I'm the wrong age, gender, and nationality to be JK Rowling, so I don't own Harry Potter, dammit.

A/N: Oopsie. It seems in my zeal to have Charlie Weasley find Harry as a baby I forgot to do a little research. According to canon (and to reviewer mimosa who pointed it out), Charlie would have been 9 years old in 1981. Again, oopsie, but since Charlie Weasley is going to be a major character in this story, I'm not going to change it. Lets just assume he and his older brother Bill have already graduated and working their careers at this time. It's fan fiction, so deal with it.

A/N 2: Sorry that it's taken so long for this chapter to come out. I wrote over 800 words of the first part of this chapter and erased them because it didn't come out right. I then started over with ANOTHER 800 words and I erased them AGAIN! Oh well, try, try again. Hopefully, the third time's the charm.

A/N 3: Thank you very much to everyone that read and reviewed my story.

"Human speech"

"Human thoughts"

:Dragon speech:

Chapter 3 – Homecoming

Excerpt – A History Of Magic, pg. 257-259

Taking up a large part of the exact center of Romania, the province of Transylvania is both well known and avoided with an almost religious fervor by both muggles and magicals alike. Historically, the province is known as the birthplace of the Romanian nobleman Vlad Tepes, who upon his turning became the infamous vampire known as Dracula. His infamy stemmed from the fact that unlike most other vampires who only occasionally attack humans, his lust for human blood knew no bounds.

Many unexplained disappearances and deaths centered around the Transylvanian Alps occurred with startling regularity beginning in the late 1400's. For nearly four centuries, these disappearances were limited to the province of Transylvania exclusively and everyone avoided that area like the plague. Unfortunately, like a plague, the disappearances started spreading outward from the mountains. Beginning in the early 1800's, the people of entire towns and villages started disappearing without a trace.

One of the villages that was close to the mountains was an enclave of wizards who knew exactly what was causing these problems and knew how to deal with it. However, when the vampire horde descended on their village, they were astonished at the sheer number of vampires that were attacking them. For two nights they managed to keep the vampires out of their village, but constantly fighting and casting spells almost nonstop for two straight nights was starting to exhaust them.

On the morning of the third day, they sent messages by owl, runner, and patronus asking for aid and hoping that help would arrive in time. Their own ministry scoffed at their reports and refused to send help believing that they were 'chasing shadows'. A few uncles and siblings that were living in other areas arrived that afternoon saying they were there to help, but the villagers felt that it was a case of 'too little, too late'. With no other choice, they dug in and hoped that some other form of help would arrive in time. When darkness fell and the vampires were massing on the outskirts of the village to attack, help did arrive. It's just that the help came in the form that the wizards weren't expecting.

Dragons. Hundreds of massive winged beasts of all shapes, sizes, and colors swooped down from the night sky without warning. Breathing fire, lava, lightning, and even ice the dragons ripped through the ranks of the undead horde like a whirling dervish, leaving broken corpses, blackened bones, and smoldering ash in their wake. On numerous instances throughout the battle, several dragons at a time would break off from the ones flying overhead to pounce on groups of vampires and use their teeth, claws, tail, and even the sharp edges of their wings to rip dozens of vampires apart at a time.

The astonished wizards also noticed that the dragons would occasionally scoop up a vampire and take it aloft, tearing the screaming creature apart and casually eating it while flying over the battlefield. In short order, the battle became a rout and the vampires turned and fled to the safety of the mountains with the majority of the dragons in hot pursuit. A raucous cheer went up from the assembled wizards that lasted only a few moments. Their silence came from the shock of seeing twelve dragons break off from the main swarm that was chasing the fleeing vampires and land on the outskirts of the village. What was so amazing to the wizards is that each dragon had a human rider on their backs!

A man riding a completely black dragon removed his gloves and eyepieces, unhooked himself from a saddle, kicked one leg over the dragon's head, and slid down its side to land lightly on the ground. Giving the dragon a pat on the side of the head, the man walked toward the wizards, stopping halfway between the edge of the village and the dragons behind him. Sensing that the man only wanted to talk, the village leaders walked out from behind their barricades to meet him on the blackened ground.

