Chapter 3: New Habits

It had been an exhausting day, to say the least. Not in the usual manner, that was something Charlie was quite used to as he was a dragon keeper; this was something altogether different. The constant, seemingly inane questions and demented twittering of all the contest people had battered what was left of his patience. It was all he could do to answer everything, approve this or that, request other things and at the end of the day he was just about ready to start hexing them to get them out of his house. The night was beginning to fall around his place, something that he was glad for, even if the light seemed to be increasing in his house because of the reflective capabilities due to the fact that almost every single item in his newly decorated house was white.

He was contemplating getting up from the chair and owling one of his keepers to stop by for a visit, with the ulterior motive of bumming a cigarette off the man. He'd stopped that habit years ago, but with everything that had happened that day…

The floo roared into life, depositing probably one of the last people he wanted to speak to at that moment into his house.

"Well. This is rather unexpected."

"Hello to you too, George." Charlie watched as his brother glanced around the house, taking everything in, before plopping himself into one of the overstuffed white leather chairs with spindly legs. "So what's going on?"

"Oh, you know." George sat back and crossed his legs and leaned into the back of the chair, almost immediately regretting it as he almost lost his balance. "For fuck's sake, this chair is awful." He struggled to get back into a semblance of a normal seating position and shook his head. "This is better than anything I could have come up with, you in a place like this."

"Tell me about it." Charlie sighed, took off his spectacles and sat them on the sofa next to the book he'd been reading previously. "It's..."

"Horrible? Completely and utterly impractical for a bloke like you? Very artsy, though. Utterly posh. Brilliant."

"Exactly." After a sigh he looked over at his brother. "So here to take the mickey, then?"

"Partially. That was the main thing, really, but thought I'd bring this over." George pulled out a magazine from his back pocket and unfolded it. "Have contacts in the press, you know, advertising for the shops and all that. You might want to see this so you'll be prepared in the morning. I thought I'd just let you have the fun of waking up with this in your morning owl post but Ang wouldn't let me. Said that you should know and since I had previous knowledge you'd brain me afterwards, blah blah blah. So here."

Charlie took the proffered magazine from his brother, turned it over and let out a disgusted noise. There, on the cover of Witch's Advocate was a picture of him standing next to Lily as she cradled her little pocket dragon. That was the small picture, but the main picture, under the magazine's title, that was a picture of him standing out by his newly installed garden. The picture wasn't too bad in and of itself, but the text at the bottom said 'Dragon Keeper Love Nest Grand Prize Update.' With a roll of his eyes Charlie began flipping through the initial adverts in the magazine until he got to the cover story. Him. There were about twelve or so pages of everything with pictures; the house (including the ludicrous all-white interior), sitting with Warren as he ran hands through his hair, being measured for clothes by the fashion witches...and then a small picture in a separate box of Gwennog with text that went on and on and on about their secret marriage and divorce. The last page was a photo of him in his wizarding dress robes from Ginny and Harry's wedding, standing next to Percy, both of them smoking a cigar. He hadn't seen that picture in ages, but it was the speculative text underneath that photo that made him wonder how fast that keeper could get there or if he should just pop over to the nearest Muggle village and buy a pack of smokes.

"So, not too bad, eh?" George made a motion to get out of the chair, struggled, and finally extricated himself by flailing about with his legs until he got enough leverage to push himself out. "That chair's a bloody menace. Useless." Without another word he walked into the large, open kitchen and began rooting around in the gleaming stainless steel fridge, returning with four beers. Handing two to Charlie he began to sit down again, reconsidered and sat on the nearby white leather sofa. After testing his seating he opened a beer. "Ang thought it wasn't too bad, but I really like that last part. Especially the one of you and Perce. Mum's gonna love that, you two with a cigar."

"Good. Perce deserves it." Charlie tossed the magazine on the floor and opened a beer, taking several swigs. Before he could say another word his watch began to buzz. "Sorry, be right back."

As he made his way out to the barn Charlie began silently cursing. Of course that last piece in the magazine had been speculating about who he was bringing to the Hecate Ball. That wasn't surprising, but when the magazine began wondering if the event would be the impetus for reigniting the romance between him and Gwennog or if several of the named wizarding celebrity witches would grace his arm...Merlin. Thankfully he put that out of his mind, as he had other, more pressing and important things to do at the moment. Reaching into the makeshift nest he reached down, listened to all the little squeaks, delighted at how the little pocket dragons all hopped towards him, crawling up his arm until finally he had all of them nestled along the arm he cradled towards his chest.

Grabbing the bottle and the dropper, along with the tiny bowl and bag next to the nest, he made his way into the house and sat down cross-legged on the floor across from George, back against the sofa. His brother was reading that awful magazine, and hearing him sit down George looked up, then down.

"How many of them are there?"

"Ten. I got a dozen eggs from the trade. Lily's got the one and unfortunately one of them didn't make it."

"Oh, sorry. That's awful." George sat the magazine on the sofa cushion and slid down next to him. "You know I've had people in the shop ask if I could talk to you about getting one. Apparently they're the thing right now. Montgomery Blish, you know him, the bloke that owns the Kestrels? Brought his son into the shop the other day and I'll be damned if the precious little tyke didn't throw an absolutely wonderful temper tantrum right there, demanding to have a pocket dragon. Don't know why they thought I'd have them in the shop. Probably make something explode. Besides the pet shop would have my hide if I'd done that. They're still miffed about the Pygmy Puffs."

