Chapter 1 - A New Life Shouldn't Bring Such Old Memories

He ducked--almost too late--as he heard the belch behind him and felt his hair move from the proximity of the fire as it passed him. Wearily but determined, he raised his wand to help the team move the Fireball back into place.

It had been a rough first week on the job as a keeper; his classroom trainings and drills had not fully prepared him for the unpredictability and sheer physicality of simply keeping dragons. After the Fireball had moved back into her cave and the entrance wards been reset, Ron trudged back down to the barracks with the rest of the team. The morning crew passed them on the way to the dining hall; Ron nodded silently to his brother who was leading the group.

As he ate breakfast quietly by himself, he let his thoughts drift towards her again. As he dropped his tray off in the bin, he eyes drifted upwards, as it had done for the past week, to the sign above the door exiting the dining hall. "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.*" Or even if you don't, Ron thought.

The dragon keeper's motto had been drilled into the new recruits during his eight-month training session in Hungary, and after the accident, it had been those words he'd wished he heard years before. He wasn't naïve enough to believe it would have made a difference, but he dedicated his life to following their wisdom now. Maybe someone else's life could be saved. Maybe someone else could be spared the heartache of hearing their first love die.

With those morose thoughts, he fell heavily into his bunk, shutting his eyes and hoping that today would bring no more dreams, although her image was the last thing he remembered seeing before sleep finally claimed him.

He was awoken roughly that evening by Charlie.

"Ron! You need to get up, now. We've got an emergency. You aren't supposed to be on the team, but I convinced them that he'd listen to you. Pack a bag quickly, enough for a few days, and meet me outside the entrance hall. Hurry up. We're leaving in ten minutes." Charlie stood up and left the room without looking back to see if Ron was getting up.

Ron blinked a few times before sitting up, trying to clear the images of Hermione lying next to him, smiling, as he had just seen moments before Charlie woke him. With a sigh, he started moving around the room, packing clothing and essentials, not bothering to try to puzzle what his brother had rushed in to tell him. He would find out soon enough.

Only one other person waited with Charlie outside the entrance hall - a seasoned keeper named Desmond. They were talking quietly as Ron approached.

"We'll explain after we get there. The Portkey leaves in two minutes," his brother said quietly. "Let's get out of sight."

The sun was setting as they walked up a slight hill behind the barracks. Ron watched his team walk without him up the side of the mountain towards the caves where the dragons rested in the evenings, and wondered why he was already chosen for a mission after only being at the reservation for a week. He didn't think it could be anything good, and he was nervous that someone he knew was in danger. He gave a slight start when Charlie touched his arm, but obediently set a finger on the watering can right before it turned blue and the familiar pull behind his stomach jerked him into nothingness.

His heart sang when he realized that they were in Hogsmeade--right outside The Hog's Head--and then dropped just as quickly. He turned to Charlie, who tilted his head towards Hogwarts and started forward.

"Let's go."

"Wait a minute!" Ron called, jogging to catch with him. "What's going on? Why am I here?"

"Do you remember Norbert?" Ron stumbled for a second as Charlie continued. "Well, apparently Hagrid doesn't. He has been raising a Common Welsh Green for almost a month now--no one knows where or how he got one. And as school starts in a week, the new Headmistress finally decided that it should go. Except for the small fact that Hagrid doesn't see why it should." Charlie glanced at Ron. "That's the main reason why you're here. To talk to Hagrid."

Ron stared at his brother. "Hagrid's been raising another dragon? After what happened to Hermione? And Sinistra knew about it the whole time and is just now calling us? Does she know how much harder it is to move a month old dragon compared to a newborn?" His voice rose with each question until he was shouting, and Charlie glared at him.

"You don't think I know that?" he snapped. "Not everyone in Hogsmeade needs to know it, though, so keep your voice down! We can try to keep this under wraps if we hurry up."

Ron gritted his teeth and followed his brother for several more minutes as they followed the path up to Hagrid's hut. The dragon was nowhere in sight. Neither was Hagrid.

Ron whispered, "Where is this dragon being kept? I don't see anyth-"

Fire swept past them and all three dove in a different direction. Ron ended up on one side of Hagrid's hut facing the castle, and the other two were out of his line of sight. "Where in Godric's name did that come from?" he yelled.

