Based on characters created by J. K. Rowling

Chapter 4-- Finding the Culprits

Charlie and Boo were busily discussing various scenarios, not paying any attention to the people around the cafe when suddenly they were surprised by a tall man standing behind them.

"Excuse me," he said, clearing his throat.

Charlie looked up surprised. "Yes?"

"Aren't you Charlie Weasley?" he asked, looking at him closely.

Charlie sighed. "Yes."

"I knew it." He leaned in very close. "Don't you think it's a little early to be drinking?" he asked, seriously.

Charlie sat back and looked at him for the longest time. He was gauging what he wanted to say. First of all, Charlie was on his last good nerve. He was getting tired and irritable.

Boo looked Charlie then at the man. He gave him a strange smile. He watched as Charlie balled his hands into fists and relaxed. His face was getting redder and a vein was popping out of his neck. He looked two quick breaths and blew them out.

Pursing his lips, he relaxed and smiled. "Gee thanks, Mum," he said cheerily, then he went back to his drink.

The man stared and blinked, apparently stunned. What had he expected Charlie to do, thank him profusely, throw away his drink and vow never to drink again? Or yell and scream? Curse him?

Charlie ignored him as he stood there.

"I just thought—" he stammered.

"No, you didn't think at all, sir. You wouldn't walk up to any other stranger and offer your sage advice. What makes you think you can do it to me?" Charlie said. "Kindly bugger off."

"You get that a lot?" Boo asked after the man took the hint and went back to his table.

Charlie nodded finishing the liquid in his glass. "All the time."

"You were polite, considering." Boo noted.

He shrugged. "What can you do? I was starting to get pissed, though. I hate it when they just hang around and won't leave. Seriously, I mean, go away. Especially if they offer stupid advice like this prick. Most of the time it isn't too bad. I understand. I'm a fan, too. I went absolutely retarded when I met Viktor Krum."

Boo laughed out loud.

"Well, Boo," Charlie said. "I've got to get some sleep. I'll see what I can do about Dora."

"I know you will charm her pantalones off." He said.

"I don't know about that," Charlie laughed.

"I would if I could, hermano. She is fine." Boo said.

Charlie nodded appreciatively. "She is hot." He agreed.

Later, when Charlie returned to his room, he thought about Dora and what he'd need to do about getting "possible" information out of her. He should be able to get away with some innocent flirting, he told himself. But then he thought about Minerva. Shit. For probably the first time in his life he thought about another person's feelings. Minerva was vulnerable and more than a touch insecure. Even if he had sex with other women, and there was no way Minerva would ever find out about it unless he was stupid enough to tell her, he didn't want to hurt or disappoint her. The feeling surprised him. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Minerva had been a virgin when they first made love; he wasn't sure.

Well, he rationalized; a little flirting with Dora won't do any harm. He would do anything to get to the bottom of who killed the dragons. Whatever the sacrifice. That sounded way too pompous, Charlie thought, laughing at himself.

Over the next several weeks, there were no more dragon killings, and Charlie prayed that that had been the end of it. He was able to schmooze up to Dora, and they were starting to get friendlier. Charlie and Ricardo discussed his theory with Jack, Pete, and Mike. Since Mike was working on alternative days with Geoff and the other intern, David, he kept close watch on their activities. While they couldn't completely rule out the possibility that they were somehow involved, they couldn't prove it either.

Halloween was quickly approaching and the head office at the preserve instructed the keeper to be on alert even more. Halloween was a big day for muggles, and if the holiday fell on a weekend, which it happen to fall on a Friday this year, there would be heavy activity.

Charlie was not looking forward to Halloween because he was told he had to work. He had planned to go to Ontario and see his girlfriend. He hadn't seen her in over a month and he was extremely horny. He dreamed about her almost every night and she was usually naked. His very vivid dreams didn't help his mood any. He was starting to get very cranky and snap at people that he was usually very nice to. His close friends understood his self-imposed celibacy, but there weren't too many people he confided in. By the end of the month, his friends were taking up a collection for a hooker.

And Minerva didn't make it any better. She got pouty when he told her he couldn't be there for Halloween. It was her parents' wedding anniversary and she and her brother Jordan had planned a big party to celebrate. She couldn't visit him because she needed to be with her parents. She was disappointed because she wanted him to be at the party so she could show him off.

