Grand Prize Winner

by MuggleBeene

Moving back to the UK was supposed to make life easier for Charlie Weasley, but instead of just having the expected struggles of managing a new dragon reserve there's the unexpected surprise of winning a contest he never entered. A contest from a witch's magazine he's never read before is going to change all of his plans. Non-Canon, not part of the Professor Muggle series.

2. A Long Day

A Long Day

Lily Potter was having a very nice dream, thank you very much. She was very tall, taller than Albus and much taller than James. As she sat in a big, squashy chair with blue and pink flowered fabric Kreacher brought her a big bowl of ice cream. Then her dad was making James leave to go clean something nasty the Muggle way when she felt herself being shaken. Moving between dreaming and wakefulness she shut her eyes tight, hoping that James would leave her alone and she could get back to her dream, but another shake on her shoulder made her wake up all the way.

"James, stop!"

"Not James, pixie."

Lily stretched and looked up to see her Uncle Charlie at her bedside. "Huh?"

Charlie laughed. "Come on, Lils. You're helping me today. Put on some old clothes. I'll be in the kitchen."

After closing the door to her bedroom Charlie snickered. Ginny had agreed, and if the two of them had learned anything from their father, it was how to make a point. Making his way downstairs he glanced at all the photos his sister had arranged on the staircase wall, photos of the family at different occasions; weddings, parties, birthdays, Christmases, and for some reason he'd stopped at one of the last Christmas photos from the Burrow, one he hadn't seen yet. There, all arranged by the tree, were the Weasleys. And Potters, he corrected himself. But there they were, with their families, George and Angelina, Ron and Hermione, Percy and Audrey, Bill and Fleur, Ginny and Harry...and then him standing next to his parents.

With a shrug he continued downstairs, the light of the kitchen brighter as he came closer. It was quiet, except for the sound of a rustling paper, and he nodded as Harry motioned towards the coffee pot. After opening a cabinet he took out a coffee mug, poured about a half cup, and sat down.

He knew that look on Harry's face, his body language, as he'd seen it many times before on the reserve; the look of a person who had been up all night for several days consecutively. Even though you could sleep during the day with the help of some potions it took ages to get acclimatized, and then just when the internal clock had aligned the shift changed.

"She's not a morning person."

Charlie took a sip of coffee and sat the mug down. "Don't know too many who are, honestly. So if I tried this with Al or James..."

"Never work. They might get out of bed at ten or so."

"Summers." Charlie nodded. "Oh, to be a kid again." He paused, and thankfully Harry didn't say anything. Sometimes he forgot about Harry's childhood, to be honest. It didn't hurt that Harry looked exhausted. "How's the night shift?"

Taking off his glasses Harry leaned back in the chair. "Boring, honestly. Just a couple of minor things and paperwork." Glancing at the kitchen clock he sighed. "Figures that you and Ginny cooked this up and then she'd stay in bed. Planned this for when I'd still be up. So why exactly are you here in my kitchen at half five?"

"Punishment, actually."

"For you or me?"

"Your daughter." Charlie reached into his back pocket and pulled out the little notebook, then put on his spectacles. Flipping through the notebook he came to the spot he was looking for and tapped it with his finger. "I've got some things to do on the reserve, nothing dangerous, mind, and Ginny's using Dad's tricks." He saw Harry's confused expression and continued. "When you'd mess up at home, for something fairly big, Mum would yell. You know Mum, sent to your room, cleaning by hand, etc. And when that was done you'd think it was over, wasn't too bad, no big deal. But the next morning at the crack of dawn there was Dad, waking you up, and he'd make you do chores. Nothing bad, but it was so bloody early, and it was just torture. I had to help sort the shed one time. He'd just make sure you were doing stuff and then after that he'd take you for breakfast, just the two of you. The whole time you'd be eating you'd be dreading the lecture. Sometimes you'd actually get a lecture, but, a Dad lecture. And it felt horrible, disappointing him, and then sometimes you'd have breakfast and get all the way through it and when it was over he'd just put his hand on your shoulder and say 'well, I think you'll do better next time, eh?' and that'd be that."

"That's Arthur." Harry paused, as the sounds from above the kitchen indicated that, shockingly, Lily was up and moving. "But Ginny's never said anything about punishment breakfasts."

"Pffft." Charlie laughed. "Yeah. Right. When she wakes up ask her about the time she secretly put Floo powder in the twins' jackets and told them to go jump in the fireplace."

"No."

"Oh yeah. They did something to one of her dolls, don't remember exactly, but she dared them to jump in the fireplace. They ended up at Muriel's."

