Chapter Six
Hello Beasty
The days dragged by. It had been two weeks since Victoria had arrived at Hogwarts and so far every single day had been painfully uneventful. There was very little she could do to pass the time. With no fresh leads on who could have possibly put Harry's name in the Goblet, Victoria would often opt to stroll through the grounds in between meals, however at the end of the fortnight she could walk it all blindfolded. The witch would actively avoid being seen by students unless absolutely necessary. She could feel their eyes upon her, hear their whispers. It seemed the rumours of her escapades during the Quidditch World Cup had travelled fast.
The only people she felt even remotely comfortable with were the small group of Gryffindor students that had captured her on the night of the choosing ceremony. Barring the first time, they never spoke about any of the rumours; instead opting to pester her with basic and fruitless questions, like her favourite colour or food. Although she was pleased they did not try to force a recount from her, she remained passive and shrugged off every query with one worded answers.
Victoria wanted them to run out of things to question her about. She wanted to be left alone in solemn and silence, but at the same time, the tiniest, feeblest part of her soaked up the solace she found in being welcome. Without fault, breakfast, lunch and dinner, the twins would pull her between them and make sure she ate every meal. They would bicker with their friends and siblings, laugh at each others jokes and every now and then they would ask about her day, what she did, how she had slept, or Fred's personal favourite, if she'd had any interesting dreams featuring them yet. "Bound to happen sooner or later Tora, I mean look at us - we're a picture of perfection," he would boast frequently.
Despite the routine meals her days were dull. However, it was a different day. It was the day Charlie Weasley would arrive with the dragons for the first task and she would finally have something productive to do.
Majority of the students were still in their beds when Victoria marched her way through the halls during the early hours of Saturday morning. Warm rays of sunlight had begun to seep through the dawn's misty cloak. The chilled autumn air carried a frosty bite, the early signs of winter were starting to show.
Wrapping her cloak tighter around herself, Victoria wandered down a muddy and broken stoned path to the edge of the forest. At the end she found the small circular wooden hut that belonged to the grounds keeper. Wasting no time she knocked on the door hoping to rouse the man quickly. She could hear something fall over inside the hut and a string of curses follow, but soon the door flew open to reveal the giant, bearded man.
"Eh, Victoria?" He looked just the same as he did when he welcome her and the Ministry to Hogwarts. Long bushy strands of thin hair tangled together into a frizzy bush around his head. His beard did not fair any better, it even had a few more visible greys mixed in between the brown.
Victoria gave a sharp nod. His wide and tall frame forced him to shuffle his way through the door. The witch stepped back and asked, "shall I call you Rubeus?"
"Most call me Hagrid."
"Alright." She nodded and rocked on her heels. The freezing air had made her cheeks pink and her body shiver. Impatient to get moving again and warm up she prompted towards the forest. "Are we going then?"
"Of cours', let me get Fang." Hagrid blew a loud whistle and a iron grey Great Dane bounded out the door. Fang did not hang around, he went straight for the forest, leaping over broken branches, yapping happily as he went.
Fang and Hagrid lead Victoria down a thin worn path, as they trekked deeper between the trees she lost sight of the trail. A sense of worry passed through her, she had no idea where she was or how to get out. In that moment the witch was relying on a complete stranger; something she hated doing.
Eventually they reached a large circular clearing which was occupied with a three sandy coloured tents to the far left side and a line of four metal barred cages that held dragons to the right. Two young men were milling about by the tents chatting between themselves, unfortunately neither of them were the man she wanted to speak to.
Leaving Hagrid on the tree line, Victoria stepped carefully trying not to disturb or unintentionally threaten the enormous beasts. However when she got closer her brows crinkled. Strangely enough they looked as if they were asleep. As uneducated as she was about the creatures Victoria knew that dragons would never be this relaxed around other dragons, humans, or in a new place and they were exposed to all three.
Although one might think the witch was lost in her curiosity, Victoria heard the distinct sound of approaching footsteps crunch the twigs beneath their feet. She tensed ever so slightly but allowed them to come near nonetheless.
"A special dragon friendly sleep draught keeps them under for a few hours, just long enough for transport. It makes my life a little bit easier," said the newcomer.
