Chapter Fifteen
Purposes
Amelia Bones wondered if the bullpen coffeepot was refilled yet. There was a distinct need for the bitter nectar right now and she was going to find some even if she had to squeeze the damned beans herself. After she found some, she was going to find a flask she knew a few Aurors wasn't supposed to have for something a little extra – rules be damned! Thanks to what she had just found out, there was going to be some heads rolling and leaving bloody trails behind them.
There had been something left for her in a triple-sealed envelope that pointed her toward looking in old case files for Sirius Black. Normally, she would have left it for later as it didn't work its way up through the chain of command, but the diplomatic markers in the magical checks she'd cast on it put paid to that idea. That meant that she had to pay more attention to it and when she did, she was steaming more than that cup of coffee she was wanting.
The tip had revealed to her that there had not been a trial for Sirius Black at all. How that was known to the tipster was not revealed to her, but it was very emphatic in the wording of the statement, along with several references to various tort laws found in much older legal documents that the Ministry was technically still bound by.
The punitive damages in those past decisions looked pretty horrendous and she had grimaced to read them. Some were financial in nature and would be adjusted for the inevitable inflation and some… were not, to put it simply. Mad-Eye would approve, she was sure.
She couldn't even say it was a so-called anonymous tip after she took the second manila envelope out of the first. Not with the rather snappy-looking dragon on the letterhead of the document of at least twenty-five pages that had appeared on her desk. She reflected on the observation that the little known sub-department called 'Dragonborne Treaties and Treatises' had a better looking logo than the DMLE and couldn't help but feel a little put out about it.
Not for the first time, she wondered who was creating these things and where they got the ideas to do them. Looking at the sunburst within a circle with 'DM' over the 'LE' on her badge had always made her wonder if the Ministry had always intended to run roughshod over law enforcement whenever it pleased them. Considering some of the people in the employ of the Ministry, she had that thought more and more often now. It was becoming harder and harder these days to prevent it from passing her lips into ears that didn't need to know that.
From what she saw here, it was something that had taken root a long time ago and prevented many efforts to prune back, like a lot of things in a Hogwarts greenhouse. She grimaced at the thought. If Amelia was thinking this through correctly, she wasn't going to need pruning shears. It would be more like a rather large and nasty jet of flame to burn it all out.
There was a moment of amused thought along those lines that starred some of the lesser-liked employees in the Ministry. That thought joined the previous badge thought in the carefully guarded durance vile of her mind. There were several other things that kept them company: things like repaying the Death Eaters everything they did to her family with interest, introducing He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named to rabid intestinal parasites resistant to magical treatments, and giving the stink eye to whoever failed to look her niece in the eye while talking to her.
The last one really got her goat, since she remembered all too well slobbery boys doing it to her at Hogwarts. Of course, she thought smugly, some still did it and she enjoyed snapping them back just as hard as she did back then. Now it was more fun.
In point of fact, her next visitor was one of those 'boys.' In about five minutes, she was going to have a little talk with that visitor, and if she didn't like what she heard there was going to be blood on the floor. It might even be literal blood, too. She didn't put up with much malarkey in the workplace and even in the little personal time she had to herself, for that matter.
There was a knock on the door which interrupted her train of thought.
"Come!"
The door opened and Kingsley Shacklebolt came in carrying an oversized carafe of what had to be coffee and two large mugs. As big as he was, if the mugs looked large when he was carrying them, then they had to be big enough to keep her supplied for two days. She regarded them with a raised eyebrow before looking up at his angelic expression. He was up to something.
"Are you angling for a promotion or something, Shack?"
He grinned as he arranged a mug in front of her and the other mug across the desk. The carafe perched near her right hand. There was a very small bowl of sugar close to the other mug with nothing next to hers. Everyone in the DMLE knew Amelia Bones took her coffee as black as midnight on a moonless and cloudy night.
"It'd be nice, but no. I'm doing my best to prevent extreme damage to an important Ministry asset."
"With what smells like coffee? And what exactly are you trying to keep from getting damaged?"
He backed up and sidled to the door.
"The whole building," he chortled before dashing out of her office.
She started to jump up but the scent of the freshly brewed coffee hit her and made her sit back in appreciation. Damn that man. That was all right – she'd assign him to the most boring detail she could think of for that little crack. He hadn't been on Wizengamot duty lately. Watching people talk and talk and talk and talk without actually saying anything always nearly drove her bonkers. The fact that she spent time there as Regent Bones didn't help her one bit when it came to being inured to it, so he'd have no hope at all.
