23

Chapter 23: The Missing Egg

The last day spent on the Romanian Dragon Reserve was bittersweet for everyone involved. The mere ten days that were spent at the reserve had been an amazing experience and Harry knew that he would miss not only the other handlers, especially Mary and Darius who he had grown close to, but also Strom the Norwegian Ridgeback mother. Harry had spent a large amount of time with her and had the odd feeling that she, like most of the women in his life had somehow come to see him as one of her own.

"Remember to write to us every now and then, okay?" Mary murmured in his ear as Harry found himself once again held captive against her chest.

"I promise," Harry said with a smile as he pulled away to look her in the eye. "Take care of Charlie for me?"

"Of course we will, little one," Darius said from where he stood beside Mary saying their goodbyes.

Charlie himself was currently locked in his mothers embrace as they said goodbye, Charlie would be staying at the reserve while the rest of them would floo directly to the platform to catch the train back to Hogwarts. The time difference between Romania and England was truly a blessing at this point and allowed them plenty of time for farewells.

"Good," Harry said with a smile as Darius pulled him in for a quick hug of his own, "I know that he's sad about not seeing us off at the platform."

"Well that's to be expected," Mary said with a laugh audible in her voice, "It's insane to perform two long distance floo's in a short amount of time. Even one takes a toll on you, that's why it's not common, most people would rather avoid the side effects."

Well that was true, Harry remembered all too clearly the effects of the travel and their effects on the others, especially Ginny who had been sick from the after effects.

"Now," Darius said as he began to lead them towards the gathered Weasleys, "You make sure to continue practicing your defense little one. You never know when it will come in handy."

"I also expect for you to continue practicing your charm," Mary continued with a teasing smile on her face. "More often then not you will be forced to charm your way through something and it even has practical uses in battle. They expect violence, they don't expect you to sweet talk them."

"Alright that's enough you two," Charlie cut in with a laugh as he finally broke away from his mothers fussing.

"Alright, alright," Darius said with a laugh as he stretched his arm out to ruffle Harry's already messy locks affectionately. "Be sure to write then little dragon."

"Have fun at school!" Mary called out before both handlers made their way back the way they had come leaving Harry and Charlie to say goodbye alone.

"Are you ready to go back to school?" Charlie asked as he settled a hand on Harry's waist and pulled him into his side.

"Yes, all packed up and ready to go," Harry said with a grin as they began to close the short distance to the floo cabin.

"Good but I still think you're forgetting something."

"Really?" Harry asked as confusion swept over him. He had packed his trunk the night before and Charlie had summoned any of Harry's missing items for him. What could he have forgotten? "What did I forget?"

"A kiss goodbye," Charlie said with a teasing grin that made affection surge through Harry.

"Well I can't forget that can I?" Harry said with a small smile as he lifted his head up to look at Charlie better.

He was going to miss this, miss Charlie, immensely when he was back at school.

"Harry, Ron, down here!" Neville called from the window of a compartment towards the back of the Hogwarts Express as the Weasley family began to make their way down the platform and away from the communal floo leaving the area free for the next family to come through safely.

"Looks like we've found our compartment," Ron said with a grin as they both waved to Neville showing their understanding and watched as he disappeared back inside the compartment window.

"Hey Harry!" A familiar voice called from down the platform before the sound of pounding feet drew nearer. Turning Harry was met by the sight of Cedric running towards him with a grin.

"Hey Cedric, how are you feeling?" Harry asked in concern as he looked over the Hufflepuff third year. The last time Harry had seen him was the day before Christmas when he had given Cedric the antidote for the compulsion spell he had been put under. It certainly explained why he had been so creepy before and speaking of creepy... "Why are you still wearing the bell?" Harry asked incredulously as Cedric looked down at the large bell that was now attached to a thick black necklace that clung to his neck and made it appear as though he were wearing a necklace.

"Oh this?" Cedric asked with a chuckle before waving his hand absentmindedly before himself as though to bat away the question. "My father and I figured that it would be best to pretend that the spell was never broken, that way, whoever did it wont try to put me under another one. That and I kind of like it, it's different!" He finished with a large grin that suited him so much better than the ones he had given before then.

