Book 3

Chapter one: Romania

It was a night like many others. There was a heavy rain falling down, which urged most people to stay indoors. Even thunder and lightning came into play. Most people would do well to finish their business, close their windows and get cosy inside. Unfortunately that wasn't an option for Alicia Doreen.

She hadn't meant to start a fight; really she didn't. But when they started throwing punches how could she decline to give them what they deserved? Why three wizards and one witch were fighting without magic was beyond anyone's understanding. Maybe it was because the men were partially drunk and the woman was rusty with duelling spells.

She ducked just in time to not get her teeth knocked out. The heavyweight wizard was drawing back his arm and preparing for another blow. The witch had to be quick. The other two men were temporarily distracted – one was stuck in a barrel the other was nursing his bloody hand – so she had to get this guy on his ass too. Three to one was going to be tricky.

'Why won't you stand still little witch?' the man said with a gravelly voice. He kept trying to punch her but she kept twisting this way and that to avoid it. She was almost having fun and getting reckless when she lost her footing and was too slow to dodge a fist to her jaw. She heard bones snap and felt a sharp pain running through her head. She was thrown back and hit a pile of crates.

'Shit,' she muttered, holding her jaw. The skinny guy was back in the game again. 'Double shit.'

'You bit me!' he squeaked as he held his hand up. He would have a nice scar in the shape of her teeth.

This was taking too long. She picked up an empty bottle from the street and charged the two men like a raging bull. This scared the little one but not the big one. As the little one got out of her way, she dived down and hit the big man's shin with the bottle. It broke against his leg. Pieces of glass were stuck in his flesh.

He howled in pain. The skinny guy was looking perplexed at her quick movements. Within a second she had ran the broken bottle over his leg too, and now both of them were crouching down.

'Alright. Time for some-,'

How stupid of her, to forget about the third one. Arms circled her from the back. He pressed her body tightly to his.

'Caught myself a bird! A nasty bird that is too free. Maybe we should clip your wings!' he hissed in her ear. Of course all these men found themselves so witty and clever. But he hadn't considered the rain.

'Careful, or the bird will slip away,' she told him with a seductive voice. He was leaning in to listen to her, when she knocked her head back. She heard a crack and was sure she had broken his nose.

Then she fell to her knees and because of her soaked leather coat it was impossible for the wizard to keep his hold on her. She slipped between his arms like an oiled baby and kicked out at his crotch. He went down.

She got up. His hold on her had been so tight she might have cracked a rib. Blood was running from her mouth and she felt sore all over. Then she finally got her wand out.

'As I was saying, Time for some magic.' She pointed her wand at the big man first and knocked him out. The skinny guy was next.

'No! Please, no! I have children!' he pleaded as he tried to crawl away. However he kept slipping on the cobblestones and fell back to the ground.

Alicia crouched down and placed the tip of her wand against his cheek. 'I bet they are real proud of their daddy. Impedimenta!' His head was knocked back against the ground and he fell silent.

The third one, a guy in his forties sporting a moustache and partially greying hair, was still holding his precious parts in his hands. He seemed ready to be knocked out. She hoisted him to his feet.

'What? You are not going to stun me?' he asked, more perplexed than angry.

She flashing him a brilliant, dangerous smile. 'I need one of you silly. You are going to open your storage for me and give me back all the horns you stole. And if I don't count twelve of them, you won't end up as lucky as your friends.'

With a heavy thump Alicia dumped the duffel bag on the table. Mihal unzipped the bag to see it full with sawed-off horns.

'That will be the last time these men are dealing in Romanian Longhorn-horns,' she told them confidently.

Mihal, Christian and Charlie were staring at the bag. It was Mihal who spoke first. 'I didn't expect you to be back so soon. Well done! How is your jaw?'

She touched her face softly and winced. 'Could use some mending.'

'Christian,' Mihal suggested. He came over and placed his wand to her cheek.

'Auch,' she complained.

'Don't cry Fata foc. Episkey.'

There was a weird sound and it felt like someone had tugged on her jawbone very hard but then the pain subdued.

'What did you do with them?' Charlie asked. He ran his index finger and thumb over his chin in a thoughtful gesture. He was still getting used to the stubble he was growing out.

'Tied up and obliviated. As per usual. Now can I go take a shower? A hot one?' Alicia felt a lot of sore muscles and just wanted to get comfortable for the evening.