Or maybe she could assign him to St. Mungo's on coma patient guard detail and tell him not to leave the room. Something. She'd come up with something suitably punitive.
She took a sip and moaned at the taste as the caffeine started coursing through her veins. Amelia decided that maybe she'd let him get away with the joke – this time.
Next time, however, and he'd be watching self-important people talk out of their fourth point of contact for a few months.
There was another knock on the door. It didn't sound like Shacklebolt's heavy knock, so it had to be one of the other Aurors.
Coward.
"Come!"
Auror Smithers poked his head in and looked at her.
"Your next appointment is here, Madam Bones." His nasal voice had a bit of amusement, which was extremely rare for him. Usually he wasn't the sort to make jokes at all and everyone spent time debating if he'd simply been born without a sense of humor. Amelia regarded him over the rim of her mug. She wondered what Shacklebolt was up to this time and how he had convinced or more likely conned Smithers into doing this. She narrowed her eyes at the hapless Auror, knowing who the waiting person was, what hoops she had to jump through, and what clandestine things had to happen and midnight requisitions she and some others had to fill in order to make that 'appointment' happen. It had all the hallmarks of something the Unspeakables would do. In fact, a few had contributed in exchange for the information that would result from the op and a few cases of the ground coffee Shacklebolt found.
She had to think about the last part for a little while, but finally agreed. The Unspeakables ran on the stuff more than she did, and that was saying something.
As a result, some things had been done that might not have been completely on the up-and-up but she was a former protégée of Alastor Moody, just as Auror Tonks was now. She knew most of his tricks and how to 'document' them. As a result, the person that was here to see her wasn't 'really' here.
"Where is he, Smithers?" She growled out the question.
"Not too far behind me and looking like a lost, confused puppy."
"Good." She raised her voice. "Get your mangy arse in here, Sirius Black! I want to have a word with you!"
She grinned as she heard the sound of someone falling over onto the floor with a heavy thump.
|:-:|
Charlie looked at the dragon. His mug was forgotten in his hand.
"Complication? What complication and what do I have to do with it? I'm just a dragon handler."
"Yes, sweet Charlie. A complication that you can fix, and yes, you're a dragon handler but you're also a trusted dragon handler. We mother dragons all talk about you, you know. You communicate well even without the help of the translation charm here."
He thought about that. Charlie was not sure he liked being the topic of conversation between a bunch of females, even if the females in question could breathe fire. He thought about his mother's usual reaction after a Twins prank and amended that to 'weighed in the tons.'
"Well, okay, I'll accept that as a compliment, but what's the complication?"
"First, the Mother Eminence will need someone to explain dragons to some people. That someone needs to be somebody we can trust, and you're that person. As for the people you would be talking to, think of it this way. Not everyone knows everything about the world we live in, right?"
"Well, that's true."
"Those people can help her with things that she'll need while she looks after the Speaker's interests and helps him grow as he should. I've only seen glimpses of him and even I can tell he isn't as big as he should be."
Charlie thought for a moment, remembering both that the dragons called Harry Potter 'Speaker' and the things that had been discussed in the Family Meeting. He sighed but Kirsa could see his eyes spark in anger.
"I know why that is and I can't speak about it, since it involves my Family Magics. Harry is practically my little brother and I want to see that he's done right by everyone."
Kirsa nodded to herself. Even without the specifics, she could clearly see that Charlie was bowed up like an older dragon protecting a hurt clutchmate.
"So you can help?"
"I'll help."
"Good!" Kirsa nuzzled Charlie's shoulder in a show of thanks. "The second thing that's needed is Harry will need a sponsor to make this Treaty ironclad."
"Okay?" Charlie was confused. "What does that have to do with me? Am I needed to be the sponsor, which I wouldn't have a problem with but I don't understand."
"No, sweet Charlie. You have an important role, but not as a sponsor for the Speaker. You need to be the one to answer the questions about we dragons to the prospective sponsors."
"Oh. That makes sense, which is why you asked that other question first."
"Of course. Priorities, you know?"
Charlie got the sudden impression that the little dragon was having him on for some reason. He raised an eyebrow at her and she gave him a dragon's grin. He sighed. This was still going to take some getting used to. Kirsa puffed a bit of smoke from her nostrils in a show of humor.