"Yes, that is a good plan," Harry mused, resisting the urge to laugh as Fred and George positioned themselves on either side of Cedric and began to bat the bell between them to make it ring with such utterly serious expressions on their faces that it just added to the hilarity of the situation. "Well, we best go and say our goodbyes, I'll see you later then Cedric!"

Several minutes later found Harry and Ron ensconced inside of a compartment with Hermione and Neville happily trading stories about their holidays as the scarlet engine steadily made its way to Hogwarts.

Neville had spent the holidays with his Gran visiting his great uncle and aunt, Algie and Enid, at their estate in Wales. Both of his relatives were absolutely ecstatic with the changes that Neville had gone through and Neville had finally had the courage he needed to confront them on how they had treated him. Whatever they had said to him after that must have been the final piece in allowing Neville to shrug off the meek personality that he had hidden behind in the past.

Hermione on the other hand, had spent the holiday with her parents at home. She was ecstatic that her parents had gotten to see a part of her new world and they were now closer than ever before.

Both Hermione and Neville were fascinated by their tales of Romania and the magnificent dragons that they had seen but they too felt grief at Stroms plight, though Hermione's appeared to be tampered by her innate curiosity at the prospect of studying his Parseltongue abilities.

Soon enough the conversation changed to the topic of the upcoming Quidditch match that was scheduled for the end of February. Hufflepuff would be playing against Gryffindor and while he should have been nervous at the prospect of playing against the twins Harry was actually excited.

"Okay Harry, I have to ask," Neville said from across the compartment as he caught the chocolate frog that Ron had just tossed to him, "Why is it that you're not worried about going against the Twins? I figured that you would be more nervous than this?"

"Oh I was," Harry said with a smile as he snagged his a cauldron cake and nibbled on the edge, "The Twins and I made a deal though. We're going to do our best in whatever matches we play against each other and whoever's team wins gets a free 'no questions asked' favor."

"What do you mean 'no questions asked'?" Hermione asked, obvious confusion showing on her features as she absentmindedly began to chew on her bottom lip, something Harry had noticed she did whenever she was confused or in deep concentration.

"Well," Harry began as he tried to think of exactly how to explain, "It's like when you've done something embarrassing or need help with something that you can't tell anyone about or don't want someone to know you can ask them to do something 'no questions asked', and the other will do it and that's the end, no explanations, no chiding and no telling someone to get the other into trouble. It's a nice thing to have just in case, you know?"

"That sounds like it would be very helpful," Hermione said with a smile as she reached out and snatched a licorice wand from their rapidly diminishing pile.

"Oh it is," Ron agreed as he began opening another chocolate frog, "Fred and George have used them with me a few times. They've had me take the fall for a few of their pranks and I've had them prank Percy or Ginny a few times."

The Quidditch match was furious. It seemed as though both teams were attempting to end it and end it quickly. Lee Jordan had barely had time to take a breath between the announcements as the crowd was whipped into a frenzy at the high speed match happening below him.

Yet again Harry forced his attention away from what was happening below him and instead focused his attention onto searching for the golden snitch.

The Gryffindor seeker had obviously learned from the last few matches Gryffindor had played seeing as he kept out of the way of the others on the field and kept the Hufflepuff beaters in view at all times. Of course his strategy left some rather obvious holes, he was not only too high up to have much hope of diving for the snitch without Harry noticing but by also keeping a vast majority of his attention focused onto the oppositions beaters he had severely reduced his chances of spotting the snitch without an insane amount of luck.

Oh well, Harry wasn't going to let an opportunity like this go to waist.

With renewed enthusiasm Harry began to search the field for that telltale glint of gold. Not by the teachers stands, opposite posts, no, student stands, no, there were Ron, Hermione and Neville, focus Harry. Game posts close by, no, the other side of the stands, nothing. Time to check the air then, by Oliver Wood, nothing... There! Right next to Katie Bell left elbow.

A quick glance at the Gryffindor seeker later and Harry moved, leaning forward on his broomstick so that he was rocketing forward at full speed, through the other two chasers and causing Angelina to fumble the quaffle in shock and straight at Katie Bell who now looked far too afraid for Harry's liking.

