Doc gets a pet dragon
Doc had been laying in bed for three exact hours right now, awake. He did not want to be awake for once, something he had been trying to do since Xisuma found him delirious in the Owlery. But since then sleep had taken him quickly, not like this. He checked his magical watch he had gotten from his uncle when he turned seventeen earlier this year.
It was two o’clock.
He signed loudly before realising that his roommates were, in fact, asleep. He was almost debating whether he should head to the hospital wing to ask for a sleeping draught. No, he had been awake for longer than this. What did Xisuma say again? Count sheep? Yeah right, no way he was going to do that. Maybe he could list things he wanted to do in the future?
Yes, he decided, that is what he was going to do. He casted a quick Lumos and grabbed a piece of parchment and an ink and quill. What could he do in his last two years at Hogwarts? What did he even want to be? He had no clue yet, he had just wanted to get as many OWL’s and NEWT’s as possible.
What were his interests? I mean, he liked exploring glitches in a way that it was beneficial to the wizarding and muggle society, but he did not want that to be his job because that was something he wanted to do in his spare time.
He also liked magical creatures, his parents had a Giant Goat farm which he liked to work on. But Giant Goats were a bit too simplistic and most of them were the same. But dragons… he loved dragons.
Maybe doing some reading about dragons would make him sleepy? That way he could figure out if maintaining them was of interest to him.
He got up from bed, casted a glamour charm on himself and sneaked through the halls to the library. He did not need to search much, as he quickly found three or four books that seemed interesting to him and headed back towards his dormitory, narrowly avoiding Peeves who had been dancing in the corridors. But when he safely got back in bed, he was finally able to read.
In the end Doc got only two and a half hours of sleep, which was not a lot but he had dealt with much less. And on top of that, he found out that being a dragon caretaker really interested him, so that was a plus. Now he only needed to come in contact with one and find out if it was as interesting as it seemed to be.
Luckily that problem was easily fixed as he mentioned his newfound interest to professor McGonagall at the end of Transfiguration. The head of Gryffindor seemed to be delighted with that and began ranting about an ex-student of hers that worked with dragons in Romania. She promised him to ask if he could spend the day with them in order to find out if it was something for him.
He did not have to wait long for a response, because two weeks later professor McGonagall asked if he could come to her office after dinner. When he got there, there was a tallish man with red hair and freckles plastered all over his face, he had sunkissed arms that were covered in burns marks and a friendly smile on his face.
“Hi there,” the man said, “I’m Charlie Weasley, nice to meet you, you must be Doc Seventee?” Doc nodded and shook the man’s outstretched hand. “Yes, likewise.” He said professionally. Professor McGonagall now noticed him and smiled at him.
“Ah, Doc, come in. I trust that you’ve met mister Weasley over here. He’s the dragon caretaker I told you about, he will be able to tell you all about them. He’s an expert I tell you!” Charlie blushed a bit at the complement and waved it away.
“I’m not exactly an expert, there’s still so much about Ender Dragons that I don’t know yet. Then again, no one does.” This piqued Doc’s interest and the rest of the evening the three spent chatting about what it meant to be a dragon caretaker, all the kinds they had in Romania and all the problems they had with the enclosures.
A month later, Doc was taken together with professor McGonagall to Romania through portkey. Charlie and another witch stood there already, waiting for them to arrive.
“Doc! Nice to see you again. This is Clarisse, a coworker of mine and one of the current caretakers of Bessie, our Ender Dragon you were interested in.” Charlie greeted him and Clarisse waved. Professor McGonagall said her goodbye and promised to pick him up at 8 o’clock in the evening.
The two showed him around the place and told him all he needed to know about the safety precautions. Until they finally arrived at the place he was looking most forward to; Bessie, the Ender Dragon.
Bessie was a black and purple beauty and easily one of the biggest dragons they had, reaching a wingspan of at least thirty five metres. She was impressive. But she also apparently hated everyone because as soon as she caught sight of them, she began breathing purple sparks and went to stand into a defensive position.
“Those purple things she breathes are death magic, making her very valuable to the black market. It is where we rescued her from, so she is not trusting of humans at all.” Clarisse explained.
“And you see those purple marks around her neck?” Charlie asked and Doc nodded. “Those are burn marks from where a rope cut into her. She was abused, the poor thing.” It was a sad story and something Doc did not want to hear at all. He wanted to do something about that.
“Charlie and I are going to grab some meat for her. Are you okay with waiting here?” Clarisse asked him and he nodded.
Alone he was able to study her more, the way she moved, the way she behaved. She seemed a lot calmer now that Charlie and Clarisse were not there. In fact, she was openly staring at him while not doing anything. It was kind of unnerving to say the least.
But even despite that, he got as close to the glass surrounding the cage as possible. Bessie did not care a bit, even going so far as to walk up to him. Slowly, but she got closer. They spent ten minutes like that, until they were only fifteen metres apart, probably the closest anyone had gotten to her while she was awake. He was able to really take a look at her and so he began drawing her.
Thirty minutes passed and Doc was finished drawing. Only then did he wonder where Charlie and Clarisse were. He took a quick look around and found them, alongside some other people, looking at him and Bessie through a window in the foodshed. Charlie noticed him and gave him a thumbs up before walking out of the shed and towards him.
As soon as Bessie saw him, she huffed and walked back towards her original spot behind the trees. But Charlie did not seem to mind.
“She never gets this close to anyone Doc, you must be a special person.” Doc blushed a bit at the compliment and showed Charlie his detailed drawing of her head. Charlie’s mouth fell open.
“What in the world?! No one has been able to get such a detailed drawing of her like that. Oh Merlin, look at those eyes!” Charlie exclaimed as his eyes scanned the piece of parchment. “No one has been able to draw those lookers, like ever! Mind if we keep this one for research?” Doc nodded proudly and looked behind the man to see Clarisse and the others also walking towards him.
“Bloody hell Doc, mind if we keep you? I’ve never seen Bessie so relaxed before.” Clarisse remarked as the others nodded. “Yes,” said the brown haired one,” maybe we can come to an arrangement that you spend the Saturdays here with Bessie. I think that that would really benefit her and us. Think about it, will ya. Plus you’ll be able to work here when you graduate. We’ll make sure of that.”
Doc, of course, took his chance and arranged that he would be here on the Saturdays with a very proud looking professor McGonagall. Doc now knew what he wanted when he got out of Hogwarts, he had found his calling.