If Charlie Weasley made a list of things he was most thankful for, it would be something like this:

1. Dragons

2. Tonks

3. Disapparation - as it made it possible to be close to both number 1 and number 2 within a few minutes' time.

He stood on the landing outside of Nymphadora Tonks's shit flat in London, clad head to foot in his fireproof riding leathers. Charlie rapped on the door with his leather-glove-clad hand, impatiently shifting his weight, gnawing nervously on his lower lip, red hair spilling over his forehead in shaggy curls.

The door opened a smidge and dark, heavily lined eyes peered out of the crack - the glint of a silver stud in the nose, and dark merlot lipstick... There was a sigh, then the door opened and Tonks's roommate, Kathy, who insisted on being called Spark, stood in the frame wearing an oversized T-shirt and nothing else. She stared at Charlie in his leathers and said, "I didn't know you were in'ta that sort'a 'fing but alright, Cha-Cha."

"Don't call me that," he muttered, pushing 'round her. "Is Tonks at home?"

"Nah, she's out," Spark answered, and she tugged the door shut behind them as she followed Charlie into the flat. Charlie had been over a half dozen times since Spark had moved in with Tonks and was by far the most interesting visitor that Nymphadora had over - at least in Spark's eyes. He was blistering hot, especially for a ginger, and the fact that he was so painfully oblivious to her - or perhaps just that good at pretending to be, she couldn't tell - made him even more attractive to her. "Gone to work I s'pect... What's got you here all... leathered up... in the middle of the afternoon?" She tilted her head to one side, studying the muscles in his arms.

"I just need to talk to Tonks," Charlie answered nervously, still half gnawing his lower lip even as he spoke. He ran a hand through his curly hair in frustration.

"Well she's been workin' double shifts."

"I thought she had Wednesdays off?"

"Been real busy 'round F&M's these days, I guess. Comin' up on holiday season, I s'pose."

"F&Ms?" Charlie turned 'round, confused.

"Fortnum & Mason's," Spark said, giving Charlie a funny look.

"Oh -- yeah. Yes. Right. The - her work. Yeah."

Spark raised an eyebrow. "What's got your knickers bunched, Cha-Cha?"

"Really, don't call me that," he said, "It's Charlie. Only Tonks can call me that."

"Sorry Charlie." Spark patted his shoulder apologetically and Charlie glanced uneasily at her palm touching him, then spun out from her. He sighed loudly through his nose and set to pacing to and fro in what could only be called a kitchenette-slash-dining space. "For real though, man, you're really -- jittery." She waved her fingers at him to indicate the electrical impulses he was giving off in his stress.

"I've just landed some bad news I'm 'fraid and I need to talk it out with Tonks, she'll understand," Charlie said.

"What sort of bad news?"

"My dragon's hatched her egg and now my other, nastier dragon's going to be the first task at the Triwizard Tournament," Charlie said point blank.

Spark laughed. "Always goofin' off 'bound them dragon stories," she shook her head.

Charlie sighed.

"I mean you're welcome at stayin' 'til she comes 'round home. We have soup, you're welcome to warm up a cup and come watch some telly with me and distract your nerves a bit while you wait," she grinned, "I'm sure there's something that'll take your mind off your dragons."

"No thanks," Charlie said, the suggestiveness of Spark's proposition entirely going over his head. "I'll just... Pop 'round and see if I can find her at work... Yeah." Charlie made up his mind even as he said it. Maybe it would be better if he found Tonks 'round the Ministry anyway. After all, if she was at the Ministry maybe she could find some way to talk to the Powers Who Be and get Harry Potter out of having to be the fourth champion. He wondered whether Tonks had that sort of authority as an auror?

"You're sure you don't want to stay here and wait?" Spark asked hurriedly, keeping up with Charlie as he turned and made his way back over to the door. "They say the best way to be found by somebody is to stay in one place, after all.

Charlie shook his head, "No, but thanks though."

"You've really got it bad for her, haven't you?" Spark asked.

"What?" Charlie looked utterly confused.

"Nuffin, nevermind," Spark shook her head.

He left the flat, and the heart broken Spark, as he charged down the stairs to the ground level again, passing a couple people who lived on the other floors and they gave him funny looks as they took in his riding leathers with confused expressions. He ducked out the door of the flat and rushed down the street to the red phone box that stood at the corner. A little sign hung in it's window.

OUT OF ORDER.

He stepped inside and quickly lifted the receiver and his fingers flew over the keypad as he dialed 62442.

"Welcome to the Ministry for Magic," said a cool female voice through the telly phone. "Please state your purpose for visiting."

"I'm needing to talk to Nymphadora Tonks," he stammered, adding, "It's very important. I'm Charlie - Charlie Weasley, her best mate."

A name tag clattered out into the return slot on the phone.

Charlie Weasley, Best Mate of Nymphadora Tonks.

He rolled his eyes.

The box shuddered as it moved downward into the atrium and Charlie affixed the badge onto his chest as he descended. The atrium was flooded with people as usual, bustling about, a great deal of sounds filled the room. Charlie rushed through the crowd, trying not to make eye contact with anyone of them as he passed by, his nerves all twitching at how packed it was on the floor and again in the elevator when he had to squeeze his way into the furthest back corner to keep from being plowed down.

One thing Charlie would put on a list of things he was not thankful for would be the number of flights up Nymphadora Tonks's office was located.