Harry's laugh was cut short as his grumpy daughter walked in, wearing a pair of jeans that had a hole in one knee, untied trainers and one of Albus' old t-shirts, hair pulled into a very untidy ponytail. She sat at the table for a moment and then sighed deeply.

"Is this because I entered Uncle Charlie in the contest?"

"I don't think so." Harry's tone was matter-of-fact. "I'll talk to your mum later, but I'm guessing this is because you sold my signature. More importantly, not only did you sell my signature but you lied to me about that signature. Today you're going with Charlie and you'll do whatever he says. Lily." His tone was much sharper. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, Dad." She sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Mmm-hmm. Right, then. I'm off to bed." Harry stood up, looked at Charlie and winked. "Try to return her with all her limbs."

As Lily looked up somewhat worriedly Charlie nodded, stroking his beard. "Not a problem. St. Mungo's can regrow fingers. It'll be fine."

-ooo-

The morning sun was now bright in the Welsh hills as Charlie sat at his desk in the barn. He was on his second pot of coffee, making his way through the damnable contest folders, when he realised that there was no noise coming from the far end of the barn. The end where Lily was working.

Taking off his spectacles he sat them down on the desk and stood up, imagining that Lily was off taking a nap. She'd been a good but reluctant worker, sorting the small dragon scales into the cauldrons. Dragons shed scales constantly; one of the ways that various reserves across the world helped defray expenses was the sale of the smaller scales to potion shops. Unfortunately, there was no way magic was useful for this task, as the properties of the scales were affected by magic. For potions the scales needed to be separated by colour, then size; it was one of the tasks that keepers disliked, as it was busywork, but it was a necessary evil. Charlie had figured that it would be a good Arthur-like task for Lily with the added bonus of rewarding his keepers with one less job for the week. As he walked into the end of the barn with the cauldrons he noted that the pile of scales was gone, all of the cauldrons were appropriately full and his niece was nowhere to be found. Brilliant. At least they were at his place and not the reserve. No dragons about...

He stopped and sighed. Putting away his spectacles he went to the back door and opened it, expecting to warn her away from the self-heating cauldron he'd just purchased for the pocket dragons, but instead stopped short, his warning caught in his throat.

"One hatched!" Lily held up her hands, a tiny blue dragon cupped inside. "It likes me!"

"Fuck." He muttered it quickly and then went over to her, kneeling down to inspect the hatchling. After a moment he hurriedly put on his spectacles and ran a hand over his beard. From what he'd read in parchment from the keeper he'd received the eggs, a clutch hatched all at once. More importantly, he remembered one of the important points of the report, and one of the reasons he had kept the eggs so close. "How'd you get it out of the cauldron?"

"The big gloves from the barn. I came out to take a break because I never thought dragon scales could be so boring. I wanted to see how they were doing, and then one started moving and then it cracked and I saw a foot."

"Hmmhmm. So you just decided to go back into the barn, get the gloves and pick up the egg without telling me." He watched her face fall and a worried expression crept over her face. "But you got excited, didn't you?"

"Yeah!" Her eyes went bright as she moved the dragon into one hand and put out a finger, which the tiny dragon crawled upon. "It's so cute! Oh." Her brows knitted. "Is it a boy or girl? I don't know how to tell."

"Tell you what, pixie." He stood up. "Let me check the other eggs, get another cup of coffee and we'll find out. Just stay here, ok?" After taking a look at the remaining eggs and not detecting even an iota of movement he went back into the barn, mentally cursing the entire time. Once he'd poured the last of the pot into his cup he looked up at the clock. The new pocket dragon was going to mess up the schedule. It was going to be a long day.

-ooo-

The conference room at the hotel was filling up slowly, much too slowly. As Katie flipped open her notebook and began thumbing through the pages she was hoping that her body language was saying 'sit somewhere else.' The tables in the conference room were arranged in a U-shape, with an easel set up in the center, so she sat on the end of the table, with only one seat next to her. Concentrating on her ideas of how to mix specific broom enchantments the sound of the chair moving beside her caused a glance up with hope, and then relief.

"Couldn't just do this with an owl, had to make a production. Typical. Don't know why I'm even here." Warren sat down next to her, his long hair pulled up into a ponytail. "How's it going?"

"Alright. You?"

"Bit tired. Thing in Norway last night. At least the food was good." He smirked and then elbowed her. "Here comes your bestie."

In horror Katie looked up and saw Lavender. Lavender dressed in lavender robes. Lavender who was waving at her. Lavender who walked across the room, conjured a chair on the end of the table and sat down next to her.

