Disclaimer: Check first chapter for full disclaimer and other warnings.

Chapter 33 – Strange Beasts Indeed

Having recovered his ring from Ginny, Harry used its 'going back' feature to transport them both back in Romania, and immediately shape-shifted into his snow owl form. They had decided that it was one of the less intrusive animals to live around wizards. The first evening was quite calm, because everybody was tired. After spending a few hours in his owl form, Harry nudged Ginny softly before flying out. Now that he knew about the changed time frame, he could spend several days without worrying, and he made good use of these days to read more about Ginevra Shaun's works. Despite wanting to know more about the Hideaway structure and actual position, he didn't find anything in the large tomes he perused, and remembered the locked box each time he approached the bookcase. In the four days of self-isolation, though, he succeeded in two of his current pet projects. The first was to activate the ring with his thoughts, so that he could transport without having vocal cords, something definitely useful when stuck with an animagus form. It was much more difficult than uttering the word, though, because his entire mind had to be focussed on the thought in a certain way. His second success was to consciously call forth his elemental vision. He didn't see much around him, though, as there wasn't any other living creature with him at the moment.

After his retreat, he rejoined Ginny as an owl. They then spent the next day exploring the settlement and generally having fun with her brothers, and they made a few discoveries. Charlie had spoken multiple times about his job as Dragon Keeper, but they hadn't imagined what it entailed. The settlement was in a large and thick forest, on a ground made of rolling hills, and the closest muggle town was hundreds of miles away. The hamlet itself included every little shop needed, as well as a Floo service doubling as post office. There was the pub, which doubled as an inn for the occasional traveller. There was the librarian whose wife was the local apothecary. And there was the utilities shop, selling almost everything that wasn't available in the other shops. If you wanted something precise, though, you had to wait for him to fetch him in another town, with an added cost and delay.

The last shop was the most renowned of the settlement, and, in itself, was the reason behind most of the visitors' presence: it sold dragon-related products. Dragons weren't hunted, but, with the proximity of the reserve, the shopkeeper had a supply of material from dragons which died of natural causes. There, thinking about his wand-making job and wanting to try new combinations before making his own wand, Harry assumed a new human face and a false name before buying a few heartstrings from each dragon species, as well as horns from Romanian Longhorn dragons, hide from Ukrainian Ironbelly dragons, and teeth from the Norwegian Ridgeback and the Peruvian Vipertooth species. He then brought Ginny in his hideaway and explained his purchases, before portkeying with her in Ollivander's back office. There, he could store the wand cores in the appropriate containers.

It was getting late in the afternoon, but Harry and Ginny had decided that, should they be stranded in Harry's refuge again, several pieces of furniture would enhance the stay. However, in order to facilitate the purchase handling, as well as to add space, Harry led Ginny to the trunk store situated on top of Madam Malkin's. To the lone shopkeeper, he introduced Ginny as his girlfriend, and asked to buy an enlarged trunk again, but with the added function to adhere to a wall, thus acting as a door. It was a good thing that they had visited the trunks shop before any furniture reseller, because several of these came with the furniture already. The man showed them to the appropriate section, and they had to choose between a dozen models: from the little monk cell with a single bed to the 4-room palace suite comprising a fully-functional kitchenette. Despite Harry wanting the biggest, better, and most expensive for Ginny, he relented to her arguments of necessity, and they finally settled for a single room, although large enough to accommodate a queen-sized bed, a dresser, as well as a desk and its chair. The added benefit of the bulk purchase was that the furniture set was decorated in the same way. Each piece of furniture was adorned with birds, something they joked about, Harry being currently hiding from the Weasleys under his owl form. Harry paid the thousand Galleons required, and they thanked the shopkeeper before leaving directly to Harry's hideaway. After installing the new bedroom, they came back to the dragon reserve to finish their exploration.

There wasn't much to explore per se, as the few remaining houses were for Dragon Keepers. There were a dozen homes for the few keepers who had family, with both parents generally being Dragon Keepers themselves. The unmarried ones shared a large communal house. A last house was reserved for visiting families, and Charlie, after a few years of waiting, had succeeded in reserving it for two weeks. The house was big enough to accommodate every Weasley, even with one room each. Even with the added space, the twins had insisted to share a room, and Arthur and Molly obviously slept together.

The next day, Charlie brought them to see the dragons. The young Weasleys, and the owl which was always perched on Ginny's shoulder, gaped at the sight. Even with Charlie describing his job numerous times, they had never imagined that the dragons were... free. There was no paddock or any other enclosing material. While they looked in awe at the dragons flying around, landing with an earth-rumbling thud, and taking off again, Charlie told them about his dragon.

That got his parents' attention too. His dragon? He began to explain.

Apparently, Dragon Keepers came in several ranks. The newly-arrived, under the rank of Hatchling, had the job of maintaining the installations, sometimes cleaning the dragon's lairs, and learning everything needed for the Dragon Keeper job. After a few months and an exam, they became Flyers, and took care of the young dragons. When they deemed themselves worthy, and when a dragon accepted them, they became Dragon Mate, watching over only one dragon, and interacting between that dragon and the humans. The induction ceremony offered them limited comprehension of their dragon's language. The Dragon Mates were grouped under a Dragon Elder depending on their dragon's species. And on top of everyone was the Dragon Wyrm. All these people worked in good harmony with the creatures.

