Chapter 5: The feeding of a hatchling
A/N: I own nothing except my mistakes. Also, thank you so much for all the love on this story! It's so heart-warming to read!
When Charlie had said at the crack of dawn, he hadn't been kidding. The second that the sun had broken through, he had knocked on her door a couple of minutes later, telling her to get a quick bite before they'd be setting off.
He had explained to her that they woke up this early nowadays, because they simply had too many tasks, and not enough hands to do them, and thus they needed every crack of sunlight they could get. They preferred to have done it all before it went dark, because the darker it got, the more difficult it was to anticipate the dragon's movements.
And thus Hermione had jammed a quick piece of bread into her mouth that had been stored in one of the cupboards as one of the welcome gifts. Charlie had told her as well that she'd be needing to do her own shopping later at the village, but advised against buying too much. Sometimes you'd have to do several all-nighters, and the food would have been rotten by the time you got back.
When they had taken off from the cabins, the sun slowly rising, she had been taken rather by awe as she watched the day develop right in front of her eyes, because by the time that they had arrived at the sanctuary, the sun had now fully set in the sky.
Upon entering the sanctuary, Hermione stumbled slightly on her feet when descending from her broom, but Charlie was quick to reach for her arm as he helped her keep her balance, for which she gave him a grateful smile. "Like I mentioned yesterday, you'll take the first week joining the Caretakers, as a bit of a warm up," Charlie explained, a little bit more business-like, though still with an airiness to keep it a little casual.
Hermione nodded in agreement as she took her broom in her hand as she walked with Charlie to the cages ahead, where she remembered the hatchlings were positioned. "Janet will be your leader for the few days here," he continued, cranking his head a little as he scanned the area with his eyes, trying to locate said-girl, but unable to find her. "At least, that is if we can find her," he mumbled, picking up the pace slightly as he saw another redhead passing in the distance, a large bucket locked underneath her arms along with a net over her shoulder.
"Oi!" Charlie called out, making Hermione wince a little at the harsh sound of it. The redhaired girl in the distance stopped mildly confused in her tracks, looking about herself until her eyes landed on Charlie, and tried to wave rather clumsily as she put the bucket down.
With a few quick strolls they caught up to her, and now the redhaired girl had emptied her hands, having placed them in her sides as she smiled upon seeing them approach. "'Morning to you, too," the girl greeted when they were in earshot, a humouring look on her face.
"Morning, Eve," Charlie said, a bit dismissive as he was still looking around. "You haven't seen Janet, have you?" he inquired, but the girl shook her head. "No, she won't be around until at least tomorrow," the redhead explained, earning her a troubled look from Charlie.
"What d'you mean?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he propped the broom underneath his armpit, widening his stance as he placed his feet a little further apart. "I've got Hermione here, ready to tag along," he finished.
The redhaired girl looked her over, a little hesitant, though smiled politely nonetheless before tracking her eyes back to the other redhead next to her. "Well, what I mean is that she was helping me out, yesterday, and landed herself in the infirmary. Second-degree burns, she's got. Not too shabby, but bad enough to take her out for the day."
Hermione felt her lips part slightly as her eyebrows rose, though Charlie seemed less shocked than she was feeling. She assumed it must be a regular thing to happen here. "Really? Full body takeout, eh?" Charlie asked, and the redhaired girl nodded to confirm.
Whistling, Charlie scratched the back of his head as he nibbled on his lips. "And now what?"
The redhaired girl straightened the net over her shoulder as it was starting to slip off. "We've split tasks, Heather and I. With her being pregnant, she did not feel safe to deal with the breeders, for they had been the reason that Janet was put in the infirmary in the first place," at this Charlie nodded in understanding, "and the hatchlings are a bit too fast for her to keep up with lately. So I've taken it up on myself to handle both hatchlings and breeders."
At this Charlie cocked her a questioning eyebrow. "No one else could help you out?" He asked, seemingly doubtful that the girl could handle it all by herself. Then again, two cages of very active dragons was very ambitious to take up on yourself. "No," the girl said, nodding to the cages in the distance, "the weather is a bit restless, and so are the dragons. They've got their hands full trying to keep them from slaughtering in each other."
"In fact," the girl said, picking up her bucket again as she propped it under her arm, "I think they'd be delighted to see you help them out."
