Lost Magic
Ivy woke up the next morning from dreams of dragons. Delightful aromas curled round her head and filled her nostrils. She arose to find a soft flannel bathrobe that was just her size hanging on the back of the screen. Wrapping it around herself, she rounded the screen to look upon the breakfast scene.

The lounging furniture in the sitting area had been replaced by a round table and chairs. A small sideboard nearly sagged under the weight of platters of eggs, bangers, mushrooms, tomatoes and toast and beans. Charlie was at the table, indulging in a scone dripping with marmalade while he looked over a large parchment scroll.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," he said. "Remember me?"

She snerked at him.

"Did you do all this?"

"It's the tent actually. I've begun calling it mother because it takes such good care of me. Nice robe."

"I suppose I'm being taken care of as well."

"Help yourself to some breakfast," Charlie offered. "I'm just going over some of the things I need to take care of today."

Ivy filled a flowered china plate at the sideboard. The food looked fantastic, freshly prepared, the bangers still sizzling. At the table, she found a cup of tea, made the way she liked it.

"Who did you say this tent belongs to?" she asked in amazement. Charlie laughed.

"An old family friend," he said. "Someone with an interest in fantastic beasts. She was only too happy that one of the Weasley children took an interest as well."

"So, what's on the agenda for today? What do you wizards do when you're not living in the lap of luxury?"

Charlie laughed long and hard, though Ivy couldn't quite understand why.

"Lots of hard work," he said with a gleam in his eye. "That's what's on the agenda for the day. So fuel up," with a nod towards her plate.




After breakfast, Charlie packed up a bag and picked up his broom.

"Are you ready to fly?" he asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, the area where I'm working today is quite a distance. I really don't feel I should leave you here alone so if you want to come along, we'll have to fly there."

"Is it safe?" Ivy sounded dubious, but Charlie laughed.

"I've yet to fall off. You'll be fine."

On a grassy space outside of the tent, Charlie mounted the broomstick and showed Ivy how to get on behind him. Although she saw only a stick, she seemed to feel a seat beneath her. She wrapped her arms around Charlie's waist and with a kick, they were up in the air.

"I'll hover a little so you can get used to the sensation." They flew lazy circles a few feet above the tent roof then began to rise alongside the trees that surrounded it.

"Should I look down?" Ivy asked.

"I usually do," Charlie said. "How else will I know where I'm going?"

Ivy took her eyes from the back of Charlie's head and slowly looked out across the valley. Too much, she thought. She gradually turned her eyes down to the campsite. This was better.

"It's not that I don't feel safe," she told Charlie. "You seem to know what you're doing."

Charlie laughed. "Well, I was captain of the Quidditch team at Hogwarts."

"Captain of the what at where?"

"Muggles!" Charlie said in mock exasperation and began to soar out over the valley. He travelled much slower than he normally would have and tried to maintain a steady flight path. Ivy watched the scenery go by. After a bit, Charlie warned her.

"I'm going down to check on something. Don't worry, we're not falling."

They made a smooth descent to a dry and scorched area of grassland. After they dismounted, Charlie leaned the broomstick against a tree and took some vials from the bag he was carrying.

"I'm going to take some soil samples here," he told Ivy. "An area like this may be indicative of dragons fighting over territory, something we try to avoid."

Charlie marked the vials and packed them away for later analysis. Soon they were back in the air. The second ascent was swifter than the first and Ivy felt it in her stomach. Knowing what to expect, though, she enjoyed it a bit more.

She had flown with a friend of her father's before, a former crop-duster who'd turned to aerial photography. She had even stretched out in the belly of the plane to look through the small door where the camera was usually mounted. "That's the closest you'll ever get to flying like a bird, Ivy," the man had told her. How wrong he was! Then she had been cradled by metal, the plane fighting against the wind to maintain its course. Now, she and Charlie seemed to be held up by the wind itself and they flowed along with it, rising in warm updrafts, hopping to cooler currents to descend.




