Lights Are On (Charlie)

[rose harriet granger-weasley]

November 12, 2027

Teaching a classroom full of four-year-olds all week was tiring, and Rose obviously knew better than to discuss "adult beverages" around small children, but she was immensely grateful that the Flobberworm and Lettuce, the student-operated pub at LIFE, was within her reach on a Friday afternoon. She wasn't going for the alcohol—which she didn't even like—as much as she was the socialization with people her own age and conversations that didn't go around in circles.

After getting a cup of tea (plus a Scotch egg so it wouldn't look as though she had come just for a cup of tea that she could have made herself), Rose was seated back at a table for two, trying not to be a bother to the LIFE students who were there to let off some steam on a Friday afternoon. She wasn't that much older than they were, and she knew that. At the same time, she certainly felt as though she had aged ten years since her mother's death.

Picking at the sausage and breadcrumbs that coated the outside of her Scotch egg, she wondered if she would have been better off just going straight home from work instead.

charles septimus weasley

[charles septimus weasley]

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Not teaching Care of Magical Creatures to the younger students had definitely been an interesting change between his two years of teaching. While Charlie ultimately had no say in how the curriculum was chosen for Hogwarts and it's separate schools, he was rather downtrodden that a lot of the wonder and amazement he got to see in the eyes of the third years was now gone. Despite always being an elective course, Charlie liked to think that his typical crowded classes were because it was a way to break from the standard classroom setting. That had always been why he enjoyed it during his time at Hogwarts. The other thought that had been percolating in his head for the last several months was that this year was sort of like a trial and error year. Being the first one back at the newly revamped Hogwarts, there was bound to be a hiccup or two that the school would have to overcome and correct. He just hoped that this time next year he'd have MAGIC students in class as well, even if that meant dropping his course on dragons. Ultimately that meant less to him because it felt like constant self-promotion towards his book. Had some other dragonologist beat him to the punch and put out a comprehensive research book on them, he'd teach with that. As it stood, he was still the only author to focus solely on so many different dragon breeds in one place and to the degree that he had. A life's work, all packed into one textbook. Newt had taught him well and provided an excellent outline to follow.

With that being said, Charlie had wrapped up his final class for the week and had spent the last hour or so at the on-campus pub to answer any questions his students from both classes might have. The school called this 'office hours', which he had found usually led to more time spent signing copies of his book than actually answering questions about class or homework. But that was fine with him, because at least it meant there were kids still interested in dragons. With all of the information so readily available now, it was bound to blow the field up at some point. If he could be responsible for that, then his job was done.

Finishing up with what looked to be the final student - having answered a question on the seemingly natural invisibility of the thestral - Charlie felt like he was finally done for the day. Thankfully he didn't have any grading to do over the weekend, which meant he had his first break in months as long as Natalie didn't already have something planned last minute for the two of them.

Charlie quickly collected his things up and was crossing the pub when he spotted his niece, Rose, sitting on her own. The two of them were the only teachers in the family currently, but there wasn't much of a crossover between LIFE and MYSTIC. "Rose!" he called to her as he approached her table. "How've you been?

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[rose harriet granger-weasley]

November 12, 2027

"Rose!"

Immediately upon hearing her name called, she knew that it was her Uncle Charlie who was addressing her. Apart from being her uncle, he was technically her coworker, too, although he didn't teach at MYSTIC. They didn't really cross paths much during the workday because of that separation, though it obviously was no secret that they were related. No one really made a big deal about it, though. The students she taught were too young to care, and the students her uncle taught were old enough not to be bothered.

"How've you been?"

Uncle Charlie had approached the table at which she was seated, and Rose had looked up from picking at her Scotch egg by that point so as not to seem rude. She smiled at her uncle before replying, saying, "I've been well, Uncle Charlie. You?"


charles septimus weasley

[charles septimus weasley]

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"Still have all of my fingers, so I'm doing very well," he joked. He'd gotten really good at pulling his hands away fast from baby dragons and other sharp-toothed creatures over the years. Sometimes things got a little iffy in class though not a single student had gotten seriously injured. Yet. One could only poke a blast-ended skrewt so many times before they were showered in a fiery ash. Charlie had explicit warnings and forms that parents had to sign, mostly protecting the school from legal issues. That was a rule that had been applied upon the arrival of the Ilvermorny students. Apparently the Americans were a fair bit more litigious. Nowadays it was more for safety reasons, seeing as the majority of his current students were gunning for fields that handled magical creatures. "Being done for the week is always a plus. I do like this schedule a lot more than waking up before dawn to study the feeding habits of Hebridean Blacks..." he added with a soft chuckle. Though students and dragons often times had the same temperaments. As long as they were fed and left alone, they were happy.