Charlie nodded in understanding. "All right, well, will you manage to take on Hermione for the day, too?"
The girl looked at her, a warm smile now on her face as she chuckled. "Heaven knows that a human is a needed distraction in heated times like these." Charlie laughed, and patted the girl on her shoulder before he turned to face Hermione.
"If anything gets too much, just call me out," he said, addressing both of them, though the girl just dismissed him with a lazy wave of her hand. "No worries, no worries, we'll be just fine," the girl drawled, shaking her head.
Charlie shot her a lopsided smile, then laid his hand upon Hermione's shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze. "Have fun, then, ye?" He asked, and smiled when she did, too, nodding her head, though felt herself taking a sharp inhalation when she felt the nerves growing inside.
With that Charlie took a firm grip on his broom as he ascended it. "Don't burn the place down!" He joked over his shoulder, and then bolted out of sight. The girl laughed as she shook his head after him, clicking her tongue as she put the bucket back down once more.
"I dunno why I keep bothering with this darned bucket, really," she mumbled under her breath, letting the net fall into it. Taking off her gloves, she stretched out her hand and waited for Hermione to shake it. "Nice to meet you, Hermione, I'm Evelyn," the girl introduced herself, then put her glove back on when they released hands.
"Pleasure," Hermione spoke, rather formally, which earned her a snicker from Evelyn. "Please, just keep it casual in here. We've got a bit of a bugger for formalities around here," Evelyn explained gently, and all Hermione could do was nod.
"Nervous, eh?" Evelyn observed, and smiled gently as Hermione nodded her head. "Not used to working with dragons, no," she said truthfully, though an excited grin followed at the thought of it. Although she was nervous, it was also rather thrilling to do something so out of the ordinary. Something so incredibly daring.
Evelyn laughed as she waved her along, closer to the cage of the hatchlings. "I like the look on your face," the girl said, moving for a shabby stall next to the cage, waiting for Hermione to follow, "I sure do hope you can keep it."
Hermione smiled at the girl, and looked at the messy bun planted on the back of her head, a few strands of red hair peeking out as it moved with every step she took. The youthfulness in her face made her think that she mustn't be that older than Hermione. Perhaps even a few years younger, if that were even possible. Or perhaps she just had that eternal youthfulness in her face.
Whatever it may be, Evelyn did not act like she could not handle her responsibilities, as she yanked on a wooden cabinet door, groaning at the effort of it. "Always stuck, this is," she explained, huffing as she raised herself upon her toes so she could reach for a jar to further to the back. "In here we keep the food for the hatchlings, though I see that we should restock this soon.," Evelyn said as she took out the jar and showed it to Hermione.
In it was a jar of moss as well as grass and miniature trees. "D'you have a forest in here?" Hermione wondered out loud, and Evelyn nodded her head to confirm. "Enchanted and reduced, but yes, a forest indeed. We keep the smaller animals which we feed to dragons in here, much like birds and rabbits and rats, all of that sort."
Unscrewing the lid, Evelyn pointed her wand inside and uttered "Accio bunny," and caught the small bunny that jumped into her open hand. With her free hand she put the lid back on the jar, and put it back inside the cabinet, leaving the little door open. "Engorgio," Evelyn said, tapping the bunny, and watched as it grew full seize, being quick to grab it by its ears to prevent it from escaping.
"We usually do the engorgement spell within the cages, just to be safe in case they escape, but I consider myself quite nifty with catching bunnies, so I dare to take my chances," at this Evelyn smirked at Hermione, though Hermione could not afford much more than strained smile.
"Now the hatchlings don't need much yet, though you'll find that they already have quite the appetite once they're about a few weeks old, like they are right now." With the bunny in her hand she opened the door from the stall, then nodded over the shoulder, to the jar. "Mind grabbing that for me?"
Hermione took the jar off the shelf again, holding it tight in fear of dropping it, as she followed Evelyn to the cage next to it. With ease she undid the hook of the cage door, and led Hermione inside, and immediately closed it after them.
"Don't worry," Evelyn said, seeing the hesitant look on Hermione's face as she approached the wandering dragons on the floor, who were adventuring and scavenging for some leftovers. "They've not grown full enough to really burn or injure you. Worse they can do is chomp a finger off, if you keep their lunch in your hands upon feeding them."