"Oh hello again, Katie! Warren. Isn't this so exciting! Progress reports on everything and then we start Phase One today. I do hope that..." she paused and then looked at Warren. "What is it?"

"Split ends, if you're lucky."

As Lavender worriedly discussed her hair with Warren, Katie could feel him slightly kick her under the table.

And then it got worse.

The meeting lasted for over two hours, two hours full of the most twittering inanity that Katie fantasised about all of the different hexes she would use on the assembled lot. The Squad. Once the meeting ended they would all portkey to Wales and then all of the plans would be set in motion, the changes to the house, the garden, the first official photo shoot; everything would begin. Lavender had been utterly annoying as she gave her presentation on the interior design, causing Warren to kick her again as the display showed an utterly incompatible plan for an all-white, modern interior. Katie couldn't imagine anyone actually living in a place like that, let alone a dragon keeper. She thought of Charlie walking around in a place like that and had to stifle a laugh.

But then Warren kicked her again, but hard. She looked over to him and realised that everyone was quiet and, most importantly, looking at her. She sighed, got to her feet, and went to the easel, tapping the wide canvas with her wand. At this point giving a presentation on a broom design was second nature, she could do it in her sleep. About ten minutes in, when she was on the details, she glanced at Warren smirking at her and then saw Hannah Abbot nod towards the others and saw that all of the others had a glazed-over expression. Giving it up as a hopeless case she summarised what would be a further ten minute discussion by saying 'and then the charms are combined and the broom is finished.' Tapping her wand against the canvas all of the broom illustrations ceased. Half-hearted applause was heard so she sat back down.

The last presentation was the writer witch who was happy to bring out all of the recent press clippings, the headlines and photos that had been very popular with the wizarding populace. As she was trying to figure out an excuse to get out of the day it was obvious that they were too late, as a length of rope was passed around the table.

"You wouldn't happen to have that flask, would you?" Katie gave Warren a pleading look.

"Bit early for that." Warren shook his head. "Don't worry, the renovation wizards will have a tea trolley set up on site. Or, knowing the fashion bunch, there will be some guy in expensive clothes with a snotty attitude making tiny coffees. Have to keep the Squad caffeinated."

"Brilliant. It's gonna be a long day."

-ooo-

Lunch had been crap, no two ways about it. A bunch of 'healthy' things that wouldn't satisfy a crup puppy, and those things ate just about anything. Charlie sat out in a tent, in a barber's chair, as the big bloke ran his hands through his recently washed hair, still hungry.

"Good news is I doubt you'll ever go bald, so don't have to worry about that."

Charlie nodded. "Good, Dad's pretty much bald except for the fringe around the side and back. Older brother's looking a little thin these days, though."

"You're fine." Warren looked at Charlie in the mirror. "So what do ya want?"

"Aren't you supposed to tell me that?"

After shrugging Warren ran his hands through Charlie's hair again. "Most of the time, yeah. But you aren't my typical client. I mean, you'll look good, that's guaranteed, but I'm not gonna make you look stupid. You're a dragon keeper, man. That's badass. Besides, how much time do you really spend on your hair? Don't bother, I know." He paused. "Tell you what I'm thinking. You want something easy, something you don't have to maintain, and if you have to put on the dog and pony for investors or whatever will clean up quick. Right?"

"Merlin, yeah."

After thinking for a moment Warren stepped away from the chair, returning eventually with a small tub in one hand and a brush in the other. "So here's what I'm thinking. Your hair's decent length now, why not grow it out? I'll cut it so that it'll grow in a way that'll make it healthy and won't need much fuss. You can pull it back for quick everyday work, then when you have to get money from the old school witches and wizards you can do the bow in the back thing. Revolutionary...sorry, don't know if it is still a sore subject in Britain, but think old school. Lot of ways to do it. But this..." he held up the tub "...will help. Strengthener and a protectant all in one. Quidditch players like it, for you the plus is that it's heat-resistant..."

"CHARLES WEASLEY!"

Warren stopped mid-sentence and looked in the mirror at Charlie, who had closed his eyes and sighed. The tent flap flew open, followed shortly by Ginny and Lily in the lead, James and Albus close behind followed by what seemed like every other person on his property. Ginny had Lily by the arm, pulling her along as Lily cradled her other arm close to her chest.

"CHARLES OSBERT WEASLEY WHAT IN THE WORLD IS WRONG WITH YOU, GIVING MY EIGHT YEAR OLD DAUGHTER A BLOODY DRAGON?!"