Charlie and Minerva were able to speak to each other on a device that Mike had invented, which he called a "speak-o-scope". Basically it was a clear orb about the size of tennis ball. One person would speak into the ball and it would fill up with smoke and then disappear when the speaker was finished. The smoke was magicked into another orb belonging to another person, where it delivered the message. Charlie thought it was extremely clever and got one for him and Minerva. The messages took a while to reappear in the other orb. It was faster than an owl, but it was not instantaneous over long distances. The device was something like a walkie-talkie and somewhat limited. Charlie talked to his brother George, who was a gadget and marketing genius, about the device, and George was in the process of buying the idea from Mike. Mike stood to make a lot of money.

Halloween night came and Charlie was in the foulest of moods. No one wanted to talk to him or be around him because he snapped at everyone. Genevieve, who had no idea what was going on, made the mistake of crossing his path and ended up in tears. Ricardo told her not to take it personally, but Genevieve, who was normally very strong, stayed away from Charlie for the rest of the night.

Right before midnight, another van pulled off the side of the road close to where a nest of verdemalos usually spent their days. The van's head lamps were turned off and it was completely dark. Charlie and the rest watched them from the air, just at tree top level. A man got out from the back of the van and looked around. He had a pair of binoculars and began looking at the area where the verdemalo nest was. The binoculars were funny looking; they fit on his head, instead of being hand carried. Charlie had no idea why anyone would have binoculars in the middle of the night in the middle of the desert when there was nothing but star light. Soon after the first man got out of the van, another man followed. He too was wearing binoculars on his head. The first man pointed to something below in the small canyon and the other man nodded. Their movements seemed to be exaggerated, almost like they were underwater divers, and could only communicate with hand signals.

The first man turned around. Very quickly, Charlie performed a non-verbal disillusioning spell over himself, Genevieve, and Ricardo. All of a sudden, Charlie felt like cold water was being slowly poured over him, and the three of them started to blend in with the night sky. Charlie put his finger to his lips and motioned Genevieve closer. He leaned into her and whispered for her to fly back to the security office and bring back help. "This may be the dragon hunters," he said so low that she could barely hear him. He was praying that the men below wouldn't hear him. Genevieve nodded in acknowledgment and few toward headquarters.

Ricardo and Charlie flew slightly closer to the van, both drawing their wands. There was no indication that either of the men was armed, but he had no idea who or what was inside the van. It looked to Charlie like the first man was looking for something—Charlie reasoned that he was the dragon spotter. He seemed to know that there were dragons down there. He must be a wizard, thought Charlie. He couldn't recognize him because of the binoculars over most of his face, and he was too far away to get a good look at him.

Ricardo flew next to Charlie. Using hand signals, he indicated he wanted to fly higher so they could talk and still keep an eye on the van. Charlie nodded and they flew straight up about 100 yards.

Very quietly, the two put their heads together. "I think we should stupefy them now," Ricardo said, barely audible. "And maybe a, I don't know, paralyzing curse?"

Charlie nodded. "But why are they out here in such a protected area? Do you think they didn't know anyone would be out here?"

Ricardo shrugged. "I have no idea. But you're right, if these are the ones responsible for killing the two dragons, surely they would know about the security. No one was able to detect them before. Why now? Genevieve?" he said suddenly. "Do you think she's in on it?"

"If she is, then we just sent her off to warn them. Oh shit," Charlie sighed. He looked around, but there was no way he could see her with a disillusionment spell over her. He didn't want to believe she would do anything to harm any of the dragons, but anything was possible. Maybe she had been approached and told to stay clear of a certain area. She hadn't tried to re-direct Charlie or Ricardo.

"She did seem rather edgy tonight," Charlie said.

"Because you nearly bit her head off," Ricardo pointed out. "You were acting like a real asshole."

"I was?" Charlie asked. "When did I yell at her? Was that why she was crying?"

"Yeah, Charlie. You scared the shit out of her. You've been so cranky lately. You need to get laid," he said shaking his head.

"Well, I know that, I didn't think I was acting differently. Hmm, sorry." He said, distractedly.

Ricardo looked at him incredulously and nodded. "Seriously."

Suddenly, from below, another door opened from the back of the van and two more people emerged and joined the others. One of the men started shouting at the first man and waving his arms. He was pointing to the van. "We can see the van," he was saying. "It isn't cloaked."