After thanking him and his comrades for their timely arrival, they found out his name was Andrew Van Helsing, a Dutch squib and also identifying himself as something called a Dragon Companion. When asked if that was the reason why he was able to ride a dragon, he smiled and said, 'Something like that'. Before the wizards could ask any further questions, Van Helsing asked them if they knew where the vampires came from. When one of them responded that they suspected the vampires came from Castle Dracula, both Van Helsing and the black dragon behind him snarled angrily. He suddenly spun around, sprinted to the side of the dragon, vaulted into the saddle, signaled to the other riders and dragons, then as a group rose into the air to rejoin the other dragons chasing the vampire horde. The wizards of the village could only gape in awe as the group of dragons disappeared into the night.

It is believed that Van Helsing and his dragons followed the retreating vampires to their stronghold and destroyed them. It is only speculation so far in that no one has ever been able to contact Van Helsing to confirm or deny this story. However, since no new vampire attacks occurred for several months after the dragons came, a few intrepid explorers set out into the mountains to investigate.

The path was easy to follow, an unbroken trail of burnt ground and broken corpses littered the countryside all the way to the scorched ruins of what was once a magnificent castle. Here, the explorers were cautious, not because they were entering the stronghold of a powerful vampire, no, they were on their guard because there were a large number of dragons sunning themselves on the ledges surrounding the ruins. The dragons didn't seem to mind their presence, so they continued their investigation. A thorough search of the ruins found only corpses, one of which had a gold chain around its headless neck bearing the crest of the house of Dracula. Upon finding this, the explorers sent out messages confirming the happy news, the vampire lord was destroyed, the threat ended.

To this day, the people of central Romania continue to revere the name of Andrew Van Helsing and the dragons that came to their rescue. It is no accident that the people of Romania set aside the mountains of Transylvania as a dragon sanctuary and as of this writing it is currently the largest dragon reserve in the world.

Bathilda Bagshot – A History Of Magic

o0o0o0o

Even though the calendar indicated it was late Fall, an early snowfall painted the high peaks of the Transylvanian Alps a brilliant white. Barely noticed amongst the swirling flakes that continued to fall, a white dragon with two passengers appeared in their own swirl of ice and snow. Circling around for a moment to orient herself, the dragon folded her wings and seemingly dived headfirst into the side of one of the highest mountain peaks! Instead of smashing into broken bloody pieces against unyielding rock, the dragon and passengers seemingly merged with the mountain, leaving no evidence of their passing. Unseen by anyone outside the large hidden cavern, the dragon spread out her impressive wingspan to slow her descent and aimed for a large ledge inside the immense cavern. Backwinging until she was nearly hovering, she alighted gently onto the rocky outcropping and folded her wings to her sides. Walking to the center of the shelf, she turned her head to regard her passengers.

:How is he doing, Charlie? Is he safe? Did he make it through okay?:

Charlie couldn't help the chuckle that rolled forth, Rashikira sounded so much like his mother! He opened his jacket to see young Harry sleeping peacefully. He took him out and cradled him in his arms. Young Harry gripped the blanket he was wrapped in, yawned widely, then went back to sleep.

"Yeah, Rashi, he's fine. However, I'm going to have to go into town to get some supplies. We've got nothing here to take care of a human baby. Even though I can use cleaning charms on his nappies, I'm still going to need a lot of things that I won't be able to conjure or transfigure. I'm going to have to get clothes, food, bedding, nappies, and lots of other things."

:Very well, Charlie. Do you need a lift to the edge of town like we've done before?:

"No, for this short of a distance I can easily apparate. I'd like for you to stay here and watch over him until I get back. The sleeping and warming charms that I've placed on him should last until then." Rashikira laid down on her belly with her forepaws in front of her, just like a huge cat.

