It didn't matter how old he got, Charlie Weasley always felt small when he walked into King's Cross Station. The Station was so large and spacious and the memories tied to it so poignant, it was hard not to feel eleven years old anytime he stepped inside. He could almost still hear Bill and Chauncey Strikes yelling to each other across the platform, could almost still feel the jittery excitement in his stomach of it being on the way back to Hogwarts.

Ginny held onto Charlie's hand fiercely. She'd been to the school before, of course, going into her third year, but she missed Charlie quite a lot, so that she clung to him any time he was home from Romania. He pulled her trolley behind them with his free hand and navigated through the train station with expertise, dodging muggles running this way and that with a practiced air, thinking to himself it was like dodging baby dragon fire in the nursery back at Fortescue's. The bitty things whose flint started working before they knew how to control it, darting about with all the energy of an excited puppy, sparking and fuming every which way without any discretion... Here, it was muggles with their trolleys and their worry of missing their trains, having confused their timetables.

When they'd gone through the barrier onto Platform 9 3/4, Charlie parked the trolley and Ginny pulled him down into a huge hug. "I miss you, you don't come and visit enough," she whined into his ear. Charlie stiffened slightly at the hug, but patted Ginny's back as she clung on about his neck. "You should come more often."

"I'll try to do better," Charlie said, "It's been really busy at the Academy... But I might be seeing you all sooner than you think," he added, grinning as she pulled back.

"Why?" Fred asked keenly, stepping 'round the trolley and bending over Ginny's trunk to look into Charlie's face.

"You'll see," said Charlie.

"What will we see?" asked George, leaning over Fred.

Charile shook his head. "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it... it's classified information, until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it, after all." This was something that Percy had mentioned at least seven or eight times since Ludo Bagman had teased the lot of the Weasleys back at the World Cup camping site. 

"I sort of wish I were back at Hogwarts this year," said Bill, hands in his pockets, looking almost wistfully at the train. 

"Why?" George asked, rolling off Fred and standing up to look at the eldest of the Weasley brothers.

Bill's eye were twinkling, amused by how curious the twins were. "You're going to have an interesting year. I might even get some time off to come and watch a bit of it."

"Watch a bit of what?" Ron piped up, interest perked.

Harry Potter glanced between the brothers and Ginny, who was looking up at Charlie with questioning eyes. "What --?" he started to ask a question, but he was cut off by the shrill shriek of the train whistle and Mrs. Weasley hurriedly bustled the lot of Hogwarts students toward the train door.

"Don't want to miss your train, dears!" she called out, herding them forward.

"Thanks for having us to stay, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said politely. 

"Yeah, thanks for everything, Mrs. Weasley," Harry hurriedly added, realizing he hadn't even thought to say the words, and feeling a bit guilty for having not said it first. It occurred to him, with a warmth in his heart, that it had felt so much like he belonged in the family that perhaps that was why the thought hadn't come. Not that it was an excuse, of course.

"Oh it was my pleasure, dears," Mrs. Weasley said, beaming and reaching to neaten Harry's hair a bit and giving Hermione's shoulder a squeeze.

Charlie smiled as the Weasley kids and Harry and Hermione climbed aboard the Express. "So are one of your dragons assigned to be one of the challenges?" Bill asked quietly.

"It'll depend," Charlie answered. "There's six dragons 'round Fortescues that are flagged. The Ministry will be needing three of them and Norberta is one of the three that may go, depending when she lays her egg. So I may be coming."

"Well let's hope Norberta gets a move on it. I'd like to see you again, it's been a long time." Bill threw an arm around Charlie. The Hogwarts Express was pulling away and Mrs. Weasley was rushing alongside the train car, waving as Ron and Harry hung out the window, waving back, the wind rushing through their hair until finally she'd reached the end of the platform and the train took the curve and they were gone.

Charlie watched the smoke trailing behind the engine as it went, chugging and squealing on the rails and away out of sight, and he thought of the dragons back in Romania. "Norberta is a fierce little thing, but I'd rather it be Norberta that's selected over the Horntail we've just taken in. Named her Bosszuallo, Hungarian for Vengeful - we just call her Zuzu." Charlie said, shaking his head. "Honestly, I'm even a bit nervous with how that horntail will be with the egg once she's laid it. Norwegian Ridgebacks are especially nasty when it comes to protecting their eggs, you know, but not as bad as a Horntail. The Horntails used to be used in medieval dragon fighting. They got the dragons to fight by taking their eggs and accusing the other dragons of having taken the eggs and the Norwegian and the Horntail were both especially popular in the fighting rings because of the ferocity with which they'd fight. That sort of practice is largely illegal now, there was some real close calls with them falling into the endagered species list as so many of the Ridgeback eggs were ruined during the fights, but some of the damages are still visible in the mountains today in areas where the rings were constructed. The Horntail however has actually been know to steal the --"

"Charlieeee," Bill said, "Charlie, Charlie." He shook his head, "Mate, nobody cares except you."

