no scales, no claws and no wings -- charlie

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charlie marie weekly

sitting at one of the small coffee shops that were placed around diagon alley, ron waited for his brother charlie. he had owled his brother the day before asking if charlie was free for lunch. he hadn't seen his older brother in a little while and wanted to touch base with him, see how his nieces had enjoyed the school holidays. xavier had spent a lot of the summer at ron's house when he hadn't been chasing a girl over in france so he knew how xav's summer had gone. he picked up a sugar packet that was in the middle of the table, they were new, he'd been coming here for years and they had never had sugar on the table. he raised a brow lightly as he turned the packet in his fingers and waited for the familiar ginger haired man to walk through the crowd.

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C harlie had been up to nothing since the kids had gone back to school. He had tried to get back to work, but he wasn’t exactly needed at that point in time. That was the funny thing about being an older dragonologist. They never needed him when he had time to work, but the minute he had something to do with his family, there they were calling on him. Usually that was only in extreme situations, like when a dragon decided to go rampant close to muggles, or if an apprentice had gotten eaten and he had to fill in. It was all a part of the job that he loved so much. The summer had been quiet as usual, other than the fact that Ondina had been missing for a while, came back, Harper was now working, and Xavier was spending time with the rest of the family. All in all though, everything else had worked out fine, and his middle child was safe, despite being grounded at home for the rest of the break. The day before, Charlie had received an owl from his brother Ron though, asking him if he could meet up for lunch. He had eagerly written back saying that he could make it, and was now heading to the designated meeting spot. It had felt like forever since he had talked to Ron, the two of them both busy dealing with their kids all the time, as well as work getting in the way the rest of the time. Strolling up to the coffee shop Ron had mentioned in his owl, Charlie opened the door, a jingle from the door ringing out as he entered. He spotted his brother sitting at one of the tables nearby. Zig-zagging through the maze of chairs and tables between them, Charlie waved his hand, at his brother, calling out to him to get his attention. “Long time no see little brother,” he said, taking a seat across from Ron. 331 words @ron Get On Top by Red Hot Chili Peppers

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charlie marie weekly

“Long time no see little brother, ron chuckled as his older brother sat in the chair across from him. it had been a while since he'd seen charlie, even though xavier had spent a lot of his time at ron's this summer. ron had loved having xavier around, it was no secret that the two of them were close. they had been for years. charlie had been busy with ondina, through no fault of his own so ron had tried to take xavier under his wing a little and let him know that someone was there for him when his parents couldn't be. "not that long" he said with a slight roll of his eye.

he sipped the drink he had sitting before him and leaned back in the seat. "so how are the dragon's in romania?" he asked with a chuckle. the last time he had seen a dragon had been when he was at school. the horntail had freaked him out enough for him to want to spend the rest of his life avoiding them. "you'd better warn them another red headed weasley is about to descend on them" he said with a laugh. dominique had mentioned that she wanted to go and work with dragons the last time she had been over at ron and hermione's. he didn't know if charlie already knew but now he would at least.