'No eggs?' Mihal asked. Alicia shook her head. Then they all heard an excited sound from outside the hut they were standing in. The door stood ajar and opened further as something sped through the entrance. The creature was the size of a small goat. It ran around until it found Alicia and curled around her ankles.

'It still astonishes me,' Christian said in wonder. His eyes were big as he looked down.

'I guess more women should join our forces. Who knows how many creatures will see them as mommies,' Mihal joked.

Charlie sighed. 'I just wish you had given him another name.'

Alicia opened her arms and picked up the young dragon. 'Never,' she replied to Charlie.

It was an unique case. Dragons were always dangerous, always vicious and always off-limits to cuddle. However, when a traveller had brought an egg in last year and it had hatched with Alicia present, the creature had imprinted on her. It was only ten months old now, so it still had a lot of growing to do. For now it was a perfect pet-sized dragon. But one day that would prove more of a challenge.

'Opaleyes are getting rarer by the day. But this girl has one as a pet,' Christian said to no one in particular. He was biting his nails. A lot of people in the camp had never seen behaviour like this before and were at an utter loss as to what to do with it.

'He is not my pet, he is my friend. For now it is easy to have him half running half flying around the camp. But soon things will have to change. Or I wake up one day in my cabin without a roof.' She stroked his back. Small stumps started to appear along his spine where one day big deadly spikes would protrude. Antipodean Opaleye dragons were not among the most aggressive dragon breeds, but to see them as a pet would be a mistake. It turned one beautifully multi-coloured pupil-less eye to her. Sometimes she thought she could see star constellations in those eyes.

'We'll deal with that later. Good job on the retrieval tonight Alicia. I am still sorry for involving you,' Mihal said. Alicia looked away. 'It's alright. But I'm going for that shower now. Don't wake me up until noon.' With that she stepped outside.

It was still pouring. She clutched her new child to her chest as she made her way to her own cabin. The Romanian Dragon Sanctuary was an international institute run by a small group of people. They had a huge reserve known to muggles as Ceahlӑu National Park. Away from the trails that hikers could take, warding spells were set in place to protect the innermost part of the area. They had snowy mountain tops and deep lush valleys. Waterfalls and dense woods. It was the perfect place to hide huge magical creatures. A couple of kilometres away from the village Durӑu started the camp for the dragon handlers. The camp often reminded Alicia of what American summer camps looked like in movies. They all had their own cabin complete with kitchen, bathroom and work desk. Alicia had decided on one a little remote from the rest. Her hut was higher up the slope of the hill. She liked to be alert and from her window she could see the entire camp.

Once inside, she left her muddy boots by the door and walked on in her drenched socks. Her pal curled himself up on the sofa while she made her way to the shower.

'Now don't go chewing on my furniture again!' she threatened. There was no response from the other room. She peeled off her soaked clothes and dumped them on the floor. All she wanted now was to get under that hot water. Soon enough she had turned on the water and steam was rising in the bathroom.

'Aaahhhhhh,' she exclaimed happily as the water washed down her back. She looked down and noticed that apart from dirt, also blood pooled around her feet. She found a cut in her hand. She figured it had happened when she broke the bottle against the big man's leg.

'At least those will heal,' she said to herself.

After a long and comforting shower she stepped out and wrapped a towel around her waist. In the corner stood a floor length mirror that was slightly fogged up now. She ran her hand over it and watched her reflection. There was a nasty bruise on her chest. It didn't feel painful enough for a broken rib, but it could be a contusion. She decided to go to the medic cabin tomorrow first thing.

Despite the change in Alicia's behaviour over the last year, she still added wounds and scars to her body on a regular basis. Some scars she could recall, others were wiped from her memory. Since she had visited Hogwarts she had gained many more, including a wound that had chipped off part of her ear. Her arms were the worst, followed by her legs. Her torso was relatively fair apart from one diagonal claw mark on her back running to her hip. Her neck was still fine and most of her face too, apart from the chip off her ear and the very prominent line on the right side of her face. It started just below her eye and ran down over her cheek, jawline and partially onto the neck. The cut was a lot deeper than the rest, and it didn't heal the same. Where the others became silvery lines that were not too visible, this one remained red. Alicia traced the line down with her finger… remembering when it had been inflicted. She had been so scared it had hit her eye… that she would be partially blind…

A thump in the living room brought her back to the present. She stopped looking at the mirror and dressed in her pyjamas. The Opaleye had knocked a book off the table, but otherwise everything seemed fine. She smiled down at the creature and made sure it ended in the nest she had made for him. It was really just a pile of sheets mixed with some leaves and straw to not make him too domestic.