"Shit." Charlie put the small bowl down in the area between his legs, dumped out the contents of the bag and then picked up the bottle and dropper. "That's one of the reasons they almost went extinct, you know. People like that." After dipping the dropper into the bottle he plucked up a little red dragon, put the end of the dropper near the snout and then began feeding the little dragon some of the contents. Looking up at his brother he answered what he knew was coming. "It's dragon blood mixed with some other stuff. You want to talk about something almost impossible to get, that's it. Thankfully Welsh Green blood's similar enough to theirs enough to work."

"Learn something new everyday." George reached out a hand and tried to get one of the little dragons to crawl on it, but instead they scurried back to the bowl or closer to Charlie. "And now I see why Lily's got one, they are like ducklings."

"Yeah." He finished the dropper with one dragon and picked up a small white one. Without looking at George he kept at the feeding. "So's Ginny still mad?

"Ehh, not really. The keeper you sent to help out is a massive hit with little Lily, though. I don't know who she's more in love with at the moment, her little dragon or that keeper." George sat back and watched the little dragons. "Albus and James are right put out, though. Put out." George's tone brightened. "That reminds me..."

Charlie glanced up. "George..."

"Hecate Ball. Dreadfully posh thing for the best and brightest, you'll be the main attraction, of course. I'll try to be off to the side, don't want to steal your thunder and all that, but are you going solo? Might not be a bad idea, you'll have your pick from the litter there, so to say. Sure there will be some society witches who would like a bit of rough an' tumble with a spiffed up dragon keeper..."

"George."

"...I did see that Mirabelle Coulthard was talking about the ball in one of Ang's magazines, she's widowed now, be a lovely..."

"She's older than Mum." Charlie looked over to see his beaming brother. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Like Christmas every day."

"Well, fuck off. I have a date."

"Really?" George leaned closer. "Oh, this should be good, won't say a thing. Worth the surprise. You know there's a family pool going on that." He waggled his eyebrows. "I tried to stop them, told them it would be in rather poor taste."

"You? Lecturing anyone on poor taste?" Charlie swapped out dragons, this time for a black one, and resumed the feeding. "If anyone has poor taste it's Angelina. How drunk was she when she agreed to marry you?"

"Slightly, but that's not the point. I still can't believe Hermione put down a Galleon on you and Gwennog. Obviously not happening. So, my celebrity brother, who are you taking? Please tell me it's Lavender Brown, that would be hilarious, just for the look on Ron's face alone. But it's obvious you two are perfectly matched, I mean, look at this place." George stifled a laugh. "Right, so..."

"I'm not telling you, George."

After snapping his fingers and giving his brother the old finger wands George nodded. "Right, spoil the betting and all that. Bound to let is slip out. Good move. Help bring up the pot." He stood up, pocketed the unopened beer and smirked. "So you've got a date, then. I'll just idly wonder if you've got a date next time I see Fleur. She's the one that started the pool, you know, her an' Bill."

"I hate all of you."

"Awww, what's family for?" George didn't wait for a response and left via floo.

-ooo-

She tossed the tools on the workbench and sat back, stretching her aching shoulders. The broom was almost done, not much left except some of the more delicate finishing steps, but if anything she'd been making slower progress than anticipated. Oh, the design was good, that was for sure. The old man had stopped by yesterday and she'd walked him through it and, although he hadn't said much while she was going on about all the specifications and such, when she had finished he had a big smile on instead of the usual gruff expression. Told her that her line of dragon keeper brooms would bring in a good bit of gold, clapped her on the shoulder and then launched into her attendance at the Hecate Ball as the company's representative. She'd nodded along, giving him the impression that it wasn't a big deal, but after he'd left she'd simply sat there for a bit. It had taken her a while to get back into it, but now, since she was at a stopping point, everything else started coming back to her.

With a quick look at the clock she decided she was done for the day, even if it was only a bit after two. One of the perks of the profession. She stood up, cast the normal spells on her workbench to keep everything in place (and obscure the contents for anyone who happened to glance over, standard procedure) and pulled her leather jacket off the back of her chair. Halfway out of the shop she pulled her hair out of the ponytail, reset it and waved at the other broom-makers.

It wasn't a long walk to her destination, even though she could apparate there or could have taken the floo at the shop and been there much faster, after a couple of blocks she was happy she'd decided to walk. Gave her time to think of what she'd say. As she made her way through the streets she laughed softly, imagining what her first year self would think of her life now. Unfortunately that made her think back to that horrible moment at Hogsmeade, waking up at St. Mungo's...she shook her head. That was over. That was done. She was in London. She had a wonderful job that was challenging and she loved. She had a date tomorrow night with Charlie Weasley. Once again she laughed softly and quickened her pace.

The bell above the door rang somewhat softly as she entered, as always feeling as if she'd stepped into a greenhouse. A greenhouse that smelled like wonderfully fresh coffee. Making her way around a few of the tables she made her way to the counter, watched as Hannah Abbott plated a large pastry of some type, poured a very small cup of coffee and then levitated both over to one of the tables off in the corner. Katie slid onto one of the stools next to the counter and waited until Hannah glanced her way before waving at her.

Hannah bustled over quickly, a smile on her face while wiping her hands on her apron. "Katie, this is a nice surprise. Day off?"

"Nah, just done for the day."

After rolling her eyes Hannah leaned over the counter, propping her head with her hands. "Wish I could do that."

"Hey, you're the one who opened this place, it's your own fault."

"Too true. So, what can I get you? Coffee? Tea?"

"Just a regular coffee, black." Katie hesitated. "And maybe one of those massive cinnamon buns."

"Sure thing." With a few wand waves Hannah had everything sorted, pouring the coffee from the carafe by hand.

"Like the plants. Wonder where they came from?" Before Hannah could say anything Katie stuffed a big piece of the bun in her mouth to keep from smirking.