"So when do I need to talk to whomever? Just one person, right?"
"Actually, no. More than one. We need to meet with the Mother Eminence at her quarters for the next part."
"We do?"
"We do. More precisely, you do. The Mother Eminence wants to evaluate you again."
"Wait, again? Again for what? These people?"
"No. Well, yes, but I meant for something else she's been working on for you…"
Kirsa took to the air after that. The charm broke when she got some distance into the air, but from the hissing sounds Charlie could still hear, she was definitely laughing at him and his confusion rather strongly. It sounded a lot like… his eyes got wide at a thought that hit him.
Charlie had a sudden sense of foreboding that had strong tinges of Molly Weasley in it.
|:-:|
Luna was the next visitor to the Dragon Quarters long before Charlie could get there, but she didn't come alone. The first dragon to see her was Rhiain and she was quite amused to see the little blonde dragging Neville Longbottom with her. She concentrated on them to listen to their conversation.
"Um, Luna? Are you sure the dragons will want to be bothered? It's getting a bit dark out here? When do they go to bed?"
The fact that there were lamp posts supporting brightly shining lamps was something that Neville didn't want to mention. Neither did he want to voice the fact that right now, being in bed with the covers over his head was seriously sounding like a pretty good idea.
"Oh, it's quite all right, Neville. The dragons will love you."
"That's what I'm afraid of," he muttered to himself. Luna didn't hear him, but Rhiain did. She had to stifle a snort since she didn't want smoke obscuring herself from the boy when they came around the curve. Luna went on with her thought, ignoring the expression on the young man next to her with blithe Luna-ness.
"After we visit, I'll make sure your bed is nice and warm for you. I'm sure the dragons know a few things about warming beds and can give me some ideas."
Rhiain found it harder to keep from snorting when she heard Neville choke. This was more entertaining than watching the Speaker deal with Annika sometimes.
"Er, about that…"
"Oh, not to worry, Neville. I won't be in your bed. I like to sleep in the natural and besides I understand the that Gryffindor beds are all too narrow for two people."
Luna sounded thoughtful and Neville was trying to remember how to breathe as he thought about that. He'd never thought about the width of the beds but now he would in addition to something else! He started to try to say something else to head off some of the Luna thoughts. Unfortunately for his peace of mind, he was a little too late.
"Although, three people would make for a coziness that would handle these Scottish cold nights quite well. I don't require too much space, you see, and you're sizable. You'd warm up a bed by yourself quite well."
"Uh…"
Around the corner, Rhiain was choking on her laughter. Bits of smoke got away from her.
"There's been some discussion about transfer of heat energy between solids, liquids, and gases between Daphne Greengrass and I. We have been running experiments and was wondering about combinations and motion-based heat exchange."
Neville's thought processes stopped cold.
"Comb… combinations?" he squeaked.
"Of course! Combining the states of matter to generate and retain heat. Since motion is a method of heat transfer – the faster the hotter, like a steam piston – we're interested in this. Would two solids work better than a liquid on a solid or a gas on a liquid or some other combination? We need a third to act as a control group."
Neville was totally lost and the snuggling up Luna was doing as they walked wasn't clarifying matters for him. Or it was, and he wasn't sure they were thinking about the same thing.
"Er… control?"
Apparently this was the wrong thing to say.
"Now that you mention it, we also have been thinking about a controlling interest in businesses that handle creating lubricants from plants that can be converted into them. You're a genius in Herbology. You'd could use your strong grasp in that field," she squeezed his arm, "and contribute daily to our efforts. We'd be so very thankful and it would assist us in coming to a conclusion in our studies. You'd be willing to help us, right? Lubricants are important."
At this point, Neville was far, far away from knowing where he was. How did they get from talking about dragons to… whatever this was? And how was Daphne Greengrass going to get involved? A part of his mind was waving its metaphorical hand in the air simply begging to be called to answer that question and give a few answers in excruciating detail.
In fact, it was willing to stand at the front of the class and draw out the answer on the blackboard in Neville's mind. If that wasn't sufficient, there was a mental Pensieve ready and willing to be put to use.
Luna was quiet as she looked up at his face with a smirk. He was so distracted that he didn't realize that sometime in the last minute or so they had come face to face with Rhiain. Neville was that lost in wherever his mind had taken him. The Welsh Green was snorting and Luna could see that there was a good bit of smoke wafted away from where she reclined.