'One day you will not fit in here anymore. One day you will have to sleep outside like every other big dragon,' she told him with a pointing finger. Right at that moment lighting struck and thunder followed. The dragon snuggled into the sheets and closed his gorgeous eyes.

'But at least that is not today. Good night Charles.'

The smell of something sweet was waking her up. Sunlight was streaming in through the window panes. Someone had opened the curtains so she would wake up with the sun.

'What is that smell?' she asked without opening her eyes.

'Oh did I wake you? Sorry darling. I was making you Belgium Waffles. Do you want them in bed?' a disembodied voice asked her.

'Yes. But first I want you back in bed,' Alicia said firmly. Then she chuckled and opened her eyes. Remus Lupin was in the process of climbing back in the bed. Alicia threw her hands up and around his neck to pull him close.

'Waffles for breakfast, the most handsome man in my bed. What did I do to deserve this?' she asked while kissing him on the nose.

'Nothing,' he replied.

She giggled. He gave her a hard stare. All the love was gone from his face. 'You did nothing. You don't deserve this.'

Startled, she sat up in bed. 'Remus what do you…' she looked around and saw that his feet were dipped in a red liquid. Horrified, she stepped out of the bed. The floor was covered in blood.

'Remus!' she cried out. He just sat there, staring at her. His pupils dilated and she could see a golden shimmer in them. He was transforming. 'No one will help you Alicia. Because you didn't help them.'

He pointed towards the door. Alicia walked towards it, slowly. Actually it seemed to go on forever. Then she looked around the corner and saw a body lying on the stairs. It was Harry Potter.

'No!' she screamed. She tried to cry but no tears would come out.

'I know they are fake tears,' Remus said from behind her.

'They are not!' she protested. Harry's neck was lying in an impossible angle as his green eyes stared up at the ceiling. There was suddenly another staircase going up to a floor that never existed in their house, but the moment it was there it seemed normal. Two men were walking down. Sirius Black and Albus Dumbledore.

'You could have prevented this,' Sirius said while he looked down at Harry. 'You could have taken his place.'

'If only you had turned into a bird and flew over in time,' Albus said while he laced his fingers together. Then he hummed to himself and walked down the stairs, not very careful to avoid stepping on Harry.

She turned back to look for Remus, but he was now covered in tufts of hair. His eyes were hauntingly yellow. He shot forward ready to attack her.

'NO!'

Cold sweat was running down her forehead. She trashed around in the sheets until she was free from them. Her heart was beating in her throat and it took her a full five minutes to realise it had been a dream.

She has had dreams about Remus before. About the werewolf thing and even about Sirius. But nothing came close to this. To a dead Harry, lying on the stairs like Remus had told her James had died. Not the blood and the comments about it being her fault. This was just a bit too real and it scared her even as she was sitting safe in her own cabin.

A glance at the clock told her it was eleven A.M. Ever since she started working here she had been fond of sleeping in. There was so much hard work to do every day that she really valued all the sleep she could get. No more early riser like she was in school.

While she was making breakfast she started to calm down. After all, it had just been a dream. A vivid nightmare…but it wasn't real. Her hand was still shaking while she brought the spoon full of cereal to her mouth but with every passing minute she felt better.

Charles followed her out the door like an obedient dog. By the time Alicia smelt the pine trees she was back to herself. The aches were still bothering her but she planned to do something about that. As she walked through the camp everyone greeted her happily. There were no more inappropriate jokes, no more 'oh miss let me help you with that, it looks heavy'. She had integrated fully and this place was her home. It really felt like a new family.

Virgil stopped her to ask whether she could help out with the new Norwegian Ridgeback that was brought in a week ago. It had been wreaking havoc in a city in Norway where the team had to obliviate a couple hundred muggles. The local ministry was still working on the obliviation, but the R.D.S. had relieved them of the dragon. The aggressive Ridgeback was currently picking fights with other dragons.

She told him she would be there soon after her medical check-up. Also she had to bring Charles to his cage. To bring a tiny dragon along with big dragons present was a problem for everyone involved.

The healer informed her that she had indeed not broken any ribs, but that the extra pressure was making it harder for her to breathe. He gave her potions and salves for all her injuries, and declared her good to go.

After Charles was locked up her long, tiresome, dangerous workday would begin. For most people it would be mental and physical torture.

For Alicia Doreen, it was paradise.