Lily's feet hit the ground and she lets go of the portkey—it's a mauve hairbrush this time. It's a nice spring day. She's glad that the portkey didn't encounter any bad weather on the trip. She spots her uncle waiting not too far from the field where she's at. She can pick out his fiery hair anywhere.

Charlie is grinning as he pulls his youngest niece, who really isn't young anymore, into a tight hug. He hasn't seen her since Christmas nearly six months ago. "Killing two birds with one stone, aren't you, Lilybug?"

She flashes him a brilliant smile. "You don't know how helpful this really is, Uncle Charlie. Every supplier I contacted couldn't get me dragon horn for at least another month!"

"I did tell you that you can come to me if you need any potion ingredients at all. But I hope you don't think it's going to be easy. You're going to have to work for it," he tells her.

"Wouldn't have it any other way," she responds grinning.

Charlie offers her his arm and Apparates back to his flat. She surveys the room as he deals with his Apparation-sickness. Finally, he straightens. "You can take the bedroom; I'll take the couch tonight."

She pulls her luggage out of her pocket, undoing the shrinking charm. "There's still plenty of daylight. Are we collecting ingredients tonight?"

"Of course. We can get the dragon horn tonight and gather claw ooze just in case after if there's still enough time," he says.

"Let me put this away and I'll be ready to go," Lily says. When Charlie doesn't protest, she disappears into his bedroom to put her luggage away. She appears moments later.

He grins at her as he leads the way towards the Reserve. Lily's always enjoyed the stories about dragons when she was young, to the point where Charlie wondered if she would end up at a Reserve when she graduated, so when she asks about them, he doesn't hesitate in a story.

"How did you manage that?" Lily asks with amazement.

"I did it with panache and style. That's how I did it," he informs her, a smirk playing on his lips.

Lily glares at him. "How did you really stop the two Horntails from fighting by yourself?"

He sighs. "I miss the time when you were young and gullible. If you must know, I performed a mating dance that distracted both dragons until other Tamers showed up."

She laughs at that.

When they get to the area where they can harvest the horns, Charlie brings her to a halt. He explains to her that the horns are only harvested after a dragon dies.

Lily gives him a serious nod before Charlie opens the door. He first shows her how to harvest them before they get to work. She's an effective worker, focused on the task at hand. Charlie's pleased to see how much care she takes when doing so.

When all of the horns are harvested, Charlie leads the way towards the young dragons. Lily seems to light up when she sees the dragons trying to master the art of flying. He forces Lily to wear protective gear, and in return, she manipulates him into donning some even though he has decades of experience and haven't wore protector gear since his first year.

He catches a Common Welsh on his first attempt. He shows Lily how to carefully gather the ooze that the dragons produce.

For the first time, the smile on Lily's face drops as she scrunches her nose in disgust. "You have got to be kidding me."

"I hear the quit in your voice," Charlie comments. "I didn't take you for a quitter, but we've all been wrong at some point."

His words have the desired effect. Lily approaches her chosen dragon and manages to gain it's trust after several long moment. After that, she successfully extracts the ooze into her vial and releases the dragon.

Charlie's in the middle of gathering more, while keeping an eye out for Lily's safety, when he sees her make her first mistake by approaching a dark grey dragon. He manages to pull out his wand and cast a shield around her just before she would've gotten burned.

Lily, despite the fact that she was nearly injured, looks at Charlie. "How did you know it was about to attack?"

He shrugs. "That one is an Ironbelly. It's temperamental at best. It was my fault, really. I should've warned you."

"I should have enough to experiment with that potion Uncle George is wanting me to make. Can we go back to your place? Maybe you can whip up some of those amazing waffles for us?"

He snorts and ruffles her hair. "You're lucky you're my favorite."

She flashes him a brilliant smile that reminds him of Ginny when she was young and trying to look innocent. "You're my favorite too."

173. Job - Potioneer

Insane: Dialogue - "You can come to me if you need anything at all."

Auction: Romanian Dragon Sanctuary, 822

Character Appreciation: 44. Genre: Family

Disney: Winnie The Pooh - Write about someone happy with life.

Book club: Mad Sweeney: (dialogue) "I did it with panache and style. That's how I did it.", (word) temperamental, (word) mistake

Showtime: 11. Entr'acte/Marilyn Monroe 2 - Alt. write a family fic.

Buttons: (object) luggage, (word) burn

Ami's Audio: 21. Wright On - Dialogue: "I heard the quit in your voice."

Lo's Lowdown: 8. Natasha Romanoff: word: manipulative.

Bingo: 73. Style: third person

Build-a-bear: (phrase) kill two birds with one stone

Scavenger: Use the prompt set: (colour) mauve, (word) spring, (dialogue) "You have got to be kidding me."

Family bootcamp: chosen