Their next stop was a valley floor surrounded by mountainous rock walls riddled with cave entrances. Steam rolled from some of the caves.

"I'm going to leave you down here while I inspect these nests," Charlie said. "If I find one that I feel is safe for you to see, I'll be back for you."

Ivy got her first look at apparation then. One moment, Charlie stood next to her and the next, she saw him standing at the mouth of one of the caves. He moved from cave to cave like that, all along the valley, disappearing and appearing. He checked all the steaming caves; some, he entered, others he watched from outside for a few moments before disappearing again. After quite a while, he reappeared at Ivy's side.

"Let's get on the broomstick," he said, "And I'll show you a dragon's nest."

Up they flew to one of the steaming caves and landed on a rock shelf outside the mouth of the cave.

"There's no one sitting on this nest at the moment so we can take a look."

Charlie took her hand and led her towards the cave entrance. It grew darker and darker as they walked back into the cave, but Ivy could see a faint light farther along. Finally, they were in complete darkness, but for what seemed to be the glowing embers of an oversized campfire. Charlie took out his wand.

"Lumos!" he said. Instantly, light flooded from the tip of his wand. Ivy could see the egg now, large, a gorgeous deep red shot through with gold flecks. Its bed of smooth river rocks glowed along their undersides like charcoal. The steam rose from them.

"The dragon lays her egg here on a bed of stones. When she needs to leave the egg for any reason, she gives it a blast of fire and heats the stones. That keeps it warm for several hours."

"Ingenious," Ivy said.

"Dragons are quite intelligent," Charlie said seriously. "This is a Chinese Fireball. Isn't it beautiful?"

"It certainly is," Ivy agreed moving in to marvel at the beautiful lacquered appearance of the surface. She could only stand that for a few seconds due to the heat.

"There's a real trade in Fireball eggs even though it's been declared illegal. Actually, dragon eggs in general, but these in particular are highly prized. We're trying to alleviate some of that by retrieving the shell after a hatching."

"Have you ever seen a hatching?" Ivy asked.

"No, I haven't been that lucky, but maybe someday," Charlie said with a wistful smile.

"What's do people want with the eggs?"

"The shell itself goes for spell or potion components. Our retrieval program can help with that. Of course, many just want the baby dragon itself. We'd better go. No sense pressing our luck as far as timing goes."




They flew out of the barren, rocky valley into greener country.

"Think you could do with a spot of lunch?" Charlie asked. "I've got some heavy work planned for the afternoon. Need to build up my strength."

Soon they were landing on a grassy mountain plateau. Evergreens fringed the edges of the field and a rocky stream flowed down from higher elevations.

"Brilliant spot for a picnic," Charlie declared. He began to pull things from his bag--a red & white checked blanket, a basket of food with a long baguette peeping from the top, various utensils, plates and bowls.

"Brilliant picnic," Ivy said, borrowing one of his expressions. "Have you always loved dragons?" she asked between bites of hummus.

"I think I've always loved the idea of dragons," Charlie began. "Ever since I was a small lad. They seem to define the power of magic, you know? They're these monstrous hulking things and yet they fly with unparalleled grace. And in school, if my spell went wrong or my potion didn't work, I'd think about the dragons and I'd try again. They were sort of my symbol of perfect magic, something to work towards."

"That's beautiful," Ivy said quietly.

"And besides," Charlie gave her a mischievious grin. "They're so bloody cool!"

"Did you have dragons at home when you were growing up?"

Charlie nearly choked on a mouthful of tapenade.

"Crikeys, no! A dragon is not a pet. Did you have lions at home growing up?"

"Point taken," Ivy said.

"Even a skilled wizard needs specialized training in the handling of dragons. But I have been fascinated by beasts ever since I was a child. I remember the time me mum found the gnome I was keeping in a shoebox."

"Ooh, a gnome," Ivy said, her voice dripping with honey.

