Harry Potter: Dragon Whisperer

Whose Side Are We On?

Disclaimer – I solemnly swear that JKR owns everything Harry Potter. Whether or not I am up to no good with her characters is for you to decide.

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Harry Potter: Dragon Whisperer

Chapter 25 – Whose Side Are We On?

12:10pm

Tuesday, 23 August 1995

Romanian Dragon Sanctuary, Romania

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Ramaranth's arrival in the middle of the compound caused much less stir among the dragon handlers than it once would have. The fact that a human was riding the dragon – one of only two to have ever done so – also was becoming more common place. This was, after all, Harry Potter, and even after the short amount of time that he'd been with them (not to mention what they'd seen at the First Task of the TriWizard Tournament), what he could do, no matter how unthinkable, was becoming the norm.

Thus, his sliding down the great Hungarian Horntail's side and striding towards the Lodge, a hard, determined expression on his face simply brought waves and greetings from the few who saw him.

"Harry!" Charlie called, seeing him as he burst through the door. "You're back."

"Come join us, Lad," Alexander called.

Knowledge of where he'd been and why must have been fairly common knowledge for he wasn't the only one who made a beeline for the table. A plate of stew was quickly put in front of him as he sat, and he offered a quick 'thank you' to Sirius. Automatically, he picked up the spoon but promptly put it down again. It might have been hours since he'd last eaten but right then, he wasn't hungry in the slightest.

"What's the word?" Alexander asked.

In lieu of an answer, Harry turned to Charlie.

"Do you still have that letter from that woman who offered you the Head Dragon Handler position in England?" he asked.

"Yeah, I've got it," he replied, sounding confused. "I kept it to show the Boss."

"Could you get it?" Harry asked.

Charlie gave him a quizzical look before jumping up and racing from the room.

"Harry?" Alexander prompted.

"Can we wait until Charlie's back, please," Harry asked. "I want to check something, see if what I'm thinking is right before I give you whole story."

"Very well," Alexander frowned, and Harry knew that he'd not wait a minute longer than that to find out why a strange dragon had turned up in his Reserve.

The waiting was tense with the nearly one dozen dragon handlers shifting restlessly on the benches and tables surrounding his own. Even Sirius and Remus seemed intent. No one spoke and, despite himself and more to be doing something than anything else, Harry found himself digging into his stew. The bowl was nearly half-gone when Charlie came running back in.

"I've got it!" he called.

Quickly, Harry grabbed it from him before he'd even sat, unfolded it and began speed reading. Instantly, phrases jumped out at him. The Common Welch Green and the Hebridean Black ... Committee was upgraded to sub-Department status ... an island within the Shetland Islands ... Dragon Reserve of Great Britain. We anticipate locating and moving all of the dragons within Great Britain to the Reserve ...

"Damn!" he cursed. His fears had been right.

"Harry?" Alexander asked when he looked up.

Taking a breath, Harry composed himself and dropped the letter in the middle of the table.