He heard his brother's voice from other side. "I saw it move into the forest--I don't think it's chained up."

"Great," Ron muttered, gripping his wand tighter. Whether Hagrid didn't chain it up or it had broken free was of little consequence now, but for his friend's sake, he would assume the latter. Louder, he called, "Where's Desmond?"

"I'm over here," Desmond answered for himself, off to Ron's left. He must have been behind one of the pumpkins in the patch.

"Come over here, and we'll meet with Charlie around the front."

As Desmond made his way over, Ron ran through a rough plan in his head. This side of the forest was not quite as dense, so if they tried now, maybe they wouldn't set so much of it on fire. The dragon would have more room to maneuver, though.

They made their way around the front of the house to find Charlie already there. "What do you think?" Ron asked. "Attack now or chase it deeper into the forest?"

"It's a runt, or else Sinistra was mistaken about it being as old as it is. We should be able to subdue it pretty quickly. Let's go get this over with."

Charlie, Ron, and Desmond quickly formed a line and, at the spot Charlie thought he saw it disappear into the woods, they moved in.

After a quick but grueling ten minutes of dodging the narrow and increasingly less accurate flames, the Welsh was chained up behind Hagrid's hut with an iron collar Charlie had conjured.

"Now we just have to find Hagrid," Ron said grimly.

"That's not too difficult," Charlie said, pointing. Hagrid was coming down the path from the castle. He had not yet spotted the trio of keepers and appeared to be whistling to himself and carrying a large sack slung over his back.

"Hurry, let's hide behind the back until he gets here. He probably won't be too happy to see us," Ron said quickly.

They knocked on the front door a few moments after hearing Hagrid shut it. "Who is it?" Hagrid called.

"It's Charlie Weasley, Hagrid. Please let us in."

There was a moment of silence, then a large sigh, and the door opened. Hagrid did not look pleased, but let them in anyways. "Go on, sit down. Say whatever it is yeh have ter say, then go abou' yer business. I don't suppose nothin' I say can change yer mind," he said gruffly.

Ron said softly, "Hagrid, how could you? After what happened?" To his horror, he felt his eyes grow moist and resolutely blinked quickly a few times.

Hagrid's shoulders stiffened, but he didn't turn around or say anything.

Charlie sighed. "We've got it chained up out back. We're going to transport it, but no charges are going to be leveled because it stayed on Hogwart's property and Sinistra doesn't want us to. Why she waited so long to say anything is beyond me, but I'm glad she called us when she did. If that dragon were here when school was in session, it would have been dangerous. You know that, Hagrid! What were you thinking?"

Hagrid continued to keep his back to them.

Ron frowned now, as it was unlike Hagrid to continue to keep silent about his fondness for animals that only he didn't consider highly dangerous. "Hagrid, are you all right? You're acting very strange…"

He almost didn't make it out of the way as a green light filled his vision and Desmond slumped to the ground. Ron's heart almost stopped in his chest as he comprehended what Hagrid had just done. He ended up ducking behind a chair, and once again Charlie was out of his field of vision.

"Hagrid!" he yelled. "What are you doing?" He wracked his brain to remember if Polyjuice Potion would work on half-giants, for he refused to believe that his friend was the one in front of him now who had so casually murdered his co-worker…

"I'm trying to live my life, sonny boy!" a much different accent yelled back at him, "and you hooligans are ruining it!"

So, Polyjuice Potion does work on half-giants.

"I think you ruined that yourself when you tried to raise a dragon," Charlie called out from somewhere on the other side of the room, unhelpfully in Ron's opinion.

Charlie cried out and wood splinted as the imposter yelled out, "Reducto!" Ron used this moment to glance out and fire off a spell of his own. The Polyjuice Potion seemed to be wearing off as his leg-locker curse froze the man in place, but only for a few seconds. It allowed Charlie to move to another hiding spot, this time crouched at the foot of the bed behind a trunk. He was only several feet to Ron's right now, and within eyesight.

Charlie held up three fingers, and Ron nodded. As Charlie put the third finger down, both brothers stood up as one and yelled, "Impedimenta!" It was enough to bring him down.