"Yea," Charlie said, making a face. "You know how they say young children haven't developed a sense of disgust? Poor mum. Of course, it only got worse for her the older I got. I think she was secretly thrilled and relieved when I got into Hogwarts and finally had an outlet for that sort of thing. Or at least an alternative place to keep the creatures."

"What's Hogwarts?" Ivy asked. "That's the second time you've mentioned it."

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's where I went to school. But what about you? Any pets at home?"

"I grew up on a farm so there were lots of animals around, but not many were considered pets. We had barn cats and a string of watchdogs. When I was in grade school, the teacher read us Charlotte's Web. It's about a girl who rescues a baby pig and her father lets her raise it. Well, sort of. But anyway, we had cattle not pigs and I always hoped for a baby calf of my very own but it never happened. Of course, I did gain a fondness for spiders because of the book."

"Oh, spiders! My youngest brother hates spiders and I'm afraid I might have had something to do with that. After I declared Care of Magical Creatures as my major area of study, I thought it would be a good idea to set up a study program over the summer. And I chose spiders--well, Sicilian Magical Spiders. They catch dreams in their webs instead of insects. I got a pair through mail-order and I bred those into a small colony. Things were going fine until I left for a holiday visit with some cousins. I wasn't sleeping in my room, so no dreams. I guess the spiders got hungry because they migrated down the hall. Poor Ronnie woke up webbed into his bed! The spiders were harmless, but he was just a little tyke at the time. He could never abide them after that."

"How scary that must have been," Ivy said. "What does a dream look like in a spider's web?"

"Well, that depends on the dream, now doesn't it?"




When they had finished and spent some time resting in the sun, Charlie wrapped the picnic items up and returned them to his bag.

"I'm working up in these woods this afternoon," he said. "If you want to stay here and enjoy the scenery, you can."

Ivy got to her feet. "Oh, but shouldn't you keep an eye on me? Besides, I'm ready for a walk."

They hiked into the woods and upwards until they came to a small stone villa. It was in disrepair, but Ivy could see that it was once quite lovely and lavish.

"We're restoring this as part of our outreach program," Charlie explained. "Visitors will be able to stay here with an interpretive guide so they can get a better view of the dragons and the habitat they require."

"No muggles though," Ivy said. Charlie ignored the remark.

He took off his robe and laid it atop a stone wall with his bag and broomstick. Under the robe, he wore khaki workpants, a striped sweater and leather boots. Ivy thought that now he looked just like any guy she might see back home.

Well, not just any guy, she thought.

She realized then that she was becoming fond of his friendly, freckled face and the alarming shock of red hair. Oh, dear, she thought, but he's the enemy! Well, sort of.

As she meditated on this turn of events, Charlie went around the corner of the house and came back with a wheelbarrow and some shovels.

"What's all this then?" Ivy laughed.

"Well, sometimes I just like to get my hands dirty," Charlie shrugged. "I've been working on repairing the entry walk. The flagstones are made of local rock, but it's been scavenged in the past and what's left was heavily damaged. I've been piecing together replacements and I think I'm ready to lay the stonework."

"How can I help?" Ivy asked.

"Oh, I wouldn't expect you to," Charlie said. "It's hard work and a little silly to do by hand, I suppose...."

"But Charlie, that's the way we Muggles always do things. We're used to it. Besides, I owe you something for lodging and the wonderful meals you've given me."

"No, you don't," Charlie insisted and then, amazingly, blushed. "I've enjoyed meeting you and talking with you."

They looked at each other from across the yard in awkward silence. Ivy began to feel dizzy.

"Well, I want to help anyway," she finally declared. Charlie looked relieved to have the moment over. He took the shovels from the wheelbarrow and handed one to Ivy.

"I'm digging a bed for the stones now," he said. He took a moment to retrieve his wand from his robe and with a wave and a word, a thin line of white light traced the area that would be the walkway. "We need to dig this out to a depth of eight inches."

They worked in silence for a while until Charlie spoke.