"Smart arse." Hannah huffed. "You know very well they come from Neville's greenhouse." Her eyes went slightly wide as she hurriedly added that they were from his personal greenhouse, not from Hogwarts.

"Like I'd care if they were." Katie took a sip of coffee. "And how is the Professor these days?"

Hannah's mirthful expression lessened. "Impossibly busy. We've had to reschedule two dates thanks to the stupid Board of Governors. I swear we could schedule something ten years from now and they'd have to meet for something dreadfully important."

Katie nodded impressively. "Ten years, huh?"

"Oh hush." After a moment she looked over to Katie somewhat oddly, as if she was doing arithmancy in her head. "You're going to the Ball, right?"

"C'mon, Hannah, of course. We're in the Squad. We have to be there. If I have to be there for the broom you have to be there for the kitchen thing." She shook her head incredulously. "You're going on about Neville being busy and you've got the Leakey Cauldron, this place and then the kitchen design thing on the side. Poor Neville, no wonder he's always in the greenhouses up at Hogwarts, has to do something while you're busy."

As someone entered the little cafe Hannah gave her a withering look. "Saved by the bell."

Stuffing a good third of the bun in her mouth Katie watched as Hannah waited on a couple of older witches, savouring the sweetness. She'd drained a good part of the coffee when Hannah returned.

"I swear if we ever become like those old witches I want someone to take me out back and end it. Horrible, fussy things who never give a thought to what comes out of their mouths. Asking me when Nev and I were getting married. I swear they must know his gran, sounds just like her."

"So when are you and Neville getting married?"

"Merlin's pants, not you too?" Hannah picked up a rag, wiped a non-existent crumb off the counter and then tossed the rag down with a glare. "I don't know. We've talked about it, obviously." With a gleam that suddenly appeared in her eye Hannah cocked her head towards Katie. "And what about you? You were saying something about the Hecate Ball, weren't you?"

"Uh, yeah." That threw Katie off a bit. "Um, so what are you going to wear?"

"And now this? I swear it's like I have the same conversations over and over." Hannah paused. "Sorry, Lavender stopped in the other day and was...she was full blast Lavender. To answer your question I'm not sure. Why? Don't you have to wear your official Tighemore robe or something?"

"Guess I could, but...I have a date. Want to look nice."

"Oh-ho!" Hannah gave her a wide smile and wiggled her shoulders a bit. "And now we come to the real reason you're here today. So what's his name? Hogwarts or from somewhere else? Oh my God, is it Warren, the hair bloke? I've seen you two..."

"No, it's not Warren. And yes, he went to Hogwarts." She leaned forward, causing Hannah to replicate the motion. With a much quieter voice, but shot through with a pleading tone, she continued. "And for all the gold in Gringotts please don't say anything. I'm going with Charlie." After a moment she continued. "Weasley."

"No! Really? Oh..."

Katie put a hand over Hannah's mouth. "Not a word, right?" After a moment, and with a nod of approval, Katie removed her hand.

Instead of saying anything Hannah turned, went back into the kitchen area and came back a few moments later, her purse in the crook of her arm. "Deidre will manage, come on. We're going shopping and you're telling me everything."

-ooo-

At two in the afternoon Ginny was at her wit's end. The boys were being awful to each other, again, but more importantly they'd been at Lily since breakfast. Harry had helped, of course, but it had been a constant rumble all day. Just when she thought they'd finally settled down it would begin again and even threats of punishment until they left Hogwarts wasn't enough to stop them. 'It's not fair, Lily gets that dragon AND she gets to go to the party.' Merlin. The boys would be bored senseless ten minutes into the party but that wasn't the point, they couldn't go. She'd even resorted to dragging out some of her mum's favourite punishments, cleaning by hand, and sent them off to sort the garden shed. With any luck they'd find the sharp garden tools and off each other.

Thankfully, though, reinforcements had arrived in the form of Jack Stone, one of Harry's youngest Aurors. All of the usual babysitters were going to be attending the ball since Charlie was the main attraction and in frustration she'd mentioned it to Harry one morning after breakfast. Before lunch she'd received the owl that Jack had accepted Harry's request of babysitting the boys; apparently he had younger brothers and was well versed in keeping brothers from killing each other. That, and Harry had sweetened the deal by giving him an extra day off to see his girlfriend. The boys had met him before, at Harry's office, and thought he was 'the utter coolest.'

With a thankful smile she opened the door, letting Jack in, apologising for the mess, but he waved her off. His arrival led to a thunderous noise as the boys hurtled down the stairs, peppering Jack with questions and invitations to play games. As James and Albus pulled Jack out into the back garden she took the opportunity to slide upstairs, stopping at the upstairs study to find Harry with his glasses off, feet up on the ottoman and snoring away.

"Harry. Harry!" She swatted at his feet.

"I'm up, I'm up." He reached over blindly for his glasses, found them, and once they were returned to their proper place he glanced up at his wife. "Which one this time?"

"Jack's here, they're fine. I need to take Lily with me over to Charlie's to get ready."

"What?" He looked at his watch. "Three hours early? Really?"

"You have no idea." She turned towards the door, called for Lily, and looked back at Harry intently. "Mum and Dad are taking her home after a bit and then we're dancing. You owe me. And for Merlin's sake please wear the new dress robe, you forgot last time and..."

"Alright, alright." He held his hands up in surrender. "I'll take care of it, don't worry. You getting dressed there?"

"Yes." There was no enthusiasm in her voice. "Apparently if Lily has to be dressed for this thing and the photos I do as well. Bloody lucky you are, being a man, just the dress robes...Helga knows what they'll put me in. Probably something horribly uncomfortable and..."