:Go ahead and lay him down on my forelegs, Charlie. I'll keep him company until you return:

Charlie took the child in his arms and laid him on the soft fur of Rashikira's forelegs. The dragon lowered her head until she was eye level with the sleeping child. She then brought both wings forward until they were folded in front of her so that it covered her paws and head. Charlie snickered in amusement when he thought that her overlapped wings looked like a tent.

:What's so funny?:

"You look like a camping tent!"

The wings parted just enough for Charlie to see the top of the dragon's head and a baleful blue eye staring at him.

:Don't you have somewhere to go?: she asked waspishly.

"All right, all right, I'm going! Sheesh, some dragons have NO sense of humor!"

:SHOO!: she snarled at him.

"Yipe!"

When Charlie disappeared with a crack, Rashikira then snickered to herself. She knew she didn't really scare him, it was just a game they played with each other. Lowering her head and closing her wings to keep the heat inside, the fur of her lower jaw brushed across the boy's forehead and momentarily disturbed his sleep. Opening his eyes for a few seconds, his green eyes met the slit-pupilled blue ones of the dragon watching over him.

:Go back to sleep, young Harry. I'll be here to protect you: Harry then smiled, closed his eyes, and fell back asleep. Before he did, however, Rashikira was startled when she felt the faintest touch of another mind touching hers. The unknown mind didn't say much, just a single word...

"Mama."

o0o0o0o

Charlie reappeared with a softer 'crack' of displaced air on the outskirts of the wizarding village of Balaur, snorting and laughing at himself. He loved the playful nature of his dragon friend and knew that he would have to do something to get even with her later on. In the meantime, he had supplies to gather.

Walking into town, he noticed that there were a lot of people out and about and almost all of them seemed quite happy. Everyone was smiling and greeting each other and talking excitedly. There were even a few couples dancing in the middle of the street! Passing close to a large pub, he could hear the sounds of people drinking and having quite a party. Looking through the open door, he saw that the patrons inside were quite a bit drunk and were having a grand time. His curiosity piqued, he went inside to speak with the proprietor, a man he was on a friendly basis with. Shouldering his way through the crowd, he smiled and waved when he saw the owner behind the bar. The bartender returned his wave and shouted his greeting.

"Buna Ziua, Charlie! How are you this fine day, my English friend?" The owner was a large, barrel-chested, balding, middle-aged man who used his large size and gruff demeanor to deal with unruly patrons. So, needless to say, it was a bit unusual to see him cheerful and smiling.

"Wow, you're in a good mood today, Anton. Buna Ziua to you as well. I'm doing fine, so thanks for asking. Been out and about running a few errands today and noticed people celebrating. What's the occasion?"

"You haff not heard?" Anton raised his large, bushy eyebrows in surprise.

"Heard what?" Charlie had a good inkling of what was happening, he just wanted it confirmed.

"You-Know-Who is dead! Was killed Halloween night!"

"He's dead?" Charlie faked surprise. "Who's the one that did the dark bastard in? Was it Dumbledore?"

"Nu, nu, not Dumbledore. All messages say was Harry Potter did it. Calling him The-Boy-Who-Lived."

"The-Boy-Who-Lived? What a silly name! What happened where they would call him that?"

"Messages say You-Know-Who attacked Potter house and killed his parents. When he tried to kill Harry, he got blown up instead, all is left behind were burnt robes. Little Harry lived with scar on forehead in the shape of lightning bolt. That's all I haff heard about it."

Charlie frowned as he disseminated this information. Apparently, someone is feeding the people a bill of goods, and ever since he saw the letter in Harry's basket, he had a sneaking suspicion that it was Dumbledore. The only questions that remained were why was he doing this and what did he hope to gain? Putting out this information would only paint a large target on Harry's back, so again the question was why? His ruminations were interrupted by Anton laying a hand on his forearm. He looked up into the worried eyes of his bartender friend.

"Charlie, you all right? You looked like you mad about somefing."