Victoria glanced over her shoulder and there stood behind her was Charles "Charlie" Weasley grinning like a kid on Christmas Day. The similarities to his family was obvious. He had the trade mark features of freckles, brown eyes and ginger hair. Except his bronze locks were slightly dark than his siblings and he chose to wear it in a bun at the nape of his neck.
"Good morning, Mr. Weasley," she greeted with well practiced formality.
"Mr. Weasley?" He chuckled lightly. "I thought you didn't care about introductions."
Victoria rolled her eyes at his subtle mention of her rude behaviour at the World Cup. "There is a time and a place for everything."
"Can't argue with that." He huffed amused, the bright smile never faltering. Charlie was noticeably taller than Victoria, his muscled frame dwarfed her when he positioned himself by her side. Waggling a finger in her face, he continued, "but you know my name -"
"I was briefed."
"- and I don't know yours. That's not fair." Charlie ignored her little interruption and placed his hands on his hips whilst he looked at her with an exaggerated faux authoritative frown.
Victoria stared at him and silently thought, he is definitely the brother of the twins. She theorised that the best way to deal with him was exactly like his younger siblings - to the point, with obligated politeness.
"Victoria Nightingale."
"Wonderful to meet you Victoria Nightingale." He adopted his grin once again and offered his hand in the traditional greeting.
The witch pulled a tight smile and overlooked his hand, "the pleasure is all mine."
"Merlin, you're difficult," muttered Charlie. She was sure he meant to keep his words to himself but she could not stop her trained hearing from catching them. Choosing to disregard the comment, the witch tentatively stepped closer to the dragons, wary of her every move.
All four were all tucked into tight balls however, there was enough of them still visible to enable her to identify their features clearly. Charlie had brought a range of dragons with him. The first to catch her eye was a magnificent forest green dragon that had pebble like scales covering the entirety of its body. Pointed horns were scattered in different sizes around its long skull and down its spine.
"Have you never seen a dragon before?" Asked Charlie. Her gazed flicked to him long enough for her to catch his look of amusement. His grin gone in favour of a mirthful smirk.
"I work for Barty Crouch, of course I haven't." Victoria shrugged. "I've only read about them."
"Come on." Charlie tipped his head towards the dragons, urging her to follow him with a small wave. "This is one of my favourites - the Swedish Short Snout."
Charlie crouched down level with the head of a rather elegant dragon with smooth, leathery scales that were pale blue almost silver in colour. Its pointed face was surrounded by six white horns. The biggest two sat on top of its head curling neatly back. The other four horns were considerably smaller and split equally between each side of its head.
Much to Victoria's surprise the handler lent in closer to the bars and stroked the dragon down the length of its nose. He smiled fondly at the beast as if it were a prized horse. "She is definitely the sweetest of them all."
"It won't hurt you?" Victoria tilted her head, amazed that Charlie was able to touch a dragon without suffering a mortal wound.
"Oh she'd take a bite out of me if she were awake," he chuckled and drew his hand away. "Even so, she's less likely to try a harm people out of spite."
It made sense, dragons were famous for being untameable.
"This one," Victoria pointed to the dragon with the sleek scarlet scales mirrored the colour of phoenix feathers. Golden spikes crowned its snub-snouted face, the horns changed in length from the largest at the back of its head to the shorter horns that surrounded its small circular eyes. "It's the Chinese Fireball, right?"
She had read about this dragon. Its origins and ability to form rounded fireballs instead of a stream of flame had entertained her of hours.
"Yeah." Charlie brows rose, he was shocked and a little bit impressed at her knowledge even though it was basic.
"They are known to be one of the most aggressive," she stated confidently. "They'll spit fire at just about anything."
He chuckled at her. "I suppose, you're sort of right. But out of this lot, the Horntail is the one you have to watch out for."
"Horntail?" Victoria queried, looking to him for an explanation.
