at that.
"She took several young dragons under her scaly wings and often acted as a surrogate mother to abandoned hatchlings. And she often tried to share her food with the keepers who were fortunate enough to call her their friend." Rose was openly weeping now. She pulled out a kerchief from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes.
"As you can see, she was very important to many of us here, especially to Rose Weasley, one amongst the first three awardees of the Lara Bean Badge of Bravery. Rose Weasley, Katherine Brigsby- two Keepers, along with Donny Price- the owner of Hotel de Lutin, helped nab a smuggler responsible for the international trade of several illegal animal artifacts. They used disguises, planned an elaborate heist and even chased the smuggler through London to bring him to justice. And they did all this to reunite two eggs with their mother, and to prevent further harm to the creatures of this planet." An elderly man who sat to the right of the podium stood slowly.
"I request Reginald Contry, a senior scientist from Romania to present the awardees with their Badges." The man hobbled to the left of the stage and pinned a badge to Donny Price's lapel and shook his hand. He took a step forward and Katherine saluted him. Contry then pinned the badge to the front of her Keeper suit before moving to Rose.
"Rose Weasley will be joining the Vienna Institute of Dragon Sociology and Research for their winter semester, where she will be pursuing a doctorate in the family structures of Ridgebacks, so this award will serve as a great going-away present. We hope to see you back here very soon, Keeper Weasley," the official turned to give Rosie a warm smile and Rose replied, her new badge glinting on her chest, "I will, Cher!"
"Congratulations to our awardees. Thank you for your courage and for inspiring us all," the official said and the hall erupted in applause. Scorpius stood with the Weasley's to whoop and cheer.
"Please join us for tea and snacks arranged outside the auditorium. Thank you all for attending." Then, the speaker turned her mic off. Scorpius got out of his seat to join the official photographer in taking pictures of Rosie, Donny and Katherine. After at least a thousand pictures, Rosie came running down the stairs from the stage and threw her arms around Scorpius' neck.
"Congratulations, Keeper Weasley," he whispered into her forehead, "I'm sure Lara Bean would be very proud of you."
When Rose pulled away, her eyes were moist with tears.
"Thanks, Scorpius," she said.
Katherine and Donny joined them by the front row. Katherine and Rose introduced their respective families to Donny, and Donny introduced his husband to the others. Professor Weizman, who Scorpius had met once before, pushed through the crowd to shake hands with Rose, Donny and Katherine.
"You'll be attending my classes on hunting groups this semester right, Rose?" he asked.
"Definitely, Prof," Rose grinned.
"And I have a buddy over at the Vienna Institute, maybe I'll run into you there sometime?" Weizman asked Scorpius.
"Sure, Professor, please stop by if you ever pass the potioneering department," Scorp replied, wrapping an arm around Rose's waist. He still couldn't believe they were moving together to Vienna.
"Oh and Professor, Donny and I want to come over and meet Henrietta sometime," Kathy said.
"Please, you are welcome to the Institute whenever you want. Rose and I will both be there to show you around," Weizman said.
"Excuse us," Rose said, tugging Scorpius away from the crowd. She stood on her toes to kiss him briefly.
"The day Professor Weizman called us for help is one of the most important days of my life," she said, "Not only did we find Henrietta's eggs, but you and I found each other again."
Scorpius pulled Rose into his arms.
"We'll always find each other, Rosie, no matter what."
A/N: My first attempt at writing adventure! Hope you all liked it :)
(Also, thanks to everyone who's following Benefit of Doubt! I'll update soon, I promise!)