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C harlie shrugged as Ron told them it hadn’t been that long. Time worked differently for Charlie. So many years had been spent taking care of dragons that returning back home and resigning to a life as a normal civilian had made everything seem like it went by fast. Look at his kids, he felt like just yesterday they were all going off to Hogwarts for the first time, now one was graduated and the other two were close behind. The solace of being a recluse in the middle of Romania handling dragons had long since passed him, and now he was just another parent of three school age children. Pondering this thought a little more, a waiter came over and Charlie ordered a coffee. He couldn’t let Ron drink alone, even if it was a non-alcoholic beverage. Anyways, he had a feeling they could be there for a while. Despite it not actually being a long time since they’d seen each other, they still had enough to catch up on. “The dragons are fine. I had to go back for a week after we sent the kids off to school to deal with a couple of the unruly teenager ones.” Some things didn’t change between work and home. For some time, Charlie had almost considered raising children harder than dealing with his dragons. At least with his kids he could communicate with them without getting his head bitten off or his entire body ignited on fire. That technically wasn’t true, because it was definitely possible for any of his three to do that to him. “The new recruits I had to hire last year seem to be doing a decent job without me there all the time though. So I don’t have to worry too much.” The waiter returned with his coffee as he finished talking. Charlie picked up one of the sugar packets and observed it closely. He wasn’t too fond of the packaged stuff, but it didn’t look they had sugar cubes anywhere. Submitting to the processed packaged sugar instead, he ripped a corner off of it and dropped half of it into his boiling hot coffee, stirring it a few times before letting it sit. He couldn’t help the smile that started to form on his face when Ron mentioned that another Weasley was about to join the dragonologist ranks. “I think they’re so used to dealing with me that Dominque won’t be an issue at all.” He had talked to his niece a few times about what the job consisted of, but a lengthy conversation hadn’t ensued yet. Charlie had always hoped one of his children would have followed in his footsteps, Harper being the number one candidate, but she turned our more like George and Fred, and with a love for all things muggle like his father. That was fine with him, since it seemed to suit her better than wrangling gigantic fire-breathing lizards. Insanity was needed for the job, but not a muggle loving insanity that she possessed. “Bill can’t be too thrilled with that decision can he? Blimey, Fleur almost got lit up by that Common Welsh Green back in the Triwizard tournament, they can’t harbor too many fond feelings for dragons can they?” Still, his sister-in-law had demonstrated a high level of skill knowing the dragon out cold, if anything, her daughter might have inherited the tenacity to take on a dragon head on too. 573 words @ron Summer Thunder by Roo Panes

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charlie marie weekly

“The dragons are fine. I had to go back for a week after we sent the kids off to school to deal with a couple of the unruly teenager ones. The new recruits I had to hire last year seem to be doing a decent job without me there all the time though. So I don’t have to worry too much.” ron chuckled and nodded slightly. he could picture that, dragons being just as hard to handle as teenagers. there were days when he didn't know which way was up at times. it was like being in a whirlpool if he was being honest. "teenage dragons, who'd have thought. so your happy with the kids you recruited?" he asked as he stirred the coffee that had been put in front of him.

“I think they’re so used to dealing with me that Dominque won’t be an issue at all. he laughed slightly and shook his head a little. their niece was a firecracker, like most of the weasley girls but her and dom seemed to pack a little extra punch than normal and he wondered if it was to do with their bloodline. "she's no you charlie. i think she's got more energy and spunk than all us older weasley's put together" he said, his smile hidden behind he cup as he drank it. “Bill can’t be too thrilled with that decision can he? Blimey, Fleur almost got lit up by that Common Welsh Green back in the Triwizard tournament, they can’t harbor too many fond feelings for dragons can they?” he sighed slightly at the mention of bill and set his cup down on the saucer and he shrugged slightly. he didn't know what bill was thinking about dom wanting to work with dragons. "i can't imagine he's too fond of it. we're not exactly speaking at the moment" he said as he went back to stirring the cup before him. since he had told bill he was standing down at the head of vic's guard, there hadn't been anything spoken between the two of them.

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I t was always a good laugh when others realized that teenage dragons were a thing. Hard to believe, Charlie knew that from experience. That was also the critical point in their growth period where they were the most ambitious, willing to be unruly and act out towards the handlers. Adults were dangerous yes, but the only other type of dragon that came anywhere close to being as nasty as a teenage one was a mother dragon. Dragonologists didn’t exactly deal with the latter too often anymore, since it was a little too dangerous, even for them. “Yeah, the youngsters aren’t that bad.” Charlie started, trying to remember if anything specifically interesting had happened to any of them yet. As far as he was aware, not really. They were a pretty decent bunch. “They’re still in their studying period, kind of like what I did for all those years. Hopefully we’ll train them to be effective dragon tamers by the time they’re ready. The loss of limb rate has been drastically decreasing over the last few years!” That wasn’t a joke at all. A good chunk of the other dragonologists that had entered around the same time as Charlie were all missing a finger or two, some even missing an arm. It was a common problem that was finally being addressed with tighter safety measures. He hoped that one day they wouldn’t even have to worry about losing any body parts out in the field. “She has more energy than us because we’re old now. Don’t deny that. I wish I could still move around like I used too, especially around the dragons. Only a few more years until I’m done.” Ron had a point though. Dominque was one of the more…energized of the bunch, the only one he could think of that topped that was Lily. She was downright crazy though, so there was a clear difference between their two nieces. “I think the other dragonologists need that new spirit though. We’ve hit a headwall with research over the last few years, and there’s no telling when something new will pop up. Young ones like Dominique would do them good.” As the topic shifted to Bill, it was rather noticeable that Ron’s demeanor had changed, even before he had said anything. “I could see you and Percy not getting along…but Bill? Why? If you mind me asking.” 397 words @ron Alice by Ice Nine Kills