Charlie began to tell them more about his Mate rank, when he noticed that his audience wasn't quite listening, looking frightfully behind him. Turning around, he noticed that something was heading their way. Something quite large, black, with flapping wings and bared teeth. A dragon was charging them, its bronze horns trained on Charlie, and the ground was trembling.

Charlie didn't move, though. He stood between the dragon and his family, arms spread, and uttered a single word.

"Norbert!"

The name made Ron wince visibly, holding his still-scarred hand. Harry didn't wince as much as owls weren't made to wince. However, he hooted his surprise. There, in front of them, was the dragon they had helped save in their first year. And his sudden stop in front of Charlie and subsequent purring at the man's ministrations showed something that he and Ron hadn't thought possible.

Charlie was truly a Dragon Mate, and his mated dragon was Norbert! Norbert the playful. Norbert whose egg had been acquired by Hagrid two years ago. Norbert who subsequently flew from England to Romania in a box.

The Dragon Mate "introduced" them, and the dragon looked at Ron with a strange expression. Well, only Charlie noticed his strange expression, as others weren't able to decipher the beast's many facial movements. On top of that, the beast began to grunt in a strange way. Only when Charlie grunted back did they realize that it was some kind of a language. Charlie barely had the time to warn Ron not to move, while Norbert advanced his snout and licked him.

The sensation was akin to being licked by a great dog with a putrid breath and sticky saliva. Ron stumbled back before straightening himself.

"I think he simply wanted to thank you, Ron." said Charlie as sole explanation.

"What for?" asked Molly suspiciously.

Charlie looked at her. Then at Ron. Something seemed to pass in his eyes, then he spoke. "He didn't say."

The dragon had finished inspecting his mate's family, and was looking at Ginny with the same look than he had graced Ron. Ginny began to tremble, not wanting to be drenched in a sticky gunk, but not wanting to be eaten alive either should she flee. After all, they didn't know the extent of Charlie's control over his mate. Norbert extended his snout again, and Ginny prepared for the worst, but didn't feel anything. Instead, she felt suddenly lighter, as if a weight had been removed from her shoulder, as if...

Harry!

The owl had been caught by the creature's tongue, and only by a vigorous flapping of his drenched wings was he able to evade the mouth before hiding behind Ginny, hooting indignantly.

Norbert then rumbled some more, moving his head up and down, before turning around and leaving them. As soon as they were between humans again, notwithstanding Harry's animal form, they spoke at the same time.

"What did he say, Charlie?" asked Arthur.

"Blimey! Isn't that sticky!" said Fred, examining Ron's wet clothes.

George couldn't stop adding "Can we have some?"

"Fred! George! You'll behave this instant!" said their mother. She didn't want to shout while being so near to dangerous creatures, but her eyes were yelling volumes.

"No, brothers, you can't have it. Besides, it's quite unstable. I know that the Ukrainian Ironbelly's spit solidifies in a few hours. Norbert being a Norwegian Ridgeback, his spit is poisonous, and-"

"Poisonous!" yelled Ginny. "Why did you let him lick Ron and..." she stopped just in time. She had almost said 'Harry' and blushed, realizing her near slip-up.

"If you would let me finish?" At Ginny's ashamed nod, he continued. "When a Ridgeback wants to thank someone, he generally does it because he owes a lot. When he licks someone that way, the poison goes in the bloodstream through the skin, which takes more time and is not as effective as-"

Fred interrupted him. "I think some of us, myself included, are quite lost..."

"...by your otherwise brilliant speech, dear brother." finished George.

Charlie sighed. "Dragons like Norbert rarely lick people, because it gives those people a time-limited immunity to their poison."

Molly looked at Ron with a gaping mouth, unaware that Ginny was doing the same toward Harry.

Arthur, though, hadn't received the answer to his question, and asked it again. "What did Norbert say, Charlie?"

At that, the Dragon Keeper seemed to think for a few seconds. "It's strange, because I have problems to translate it. Thanking and excusing oneself are quite close in draconic. I think that he thanked Ron and the owl, and he said something about helping someone." He raised his head again. "You see, even with their enormous memory, they seldom speak about the past, even with us Mates. They also seldom explain their actions, which is why we have to learn about the species for so long. Due to my... history with the dragon, I know some things, but..." he looked intently at the owl which was now preening its feathers, "why would he thank or ask excuses to an owl?"

Three days after their arrival, Ginny and Harry were discussing calmly in Ginny's bedroom during a peaceful afternoon. Ginny's parents had left the house to shop at the local warehouse, Ron was meditating in his room, and the twins were god-knows-where. After the licking episode, Harry had told her about Norbert's history, and she had scolded him about the unnecessary risks to his person, before kissing him lightly. He had also started to explain her about his elemental abilities and Luna's theory behind the accidental surges, and since then, they only tentatively kissed, not wanting a repeat of Hogwarts' performance. The few elemental surges that occurred were small enough for Harry to keep control over them.