As Harry drew closer the snitch, as though sensing his approach, flitted away from it's position and instead went to the left towards the stands.

Harry put on an extra burst of speed and stretched his arm out towards the little golden ball and... There! The snitch was his!

Hufflepuff had won the game by a margin of 75 points and remained undefeated!

March came and with it came Ron's birthday. Since it was a Sunday and they did not have classes the group, which had been joined by the other Weasley children, spent the day by the black lake.

The weather had grown warmer as the snow melted so that all that was required for a comfortable day outside was a simple light jumper. Though oddly enough through some unspoken yet unanimous decision they had all decided to wear their 'Weasley sweaters.'

As they were finishing the lunch that Fred and George had gotten from the kitchens Ron finished opening his gifts, from Hermione a book called 'Chess Tactics for the Advanced Player', a large assortment of Honeydukes' various confections as well as a box of pranking supplies from the Twins, several of which were their own inventions.

"So Ron, how would you-," Fred began when the last of the pudding was finished.

"Like to spend the last-," George continued as he leaned back against the small boulder he and Fred had been sitting against.

"Of your birthday?" They asked in unison with identical grins on their faces.

"How about some pick up Quidditch?" Ron asked hopefully as he looked at all of them, "Hermione, Neville and Percy can just watch though, since you three aren't very good at flying."

"That sounds great Ron!" Harry said with a grin as they climbed to their feet, "We'll have to ask Madam Hooch to watch though since you're not on a Quidditch team but she should be able to give you some tips, I heard that she was a keeper Kestrels."

"Yeah she was," Fred said as they began their trek across the grounds and to the Quidditch pitch.

"She had to stop after a bad accident," George continued with a frown as he tried to remember just what accident it was.

"It was a match against the Falmouth Falcons," Fred said as his eyes lit up in triumph at remembering the information.

"One of the first games she played-."

"Only ten minutes into the game-."

"And BAM! Both bludgers-."

"Hit her in the chest and shoulder."

"She got knocked off her broom-"

"Fell straight to the ground."

"Her shoulder, collarbone and pelvis were shattered." Fred finished with a frown marring his features.

"She quite the league after that and started teaching here." George continued.

"Wow," Harry breathed out in the silence that had stretched out at the end of the Twins' tale. "I didn't know all of that just that she used to play. I figured she had just retired and decided to teach."

For a few minutes they walked on in silence, each lost in their own thoughts until their concentration was brought back by the sight of Professor Quirrel walking towards them from the direction of Hagrid's hut.

"Hello Professor Quirrel," Hermione said happily as they drew to a stop in front of the man.

"G-g-good-d d-day ch-children," Professor Quirrel managed to stutter out with a thin smile as he looked at them oddly, "M-must be g-going, enjoy th-the r-rest of your d-D-day."

With that he walked away from the group and back towards the castle leaving a feeling of unease niggling at the back of Harry's mind that only seemed to grow in persistence with Hermione's next words...

"Whatever happened to him must have been dreadful, I've never heard of someone with a stutter like that."

The rest of March as well as the beginning of April seemed to go by in the blink of an eye between Hermione's insistence that they begin to study for exams and the increased workload they were now being assigned in their classes.

Throughout the month they had been kept so busy that any visits they made to Hagrid were now few and far between, something that they felt immensely guilty about and vowed to themselves that they would visit him the next possible chance they had.

They received this chance on Sunday, April 19.

The weather was nice, the sky clear of all clouds and the sun shining down on them as they made their way across the grounds towards the welcoming cabin which lay close to the border of the forbidden forest.

As they drew closer the sight of the curtains, which were usually thrown wide open even on the most dreadful of days, had been pulled tightly closed so that not a single sliver of the room inside could be seen. Worry for their friend immediately began to assault them as they sped up their pace to sprint across the remaining distance.

Once they had reached the cabins door Neville, who was closest to the door, reached out and knocked the times before he stepped back and waited for their friend to answer the door.

"Who is it?" Hagrid's thick voice called through the door sounding slightly... Worried?

"It's just us Hagrid," Ron called back without hesitation.

"Come in then, come in," Hagrid murmured urgently as he ushered them each inside the surprisingly hot cabin.

