Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: Here's the Charlie's Romanian Preserve Found Fam that you didn't order but you're getting anyway. Enjoy!

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Term 14); MC4A (Year 4)
Individual Challenges: Best Stories (Y); Culturally Inclined; La Vie Boheme; Fix-It Felix (Y); My Favorite Things; Gryffindor MC (x3); Durmstrang MC (x2); Beauxbatons MC (x1); Magical MC (x6); Neurodivergent (x3); Rowl in Her Grave; Rian-Russo Inversion (x4); Ethnic & Present (x2); Human Companion; Hold the Mayo; Gender Bender (x2); Go Fluff Yourself; Colors Galore; Lunar Era (Y); Old Shoes (Y); Short Jog (Y); Bucket Listing; Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon; Greatest Gift [Hydra; Dragons]
House: Slytherin
Assignment No.: Term 15 – Assignment 01
Subject (Task No.): Criminology & Forensics (Task#7: Write about someone reading something incriminating.)
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Fantastic Beasts [157](Charlie Weasley); 365 Prompts [347](Acquaintances); Scavenger Hunt [40](Scene from Favorite Book from other PoV)
Other MC4A Challenges: SuB [4E](Adventure); AU [1B](Powers are Norm); Chim [Xylit](Gender Bend); Hunt [Su WD](Muslim)/[Su Set](Sea/Ocean)/[Su Con](Avocado); Garden [Chores](Writing/Reading)/[Bed Types](Sea/Ocean)/Flowers (Violet); Flowers (Gold); Flowers (Silver); Tools (Letter/Note); Companions (Reptile); Behind Green Eyes (Race Bent); Personal Favs (Harry Potter); Fire [x1](Colors of the Wind); TWT (NB Charlie Weasley; Trio Era)[Task#3](Green)
Representation(s): NB Charlie Weasley; Muslim OFC; Autistic OFC; Desi & Fem Harry Potter
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Deadliest Catch; For the Vine; ; Creature Feature; Vid Tangent; Wind Beneath; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; Found Family; Nontraditional; Zucchini Bread; Middle Name; Unwanted Advice; Car in a Tutu); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi; Bee Haven; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Larger than Life; Unicorn); Demo 1 (Muck & Slime; Most Human Bean; Corvid Brain; Casper's House; Bad Beans; Where Angels Fear; Udner the Bridge; Triton's Domain; Over the Hills; Easy Zephyr; Fruit Fly); Demo 2 (Abandoned Ship; Sitting Hummingbird; Hot Stuff; Misshapen Pods)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Thimble); SN (Rail; Amerliorate); FR (Satisfaction); O3 (Ox); War (Sanctuary; Ennui); TY (Kulonbozo; Enfant)
Word Count: 1413 words

(^^)
One Crime at a Time
(^^)

Charlie laughed as xe read the letter from xyr youngest brother. It seemed like Hagrid had finally gotten his greatest wish. Somehow, the man had come into the possession of a dragon egg (Norwegian Ridgeback, according to the letter), and the egg had been viable. Hagrid had actually managed to hatch the thing and keep it alive for the time being. Thankfully, little Ronnie and his friends had convinced the groundskeeper to send the dragon off to a reserve.

Unfortunately, even having the dragnet was highly illegal, so everything had to be done off the books and clandestine-like. If the man had come clean as soon as he had gotten the egg, that wouldn't be the case—in fact, Hagrid would have been lauded as a bit of a hero to the British Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. They had rewards for turning in black market goods that were actually on par with most of it.

Not for a dragon or dragon egg, of course.

Dragon eggs were expensive things, and dragnets even more so.

Charlie looked over the letter again. This was going to be a tricky situation. It had to be handled delicately. It also had to be handled quickly. Not only was it more likely that they would be discovered the longer the dragon was in their custody, but there was a risk to the health of the dragnet due to the subpar conditions. Hagrid was surely doing his very best as lovingly as possible, but a hut on the grounds of a school in northern Scotland was far removed from ideal habitat for a Norwegian Ridgeback.

"Hey, Enisa," xe called, still looking at xyr letter full of illegal things. Seriously. Ron had grown up around the twins, and yet he hadn't even tried to talk around what his crimes were, let alone use even the simplest of ciphers. Kid really needed help in the subtlety department. But first things first. "How do you feel about helping smuggle a dragon out of Scotland?"

Enisa popped up from behind the stack of books on her desk. Her violet headscarf contrasted nicely with the deep tan of her skin and the darker royal purple of today's under-cover. Her brown eyes glinted with excited mirth.

"Are you asking me if I want to commit crimes with you?" she asked. Her tone was playful. "It's like you don't even know me, Char."

"Oh, of course," xe agreed, shaking xyr head. "What was I thinking?"

