A/N: Many thanks to brownlark42 for beta'ing this story!

If you liked this (or hated it) let me know about it in a review!

Thanks to everyone who has left a review! It means so much to me. And thank you for reading!

Enjoy!

Chapter 5

March 2007

Charlie felt like a prize idiot. He had been commuting between the village below where the dragon lived and the reserve for three months. Coming up every other week or so. He thought he knew dragons. He knew he was observant. So when he realized that the issue with Longmu was that she never flew, he felt incredibly blind and stupid for not having recognized it.

For a veteran dragon rustler, it was a sad realization to make. How could he have spent so much time around her over the last few months and not realized that the dragon literally never took to wing? His saving grace was that at least nobody else knew what an idiot he was. It was strange, though. Longmu walked and climbed, and she clearly went out hunting, but she never flew.

Or… maybe he had just never seen her fly? The thought occurred to him as he hiked his way to the cave. He didn't like doing too much magic around Longmu and definitely didn't want to Apparate or Portkey and startle her. It might make for a bad end for him. So he always took the time to hike up to the cave from the village below. Once he had begun making a path, it was quite easy, even if he still needed snowshoes after a fresh snow fell.

Well, now maybe if he could figure out why she never flew, he could help her. Then he could get her to the reserve where she'd be looked after properly. Adult dragons were infinitely more difficult to move around than juveniles, and it was easier if they were at least somewhat willing to go to the reserve. Otherwise, they might just fly off and the whole process would have to start over. Charlie had to get Longmu to trust him implicitly before he could even bring up the idea of the reserve.

Longmu was at the cave when he arrived and he smiled broadly at her.

"How are you girl? Been keeping yourself well over the last few weeks? Sorry I couldn't get here any sooner. Work has been a bit busy as it is and with spring, well..." he trailed off, it was too early to talk about the reserve. "Anyway, thanks for tolerating my absence, girl."

He looked her over, trying to see if there was an obvious injury to her wings or her back. Anything that would make her unable to fly or unwilling to fly.

"What is it?" Her wings looked good. There wasn't an injury to her back or shoulders that would prevent her from flying. So why wouldn't she fly? The only issue he could see was that she appeared a little on the thin side. But being underweight wouldn't keep her from flying. He'd seen dragons with much too much weight on them fly successfully. Musing to himself, he considered what could have happened to the dragon psychologically that would prevent her from flying. For every other dragon he had worked with, flight was pure instinct. Had she undergone something traumatic? Surprisingly, the thought tugged at his heart more than he expected.

He shook it off, and smiled at Longmu.

"Alright, perhaps some exercises would help you gain confidence and strength. Do you mind?" He held up his wand. Longmu peered at him, her eyes narrowed at the wand before she gave one single nod.

Charlie's eyebrows shot up. Did the dragon just nod at him? It was such a human gesture he wondered where she would have learned it.

"Okay, alright, here we go." Charlie used his dragon tamer voice and Longmu fell for it like every other dragon he had ever worked with. He led her out of the cave and to the ledge outside.

"No need to fly today," Charlie assured her. "We're just going to do some exercises."

He used his wand to move her wing in common flying motions, one wing at a time. Once she got the hang of it, she was able to do it on her own. She did it a few times and then looked at him. She seemed to raise her eyebrow, but dragon faces were so rigid it was hard to tell.

"Dragons fly," he told her. "And you don't. So I'm going to help you be able to fly again."

Longmu huffed out a smoky breath and shook her head. Just once. As she had done when she nodded.

Charlie frowned. "Stubborn, eh? I don't think you'll be able to out stubborn me"

Again, Longmu huffed. Then she turned her large body around and headed back inside the cave.

"Oh, no you don't!" Charlie said, using his best dragon tamer voice and was shocked when Longmu didn't even pause. She just shuffled back into the cave and curled up on her hoard. He narrowed his eyes at her. Perhaps she was more stubborn than he thought. He had worked with stubborn dragons before. He was sure with enough time and patience, he would get her to fly. And perhaps it wouldn't hurt to get some of the expensive dragon treats that the reserve kept stocked for more difficult cases.

