The Red Dragon | Charlie Weasley

Chapter 2

When she was still a student at Hogwarts, Haela had never thought she would be working for the British Ministry of Magic. She thought the jobs offered there had only been boring office jobs, and Haela wasn't cut out to sit behind a desk all day. Yet, here she is, ten years after graduating Hogwarts.

The headquarters of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad is located on Level Two of the Ministry of Magic and consists of a large open area divided into small cubicles where the Hit Wizards and specialists do their jobs. There are conference rooms to discuss cases or meet with different departments. A few Hit Wizards have their own offices, like the head of department, Aron Mulberry, and Haela always gets the feeling she is in trouble when she is called to the man's office. A bit like she would feel when she was called to Flitwick's office back at Hogwarts.

Sandy, one of the hostage negotiator specialists, sends her a look of encouragement as Haela walks past the woman's desk in the direction of Mulberry's office and Haela is racking her brains to figure out what she had done wrong. Surely, this isn't about being late to her lecture at the Auror Academy the other day?

"Come in," a voice calls when Haela has knocked on the door of Mulberry's office. She straightens her back and lifts her chin before opening the door.

Inside is Mulberry, sitting behind his desk. Occupying one of the chairs in front of the desk is Kadrick. He looks tired and Haela is surprised to see him. She heard he and a team of both Hit Wizards and Aurors had arrested the necromancer they had been searching earlier this morning after staking out a place in Scotland all night long.

"Sit down, Haela," Mulberry says, gesturing to the other chair, "I'm glad you could come down this quickly."

As Haela sits down, she tries to read Kadrick's expression about what might be going on, but the Hit Wizard is barely staying awake, so he is no use.

"Wheeler needs to go to bed, I know, but I received an answer from the Andorran Ministry of Magic this morning."

This gets Haela's attention. She heard the man had been trying to contact the Andorran Ministry of Magic about the dragon disappearances in Andorra. A few weeks ago, a few cursed dragon items had surfaced in Knockturn Alley that had put the buyers in St Mungo's. Haela had been the curse specialist on the case, but the Andorran Ministry of Magic had taken over.

"They agreed to send two of ours to the Andorran Dragon Sanctuary. Since two of their Norwegian Ridgebacks have disappeared and resurfaced in pieces, they have been increasing their security," Mulberry says, "Last night, one of their Dragonologists got himself cursed when he was securing the perimeter. They think it's the work of the same poachers."

Haela frowns. From what she read in reports from cases where poachers were involved, most of them aren't violent to people until they get cornered or are about to get caught.

"Seeing you, Haela, were the curse specialist on the case when it was still in our hands, I want to send you to Andorra," Mulberry continues, "Kadrick has experience finding and dealing with poachers. The Andorran Ministry has sent one of their own Hit Wizards to the sanctuary already and has a team at their Ministry who are trying to find the poachers. Kadrick will help the wizard on site."

Kadrick nods sleepily, supporting his head with his hand. Haela is sure the man will fall asleep the moment his head hits the pillow. If not sooner.

Mulberry turns to Haela who nods excitedly. She isn't going to say no to a job abroad. The older wizard seems satisfied with their reactions and with a wave of his hand, he dismisses them. Before they leave the office, Mulberry tells them they will be briefed tomorrow morning and are scheduled to leave by noon.

As Haela sends Kadrick home to catch up on some sleep, she sends Sandy a reassuring smile before walking out of the headquarters. Taking the stairs two steps at a time to Level Three, Haela heads to the Accidental Magic Reversal Department. She ignores the protests of the secretary and bursts into the office Acelina Yaxley and Lyra Wetherby share as heads of department.

Percy Weasley is sitting in one of the chairs in front of Acelina's desk and looks up startled when Haela walks in. One of the man's hands is holding a porcelain cup and is frozen in mid-air halfway to his mouth. Busted. Haela grins at the man and falls into the other chair in front of Acelina's desk. Lyra's desk on the other side of the office is abandoned.

"You cannot barge into my office whenever you please," Acelina says, placing her own cup back on its saucer, "What if I was in an important meeting?"

"Oh, yes," Haela rolls her eyes at her best friend, "Very important meeting, I see. Tell me, did some wizard break one of Percy's department's many regulations and end up transfiguring a Muggle car into a flying tree? Or is this just your daily tea break?"

"That is not the point," Acelina says and with a wave of her wand, another porcelain cup is filled with tea and lands on a saucer in front of Haela, "When Ann tells you we are busy, you should listen to her."

Ann is the secretary Haela ignores almost every time she stops by. The older witch might not like her, but Haela knows that when Acelina or Lyra is truly in an important meeting, she won't be able to barge into the office.

"What can we do for you, Haela?" Percy asks.

"I'm here to tell you I'm going away again."

Acelina's eyebrows raise and the woman says: "Where to this time? I thought you said you were staying in England for a while."

Haela takes the cup of tea and takes a sip. She nods, "That's what I thought as well. But there have been a few cases of dragon disappearances in Andorra. We dealt with some cursed items a few weeks ago but the Andorran Ministry wanted to solve it on their own. Turns out, they need our help anyway. I'm being sent to the Andorran Dragon Sanctuary tomorrow to help find some poachers."

"The Andorran Dragon Sanctuary, you say?" Percy asks and when Haela nods, he continues: "I believe my brother is a Dragonologists there."

"Charlie?" Acelina pipes up.

Percy nods and the pale-blonde woman hums.

"How long will you be gone?" Percy asks. Haela shrugs, "I have no idea, but I'll be sure to make it to your extravagant wedding."

This makes both Acelina and Percy laugh and Haela grins. After finishing her tea, she bids the two goodbye and heads back to her own desk. She should finish her work for today and probably start packing. Maybe she should do another round of laundry before she leaves.