"Did I hear someone say they were going to commit crimes?" Anders asked as he came into their cabin with a large bundle of bedding in his arms. The hulking man dropped the whole bundle on his bunk before turning towards them and crossing his arms. The dark lines of his tattoos rippled over the bulging muscles. "Am I not invited?"

"Charlie got a letter from xyr brother," Enisa chirped. She crossed her arms across the top of her books and laid her chin on them. "Now xe's talking about smuggling a dragon out of Scotland."

"Sound fun," Ola commented as she dropped from the rafters to the middle of the room. Her blond hair had been pulled back into two French braids that went down either side of her head and were clipped with a pair of gold and silver barrettes. With a twist of her slim hand, she suddenly had a yellow-green pear that she took a large bite of. Then she removed the chunk of it from her mouth and offered it to Renoir, her bearded dragon, that had somehow been on her shoulder the entire time. Charlie had given up trying to figure out how after only a day of working at the Romanian Preserve with her. "When do we leave?"

(^^)

They approached the school from the sea. Anders and Enisa played an elaborate game of tag around Ola and Charlie, dipping down low enough to be damp with spray when they came back up. Ola was more sedate, using the flight time to feed chunks of avocado to Renoir from the container she had stuck to her broom handle before they had set off.

Charlie wasn't looking forward to seeing xyr brother. Xe had left home before coming to terms with xyr gender issues. Xe hadn't really come out to xyr family either, not even during when xyr parents and Ginny had visited last December. Thankfully, xyr friends hadn't outed xem either, despite how close all of them had come to accidentally doing so on multiple occasions.

Away from the sea, they were able to travel more quickly, easily making time across the highlands. They approached the castle right on schedule. Charlie let xemself a single sigh of relief to see that only two girls were waiting for them with a slightly smoking crate between them. Even if Ron having been bitten was concerning, at least he was in good hands with Madam Pomfrey.

"Is Norbert going to be okay?" the smaller of the girls asked anxiously, her hands clutching the folds of her school robe. Her green eyes practically glowed in the light from the full moon overhead. "He is a little scared about leaving, but I think he understands it's for the best."

"We're gonna take good care of him," Ola assured the girl. She waved Charlie over to supervise Enisa and Anders rigging up the crate so that it would be suspended between the four of them. Charlie frowned at her briefly before obeying. Ola then crouched down in front of the girl. "What's your name, little one?"

"I'm Harini," the girl whispered. Charlie yanked the strap as tight as it would go as xe subtly watched Ola and Harini's conversation. "That's Hermione."

"Those are very pretty names," Ola commented. "Did you explain the situation to Norbert, Harini?"

"I, I did," she said before rushing on. "I tried to explain about how he needed things that Hagrid wasn't able to get for him, but he's so little that I don't know if he understands."

"Harini," Hermione hissed, like she was trying to stop Harini from embarrassing herself in some way. Most likely, the girl didn't realize how differently the dragon-keepers would take what Harini was explaining than the average wix would. "They don't need to hear your fantastic notions right now."

"Actually, we would love to hear them," Ola corrected in a flat tone. "I would like to introduce you to someone, Harini." She raised one hand to her shoulder, coaxing Renoir off of his perch. "This is Renoir."

"Like the painter?" Harini asked shyly, already holding out her fingertips to the lizard. Renoir flicked his tongue over the digits. Suddenly, her words took on a familiar sibilant edge that made Charlie, Enisa, and Anders stop what they were doing to stare a bit. "Aren't you a pretty one?"

"Oh, that's useful," Enisa declared. She was practically vibrating already with the excitement of it. "Can we take her with us right now?"

"I'm fairly certain kidnapping is frowned upon," Anders said. Ola waved her free hand dismissively. "All I'm saying is that we would definitely get caught if we took a student with us. Let alone this particular student."

"What's going on?" Hermione demanded. She sounded a bit like an offended cat. Harini withdrew her hand and hunched her shoulders a bit.

"Your friend has a very special gift," Ola said, still in the flat tone. She put Renoir back on her shoulder. "One that isn't seen very often in this area of the world. Have you ever considered becoming a dragon-keeper, Harini?"

"I haven't considered becoming anything," Harini admitted quietly. Her eyes darted towards Hermione. "Is being a dragon-keeper fun?"

"Definitely," Ola agreed while the others made sounds of agreement. "We're not all dragon-mad like Charlie here, but we definitely love what we do."

"Would I get to move to Romania?"

"Oh, Harini," Ola said knowingly, "you'd get to move wherever you wanted. There are preserves all over the world, and Speakers are in demand everywhere." She reached out and tweaked Harini's nose. "You could have your pick of where to go, little bug."

Harini treated them all to a grin.

"Are you sure we can't take her with us?" Enisa whined. Ola rolled back up to her feet. She patted Harini's wild curls before moving back to her own broom.

"Just focus on the dragon we're smuggling, Issy," Ola said. "One crime at a time."