Charlie turned the barber's chair around, facing his sister,. and held up his hands. "I didn't give her a dragon..."

"Then WHAT do you call THAT? A PIXIE? I don't THINK so." Ginny shook her finger at him, jabbing it for emphasis. "She was supposed to have a punishment, not go to the pet shop. What in Merlin's name am I going to do with a damned dragon? Is this even LEGAL?"

The crowd began to edge in closer, looking between Lily and then back to the sparring siblings. Katie, who had been arguing with the man running the coffee cart that she wanted a big coffee not a complicated tiny coffee, had made her way into the tent and maneuvered her way next to her former Gryffindor classmate.

"Hi Ginny. Bad day?"

Ginny seemed to stop for a moment, deflating slightly. In contrast to before her tone was friendly, as if she had just run into her in Diagon Alley. "Oh, hello, Katie. Yes, it's been rather trying. Sorry, kind of busy at the moment."

"Mummy?" Lily looked up to her mother. "Am I in trouble?"

"No dear, it's not your fault." Ginny then turned to Charlie. "It's YOUR fault for giving my daughter a dragon!"

Charlie stood up, still wearing the barber's cloth. "If you'll pipe down for a second and listen I'll explain. Did you even read the note I sent with Lily? Did you?"

"Oh. Right." Ginny put her hand on her hip. "Like everyone's first reaction when seeing their daughter with an impossibly tiny dragon is 'I wonder if there's a note.' No, I didn't read the note."

"Fine." Charlie pulled the apron off and tossed it on the floor of the tent. "Dragon lesson. It's a pocket dragon, really rare, and when they hatch they imprint. Like ducklings. For about six weeks minimum, maybe longer. It's why I was keeping them close to the house, so when they hatched I'd be the one they imprinted on." He pointed to the little dragon in Lily's hand. "This one hatched before the others, which isn't supposed to happen. Lily was there and that's that. So now the dragon..."

"Bitsy." Lily stepped between her mum and her uncle. "His name is Bitsy because he's so tiny."

As laughter came from different parts of the tent Charlie decided the best way forward was to press on. "Right, so Bitsy, whether you like it or not, sis, Bitsy is now Lily's. For now, maybe longer, it depends. Yes, it is legal to own a pocket dragon if the proper forms are followed and right after I brought Lily home I did that. And if you would have read the note I gave you the name of one of the junior keepers to owl and come round to help out."

With no real idea how to respond Ginny huffed. "Fine. If you think we're done with this, just wait. I'm sure Mum will have some thoughts. Come on, kids."

As Ginny turned the crowd parted, a path opened for the Potters to leave. Everyone was quiet which meant that everyone heard Albus' grumbling to James that it wasn't fair that Lily got punished and got a dragon. A few people saw Lily stick her tongue out at her brothers and, unsurprisingly, a few photos were taken before Ginny glared emphatically enough that they were left alone.

For a moment back in the tent everything was still, people were still processing what had happened, but then almost as if on cue everyone started talking at once. Unfortunately for Charlie they all seemed to be talking to him. There was a plan to review for the garden, the builders needed his input on where he wanted the kitchen as Hannah's plan disagreed with Lavender's design, the fashion witch wanted him for measurements and the writer was asking a million questions about pocket dragons.

"Fancy a broom ride?"

Charlie glanced over his shoulder and saw Katie standing there, adjusting her glasses. Her hair was down, coming over her shoulders, and she was giving him a smirk. "Merlin, yes."

Ignoring all the requests the two of them left the tent and went over to a large wooden crate lying on the ground. Katie took out her wand, tapped the crate in several spots, and then pulled the lid off. "It's not your broom, just a test model."

Looking down he saw broom lying in straw, handle gleaming, twigs in an unusual formation. Instead of expanding and then tapering like racing or Quidditch brooms, the twigs were offset at different intervals. "Never seen anything like that before."

"I hope not, or I owe someone royalties." Katie picked it up. "Here. Hold on a moment and I'll be ready." She reached into her small satchel and pulled out a scuffed and weather-beaten motorcycle jacket. Once she'd slipped it on she tapped her wand once more on the crate, making a separate compartment slide out from the bottom, revealing a normal-looking broom. "Can't expect me to check your broom from the ground, can you?"

"No, not at all." Charlie held the odd broom in his hands as she mounted hers. "So how exactly do we test this? Besides flying?"

"Reserve is close, right? Need to see how you'd actually use it."

"Works for me." Charlie mounted the broom and smiled at her. "Let's go."

