((Hey there! Sorry for the huge delay - I had laptop malfunctions, end of school and graduation craziness. Otherwise known as: life took over. This chapter is almost painfully short, but once I get back in the swing of things with these guys we should be right back on track. Enjoy!))

Shay reached out the hand furthest from Charlie, her fingers closing against something cool, smooth, and unmoving. She could only hope it was the railing. The sound of wand-on-metal preceded a sudden, terrifying plunge. Shay shrieked, fingers nearly numbing on the rail. Just as suddenly as it had started the plunging stopped. Shay's body felt for a moment as if it were free-falling before being caught (rather roughly) by the stair below her feet.

"See what I mean?" Charlie said. Even in the total darkness they had fallen into, Shay could tell he was amused.

"At least my foot isn't stuck," she said, voice shaking.

"There is that. Alohamora."

Charlie's wand produced a narrow sliver of blue light. Shay muttered the spell as well, adding her wand's brightness to the surrounding gloom. She found herself in a cavern large enough to hold Hogwarts, or so she would assume; she felt dwarfed inside it, looking up at gleaming facets in the wall. What these were, she couldn't tell, not quite. Something flickered inside of them, orange and red and yellow, like flame. She could only assume that there were more tunnels leading away.

"You'll want to stay pretty close," Charlie said. "This place can be tricky if you don't know it well."

His shoulder brushed hers as they walked, and Shay doubted she could stay any closer if she actively tried. Her first instinct was to flinch away from the contact, to hide from it. She wasn't used to it, and it made her wary.

"These are the dens," Charlie said, nodding to a young man with a slashing scar across his forehead. "And these are some of our keepers. You'll meet them all, eventually, I'm sure. But when they're in here, they turn into termites. Not much use to talk to. Here, this way."

Charlie had ducked closer to the walls of the cavern. After the briefest interlude of doubt, Shay followed suit: they were approaching the mouth of another cavern where flames flickered, spitting their tongues along the rim of the cavern mouth.

"Hungarian Horntail," Charlie explained as they approached. "You can go ahead and look in, the entrances are magically protected. They can break it. Dragon magic is damn powerful. But it takes a lot of effort, so mostly they don't want to."

"Isn't that rather…dangerous?"

"The whole thing is, really," Charlie replied with a smirk. "Should've done your homework on that one, right Ravenclaw?"

Shay frowned and jerked away, forcing herself to approach the magically-protected cavern entrance.

The dragon inside was huge and strangely beautiful, all dark scales and cat-like eyes, claws like black scimitars. The eyes stared out at her, full and knowing. As if, in that glance, the dragon had read and dismissed everything that Shay was made of. They seemed to calculate her worth: as a human, as a threat, perhaps as a meal. And then, they dismissed her again. Totally uninterested in everything that stood in that cavern entrance, the dragon turned away, ducked its head down and rested them on two crossed fore-legs. Glinting beneath the belly and claws of the beast were mounds of shimmering silver and gold: goblets, Galleons, sickles, jewelry.

"We give them a hoard to take care of," Charlie said from directly behind. Shay turned to look at him, but his eyes were on the dragon. "It keeps them pretty happy, rather sedate. Keeps us from having to worry about them. As long as they have something to guard, they're happy."

"Eggs and treasure?"

"Precisely. It's like giving a person a child and a castle to care for. If they're right in the head, they'll go to no end to keep those things safe. Sacred, you know?"

"Yes," Shay said, gazing in at the dragon with something like new sight (the eyes were more cautious than she'd realized, the claws more poised to strike). "Yes, I do know."

They stood in silence for long moments before Charlie eased them onward.
"The Hungarian Horntail is arguably our most dangerous breed," Charlie said. "Take them out of their dens and they're absolutely impossible. We've lost more people to Horntails than any other dragon."

"Why do you keep them, if they're such a risk to handle?"

"Their blood is most potent," Charlie said flatly. "Highest in demand. And their heartstrings are prized in wand making."

"More so than any of the others?"

"Mostly, yes. They're fiercely protective, Horntails. People think that makes for a stout heart, more potent magic."

"Does it?"

"Debatable."

They walked past Welsh Greens and Chinese Fireballs, stopping briefly to peer in at each one, Charlie explaining their details in a quiet, informational voice. Shay listened, absorbing the information in true Ravenclaw form, holding onto the fact that Welsh Green scales, ground to dust, were most in demand for potions while the hide of Chinese Fireballs was highly sought for heat and fire-proof gloves. At the same time, she was absorbing the facts about himself that Charlie let slip, moment by moment: his protectiveness toward his family, the idea of certain aspects holding a sacred quality, a love and devotion to his work. It all seemed to make sense, to click with what she remembered from Hogwarts. Yet there were still gaps, or so it seemed: his temper was shorter than she remembered of the boy who would stop to help First Years in the halls. And she didn't remember the authoritative tone of voice he took on when speaking to those beneath him in the ranks. Though perhaps these gaps would have been filled if she had known him more closely in school. Maybe this was normal, and what she had seen was more of a façade. Or perhaps it was the other way around.

Finally, they reached the end of the cavern.

"So," Charlie said, "have I scared you away yet?"

"Not a chance."

The reply came more quickly than even Shay had anticipated but she played into it, grinning. "It'll take more than that to get rid of me."

Charlie looked at her silently.

"We'll see," was all he said, his voice near-toneless. Shay realized, suddenly, that it was going to take more effort than she'd originally thought, to work well with Charlie Weasley.