"Sexy?" Harry gave her a hopeful look. "Posh dress, dancing..."

"Three is plenty. None of that. One more and I swear..."

"Kidding, kidding! If that happened I'm pretty sure you'd kill me. You don't want to be a single mum, with..."

She flipped her hair over her shoulder and shook her head. "I'm just hoping this is a wonderfully boring night like most of these things are, like the bloody Quidditch banquets and Ministry things. After the day I've had I don't think I could take it."

Harry slid out of the chair, came up and put his arms around her waist, pulling her close. "I know, love. I know. Just remember however bad you've got it that tonight Charlie's got it much, much worse."

She leaned into him and sighed, a somewhat evil grin on her face. "Too true. At least I'll be there to witness it. He'll never live this down."

Not too much later Ginny and Lily stepped out of Charlie's Floo to a scene of witches and wizards talking rapidly, things being levitated all over the place and some sort of awful music thumping loudly in the background. As Lily increased the grip on her hand Ginny looked around, hoping for a familiar face and then sighed. Taking Lily through the tumult she caught the attention of her target and braced herself.

"Ginny! So good to see you, dear!" Lavender kissed both her cheeks and looked down. "And good gracious, Lily aren't you excited! You're so lucky, I would have absolutely died if I would have had this chance when I was your age. I can't wait to see you in the dress they picked out for you. Simply precious!" She turned back to Ginny. "I'm absolutely certain Warren can do something with your hair. It'll look so much better."

Chewing the inside of her mouth Ginny simply nodded instead of saying what came to her mind. "I'm sure. So where are we supposed to..."

A thin young witch wearing all black rushed up to them, flipped over a page on her clipboard and tapped her finger on the parchment. "Perfect, right on time. Let's get you both into hair and makeup."

As they followed the witch Lily looked up to her mum. "Is this Charlie's house? Why is everything white? That's dumb."

"It is, and please don't say that. The witch that picked everything out is here and it would hurt her feelings." After a few steps she bent down and whispered "You're right, it is really dumb."

The witch with the clipboard led them through the house to a small tent pitched off to the side of the house, opened the flap and then left them standing there, walking away as she returned her attention back to the clipboard. With a sigh of resignation Ginny stepped through the tent opening, expecting a similar scene to the house. It was anything but. Instead of the arty-whiteness of the house the interior of the tent looked like, well, a pub. There was a bar, a wooden floor, and a painting over the bar of a rather fit and very naked woman. Thankfully the woman saw them and disappeared from the frame, leaving Ginny to focus on the only living occupants: Warren, the big bloke who did hair, sat in a chair next to Charlie, the two of them drinking beer and playing cards.

"Uncle Charlie!" Lily excitedly ran over to her uncle, causing the two men to turn. She reached into the little purse she carried and gently pulled out her dragon. "Look at Bitsy! I think he's grown since you've seen him. Mike said that I've been doing really well taking care of Bitsy. I can even do the dropper." She turned to Warren, who was paying close attention. "Mike's one of the keepers here. His name's Mike Nakamura an' his family's Japanese even if he did grow up in America. He's..."

"A very patient, kind person." Ginny smoothed her daughter's hair for a moment. "Thanks, Charlie."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "So you're not still mad at me?"

"Irritated, yes, but not mad. Mike explained things." She paused. "Plus I'm not Mum. You didn't get a howler, did you?"

"Thought I might. You're not like Mum, she never let me keep anything good. Not like Bitsy, there." He reached down to touch the dragon but it scurried up Lily's arm and sat on her shoulder, hissing slightly at him. "Definitely her dragon."

Lily nodded rapidly. "Mum said I have to be careful with him tonight because people will want to touch him and, and, well...Mike said he could be poisonous. If he gets really scared."

Charlie glanced up at Ginny, relieved to see her shake her head. Turning his attention back to Lily he nodded. "That's right, but Mike told you he'd have to be a bit older for that to happen, right?"

"Oh."

"Don't get me wrong, pixie, he could still make someone rather ill. But yeah, we'll keep a close eye on them." He sat up a bit straighter and opened the front of his unbuttoned flannel shirt. There, nestled close to his chest, was a sling the same colour as his t-shirt. "Mine are here, too. We'll keep a good eye on 'em. Mike'll be here later tonight to do the feedings, so..."

"Mike's coming!" Lily turned to her mum. "I'm going to dance with him."

"We'll see." Ginny turned to Warren. "Apparently we're on the clipboard for hair."

"Right." As he stood up Lily took him in, long dark hair, tattoos. He didn't look like any wizards she knew. He gave the little girl a wink. "Ok, you two..." Warren began moving to the barber's chair, airing out one of the barber's capes. "So something elegant, not fussy...up or down? Lily, you first."

After getting up into the chair Lily put a hand to her mouth. "Oh no." Her shoulders sagged. "I'm supposed to be your date, Charlie. It's ok if I dance with Mike, right?"

Charlie couldn't look at Warren as the big man laughed. "It's fine, pixie. But you're not my only date."

"Really?" Ginny plopped herself down in the Warren's vacated chair. "Do tell. Lavender?"

"Merlin's balls, why does everyone..." Charlie ran a hand over his beard. "This is payback, isn't it?"

"Absolutely." Ginny did a somewhat 'happy dance' in the chair and gave him a smarmy look. "One of the fashion witches catch your eye, then? Or did you and Gwennog..."

"For fuck's sake, it's Katie Bell."

"Language." She quickly glanced over to see that Warren held Lily's full attention and then snapped back to her brother. "Really? Katie?" Ginny's expression softened. "When did that happen?"

