Tamed

Chapter 2. Not all girls are fond of unicorns

The stone-cold walls of the structure which dated back to centuries reverberated with the chatter of the potential dragon keepers. After the introductory session and an hour long talk of Mr Maxwell, about dragon keeping and the prospects of being dragonologists, they all had gathered in the dining hall and were now munching greedily on the food that had been served.

"How do you think the dragons would taste like?" Owen asked with his mouth stuffed with kidney and steak pie.

"We are here to become Dragon keepers Owen not Dragon eaters" Aiden said, rolling his eyes and looked over at Charlie who was sitting across from him. Charlie was staring at a distance, lazily trailing his spoon back and forth on his plate. "You all right?" Aiden asked, waving his hand in front of Charlie's face. Charlie cleared his thought "Yeah I am fine"

"It's about that girl, isn't it?" Aiden asked, smirking.

"Yes, I don't get what her business is here at an institute like this. I am so passionate about this career and I know you are too.. So are the other boys. But a girl? She will only hold us all back. It's not some pygmyfuff play. We are dealing with the deadliest of the beasts" Charlie gritted his teeth and his fork was gouging deep into the layers of the wooden desk.

"I know what you are talking about Charlie and I agree with you. But she won't stick round. Don't worry. She'll drop out within a few days and we'll be fine"

Both boys grinned at each other. Owen was too busy romancing with his food. Aiden nudged him on his rib cage "Ow! that hurt" he winced.

"Hey, you were talking about passion? Our friend here is more passionate about eating dragons" Aiden snorted, winking at Charlie. Charlie half smiled. His mind was occupied with some other thoughts and he looked over at the far end of the table, where the girl was sitting on her own, not at all feeling welcome at this new place. However, the more uncomfortable she looked, the more it made Charlie happy. It was all he wanted. He wanted her out of their training institute. He wanted her out of their lives. But why? Was he afraid that she might outsmart him? That a girl might kick his Weasley ass? No chance! Charlie shrugged the thoughts off. He was the best and brightest in their batch, back at Hogwarts. And he was sure, he would ace this dragon keeping as well.

After dinner, Mr Ogden, the secretary of Mr Alecsanderi gave them a tour of the entire institute. The ground floor was occupied by the main hall, dining hall, kitchen, staff corridor and store room. All the classrooms for theory sessions were on the first floor. Nesting rooms for storing abandoned dragon eggs, Brewing room for experimenting with dragon organs and a giant library with a vast collection of books relating to dragon keeping stood on the second floor. Physical training room, rest room and office of the trainers and the healing section on the third floor, law wing which dealt with illegal dragon dealers, and the office of Mr.Alecsandri, the head of the institute was on the uppermost floor. The structure which looked mysterious from outside was darker on the inside. Each particular room looked like a cave and it always got freezing cold at night.

From the second floor, a small annexure stood aloof from the rest of the edifice, connected by a small uneven stone bridge. That was where all the trainees had to stay. The tiny extension was, like the rest of the building, made with stone walls and dimly lit. It consisted of several bunk beds and small bed side tables, made of cleanly cut rocks and an open cupboard to store their belongings.

All the boys burst inside the room, fighting over which bed belonged to whom. The only girl was left with the last bed in the corner. She carefully pushed her trunk below the bed while majority of the boys had gone out to further explore the building. She sat on her bed unsure of what to do next.

"um..hi?" A skinny boy sat across from her on the nearest bed.

"Hi Flicker!" Natalie extended her hand, a smile finally landing on her face.

"Oh you already know my name. Impressive!" he said, shaking her hand.

"It's not. How hard could it be to memorize the names of nine other people of my batch" she scoffed.

Marshall didn't say anything. He just kept staring at her. Natalie shifted uncomfortably on her seat.

"Is something wrong with my face?"

"Wha..What?" Marshall asked, confused.

"Why are you staring at me then?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I.. I... you .. are a girl"

"Wow! Is it obvious? Thanks for noticing" she said sarcastically.

"It's not what mean. I mean you are a girl.. and.."

"What am I doing here?" she helped him complete the sentence.

"Yeah! Exactly. Aren't you supposed to be bonding with unicorns and fairies?"

"A girl being a dragon keeper would really crush the male ego, wouldn't it?"

"No. That's not what I mean" Marshall said, defensively. "I mean dragons are dangerous"

"So are they any less dangerous to men?"

"I guess not"

"I get what you say Marshall. I know you are concerned about me. But trust me, we all have equal chances of getting hurt. And not all girls are fond of unicorns" Natalie said, getting to her feet and climbed up the bed "Good night" she said, burying herself under the thick covers.

"yeah, good night. Wait... we are friends right?"

"I guess we are" Natalie chuckled.

After a while, the rest of the boys got back from their adventure. Marshall had already fallen asleep. The room fell silent as everyone drifted to sleep after a long tiring day. Natalie couldn't sleep. She stared at the dark ceiling. Her heart beating and stomach flipping with excitement for the sun to rise.