As Ron and Charlie moved closer, wands raised, they could see the giant slowly shrinking in size and hair receding into the body. As Charlie moved to tie him up, Ron glanced out the window towards the castle. Who was this man, and where was the real Hagrid?

Within a few minutes the Auror Department had been contacted and the man taken into their custody. Ron greeted Harry warmly in the hallway outside the Auror Department; it had been almost a full year since they had seen each other.

"You haven't talked to Hagrid lately, have you?" Ron asked quietly as they stood off to the side of the door. The department was mostly deserted except for some office staff as it was midday, and the hallway was quiet.

"Not since after the funeral," Harry replied in hushed tones. "Ginny was already seven months along, and after that the twins came…I just never took the time to go over for a visit. I wish I would have now."

"Don't start thinking that way," Ron said fiercely, and then he shuffled his feet. "I haven't seen him since the funeral, either."

An awkward silence fell between them. Harry broke it by asking after Charlie.

"He's doing well…I haven't seen him that much; we've got opposite shifts, and I've only been at the reservation for a week now."

"Oh, right."

Before Ron could say anything else, a silvery lynx came to a stop in front of Harry, and Kingsley's deep voice rang out in the hallway.

"Harry, I need you and Ron and anyone still left in the department to come to Hogwarts, now. The man you apprehended was not alone."

As the Patronus dissipated, Ron and Harry turned, mouths gaping, and then Apparated without hesitating to Hogsmeade.

They saw no one as they spun into existence in front of the Hog's Head, and took off running for Hagrid's hut.

A scene of utter chaos greeted them. Two adolescent dragons--both Common Welsh Greens--and a very large, very angry, Chinese Fireball dragon were fanned out in the open space in front of the lake. Charlie was attempting to lead a team of Aurors to attempt to subdue the two smaller dragons while simultaneously protecting everyone from flares that erupted if anyone got too close.

Ron and Harry looked at each other in shock. "What in Godric's name…? None of this was here fifteen minutes ago! Where did all of this come from?" Ron exclaimed.

Harry shook his head as he brought his wand up. "I have no idea, this is insane. I just…I don't know. Didn't Kingsley say that man wasn't alone?" He flourished his wand and yelled, "Expecto Patronum!"

Ron scanned the crowd of Aurors fighting off the dragons. "I don't even see Kingsley out there."

Before Harry could respond, a voice behind them interrupted. "Glad you boys could make it. We need more men to fight off those dragons down there. You two are coming with me."

Kingsley turned and headed into the forest. Ron turned to look at Harry, but the Auror had not hesitated and followed his boss into the forest at a jog. Ron sighed and ran after them.

Harry was talking. "I sent a Patronus to the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures; hopefully they'll send some personnel, or know where to find a team. Maybe they can get more people from the reservations, though it'll take a little while as all of them are too far to Apparate and we'll have to rely on a series of Floos or Portkeys."

Kingsley nodded. "Good work. We don't have much time, so I'll be brief. The man you apprehended was part of a team of men--we're not quite sure how many, but the estimate is six in total--who smuggle dragons from Europe and Asia to America. For reasons unknown, the man in custody decided he wanted to retire. The route for smuggling the dragons passes close by Hogwarts, and he therefore to assume Hagrid's life."

He ducked under a low branch as he continued. "Hagrid was a simple man who dealt with all sorts of magical creatures on a daily basis, so we're assuming those were his main reasons for choosing him. However, it was still close enough to the smuggling routes that when the rest of his team came through, he would be able to visit. When they did a few weeks ago, the man not only dropped by for a visit, he stole a baby dragon and brought it back to the forest surrounding Hogwarts and continued to impersonate Hagrid."

Harry whistled. "And the rest of his team didn't figure out the dragon went missing? Didn't they realize if it were found it would jeopardize what they've been doing all these years?"

"Yes, they did, but as he's been using Polyjuice Potion to live here at Hogwarts, they were not able to find him; he visited them as himself. We presume there are five men left in the smuggling team. They finished the run to America from which the dragon was stolen several weeks ago, and have come back to find their rogue team member. When you apprehended the dragon, it alerted them to his presence, and they moved in."

