Chapter 20: Invisible Boundary

Dear Y/N,

I'm glad you finally decided to write.

Things at Hogwarts are more or less the same, save for your absence. Since we're at the end of March, we've got exams coming pretty soon, and then graduation afterward. I have been hanging out with Oliver more now that you have gone, although he and I have always been friends. I haven't heard much about you. When I ask McGonagall how you are, she always just tells me that you're busy and that if you had the time and you wanted me to know how you were, you'd write.

Ginny has been missing you. Over break in February, she moped around like a lost puppy even though you were my best friend.

As I am sure you remember, Harry was having a great deal of trouble with Sirius Black. Last month, he found a way into the castle and gave everyone a fright. I believe that he came just a few days after you left. I had to evacuate the common room, which, as you might imagine, is difficult when people are panicking like one might when there is a killer loose in a boarding school.

Since then, things have appeared to die down a bit. I haven't heard much about Sirius Black, although I know that Harry and Ron have been quite preoccupied over the whole ordeal.

Meanwhile, I am trying to prepare for my exams early so that I don't feel pressured later on. I will be pretending that you are still here when the time comes, and as per your advice, I will not study for the three days before exams, no matter how appealing cramming does seem.

I am very happy that you have been enjoying your time in Romania. I hope your lessons continue to go well and that you have fun with your apprenticeship. Please write.

Your friend,
Percy

I read over Percy's letter a couple of times before pulling out a piece of parchment and a pen (quills are a nuisance). I chewed on my bottom lip in contemplation before I scrawled a greeting.

I sighed and pressed my forehead against the table. All of the things I wanted to tell Percy were secrets. He didn't know about my relationship with Charlie, which was a major part of just about every aspect of my life.

A knock on my door, i.e. a godsend, stirred me from my seat. I opened the door to find Charlie.

"Hey," I greeted and stepped outside to meet him, "what's up?"

"Well, you know how you wanted to see Fluffy?" he asked.

"The dragon that charbroiled you? Yeah, I do recall agreeing to wait until she decided that humans were friends, not food," I retorted sarcastically.

"She isn't in the habit of hurting people anymore. I was bothering her," he said. "I went into her pen. You'd stay out of the pen, sweetheart."

"What exactly are you proposing, Charles?" I asked and raised an eyebrow at him.

"I would like to spend my day off with you. You wanted to see some dragons. Let's do it," he said.

"I was about to write to Percy," I said hesitantly.

"He can wait," Charlie said and grabbed my hand to intertwine our fingers. "I'd like to take you on a date."

"Alright," I agreed. "What do I need?"

"Just your cute little butt," he responded. "Come on."

The day was warm, and the sun shone through thin, wispy cirrus clouds. We were on the cusp of April and Romania could feel it. The air smelled of new blossoms, rain, and sunshine. There was still a little chill in the air that presented itself in the gentle spring breeze, but the sun warmed my skin enough that I didn't need a coat. Grasses were growing in thick, emerald green in color. Patches of cotton-white flowers sprouted from the ground.

"It's so pretty today," I commented as Charlie led me towards the dragons. I hadn't ever gone over to that part of the sanctuary as I only ever needed to be near the hospital or the mess hall.

"You're so pretty today," he responded and intentionally bumped his shoulder against mine.

"You're a flirt," I scoffed.

"Only for you."

The walk wasn't necessarily long, but Charlie dawdled on, walking loosely with his hand brushing against mine.

"We'll have to check in before we can go down to the dragons," he said as we approached a skinny building. There weren't many people around. Inside, there were three desks, two of which were occupied by people working on paperwork. Charlie approached one of the desks. "Hey, Montag. How's it going?"

"Weasley," the man behind the counter spoke without looking up from his paperwork. "You're off today."

"I know but it's your lucky day. You get to deal with me anyway," Charlie responded and sent me a wink. "We're just checking out the dragons."

Montag looked up at me. "You're not Alcott," was all he said.

"This is Y/N," Charlie said before I could respond. "She's the new apprentice from Hogwarts. I'm going to show her some of the dragons."

"Alright, you know what to do. Don't know why you insist on bothering me," Montag said and leaned back in his chair as he flipped through his papers. Charlie grabbed a quill and filled out a short form, writing our names and the time.

"Thanks, Montag," Charlie called over his shoulder as he pulled me back from where we came in. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," I responded as he led me over a dirt path.

As we walked, I started to smell the dragons. Smoke, grass, and something musty.

"The first occupied pen'll be on your right," he informed me. "It's a baby dragon, only four months old. He's an antipodean opaleye."

"Opaleye," I repeated and craned my neck to look into the pen where a baby dragon was playing, beating his wings and scampering around. It would have been cute if it wasn't chasing a sheep around, shooting columns of fire after it. Not to mention that the 'baby' dragon was at least seven feet tall. The dragon caught the sheep and began to eat it. I cringed and hid my face in Charlie's shirt. "Gross, Charlie."

"Sorry, I didn't know he'd be feeding," Charlie chuckled and led me past the pen, his arm temporarily wrapping around my shoulder.

Charlie showed me several other dragons, all of which he knew a surprising amount about. He even let me feed a docile, herbivorous dragon.

And then, at the very end of our venture, there was Fluffy. She was huge, probably over twenty feet long, and her wingspan was even longer. She continually displayed her leathery, bat-like wings, rearing up on her haunches.

"That's her defensive stance," Charlie explained to me shortly. "She's feeling threatened."

"By what?" I asked quietly, never tearing my eyes off of the gargantuan creature.

"Everything. The environment is off here, there are people everywhere. She hasn't adjusted at all. She's not meant to be here, in Romania. She should be back in Scotland with her family," he said quietly as he gazed at her with soft eyes. "Alcott and I are drafting an appeal to get her transported back to where she should be with the research we did a bit ago. We think that the environment here is causing a mutation and that's why her scales are overgrown."

"Is that why she's so aggressive?"

"Hebridean Blacks are aggressive in nature," he explained, "but that is definitely a contributing factor. You can't blame her though. She doesn't belong here."

***

Late at night, I wandered back to the dragon pens. The dirt path was still lit up with old-fashioned street lamps. I ventured all the way back to the Hebridean Black pen and struggled to see the coal-colored dragon in the dark. But her purple eyes glinted in the soft orange glow of the lamp.

She watched me apprehensively as she assumed her defensive stance. I crouched down outside of her pen and watched her. She flapped her wings, which seemed to hit an invisible barrier. She must have been kept in by some sort of magical boundary.

Slowly, she set her weight back down on her front legs and eased herself down, blowing a puff of smoke through her nostrils.

We don't belong here.

We were both being held here, in a place we shouldn't have been. My boundary was Charlie.

I chose to come to Romania, but in reality, I didn't belong here. I didn't know the language, I left everything behind, I was lying to so many people. Even Charlie, who was the reason I was here, had no idea that I should not have been here.

"You'll be home soon," I said quietly and set my hand on the cage that surrounded her.

Granola bars slap so hard and for what?