A/N: Here's Chapter Four. I'm not sure I should even bother posting it, since sooooo many people reviewed the last chapter. (Ie, No one.) If you read, please review as well. It'll only take a second…click on the little button and type in a few words. It'll make my day.
Disclaimer: I'm just a bored high school student who has no life, so I'm definitely not JKR or anyone from Warner Bros. Please don't sue me.
Light snow flurries were falling gently as Charlie and Nina looked for the three members of their Crew they hadn't yet met. Nina walked a few paces ahead of him, pretending that he didn't exist. This was perfectly fine with Charlie. The way things between them were going so far, they would probably end up strangling each other if they had too much contact.
"Oy! You there! Are you Charlie Weasley and Nina Galbraith?" cried a voice to his left.
Charlie turned and found himself facing a trio of wizards, all dressed in heavy boots and overcoats.
"Crew 17?" he inquired. A dour-looking man on the left nodded.
"We've been searching for you lot for a quarter of an hour," said Nina huffed.
"Well, it's not like we've been hiding, is it?" the man in the center, a sandy-haired Australian, replied with a grin. "Been standing here for close to an hour, and you two walk right by us. Good thing everyone knows 'bout Weasley, or we'd all still be looking." Charlie gave him an odd look. What did he mean, 'everyone knows 'bout Weasley?'
"Well now, we'd best get introduced properly, or we'll be the last crew to leave," he continued. "I'm Henry Kendrick. This bundle of joy here," he said, gesturing at the tall, dark man on the left, "Is Hadrian Ainsley. He's got absolutely no sense of humor and is a little jinx-happy, so I'd leave him alone if I were you." Ainsley scowled in response.
"I'm Simon Pellegrin," said the man on the right, waving. His had a pointed face and brown, curly hair that frizzed around his head like a halo.
"Right then. We'd best be off, before our delightful supervisor hexes us into oblivion," said Henry with a grin. "We'll be walking to our assigned area today. It's a good distance, but we don't want you apparating when you've never been there before."
What an odd group, thought Charlie as they set off down the trail. Henry reminded him a bit of Fred and George, acting like everything was a joke. Hadrian, on the other hand, seemed so serious. With Nina and him already at odds, it would be interesting to see if the crew could manage to work together at all.
It didn't take long for his leg to start acting up again. His once sturdy limb did not take kindly to the cold or the terrain, and before long he found himself fighting not to hobble like an old woman. He was not the only one struggling. The wind was picking up, and Nina, with her tiny frame, was fighting a losing battle to stay upright. The unlikely duo brought up the rear of the patrol, muttering a chorus of curse words as Nina was nearly knocked over yet again by a strong gust and Charlie's leg throbbed painfully.
"At this rate, it'll take a month to finish one round," Nina grumbled as she narrowly avoided being thrown down a ravine.
"Just be glad it's stopped snowing for the moment," said Charlie as he begrudgingly helped her to her feet.
"You lot alright back here?" asked Simon, suddenly appearing at their side.
"Yeah, we're just great," snapped Nina, dusting the powdery snow out of her hair. "I'm being blown off the mountain, and Weasley here can't seem to move any faster than my granny."
Simon shot Charlie a look of sympathy.
"If it's too much for you, we can rest a bit," he said softly, his eyes betraying what he knew. Charlie felt himself blushing in humiliation. He'd only been on the job for an hour and already the rest of Patrol thought he was weak.
"I'm fine," he said tersely. "Let's go on, shall we?" Simon shrugged and ran ahead to catch up with the rest of the group.
"What was that about?" Nina asked, her eyes questioning.
"Nothing," Charlie replied angrily, stalking off as fast as his leg would allow.
"Weasley!" she yelled, running to catch up. "Weasley, I might look like a seven-year-old, but I'm not stupid. There's something you're not telling me, and since Simon definitely knows what it is, I think it's only fair that you tell me as well."
"Fine!" Charlie shouted. "Fine! You want to know why they sacked me from being a Keeper? You want to know why I hobble around like I'm eighty? This is why!" And with that he forcefully yanked up his pant leg, revealing the telltale signs of the dragon attack.
Nina's face went white at the sight of the livid scars.
"Weasley…" she said quietly. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."
Charlie opened his mouth to reply, but a particularly strong gust of wind interrupted him. It also knocked Nina completely off her feet, and before he realized what was happening he found himself trapped by his archenemy, who had thrown her arms around his waist to prevent herself from being swept off the mountain. He stared down at her, his mouth open in shock. Nina had her eyes shut tight, as if she was afraid that when she opened them she would see the landscape whizzing by as she fell down the cliff. After a few very long seconds, she opened her eyes, wincing when she realized what exactly she was doing.
"Well…er…this is awkward," she said as she gingerly removed her stranglehold on his hips. Charlie had the overpowering urge to run away.
"Let's…um…not do that again," he said, blushing furiously red. Nina nodded in agreement, ducking her head to hide her own red face. The awkward moment was broken by the sound of Henry shouting,
"Oh ho! Look what we have here!"
Nina and Charlie hurried to catch up with the others, who were clustered around in a circle and muttering excitedly amongst each other.
"What is it?" asked Nina breathlessly.
Hadrian pointed silently to a patch of snow, the dour expression never leaving his face. There was a moment of silence as Charlie and Nina both stared intently at the snowdrift, waiting for it to do something.
"Er…what is it?" asked Charlie, wondering if he was somehow missing something.
"Look at that patch of snow, mate. Notice how the snow in other places is being picked up and blown about by the wind? Not one flake of that particular patch of snow is moving," Henry explained. He looked excitedly at the two new recruits, who gazed back with looks of utter confusion on their faces.
"It means that bit of snow's probably been charmed solid so it doesn't show footprints," said Simon. "Look--"
He took out his wand, squinted at the snow, and muttered something under his breath. A stream of blue light erupted from the tip of the wand, turning blood red as it touched the snow.
Hadrian nodded. "Definitely been charmed," he said quietly. "Let's message down to headquarters that we're leaving the Patrol Route and see where this trail will lead us."
Charlie looked around the circle of Patrolmen, noting that Henry was practically shaking with excitement.
"What's the big deal?" he asked the quivering Aussie.
"What's the big deal?" he replied in astonishment. "It means that someone's trespassing on dragon territory."
Charlie glanced at the offending patch of snow, still faintly glowing red. A shiver went down his spine. Something about this definitely didn't feel right .
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