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“Charlie! A little help over here. Please!” Hermione shrieked, as she walked backwards, trying to keep an eye on the angry dragon that made its way towards her.
Charlie turned to look from where he was rubbing Imogen’s belly. Imogen was a beautiful Antipodean Opaleye. He chuckled and turned to give Imogen another rub. Imogen appeared to take in Hermione's situation and snorted. “Be nice, Imogen. She’s trying her best,” he murmured to his companion.
He got up and placed himself between Hermione and the Norwegian Ridgeback she was being followed by. “What’s going on here?”
“I was-,” Hermione started to answer, but she was cut off by Charlie.
“Actually, Hermione, I was asking Agnar,” Charlie stated, as he approached the dragon. The dragon huffed and appeared to glare at Hermione, but began to move back to where he had been resting before. Charlie was making sounds that Hermione couldn’t decipher. Whatever he was saying helped the great beast relax. Once Agnar was settled, Charlie returned to Hermione’s side.
“Hermione, you’ve only been on the reserve for three days, but I feel like I keep having to rescue you from dangerous situations,” Charlie teased. He heard what sounded like a chuckle come from Imogen’s direction, but when he glanced her way she was looking away.
Hermione groaned, “Oh Charlie, I don’t know what to do. I feel like I’m really out of my element here. Maybe I should just go home.”
"Come on. Let's go have a chat."
After a quick goodbye to an amused Imogen, Charlie led Hermione out of the medical building and into the cantina. He pushed her into a chair and went to buy them each a pumpkin juice. When he got back to where he'd left her, she had her forehead resting on the table.
"Hermione, what's going on?"
"I don't think I can do it," she mumbled for the table.
“You can’t give up now. You’ve made it to your final rotation and are so close to being a magizoologist. Why is this rotation giving you so much trouble?”
Looking up, Hermione let out a sigh. “This isn’t like the other rotations.”
“Why not?”
“I went to America to study about Wampus Cats and Horned Serpents. Then I travelled to Greece to learn about the Chimaera and Manticore. I visited The Isle of Drear to learn more about Quintaped and Papua New Guinea to hear more about the Lethifold,” Hermione rambled on. “Finally I went to Africa to learn about the Nundu. Having had personal experiences with Acromantualas and Basilisks, I was able to complete research projects on my own.”
Charlie nodded, “Right, so you’ve been everywhere and learned about all the other creatures that the Ministry of Magic has labeled as highest level of dangerous. I still don’t understand why this is different.”
“That’s just it, Charlie. I learned about them, but I didn’t interact with them. Dragons are the only creatures on that list that we actually work with on a regular basis. For the other creatures, I went to those places, heard stories and learned the facts, but here I’m actually faced with these beautiful creatures,” she whispered.
Charlie watched as the young woman seemed to cave under her feelings.
“I can tell you what dragon I’m looking at and all the information you would want to hear, but I don’t know how to work with them,” she shrugged. “I’m just a bookworm and a know-it-all.”
“You just have to get more experience,” replied Charlie.
“I watch you work with the dragons and see how the respond to you. How’d you do it? How’d you gain their trust?” she asked.
Charlie chuckled. “I can tell you right now, Hermione, that there is no perfect guide to gain a dragon’s trust. You can read all the books and learn all the facts, but in the end each dragon is unique. What works for one, isn’t going to work for another. You have to forget about going by book and just get to know the dragons.”
Hermione nodded. “Ok. I think I can do that. Will you help me?”
Charlie smiled, “Of course!”
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Hermione and Charlie spent the next few weeks working closely together. Charlie was quick to share the unique characteristics of his beloved dragons.
Charlie taught her that Gregory, the Common Green Welsh, had to be bribed with fresh sheep meat before she could get anywhere close enough to treat his scale rot.
Augusta, or Gus, the Swedish Short-Snout, liked to shoot flames three times to appear dangerous, but afterwards was as dangerous as a flobberworm.
She also discovered that Agnar needed to be sung to when being approached. Charlie even taught her Agnar’s favorite song.
Hermione found out that the way to Imogen’s heart and getting close enough to rub her belly was by bringing her flowers. Amaryllis to be exact.
She learned that knowing the facts about something is much different than actually experiencing it. There is no perfect formula for applying information to an actual situation. You take what you know and merge it with the reality.
Charlie was surprised that he learned something during this time, as well. He learned the way to a know-it-all’s heart is by teaching her something she doesn’t already know.