During their stay around the dragon reserve, they had also taken several strolls in the forest, and added a pair of clearings to Harry's ring. The number of locations was so great now that Harry decided to write them in one of his notebooks and stow it in his hideaway. Hideaway where they spent several hours a day, quietly reading or cuddling. To avoid being discovered, Harry also spent a few nights alone in his hideaway. The time difference now was such that, while Ginny slept one regular night, he could spend three whole days instead of one, waiting for the outside time to catch the morning. During these times, he continued to read the books about Technomancy and experiment. One of those times, he was reading a passage on traps and their neutralization, and his attention got caught by a little sentence.

...and, in several cases, merely applying a strong current can disarm a trapped Technomancy construct, something which...

His finger still marking the page, he closed the book thoughtfully, looking at the mysterious box. After several minutes of pondering, he put a bookmark in his current reading and headed for the bookcase. Heaving the wooden box, he dumped it on the desk and stared at it questioningly. Knowing what would happen, he approached his hand to the lid. The bolt of electricity surged again, but Harry didn't remove his hand this time, exploring the sensation. It had been the evening in the hideaway, and he had been quite tired from a day of reading and exercise, but the bolt which entered through his hand went through his whole body, rejuvenating it on the way. After a few seconds, he felt refreshed and wondered about his element again. Could he 'recharge' himself like batteries did?

Keeping his hand on the box, he switched to his elemental vision, and looked at the box attentively. He couldn't see the inside of it, but the energy flow leading to sparks erupting from the lid was clearly visible. After wondering if he could send this energy in the other way, he decided to try it, and concentrated on his element. Immediately afterwards, the energy surges ceased and a click could be heard from the box. Wondering about its content, Harry tried to open the wooden box but failed, as it was still sealed shut. Sighing, he hoisted it back on top of the bookcase before resuming his reading.

Three days later, while Harry and Ginny were discussing alone in the house, a rapping came from the window, and a white owl came through, before hooting madly at the two of them. Understanding dawned on them as Harry remembered leaving Hedwig in his bedroom in London. The events of the last few days had made him forget about his faithful owl, and she nipped his ear annoyingly.

"Hedwig! Hedwig! I'm sorry!"

Ginny laughed at the owl's antics and, noticing her famished and tired state, left the room to fetch her some owl treats from the kitchen. The house hadn't been entirely empty, though, and during that time, someone passed near the half-open door and saw the back of a black-haired person in Ginny's room, seeming to attack Ginny's owl.

Drawing his wand, Charlie tiptoed in the room, before speaking the Stunning spell.

"Stupefy."

However, Harry's reflexes had been honed by the long time spent in several animal forms, and his muscles worked as well. He jumped on the floor, barely dodging the curse, and whispered the activation word for a nearby clearing.

Ginny's smile upon bringing owl treats faltered when she noticed the shocked form of her brother in her empty room, a short while later.

"What... where..." she couldn't start to formulate her question, not thinking clearly but not wanting to slip up again.

He put his wand away and answered. "I saw someone here, and he was attacking your owl. I wanted to stun him, but he dodged and disappeared. Like that!" He snapped his fingers. "I'm sorry, I couldn't do anything... And then the owl went through the window."

During her brother's explanation, several emotions passed on Ginny's face. Incredulity, realization, anger, pride, amusement, curiosity, and surprise. Fully on his report, though, Charlie didn't see any of it. She dropped the owl treats on the desk and closed the bedroom door.

"Well... looks like she's back already." Charlie pointed at Hedwig's form entering the room again.

He closed the window and tried to catch the fugitive owl, but Hedwig turned around him, hooting annoyingly, before landing on Ginny's shoulder, her leg extended with a message.

Ginny read it, and nodded to herself. She then dropped Hedwig on the desktop near the owl treats and opened the window. In front of her surprised brother, another snow owl entered the room and hooted before setting on Ginny's shoulder. Hedwig looked at the newcomer, but, to Charlie's surprise, didn't compete with the other bird.

"Charlie?"

He looked up. Ginny was looking at him with a mocking smile.

"Uh... yes?"

"Are you alright, Charlie?"

"I'm... I don't know. One moment, I see an intruder, and the next, you open an aviary?"

"Well, Charlie, I can explain." She became serious, and the owl on her shoulder began to hoot restlessly.

"You can?"

"Do you believe in magic, Charlie?" she was openly smirking now, and her brother knew he had been had.

"Very funny." he huffed. The line 'Do you believe in magic?' was often the first used to explain the wizarding world to muggles, generally muggleborn wizards' parents. Using it on a wizard was a common way to insult his intelligence and knowledge of the world. Feeling offended even if he knew her sister had been half-joking, Charlie headed for the door. "Next time you're attacked, don't wait for me, though."

"Charlie?"

"What?" he was still grumpy, but stopped at the closed door, his back still toward her. Unknown to him, the girl was looking intently at the owl, which nodded back.

"Do you believe in magic, Charlie?"

The voice was different, now. It wasn't Ginny's voice anymore. It sounded more like a boy's.

Not quite understanding the change, Charlie turned slowly around, and noticed that there wasn't any owl on his sister's shoulder anymore. Instead, a black-haired teenage boy was standing beside her, smiling, his arms encircling Ginny's waist.

"I guess we haven't really met before." continued the boy. "Allow me... err... actually, Ginny darling, can you do the presentations? It's rather impolite for people to present themselves." he said, his eyes twinkling. Charlie still didn't know who the guy was, but he seemed polite enough, and Ginny was smiling openly, something she would certainly not do if she was threatened.