"With three dragons," Ron stated flatly. "How is that possible? How do they even transport the dragons so far?"

"We aren't sure yet. We assume that most of their smuggling business takes place with the eggs rather than the full-grown dragons. However, the presence of the Fireball seems to illustrate that they have some means we have not yet discovered of subduing and transporting the larger dragons as well. That is why you two are here. We are going to find the smugglers, both to end their operations and, in the more immediate future, get them to subdue her for us."

"Okay," Harry said, nodding. "Where was this team last seen?"

"They vanished into the forest at the same point we came through," Kingsley replied. "We know they can't Apparate for quite some distance here in the forest, not until they leave the grounds, so you must find them before that. Good luck, gentlemen. I'm going back to do what I can with the Fireball. Send another message if you need help."

"Wait," Ron said quickly. "What about Hagrid?"

Kingsley smiled grimly. "If this man's been using Polyjuice for almost a month, we can assume that he's alive, especially considering he planned on having this existence indefinitely. From what we've found out, he seems willing to cooperate now that he's been taken into custody. Right now we have to deal with these dragons before someone gets hurt."

Kingsley nodded to both men and vanished back into the forest the way they had come at a brisk trot. Ron gripped his wand and turned to Harry.

"Right. So, let's get started, shall we?"

"Kingsley doesn't realize it, but we don't have to do this alone," Harry said as he began marching not forward, but slightly off to their right.

Ron followed, but didn't say anything. After a few moments, a smile began to form on his face.

***

"Duck!" Charlie yelled just as another jet of flames mushroomed around them. The Fireball was close to becoming subdued, and it knew it was. Its attacks were becoming increasingly more erratic and unpredictable.

"One more time, on three!" he hollered. "One, two, three!" As the last number was yelled, the team consisting of six Aurors and himself--two of the Aurors originally starting the fight had crawled away with numerous burn injuries - simultaneously shouted a stunning spell, Charlie heard shouts behind them and nearly fainted with relief. He knew they would never be able to subdue the dragon with the number of people they had, as at least a dozen would be needed to properly stun it. Hopefully there were at least four people in the group he heard behind him…

"Need some help there?" a familiar voice called jovially. Charlie turned to see George and five other store owners from Hogsmeade making their way down the hillside.

Charlie grinned despite himself. Before he could open his mouth to reply, he saw six more people making their way down the path - the team from the Wales reservation, who had been able to Apparate into Hogsmeade. With nineteen people, they might take down these beasts, after all. And hopefully more coming from the other reservations, which he fiercely hoped would arrive soon…

"All right everyone, listen up! The Fireball is the priority! She's almost down, let's take her out first--everyone form a half-circle on the side of the lake facing Hagrid's cabin to trap her up against the side of the lake. She's had spells fired at her for nearly a half-quarter now, she's quite angry--so watch out! For those of you not familiar with the Fireball, her flames are mushroom-shaped, so everyone in the formation needs to be prepared to duck upon my command. When I yell 'three', everyone stun her. Quite simple. Let's get moving!"

He pointed to two of the Hosgmeade shopkeepers. "Will you please take the two Aurors over there to St. Mungo's? They've got burn injuries. Come back as soon as you can."

As he jogged back over to the semi-circle where everyone was forming up and warily keeping an eye on the Fireball, he noticed George grinning at him. "What?" he asked irritably.

"Nothing, Mr. Weasley!" he said, saluting.

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Everyone ready? One, two, three!" And as seventeen wizards and witches pointed their wands at the Fireball, she instead turned to the Common Welsh Greens and blew fire at them. As she fell over, stunned, the Greens bellowed angrily and rose into the air over the lake.

***

After ten minutes of running briskly through the forest, Ron was getting frustrated. He hoped Harry knew where he was going; after all, they had not been in the forest since what would have been their seventh year, and they hadn't been looking for them since fifth year, and that had been with Hermione…

All of a sudden he had to swerve sharply to avoid running into Harry. He turned ask what his bloody problem was when he saw the arrow pointed at Harry's chest, and the words died on his lips. Harry was smiling.

"Human! You've wandered into our territory without invitation."

"Good, I've been trying to for a while now. You're Magorian, right? We met my fifth year--I'm Harry Potter."

