Of Dogs and Dragons

Charlie,

Yes, I was the one that signed the dragon to the Ministry, but I was forced to do it. I don't know much.

Dragos Vasile

Charlie sighed as he read over the note that his boss finally sent him. After a relatively successful day of healing Emilia's dogs, he was quite upset to come home to a letter in which his boss gave him as simplistic of an answer as he was used to. He couldn't elaborate some?

Charlie should have figured his boss would do that. He needed an explanation, but Vasile wasn't being too helpful. He decided to send another letter in return, prying for detail on a possible explanation for the dragon's pregnancy.

Mr Vasile,

I don't blame you on signing the dragon away. I just want to know more about her. She's pregnant and I'm not quite sure how that could have happened. If you have any theories or possible explanations, please let me know. I want to make sure it is safe before I relocate her.

Charlie Weasley

Charlie took his owl and sent her back to his boss in Romania. He sat down on his bed, took a deep breath, and tried to calm down before returning to work.

Hermione started to speak as soon as the owl took flight. "I still can't figure out what the green stuff around her mouth is." Hermione turned the pages in her books rapidly trying to find some type of explanation. "There's no mention of green slime on dragons anywhere."

"Yeah, I've never seen anything green connected to dragons before," Charlie answered. "It could have something to do with the suppressed memories. Do humans ever have some type of residue on them, after a suppressed birth?"

"No," Hermione quickly replied. "I've checked. There's no mention of anything like that anywhere. It just doesn't make sense."

"It's okay," Charlie declared, trying not to worry. "I doubt it's a big deal. She doesn't seem to be having trouble with anything." In the big picture, a little bit of green pigment was nothing to worry about. Charlie was usually thorough, but their main worry was the dragon's baby.

"I hope so," Hermione replied as her eyes focused back to her book. She didn't want to give up on her research.

Charlie was done with research. If Hermione wanted to look into her books more that was fine, but he was finished. Besides the baby, Charlie's main focus was taking the dragon back to the bank. He still didn't want to send her there and after talking with Emilia he felt that desire to defy the Ministry even more. The overly shy Emilia would risk anything for her dogs, wasn't he the same for his dragons? That meant that he had to go against the Ministry's desires.

"Can I borrow your owl?" Charlie suddenly asked Hermione, ready to jump into action. He wasn't going to give in easily. He was starting to form a plan.

Hermione perked her eyes up from her book once again and she shook her head.

Charlie started to write another letter, this one to the current Minister. If anyone could help, he could. Plus, Shacklebolt was a family friend. If anyone could help, it was him.

Minister Shacklebolt,

I have been assigned to capture the dragon that escaped from Gringotts and to return her to the bank. The problem is that she has laid an egg, and her baby will be born soon. I don't think it's a good idea to return her when she is going to have a baby to take care of. She is not in good shape either, being partially blind. Would you consider allowing her to return to the Romanian reserve?

Thank you for your help.

Charlie Weasley

Charlie took the letter and gave it to Hermione's owl. The owl quickly flew into the sunset and was out of sight in minutes. "That's a fast owl you've got," Charlie commented.

"Uh huh," Hermione said, not taking her eyes off of the book that she was reading. She seemed to be growing annoyed at Charlie's interruptions.

Charlie sat on his bed, not knowing exactly what to do. He was particularly uneasy and he knew he should go to sleep, so he could go back to the Vet Clinic in the morning, but he was restless. He would not be able to sleep, especially while Hermione was awake, reading through her books. He had to continue to help in some way.

Minutes later, as Charlie fidgeted in his bed, he saw Hermione's tawny owl, outside the window of the shack. He was pleasantly surprised when he realized that the owl was back so soon. That had to be good news.

He quickly let the owl in and grabbed the letter she was carrying. He read it instantaneously.

Charlie Weasley,

Thank you for writing to the Minister of Magic. We acknowledge your letter and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Jefferson H. Pope

Secretary of the Ministry

Charlie sighed, again displeased by the news he received. He should have figured it wouldn't be easy to get the new Minister to read his letter right away.

Charlie crinkled the letter up and continued to lie in bed. He still couldn't go to sleep yet; he wanted to do something. Luckily, another idea suddenly came to him.

"Can I use your owl again?" Charlie asked Hermione.

"Go ahead," Hermione grumbled, keeping her eyes focused on Dragons of the Stone Age.

Charlie wrote out another letter, this one intended for his father. He asked if his father could talk to Shacklebolt about the dragon problem.

Charlie saw the annoyed glare of Hermione's owl before he sent her on the way once more. Hermione and her owl both at that same annoyed look at him tonight.

---

Early the next morning, Charlie woke up to a tapping sound at his window, followed by Hermione's shout of, "Charlie!"

"What? Huh?" Charlie was confused, remembering that sleep did not come easily for him that night. He didn't even realize that he had eventually drifted off to sleep.

Soon he jumped out of bed, seeing the owl at the window and also peeking to see that Hermione was in the same position, with her books open on her bed, as the previous night. "Were you up all night?"

"No," Hermione quickly responded. "I got about an hour of sleep, but I really couldn't sleep. I'm fine though."

Charlie was concerned, but he was also interested in the owl that was flying outside his shack. He opened the window quickly letting Hermione's owl in and giving her an owl treat, as she happily allowed Charlie to take the letter from him.

Charlie,

I talked to Shacklebolt about your situation. He said it would be fine to send in another dragon, as long as your boss agrees to send the dragon back to the reserve in Romania and that you send along another dragon to the bank.

Your Father

Charlie was ecstatic, yet as he read over the letter, he realized he had a bit of sorrow bottled up inside of him. He was appreciative that he would be able to save the dragon, yet he did not want to have to pick another dragon to go to Romania. It was a terrible fate for any living creature.