"Oh." Charlie flushed.

"Come on, buddy," Bill said. He turned to Mrs. Weasley and put his other arm around her, "Let me buy us all lunch before I've got to be away back to Egypt and this one's off to Romania, ey? Like old times?" He grinned and kissed Mrs. Weasley's head. 

"That sounds lovely, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, and she smiled up at Bill proudly and reached 'round to grab hold of Charlie's hand, her face pink with joy of being with her two eldest boys.

"How about some nice dragon steaks, Charlie?" Bill grinned.

"Dragon steaks are very illegal! Do you know anything about the way that they harvest the --" Charlie said quickly, then, realizing Bill was just kidding him, he said, "Oh. Sorry. Ha-ha." 

Bill laughed, digging his knuckles against Charlie's hair playfully as Charlie pulled away, "You make it too easy, little brother."

It was early afternoon when Charlie Weasley arrived back to the chalet in Retezet, high up in the mountains overlooking the Bucura Lake. Even before he got inside, the air smelled of warm stew and baking bread as smoke rose up from the high chimney stacks and far off in the valley he could hear the loud groaning and roaring of the dragons.

Charlie's leather rucksack hung from his shoulder and he grinned, running up the path, excited to be back to Fortescue's. It was cold for September and Charlie had his hands shoved into the pockets of the diamond-quilted bomber jacket Tonks had given him ages ago, which looked like Welsh Green dragon scales but was not in fact dragon scales but only quilted polyester. Tonks had assured him of that - repeatedly - the year she'd given it to him. He stopped on the porch to look back over the lake far below and breathe deep the cold air, a light foggy mist crawling over the surface of the water. He could just see the outline of a dragon flying over the cloud cover below, and heard a loud, angry shrieking that echoed up from the valley, distorted by distance and fog. He wondered what was going on that had caused the angry cries.

The door of the chalet opened behind him, a wedge of warm orange light cutting across the weathered stones of the porch and Charlie turned 'round to see the thick form of Aiden Smith, another of the trainers, come walking out onto the porch, grinning. "Hey look who's back, if it ain't Weasley!" Aiden slapped a palm onto Charile's back and grinned, "How was your vacation? Did your team win at quidditch?" Aiden was a muggle man whose skill with large animals had caught Fortescue's attention and earned him a place at the Dragon Training Academy long ago as a handler. He preferred Rugby and American Football to Quidditch, but had listened as Charlie had gone on and on about the history of quidditch - only the third thing that Aiden had ever heard Charlie Weasley go on about. The other two things being his friend Nymphadora Tonks and, of course, dragons.

"Ireland won," Charlie replied.

"Can't win'em all can ya?" Aiden said, misunderstanding. He slapped Charlie on the back again. "Hey - you been down to see your Horntail and your Ridgeback yet? She's nested herself with her egg..."

"She's had her egg?!" 

"Sure did... and she's stole the Horntail's too."

"Oh bloody hell," Charlie muttered.

"That's what all that shrieking you're hearing is," Aiden said, "That Horntail of yours has been on for hours and hours --"

Charlie chucked down his rucksack there on the porch and without waiting for anymore information, he turned and rushed back down the porch. Aiden chuckled as he watched Charlie go, red hair flying behind him as he hustled down the pathway again. Charlie turned, taking a steep path down the mountain along a sheer face, the stone jutting out only just far enough for two men to walk side-by-side before a long drop to the bottom.

The pathway cut along the mountain face, winding around, passing several large cave mouths. Charlie rushed as quickly as he dared along the pathway, brown steel toed boots loosening stones that tumbled and rolled and fell over the edge of the pathway ominiously. But Charlie never slowed, he'd run this path so many times in the past couple years since beginning at Fortescue's, he could've done it with his eyes closed in the dead of night without falling over the side. Finally, at the mouth of the lowest cave, he turned, hurtling himself into the low lighting.