"Hello, Moon Girl. I see you've brought company. Are you through giving him a hard time?"
"For now, Rhiain. I'll be good."
Neville heard the exchange and was both relieved and disappointed before he realized who had spoken. He looked up to see a very amused dragon eyeing him with purple eyes.
"So who's this? He looks yummy," Neville's face paled, "if the look on your face means anything."
Neville's face suddenly gained a bunch of red. Luna gently guided him to a conveniently placed rock that was just the right height for him to sit on. When she was sure that he was not going to fall over in shock – that took her a few minutes – she turned to the dragon. Rhiain was regarding her in no small amusement.
"You know that sooner or later, he's going to find some way to get you back for doing that to him."
"Of course. I look forward to seeing it."
Neville managed to see where her glance landed, in between trying to still his racing mind.
"Seeing what, Moon Girl?" The dragon seemed curious.
Luna smiled at Rhiain.
"Why, the tattoo of a flower pot on his…"
"Luna!" Neville found his voice in a rush, although it was a bit squeaky. "What tattoo?"
If he didn't know better and he wasn't too sure where Luna was concerned anyway, he'd swear she looked very disappointed.
"You mean you don't have a tattoo of a flower pot on your…"
"Ahem."
This time she was interrupted by a new voice. They all turned to see Tessaies standing at the opening, rolling her eyes. Rhiain got to her feet and bowed.
"Mother Eminence."
Luna was bowing, too and in the action of getting Neville to get up and bow managed to nudge him off the rock. It took him a moment to get up from where he'd found himself sprawled and bow. He looked like he couldn't decided what expression to hold on his face.
Privately, Tessaies was quite amused, having heard a good deal of the conversation between the humans. Not all of it, since what she'd heard had started with 'warming beds.' As dragons didn't use beds, she was a little confused about what the warmth of a bed had to do with anything. In fact, she wasn't too sure what exactly a 'bed' was and resolved to talk with Harry to find out.
"Oh, don't bow. I'm not here on anything official."
Luna popped up.
"No, but you're still the Mother Eminence. Charlie told us some of what that means. It's almost like a head of state, depending on the size of the dragon group."
Tessaies eyed the girl, who peered back. One draconic eyebrow went up.
"No pranks, Moon Girl, at least on me. Save those for Annika. She loves them."
"Oh, I will! In fact, I have a couple of friends that would love to talk to her about those."
Beside her, Neville groaned loudly and all eyes turned him.
"Don't ask. Please, don't ask."
Tessaies studied him for a moment.
"Moon Girl, you must be rubbing off on him. He looks flustered."
Neville blushed as the blackboard in his mind sprang back to life.
"Maybe," Luna said. "I'm sure I can bring him around to my way of thinking."
Neville didn't know whether to be excited or scared at that.
The dragons traded looks with each other. Neville was too distracted to see how amused they were. He noticed when Tessaies studied him closely. A glance at Rhiain told him that she was waiting for Tessaies to say whatever was on her mind and Luna was doing the same.
"Dragons sometimes give names to humans that refer to a quality that we can perceive," Tessaies mused, out of the blue.
"We do," murmured Rhiain. "Sometimes it takes a while for the named to figure out why they got the name."
Tessaies was still staring at Neville, although she had settled to the ground for comfort. It was making Neville nervous, since she was blocking the way out. He glanced at Luna, who nodded back at him with a smile. That encouraged him more than he'd thought it would, so he turned his attention back to Tessaies.
"You have untapped power within you, young human, but like with the Speaker, you have not had the chance to use it. What that power happens to be is related to the things that you can do. I can see that the earth responds to you. In fact, it's noticeable in here. Look there."
Neville looked at where the Horntail's evil looking talon was pointed and he saw her indicating the rock he'd sat on.
"Thanks to the draconic magic of the four of us, there has been a recharging happening since our arrival."
"Recharging? Of what?" Neville was surprised to see that part of the rock was glowing slightly, although he was embarrassed to see that there was a distinct silhouette of his rear displayed on the stony surface. It didn't help his state of mind that Luna appeared to be comparing the size of her hands to the glow.
"Certain parts of the grounds. Let's try something. Walk from where you are to that nearby wall and back. Go slowly."
It took him almost a minute as the 'nearby' wall was almost a hundred feet away and Luna had jumped up to take his arm for the walk. When they turned to walk back to Tessaies, his eyes widened. There was a slowly disappearing track of footprints where he'd walked. He looked at the elder dragon, who was studying the footprints with satisfaction.