Ron thought that was a mistake--Magorian's face twisted in dislike and he tightened the bow. "I remember--you brought that foul woman into the forest. You shall not--"

Harry interrupted. "I need to see Firenze. It's very important and we don't have much time. Please."

Magorian's expression didn't change, but he released the tension on the bow somewhat. After a few moments of silence, he spoke quietly. "Firenze no longer resides in this world. He passed onto the next several months ago."

Harry's face registered this news with shock, and Ron tried not to groan out loud. Firenze was the only centaur that had treated them with kindness, especially if they weren't with Hagrid. A wave of anger and pain washed over him with this thought; he pushed it aside. Harry was trying again.

"Please, we need your help. Hagrid's been kidnapped, and there are men in the forest who have brought dragons in, which you've surely noticed. We just wanted to stop them, if you would just help us…tell us anything you know…" Harry's voice trailed off at Magorian's expression, which was becoming more disgusted with everyone word Harry spoke.

"You humans. Always expecting our help and never giving anything in return." He spat on the ground before continuing. "However, we have noticed an increased presence of different humans moving through the Forest recently. I will take you to Bane. He can decide if we will help you get rid of them or not."

Ron resisted the temptation to roll his eyes; they had more of a chance getting Bane to help them than they did of the giant squid growing wings and flying out of the lake. But Harry just said, "Thank you," and motioned for Ron to follow them through the Forest towards the rest of the centaurs, and their best hope of catching the men who had caused one of their oldest friends to end up kidnapped and alone.

***

Charlie could do nothing but stand and watch in amazement as the Common Welsh Greens completely ignored the large team of humans standing at the edge of the lake and fought viciously with each other. Greens were normally one of the more docile species of dragons, but as the Fireball had shot one last burst of flame, they had suddenly erupted into roars and flames of their own and launched themselves at each other. Teeth were gnashing and tails were whipping as they somehow stayed in flight several hundred yards above the lake.

He started as George nudged him in the ribs. "What are we going to do about her?" He pointed at the Fireball. "How long will she stayed stunned? And how the heck do you transport her?"

"She won't stay stunned for that long; I'd better start chaining her up," Charlie said, moving towards her even as he spoke. George came with him.

"As for your second question," Charlie continued, "with a full-grown dragon, we usually chain her up, like I'm about to do, but to a portable structure, usually a big steel board. I'll need to conjure one under her. Then we'll use a Portkey to send her to a remote point. That's what we did for the Tri-wizard Tournament during your sixth year."

Charlie was conjuring steel collars around the dragon's neck and limbs, chains, and stakes to the ground while he continued. "If she's attached to the chains and the chains are attached to the board, everything will move with the Portkey. But it takes its toll on the dragons; that's why I'm not sure how these got here. Otherwise, they would have been much easier to subdue. And I know it's not common knowledge about the use of Portkeys, so these guys were probably former dragon keepers."

George seemed to absorb everything he said just fine, but said, "What guys? I don't know what's going on here; we were just called to help subdue dragons."

So Charlie and George sat down with the rest of the team, who were still watching the Greens face off high above the lake, and filled him in on what happened to Hagrid.

***

"…so that's why we need your help, please. Hagrid needs your help," Harry finished.

Ron was trying very hard at this point to stay silent. This was taking too long; they would have had more success searching themselves than pleading their case to the centaurs, who did not look any more inclined to help them than they did twenty minutes ago when they had found Magorian in the forest.

Bane stayed silent for several more moments; he finally spoke.

"Harry Potter. There was a time many years ago when I did not like you at all. I still do not like you, but for a human you have done many things that have helped us. You are friends with Hagrid, and even though you brought that woman here, you stopped the Dark Lord once and for all. For that…we are grateful. And we will help you."

Ron audibly breathed a sign of relief and visibly relaxed, which the four centaurs guarding him noticed. He could not have cared less, though Harry shot him a dirty look.

"Thank you so much for your generosity. Please, tell us where these men have been hiding. Kingsley said there should be five of them."

Bane gave a sharp laugh. "We will tell you where they have been hiding, and will go to help you. But there are not five of them. There are twenty-three."

Bloody hell, thought Ron.

***

After several more minutes, George turned to Charlie. "How long are they going to go at it?"