"I'll do, darling. The gaping redhead in front of you is my brother Charlie. Charlie, the raven-haired wizard next to me is my boyfriend."

"Ginny," said boyfriend asked in mock concern, "you forgot something."

"Oh yes, I did." she answered, before turning to Charlie, eyes glinting with mischief. "My boyfriend is strong, clever, cute-"

"Gin!" A blushing Harry looked at Ginny annoyingly. "I don't think Charlie wishes to know about this."

Said Charlie was a bit lost at the playful back-and-forth banter.

"Right, right. If one can't amuse oneself..." She took a deep breath. "Charlie, this is Harry. Harry Potter."

Charlie was stunned. Surely, this was a huge prank. He turned around, trying to discern where were hidden the twins. Not seeing his fun-loving brothers, he concluded that it must be the truth. "P... Po... Pot... Potter?"

Harry's smile widened, and he turned toward Ginny. "Fred and George owe me a Galleon each!"

"Why so?"

"You witnessed one of your brothers stuttering my name like an old teacher of us – name's Quirrell – and I did bet with them one Galleon that that would have happened. Next one is Percy."

"You strike bets like that without inviting me?"

"Well..."

"How dare you?"

"You weren't around at the time."

"Tell me, Harry Potter, when was the time you were with my pranking brother without me around?"

"I don't know... when you went to the loo?"

"Oh! You ugly prat!"

"See?" Harry asked Charlie, who was still looking at them with wide open eyes. "One second you are strong, clever, and cute, and the next, you're an ugly prat. Truly..."

Ginny laughed, and Harry encircled her waist again, before muttering something in her ear, and she giggled again.

Looking at Charlie, she spoke to Harry. "Do you think we can wake him up, now?"

"I don't know, let's try." taking a quill from the desk, he pointed it and mocked an actual incantation. "Enervate!" Bending toward Charlie's face, he said "See? Ain't work."

Looking at the still dumbfounded face of Charlie, both of them laughed good-naturedly.

The man was far from being dumb, but the quick succession of shocks had pushed him in the state where he couldn't react quickly enough. Recognizing this, the teens stepped aside and started to speak to themselves quietly, giving him some time to recover. When Charlie was done parsing everything that had been thrown to him, he slowly turned toward the muttering couple.

"Ginny?"

Both of them stopped their discussion and turned toward him, smiling.

"Yes?" answered Ginny.

"Is this all true?"

For his answer, she bent toward his arm and pinched him. Hard.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Are you dreaming?"

"No! Obviously!"

"So it's true."

Charlie then looked at Harry. "I should apologize about my earlier attack, then, and-"

Harry extended his arms. "No need, Charlie."

"-and," continued the man, "I should also thank you for giving me my current dragon Mate."

Harry smiled again. "No bother, Charlie. Truly, Norbert is better here than in Hogwarts."

"True, true."

A comfortable silence settled in the room, before the door quietly opened and three redheads entered the room. Ron was displaying a contented smile, and the twins were rolling a strange-looking filament.

"Harry, dear friend!" started Fred.

"Best Seeker in a century!" continued George.

At George's words, Charlie looked at Harry with narrowed eyes. Harry was blushing, and mumbled "Youngest, George. Not the best."

The twins didn't give enough time for Charlie to comment on this, as Fred spoke again.

"Why didn't you warn us about your presence?" he asked.

They finished together. "We would have organized a big party!"

"Sorry, mate." spoke Ron. "I couldn't prevent them from using their latest invention."

The twins beamed.

"What is it?" asked Harry.

They looked at each other, and answered together again. "Extendable Ears!"

"Allow you to listen behind doors..." started Fred again.

"...and can even pass walls or privacy charms..."

"...although only low-level charms and wooden walls."

"Were you listening on us?" asked Ginny in disbelief.

The twins recoiled, suddenly remembering some of Ginny's infamous outbursts, where she could be as frightening than their mother.

"Well, it's still in the development stage..." said George.

"...we are testing it, and nobody was home apart a silent Ron and you..."

"...and when we were ready to leave, Ron arrived and opened the door."

"Nobody else is home?" asked Harry, visibly relieved about something.

"No." answered Ron. "But you will have to notify our parents someday soon, or mum will kill you." Noticing Harry's wince at Molly's obvious future reaction to the news, Ron also added. "Besides, if you didn't want to tell mum and dad, there was no need to inform Charlie."

"Hey!" exclaimed said brother. "I like being kept in the loop, too."

"Well..." interjected Ginny, "Harry's information loop being tightly related to his death, no wonder he doesn't want everyone to know."

"Yes," added Harry, "I already didn't like the press, I can't even start to imagine the stories they would make about me. Low profile, is all I want now."

"Still, why did you tell Charlie?" asked Fred.

"We could have used you as token money or prank material." completed George, looking up in calculation.

Harry and Charlie reacted at the same time. Each aiming at one twin, they slapped the boys' shoulder. "You prats!"

They all laughed then, at the twins' display of falsely deadly wounds. Unnoticed from the others, Fred and George were really wincing in pain, as Charlie, although not as tall as them, had packed quite a punch on Fred, and Harry had made George stumble as well.