Even as he had that sorrow, he knew he had to do it. This dragon had suffered her years and she deserved her freedom, or relative freedom. She had a baby to take care of and it was always much easier for the natural mother to take care of a baby, rather than for dragon keepers to do the work.

Hermione allowed Charlie to use her owl again and he sent a quick letter off to his boss, asking him if that would be alright. He did not think his boss would have any objections, so he did not put any fight in his letter. He just sent the owl off, feeling better and more confident about his job.

"I think you're right," Hermione soon began to speak. "I can't find anything about this green stuff. I think it may just be because of the suppressed memory."

"Okay," Charlie said. "You don't have to do any more reading. Just let that be the answer for now."

Hermione sighed, as she opened her mouth briefly, presumably to fight Charlie, but then closed it soon after. She closed her book, and had a defeated look upon her face. "What are our plans now?"

"I just need to hear back from my boss," Charlie stated. "I think I'm going to go to the Vet Clinic to heal some more dogs, but besides that I'll just be waiting for a response. You can come if you want," Charlie offered, realizing that he would be leaving Hermione. She had just declared that she was not going to be studying anymore, but Charlie didn't leave her with many options of things to do in the meanwhile.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Hermione said. "The last time I kind of created a bit of a scene at the Vet Clinic."

"Oh yeah," Charlie remembered how Hermione had been helpful to create the distraction that allowed him to treat the dogs. "Well if you want, you can go home for a little while. I'm sure Ron would love to see you." Charlie didn't want Hermione hanging around any longer, trying to find a solution to the dragon problem. She found an answer, and that was what she had to stick with. More studying would not do any good.

"I'll just stay here," Hermione, said perky and upbeat. "I don't mind doing a little more research. I might even go to check on the dragon later to see if that will help."

"Don't," Charlie automatically answered. "Please don't make me worry about you. Just go home and stay away from the dragon. It won't help much if you get killed."

Hermione was stubborn. "I won't go home," she offered, "but I'll stay away from the dragon. Just let me stay. I can't go home now."

"Fine," Charlie agreed, before he left for the Vet Clinic.

---

Emilia waited anxiously for the arrival of a certain red-head to the Vet Clinic that she had been working in for several years. The previous day had been the best for her in recent days of sorrow and devastating loses. She wanted to see Charlie again so that more dogs would be healed.

That didn't even seem like the main reason that she wanted to see Charlie. She didn't know why or how, but some feeling made her realize that her need to see the handsome wizard was not just because of the dogs that she worked so tirelessly to save. She was not sure what it was, but she just wanted to see him.

He was not at the Vet Clinic in the early morning hours, and that made her nervous. He had been so helpful the previous day, and she was soon beginning to think it was just a dream. It wouldn't be too difficult to pass it off as a dream, as she would not have believed it to be true, just several days prior. Not too many people would believe that some type of magical potion and spell could heal dogs.

Emilia stepped around the corner of the HR and she found her best friend, Talia, holding a chart ready to see a patient. She had not spoken to Talia that day and she actually realized that she had not spoken to Talia too much recently. Emilia had been spending her days with Charlie without Talia's company. It was rare the Emilia was around other people without Talia, but this was just strictly professional.

"Hey Em," Talia said when she noticed Emilia walking by.

"Good morning," Emilia answered, staring into her friend's eyes. Talia did not seem so well. She had a gloomy look to her expression, like something was missing, and it was upsetting Emilia. Usually Emilia knew everything that was going on in Talia's life, good or bad, yet she didn't know what was upsetting her at that moment. Emilia had been distant from Talia, but she had to be distant. It's not like Talia would believe anything that she had gone through. Emilia was still not sure if she believed in magic herself. "Is everything okay?"

"Not really," Talia answered, with a sigh. "Where have you been? I haven't had my best friend for awhile. I miss you."

"I miss you too," Emilia was suddenly rather upset. The problems with the dogs were starting to get fixed, but the other important part in her life was going through some type of crisis that Emilia didn't know anything about. "Why don't we talk right now? The meeting room is cleared. We can take a private moment."

"I have so much work to do," Talia couldn't accept Emilia's offer. "Now's not a good time."

"Are you sure?" Emilia said. "I could help. Today's not too busy for me."

"No, that's okay," Talia refused. She then took a moment to sigh before she continued to speak. She had noticed someone enter the office, and it took her a moment to regain her composure as she pointed out his presence to Emilia. "Charlie's here," Talia finally said, as she pointed in the direction of the front door.

Emilia noticed Talia tense up as Charlie walked into the hospital. Talia's eyes remained fixed on him, and Emilia couldn't help, but notice that something was going on. But she knew that there couldn't actually be much going on between Talia and Charlie because she had been with Charlie so more recently. "Is there something going on between you two?" Emilia finally asked with curiosity.

"No," Talia answered weakly. "No," she repeated, seemingly to reassure herself. "I rejected him awhile ago. How stupid could I be to reject him?"

Emilia finally realized what was wrong with her friend. She was not sure how it happened, but Talia suddenly wanted Charlie again. And because of that realization, Emilia had another realization, an epiphany that she could barely believe for herself.

Emilia was somewhat jealous.

She knew that if Talia liked Charlie, she would eventually win Charlie over. Charlie was already head over heels for Talia, and Talia was an expert when it came to guys, even if she already rejected them. Emilia was jealous because she suddenly wanted Charlie to herself. That feeling deep inside of her finally made sense to her. She did not have many crushes in her lifetime, but now she had one... one that she knew she would never be able to win over because her best friend would be able to impress Charlie better than she would.

Emilia liked Charlie.