-ooo-

It was three hours later when they landed back at Charlie's property. Luckily most of the assembled workers were gone, but it was obvious that they had been busy. Where before there had been overgrown and unplanned greenery there was now a proper garden, complete with rosebushes, pathways and slender trees. One of the tents was gone, along with the coffee cart, but unfortunately there was something set up next to the barn that looked like a stage.

Charlie motioned for Katie to follow and then went over the property and landed a little ways away, near the small stream. Most importantly, he'd chosen a spot that was hidden from the house by a copse of trees. He dismounted and looked at the broom appreciatively. "I can't imagine how you'll improve it, honestly."

"You'd be surprised. Actually, you will be." Katie smiled and pulled off her jacket, stowing it impossibly in the smaller satchel. "Can't believe what you keepers do, no wonder you don't have just one broom. You need speed, maneuverability, the ability to carry large amounts of weight, flame resistance, durability..."

"A lot of the budget goes to brooms." He shrugged and shivered slightly. "Jacket makes sense now."

"Like you've never been on a broom before."

"I just wanted out of there. Plus I was hungry."

Katie put her broom next to a tree and sat down. "I've seen Weasleys eat before, no surprise. Also no surprise you wanted out of here, with your sister like that." She shook her head. "In-person Howler and then says 'hello' to me like nothing, then back at you in full force."

"That's Mum. Apple didn't fall far from the tree."

Pulling her hair back and refastening her ponytail Katie rolled her eyes. "And it's no wonder you're related to the twins. Sending Lily home with a dragon and a note. What were you expecting?"

"Pretty much what happened, just trying to delay it."

"Coward."

"Point."

They sat there silently for a while and then she couldn't help it. "So, Gwennog Jones?"

"Dammit." He gave a long sigh. "It was a long time ago."

She laughed. "Right, yeah, but that's not what I'm interested in...how in Godric's name did you keep that quiet? I mean, the press follows Quidditch players relentlessly. I've made a few brooms for them before and it's mental. One client had me take Polyjuice to come to his place so there wouldn't be rumours. Had a bit of a problem in the past, stepped out on his wife few years before that, and if the press would have seen me go to his place...well, you know what would have happened."

"Yeah, who knew someone like you makes brooms? Who'd you have to be, his mum?" When he didn't get a response he looked over to her. "What?"

She had narrowed her eyes and was tapping on her thigh with her fingers. "What did you mean, 'someone like me' makes brooms? Don't you think women can make brooms?"

"What? No, shit, no. Women can do whatever they bloody well want, I work with women keepers all the time. I meant..." He paused. "Fuck."

"Well? I'm waiting?"

Looking back there are moments when couples can say 'it was then' when determining when they became a couple. For some it was a date to a dance, being asked out at Hogsmeade, even a morning after. But years later, when asked, both Katie and Charlie would respond with the exact same anecdote, even when asked separately. For them, it would be that moment, hiding from everyone involved with the Grand Prize, behind their house.

"I meant someone as attractive as you. That people don't expect someone that pretty to be smart and creative and...shit. Shit, shit, shit." He stood up suddenly. "Thank you for the broom ride. I'm sure the final one will be brilliant. I should go see what that stage thing is and see what stupid thing I have to do now." As he took two steps he heard her laugh behind him and knew that he'd bollocksed it up again. This was why he was single.

"Stop." She walked towards him, and with his back still turned to her she gently pulled him to face her. "So...you think I'm pretty? I sure don't look like Lavender, all those posh..."

"Bloody hell, no. Thank Merlin." And then, from somewhere, he remembered his bet with Gwennog, that he'd have a date to the Hecate Ball. "I'm gonna have to name one of the pocket dragon eggs after her."

"Huh?" Katie looked at him very oddly. "What are you on about?"

"It's not Hogsmeade, but...will you go to the Hecate Ball?"

"I'll be there for work." She almost had to chew the inside of her mouth to keep from smiling, as it was so enjoyable watching him fumble.

"No, I mean, with me. Will you go with me? It'd mean you'd be in all the press..."

"I will. But we'd better get back to whatever's going on over there." She waved towards the house. "But we'd better have a few practice dates first."

"Right." He sucked in his cheeks and eyed her with slight grin. "I get it now, craftsman. Need to try things out first. Right. Good. Glad that's sorted."

A/N: This has been floating around for a bit, I'd thought about adding more but re-reading it this seems to be a good spot to end this chapter. Not sure how many left on this one, maybe one or two. No promises, but I'm sure it won't be an epic saga going on over 50 chapters.