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charlie marie weekly

“She has more energy than us because we’re old now. Don’t deny that. I wish I could still move around like I used too, especially around the dragons. Only a few more years until I’m done.” he chuckled and nodded slightly. all of their nieces seemed to have endless energy and had run circles around their nephews from a young age. well all of them apart from ondina but he wasn't going to mention that. "she has more energy than any of us did when we were young, can't deny that either" he said as he sipped his drink again. it was hard to imagine they were all older now, he still had to catch himself at times, remember that he was an adult almost half way through his life and he had children who were the age he often felt. “I think the other dragonologists need that new spirit though. We’ve hit a headwall with research over the last few years, and there’s no telling when something new will pop up. Young ones like Dominique would do them good.” he nodded a little. it was often like that with the aurors too, young and fresh blood often brought an optimistic outlook onto situations and amped up the energy that the office could sometimes lack, especially around slow times. though slow times were few and far in between at the moment. “I could see you and Percy not getting along…but Bill? Why? If you mind me asking.” he shook his head a little and sighed slightly. "percy is a different story altogether" he said as he turned the cup around in his hands. "i stepped down from vic's guard. hugo had a vision of me dying while protecting her and i .. i can't leave my children without a father, not now"

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C harlie laughed along with Ron as they more than likely were reflecting on how insanely energetic all of their kids had been when they were younger. They still were, for the most part. Ron also had a point about the kids being a little crazier than they were when they were young. Charlie knew he had definitely been a drain on their parents when he was little, always running around trying to find new animals and creatures to look at and poke. Too many times his adventures were stopped by those infernal garden gnomes they had around the Burrow. Damned little things. If there was anything he could live without, it was those things. While his brothers had spent time chasing them down and showing them who was boss, Charlie stayed as far away from them as possible. That had served as some kind of barrier to his energetic childhood. Of course all that energy was spent on Quidditch and looking at animals at school, and eventually turned into taking care of dragons. Regardless, the next generation of Weasleys and Potters were above and beyond any of their siblings had been. “Mum has a field day when all of them are back home. I think she’s the only one that could possibly handle the entire family at once…” He smirked when Ron said Percy was a different than the rest of them. That had always been rather apparent. Charlie liked to think he had gotten along with Percy more than the rest of his siblings had, but it was hard to tell. Percy was a pencil-pusher after all, and he hadn’t changed since school, although he seemed a little less strict about it now. His wife probably told him to ease up around the kids or something like that. That always worked on Charlie. But Ron not getting along with Bill was concerning. To say he was shocked at the reason behind their disagreement was an understatement. Ron had stepped down as Vic’s guard? Because Hugo had a vision? No wonder Bill had an issue with it. Charlie sighed, rubbing his eyes as he thought of what to say. “If it was anybody else, I’d say they went a little overboard, but it is Bill we’re talking about. If Kingsley hadn’t gone down that easily, then it would be a different story. Victoire is still a child as far as I’m concerned, and Bill put her protection and all of his trust in you.” Charlie paused to take another sip of his coffee. “At the same time though, he needs to realize that your kids are just as important as his are to him. There are plenty of other aurors that are more than capable of stepping up and guarding her. If someone really wanted to hurt her, then it wouldn’t matter if it was you at her side, or somebody else. I’m sure Bill knows that, but having you there with her was probably extra reassurance that she was going to be safe no matter what happened.” 508 words @ron I Surrender by A Day To Remember

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