A large nest of broken tree branches and narrow logs had been built up carefully in the center of the cave, and from where he stood, overlooking a large stone atrium he could see perfectly down into it. A great big egg - black as obsidian and smooth as a tumbled stone - lay in the center of the nest, gleaming hot and warm, freshly laid... and directly next to it was a textured egg of dark brown.

Charlie's brow furrowed. "Norberta. What have you done?"

That's when he realized - that shrieking he'd heard up at the chalet... It had been Zuzu. And now... There was a loud, agonizing roar from outside over the lake; then the telltale shrieking cries of two dragons in the midst of terrific fight.

Charlie turned and hurried back out to the ridge and looked down over the side.

Below, in the valley, much closer than it had been when he'd looked down from the chalet, he could see the dorms of two dragons, engaged mid-air in a fight, their talons gripping one another fiercely as they shrieked and snapped at one another violently. Charlie could clearly see the dark green-grey scales of the Ridgeback and the grey-brown of the Hungarian Horntail - Norberta and Zuzu, at each other's throats, great blasts of fire shooting across the valley as they battled.

The racket of the dragons below was causing a scene. Loads of trainers were peering out over the ridge from their own dragon's caves, anxious to see whose beasts were fighting.

"Weasley, isn't that your ridgeback, Weasley? AND your Horntail?" called out one of the other trainers - Jui , who trained a mated pair of Chinese Fireballs. "Good luck, buddy."

"Bloody hell," hissed Charlie, glad his jacket was fireproof, wishing he could have had time to change into his full fire-repellant jump suit before breaking up the fight, but just not having the time to do it. That Horntail was just too violent when she was angry. "Accio broomstick," he flicked his wrist and from Norberta's cave behind him came flying a broomstick, which Charlie caught onto mid-air, jumping onto it without hardly slowing it down, and kicking off from the ridge, plunging down into the valley over the lake, where the dragons were engaged.

Charlie shot down the face of the mountain, focused purely on breaking up the fight between his two girls, drawing a dragon whistle from his shirt pocket and bringing it to his mouth, ready to blow it when he was near enough. He dodged a column of fire from the Ridgeback, only just ducking out of the way, and the flames struck the mountain face, sending boulders crashing down into the water of the lake. 

Charlie pressed downward on his broomstick, sending himself full-throttle between the two dragons, spiraling up between them, wand drawn, and aiming for the gaping jaw of the Horntail, whose powerful upper teeth were sharp enough to cut through the Ridgeback's scaled armor with no hesitation. The ferocity in the yellow eyes of the Horntail meant business and, of the two ferocious female dragons, Charlie knew he had the best chance of getting Norberta under control compared to his odds with Zuzu. Sparks flew at Zuzu, sealing her mouth so that she couldn't snap at Norberta and the brown dragon's head flailed about in anger as Charlie circled her neck, calling her name and bringing the whistle to his mouth.

Three short blasts - the sound he used to indicate it was time to return to their caves - and Zuzu was fuming, smoke coming from between her sealed lips. She watched Charlie as he flew, and Norberta shrilled, flapping great leathery wings to rise up a bit higher than Zuzu, as though showing dominance and Charlie barked at her, "Norberta, no! No! You nasty thing, don't you be a braggart!" 

He blasted the whistle a second time and, with what looked like a sort of heartbroken defeat, Zuzu flew up and into a cave along the far side of the lake, her tail whipping in anger, the sharp horns scraping the mountain face, sending boulders down to crash into the water with huge splashes as she attached herself onto the stone and watching defiantly from outside of her home.

"There you go," Charlie murmured, "Go home, mama, I'll bring the egg along in a minute... Poor thing..." he sighed as Zuzu banged and throttled about in frustration.

Charlie turned and looked at Norberta. Norberta hissed and flames burst, short ones that were more defiant than an actual attempt to burn Charlie up. She shrieked, the sound of her voice echoing off the valley walls.

"No! Bad dragon," Charlie said, shaking his head, "Bad dragon! Did you steal Zuzu's egg? Did you?"

Norberta's sharp teeth gleamed as she snapped at Charlie, but his broom handling was too excellent to be caught, and Norberta looked kerfluffled, frustrated and angry at Charlie's talking back at her.

Charlie whistled the three short blasts again, Norberta's eyes following him as he flew slightly higher up from the lake, luring the Ridgeback to her cave. It took some finessing but Norberta  finally went into her cave, her tail curling protectively around the clutch of two eggs in her nest. Charlie stared at the eggs and raised an eyebrow at Norberta. "It isn't very nice to take other mamas' eggs, Norberta," he scolded.