Though that soothed her a bit, she still wasn't completely at ease, for Hermione figured that was exactly what they were going to do: feeding the dragons. "Look, I hate to throw you into the deep here," Evelyn said, coming to a halt at a small-sized green scaled dragon, who was whipping his nose as if to sniff her out, "but there's a lot to do today, and not many hands to do it."
At this Evelyn handed her the bunny. "Just grab it by the ears and support its bottom," the girl explained, then laid her hand upon the green scaled dragon to keep it from flying upwards. "Perhaps you can try feeding them, so I can quickly clean the enclosures of the breeders."
Hermione, feeling the squirming of the bunny in her hands, wasn't too sure of her proposal, but figured that she did not come here to not do anything. Besides, she was Hermione Granger. She did not back down for a challenge, even one that required her to feed a dragon.
"What do I do? Just hand it to them?" Hermione asked uncertainly, but Evelyn shook her head. "We're trying to teach them to hunt for their own food, though they're not always successful yet, but we don't want them to get lazy either," she explained. "Here," she said, pointing to the rock next to them. "Place it upon here so it will jump off and little Marley here can grab for it."
Hermione felt glad that her hands did not need to be near the dragon, no matter how small it still was, and put the bunny upon the rock like instructed, taking an intuitive step back as she watched the bunny wait for a moment, as to assess its possibilities, until taking the leap, which was short lived as the small dragon flapped its wings and grabbed the small animal into its beak.
"Good job!" Evelyn complimented, then handed her the jar. "Their diet has gone up a bit, and now we feed them a bunny and a rabbit each. Birds are in here, too, but they are not yet ready for those. Not until they can properly fly, that is."
"You try it," she offered, and Hermione looked at the encouraging smile on the redheaded face, and then pointed her own wand inside after unscrewing the lid. "Accio rat," Hermione said, though was not quick enough to grab it, as it leaped out of the jar and landed upon to the ground. Luckily for her, Marley – which was the name of the green scaled dragon – had already finished munching on the bunny, and had easily grabbed for it and swallowed it hole.
Evelyn smiled as she patted Hermione's back. "No worries, that's exactly why we open the jars in here. Most workers still can't always grab them."
With that Evelyn accio-ed another rat, for the other hadn't had the chance to be enlarged yet, though she didn't bother to enlarge this one either, probably wanting the two small rats symbolize the seize of one big rat.
"All right, we've got a few more common welsh greens over there," Evelyn said, pointing to a group of hurdled dragons hiding behind a sturdy rock, clinging their beaks against each other as they huffed puffs of green. "And a few Romanian longhorns as well as Swedish short-snouts over there and there," she continued, pointing at the two far corners of the cage.
With that Evelyn turned to Hermione. "You think you can manage?"
Hermione, putting up what would hopefully be viewed as a confident smile, nodded as she took a firm grasp on her jar. "Yeah, I think I'll be all right."
Evelyn grinned as she patted her back. "Sweet! I'll be off to the breeders, then. If you need any help, Heather is just around the corner, and if you happen to get injured, just shoot red sparks in the air. They'll come and find you."
Though that wasn't exactly comforting, she did nod in understanding as she watched the small figure of the girl disappear out of sight, and the girl shot one last encouraging smile over her shoulders along with two thumbs-up.
Taking in a sharp inhalation of breath, Hermione slowly released it as she looked about the enclosure. The ground had some grass on it, though not much was left as most had been either scorched or picked out, as well as dented in places where the dragons had rested. About the place rocks were scattered, for either to hide behind, or sit upon.
Following a little further inside, she noticed a small creak parting the cage as it gently ebbed on, seeming in a constant flow, where at the very end of it a small green dragon with big yellow horns was sipping away at it.
Turning back to the small group of common welsh greens, Hermione noted which one was Marley – the little fellow stood out due to a small scale missing at the side of his leg – and then approached the other remaining three, who were all watching her with curiosity.
"Hello there," Hermione softly whispered to them, trying not to make them frightened and angry, as she took slow, deliberate steps. "Care for some food?" At the mention of it they came flying and running to her, even Marley again, too, as if they were as trained as dogs.