"I'm all right, Anton." Charlie responded with a smile. "I've just got a lot on my mind right now. I best get going, I have a bit of shopping to do." Anton gave him a suspicious look for a few moments, but then nodded his head and gave him a stern look.

"Foarte bine, Charlie, much luck trying to get through crowds. Come by house to visit sometime. Stefana says you don't come by enough and misses you. Says something like you only source of intelligent conversation around here." He then laughed at his own joke.

"Ha! I'll try to make it by sometime soon then, can't deprive your wife of good gossip now, can we? Of course, I can't overlook the fact that she makes an out-stand-ing kielbasa stew!" After shaking Anton's hand, Charlie turned to leave but before he made it out the door he bumped into one of the few people that he didn't want to meet.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Dragonsinger himself! Decided to come down from your high mountain and grace us lowly mortals with your presence, Weasley?" The man blocking his path was taller than he was, but was quite a bit thinner. The two others that were with him were shorter and just as thin as he was. All three of them were also quite drunk.

"Smythe." He regarded Smythe's compatriots. "Chambers, Wells." Charlie lowered his head and shook it slowly side to side, he didn't want to deal with this right now. "How many times must I tell you that I wasn't singing to that Longhorn...!"

"It certainly looked like you were!" Smythe interrupted him. "Why else would it be dancing side to side like it did?"

"BECAUSE HE COULDN'T SEE ME CLEARLY, YOU IDIOT!" Charlie roared at him. He didn't notice right then, but the entire pub was silently watching the drama unfold before them. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he grit his teeth and continued in a normal conversational tone, however, his words came out in a snarl.

"If you remember, dumbass, he was injured in a fight and blinded in one eye, but you and the rest of your cronies decided to start firing spells at him! They may have only been stunners, but he didn't know that, all he knew was that he was being attacked! He was hurt, scared, and angry and all you were doing was making it worse, and you call yourselves dragon handlers! I had to petrify the three of you to get you to stop!" At this reminder of their humiliation, they started to go for their wands but Charlie smirked at them.

"Go ahead, pull those wands. Remember, I took down all three of you just by my lonesome. And that was when you had your wands out and weren't drunk as skunks like you are right now. So, if you want a very public spanking in front of all these people, I'm ready to oblige." Charlie stood with his arms relaxed by his sides but was ready to flick his wand out of its holster in an instant. Smythe, Chambers, and Wells seemed to sense this as well so they backed off.

"Now, where was I? Oh yes, now I remember. Anyway, after petrifying the three of you the Longhorn was still highly irritated, but without spells being fired at him he calmed down quickly. After letting him settle down, I approached him slowly on the side that had his good eye. When he saw me, he moved his head side to side because with only one good eye he DIDN'T HAVE ANY DEPTH PERCEPTION! That's why he looked like he was dancing! Now, I've told you this twice already and this makes it the third time, but you can't seem to get it through that thick, stupid head of yours! Just so you understand, this is the last time I'm going to explain it to you. Next time you bring it up, I'm going to bring out my fists. Maybe a good, solid thumping will be what you need to get a thought into that pea-brain of yours. Understand, Smythe?" Charlie stared into the bloodshot, hate-filled eyes of his rival for a few moments before catching the gaze of first Wells and then Chambers. He then shoved Smythe to the side and walked to the door. Before he made it out of the pub, Smythe tried provoking Charlie again.

"That's right, run on back to that white runt you hang around with all the time! You should be more like us and hang around a real dragon like a Hungarian Horntail for a change!" Smythe laughed as if he made a great joke. Wells and Chambers joined in the laughter but Charlie just looked over his shoulder without fully turning around.

"Tell me, Smythe, how's the hand?"