The dragon curled itself tighter so her head lay on the base of her tail, her eyes glaring at Charlie, defiant and daring him to come and retrieve the egg.

"You know we have to give that back to Zuzu."

The dragon's nostrils smoked threateningly and she glowered at Charlie.

Charlie waited Norberta out, sitting on the floor of the overlook, his face pressed to the railing, staring into the atrium. He watched as she eyed him, as she slowly grew exhausted from her fight, and her eyes slowly slid closed. He moved quietly to the staircase, which wound around the curve of the atrium in which the dragon's nest had been built and he slowly slid down the stairs, one step at a time, shuffling on his bum to keep quiet as possible. Each move he made, Norberta's eyelid would lift slightly, keeping an eye what he was up to, though each pause made the eye a little heavier, a little less of a lift up, a bit shorter of a peering until she didn't open at all by the time Charlie had reached the bottom step.

He drew a deep breath and pushed himself up to his feet and slowly slid along the wall of the atrium, quiet as anything - a light footed sneakiness that he'd learned from years and years of having siblings one does not wish to disturb. If there was one benefit to being one of the oldest in a brood of kids as large as the Weasley clan, it was how to sneak about without being caught.

The dragon didn't even look up, but Charlie noticed from his new vantage point that Norberta had a large gash along her shoulder, which was oozing slightly - a swipe of Zuzu's horned tail had cut the skin and he could see the raw dragon meat within, black and purple in shade, and the oozing nearly iridescent blood of the Ridgeback crusting into a scab over the gash.

He would need to fix that in a bit and he made a mental note to bring with him the medi-kit when he came back from returning the Horntail's egg. He'd need to do some stitching and antibiotics to heal the wound.

Charlie got to the end where her tail was, where she'd curled it protectively around both eggs - the one that was her own and the one that was the Hungarian Horntail's. Charlie watched the dragon's face as he carefully climbed up the logs and branches that made up the nesting wall. 

The eggs were large, the Ridgeback's larger than the Horntail's, though it was still of a fair size, about the height of Charlie's knees. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his fireproof gloves, tugging them onto his hands as he stared at Norbert's eyes, making sure the lids did not lift and did not twitch, his heart racing. Norberta was well trained and normally would never do anything to harm Charlie, but what he was about to do would well and completely piss her off and he was sure that there was no bond that would break a dragon's maternal instinct if she saw her egg being stolen.

Which of course was precisely the problem that the Horntail was having outside. Charlie could still hear her angry shrieks echoing through the valley, even from inside the Ridgeback's cave.

Carefully, he pressed his palms against the Horntail egg shell and bent, lifting the heavy egg up with his hands, cradling it into his chest, as though holding a toddler. He carefully carried the egg as he scaled the nest again, climbing over the wall and sliding back around the atrium of the cave and back up the stairs. The moment he'd gotten to the top, he flicked his wand, sealing off the cave for the night and keeping the Ridgeback from following him. 

Charlie breathed a sigh of relief, hugging the Horntail egg tightly, and leaned against the wall of the cave's entry way. He looked at the wrinkles and ridges that covered the Horntail's pale brown egg and sighed. "You've been a lot of trouble already and you aren't even hatched yet," he murmured to the egg shell. "When you come out of there, I'm going to name you Bajkevero - Baj for short, I'm thinking..." 

He ran his palms over the egg, checking it for cracking or damages, but the Ridgeback had treated it well and it was whole. With a spell, Charlie illuminated the backside of the egg and he could see the silhouette of the dragon embryo inside, the heart beat thumping darkly, the shadow of the beast curled upon itself in an oval. He smiled and whispered, "Hullo Baj. Look at you. You're going to be a beauty, aren't you? Look at those little horns growing." He could already see tiny little bumps long the tail that would turn into deadly horns like Zuzu's. 

"Alright," he whispered, "Let's get you back to your mummy."

He was sorry for the incident because it likely meant that his dragons would be disqualified from the running for the trip to Hogwarts later in the year. Norberta's injury would keep her out of it and the Horntail was already a bit of a ferocious contender to begin with, but would only be doubly so now that her egg had been stolen once...

It was as shame, Charlie thought, as he made his way around the valley to the Horntail's cavern, carrying the egg. He'd really wanted to go and be a part of the Triwizard Tournament.