"When all of this kicked off. Hadn't seen her in years, and then she comes in with the grand prize lot and...well, you know how it works. We've been out a few times since then."

Rolling her tongue around in her mouth for a bit, Ginny looked at him intently. Finally, as if she'd come to a decision, she nodded. "Right. Ok, even though you totally don't deserve it here's the deal, I'll keep Mum off you for as long as possible." She turned to check on Lily, happy to see that Warren was washing her hair. "And as a thank you for Mike. He's been really sweet to her, but it's been hard to see her. First crush, you know how those are. She told me she's going to marry him."

Charlie nodded. "Thanks. And yeah, I remember you having a crush when you were that age, said the same thing..." His words trailed off as Ginny gave him a look indicating that he was being thick. After a moment it clicked. "Bloody hell, you actually did marry your crush. Well, Mike's a good guy. He'll be a nice addition to the family."

Ginny sat back in the chair and tucked a leg underneath her. "I don't know how Mum did it. I really don't. And you, mister, you be nice to Katie. Does she know what she's getting into?"

Charlie made a rude noise with his lips. "Of course, she's been out on the Reserve. She knows."

"Not that, idiot. That she's going to be in all the photos. The gossip rags will have a field day." Something that had been niggling at her resurfaced. "So what's with everyone acting mental in your house?"

"Christ." He took a big drink of beer. "It's in the fine print, apparently. There will be tours of my place tonight during the ball. The last big thing on this parade of annoying crap. To be honest I'm looking forward to it all being over, can't wait to change everything."

"Hmmm..." Ginny gave him a grin. "Maybe you can have Katie come over so she can help redecorate. Make it more comfortable for her when..."

He reached over and flicked her ear. "I take it back, you're just like Mum."

-ooo-

The Hecate Ball was a tradition that had endured for centuries, only paused during certain events like goblin wars or dark lords. According to the witches' guilds, associations and clubs that had been sponsors over the years the stated goal was to 'engender an appreciation of magic, culminating in an event celebrating the spirit of giving.' That was the official line. For most of the men and some women who had been unenthusiastic about the whole thing it was simply an excuse to buy a new dress or robe, endure inane chat, dance badly and spend entirely too many Galleons. Even those who grumbled about it did find at least some parts of it enjoyable, in retrospect, but some were more enthusiastic than others. It had endured all the whims of current taste, from having only house-elf servers ages ago to the ill-fated (and still remarked upon) disaster of 1896 when someone had thought that having the hosts arrive in one of the new Muggle automobile contraptions would be a good idea. That had ended in a near riot and multiple St. Mungo's occupants, not to mention one family enduring a century-long ban on attendance. Some things, though, were eternal; very tiny sandwiches on floating trays, the first band was something refined to be followed by a more current band, someone would get excessively drunk and there would be photographers. Always photographers. Outside of Quidditch the Hecate Ball was the most photographed event in magical Britain.

This was news to Charlie Weasley. He sat in the small room off of the ballroom with his sister and niece, sipping a cup of very strong, black coffee. He had to admit the dress that Lily wore looked rather nice on her, a shockingly-appropriate dress for a little girl; he'd half expected them to put her in one of those awful things like Ginny was wearing but apparently someone in the fashion department had a lick of sense. Ginny, on the other hand...it was some black thing with straps and slits and tight enough that she couldn't fully sit on the chair, instead she had to perch on the end. Served her right, all the little comments she'd been making about him and Katie. Both of them were happy with what Warren had done with their hair, thank Merlin. One of the swarms of witches with clipboards came into the room, told him that they had ten minutes left and popped out, causing everyone to stand. He was wondering if he could find Warren and get a pull of of the flask when Ginny stepped up to him.

"Listen." She reached up and adjusted the extremely fussy bow tie and collar of his dress robes. "I know you hate this, but it'll all be over soon. Think of all the publicity for the reserve. You've had quite a bit of donations since this all happened, right?"

He gently moved her hands away from his tie. "It's fine, Gin-Gin." Nodding quickly he agreed. "Yes, quite a few. We'll be able to make the modifications to the nesting enclosures now. Thought that would take a couple of years, but..."

"But nothing. This is the end of it. All done after this." She glanced over to see Lily devoting her attention to Bitsy. "And if I'm honest this has been good for Lily, even though she did it in the worst possible manner, lying to Harry and...I know what it's like to be the youngest, and the only girl."

He smirked. "Boys are fit to be tied, aren't they?"

"Merlin, I..."

Outside the music began to swell and they heard the head of the contest begin to speak with a magically amplified voice. A clipboard witch seemingly appeared out of nowhere next to them, lining them up, Lily next to Charlie with Ginny behind slightly. She looked at them with a tone of exasperation. "Where is Mr. Potter? Too late to be helped, as soon as the curtains open that's your cue to walk out."

Ginny leaned forward and whispered 'I'm going to kill him' in Charlie's ear. That caused him to laugh, the exact moment that the curtains opened, flashbulbs exploding in staccato bursts, and for a moment Charlie thought that it was finally, finally going to be over.

-ooo-

At first it wasn't bad. He sat on stage with Lily next to him while behind them the photographs were magically expanded and played in a slideshow of sorts. The story of how Lily had entered him into the contest was retold, and then when certain pictures were displayed the person or group responsible for the prize came onstage and detailed their portion of the grand prize. He'd never actually met the wizard responsible for his garden, but the bloke had done a nice job of making things very nice and useful; not only were there very fragrant flowers and trees but out back by the kitchen window were plants to help with cooking and even a few medicinal herbs. The architectural witch was a no-nonsense woman who had made sure all the structures were completely sound, causing him to nod along appreciatively to all the thoughtful touches she had made. It kind of made him embarrassed that he had never really interacted with them, but then again the day they did all that he had been off on a broom ride with Katie.