"I imagine the little ones have started to adapt to the day by now? Such an interesting change for Hogwarts to make." If he were being really honest though, he was sort of jealous that he'd never had the chance to put his own kids in it. They could have done with some early magical education outside of a textbook knowledge on dragons. He had made sure to teach them everything about his flying lizard family prior to sending them to Hogwarts. Calling the dragons his 'other family' sometimes came across as weird for people that didn't understand what he did for a living, but the Weasleys always got it. That or people just assumed he was talking about some random cousin. There were lots of those too.

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[rose harriet granger-weasley]

November 12, 2027

Her uncle replied to her question of how he was by saying that he was doing very well because he still had all his fingers. Rose knew that Uncle Charlie was only cracking a joke with his answer, but there was some truth to it, too. Magical creatures could be… temperamental, and she was sure that some of them would have taken off a finger or two if given the chance. Luckily, though, none of them had managed to do that yet. Meanwhile, dragons were more likely to burn a person than to bite them, at least initially. After they had charred them to a crisp, then they might decide to devour them.

On a slightly more serious note, Charlie commented, "Being done for the week is always a plus. I do like this schedule a lot more than waking up before dawn to study the feeding habits of Hebridean Blacks."

While Rose had never studied the feeding habits of Hebridean Blacks herself, she understood her uncle's point. She enjoyed teaching more than she had her work in the Department of Magical Education at the Ministry, so she could relate in that regard. Waking up early to teach kids was different from dragging oneself into an office to deal with bureaucrats again. Presumably, dragons weren't bureaucratic, but she didn't think that watching them in the early hours of the morning sounded too great, either. Maybe it would be neat to see just once, just for the experience. After that, it probably got old.

"I imagine the little ones have started to adapt to the day by now? Such an interesting change for Hogwarts to make."

"Yeah." Rose nodded. "They're doing well. It's a challenge sometimes, but I love it." The pupils she taught were young enough that they could have been starting at a Muggle school, and a few of them had attended Muggle nursery schools. Planning out what to teach them would have been much easier if her mother were still alive, she thought, but it was very interesting. There was a lot that students were expected to know by the time they began their first year at MAGIC (or Hogwarts as it had been previously structured), so a lot of developing the curriculum involved working backwards from there and figuring out what would be most appropriate for each year group.

As young as her students were, it wasn't guaranteed that all of them would develop magical abilities, and she had to keep that in mind as well. She didn't want any children to feel singled out for having performed underage magic or not. Every child developed differently, and it would be many years before any of them would be expected to have any control over their magic or to use a wand.

She motioned to the chair positioned across the table from where she was seated. "You can join me, Uncle Charlie. I won't bite."

charles septimus weasley

[charles septimus weasley]

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Charlie doubted that he’d ever actually run into any of the MYSTIC classes based on campus layout alone. They seemed to be cordoned off from the rest of the school, and for good reason. Some of the LIFE classes being taught now utilized very high-level magic that would be considered dangerous even to the older MAGIC students. The last thing Hogwarts needed after a couple of tumultuous years was another accident involving one of the little ones. He alone had dangerous creatures occasionally on the grounds, which was enough to be a little worried. Health and safety definitely existed now, unlike his own time at school here. Things were far different when Dumbeldore was Headmaster, and even before him.

”If you don’t mind,” he said as he took a seat with his niece. ”I saw your father the other day,” he mentioned as he shrugged his cloak off. ”He was telling me how Lily almost blew up half the store with the new fireworks he and George were developing.” A low chuckle bubbled out of him as he took a glance at the menu, before realizing he needed his glasses to be able to read it. Getting older was not fun. Bifocals perfectly situated on his nose, he adjusted the distance of the menu with his arm, finally getting it to a point where he could read it. ”I think it was best for all of our health that we didn’t work there. You should have seen it when Fred was still there…”

He could only begin to imagine the insanity the joke shop would have created if his younger brother was still alive. Nothing against Ron’s ingenuity, but he was no Fred. The connection the twins had with chaos was undeniable. There were times where he wondered if Lily was a reincarnation of the lost twin, because there was definitely a bit of discord that she exuberated that felt extremely familiar. ”I’m ashamed to admit that despite spending my office hours here, I haven’t actually eaten anything here. Any recommendations?” he asked as he continued to stare at the menu.

