"I'm not telling him" Malak Aboul Gheit asseverated. "I'm not telling my dad."
The Egyptian witch was sitting on Charlie Weasley's bed, in the tent he had been assigned to at Hogwarts grounds, not far away from the dragon enclosure. His fellow dragon tamers had been kind enough to leave the place to the couple, given the extraordinary circumstances.
After Dumbledore's office, Malak had gone back to her dorms despite Charlie's insistence. And as predicted by the dragon tamer, the party at Gryffindor's common room was more than what the Egyptian could tolerate. Nobody really questioned her about the type of magic she had used — something Malak was extremely thankful for, but the constant hugs, patting and the obnoxiously loud music had brought the witch to the brink of a panic attack.
The only way out of it had been the invisibility cloak and a trip down to Hogwarts grounds, where she knew she'd find the dragon tamers. Stefan and Dan were extremely nice and like her Gryffindor house mates, they avoided bombing her with a ton of questions and simply left the tent to allow her and Charlie some privacy.
"Oh, yes, you are telling him, bunny, end of the discussion," Charlie retorted. "If he knows that I know and he doesn't, he will not only kill me, but probably dismember me before. And not only me — everybody else that was present at that room."
"I didn't know you feared my father so much, Mr. Dragon Tamer," Malak tried to joke.
"Oh, I do, Malak, no shame in admitting it. A dragon seems like a kitten in comparison — that man is scary."
"No, he isn't" the Egyptian insisted.
Charlie's brow arched in an expression of utter disbelieve, making Malak laugh. It was short lived, but it was definitely genuine. Charlie thought I was the most precious sound in the world.
When her laughter died down, Charlie spoke again. "He has the right to know, Malak. Plus I guess by tomorrow the whole Wizarding World will know... what happened today wasn't precisely ordinary."
"I told the Daily Prophet I hypnotized the dragon" Malak explained, "and there is definitely nothing extraordinary about hypnotization... hopefully they'll believe it. Also, Rita Skeeter seems to despise me, so she would try to disparage me as much as she can, so that should help... And the scores, except for Dumbledore's and Bagman's weren't all that great..."
"Yeah, talk about unfair!" Charlie protested. "Karkaroff gave you and Harry 4s! And then he goes and gives Krum a freaking 10!"
"Maybe he displayed an excellent use of magic," smirked the witch.
"He used the conjunctivitis curse, Mals!" His voices sounded extremely exasperated.
"Really!? That's just cheap."
"Yes! He didn't deserve that score!"
Charlie's fervour made the Egyptian witch laugh and bite her lip. He is just too cute. "I don't really care about the score."
Charlie knew all too well she didn't care. How could she, after everything that had happened afterward?
He knew her mind was elsewhere entirely. The final sentence of Zewail El Serafy weighted heavily on her shoulders.
"Is your father alive, Malak?" The Egyptian warlock questioned with a grave tone.
"Yes." She replied, almost inaudibly.
"Then he must do it — he must try his luck in the waters of the Nile."
The elder men feared Malak's uncle could make the Council of the Seven Families doubt her, not only because of her heritage but also because Malak was the image of her grandmother, "heir of her glory but also of her sins", as Dumbledore had elegantly put it. If discovered that her ankh was incomplete, their allegiances could shift.
That's why they needed to do everything in their power to solve that. And that entailed telling Sirius Black about it. Or so Charlie Weasley thought — Malak Aboul Gheit seemed to have a different opinion.
"Well, first things first." The dragon tamer tried to change the subject. "We need to figure out the egg and then we can see what to do about your father."
"I like the use of we there."
"We are a team, Malak. Are we not?" Charlie spoke as he poured the boiling water in their tea cups. "I know I didn't specifically tell you about the dragons — you kind of knew anyways, but I intend to help you in the following tasks, since I'm not directly involved."
She stood up and walked to him, wrapping her hands around his hips, and resting her body against his back. Even if she couldn't see it, the Egyptian knew there was a smirk playing on his lips.
"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching ponder this;
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
And to recover what we took,
But past an hour, the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
Charlie turned on his toes, resting his arms around Malak's neck and bringing her ever closer to him. "What's that?"
"The egg" the Egyptian witch smiled.
"You've already figured it out!?" The dragon tamer couldn't believe it.
"I am Egyptian." Malak started. "Well, partially Egyptian at least. The Egyptian magic comes from the Nile, from its water. We can heal from any body of water, breathe under water and understand meerpeople" explained she.
"When the egg felt to the floor in Dumbledore's office, all of you seemed to be extremely bothered by it. I was a bit in shock so I thought maybe it was just me — I was numb or something, but then I noticed that Zewail Basha didn't flinch at the sound neither, so I took it to the shower to listen to it."