Katie. While the pictures behind him changed to the interior of his house and Lavender began excitedly speaking he started scanning the seats in front of the stage, trying to see her. They had agreed not to meet before the event, too much of a logistical nightmare, but to Charlie everything going on currently was just a preamble to the main event of the night; dancing with her. It was while wondering what she was wearing that he located all of his family members. Mum and Dad, right up front, Mum looking so pleased that she might explode. A few rows back were Bill and Fleur, both of them dressed to the nines, thankfully with George and Angelina next to them. Apparently they needed a buffer for Fleur at events like this. Off to the side, one row back, were Ron and Hermione, Harry next to Hermione with a look on his face like James and Albus when they were expecting a punishment. Served him right, Ginny was going to let him hear about it. He didn't stay too long on poor Harry, though, as he was looking for Katie.

Before he could look further Hannah Abbot walked onstage, patting him softly on the shoulder before stepping to her mark. As he listened to Hannah describe the kitchen design he realised why he hadn't seen Katie; she wouldn't be out in the crowd, she would be presenting her broom. Obvious, now that he thought of it, but it somehow made him a little more nervous. That wasn't helped by the person who caught his eye and winked at him; Gwennog, dressed very nicely in a gold dress that showed off her cleavage. Thankfully she leaned over and kissed the older man next to her. It was at that moment, thinking that Gwennog was doing him a favour by showing up with a date that Hannah stopped speaking and stepped offstage.

Katie swept up to her mark, Charlie's new broom levitated behind her. She went forward with only a single small look at him, but she could tell from the look in his eyes that Hannah had been right about the dress. She wasn't sure it was worth the Galleons, but Hannah had insisted. The fashion witches had all complimented her the moment she had arrived, not to mention that the look on Lavender's face was worth every Gnut. It was also worth that good bottle of firewhisky to have Warren do her hair. As the electric blue train of the dress flowed behind her she stepped up to the spot glowing softly at the front of the stage, cast the spell with her wand and smiled as she began her comments, magically amplified voice much more confident than she seemed. Speaking about her broom design wasn't hard, she could do that in her sleep. It was the fact that everything would be out soon about her and Charlie, that was making her slightly nervous. She'd expected photographers and a crowd, obviously, but seeing them there in and such a number…

Charlie couldn't keep his eyes off her. That dress...damn. If that was from one of the fashion lot he'd have to personally thank them later. It wasn't like Gwennog's, one that showed cleavage, far from it. The neck was rather high, ending in some sort of choker thing, but the shoulders were bare, covered only by some sort of silvery shawl wrap thingy. Unlike Ginny's thing that was so tight across her arse he thought it would split if she sat properly Katie's dress was long and flared away from her until it was down to her feet. That wasn't what he was concentrating on, though, it was the back. Or lack of back. From the top of the collar thing almost to the beginning of her arse there was no dress, giving him a wonderful view of her back. Somehow that seemed sexier to him than if she'd shown up in a bikini.

He listened closely to her presentation, still in awe of her brilliance, crafting not only a broom but one that would be absolutely perfect for a dragon keeper, and for some reason he thought back to when he was Quidditch captain, the year that she and the twins tried out for the Gryffindor team. It was while he was thinking of the little girl on the broom that looked too big for her and comparing that to the creative, smart and amazing woman before him that he heard his name. Coming back to the present he saw everyone clapping, looking at him, and it was Lily's tug on the sleeve of his dress robes that reminded him of his part in everything.

After standing on the mark and waiting for the applause to die down he began looking around the ballroom. The walls were covered with photographs, but instead of the high-end ones the photos were of him and his keepers working the reserve, speaking to the contest people, a small moment with Lily and others like that. Obviously those were the photos that Eddie had taken. As the applause dwindled away he made a mental note to thank her later. The witch in charge of the whole thing tapped him with a Sonorous spell and he cleared his throat.

"I'd like to thank everyone involved with this project. To say that I was surprised to win the Grand Prize is an understatement." He waited to let the laughter die down a bit and then realised that he was going to need to make sure he did this properly; the idea of just saying a few words and getting offstage wasn't going to work. He reached into his dress robes, pulling out his spectacles and a folded-up piece of parchment. After adjusting his spectacles he began reading the parchment. This was the part that he'd dreaded, the long thank you portion of his speech, but it was necessary. Everyone had done a wonderful job on his prizes (even if he was going to reverse his house the minute he could) and the charities involved had received a good deal of Galleons. Not to mention the Reserve's donations.

As he began to work through the final few names on the parchment list he realised a couple of things. One, he'd left the top of the posh dress robe unbuttoned slightly when he'd retrieved his spectacles and the parchment. Two, the pocket dragons were nearing their feeding time. Three, the little dragon he'd named after Gwennog was just like her namesake, as the tiny red dragon was currently clawing it's way up his shirt and into the full view of everyone assembled. Apparently the dragon liked the limelight just as much as his ex-wife.

The appearance of the pocket dragon started the flashbulb barrage yet again, some of the attendees at the front began crowding closer, and Charlie's comment of 'fucking hell, back off you idiots' went out across the ballroom clear as a bell owing to the still active Sonorous. Charlie quickly plucked the red dragon from his shoulder, stowed it quickly in the little sling and fastened his dress robe buttons. Thankfully the witch in charge of everything came over, made another statement, removed the spell from Charlie and announced that the dancing would now begin.

