Excited muttering broke out among the students at Hagrid's words. Even the Slytherins, who hated Hagrid and his lessons, looked excited at the prospect of seeing a real live dragon. Hagrid's black eyes were gleaming and he was smiling as he looked at the eager faces.
Ron gave Dudley a nudge in the ribs and grinned as Hagrid went through some health and safety rules first. Finally, Hagrid produced an old broomstick and told all of the class to touch it.
"Portkey," he grunted. "Dumbledore set it up fer us. Now, all place a hand on it. Tha''s it. An' off we go!"
Dudley had experienced a portkey before, but it was clear most of the class hadn't. He barely managed to keep his feet, so did Ron and Dean, but Hermione fell over, landing on top of Neville. Malfoy too, Dudley was pleased to see, ended up on the floor with Crabbe on top of him.
Both Hagrid and Charlie were upright, thought looked a little windswept.
They were on a cold, windy cliff. Below them, the ocean churned. Out to see, Dudley could just make out an island.
"Now," Charlie said, clapping his hands together for attention. "For those who don't know, I'm Charlie Weasley. I've worked with dragons my entire life. These are extremely dangerous creatures and you will keep your distance. You will also pay attention when I am speaking." he said, sternly, glaring at Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle who had started whispering.
Malfoy looked angry at been addressed like that, but Charlie ignored him.
"There are quite a few dragons in Britain," Charlie said. "The Common Welsh Green and the Hebridean Black. It's the Black we're gonna see today. I usually work in Romania, but Dumbledore wanted a dragon expert to accompany you and asked me." He looked proud at been asked to do a favor for Dumbledore.
"Now, follow me, and stay close—we're going to the top of this hill where we can see it," Charlie said, leading the way up a path. Hermione hurried to catch up.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"West Scotland, Hebridean Blacks don't often come to the mainland, but when they do, the Ministry needs to relocate them." Charlie said. "Keep up you two!" he called to Lavender and Parvati, who were both lagging behind.
"Are you staying here full time, Charlie?" Ron asked, keeping pace with his brother.
"Only for a few weeks, then I'm back to Romania. Mum's pleased, she doesn't think they feed me right over there," Charlie said with a grin.
Dudley glanced at Charlie. He was very muscular, so he can't be eating that poorly. But, then again, he knew Mrs. Weasley was an excellent cook. He supposed any meal would be poor by comparison.
"How are you holding up, Dud?" Charlie asked.
"Pretty good," Dudley said with a shrug.
"Not worried about the first task?"
"No, Professor Lockhart is mentoring me,"
"Yeah, I read, how is he?"
"He's fine,"
"No, I meant—how is he, as a mentor?"
"Oh—he knows his stuff. He's teaching me confundus at the moment,"
Charlie nodded. "A useful spell that. I asked because I've heard mixed things about him. I know he saved you lot in your second year, and captured Nott last year. But I know Dumbledore thinks he's unreliable."
"He's a prat," Ron said. "An utter prat. But, at the World Cup, he was right about a Death Eater in the woods and had chased him in there."
Charlie nodded again. "Yes, dad says he thinks he misjudged Lockhart between saving you from the basilisk, capturing Nott and then chasing that Death Eater. Dad reckons Fudge is trying to get him into the Aurors."
"He can't be a bad addition though, can he?" Dudley said.
"Who knows. He's certainly proved himself lately," said Charlie.
They had reached the top of the hill and Charlie turned to face them.
Dudley looked out and said "wow!"
He wasn't the only one. There were gasps and cries of excitement from the others. In the bottom of a small valley lay a dragon. It was large, black with a horned head and lay curled up as if asleep. Ministry wizards, led by a broad-shouldered, loud Scottish wizard were busy restraining it.
"Beautiful!" Hagrid said softly.
"Bet you'd like this as a pet, hey Hagrid?" Charlie said with a grin.
"Too righ' Shame they're illegal," he said, regretfully.
"Dragons are exceptionally powerful creatures," Charlie said. "Very thick skin. This one took six stunners from six wizards simultaneously to bring down. If you look, you'll see the Ministry wizards are currently restraining it. The Scottish wizard is Martin MacFusty. His family has been the steward of Hebridean Blacks for centuries."
Hermione had her hand raised. "How will they be transported?"
"Magic," Charlie said with a grin. "Nah, it'll be loaded into crates and then pulled by Abraxan Horses—the ones bred by your mate, Hagrid—to an island where it can live safely and harmlessly."
"Now, if you ever encounter a dragon, first of all, don't run—it will catch you. Your best bet is to distract it. Dragons have short attention spans, unless their eggs are threatened. If that's the case, don't try stunning it—like I said, it takes a number of wizards to do so. They have one weak spot, their eyes. A well-aimed conjuctivitus curse should keep the dragon distracted enough for you to escape."
"Some o' yeh may need t' know this more than others," Hagrid said. Charlie gave him a quick look.
"Yes, well-there are plenty of careers involving dragons," Charlie said. "Even Gringotts uses them to guard the deepest vaults."
Charlie and Hagrid told them more about the dragons of the UK and Ireland while they watched the Minstry wizards loading the great beast into a crate. Even Malfoy, for possibly the first time in his life, spoke in a respectful voice when he asked Charlie how far it could shoot fire.
"Thirty feet,"
"And can some dragons shoot fire further, Charlie?" Malfoy asked again.
Dudley was surprised, but he seemed to have genuine respect for Charlie Weasley.
"Hungarian Horntail's can reach fifty," Charlie said. "They're possibly the most dangerous dragon species. Great thick horns on their tail too. The back end is just as dangerous as the front."
"Wow," Malfoy said, softly.
And for once in his life, Dudley found himself agreeing with Malfoy. Wow.