"I would like to put on record that I find this completely unnecessary" Malak Aboul Gheit stated.
She was getting cold feet about letting the dragon go.
"So you think we should keep the dragon at Hogwarts despite Malfoy seeing it?" Harry Potter questioned incredulously.
"Well, yes!" Malak stated. "We are perfectly capable of caring for her, we just need to keep her in the forest, which is off limits for students anyways, so nobody can accuse us of keeping her there because they are not supposed to be in there to begin with."
"I see you have been giving it much thought" Harry continued, "but why do you insist on calling it a 'she'? Hagrid is convinced it's a male."
"Hagrid is wrong" said Malak "this is clearly a female Norwegian Ridgeback —you can see that from the color of this scales here, they are supposed to be darker in males. Also the rare patters on the egg suggested that she is in fact a she. Plus she has the attitude of a female. Have you read A Guide to Dragons? Fire and Blood? 1001 Dragon Breeds? You will find this information there."
"Thanks, Malak, duly noted."
"You are impossible to convince!"
"We are not keeping it" Harry stated sternly.
"Her," she corrected.
"And is all of this really necessary?" Harry pointed out at the box Malak had prepared — what she called 'Norberta's Care-package'.
"It is," she explained, "the first parchment has all relevant information about her breed, the second one about her, then there is the treats they can give her while traveling, then there is her actual meals. Also, I've packed some food for them as well, they are human beings after all." She paused to recall, "ah! And all sorts of potions they may need, you know, in case an accident like Ron's happens."
"Do you know these people are Wizards, right? Harry stated.
"They are only going to the dragon sanctuary to visit! They are hardly dragon tamers,Harry! From what we know, they know nothing about dragons!!"
"And they won't have time to read your parchment" Harry pointed out, "they will give it to actual dragon tamers." Well, he was right about that part, Malak had to concede.
After a while, a group of four guys and two girls arrived to the tower. Malak was so nervous. She was not delighted to let baby Norberta go. But she had no other choice, she knew perfectly well.
"Hey! Wotcher?" One of the girls started. She had short purple hair.
"Is that English, Harry?" Malak said hurriedly, she was freaking out, "I know is not Romanian."
"It is English, don't worry" he assumed her.
"We should have never agreed to this, Tonks, I told you" a tall guy said.
"Come on Pete, where is your sense of adventure?" the girl named Tonks replied.
"Let's just confund this thing" the same guy started, gaining a huff from the group, and proceeding to take his wand in his hand, "and be ov—..."
He was suddenly and magically pushed back with such a force that he lost his wand in the process. Malak's hand in front of her, pointing at the guy with her index finger.
"If you think you can confund the dragon and be over with it — you are wrong."
"Merlin, I love you" Tonks whispered, so low than only Harry and Malak could hear it. "Hey, don't worry," she continued in a normal tone, "there will be no confunding, we mean no harm."
"She does" said the guy Malak had pushed.
"I am a third year student, if I can 'harm' you, I guess you should join Hogwarts again" retorted Malak harshly, earning the muffled laughs of the other guys.
"I want to be your best friend" Tonks said quietly to Malak, "we don't like him, but he is dating Claire here" she shrugged.
"So, where is the dragon?" another one of the guys asked, while the second girl was trying to reason with her boyfriend.
"Here" Harry pointed, "and that's his care package."
"For the last time, Harry — her."
"So we are unsure of the gender?" a third guy asked.
"They are," Malak stated "I am certain it's a female."
"Would you bet on it?" the last guy suggested, as Tonks reprimanded him "Albert, come on!"
"10 galleons"smirked Malak.
"I'll owl you the opinion of the dragon tamers" he agreed, shaking her hand.
"Please do. And while you are it, tell them to read the parchments. The first one is about Norwegian Ridgebacks in general; the second one about her specifically. I found that she is quite a peculiar specimen, because of the way her scales are displayed, and also there were some unusual patterns carved on the egg..." she ranted. "Well, it's all in there."
They were all looking at her with wide eyes. "Wow, thanks for the lecture."
"You are most welcome."
The group —minus the couple that seemed to be having a heated argument— helped Harry and Malak to place the harness Malak had designed, so they would be able to suspend Norberta between them.
Malak helped buckle Norberta safely into it and then they shook hands with the group and thanked them. Now the time for goodbyes, which Malak hated.
"M3a salama, ya habibet 2albi" Malak addressed Norberta "ba7ebek awe, ya sokrara, ashofek 3ala 5eir."
"That is definitely not English" Tonks commented.
"She is Egyptian" Harry informed them.
"Would you please write once you arrive?" Malak politely asked.
"You bet! I intend to take the 10 galleons from you" the Albert guy winked.
"Al! Come on, she is just a girl!" Tonks reprimanded. "We will, I promise."
And just like that, Norberta was gone.
