THC/The Houses Competition
House:Gryffindor
Category: Standard
Class: DADA
Prompt(s): [Isolation] To set apart from others. Can be imposed or self-inflicted. [Animal] Dragon
Word Count: 1112
Summary: Everyone tries to make Norberta fit in until one night, Charlie Weasley decides to do just the opposite.
Title: Norberta
Norbert became known as Norberta when Charles Weasley discovered that he was a female dragon and was violent and ferocious than the males. Norberta was a lovely Norwegian Ridgeback dragon that was named after her birthplace: the coast of Norway.
When Norberta was just an egg she was passed around until she landed in the hands of a half giant named Hagrid. A couple of weeks later she hatched in a small hut located on the grounds of Hogwarts. She resembled an old, crumpled black umbrella with large spiny wings, a skinny body and a long snout with wide nostrils, horn stubs and bulging orange eyes. Hagrid immediately adored her as a parent would, as if he laid her egg himself. Within a couple of days of life, the dragon developed black ridges on its back and a browner texture in its scales.
Hagrid spent his days looking after the little dragon in his hut, mixing a bucket of brandy with chicken blood every half hour for feedings as recommended in his book "Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit". His love for the dragon grew each day. Hagrid, who had always wanted a dragon since he was a little boy, finally got his wish. However, as the young dragon grew, it became too violent and dangerous to keep.
Hagrid would receive little nips and burns from his creatures here and there, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. He had received far worse than a couple of nips of burns while caring for sick and injured creatures for the majority of his life. One evening when Hagrid's friends Ron, Hermione and Harry were visiting him, Norberta went after Ron's hand as the boy tried to pet it, and sank its fangs deep into his skin. Ron ended up going to the Hospital Wing due to the venom the dragon carried within its fangs.
It became clear that Norberta had become too dangerous to keep around. The chance of the dragon attacking a student was too high. Hagrid was distraught, but he had no choice other than to send the dragon to Charles Weasley, who worked with dragons in Romania. Charlie offered up a safe place where Norberta would be able to grow, be with other dragons, and be able to do what came natural to dragons.
Hagrid hoped and prayed that Norberta would be alright, that she would be able to make friends with the other dragons and live the life she deserved. Sadly, that didn't happen. The moment Charles released Norberta, she was shunned by all the other dragons. Being bottle fed by an over-caring half giant, Norberta never developed the social skills she needed to bond with the pack.
Norberta spent her days huddled in a corner, making herself as small as possible in an attempt to get the other dragons to not notice her. Her food was constantly being taken away by the other dragons, mostly the Chinese Fireball, also known as the Lion Dragon, who was the leader of the pack. Charles noticed over time that the other five dragons that were in the sanctuary did all the leader told them to do. The Antipodean Opaleye, Common Welsh Green, and two Hungarian Horntails took all their aggression out on Norberta when there was a disagreement in the pack.
The Norwegian Ridgeback was one of the more gentle dragons out there. Due to her tame nature, Norberta backed down as the other dragons attacked instead of standing her ground. This made her the perfect target for the others: a punching bag that wouldn't fight back.
Charles Weasley tried many times in many different ways to get the other dragons to accept Norberta, but all of his attempts failed. Each time the other dragons would attack, and sometimes Norberta would end up seriously injured due to the brutality of the attack.
Charles soon lost confidence in his ability to keep Norberta safe. It was clear that the other dragons were not going to accept her, and it was apparent that Norberta wasn't going to fight for her place in the pack. He feared it would only be a matter of time until he came in to work to find that the other dragons had killed Norberta during the night.
Charles did something in his career that he never thought he would do. It was a stupid idea because if anyone ever found him culpable, he would lose his license and would never be allowed to work with dragons again. There was also the possibility of him ending up in Azkaban for endangering human life. Despite all of these dangers, he couldn't let Norberta die.
That night Charlie waited for everyone to leave, saying his goodbyes like he did every evening. This time he didn't take the floo, instead he made his way into Norberta's enclosure and took off the tracking device that all dragons were required to have once they entered the facilities, along with a collar that sent off an electrical shock if a dragon made its way too far out of bounds. Once the devices were off, Charles left the door open and went home, knowing the blame for the door being open would be placed on a defective charm along with the tracker and collar. No one would even look at him with suspicion. Charles was the longest and most hard working employee; he outshined everyone else. He never did anything against protocol, he always followed the rules. He was friendly and loved by all the staff not to mention everyone knew he cared deeply for the dragons' well-being.
The next morning, when Charles made his way into work, it was obvious that Norberta was able to fulfill his plan and escape. Alarms had been going off all around the facility, alerting everyone that there was a dragon on the loose. Authorities were called and a manhunt was formed. due to a faulty 'charm', and that she had removed her tracking device before flying away.
Norberta was not found. After weeks of searching for the escaped dragon, it was confirmed that Norberta had left Britain. All search parties were called off. Things went back to normal pretty quickly. The only things that changed were the charms that were placed on the dragons and the facilities for better security.
As months passed, Charles thought about Norberta and where the dragon might be. He hoped that the young dragon would find its way back to its homeland, off the coast of Norway, and he hoped that Norberta would be able to live a good life.