Harry Potter: Dragon Whisperer

The Speaker Has Come!

6:45am

Tuesday, 25 July 1995

Romanian Dragon Sanctuary, Romania

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Laughter. Snickers, full-bellied and barking. All three different types were in abundance above him as Harry lifted his head, spitting out the dirt and grass from his rough landing.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Harry snarked.

"Portkey. I did warn you," Sirius replied, still laughing.

"At least you didn't throw up, eh, Harry?" a vaguely-recognised voice said cheerfully.

Harry looked up and around even as he pushed himself to his feet. The man who'd spoken was mostly hidden in the glare from the sun directly over his shoulder. What the sun did highlight, though, was his red hair, making it appear as though his whole head was ablaze.

"Charlie?"

"The one and only," Charlie Weasley said, stepping forward, grasping Harry under his arm and hoisting him to his feet.

"That was some impressive landing, son," the owner of the great belly laugh said. "Don't rightly think I've ever seen anyone spinning that fast from a portkey ride and throw themselves near ten metres away to land face first in the dirt."

"I'm glad that I could entertain you, Mister Velios," Harry replied sarcastically before immediately regretting speaking that way to his new boss.

Thankfully, it seemed to have been taken the right way as, once again, Alexander Velios, the Head Dragon Handler of the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary burst out laughing again.

"Alexander, Mister Potter, call me 'Alexander'. We're going to be working together quite closely for quite some time."

"In that case, call me 'Harry'," Harry replied with a smile, shaking the offered hand.

"Mister Black," Alexander said, shaking Sirius' hand as well.

"Sirius," he corrected.

"Right, well, we'll get the two of you settled and then Charlie here can give you a tour before lunch. Afterwards, the four of us'll get together and go over a few things," Alexander stated.

"Sounds like a plan," Sirius nodded.

"Thanks," Harry agreed before turning to Charlie.

"Come on, this way," Charlie grinned, throwing an arm out in the direction of a cluster of small log cabins.

Before he'd even gone two paces, Harry thrust his hand into his pocket, letting out a sigh of relief that firstly, his miniaturised trunk was still there and secondly, that it hadn't been damaged in his fall. Mind you, with the plethora of spells, charms and enchantments on the thing, Harry would have been quite surprised to discover otherwise.

"Now, you two said that you don't mind sharing, right?" Charlie asked.

"Yep, we're good," Harry replied, having glanced at Sirius.

"Good. Only, there's a rule here that a cabin can only be assigned to a dragon handler, or at least, someone who works for the Sanctuary," Charlie stated. "Any family or visitors have to stay with the worker that they 'belong' to."

"I'm just happy that I've been allowed to tag along," Sirius said. "And technically, 'family' does cover it, although I'll also be one of Harry's tutors."

"I know all about that, but that's something that we'll discuss later," Charlie replied.

As they talked, Harry's eyes stayed fixed on the cabins that they were approaching, taking them all in.