The next week, Charlie brought dragon treats. Longmu loved them as much as the next dragon and it didn't take him long to get her back out to the ledge. When he tossed a treat into the air, she even went up on her hind legs to snatch it. When she thumped back down, though, she glared at him. Despite the rigidity of her face, he was starting to understand and decipher her expressions.

"Just testing," he said with a smirk. She exhaled smoke directly at his face.

Coughing and suppressing a chuckle, he gave her a few more treats then tossed one over the edge of the cliff. She watched it, then turned back to him with that same raised eyebrow look as if to say, 'that's all you've got?'

Charlie frowned. Clearly he was going to have to try something else.

He began experimenting with foods then, finding what Longmu liked best of all. He tried everything he could think of from tuna to ferrets to weasels. She would eat whatever he brought, of course, but nothing lured her over the edge of the cliff. She didn't even get back up on her hind legs again, instead waiting for the food to fall back within reach.

He was surprised when he finally got around to trying bear, knowing she might have come across one in this part of Romania. That at least got her up on her back legs, but she still let a tasty morsel fall over the side of the cliff, watching it fall with a rather mournful look.

After it disappeared from sight, she swung around and glared at Charlie.

"If you want it, go get it," Charlie told her smugly. She puffed smoke, and this time a few small sparks flew out. Then trundled back down the path that edged the cliff.

Charlie stared after her with his jaw on his chest. It took her almost half an hour, but she finally made it down the icy slope, zig-zagging carefully as she went, and gobbled up the bit of bear he had tossed down there. Then she spat a fireball up at him. He jumped back just in time to avoid getting singed.

Food wasn't going to work. All it had done was fatten her up some, which wasn't a bad thing. He was going to have to go back to the drawing board.

He talked the issue over with Miles but was reluctant to bring anyone else on board. He thought another human might spook her. If it was psychological, how would he get her to fly? He decided he would give it a few months and if he still couldn't make it happen, he was going to have to call in the reserve.

Charlie hated to have to do would much rather bring her to the reserve on her terms, but he couldn't leave her here in the mountains to terrorize the Muggle village below.

"Alright, Longmu, have at it." Charlie dumped a sack of raw goat at her feet. She sniffed it and he shrugged. "Goat's easier to hunt for than bear. Sorry, girl."

Longmu narrowed her eyes at him then spat a fireball at the goat, charring it completely.

Charlie just shook his head. She seemed feistier today and he wondered why that was.

"Ready to go for a flight?" Charlie asked. Longmu snorted and turned away from him, chewing the last of the goat.

"I brought a harness." He held it up and jiggled it a bit. "I figured if you had someone with you, maybe you wouldn't be so scared."

She curled up on her books, setting her head down on her front claws. She gave him one last long stare, then closed her eyes.

"Apparently not," Charlie muttered, putting the harness back into his pack.

Charlie had gotten tied up at the reserve for a couple of weeks in a row. Every time he tried to get away to go see Longmu, something else came up that he had to take care of. It was why he was in a hurry and decided to forego his usual hike up to the cave. Instead, once the dizziness from his Portkey to the village wore off, he promptly Apparated to the ledge outside the cave entrance.

He apparently scared Longmu, who was also on the ledge. She lost her balance, and teetering for a confused second, she flung out her massive wings. She flapped them once, creating a cloud of leaves and debris, and took off.

"Longmu!" Charlie shouted, elated as he watched her fly a slow loop above the trees. He whooped and hollered after her when she didn't immediately come back to the cave. "You're doing it, girl! You're doing it!"

Longmu flew for close to forty-five minutes before she landed back on the ledge, a bit ungracefully, but managing to keep her balance. Charlie fully expected her to be in a good, grateful mood when she got back and he greeted her cheerfully.

She spat a fireball at him, her eyes narrowed as she shuffled past him and into the cave.

"What the hell?" Charlie muttered to himself. He knew when he wasn't wanted, though. Clearly, Longmu was angry with him.

"I'm sorry!" he shouted into the cave, and quickly dove to the left as another fireball came his way. "Alright, I'll leave!" This time he stayed to the side so she couldn't attempt to throw another fireball his way.

He wasn't upset though. Dragons were finicky creatures, and now he knew for sure that she had the ability to fly. He felt sure that the next time he saw her, she would be happy to see him. He Disapparated with a loud crack, happier than he had been in a very long time. He loved it when hard work finally paid off.