The laughter stopped instantly and Smythe took an angry step forward. His hand was the reason that he hated Charlie Weasley and his dragon so much! That blasted furred dragon froze off four of his fingers on his left hand, leaving only his pinky. What was worse is that nothing the healers did could reverse the damage. Even now, he wore a prosthetic glove to hide his injury. Charlie just smirked at Smythe's impotent rage and walked out the door.

o0o0o0o

The rest of Charlie's shopping trip was uneventful despite the large crowds. It didn't take long for him to find everything he needed, shrinking them down to fit into his pockets as he purchased them. After buying the last item, he walked back to the edge of town, concentrated on his destination, then spun in place and disappeared with a crack. Reappearing in the cavern he shares with Rashikira, he smiled when he saw that she still held her wings in the same tent shape that she made earlier. Hearing his arrival, she opened her wings and raised her head to look at him.

:What took you so long, Charlie? Did you not find everything you need?:

"Yes, I did find everything I needed and I'm sorry it took so long, but I ran into Smythe before I went shopping."

:Oh, you did, did you? How's his hand?: Rashikira asked with a wicked gleam in her eye.

"HA! That's just what I asked him. Apparently, he's still wearing that prosthesis. Looks like the healers couldn't fix that damage you did to his hand."

:The damage to his hand will NEVER be healed!: Rashikira growled in remembered anger. :I pushed my magic into a curse as well as using my ice breath to freeze his hand. That's what he deserves for insulting me!:

Charlie smirked evilly at the memory. At the time, Smythe was a new transfer from a Welsh preserve and was used to seeing dragons at a distance or stunning them if they had to work with them up close. So when he saw Charlie casually stroking Rashikira's fur, he thought that she was a tame dragon. When he walked right up to her with his left hand extended as if to pet her, she let loose with her ice breath before he could touch her. She aimed for his whole arm, but his quick reflexes saved everything but his thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers. With just a pinky, his hand might as well be useless.

: He thought I was a..a...PET! He thought he could come to me and pet me whenever he wanted! He didn't even ask, all he did was walk up to me! I am NOT a pet! Of course, you can stroke my fur only because I allow it and I actually DO like it, but to have a stranger just walk up to me and pet me? NEVER!: Charlie could tell that Rashikira was getting very upset, so he did the thing that she allowed him to do and started stroking the fur on her chin. It didn't take long for the angry blue flames in her eyes to die down and for her to start purring in pleasure.

"You're definitely not a pet, Rashi, but you sure sound like a cat when you do that!" Charlie snorted in amusement.

:Well, I can certainly see why cats do it if them getting petted feels as good as this. Ohhh, a little more to the left, Charlie. Ahhh, that's the spot, right therrrreee...: Rashikira's deep rumbles of pleasure was loud enough to wake baby Harry, who started to get fussy. She blinked her large, blue eyes and looked down at the baby wriggling on her forelegs.

:Umm, oops?: Rashikira said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it, Rashi, he's slept enough." Charlie laughed as he picked up the squirming infant. "It's time for the little guy to get fed and changed and maybe show him around his new home." With Harry in his arms, he walked to another part of the cavern that he set up as his home. Setting Harry down on his bed, he took out his shrunken purchases, re-sized them, and quickly had the new furniture and supplies set up. He then cleaned, changed, and fed Harry who showed his appreciation by belching contentedly. Harry then looked around with wide eyes at his new surroundings.

:You want to raise him here?: Rashikira asked as she followed Charlie to the part of the cavern that he set up as his home.

"Sure, why not?' Charlie replied as he set Harry in his playpen. Harry ignored his toys and continued to look around the cavern. "I can't think of a better protected place than a dragon's home, can you?"

:You're right, Charlie, he'll be plenty safe here. Plus, being in the middle of the largest congregation of dragons in the world is a pretty good deterrent to anyone nosing around. However, there is one more thing that you can do to protect him further:

"Oh? What did you have in mind, Rashi?"

:Make him your family:

Dun, dun dun, how nasty of me to leave this with a cliffhanger! Mwahahaha!

Anyway, I should have the next chapter up in about a week (maybe sooner, depending on my schedule).

See you then and remember, please leave a review after reading.

Buna Ziua – Good day

Nu, nu – No, no

Foarte bine – Very well