The explanation seemed to convince the dragon tamer. "So you are not worried at all about the second task?"
"Not one bit... I literally can breathe underwater." She stated, but as soon as she uttered that sentence, she regretted it. "But... I do worry about Harry."
"He is stubborn."
"Oh, really?" Said Malak sarcastically. "I hadn't noticed."
"Bubble-head charm?" Suggested the dragon tamer, detaching from Malak and going back to the tea.
The Egyptian nodded absentmindedly as she walked back to sit on the bed.
"Two main problems, I would say." Malak started, taking the cup Charlie offered. "First, it's complex — I don't know how to use it very well myself for obvious reasons but I guess I could ask Cedric Diggory or somebody to teach it to him."
"Please not Diggory." Charlie reacted a bit too quickly, and with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
Malak gave him an intense look. "I swear there is nothing between us, Charlie."
"I know, I just..." he sounded frustrated as he sat down next to her. "I don't know... I told you I'm the jealous type."
Malak looked at him from the corner of her eye, shaking her head. "Unbelievable."
He didn't waste a second, grabbing her waist sideways and planting a quick kiss on her cheek. "Second problem?"
"He is so stubborn he won't want me to tell him what the second task is about until is too late for him to learn the bubble-head charm."
Both of them looked to the floor and drank a sip of their tea in silence.
"So?" Charlie spoke first.
"So... I guess I teach him defensive spells that work for underwater creatures and let him figure out the egg on his own."
Malak let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "More importantly, what are we going to do for my second Christmas? Egypt?"
Charlie looked down, away from her. "Well, I was going to suggest you come to Romania for a couple of days, you know? Just the two of us, but given the circumstances..."
Malak's heart sank deeply into her chest. She had been trying to avoid thinking about that part. About the fact that her boyfriend lived in a Dragon Sanctuary and tamed dragons for a living. Something that crashed head-on with her newfound abilities, and that she had really been trying to avoid thinking about. But reality always catches up.
"Maybe I can still go?" She whispered.
"No, bunny... it dangerous." Charlie cupped her face and made her look at him directly.
"I don't think so." Malak tried to avoid his gaze.
"Malak," he insisted, making it impossible for her to look away. "It is said that a lot of charmers died because they couldn't control the dragon they were charming. You don't really know if you can control your powers but one thing I'll tell you for sure is dragons don't like to be controlled or subdued."
"So basically the dragons rebelled against the dragon charmers?"
Charlie nodded. "Apparently. I've always imagined it to be like... I don't know, maybe the imperious curse? And the dragons fight against it, obviously."
"No... No, no, not at all. It was nothing like the imperious curse. It was... I don't know how to describe it, but it was not like that at all" Malak explained. "The dragon and I were one single being — she was like an extension of myself. I knew everything she was thinking and feeling and so did she."
They stayed in silence for a moment.
"And the song... szerelem means love... how could that be like the imperious curse?"
"I'll ask Mr. Balan about it, but until we are certain, I don't think is a good idea that you come to Romania." Charlie stated.
"I need to research it... probably the Library of Alexandria will have something on the subject."
"We." He corrected, smiling faintly, which made her smile as well.
"We."
Suddenly, the space between them disappeared, their lips brushing together tenderly, just long enough so they could feel each other's warmth. It was brief, but it was exactly what Malak needed.
She looked at him in the most affectionate way possible, making him melt. Just how did I get so lucky?
After a while, the Egyptian spoke again. "We should also ask Dumbledore. There is something he is hiding. When he mentioned Grindelwald he seemed... I don't know... nostalgic maybe?" Malak shrugged. "He is hiding something."
"You think so?"
"I am certain" Malak nodded pensively. "I don't know if he will be willing to talk, though."
Malak took a sip from her tea before changing the subject. "Christmas, though" she smiled. "I'm excited for my second real Christmas. Hopefully I'll learn a bit more than last year."
"I'm excited for your second real Christmas too." Yet he knew that they were not going to spend it together. He knew what was coming up at Hogwarts as part of the Triwizard tournaments and that was going to prevent them to be together, but he didn't want to tell her just yet.
Malak needed something to look forward to, and he wasn't going to take the prospect of Christmas in Egypt away from her. Either way, Charlie was sure she was going to enjoy her Christmas at Hogwarts, so he wasn't all too worried about it. He was certainly going to miss her, but as long as she was happy, that was all he cared about.
"Can I stay here tonight?" Malak hugged his arm, slightly rubbing her head against it.
"Always, bunny."
Thank you so much for reading!
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And shout out to billweasleyfan-07 who is being an absolute ✨angel ✨ correcting my sloppy English! I might take a while, but I'll surely update the chapters at some point. Thank you so much again 🙏🏼🤍