"Many wizards would think this work foolish. Well, most wizards, actually. But I find that when I do things by hand, it improves my magic processes when I go back to it. It's like I really understand what I'm trying to accomplish with my spells then."

"That's interesting," Ivy said. "I studied another language in school and I felt much the same about that. It gave me a whole new understanding of English."

"What did you study?" Charlie asked.

"Spanish. El español," Ivy replied and did a little mock-flamenco in the dirt.

"Ooh, that's lovely!" Charlie exclaimed. "I've always wanted to visit Spain. We Brits tend to yearn for sunnier climes."

"Well, we should fly down this weekend for tapas," Ivy joked.

"Maybe we should," Charlie said, off-handedly.




Dusk snuck up on them and the air began to turn cool.

"We should pack this in and head back," Charlie said. "It'll keep."

They walked out of the woods carefully as it was getting quite dark under the trees. In the clearing, the sky was lighter and as they rose into the air, they could see the sunset beyond the mountains.

"Oh, it's beautiful!" Ivy cried. "Charlie, could I ever fly a broomstick?"

Charlie was silent for several moments.

"No, I don't think so," he said somberly.

The flight back to the tent was quiet after that. A lovely supper was waiting for them, but Ivy found she didn't have much appetite for it. Charlie tried to jolly her into taking some more, mimicking his mother for her, but she refused.

"I have some history books of the area that show what the villa looked like in its original state," Charlie said after dinner. "Would you like to take a look at them?"

"No, I don't think so. I think I'll just...." Ivy was interrupted by a whoosh of air as the tent flap flew back and a large owl flew in. It landed on the desk where it dropped a parchment.

"Good evening, Tobias," Charlie said.

"What's that?" exclaimed Ivy.

Charlie gave her a strange look. "It's an owl."

"But what's it doing here?"

"Oh, right. Well, this is Tobias. He makes deliveries for the preserve. He's a wizard letter carrier. He's undoubtedly brought me some paperwork, but that's lucky. I can send back the soil samples I collected today with him."

Charlie took the paper from the owl and dug in his pocket for a treat.

"Wait here, Toby, and I'll have something for you to take back," Charlie said as he smoothed his hand across the feathers of the owl's back. He picked up his pack and took it into the workroom behind the desk. Ivy edged closer to the owl.

"Hello?" she said. The owl blinked at her and clacked his beak once. She held out her hand as if offering it to a cat or dog to sniff on first meeting. Tobias seemed to roll his eyes before he gave her a small peck on the back of her hand.

"Aren't you lovely?" She whispered. The owl preened. When Charlie came back, Ivy was stroking the beautiful mottled brown feathers and the owl was twisting and bending to offer up favorite spots for a scratch.

"You two are getting on," Charlie said, smiling.

"Oh, Charlie, he's magnificent!"

"I have to agree with you there. It's not easy being a small flying creature on a dragon preserve. But Tobias is quick and clever. He's never missed a delivery."

"He's beautiful, too! We used to have an owl in our barn when I was a kid. She roosted way up in the rafters and it was an awesome thing to see her come flying out of the big barn door at dusk, on her way to hunt."

Charlie laid the package aside and they both fussed over the owl for a time, feeding it treats and stroking its sleek feathers.

"Well, he's making no secret of it," Charlie remarked. "He prefers you."

"Mmmmm," Ivy purred as she held her cheek close to Tobias for a gentle peck. "I think we knew each other in a former life."

Finally, it was time for the owl to go. Charlie gave him his package with instructions for delivery. The owl beat its wings and flew from the tent.

"I think I'm going to pack it in for the night," Charlie said as he began moving the furniture about for the Dormiabonas spell.

"I'll see you in the morning then," Ivy replied. She lingered at the screen watching him for a moment. He wasn't conventionally handsome; she liked that. But he had a friendly face with a broad smile. She liked watching his eyes, the way they reflected his honest emotions. And he seemed to have a kind and passionate soul. I came here looking for dragons, she thought to herself. But what else have I found?