"I thought so. Your magic is earth-based and while dragons are mostly beings of air and fire, we do have some grounding in earth and water." Her eyes crinkled up at the pun, although it flew over Neville's head. "That bit of earth magic embedded in our Quarters is definitely responding to you. The warmth of the earth is resonating with your magic, which is leaving the traces you see here."
Neville thought about that. "But why show up now? I've been digging in the ground and planting a lot of the landscaping since I was sorted. What's the difference?"
"Our magic, young Neville. I believe it was a trigger to start the reaction. Learn from it. Embrace it. Hold out your hands for a moment."
He did, confused. Luna put her hands under his, cradling his larger hands in her smaller palms. Tessaies looked amused at this for some reason but said nothing. She did trade glances with Rhiain before lightly tracing a talon over each palm. Neville winced at the slight burning sensation, but Luna's supportive hands and light whisper in his ear kept him still.
"Excellent!" Tessaies sounded pleased, and Rhiain stretched her neck around to see what had happened. From the approving sounds she made, Neville took it as a good thing.
"Look at your hands, Sturdy Grower. Regardless of your physical appearance, your magical connection to the earth and the runic outlets you now possess will serve you and yours the rest of your life in the use of that connection. Use it well."
Neville stared at the runes for Jera and Ingwuz that had embedded themselves in his skin in a couple of gently gleaming scars. He could feel the thrumming in his hands as the power waited for his call. He was so intent on this that he didn't see the smirk on Luna's face. Luna was so intent on her thoughts that she didn't see the sigh Rhiain let out.
Tessaies seemed pleased that the draconic magic had accepted Neville. There was greatness in his future, just like for his godbrother. There was something else there, something that she hadn't seen until she placed the runes in his hands.
"Hmmmmmm."
The speculation in her voice made all heads jerk up in her direction, human and dragon.
"Tessaies?" Rhiain seemed a bit apprehensive.
There was no answer for a few minutes and Neville found the nervousness ramp up a bit in the silence. Tessaies seemed to be thinking hard about something, but he didn't have a clue how to tell from looking at a dragon's face. Maybe he could ask Harry later if he had any idea how.
The larger dragon came to an agreement on something and nodded, obviously to whatever she'd been thinking about.
"I think the three of you might be of use in my next meeting. Come with me."
She turned without another word and strolled out. Tessaies stayed on the ground instead of taking to the air in deference to the humans. Rhiain traded looks with the others and they could see that she had no more idea about what the Mother Eminence was up to than they did.
|:-:|
The area was getting a little crowded, Charlie thought. Dragons were not the most sociable creatures, or so he would have thought a month ago. Recent events had turned that way of thinking so far over on its head it wasn't funny. Kirsa had waited for him at the entrance to Tessaies' quarters and looked a bit bored as he clumped his way up, breathing hard. If he didn't know better, he would swear his brothers had charmed the flat pathway to feel like it was like climbing a mountain. Looking again at the little dragon, he wasn't so sure. She looked a little too innocent. Did dragons play pranks, he wondered?
It wasn't the first time he had that thought.
"Kirsa," he mumbled to the little dragon before looking around. "Where's Tessaies?"
"She'll be here in a moment," she replied as a shadow flitted across the ground. Charlie looked up to see Annika flying a loose formation with a trio of what looked like Hufflepuff Quidditch players. She was… passing a Quaffle back and forth with them?
He directed an incredulous stare at the little dragon, who shrugged.
"At least she's not singing."
Charlie's mouth snapped shut. That was true enough. He might not be a Parselmouth like Harry, but even he could tell the differences between Rhiain's singing and Annika's… squawking. He shot a furtive look up at the Short-Snout still playing catch in the air and hoped he hadn't said that out loud.
"Oh, and here they come now!"
The dragon wrangler looked down the pathway to see Tessaies making her way to where they stood on foot. Rhiain was following her and in between the bulk of the two dragons, he could see the Longbottom boy and Luna Lovegood walking alone.
He grinned. From the way Luna was walking close to him, it looked like Neville was in for the ride of his life – so to speak. Charlie turned to look at Kirsa, who seemed to be having similar thoughts. The stifled laughter indicated something humorous but he didn't ask. Dragon humor was something that he was still getting used to.