-ooo-

At first the dancing went well, as Charlie shared a dance with Lily, photographers crowding around as expected. Once the song ended Ginny and a subdued Harry joined them, but Lily couldn't have cared less because Mike Nakamura had arrived. Yes, Charlie knew that he was there for the pocket dragons, but that didn't matter as Lily grabbed Mike's hand. Thankfully Mike just nodded at Charlie, but he did motion to his watch at one point, reminding his boss that feeding time was at hand.

It was while thinking of how he was going to slip away from the crowd to feed the dragons that Charlie felt a hand on his shoulder. He expected it to be his mum or one of the society witches but as he turned the smile lit up his face.

"Katie. You look amazing."

"Thank you." She stood next to him for a moment and then turned to face him, her hands smoothing the lapels of his robe. "I wouldn't have picked this for you but it is rather nice. Do you have any more official..."

"Don't care." He took her hand and led her towards the dance floor, taking her in his arms. "As far as I'm concerned I'm done with all that."

Katie blinked as the flashbulbs went off yet again. "I don't think that's the case." After blinking again she raised an eyebrow, seeing the movement on his chest, and then moved closer to him. "Are they all in there or just the one?"

"What? Oh, uh, yeah. Except Lily's. It's in her purse. Feeding time's close."

"Um..." Katie's eyes widened. "I think you should probably...Merlin, one of them is eating through your..."

"OW!" Charlie let go of Katie, stepped back and quickly began undoing his dress robe. "Dammit, ok, ok, let's get you lot..."

As before Gwennog the pocket dragon was insistent on causing a scene. She let go a tiny puff of flame, burning through not only the shirt and dress robe but also the sling that Charlie had fashioned to keep all the little pocket dragons close to him. This meant several things happened simultaneously; Gwennog the pocket dragon gave her little wings a few flaps and realised that she could fly. The other pocket dragons decided to follow her lead, began to flap their wings and discovered with varying degrees of success that they could fly, letting out tiny squeaks of happiness along with some small flames. Everyone in attendance who had not been dancing (which was the vast majority) realised that all the pocket dragons were not only there but were flying amongst them, pocket dragons that they had unsuccessfully been able to obtain for their own or for their children. Bitsy, in Lily's purse, had heard his siblings and had begun squirming in the purse, causing Lily to stop and for Mike to kneel down next to her, pulling her close to keep her from being trampled by the witches and wizards all crowding around.

Charlie watched in dismay as the pocket dragons began exploring the limits of their flying as they darted off in all directions, some more steady than others. One dragon flew right towards the band as the music suddenly ceased and a violin arced through the air, hitting the cello player in the head. Another dragon ended up dodging a witch's grasp and tumbled into the cake at the main table, completely destroying the cake as it struggled to get free before a man grabbed it. The pyramid of floating champagne glasses? Destroyed. Everywhere it seemed there was a pocket dragon flying about while people tried to catch them. It seemed like a eternity to Charlie, watching them fly about before he came to his senses, but afterwards he was told that it was only a minute or two. He pulled his wand out, cast a very hurried Sonorous spell and yelled "EVERYONE STOP RIGHT NOW. STOP OR I WILL...IF ANYONE HURTS THOSE DRAGONS THEY WILL BE IN SERIOUS FUCKING TROUBLE!"

A sharp, very loud bang got everyone's attention. Harry Potter stood with his wand raised. As everyone had stopped he glared at everyone as if they were first year Aurors. "The pocket dragons are endangered creatures and harming them is a crime. I have no problem arresting every single one of you. Everyone will leave the ballroom in a quiet, orderly fashion. No tours, this is over. NOW."

As the security witches and wizards began to funnel the unhappy guests out of the ballroom Charlie stood in the middle of the dancefloor with Katie. Thankfully the pocket dragons had all done what young dragons always do after finding their wings, migrate to the highest point possible. For young dragons like Welsh Greens and the like that usually meant a mountaintop, but at the moment the pocket dragons all perched on top of the chandelier at the center of the ballroom's high ceiling.

"That was spectacular. Have to come more often to these things." George stood next to Charlie, nodding as he took in the complete and utter shambles of the ballroom. "Did you see..."

"No, George. I didn't." Charlie's tone was clipped. "Kinda busy."

"Oh yes, definitely. Or is that later?" He winked at Katie. "That's some dress." George stopped as one of the pocket dragons flew down from the chandelier in little spirals, finally landing on his shoulder. "Well, now, how about that? Thought the little buggers didn't like me."

Charlie peered at the little white dragon. "Losing their imprinting, sort of. Red hair, so you're..."

"A-ha. Right." George smiled at his brother. "So should I tell Ang..."

"You're not keeping it." Charlie held out his hand and the white dragon crawled forward into his hand, then up his arm. "After this debacle I think..."

George shook him off. "Let me ask your better half. Oh Katie, dear, could you ask..." As both Charlie and Katie told him to shut up George laughed. "Oh, this is brilliant. Can't wait to see the Prophet about you two. Wonder who won the Galleons? Better go see, but if it's Ron he'll be too smug to handle. Have to do something to his tea."

As Katie and Charlie watched George wander off the rest of the dragons began to descend from the chandelier, most landing on Charlie but a couple missed their mark and landed on Katie. Charlie pulled one out of her hair, mussing her smooth bangs, while she plucked one from where it clung to her stomach. "The Galleons?"

"Ah." Charlie took the dragons from her and began stuffing them carefully into his robe pocket. "My family had a bet on my date to this thing."

"Really?" Katie raised an eyebrow. "I should have known. Fred an' George used to have all sorts of betting action going on at school. Old habits."