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[rose harriet granger-weasley]

November 12, 2027

Uncle Charlie said that he would sit with her if she didn't mind, and Rose shook her head. She didn't have to worry about impressing anyone, and sitting at the Flobberworm and Lettuce with her uncle-slash-colleague wasn't going to affect how cool she was. She wasn't a student anymore, and the celebrity that surrounded her family kept her from ever having been made fun of when she was at school. Was she the most popular person at Hogwarts? No, but she had never wanted to be. Getting attention because of her parents was still interesting, even as an adult; she didn't have as many expectations placed on her, but it still happened.

"I saw your father the other day," her uncle informed her after he had sat down. Rose wasn't sure in what direction that would go, but it soon became clear. "He was telling me how Lily almost blew up half the store with the new fireworks he and George were developing."

Lily was lucky that she was the niece of both her bosses, or she probably would have been sacked already. At the mention of her cousin's almost blowing things up, Rose cringed. She was glad that she hadn't heard anything about it until Charlie had brought it up, mostly because she would have freaked out at the thought of losing any more relatives to explosions. At the same time, she didn't think that there was anything wrong with the existing fireworks her father and uncle sold. That was probably her Uncle George's idea.

"I think it was best for all of our health that we didn't work there. You should have seen it when Fred was still there…"

Though Fred had died years before she was born, in the Second Wizarding War, Rose had grown up hearing plenty about her late uncle. Her family had tried to keep his memory alive as much as they could, and it had always been clear to her that her uncles Fred and George had been like two halves of a whole. The joke shop had been the twins' brainchild, and the products that they had put their heads together to create had been second to none. Most of those continued to be best-sellers decades later; that was how good they were.

She wished that she could have seen the shop as it had been in the early days. The alternative to time-traveling was to see if her father might be able to share a memory with her in a Pensieve. That was a different conversation, though, than something to bring up with Charlie.

"I'm ashamed to admit that despite spending my office hours here, I haven't actually eaten anything here," Uncle Charlie told her, his attention on the menu. It was a little disappointing that he hadn't yet eaten anything available from the pub, but it was understandable. He was usually pretty busy. "Any recommendations?"

"The Scotch eggs are good," Rose told him first, "though I've destroyed this one…" She smiled sheepishly at her uncle and looked down at the egg she'd been picking apart only minutes before. "I don't eat here much, either, but I've heard good things about the sandwiches… And they do a curry, supposedly, with naan bread, but I haven't tried it."

charles septimus weasley

[charles septimus weasley]

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A real pub then! Charlie had sort of been hesitant about spending too much time on the campus, only because he did have work to do concerning dragons (and also liked to see his wife on occasion). His schedule for classes at Hogwarts had definitely been reduced now that he wasn’t teaching any of the MAGIC students. Which, in a way, was sort of disappointing. Charlie understood the reasoning behind it, as the school wanted the younger children to really focus on the basics more than what creatures they could or could not pet. But the animals he introduced in lessons were part of their greater world. Not having the knowledge on them until much later in their schooling, and as an elective still, would, in his opinion, do irreparable harm to the world of magical creature studies. They could talk all day about the positives and negatives of this too. He simply didn’t see a current reason why his class had to be held off until LIFE and after.

Regardless, his presence was still known on campus. The older students knew who he was, and he had received plenty of complaints from them about not being able to take his class anymore until they were done with OWLs and the likes. He hoped that after a few years of the current curriculum, everything would start to ease back into the way it had been before. At least that way it made sense.

Charlie observed the egg that his niece had been plucking at and gave it a pitiful look. The poor thing was made to be eaten, and here it was picked apart. Rose went on to explain that the sandwiches were supposedly decent, and Charlie hummed at that. Scratching at his chin, he decided he would get something after all. Apparating always made him hungry anyways. ”I could always bring my leftovers back with me, I suppose,” he reasoned as he reached for a free-floating menu that was a few chairs away. Quickly scanning it, he picked out what he wanted and signaled down an employee. ”If your department lead ever wants to introduce magical creatures to the little ones, I know of a few that can safely be looked at from a distance.”

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[rose harriet granger-weasley]

November 12, 2027

"I could always bring my leftovers back with me, I suppose," considered Uncle Charlie after Rose had brought up some of the menu items available at the Flobberworm and Lettuce. That would be easy enough to do, Rose guessed. She hadn't needed to take anything from the premises before, but she didn't doubt that the LIFE students did that. If she were them, she probably would have done the same.

After Charlie had procured himself a copy of the menu and attracted the attention of someone working there, he added, "If your department lead ever wants to introduce magical creatures to the little ones, I know of a few that can safely be looked at from a distance."