They continued to discuss lightly, Harry orienting the chat towards dragons and Charlie being happy to speak about them. After a long moment, Ron suddenly looked toward the doorway pointedly. They all quieted, and heard the entrance door opening and the Weasley parents entering the house. At everyone's questioning look, Harry nodded to them. Ginny left the room and headed for the living room, followed by her siblings, while Harry stayed in the stairway.

"Mum, dad?"

"Yes, dear?"

"I have something to tell you... and..." she hesitated.

"Well, go on darling." said Molly. "You know you can tell us everything."

Taking in the twins' unusually serious expression, Arthur asked "It isn't something bad, is it?"

"No, no. But you should sit down." After they complied, she continued. "Remember when Harry died?"

Molly, sensing the return of a sore topic, went to get up, intending to comfort her daughter, but Ginny extended her hand.

"Let me finish, please? What I want to say is quite difficult." She didn't tell them that it would be more difficult to hear than for her to say, given that she had already spent a long time with him.

"Well, I wasn't convinced that he had died, and the Daily Prophet had also reported that the remains were so burnt that the muggles couldn't identify him, and that there was no remaining magic, thus making the body unidentifiable." Despite the uneasiness of the conversation, she had brought her parents where she wanted: questioning Harry's death. The next step will be easier now. Getting to the door, she opened it. "Allow me to reintroduce you to my boyfriend... Harry Potter." And said boy entered the room.

Harry spent a short time with the Weasleys as a group, and told them as much as he could about his year of absence, without telling anything about his newfound abilities. They were happy to see him again, and especially so as the youngest Weasley seemed quite taken by him. However, Harry saw in Charlie and the parents' eyes that there were many things they wanted to know. It didn't take a Seer to guess which ones. How did he succeed in recovering his memory? How did he arrive in Romania? Was he an animagus?

Even if the last question was quite the rhetoric one for Charlie, because he had seen the owl on Ginny's shoulder, the Dragon Mate and the Weasley parents, felt uneasy enough not to ask embarrassing questions. Especially when, later, Harry seemed to disappear for whole days, Ginny telling them not to worry. Even if that wasn't true, the young girl made them understand that Harry needed the relaxation provided by the forest. However, it wasn't entirely false either, because Harry spent a large amount of time in the trees, watching the dragons move and interact. He went there as an owl, and morphed back into a human, before drawing the different dragon species in great detail.

He would then come back in the evening, before going to sleep in Ron's room, like in the old days. However, the move was only to ease the older Weasleys, because Harry never spent the night there. He and Ginny had decided to spend the night in his hideaway, thus spending three days together in there while the outside world slept obliviously. The nights they slept there, they passed them in their own bed. Even if they liked it very much, sleeping together wasn't something they wanted to do regularly yet. In these times, they read, cuddled, and he practised his control over Lightning, as well as his new dragon form, while explaining her the basics of shape-shifting.

Harry wasn't always around the dragon reserve, too. One of his days of absence was when Harry returned to Luna. After telling her about his experience with the electricity sphere, she was concerned for a bit, but agreed on his explanation. After all, the very first time he had tried to control his elemental power, he had had the most output from his feelings for Ginny.

"Good, Harry. You seem to understand your element better, now that you are able to see it. If you can, try to use your other senses, too. What seems interesting is your ability to actually see into peoples' brain. You see, as a standard Air elemental, I'm only able to hear unguarded thoughts, only Air Masters are able to modify peoples' thoughts. Sorry to tell you that, but you're barely trained, and still, you succeed in seeing Ginny's nervous system, you said? Quite impressive."

She reflected for a few minutes, while Harry was trying to contain his blush.

"My guess," she continued, "is that, with training, you could see or even modify precise thoughts, and even play on nerves, to inflict or diminish a feeling."

Remembering his first courses in Defence Against the Dark Arts and the short lecture about the Unforgivables, but barely believing that he had that power now, he whispered "Like... like pain?"

"Yes, but not only." At his inquiring glance, she continued. "With training, you could inflict a specific feeling. Pain, of course, even if I'd rather you not do that." Looking straight at him, she muttered "But also... pleasure."

His eyes wide, he could only blush while stammering a brief sentence about him not doing that soon.

"You know," started Luna again, "you could train on me, I don't care."

After a few more uncomfortable seconds, she giggled. "I guess you don't want to do that soon. Pity."

They spent what remained of the day training his control over his element, and his resistance to mind probing. The control training was focused on absorbing more and more power, so that he wouldn't be trapped by another great ball of electricity. His mental resistance was tutored in the two ways they knew of: wizarding and elemental, although the former was difficult to test, Luna not having practical knowledge in Legilimency. However, they both read several interesting passages from books on the subject, and Harry started to concentrate his mind on building a defensive membrane around it. His few biology classes had helped him finding this analogy, because he didn't like the concept of building a wall. Walls are breakables, and one can fly over it and dig under it. Walls also restrict one's freedom of movement. Cell membranes were all around the defended cell, blocked unwanted entries, adapted themselves to threats, and still allowed interaction with the outside world.