"Yeah, old habits." Charlie stood there with her in the debris of the ballroom, squirming dragons in his robe pocket, and pulled her close, kissing her softly. "But I like new habits as well."

-ooo-

Charlie took off his spectacles and stretched, arching his back and causing it to pop several times. He put the spectacles in their case on the top of his desk and reached for the tea, downing the remains of the cup even though it had grown cold. The reports from the junior keepers could wait. It was just a formality, his review of them, as Mike would have made sure everything was up to snuff, but as the head of the Reserve he did need to take a quick look through. All part of the job.

He had just closed the folders about the new hatchlings when a small blue blur zipped through the open window and landed on the edge of his teacup. "Hello there, Bitsy. I take it Lily's here, then?" The little dragon blew out a puff of smoke, cocked his head from side to side and then curled up in the teacup. "Right, spoiled little chicken." He took the teacup and began heading into the house.

Katie met him at the door. "Supper's almost ready, Lily's here..." She stopped as he raised the teacup to show her Bitsy. "Alright, then. Already knew about Lily. But I've got to go to the shop, want to finish that 'special' order..."

He held up his free hand to stop her as he sat the teacup on the table. "It's fine, fine. Lily and I will manage fine. Tell the old man 'hello' for me."

After kissing Katie goodbye he turned his attention to supper, stirring the sauce and contemplating how much pasta to make. If Lily was there at the Reserve it meant that Mike would probably be joining them as well. Hopefully Lily would take Mike's news about his engagement well, as Charlie wasn't looking forward to dealing with a crying niece.

The pasta was almost done when the door opened. Lily was in the lead, followed by Mike but then it was Harry who was the last one in the kitchen. Not completely unexpected, Charlie thought, as he calculated how much pasta was finished. Usually when Lily visited the Reserve Ginny would retrieve her after a bit, but apparently Harry had the job this time.

Supper was enjoyable, as Lily told him about the things she and Bitsy had been doing, how she was training him. Then she launched into how it was totally unfair that Mike was going to be gone for such a long time on his honeymoon, a word that was said without much enthusiasm. Charlie and Harry shared a glance at that but said nothing. Eventually Mike indicated that it was time to go on rounds, and if she wanted to that Lily could accompany him. She mentioned that it would be much easier if she could be on her own broom. Harry began whistling and looking at the ceiling. Charlie laughed. Such an easy mark.

He leaned over. "Ok, here's the deal, Lily. You can borrow my broom, yes, the one Katie made but if, and only if, you listen to absolutely everything Mike says and..."

She squealed, hopped out of her chair and hugged Charlie and then began tugging on Mike. After the two of them were gone, the kitchen door closed behind them, Harry began clearing the plates by hand.

"You don't have to do that, you know." Charlie took out his wand and began floating the dishes towards the sink.

"I know, but..." Harry shrugged. "She's dragon-mad, you know. Pretty sure I know what she's going to want to do after Hogwarts if this keeps up. Were you like that?"

"Nah." Charlie shook his head. "She's worse. I didn't actually have a dragon."

"Merlin." Harry sighed and leaned back in the chair. "This place looks better, though. Like a dragon keeper lives here."

"Haven't you seen it since...huh. Guess not." Charlie waved his wand to start the dishes and nodded. "Yeah. We made sure Lavender had all the photos for her portfolio or whatever it's called, and then we changed it out."

"Yeah, heard about that." Harry smirked.

"Who?" Charlie leaned forward. "Mum? I swear she's got me an' Katie married off as it is."

"Nah, Ginny."

Charlie laughed. "Sorry, she's just like Mum. Don't ever tell her, though."

"Are you mental? Hell, no." Harry coughed. "Uh, besides, um...yeah. Kinda like Molly. And Arthur, if I'm..." He paused. "You know it's been what, three, four months after the ball, right?" As Charlie raised an eyebrow he just pushed forward. "So when I won the money on you an' Katie I took Ginny for a holiday and..."

Charlie's laugh was loud. "Serves you right! Four, eh? How happy was she?"

Harry put a hand over his heart. "I've sworn not to ever talk about that conversation."

"Smart." Charlie leaned back. "Ok, go pick up the pixie. I know that Mike's already done rounds, he just does that for Lily, just once around the Welsh Greens. Should be done by now."

Harry stood and adjusted his glasses. "You know you spoil her rotten."

"Of course." Charlie smiled. "If it hadn't been for that bloody contest..." He looked over to all of the photos that covered one wall. Photos of him and Katie, taken at times he didn't even know the photographer was there, taken at the ballroom before everything went mental, taken as they stood in the middle of the ballroom after everything went mental, pocket dragons landing on them. At the Burrow, with everyone standing behind Molly and Arthur. Bill, Fleur and their family. George, Angelina...Ron and Hermione, Percy and Audrey, Harry and Ginny...all the kids were in the front with Molly and Arthur, of course, but then he smiled as there, right next to Harry and Ginny were him and Katie, with Lily right in front of them, Katie's hand on Lily's shoulder.

"It's fine." Harry opened the door. "Especially as it's another boy."

As Harry called for Lily, Charlie turned back to the dishes, watching as they finished up the soaping, rinsing and drying. He liked having everything in place when Katie came back from the shop, especially as she had been working on that new dragon keeper broom, the smaller one, perfect size for a little red-haired dragon keeper who hadn't started Hogwarts yet.

A/N: And there you have it, the end of a fluff piece I should have finished ages ago. There was a ton of backstory stuff that could have made it into the piece but it just didn't feel right. This is fluff, after all.

A special thanks goes out to BadMum for help and encouragement along the way, as well as all the Teachers' Lounge alumni. As always, thanks for reading and review if you wish.