"Ooh, they'd love that, Uncle Charlie!" Rose beamed. "Which ones were you thinking?" she asked. Because of his knowledge of magical creatures, she had no doubt her uncle would think of something fun. Obviously, not all magical creatures were safe for, say, a petting zoo sort of experience, but teaching the MYSTIC pupils about how to approach the creatures they would encounter in the magical world was a valuable life skill.

charles septimus weasley

[charles septimus weasley]

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The bartender found him quickly, and Charlie had a moment of panic as he wasn’t too sure if the sandwich he had initially picked out was the one he wanted. With the question lingering in the air and his eyes frantically darting between the two options, he decided to go with the original. A turkey club was always a safe bet, and it seemed to come with crisps as well. He could get behind that. Sliding the menu back down the bar, he leaned back, satisfied by his choice despite the split second of anxiety it caused.

”Oh, there are a few that would work well with the little ones. Obviously, some will have experience with more dangerous ones, kind of like how your father and I grew up slinging garden gnomes on a weekly basis, but I do think it should be safe and educational at the end of the day.” There had even been a jarvey at one point in the Burrow’s garden, an oversized ferret that snacked on various subterranean critters. After a few weeks of being blamed for random swears being heard outside, his dad finally discovered the little bugger dragging a poor stunned gnome down into its lair, realizing that it was actually the source of the foul language.

”I would say that any of the winged horses would be a good start. They tend to be gentle, and children like regular horses. Usually.” The same could be said with any of the more ‘normal’ magical creatures. Crups, moke, and kneazles. Charlie didn’t want his niece to get in trouble with parents over bringing something volatile and dangerous into class. ”But there are plenty of options, really. We would just have to weigh the odds of what animals are considered too dangerous, I suppose.”

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[rose harriet granger-weasley]

November 12, 2027

"Oh, there are a few that would work well with the little ones," Uncle Charlie began in reply to her question after he had ordered himself a sandwich. "Obviously, some will have experience with more dangerous ones, kind of like how your father and I grew up slinging garden gnomes on a weekly basis, but I do think it should be safe and educational at the end of the day." Being that they were both educators, even though her uncle didn't normally work with the youngest pupils at Hogwarts, Rose could get behind that. Elaborating on his thoughts, Charlie added, "I would say that any of the winged horses would be a good start. They tend to be gentle, and children like regular horses. Usually."

Horses—winged ones, for magic's sake—were good. The children wouldn't be riding them, so that was one liability out of the way. They probably wouldn't be too interested in nibbling any tiny fingers, though both animals and children would be adequately supervised the entire time. The least liability would be finding a registered Animagus who could pretend to be part of a petting zoo for an hour or two, but the drawback was that it wasn't necessarily a realistic introduction to animal (or magical creature) behavior.

"But there are plenty of options, really. We would just have to weigh the odds of what animals are considered too dangerous, I suppose."

"…Didn't you take a dragon hatchling for Mum, Dad, and Uncle Harry?" Rose teased her uncle with a raised brow. She knew that those were different times, but she had heard so many stories over the years of things people in her parents' generation had gotten away with—or gotten detention for—when they were still kids. The things that she and her friends and family members had done in more recent years paled in comparison, but Rose knew that getting detention and getting fired were two very different outcomes.

charles septimus weasley

[charles septimus weasley]

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Charlie often times forgot that he was most definitely a product of a different time. Not that he believed parenting had grown softer, but more that those his age and slightly younger grew up in a time where there was less oversight with a lot of things regarding magic. He had spent a lot of time in his youth doing things that were vaguely illegal and definitely dangerous. Then he turned that into his career, before promptly guiding his own children into doing things that were absolutely safer. His own lived experiences had been more than enough to not want to see his kids go through the exact same life he had.

So hearing Rose bring up the dragon he happened to ‘acquire’ from his brother and friends during their first year was definitely one of those moments that made him feel old. ”Yes, well, couldn’t exactly leave a rapidly growing Norwegian Ridgeback with them or Hagrid, could I?” Charlie enjoyed his time spent with Rubeus, but the former groundskeeper greatly lacked common sense when it came to magical creatures. He meant well, but that was more often than not, not a good thing. Especially on a campus full of young witches and wizards.

