The Red Dragon | Charlie Weasley

Chapter 3

"I told your Ministry three times that there is no need to hurry, but do they listen? No, és clar, they-"

The man falls silent when he sees Haela and Kadrick with their wands at the ready. Both have dropped their bags. Kadrick looks ready to pounce on the man to take him out.

"What are you- No, no, none of that! Put away your wands!"

The man's accent is a mixture of French and Spanish. He has raised his hands in surrender and looks in between them with wide eyes. Haela slowly relaxes, clearly, this man isn't a threat, but Kadrick doesn't. His narrowed brown eyes are focused on the man, calculating the best way to take the man down.

"My name is Isaac Estevez," the man continues, "I am the owner and head Dragonologist of this sanctuary. I never meant to scare you."

Isaac Estevez is a short wizard with thin, grey hair and a pot belly. There is a large balding spot on the top of his head, and he is wearing silver half-moon glasses. The flannel he is wearing is thorn in a few places and Haela can see a few old burns on the man's arms.

"I'll take you to the camp now, alright? Lower your wand, young man, and start walking. We don't have all day. Suzy needs to be fed before she starts hunting down my personnel."

With those words, Isaac turns around and starts descending the hill. Haela shares a look with Kadrick before taking her duffel bag from the ground and following the man. She doesn't want to get lost in the mountains of Andorra.

As they make their way to the 'camp' Isaac talked about, the man rambles on and on about small things. In the distance, a small gathering of tents is getting clearer and clearer and Haela is getting a feeling of déjà vu at the sight. There are people wandering around and somewhere behind the tents, Haela can see a fully grown, enormous dragon rearing on its hind legs. Two figures are running around it and the dragon is swinging its head in their direction. There is no sight of fire, but Haela wonders what they are doing.

A loud growl echoes through the air and Isaac laughs at the sound.

"Suzy is an impatient lady, she waits for no one," the man says over his shoulder as they arrive at the small gathering of tents, "I'll call the others and someone will show you your tent, yes? I really must feed my Suzy, don't mind me."

And he is gone. Haela blinks as she looks at the spot where the man was standing just a second ago before turning to Kadrick who looks just as confused.

"Did he just-"

"He can't leave us here, can he?" Kadrick nervously asks and flinches when another growl echoes down the mountain, "I mean, there are dragons running around freely. Do you know what classification dragons have?"

"A five on the scale of one to five," an unfamiliar voice answers.

Haela and Kadrick turn around to see a blonde-haired witch laughing at their faces. The woman is shorter than Haela and Kadrick and her skin is tanned, evidence that she spends a lot of time outside.

"Isaac left you two on your own? Gosh, someone would think you've never seen a dragon in real life before from the looks on your face."

Kadrick makes a small noise and shakes his head, "I haven't."

That only makes the woman laugh harder and her ponytail swings back and forth as she almost falls over.

"I'm so sorry," the woman manages to get out once she has calmed down, "Where are my manners? I'm Aurora Beck, one of the Dragonologists. Don't mind Isaac, he's such a scatterbrain. Absolutely crazy about his Suzy."

Haela smiles at the woman and holds out her hand, "Haela Peucag, curse specialist of the British Magical Law Enforcement Squad."

The two women shake hands before Kadrick introduces himself. Aurora smiles at them before gesturing to follow her so she can show them their tent.

The camp of the Andorran Dragon Sanctuary consists of a few smaller tents that belong to the different Dragonologists. There is a medical tent where their Healer works and another larger tent that acts are the main spot where the Dragonologists spend their time and eat dinner. Aurora apologises for the fact that Haela and Kadrick are forced to share a tent, but they don't really mind. There are two separate beds, and they aren't counting on being here for a long time. It's more comfortable than some of the other places they had to sleep.

After dumping their bags in their tent, Aurora shows them the medical tent where they meet her fiancé Phillip, a tall and lanky wizard, who is taking care of an unconscious man, Darios Caelles, the Dragonologist who got cursed the other day. Haela makes a mental note to retrace the man's steps to figure out what cursed him before following Aurora to where they saw one of the dragons.

A petite, black-haired witch with braids in her hair is jumping around a large, green-scaled dragon. She is holding a contraption with tiny bells that jingle as she runs around. The dragon is trying to catch her and at first, Haela wants to call out for the girl to look out, but the dragon doesn't seem to prepare an attack. After looking at the witch and the dragon for a moment, it seems like they are playing around.

"That's Estel Barrés, our newest recruit. She's training to become a Dragonologist," Aurora narrates, "And this beauty is Izionth, one of our Common Welsh Greens. His sister, Ivraenth, is somewhere flying around. She likes to explore."

"What do you tell the Muggles?" Haela asks, frowning. Having a dragon sanctuary this close to Muggle must be a breach of the International Statue of Secrecy, surely.

"It's an Andorran myth that when you see a dragon, it means fortune is coming your way," Aurora shrugs, "It's like a falling star, nobody tells anyone they saw one."

"Nifty," Kadrick snorts.

Aurora laughs and leads them back to the base camp. There is one more Dragonologist – that must be Percy's brother then, Haela muses – but he had taken his broom for a check-up on the dragons living more up the mountain. Haela's head buzzes with new information and impressions as she steps into the tent she and Kadrick share. She needs a nap.

~~~

For the people who are wondering, Haela's name is pronounced "He-la" like the goddess :)