Harry cast a quick look around the hut and absently noticed that Hagrid had, for some reason, decided to lite a roaring fire in the grate.

Just what was going on and what was with that fire?

"So, yeh wanted ter ask me somethin'?" Hagrid asked gruffly as he poured them each a cup of tea before putting a large plate of rock cakes on the table before taking a seat of his own with a sigh.

"We were just coming to see you when we noticed that your curtains were shut," Hermione said immediately as she wrapped her hands around the large tea cup before her. "We got worried."

"Oh well," Hagrid began nervously and Harry just barely caught the shift of his eyes as he quickly glanced at the fire.

Why would he...?

Harry's eyes swiftly moved over to the fire before, in the blink of an eye, Harry became aware of the fact that he had not only jumped up with such speed that he knocked over his chair but that he was also holding tightly to Hagrid's neck in an excited hug.

"Hagrid you brilliant, brilliant man!" Harry said with a grin as he pulled away from the half giant. "Where was it? How did you get a hold of it? Is it okay?"

"Well," Hagrid began as he ran a hand through his hair and began to rub the back of his neck, "I won it las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it ter be honest."

"Of course he was," Harry said with a nod as he crouched down and looked at the egg that was nestled carefully between the flaming logs, its shell the same glittering black as the ridged along Strom's spine. "The whole Romanian Dragon Reserve is looking for him and if he's found he has an angry mother dragon to deal with. They'll be relieved to know that the egg is safe."

"It has to go back?" Hagrid asked sadly, "I mean, I could always-."

"I'm sorry Hagrid," Harry cut in as he stood from his crouched position and moved so that he could put a hand onto Hagrid's large shoulder in comfort. "That just isn't an option. You don't have any of the necessary supplies to properly take care of a dragon hatchling let alone the room. Besides that it's not fair to the mother is it? She's devastated and keeping her separated from her child any longer than necessary would be cruel. But," Harry continued with a soft smile on his face as he looked into Hagrid's kind eyes. "I'm positive, that the reserve would be more than happy to let you visit. You being the one who recovered it and all."

"You really think tha' Harry?"

"Absolutely," Harry replied with absolute certainty ringing in his voice.

That night before he climbed into bed Harry tied a small roll of parchment to Hedwig's name with instructions to take it straight to Balaur.

'Balaur,

The egg is at Hogwarts, it's safe, our biggest friend saved it last night.

Hope to see you soon!

Harry'

It had been a very long day. After their classes had ended Harry and the others had immediately made their way to the library where they had set up a system in which two of them would do the research for their essays while the other two would look through the books on dragon care for anything that could be deemed necessary to keep the dragon egg as healthy as possible until they could put it safely into the dragon handlers' capable hands.

Just as Harry was preparing to climb into bed a soft hoot sounded from behind him and Harry couldn't resist the grin that spread across his face at the sight of Hedwig standing tiredly on her perch.

"Hedwig!" Harry said softly as he soothed his fingers to over her feathers, "It's good to see you again girl, I take it the flight went well?"

With a low hoot and a bob of her head Hedwig held out her leg towards him, a note attached to it with his name written in Charlie's familiar writing.

"Thank you Hedwig, you've done brilliantly. Now, get some rest, you deserve it," Harry said with a fond smile and another stroke of her silvery plumage before he quickly untied the slip of parchment from her leg before sliding under the covers of his bed and reading the note in the dim glow of the torches on the wall.

'Harry,

Everyone here are relieved to hear that the egg is safe. A group of us will be coming as soon as possible by broom. Usually we would use a portkey but the paperwork to get one would take too long and time is of the essence since the egg could hatch any day.

We will be there tomorrow night at midnight. Tell the Twins that I'm calling in a 'no questions asked' on them. Their mission: To get you, Ron, Hermione and Neville to Hagrid's and back without getting caught.

No Harry, I haven't gone crazy in asking this. I know that you wouldn't just sit back and hope everything goes right and neither would the others, at least this way I know that you won't get caught.

See you tomorrow!