”They were also eleven at the time, I believe. I know that isn’t that far off from some of your oldest students, but it does make a difference.” At the same time, he wasn’t sure if it really did anymore. If children were getting a magical education at younger ages, that would hypothetically make them more aware of the ins and outs of it all. Respecting magic and creatures alike would hopefully be a more natural process for them, in comparison to throwing everyone to the wolves as first years. The way the school was set up now would still benefit the magical families greatly, but it wasn’t like that hadn’t been the case before. ”Either way, even if we treat the visit sort of like the zoo, it should be fine. If not, I could always rustle up a couple of bowtruckles or a crup from a friend. Nothing too out there.”

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[rose harriet granger-weasley]

November 12, 2027

"Yes, well, couldn't exactly leave a rapidly growing Norwegian Ridgeback with them or Hagrid, could I?" Rose couldn't deny that Uncle Charlie had a point there. "They were also eleven at the time, I believe. I know that isn't that far off from some of your oldest students, but it does make a difference."

Rose had to laugh. It did make a difference, especially between Reception—the first year at MYSTIC—and the first year at MAGIC. "Yeah, four- and five-year-olds with dragons?" She shook her head. That was absolutely not happening. Even in the Triwizard Tournament when her Uncle Harry had participated, he technically shouldn't have been flying around a dragon at all of fourteen. Even allowing the kids who were seventeen at the time to do that sounded ill-advised to her in the present, as a twenty-two-year-old.

"Either way," Charlie went on, "even if we treat the visit sort of like the zoo, it should be fine. If not, I could always rustle up a couple of Bowtruckles or a Crup from a friend. Nothing too out there."

"Yeah," Rose grinned. "The 'look but don't touch' approach might be better for everyone's sanity. Crups or Kneazles could be good, though, especially if any of the pupils have got pets at home."

charles septimus weasley

[charles septimus weasley]

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”Merlin, I forgot they were that young…” Charlie said with surprise. He was still getting used to that new addition to Hogwarts. It seemed all so practical though. Had that been around when his kids were that age, they probably would have been more well-adjusted. Ondina especially. She was too late for any sort of saving at this point, and well into Renard’s hands now. Poor man. He looked like he was capable enough though, and Charlie trusted his son-in-law to do what was best. If that ended up in the inevitable down the road, then so be it.

”I wouldn’t want to be the one fielding those Howlers. Especially if one of the dragons decided they wanted some finger food.” It was hard enough keeping all of your digits around baby dragons as a professional. Children wouldn’t even stand a chance. The speed in which even hatchlings could move was outstanding too, and he’d never put anyone that couldn’t handle it in the same room as one. Thankfully, when he last took a class to the reserve in Hogsmeade for an egg hatching, it was on the other side of fireproof glass. Quite a few of his students would have loved to have gotten in the enclosure though, if they had been given the chance. Charlie completely agreed with them on how cool it was though.

He nodded his head as his niece explained that more pet-like magical creatures would be for the best. Crups and kneazles were domesticated enough that they could handle a classroom of small children for a short period of time. He was sure he would be able to find one or two that could get the job done no problem. ”I have an almost intact dragon egg shell, if you’d like me to bring that by some time? That way they can get the experience of seeing and touching one without the harm of an actual baby dragon.” And if they accidentally damaged it, so be it. Charlie could source a new one whenever he felt like it these days. That hadn’t been the case when he first got started out as a dragonologist. Thanks to all of his colleagues, they had managed to keep the dragon population from declining.

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[rose harriet granger-weasley]

November 12, 2027

Upon being reminded just how young the children she taught every day were, Charlie expressed his disbelief. It was still new to have pupils that age at Hogwarts; they were practically babies. When she was in school, the first-years had seemed small enough by the time she reached her OWLs, and they had been eleven or twelve. Having a whole primary school below them was a shock to a lot of people when it was announced; it was something different for Hogwarts, so not everyone welcomed the idea at all. As Rose had had to clarify more than a few times, they weren't handing four-year-olds wands.

Hogwarts had been through its fair share of leadership changes, and Rose knew that not all of the decisions that had been made over the centuries were particularly wise, at least in hindsight. Some were flat-out dangerous, and Uncle Charlie brought up that he didn't want to be on the receiving end of the Howlers that were almost certain to result from having dragons around kids so young. Rose didn't want to be the reason behind why he got those, either. Family gatherings were chaotic enough without that.

For something that would involve far less liability, Charlie suggested, "I have an almost intact dragon egg shell, if you'd like me to bring that by some time?" It sounded ideal to Rose. "That way," her uncle added, "they can get the experience of seeing and touching one without the harm of an actual baby dragon."

"Educational, fun, and safe," Rose emphasized. "Ticks all the boxes, then, doesn't it?"

charles septimus weasley