Beauxbatons [Charlie Weasley]

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Isabelle can't help but look once more at the photo album Josephine gave her before she puts it safely away in her trunk, both her and Charlie finishing up their packing for Romania. It's nearing the end of July and Isabelle and Charlie are heading off home to the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary, which both of them are looking forward to a lot.

They've said their goodbyes to their friends at the Ministry, of course, with Seb, Grayson and Jack all squeezing Isabelle far tighter than she thought humanely possible, and telling her that they'll miss her heaps and that they need to see her as soon as she's back in Britain. She promised she'd give them a visit, and, somewhat satisfied, they reluctantly let her go.

Ava was also reluctant to see Isabelle off, as she was pretty much the only person to give the red-haired girl a chance. Logan and Joe, however, promised to take good care of her, the three of them now fast friends from their assignment together in Venezuela.

So Charlie and Isabelle take one last look around their apartment, leaving the keys on the bench before they turn to each other, grabbing their trunks in one hand and each other's with their free hand. And then, with a crack, they're gone.

Isabelle's eyes open to a gloriously familiar sight, of Florin's big, bushy bearded grin rushing towards them, of the usual huts that are still there in the open clearing; they open to the spectacular mountains that surround them, to a few familiar and welcoming faces that have gathered to watch them arrive.

"Isabelle — Charlie!" Florin's excited voice calls as he rushes over to give both of them a quick hug and pat on the back. "So good to see you both again!"

"You too, Florin," Isabelle smiles, before she's tackled into a hug by Daniel and Elena, both of whom decided to stay and work in the Sanctuary out of the original eight of them.

"It's so good to have you back!" Elena exclaims, squeezing Isabelle tightly, her smoky-smelling black hair pressing up in the French girl's face. "Dan here was driving me a little insane!"

"Oh, shut up," Daniel rolls his eyes, pulling Isabelle into him. "She doesn't mean that," he adds, his eyes sparkling, as Elena gives Charlie a hug, too, welcoming him back.

Something in Daniel's eyes makes Isabelle's own widen, and she stares from Elena to the blonde boy in front of her.

"You and Elena?" Isabelle asks, eyes wide.

Daniel just grins and winks at her in answer, before heading over to Charlie and thumping him on the back, positively grinning at his return.

"How was the Ministry?" Elena immediately asks, returning to Isabelle and slinging an arm around the golden-haired girl's shoulders as she leads Isabelle towards their old hut. "You have so much to tell me!"

"As do you!" Isabelle exclaims, glancing back at Daniel who's leading Charlie off to their old hut, too. "What is going on between you and Daniel?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Elena grins, waving Isabelle's question off. "We've just grown a little closer this past year."

"A lot closer," Isabelle smirks, teasing her friend.

"Well, nothing's official yet," Elena returns her smirk.

"It will be soon. Trust me on that." Isabelle nudges the black-haired girl, who just chuckles and blushes slightly, the two of them entering their hut.

"Home, sweet home," Elena announces, Isabelle plonking down her stuff on the ground. "Here, lemme help you unpack."

Isabelle smiles gratefully and the two of them get to work.

"So, tell me about the Ministry! What did you have to do? Was it fun? Dangerous?" Elena questions eagerly, leaning forwards as she helps Isabelle put away all her clothes.

"Oui, it was both," she replies, and launches into it all. While they unpack, Isabelle tells Elena all about how they were divided into groups at the Ministry, and how her group was filled with three other amazing people. She talks about her group's assignment with the Hungarian Horntail in Austria, and how crazy and dangerous it was, but also exhilarating, too.

Isabelle mentions Ava, also, and at first, Elena absolutely despises the girl, but then when Isabelle reveals her story, Elena comes around and doesn't mind the girl too much. Isabelle talks about how her and Charlie's groups were paired up for the next assignment, which involved a group of seven Peruvian Vipertooths terrorising hundreds of villages and taking and eating people's children.

Elena reacts in all the right ways to Isabelle's story, gasping when the French girl tells her about how one of the Vipertooths bit down hard into her shoulder, and even excitedly asking to see the scar. Isabelle shows her of course, and Elena's eyes widen.

"You look gangster now," Elena chuckles, and Isabelle just winks at her.

"Hey — what's this?" Elena asks, pulling out the photo album Josephine gave her a couple of weeks ago.

"Oh, that is some photos of me and my best friend from France," Isabelle says with a small smile. "You can have a look, if you like."

Elena does, flipping through page after page with a soft look on her face. "You both look so happy."

"Oui, we were," Isabelle says sadly.

"Is she... dead?" Elena asks hesitantly.

Isabelle just nods.

"I'm sorry."

"Do not be," Isabelle smiles. "It is not your fault. Her name is Clara. She was one of the most lovely people you could ever meet. One of her favourite things to do would be to just start dancing randomly all over the place. She would always drag me into it."

"Sounds like fun," Elena says softly, smiling up at Isabelle.

"It was," she says sadly as Elena places the photo album open on Isabelle's bedside table.

"Well," Elena says after a pause, "on a happier note: I know someone who's been dying to see you."

Isabelle frowns, but follows Elena out of their hut all the same. They wave as they pass people they know, all of whom grin at Isabelle's return, and soon, Isabelle becomes familiar with the route they're taking, and can't help but beam herself.

The two of them hike up the mountain fairly quickly, both girls extremely fit from their years of training with dragons, and Isabelle seems to arrive in the little clearing in no time, heading out to the middle of it while Elena hangs back.

There's a massive roar from above that shakes the trees, causes the ground to tremble. Elena's eyes widen and she takes a slight step back, not anticipating Codrin's angry display, but Isabelle's smile simply widens and she holds out her arms in an embrace.

The next thing she knows, she's been pushed to the ground, the Common Welsh Green's head lying on her chest, having flattened her.

"Hello, sweetheart," Isabelle smiles, gently stroking his snout.

Codrin simply humphs in response, clearly excited to see her but incredibly annoyed that she's been gone for over a year. Elena starts laughing, and the green dragon blows a huff of smoke in her direction, as if telling her to shut up. This only causes her to crack up more, especially because Codrin doesn't look like he's going to let Isabelle up anytime soon.

"Sweetheart, I do kind of have to breathe, you know," Isabelle muses.

In response, the dragon simply humphs again, shifting his snout slightly on her chest, before blowing another puff of smoke in Isabelle's face. Coughing and chuckling, Isabelle continues to pat Codrin's snout, having no choice but to lie there until he decides to move.

"So," Elena smirks, coming over to sit cross-legged next to Isabelle, "seems like we're gonna be here a while."

"Oui, it does, does it not?" Isabelle chuckles, continuing to pay the grumpy dragon. "In the meantime, I think you should tell me more about what is going on between you and Daniel."

Elena rolls her eyes but leans back on her hands and launches into the story anyway, informing her of practically every little detail of the past year. Isabelle doesn't mind though, of course, Codrin not looking like he's planning on releasing her anytime soon, so she may as well chat the time away with Elena before she's finally able to go.