At the end of the day, Harry knew that his previous amateurish mind sorting had been interesting but insufficient. The imagined paddocks herding his thought had been revisited and refined so that he could access them faster. He left Luna with a feeling of advancing in his knowledge of himself, but with a monstrous headache as well.

Arthur Weasley, being Minister of Magic, had taken only one week of vacation, and he took his leave of his family the same day Harry was at Luna's. The remaining family enjoyed the stay as much as they could, since, apart watching the dragons, they had next-to-nothing to do. The surrounding forest was quiet and offered only a few clearings for family picnics or romantic encounters. Except Ginny, none of the Weasleys had their significant other around though, and they were too old to enjoy more than one family picnic outing.

The twins were getting visibly bored, and that wasn't a good thing. Noticing her sons' state, Molly remembered the last time the two pranksters had gotten bored with a pained smile. Sure, the Burrow had been freed from garden gnome for a long time, but they also had had to rebuild half of it afterwards. That's why, one morning, she privately spoke to Charlie.

"Charlie?"

"Mum?"

They were outside, near the house door, and Charlie had been on the verge of leaving to tend to his dragon. Sensing that the talk was serious, he walked back a few steps.

"What is it, mum?"

"Fred and George are bored, Charlie."

"Uh oh."

"Exactly. As the return portkey won't activate for another week, unless we want a destroyed building soon, we have to provide some activities. I had my share of forest picnics, and I wanted if there was possible sightseeing route around. The post office told me that only the Dragon Keepers were allowed to go further than the town borders."

"That's true, mum. The forest seems quiet, but if you leave the well-travelled paths and clearings, it can be quite dangerous. The ground isn't flat, and many creatures live in there, most of them quite dangerous for us, mere humans. You see, dragons are carnivorous, and the forest is the reserve's hunting grounds. They are also playful and powerful, and they like their meal to... defend itself. Sorry about that."

"What can we do, then?"

Charlie reflected for a few seconds, before his eyes lit up. "I think there could be an interesting day trip for everybody. You see, the dragons living around the town are the adult ones. The young ones live in the nests, situated high in the Carpathian mountain range. As Dragon Mate, I can accompany Norbert when he goes back there, and..." he looked pensive for a moment.

"Yes?"

"I think that, given the size of the fleet, we all can visit the place together. Of course, the twins will have to get a grip on themselves during that day."

"That'd be great, Charlie. When do you think we can go?"

"I will ask to the Elder today, and we could go tomorrow."

"Is there anything to prepare for the day?"

"Apart from a picnic and your wands, nothing."

"Our wands?"

"Of course. It's wilderness over there, and you never know when you'll need it."

She hugged him motherly. "Thank you, Charlie."

"You're welcome, mum. I should be ashamed not to have thought about it by myself."

"Come on! Well... we'll see you this evening?"

"Of course."

"See you, then."

"See you."

Molly Weasley, mother of a large brood of fire-headed children, looked at her son leaving for his daily job, still not at ease with the inherent danger of it. Charlie was an adult now, she reflected, before sighing and returning into the house.

"Weeeeeeee!"

"Yippee!"

Charlie smiled, as Fred and George whooped in joy. Sure, you don't go on a dragon's back everyday. Charlie himself had made that trip, several years ago, and that had been the impulsion he had needed to find his current job. He had never regretted it. Especially now that he had a Mate to take care of. Turning around, he verified that the flock was following.

There had been five dragons scheduled to visit the nests, and each one was equipped with a 2-person saddle. There were five Weasleys remaining, too, which allowed all of them to visit the mountain range. Charlie had dispatched one member of his family per dragon.

With a smile, Charlie remembered that he had been sad for Harry not being able to spend the day with them until he had noticed the owl flying high above them. Remembering his first encounter with the teenager, he had smirked at a blushing Ginny, before taking off, leading the flight formation.

Once at the Ridgeback nests, mid-slope of a high mountain, the other Weasleys dismounted, and the riders told them they'd be visiting their mount's species' nests too, returning in the afternoon. Molly thanked them, wanting them to accept one of her famous cakes, but they took the air before the situation could worsen.

"Okay people." started Charlie, before noticing the snow owl nearby. 'He should work on that,' he thought, 'he's too much recognizable.'

He looked around again, taking in the buzz of activity around the food hampers. Noticing that Molly and the twins were occupied, and expecting Ginny and Ron to know about it, he looked straight at the owl and gestured to it. Said owl comically turned its head around in a very human-like move, before reluctantly flying over to Ginny's shoulder. Charlie then took Ginny by the other shoulder and pushed around a nearby rock outcropping. To her surprise, he then spoke directly at the owl.

"Harry, you can transform back, I won't say anything about that. If mum asks about our number, I'll tell her something."

Ginny looked at him with awe in her eyes. "Thank you, brother."

They hugged, while the owl landed and transformed back into Harry. "Thank you, brother." he repeated, and hugged Charlie as well.

"Now, now," Charlie answered, "you should work your discretion ability. I noticed you since our departure."

"Easy for you." Harry answered. "I didn't know your destination, so I had to fly close, but not too close to be eaten. Life as an owl is quite difficult, I'll have you know."

Ginny took his arm at that moment. "At least, you can fly. Some people don't have wings."

"What do you mean, Ginny? Of course people can't fly." interjected Charlie. "But you said it as if... as if you could have had..."