Charlie Weasley was anxiously waiting for his friends to arrive. Not only because he had missed his Hogwarts gang terribly, but also because they were bringing along a baby dragon to add to the sanctuary's family.
He was worried about the logistics of the operation too. When Ron had sent him a letter, it was already too late to plan something more elaborate, so his friends would need to improvise.
Fellow dragon tamers Stefan and Dan were waiting for their arrival with Charlie, knowing that the dragon will most probably be tired and hungry from the journey, so it was better to have reinforcements.
The three dragon tamers were pleasantly surprise to find the group of British wizards arrive with a harness that fit the dragon perfectly. They had food and treats with them as well, so the angry and hungry dragon they were expecting turned out to be a rather happy one.
"Wow, guys! Good job!" Charlie beamed, addressing his friends, "are you coming to take our jobs?"
"Yeah, this is impressive," one of the other dragon tamers commented.
The group broke into a laugh. "Actually it's your brother's friends doing" Tonks clarified, "the girl was prepared."
The dragon tamers carefully removed the harness of the little dragon, and then took her into some sort of stable to keep her into observation for a few days.
"You must be tired, guys" Charlie spoke "how about-...?
"I am ready for a beer, Charlie! I heard Romanian beer is good!" his friend Mark laughed.
"I'm with Mark on this one!" Albert cheered.
"We are famous for it!" Dan, one of the dragon tamers stated. "I guess we should head for the canteen then! You can rest later" he suggested, gaining the approval of the group.
"I like the sound of that!" Tonks confirmed.
They walked a bit in the Romanian forest, to find a glare with small wooden cabins, where the draconologist s lived. One of the cabins was larger than the others, as it held the common areas such as the canteen, infirmary and administrative offices of the sanctuary.
Once each of them had a beer in front, the British group started to tell the tale of their trip. Starting with the lecture they received from a certain Egyptian witch.
"She was a badass, I tell you that" Tonks remembered the scene they had seen a couple days ago at Hogwarts, "you should have seen how she disarmed Pete — right Al?"
"Yeah, very impressive — wandless and nonverbally" her friend agreed with Tonks.
"She had prepared the harness and gave us a full lecture about the dragon" the fourth guy, Richie, added "apparently she has prepared a long essay about how the dragon is a female" he told the dragon tamers.
"I don't think so" Dan stated.
"I didn't get to see him that well, but I would go for male, what do you think, Charlie?" his colleague Stefan questioned.
"By the looks of this box, I say the girl is invested—so I am going to side with her" he shrugged. He hadn't seen the Norwegian Ridgeback well, but if the Egyptian witch was so sure, he was going to have faith I her.
"I don't think so, Charlie" Pete intervened. It was clear he didn't like the third year student, "she is just a brat, playing to be a know-it-all."
Suddenly, the chatter around the canteen lowered. The Head Draconologist Marcu Bālan didn't usually frequent that cabin, but when he did, his gravitas was evident.
"Dear friends, welcome!" he addressed the group of Charlie Weasley's friends, thick Romanian accent in his voice "and thank you, for bringing to us such a beautiful dragon. I am sure the journey wasn't easy, so I want to offer a toast in your name. Noroc!" he cheered, while bringing up his beer, everybody joining in for the toast.
Following that, Mr. Bālan approached the group, to thank them one by one.
"So Mr. Bālan, sir" Tonks started, "we were having a discussion here before, and I wanted to ask about your opinion."
"Please go ahead."
"Is the dragon a male or a female?"
"Ah! Interesting question! I would like to hear what my draconologists think."
"Dan and I are leaning towards male" Stefan explained, "but Charlie said female."
"Well done Charlie! It is indeed a female. A rare one, as a matter of fact" he explained. "I had the chance to examine the patterns of her eggshell, and I believe we can learn valuable lessons from them, actually."
"You did not seriously read her essay" Pete took the piece of parchment, letting it disclose to the floor —it was about 5 feet long. Marcu Bālan laughed loudly, to the point that he was coughing.
"Not that one, no. I believe I got the summary" he continued between chuckles. "She sent me a letter too" he said while showing the piece of parchment he had carefully folded in his pocket. "Written in perfect Romanian, as well."
"The girl!?" Tonks was loving the girl more each minute. "She is the boss."
"Malak Aboul Gheit" Marcu Bālan stated. He continued after a dramatic pause "that's her name. I've met her before. She is a remarkable witch indeed" he turned slightly to the red-haired dragon tamer "you know her, don't you Charlie?"
"No I don't — not personally at least. I've heard about her from my siblings."
"Oh!" he recalled Charlie Weasley having the notebook Marcu Bālan himself had gifted the young Egyptian girl. He had assumed that it was her that sent the red-haired wizard his contact. But he didn't say a thing. Sometimes destiny just has its ways.
"Well, wait until you meet her. O să o iubești (you will love her)!"
And that he will!
Thank you so much for reading part 1!