She was sitting at her desk, working on paperwork, her hair slowly changing colors in a slow fade from one shade to the next as she concentrated. A small CD player spinning at her elbow, a pair of cheap muggle headphones on her ears. Charlie could clearly hear Nirvana playing - the sound tinny and small as it leaked from the headphones - but if he had any doubt what it was, he would've known anyway as Tonks whispered the lyrics along with Kurt Cobain.

"...doused in mud... soaked in bleach... as I want you to be... as a trend... as a friend as an old memory yeah..."

Charlie tapped her on the shoulder and she threw her arms into the air with a flare of dramatic reaction, the quill flying from her hand, a shriek escaping her. She knocked her chair backward and nearly fell herself, but Charlie caught hold of her with reflexes honed from dragon training and quidditch. She stared up at him, his arms cupped 'round her, and he stared back at her, almost looking as surprised to be holding her as she looked to be held by him. She tore off her headphones as he gently put her down, his face flushing. "Sorry," he said.

"Cha-Cha, what are you doing here?!" she demanded, flicking her wand to turn off the CD player. It hissed to a stop.

A head popped through the doorway of the office. "Alright in here?"

"Yes, everything's fine Savage," Tonks answered, seeing the other auror's concerned expression. "Just given a turn is all."

Savage looked Charlie over with suspicion, spotted the name badge that declared him to be the Best Mate of Nymphadora Tonks, then nodded and ducked back out of the office.

Charlie looked 'round at Tonks, "I didn't mean to scare you."

Tonks plucked her quill from the floor - the feather in it was hot pink and covered with glitter. "Well you bloody did a grand job of it, didn't you? It's amazing someone of your stature can sneak up on anyone!"

"Stature doesn't always mean you're poor at sneaking," Charlie said, "The Seismic Wyrm of Sedona is three times larger than the common dragon but was actually known for it's ability to travel soundlessly. It even roared silently - sending waves of energy that registered on the seismic scale without producing soundwaves. They've mostly gone extinct now, though there's a dragon sanctuary in the American west that still has one, I'm told... I've never seen it, of course."

Tonks raised an eyebrow as Charlie talked, not interrupting him, and he got to the end of his relatively short spiel, and stopped on his own. He stared at her. She stared at him expectantly.

"Oh right," he said, remembering he'd come to her for a reason. "Speaking of dragons --"

Tonks laughed. "When aren't you?" she teased.

"-- I've just gotten bad news," Charlie said.

"Bad news?" concern crossed Tonks's face. "Is something the matter with Norberta? Zuzu?"

Charlie shook his head, "Well yes and no. Norberta's egg has hatched. She's got a wee dragon. I've named him Rubeus."

"Hagrid will love that," Tonks said excitedly, and her hair flared bright as neon as she grinned in joy," Oh Charlie, that's brilliant news! How is that bad?!"

"Because! Have you heard about the Triwizard Tournament?" he asked, voice lowering as he glanced at the door of the office. For good measure, he hurried over and closed it up, then turned back to her.

"I heard they're doing it at Hogwarts this year," Tonks said, nodding. "I was out all last night - there was an incident out in Wales... All this paper work... Not a wink of sleep," she added, yawning loudly.

"I told you about how the Ministry was asking for dragons for a top secret thing, yeah? Remember? Back at the World Cup?"

"Yeah, I suppose," Tonks said, finishing up her yawn.

"Well they needed them for the Triwizard tournament. The first task is to take a golden egg away from a nesting mother and they needed nesting mums and there were only five at Fortescue's so they had to choose three from them --"

"And yours were chosen!" she lit up, "That's still not bad news, Charlie."

"No they weren't chosen with the three," Charlie said.

"Oh. I'm sorry, Cha-Cha, you must be really disappoi--"

"No but they need a FOURTH."

"So one of yours WAS chosen?" Tonks looked confused. "This really is a roller coaster of a story."

"Well there's four champions now," Charlie said.

"Four? But the whole thing is called the TRI wizard tournament - tri as in three!" Tonks said.

"I know," Charlie said, nodding, "But there's a fourth name been drawn."

"That's preposterous."

"It's Harry Potter."

Tonks stared at Charlie. "But he's a kid."

"Yeah."

"But they're supposed to be of age to be --"

"I know! But they're making him compete and, worse, because Norberta's egg's hatched it's Zuzu who's going to the tourney and Zuzu, I love her to bits, but she's a real ---"

"Oh gods!" Tonks turned 'round and yanked open her drawer, pulling out a sheath of parchment and grabbing the glittery pink quill from the desk top. "Sirius needs to hear about this immediately. He's going to be ripe! Oh gods." Her quill flew over the parchment. "Dear Sirius," Tonks murmured outloud as she wrote, "I've just heard some terrible news and knew you'd want to know right away..."

"Tonks," Charlie said, "We have to figure out some way to help him. Harry can't possibly want to compete! He's not -- he's not like that. I mean, I've only met him once or twice but --"

"I don't know what we could do," Tonks said, looking up from her parchment.

"Isn't there somebody in the Ministry, someone you could talk to --?"

Tonks thought for a moment. "I know. I'll go and have a talk with Mad-Eye! He's at Hogwarts, I'm sure he knows what's going on, but he's got a lot of sway with Dumbledore and the Ministry still, he was the Head of the Department for ages... Perhaps he'll be able to talk to Mr. Crouch and get things sorted out." She nodded decidedly, "That's what I'll do. And you'll come with me and see him, too, you can tell him about Zuzu and that'll convince him."

"But I --"

"C'mon, Charlie. We've not a moment to waste."