"The Hungarian Horntail. Regarded to be the most dangerous. Highly aggressive, especially when it comes to protecting their young." Charlie announced. He pointed to the black dragon next to the Chinese Fireball. Covered in rigid black scales from snout to tail. Sharp horns protruded at random angles all over its body. Its club like tail carried spikes that were much bigger than the rest and looked like they could easily maim or even kill someone with the slightest flick. Victoria pitied which ever champion was unlucky enough to face this dragon in the first task.
"You know it kinda has me worried," admitted Charlie. His walnut eyes had lost all mirthfulness in trade for a heavy frown and plain unease.
"Why?"
"Well for one I doubt any of the champions have ever tried to get past a dragon before let alone doing it unprepared. And secondly, I thought the first task was supposed to be the easiest?"
"It is."
"Bloody hell. I suppose it is a good thing you're here to help them out, huh?" He flashed her a small grin. It was undoubtably forced and used in the hope of lightening the situation.
"Well, it depends on how generous I feel on the day," said Victoria. She shifted her gaze back to the dragons for a minutes before changing the subject. "My knowledge is somewhat lacking on these creatures; how do I stop one if I need to?"
Charlie appreciated the switch of topic and answered instantly, "a blinding spell would work, but personally I'd go for a good distraction."
"Simple enough."
"Simple? Conjuring physical forms is difficult magic, even for a talented wizard." He crossed his arms and smirked before teasing, "are you sure you're up for it?"
"I can do things you wouldn't believe." Victoria boasted, holding her head high and letting an arrogant smirk pull at her lips.
Charlie licked his bottom lip between his teeth and inched closer to her. Barely a breaths distance apart, he allowed the corner of his mouth to twitch into a smile. "Would you like to show me?"
Victoria was hyperaware of the space between them, or lack there of. He was close, too close. Her lungs stalled and her mind screamed for her to run away. Appeasing the yearn she stepped away, consequently surrendering in their little game. She huffed a needed breath and said, "in your dreams Weasley."
"Oh, it will be." Charlie flirted back without missing a beat. He was unbothered by her dismissal and remained a confident player in the game of wits.
She rolled her eyes at his toying smile and reverted her attention to an approaching presence. One of the other gentlemen on site strolled over with a lopsided grin. Despite the chilly morning, he had only the faintest blush of pink on his olive skin. The thick cloak he wore must have protected him from the cold much better than Victoria's Ministry robes.
"Charles, are you going to introduce me to your pretty friend?" His French accent was evident but not heavy. He threw an arm over Charlie's shoulders, it was an awkward angle due to the height difference. The new handler was closer to Victoria's stature than he was Charlie's.
"Marc, this is Victoria." Charlie introduced her. He then leant on his friend's shoulder, eyeing Victoria and whispered loudly, "the Ministry is doing a spot check to make sure we know how to do our jobs."
"So do we pass?" Marc asked, flicking his fringe of thick black curls from his eyes.
Victoria shrugged. She was not really here to check anything, only welcome them to the grounds and make sure they had everything, but she played along, "so long as you all remain dragon tamers not dragon chasers,I don't see there being any problems."
Both of the handlers laughed at her unprofessional answer. Pulling his arm back to his side Marc said, "as much as it pains me to leave your beautiful presence, we must depart - it is feeding time Charles."
"Ah, the best part of the day," the ginger haired wizard groaned. Marc chuckled and gave his shoulder a friendly slap before leaving them.
"You'd best be off, its about to get loud and fiery around here." He gestured her to follow him towards where she had entered the clearing.
Victoria raised a brow at Charlie's declaration. He was supposed to have complete control of the situation, fire and chaos did not make promise of that.
"Relax, we know what we are doing, you however, do not," he said when he noticed her expression.
When they reached the tree line Charlie turned to her and admitted, "you know when I got the message about the Ministry sending someone to welcome us, I didn't expect you."
"Disappointed?"
"Not at all."
Victoria let a smile of her own lift the corners of her lips. She hummed a pleased sound and spun towards Hagrid leaving the oldest of the Weasley children behind. However, before she walked out of hearing distance she shouted back, "don't let the dragons escape Weasley, or it will reflect badly on all of us."
The pleasant sound of Charlie's laughter bounced off of the trees and Victoria retreated from the forest feeling a tingling of happiness.
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AN: Whoops, I'm shipping the wrong ship.