Ginny blushed and Harry muttered "Uh oh..."

"What?" Charlie was beginning to get confused again.

"Better show him, Gin." said Harry.

She nodded. "Brace yourself for the view, brother." And she transformed into her mountain lioness form.

While she made a few playful jumps around, Harry explained to the flabbergasted brother about the fact that the others knew about her already but they didn't have the time to tell him. While he was speaking, though, the feline Ginny came behind him and grasped the sketchpad which protruded from his rear pocket. While they were playfully chasing each other, a hunt Harry was bound to lose, as he didn't want to transform into anything there, the others walked around the ledge and looked at the scene with mixed feelings. The twins were ecstatic at witnessing their sister's form again. Ron was smiling in his usual way, and Molly was worried about the kids chasing each other on the mountain's flanks. After two more minutes, Harry borrowed Charlie's wand and summoned his sketchpad back to him with a carefully-aimed Accio. Ginny transformed back and returned to the others, pouting. She knew that Harry didn't want to transform in his own lion shape while in plain view of the others, contrarily to what they had done in the forest a few times before, and merely kissed him on the cheek. At the same time, Charlie noticed the content of the sketchpad and gasped.

"Harry! Is this what I think it is?"

The called teenager had made a move to hide the drawing book again, but it was too late, now. Reluctantly, he looked at Charlie. "Yes."

Taking the proffered sketchpad, Charlie was surprised by the quality of the drawings. "You know, there are some dragon books with many pictures in the Keepers' library." At Harry's expectant look, he laughed. "Of course, I'll lend some to you. Your drawings could rival with these, though. Where did you learn to draw?"

"Well..." Harry was uneasy, but he had to say something, and he decided to go as close to the truth as possible. "I discovered that I liked to draw in the elapsed year. I often had dreams about my past and by drawing them, I could remember things."

The Weasleys looked at him sympathetically, something he would have scowled upon if it had been anyone else.

"Now, I occupy my mind with drawing things from the places I go. I like drawing creatures, especially complex ones. This one book is full of dragons." he finished, pointing to the book that Charlie was browsing.

After another ten minutes of discussion on the subject, they finally entered one of the numerous caves leading to the mountains' inside. The rest of the day passed without any incident, as they descended until finding the caves with the eggs and hatchling dragons. After tending them under the watchful gaze of the parents, they cleaned the caves of the young ones, and went back up around one in the afternoon, to find a beautiful crater lake. Even if the trip wasn't prepared, they had their wands, and transfigured some of their own clothing into swimming suits, before spending the rest of the afternoon playing water games.

Draco Malfoy was angry. There wasn't much he could do about it, though. He had already killed two house elves and all the manor's owls in his fury accesses in the previous month, and the remaining small creatures avoided him like a plague.

He didn't even know why he was angry, though, and it was infuriating him even more.

In his rare moments of sanity, he reflected that he was slowly going mad. He tried to Floo to Hogwarts to ask Dumbledore for his help, but his connection had been shut down, and he didn't remember doing it. He couldn't send an owl either because he didn't have any more.

After several weeks of ranting in the empty corridors, he decided to leave the place to go to Hogwarts on foot. Once in the surrounding woods, though, he didn't know where he was, because he had always used the Floo or portkeys to enter Malfoy Manor.

He spent a whole week ambling in the forest, where he lost his wand, until he found a well-travelled road. In his dishevelled state, nobody took him, though, and he continued to err until a police car noticed him. As he couldn't even tell them his name, they took him to the local hospital to be taken care of. His magic was going haywire too, though, and the Ministry finally noticed the surges of accidental magic.

A team of Aurors removed him from the muggle hospital, obliviating the doctors in the process, and they took him to St Mungo, where he was identified thanks to his magical signature, despite its skewed state.

After a few days, he was recognized by a Death Eater spy working there, and Voldemort organized a 'rescue' team to bring him back. Draco Malfoy had uncovered a large number of prominent Death Eaters the previous summer, and Voldemort wanted to take 'care' of him. Personally.

After portkeying back to England, Arthur Weasley went back to his office, wary of the mountains of work he suspected. And he was right. Even with delegating as much work as possible, the Minister had the last word in most important decisions, and a two-foot high pile of reports sitting on his oaken desk awaited his approval.

He sighed and started to work.

At the end of his first day of work, he had answered a full foot of reports from the pile, but it had also grown during the day, and Arthur felt forced to stay in his office to reduce the awaiting work.

Nobody waited for him at home, though; not even Percy. They had taken a quick meal together, his son informing him about the general atmosphere in the Ministry. Percy had also told him, while blushing profusely, about the fact that he was staying at his girlfriend's place. His son being of age, Arthur had agreed about it, but not without nagging for a few details about her. Penelope Clearwater had been a Ravenclaw in Percy's year, and they had started to date since their fifth year. She was now working in the Creatures Department with Percy, and the two of them had been promised to a brilliant future.

Sighing, the Minister of Magic got himself a cognac and sipped on it while reflecting about his descendants for a while. Bill had been dead for two months now, but the pain of his loss hadn't been reduced, especially as they didn't have a body to bury. The Weasleys had been quite lucky during Voldemort's first rise, not losing a child despite their pureblood status and closeness to Dumbledore. That didn't lessen their hurt as well.

