Do you Believe in Magic

Chapter 40

The next two years passed almost too quickly. In his second year at Hogwarts, James became the new Quidditch Keeper. He was, of course, exceptionally talented, and he loved the roar of the crowd when he saved the Quaffle from going in the hoops.

Teddy and Jessica were as in love as ever. Teddy got a job as an assistant for a Wizard Historian named Ralph. They traveled many places, looking for old artifacts and objects that might hint at the history of wizards. Jessica worked at St. Mungo's, testing plants as medications for the patients. The two of them lived in seperate apartments in the same building, so they saw one another quite often.

And then, in James's second year, there was Alissa's surprise.

She sat at her desk one beautiful Saturday afternoon grading papers while the students were in Hogsmeade. Suddenly, Professor McGongall ran into her room in a frenzy.

"Alissa," she said urgently, "your assistance is desperately needed by the Black Lake."

Without question, Alissa abandoned her papers and followed McGonagall outside, worried it was a student in trouble.

But what it actually was surprised her even more.

A dragon stood with its feet in the water.

Alissa bunched up her robes and sprinted closer, her wand ready. She stopped short when she was a small stream of water reach up and blast its snout. Even more confused, she decided to get even closer.

The dragon made a sound - almost like a whine - at the water dripping from its nose, reaching up to swipe it away. It looked down at the ground in front of it, where the water came from. It raised its right foot out of the water, then brought it back down, causing a huge splash and the ground to rumble.

Then a rich, baritone laugh reach her ears and her confusion continued to build.

Why was Charlie Weasley playing in the water with a dragon at Hogwarts?

She stepped out from behind a tree and looked.

Sure enough, there he was, dripping wet, his sleeves and pant legs rolled up, his head tossed back as he laughed.

"Charlie?" she asked.

A low rumble came from the dragon and Alissa looked up to see it snarling menacingly at her. She gasped and went to run, but Charlie hopped out of the water and grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Hey!" he hollered at the dragon, squirting its face with water from his wand again. "Chill out, Daisy! She's not going to hurt us."

"Daisy?" Alissa questioned.

"Yeah, she's the calmest of all the dragons at the institution, so I decided to bring her. She's smart too, see?" he said as Daisy lowered her head to Charlie and Alissa. She made a small whine again and looked at Alissa with sad, yellow eyes. "She knows she shouldn't have growled at you, and now she's sorry," Charlie explained.

Alissa grinned and reached up to pat Daisy's head. "It's okay," she assured the dragon.

Daisy's eyes turned playful again and she stood at her full height once more and lifted her foot only to bring it back down, splashing Charlie and Alissa. They laughed and Charlie squirted Daisy again.

"Why do you have a dragon here anyway?" Alissa asked, squeezing her robes to get the water out.

He smiled at her. "Hold on." He walked to a near-by tree and began climbing.

"What are you doing, Charlie?" Alissa asked, but he didn't reply, just kept climbing.

When he was at the top, he called Daisy over and held out a rope with a big piece of wood to her. "Easy, easy," he whispered as she took the rope in her mouth to hold. "There," he said, "now hold still for a second." He climbed back down the tree and Daisy stood perfectly still like she was told.