Love,

Charlie'

With a smile Harry refolded the parchment and carefully slid it inside his suitcase before his fingertips stroked against his bracelet as he drifted off to sleep, the memory of the way Charlie had kissed him on the first night of the holidays swimming through his mind and lulling him deeper and deeper into a dream.

Harry was dreaming, there was no other explanation for why he suddenly found himself back laying in the bed they shared at the Burrow. This wouldn't be the first dream Harry had had that included Charlie though usually they were doing something, be it with other people or just the two of them, never just laying in bed like they were at the moment.

"Harry," Charlie murmured, his voice deep and rich with some hidden meaning that was utterly lost on Harry though he felt an odd tingle course down his spine as Charlie lifted his hand and lightly cupped Harry's cheek. A gasp of shock escaped him at the jolt of electricity that unfurled throughout his being from just that one small touch.

"Ch-Charlie?" Why was he stuttering? They'd done this before, lay in bed and talk, Charlie had cupped his cheek and yet... This was so very different from all of those times before and Harry was puzzled at the brief wave of disappointment that washed over him for a brief moment before Charlie drew him back to the present.

"I love you," He was leaning closer now, his body twisting so that it hovered over Harry's own and guided it so that he was now laying flat on his back without Charlie having to touch him a single time. Charlie was hovering over him now, one of his knees resting between Harry's legs as his other rested just beside his right hip.

For some reason their new position caused Harry's heart to pound and his breath to come out in one long shaky exhale.

"I love you too Charlie," Harry murmured and it was as if those words were a signal as Charlie's crashed down on his own and that same feeling of pleasure and right washed over him as Charlie took over his senses.

The moment seemed suspended in time, the perfect combination of blissful oblivion and belonging swirling inside of him that Harry felt he could stay like this forever.

That is, until Charlie moved.

One of his hands slid down Harry's side so that it rested against his hip and caused Harry to draw in a shaking breath as his head tilted back against the pillows. Charlie's lips were on his neck now, placing open mouthed kisses down the column of his neck and Harry felt torn between the need to moan or whimper for more. More what? If there was more Harry would surely fall to pieces. There couldn't possibly be more.

Charlie shifted his weight above him, pulling back so that he hovered over Harry looking down at him with a look in his eye Harry had only gotten a vague glimpse of when he had spoken parseltongue. The night Charlie's necklace turned purple...

"Beautiful," Charlie murmured huskily before he shifted again, his knee shifting forward and resting firmly between his legs and causing what felt like a bolt of lightning to course through Harry's body.

With a gasp Harry's eyes snapped open and as the wave of shock slowly began to ebb away Harry slowly became more aware of his surroundings.

The room was dimly lit in the soft glow of the torches on the wall, the others in the room were still sound asleep if the snores were any indicator and since Hedwig wasn't hooting she was obviously still asleep. Nothing unusual there. What was unusual however was Harry himself. His breathing was coming in heavy pants and his mind seemed muddled, his limbs felt oddly heavy a sudden wave of exhaustion came over him as his heartbeat began to slow down into a more natural rhythm.

As his senses slowly came back to him Harry became aware of one other oddity that he had never experienced before...

Authors Note: If you don't get the last reference you likely shouldn't be reading this story...

For those of you who think Harry is too young for that last scene know that I do plenty of research for this story. For those of you interested my information lies below...

In terms of puberty most boys are generally between the ages of 12 and 16 years old when they first start to develop however the average boy could begin as early as nine years old.

This however, does not take into account several other key factors for development, especially Harrys. Harry was sexually abused and that causes some children to mature faster not to mention the magic. I would estimate that magic causes the children to mature around 2 to 3 years faster or so mentally.

Now for those of you who still wish to argue that he is too young, despite the fact that this is a fanfiction, there is a medical condition known as Precocious Puberty or puberty which occurs at an unusually early age. Several of the side effects for this condition are also some of Harry's attributes.

To those of you who are still skeptical, the youngest mother on record, a woman by the name of Lina Medina, was only five years, 7 months and 21 days old when she gave birth. If you have any further questions, or if you're just curious, just ask.

No they will not be going further than kissing right now but they will eventually. I could have them doing a lot more at this point so... Yeah.

Please remember, this is fiction. So don't get your panties in a knot okay?