Charlie was happy working with dragons, but, apparently, wasn't seeing anyone. Percy was as good as engaged and on the right track to advance well in the Ministry. The twins would always place fun before love, he thought, and as such, would have problems finding a mate. Ron was having one, but Arthur couldn't be sure of their sentiments toward each other. And Ginny...

Ginny had Harry, who had come back from the dead a few weeks ago. Frowning, Arthur sipped some more of his drink, remembering the few chats they had had. The boy had been self-assured, a lot more than when he had seen him right before his second year. He had also been short and to the point, on the limit of curtness, as if he actually didn't want to spill his secrets to them. Arthur and Molly, though, had discussed about it together and noticed a few loopholes in his speech. The morning following their first discussion, they had wanted to ask him about those, but Ginny had sensed their inquiring mind and had quickly dissuaded them before Harry climbed down the stairs.

Arthur shook his head. Not only did he know next to nothing to Harry's miraculous resurrection, but Harry had also asked them not to discuss about him with the Order. Even if he didn't say the whole name, they understood that he was speaking about the Order of the Phoenix. Unbeknownst to everyone, Harry had made several trips to his vault to bring family papers to his hideaway, and had begun to sift through them during his time-enlarged nights. He wasn't done, though, because it was a great large stack of boring papers. Several of them had drawn his attention, as they were letters between his parents and other people, and they were talking about some Order. It hadn't been until he had read half the pile of letters, learning more about his parents' relationships with other people, that he finally found one full wording for the Order of the Phoenix.

Molly and Arthur had hidden their surprise at him knowing about it, and nodded. He had been on the verge of asking them to swear on it, but Ginny had restrained him, and both her parents understood through the youngsters' gazes that they were very much in love. It hadn't prevented Molly to be her usual self, preparing a room for Harry to sleep in, and forbidding night strolls.

The current Minister of Magic smiled at his reminiscence of his wife's temperament, before finishing his glass and returning to his work.

After several minutes into it, a feeling of recognition struck him when he read one of the papers. Digging through the stack of already signed papers, he extracted three other forms with the same content. Apparently, the service issuing them had repeated the deed once a day. With this in mind, he searched through the stack of yet-untreated papers, and found the expected copies for the other days of his leave. He grouped them, and read their content, his curiosity raised. However, his curiosity wasn't to be quenched by the short message.

It was a request for his presence to treat an immediate, but unspecified, problem. He hated when the Unspeakables couldn't express clearly what they wanted. He looked at the clock and noticed the time. 2am. He put the eight similar forms on the side of his desk, intending to go there in the morning, and attacked the remaining papers with a vengeance.

Three hours afterwards, he was soundly asleep on a law amendment request issued by the Department of Transportation.

He slept soundly and got woken up by the smell of freshly grounded coffee. The beverage wasn't one of his favourite, but his secretary knew that, after a night like this, he had to be up and about as quickly as possible.

Arthur thanked her, before finishing his stack of work, thankfully only including a dozen reports now. He then took the eight similar requests and headed for the Department of Mysteries.

He was welcomed by a mere nod from a silent figure in the department lobby. Arthur knew that the Unspeakables weren't answering to the Minister, but it still annoyed him that someone could be so disrespectful to him. Walking swiftly, the Unspeakable directed him through dark corridors, to a quite empty room.

Once there, the caped person closed the door before turning toward him.

"I'm sorry about my previous lack of explanation, Minister, but we have come across a difficult case, and only you can help us solve it."

This was his usual job as Minister, so Arthur nodded gravely. "What can I do? Can you show me the case?"

"Of course." Even through the voice disguise, the smile was unmistakeable. Turning toward the only visible item of furniture of the room, a desk, the Unspeakable removed a tissue from atop something that Arthur recognized immediately.

A pensieve. The Department of Mysteries' usual work tool.

"Just make this memory yours." asked the man.

Said pensieve was almost empty, which was the case when only few memories were in it, and Arthur didn't think twice about it, while bringing the greyish memory to his temple. What happened next was strange. He felt himself thrown in a dark corridor, moved around, and dropped on a stone surface. When he looked around, he could only notice that he was alone in a very large tub. Looking up, however, brought a surprised yell, as he saw his own face looking down at him. He didn't understand what had happened and concentrated, as if trying to exit a pensieve-induced vision. It didn't work, though. After a while, he felt the stony tub moving around, and noticed huge hands holding the sides of the tub. He then started to realize what had happened, understanding that he was actually in the pensieve, now.

Arthur Weasley yelled like never before, refusing his fate. He was thankful when the stony tub stopped moving, but started to feel real terror when it started to tilt. When he slid from the upended basin, the current Minister felt that his last moment had begun. However, he wasn't to die soon, as he first landed in what appeared to be a greyish sea. He was quickly submerged by said sea, and then remarked that the sea was made of other spirits like him. Like Broderick Bode before him, Arthur Weasley wasn't used to fighting in these circumstances, and was swiftly kicked to the bottommost part of the barrel.

The Hell.

To be continued in next chapter: Cooking Lessons...

T'was not time for vacations
Even if they saw dragons.
What is it with the barrel?
You'll see, review, send a roll.