Starting out with the bunny, Hermione found them easier to grab, and engorged all of them, handing them the same way she had handed it to Marley, and watched with a smile on her face as they all moved after it, even quarrelling with each other as both were headed for the same one. The dragons remained waiting at Hermione's side, as if they knew that their diet had been changed, and watched eagerly as she clumsily retrieved the rats. One little dragon, a bit of a deeper green than the others, was growing rather impatient, and huffed out a few angry puffs of fire, though her dragon hide boots shielded her enough to not feel any warmth or pain.
When the common welsh greens had indulged in the rats, they slowly left her sides, knowing that lunch time was over, and thus went about with their business again. It made Hermione chuckle softly to herself, as she considered the small creatures quite smart, to be able to detect a routine like that.
With a slow and steady pace she went to feed the Romanian longhorns, who were a little bit more grumpy, and not much for playtime, as well as the Swedish short-snouts, who wanted to know even less about her presence, and only stick around for long enough to get their food. Hermione did wonder if they'd be tough to handle once they grew up, though she figured that within weeks' time she'd experience that first hand herself.
In a way Hermione was grateful for such a slow start with the hatchlings. It was a lovely introduction, especially because she knew that these ones did not yet have the strength to actually kill her yet, or even badly injure her. That was most definitely a soothing thought.
Hermione had spent about an hour or two feeding the dragons, as well as observing and carefully playing with them – the latter consisting of her throwing a stick and them trying to fly after it, much like you'd fetch a dog – until at last Evelyn came in, hair wild and dirty, her clothes mudded as well as smelling slightly burnt, and a rather grumpy look on her face. "Bloody feisty, they are," the girl mumbled, then looked at the content hatchlings fluttering away.
"I see things went well here," she observed, and Hermione nodded in agreement. "Yeah, bet it was much better in here than at the breeders."
Evelyn grinned, "Darn straight."
"All right, all we need to do is get things cleaned here, too, and then I'm sending you off for the day." Evelyn said, a smile coming back to her face as she handed her a bucket. "Already? Sure you don't need any help?" Hermione asked, grabbing hold of the shovel Evelyn handed her next.
The redhaired girl shook her head. "No, the hatchlings got no plans for today, and breeders… well, I don't want to throw you in there on your very first day." With that Evelyn began to dig her shovel into the ground as she lifted a rather big pile of dung onto it and into her bucket. "Besides, I think after a day of cleaning, you'll be absolutely knackered," Evelyn smirked.
Hermione laughed as she looked about the place. "They sure do know how to make a mess, don't they?" She said, seeing the piles of dung and ripped out grass on the floor. "Can't teach them any manners, unfortunately," Evelyn sighed regretfully as she scooped yet another pile into her bucket.
Hermione, grabbing her bucket and shovel, moved to the far back, and figured it'd be best if they worked towards each other, so that they would cover grounds more quickly. Evelyn had been right, though, to assume that she'd feel knackered, because Hermione was already starting to feel the aching in her arms and the blistering on her hands as they had been at it for half an hour, having only cleaned a quarter of the entire cage.
With two more hours of shovelling they had finally cleaned it all, and both girls sighed loudly as they wiped the sweat of their brows, careful to do so with a clean part of their clothing.
"All right, clean as a daisy," Evelyn spoke, though her enthusiasm was rather lost. "Let's empty these buckets." Saying that, she guided Hermione out of the cage as they ascended their brooms, buckets and shovels in hand. Evelyn was much more skilled at it than Hermione, and when the latter had finally managed to get on the broom herself and all her equipment on it as well, she flew rather clumsily as she tried to follow Evelyn, cursing slightly under her breath each time she dipped a little too low and nearly crashed into the ground, much to the amusement of Evelyn, who flew ahead of Hermione, though shot an occasional glance behind her.
It was a nerve-wrecking fifteen minute fly to the cleaning station, and Hermione felt the sweat dripping down her forehead from tensing so much, as well as a blister opening underneath her glove from gripping so tightly to her broom.
"Not used to flying much, are you?" Evelyn asked with amusement. Hermione shook her head, still a little shaken from the flight. "Well, better get used to it. Nothing is close in reach around here," the girl advised, but all Hermione could do was offer her a small smile.
They emptied their buckets at the designated place; a hidden hole at the corner of the room, where a grand opening showed the depths below, and by magic would make all that was thrown in there disappear.
