Harry Potter: Dragon Whisperer

Settling In

2:10pm

Tuesday, 25 July 1995

Romanian Dragon Sanctuary, Romania

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"He's late," Alexander groused, not for the first or even the tenth time. "You did tell him that we were meeting straight after lunch, didn't you?"

"Yeah, Boss, I did," Charlie replied, fiercely keeping his desire to roll his eyes firmly in check.

"He was kinda occupied," Sirius put in. "Those dragons had him surrounded and then the big one – Ramaranth, you said, right? – she did lead him off deeper into the valley."

"With all the other dragons following," Charlie finished, shaking his head. "I've never seen dragons act like that before. Merlin, I've never heard of dragons acting like that before."

"True enough," Alexander grunted. "Still, when I say there's a meeting at one o'clock, I expect my people to be there on time, not an hour late and counting."

"I'm not sure that dragons can tell time," Sirius quipped.

Alexander shot the man a hard look and Charlie opened his mouth to say what he knew not, but something that would hopefully smooth things over. Alexander was, for the most part, an easy man to get along with but when it came to the smooth running of the Sanctuary, he simply had no patience for anyone not following his rules. Not that Charlie could blame him, this was a dragon reserve after all, people who didn't follow the rules more than likely ended up dead.

"Boss!"

The panicked yell from outside had the three seated at the table whipping their heads towards the door just as the door crashed open. The wizard standing there was wide-eyed, his chest heaving and his hair was a flying every which way.

"Boss! One of the dragons has broken from the canyon!"

"Damn!" Alexander swore, standing so quickly that his chair was knocked backwards and sent clattering to the floor. "Breed? Size? How high's it going?"

"The wards'll keep it from escaping," Charlie stated, also now on his feet.

Alexander shook his head. "Those wards might be strong and can give a nasty shock to a dragon but a determined one could bust through them. Well?"

This last was said to the handler who was quickly backing out of the door as his Boss strode towards him.

"Hungarian Horntail. Fully grown. Female by the size of her," was the reply.

"Ramaranth? Mikos, is it Ramaranth" Charlie asked urgently.

"Could be," Mikos shrugged.

"Boss! The dragon's headed this way!" another handler yelled.

"Wands out! Take cover!" Alexander roared, his wand already in hand even as he broke right, dashing towards the side of a building.

All around the small compound, handlers were doing the same, running for the nearest cover, be it building, tree or, in the case of one fast-thinking man, behind the stone wall that he'd just conjured all around him.

Sirius and Charlie, though, simply shared a look and Charlie could see his own thoughts mirrored in the other man's eyes. If this was Ramaranth ...

And then the great black and bronze dragon appeared from over the treetops. Her wings were outstretched, barely flapping as she soared towards them. She was easily sixty feet long, although with her tail stretched behind her and her head and neck stretched out in front, she seemed much larger. From this angle, it was easy to see her four legs tucked up against her great belly. That was until she extended them.