Charlie Weasley’s first few months at the dragon reserve in Romania were not easy. As a rookie, everything he said or did was questioned, and just when he thought he’d gotten settled, it was time to do a survey searching for which caves were inhabited by dragons. It was a long, harsh job, often looking for signs of fewmet, or dragon poop, at the entrances. He never would have imagined that it would be on that job that he would first gain the respect of his peers.
“Looks like we’ve found another one, Boss, but there seems to be something wrong,” Charlie called out amidst the groaning of his fellows. It was getting dark, and just about everyone was ready to call it a night.
“Come on, kid. It can wait til tomorrow,” Jeffries, who’d been one of the worst hecklers towards the new recruit.
“Can it, though? I’m telling you, I was put on observation duty of this particular stretch of land just last month. I don’t like that the female isn’t at least nearby. She was showing signs of nesting!” Charlie asked heatedly.
“All the breeding pairs have special caves leagues from here for that purpose. Besides, nesting season’s barely started. You must be mistaken.” Jeffries argued, exasperatedly.
“Okay, now. Cut it out. What has your panties in a twist, lad? Take a breath and calmly show me why you think something’s wrong as can’t wait til the morrow,” Claremont Graveston, the lead on the expedition broke in.
So Charlie did. There was evidence that the cave in question was in use by the fewmet near the entrance. But where all the other caves boasted fresh deposits half the size of a man, this cave had significantly smaller bits of excrement, some of which seemed to lead into the cave as though the beast hadn’t had the energy to get suitably away from its dwelling. It could be that the resident of the cave had an obstruction preventing it from defecating effectively; if that was so, it certainly could not wait.
“Good on you to spot that, boy. Jeffries, you and Charlie ought to go seek the beast out. I can’t imagine it’s terribly far if we’re right about what’s wrong. Send a Patronus if you need help; the lads and I will be outside keeping an eye out for the mate, so that you don’t get trapped on both sides. Got it?”
“Why m–” Jeffries closed his mouth at the look his boss gave him.
Both men stripped their packs of any unnecessary gear and filled the extra space with jerky and water from their peers in case the trip took longer than expected.
As the two lit their wands and walked into the cave, Jeffries turned to the trainee. “You’d better hope your hunch is right, or I’ll make your life miserable, newbie.”
Charlie rolled his eyes. “Don’t blame me because the boss chose you for this task, bub. You’re hardly my idea of an ideal spelunking mate either, but I’m not gonna let a dragon suffer just because I wanted my beauty sleep, either. Let’s just get this done.”
Charlie had never been so happy that his friend, Tisha, at Hogwarts had a love of exploration. All through their last few years at Hogwarts, while most kids took advantage of Hogsmeade days to explore the town, they would hike up and down the hills surrounding the village. More than once, they’d snuck out in the early morning to explore this interesting geological feature or that cave, and that experience was serving him well now. At least he seemed to be doing better than that prick, Jeffries.
“If there was a dragon,” Jeffries huffed. “Surely we’d have found it by now.”
For the last ten minutes, they’d been walking through a fairly narrow passageway at a steady incline, and it appeared the older man wasn’t a fan of the exercise.
Squelch.
And there was the evidence that they were going the right way.
“Come on, Jeffries. This can hardly be your first time in a cave,” Charlie taunted.
“Course not; we just normally stay near the entrances. Too much human interference makes the caves less palatable to the dragons, and I…”
“What was that?” Charlie asked, not having heard the end of the sentence.
“I’m not a fan of tight spaces, okay? They make me feel trapped.” And that put things in another perspective. Charlie’s tone gentled. “If it helps, I have a lot of experience in caves. My best friend at Hogwarts dragged me all up and down the area around the school, and we spent more time than we probably should’ve in places a lot like this. We should be reasonably safe, at least from cave-related dangers. Once we find the dragon though, I’m afraid I’ll have to defer to your expertise.”
The other man huffed a laugh. “Yeah, yeah.”
In the distance, they heard what sounded like a rather weak dragon’s roar.
“Seems you were correct, kid. Let’s see if we can’t help it out.”
The two went as quickly as the passageway would allow, sometimes having to twist and bend at weird angles as stalactites and stalagmites that had grown for decades complicated the path.
“I don’t understand how there’s fewmet here. If we’re having trouble getting through, how much worse would it be for a dragon?”
Charlie startled, realising that Jeffries was right and misstepped, catching his hand on a sharp rock.
“Let me see that,” Jeffries demanded before tearing off a bit of his shirt and sanitizing it with his wand. “Trust me on this, you do not want to be bleeding when dealing with an angry dragon.”
“Right, right. Thanks.”
“No problem, newbie.”
An unknown amount of time later, the passageway began to widen again, the ceiling higher and the walls further apart, and Charlie did not think he imagined the way his partner breathed easier as a result. They were even able to stop using Lumos as brilliantly shining crystals in the walls lit the way.
“Draconium Lapis - Dragon Crystals! I take back everything I said, kid. For there to be a deposit this large, these stones must be exposed to dragon fire at least a few times a year.”
A dull roar seemed to be heard in the distance, and the men tried to quicken their steps through the vast cavern. As it got louder, the two realised that this…wasn’t a dragon.
“Look out!” Jeffries called, as the ground began to shake. “Run!”
Charlie ran as fast as he could; all around him, the dragon crystals that had previously provided such beautiful light now became hazards as they fell to the ground from the earthquake. Stalactites, too, rained down on either side. Eventually, eventually, he reached an alcove, and the world seemed to calm. Casting Lumos, he called out, “Jeffries? Jeffries? Where are you?” as he carefully stepped away from the nook that had shielded him from the worst of it. There was no answer.
It was under the light of a bear Patronus loudly asking for an update in Graveston’s voice that he found his fellow, his leg and arm crushed by a monstrous stalactite.
“Turns out you… were right, rookie. More right’n you knew. This’s bigger’n one dragon. Follow the trail…save them.” Bending down, Charlie put his fingers to the man’s throat. No pulse. Healing spell after healing spell. Nothing.
Finally, he fought to collect himself before casting his own Patronus in response to the bear. “Jeffries has died. I’m going ahead on his orders. Will message when I’ve found the dragon.”
“This is a damn fool thing to do, Weasley,” Charlie muttered to himself as he readjusted his pack.
Still, he could hear the sound of whimpers not far away, interspersed with the quietest roars he’d heard since his arrival on the reserve.
They almost sounded like…
As Charlie turned another corner, he discovered why Jeffries had wanted him to continue on despite an inability to help with the constipation issue. Two chambers over, he found the corpse of the female he’d observed a month ago, and three hatchlings, their eyes glowing in the darkness as they watched him curiously.
It appeared that the female had died a few days ago, possibly from a small earthquake like what happened tonight, her hatchlings only survivng by feasting on her flesh. It seemed Charlie’d been right about her starting to nest early; the young had apparently tried to defecate outside of the nesting chamber with mixed success.
Pulling out his wand, Charlie sent another message. “Uh, Boss? What do we do with orphan hatchlings?” The bravest one took a few hops towards him, and he hesitantly took out a bit of jerky from his pack to offer it. The beast gobbled it up and called to its siblings who began to follow him. “Never mind. They appear willing to follow me.”
Most rookies have to wait at least a few years before they’re put on nest-watch rotation. Charles Weasley was the exception to that rule, and as he continued to excel in his work at the reservation, he always had a soft spot for Norwegian Ridgebacks after three babies, one called Jeffries, followed him to safety.