"What?" the first man shouted. He pulled something from his waistband. It was a wand.

"It's a little late for that now, idiot." The other man said. "We have to hurry."

Charlie signaled Ricardo. "Now!"

The two of them flew in, wands pointed. "Stupefy!" They shouted together and all four men were knocked backwards and fell down hard. Before the wanded man could react, Charlie pointed his wand at him, "Expelliamous!" And the wizard's wand flew out of his hand.

Charlie and Ricardo landed and quickly jumped off their brooms. They did a body binding curse and had them paralyzed. Cautiously, they opened up the back of the van. Only the driver was inside. Ricardo motioned for him to get out of the van.

"Nice and easy," Ricardo said, aiming his wand at the man's head.

"Lumos," Charlie said and when the tip of his wand erupted in a ball of light, the two men wearing the binoculars shouted in surprise. Charlie removed the device from one of the men. They weren't ordinary binoculars. They were night vision glasses and the light from the wand created enough light to be painful.

This is really cool, Charlie thought, distracted.

Ricardo was binding the driver. "Uh, Charlie," he said. "I could use some help here."

"Oh sorry, but you really should see this." He walked over to the first man and took a deep breath. He wasn't sure he wanted to know who it was. A wizard had betrayed them.

He pulled the binoculars from his head and threw them down. It was Geoff Morris, the intern. Charlie looked at him and shook his head sadly. Neither Charlie nor Ricardo recognized the other men. They were muggles.

Inside the van was a lot of equipment, including a video camera, more night vision devices and two high caliber rifles and enough ammunition to fight a small war. Charlie and Ricardo lined the five men next to the van. The men looked frightened but they couldn't move so there was no possibility of them escaping. Charlie and Ricardo waited.

Either Genevieve had gone to get help or she was long gone. Charlie discussed sending a patronus if no one came within the next thirty minutes. But fifteen minutes later, the sky was filled with wizards, including the head of security. They swooped down, assessed the situation and took Geoff and the rest of the muggles and the van away.

They were asked not to contaminate the "crime scene." Olivia walked up to Charlie.

"This is great, Charlie! You did it!" Olivia said cheerfully.

Charlie nodded. "Purely by accident. We stumbled on it. I guess Geoff forgot to use a disillusioning charm. Pretty stupid on his part."

"Maybe. Maybe he just wanted to get caught." Olivia said and shrugged. "They'll find out."

"What's going to happen to the muggles?" Ricardo asked.

Again Olivia shrugged. "No idea. But I'd hate to be them."

"Yeah," said Charlie. "Me too."

Charlie, Ricardo and Genevieve walked away from the area, mounted their brooms, and continued their patrol. No one said anything for the longest time.

"Thanks for your help, Genevieve," Charlie said, finally.

He looked at her and she was crying. "I can't believe Geoff would do this," she said. "I can't believe a wizard would do this."

Ricardo and Charlie nodded in agreement.

By the time the three were replaced by the day shift and they returned to the compound, the place was abuzz with the news that the dragon killers had been caught. They also found out that Geoff had implicated another wizard from the infirmary, Shawn Miles, another newcomer to the preserve. Geoff confessed after two hard hours of interrogation. He thought he could make some gold. He'd never hurt a healthy dragon, he told them. That's how he and Shawn had come up with the idea of using sick dragons.

The next day the preserve held a meeting and told everyone that the culprits had been found. The schedules would be changed and while there would be continued vigilance; their routine would go back as before. Charlie, Ricardo, and Genevieve were given credit for the capture and everyone cheered. Charlie refused to take credit. If Geoff hadn't been in such a hurry and such an idiot, they wouldn't have seen anything and they'd still be out there, killing dragons.

The capture made the front page of the American Daily Prophet. There were calls from the world press for interviews and stories about how Geoff had schemed and plotted and arranged for hunting expeditions. More editorials were written about the need to better educate young wizards on traditions and morals.

As a reward, Charlie, Ricardo and Genevieve were given a week off with pay (even though Charlie didn't collect a salary, all his work was purely voluntary—he took advantage of their generosity ). Charlie spent the week in Ontario making up with Minerva.

By the time Charlie got back to work, he was in a very good mood.

A/N: This is my last Charlie Weasley story for a while. I hope you have enjoyed them as much as I've enjoyed writing them. This has been so much fun. Thanks for your encouragement.

Love,

Rita