Charlie tried and failed again to suppress the thought of his mother and Tessaies gossiping together. It was made worse by the thought of Annika doing the same thing.
Presently, the Horntail was standing in front of him and she hadn't gotten any smaller. He made himself stand upright and look her in the eye while wondering just what she was evaluating him for, anyway. There was something in her golden eyes that made him a bit queasy deep in his stomach, and he hoped it wasn't all the Firewhiskey he'd had lately burning a hole in his digestive system.
Tessaies was Up To Something, and he knew it.
"It's good to see you, lángoló haj. You are someone I trust for something I need you to do for me. Well," she amended, "it's for the whole detachment too and Kirsa will help you, but it's for me and the Speaker. It is and at the same time, it isn't, covered under the Treaty."
Well, that certainly cleared things up, he thought.
"Under the Treaty, I'm allowed a liaison that will allow for the strictly human things that need doing for an underage child that my size would physically prevent. Things like healer visitations, clothing, schooling concerns, and things like that." A wing waved around them. "The schooling concerns are not that troublesome, as you see here, but it's in the Treaty."
"I understand, Tessaies, but am I to be that liaison? Kirsa said something about a sponsor."
The mother Horntail shook her head.
"No, lángoló haj, I need you to talk to those that I've selected, pending the necessary agreement to the job. You have knowledge of my kind and you're not stuck up yourself either, like some I could name."
The unbidden image of Jimmy Weeks came to mind and Charlie had to bite his tongue. Tessaies flicked a talon toward a rock that held a couple of the binders with the Treaty text.
"Take a look at Section XII to get an idea of what I mean. We'll talk more later."
She shooed him toward the binder and he took it, bemused. What was she up to and was he and Malcolm in trouble? There wasn't any Firewhiskey left for the two to use to contemplate the oddities of their life now.
Although… there had been persistent rumors that both Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape had their own 'private stocks' somewhere in the castle.
He picked up the binder when he saw that the mother Horntail was eyeing him and obediently flipped to the page. It was hard to read but he stuck with it. The trembles from the ground told him that Tessaies was moving off to do something else, and he could hear murmurs of girlish conversation. It sounded a lot like Luna and he grinned. Charlie wished the boy she was with a lot of luck with whatever she was on about now.
Charlie was wondering what sheep had to do with whiskey and why it was in the Treaty when he heard the faint sound of a Portkey activating somewhere in the distance. From the sound of the voices that followed it, whoever had arrived was at the gates. He looked up to see that Hagrid was headed that way, with a Thestral-drawn carriage already prepared.
That was unusual. Since when did Hagrid have a carriage ready for someone who didn't give prior notice?
He shrugged, noticing that Tessaies seemed to be talking with the other two humans about something that had given a thoughtful cast on both faces. Of course, considering what Luna could be thinking about at any given moment he was a little afraid to guess what made Luna thoughtful. Not for the first time, he wondered if Luna deliberately did things to mess up the concentration of others.
For that reason, he'd never play poker with her. Now, maybe if he got her into the Reserve on poker night for some 'innocent fun,' they'd split the take.
He went back to the Treaty text, grimacing at some of the outdated terminology. Charlie wondered if lawyers ever changed how they spoke or if they just possessed different bodies every century. It made more sense than he wanted to think about that litigious spirits changed bodies like he changed boots – new ones when the old ones wore out.
He was still thinking about that when the mother Horntail's voice interrupted him.
"Good! They've arrived."
Tessaies' voice was pleased and Charlie turned to see who was walking up. He saw a tall man with a muscular build that looked like he ran everyday and a woman that looked familiar somehow. He knew he hadn't met her before, but the face looked like somebody he'd met before and he couldn't place it.
There was also a couple of people that had the look of Aurors about them. Those two lead the first two his way and as they got closer, he could hear a bit of their conversation.
"So we don't know much about dragons, but there's supposed to be someone here that is."
"Really?" the woman said. "How exciting!"
"It is, Emma, but just wait and see."
That was probably his cue and he stepped up with his hand out.
"Hello. I'm Charlie and I work with dragons."
The man took his hand. He had a strong grip.
"Hello, Charlie. I'm Dan and I work with teeth. Dragons, eh?"
"Yes. Look that way."
Dan looked to his right as he came around the corner to see Tessaies regarding him with a golden gleam in her eyes. His eyes widened.
"Oh, fu…"
"Dan, language!"
Charlie suddenly knew exactly who these two were.