"D'you know your way back?" Evelyn asked, having washed the buckets and shovels and having put it back. Hermione shook her head no. "Well, I can't take you. I've got to stay with the dragons tonight. D'you want me to bring you to Charlie? He might be able to go with you."
"Yeah, all right," Hermione agreed, and once more got onto her broom as they luckily had to fly only five minutes this time.
Charlie was standing inside the enclosure, chatting away with a lad Hermione had not met before, and Evelyn easily made her way inside, calling Charlie over.
A few minutes later they came back, and Evelyn said her goodbyes to Hermione as she got on her broom again, leaving Charlie and herself alone. "Had a nice day?" He asked her, a broad smile on his face as he swaggered to her.
Charlie had unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt, revealing a muddied chest where a droplet of sweat slowly trailed down. Hermione, trying not to stare too much, smiled at the man, though rather regretted looking into his eyes, as he stared back at her almost seductively.
"Yeah," Hermione said, her voice small, much to the amusement of Charlie. "Look, I need to pull an all-nighter here, so I can't take you," Charlie said, his head tilting to the side as if trying to gaze her reaction. Hermione did not expect to feel downstruck at that, but nonetheless felt the disappointment in her chest. She had hoped to tell him all about her experience and the observations she had made, but of course she understood that he had his duties here.
"That's all right, I'll try to find my way back," Hermione consoled, making Charlie laugh. "Don't be silly, Hermione," he said, laying a hand on the small of her back as he smiled warmly at her, "I'll ask Sandra from the medics to go with you. I heard she pulled an all-nighter yesterday, so she'll be free tonight."
Glad to not have to go on her broom by herself and potentially get lost, she nodded eagerly. "Actually, Charlie," Hermione said, before he got a chance to urge her on her broom, "I was wondering.. is Norberta still here?"
"Right! Norberta," Charlie snapped his fingers at her as he grinned enthusiastically, "'course she is. She's right around the corner, actually."
At this Charlie walked over to the cages, a light swagger in his step, and Hermione followed short as she figured Norberta must be in there. "They're a little feisty today, so I don't dare take you inside yet," Charlie said, his voice distant as he tried to peek inside, as if trying to spot the dragon. "But we can fly around the cage and see if we can spot her?" He suggested.
Hermione nodded excitedly, though it wasn't at the thought of flying. She had been rather curious to see how Norberta – previously known as Norbert, Hagrid's dragon from First Year – had been doing.
Charlie, carrying a wicked glimmer in his eyes as he looked Hermione over, almost looked as if he were more excited at the fact that Hermione was eager to watch a dragon than he was to show them.
On their brooms they got, and Charlie guided her upwards and upwards, almost sky-high – at least, that's what it felt like to Hermione – until they reached level with a few other dragons, though not yet the one they were looking for. It was rather difficult to see them, for the inside of the cages were enchanted to be much bigger, so from the outside most what had been stretched out on the inside, appeared blurry on the outside.
Yet, after hoovering in the air for a while, Charlie jumped in excitement as he pointed his finger in the far distance. "There! You see her?"
Hermione carefully pushed herself a little further forward for she was a bit too far behind Charlie, and cranked her neck as she tried to follow his trail of direction. It took her a moment, but at last she could spot an almost pitch black scaled dragon behind the blurriness of a tree, flaunting her large spiny wings, a slim, yet elegant body following.
Her jaw dropped slightly open as she admired the set of light that cast itself upon her wings, adding to her majesty as the dragon soared through the sky. "Beauty, ain't she?" Charlie whispered under his breath, his gaze momentarily on her before retreating back to Norberta.
"Definitely a charmer," Hermione agreed, watching until at last Norberta disappeared from the sky. "And a man-killer, too. No males are safe from her during breeding season," Charlie grinned.
"D'you mean-," Hermione offered, though did not dare to say what she was thinking. She did not have to, for Charlie confirmed it with a massive cheeky grin on his face. "Oh yeah, rips their head right off when she's done."
Wrinkling her nose, she shook her head in an attempt to erase that image from her mind. "Would hate to be on the receiving end of that."
Charlie threw his head back and began to laugh. "You and me both, Hermione. Best to test our lucks with just the humans." At this he winked and Hermione could feel the blush creep up to her cheeks at the thought of that, and was glad to have a Tamer call out to Charlie for help, as well as get the opportunity to escape from sight. Blimey, that man sure made her weak to her knees.