Charlie squinted up at the pair. "I am honestly not sure. They're just over a year, so this would be considered playing, but they have been drawing blood. I'm surprised they are still in the air, actually."

"Shouldn't we take them down while they're fighting? Wouldn't it make it easier?"

Charlie sighed. "If you can hit them with a Stunning spell from here, be my guest."

George stared at him. "Have you been hit with one? We're not far from the Quidditch pitch--there are at least a dozen broomsticks in the shed there! Let's go up to them!"

Charlie stared back. Then he got up and took off for the shed. "Hey!" George yelled, running behind him.

Within moments, Charlie was sliding to a stop and had wrenched open the door. "Grab as many as you can and head back." Charlie swept eight broomsticks into his hands and accidently knocked several over in the process. He winced at the noise, but grabbed one as it was falling and swung his leg over. He bent his head and flew out the door, slowly, as he attempted to balance the broomsticks in both hands. He was riding a Cleansweep Five, and it trembled as he tried to pick up speed as he exited the shed.

His brother flew past him, carrying no broomsticks. "What are you doi-" Charlie was whacked in the shoulder as all the remaining broomsticks in the shed flew past him; it was then he noticed his brother was lazily holding his wand aloft. George smirked at him and continued flying back towards the rest of the team.

He had dropped three brooms since he had to grab the broomstick with one hand to keep from falling. He whipped out his wand and muttered an incantation, and watched with satisfaction as the broomsticks floated obediently behind him. Then he soared for the lake.

The Greens were still fighting, although it seemed that one of them was close to winning. The team of six from the reservation had already mounted the brooms George had brought and were circling the pair in the air; they were smart enough to keep themselves at bay until at least a dozen wizards had joined them in the sky.

Charlie quickly came to a stop and dropped his collection of broomsticks; the remaining members that could were circling now, too. But no one had fired a spell yet; they were waiting for him. He turned to the three people still left on the ground.

"Pay attention. We're going to try to move them over the ground, because the fall won't kill them and you can slow them down if all three of you cast the spell at the same time. We'll have a harder time stopping them drowning. But that makes it more dangerous for us if we fall over solid ground."

They were shopkeepers at Hogsmeade; he knew the owner of Gladrag's by sight only, but Rosmerta and Aberforth were good friends. All three were nodding.

"We ain't imbeciles, lad. Get moving!" Aberforth said gruffly, gesturing towards the sky. Charlie nodded curtly, and then launched himself upwards.

"All right, everyone! We'll focus our attentions on the one less injured, while he's distracted. Same idea as the Fireball! Let's move!"

As if they had been moving as a team for years, the dragon keepers, Aurors, and George moved into a tight formation as close as they could around the fighting dragons and Charlie immediately began counting off. "One, two--"

A narrow jet of fire shot right through the center of the group, and everyone flew in a different direction. It was much more obvious now that they were not a team that worked frequently together, and one woman that Charlie was fairly certain was an Auror was now missing the left sleeve on her robes.

George had ended up on Charlie's right; he looked much grimmer than a few minutes ago. "You do this everyday?"

"Not on broomstick."

"Oh, it looks much safer on foot," George said. "How the heck are we supposed to get back over the land?"

"If we just start shooting spells, they might notice us and not each other; it's too soon for that. Much too dangerous for two of them against so few of us on broomstick, we'll be scattered too easily. We need at least a dozen per dragon, we've only got fifteen." He swore. "We need the keepers from the rest of the reservations to switch places with the Aurors! They are good at what they do, but this is not it!"

He sighed, and then shouted out again for everyone to move into place. Until everyone else showed up, they had to keep trying. For Hagrid's sake.

***

"We are way too tall for this bloody thing,” Ron muttered as he and Harry hunched under the Invisibility Cloak.

Harry glanced down at their feet, which were still visible by about three inches. "Brings back memories though, doesn't it?"

Ron stayed silent. It definitely did. Memories he tried desperately not to think about every day. But generally failed, for as he successfully made it everyday without thinking about her, his dreams happily reminded him, as they had done again last night. A groan escaped him as they continued their run through the forest behind Bane and his fellow centaurs.

It didn't escape Harry. "You've got to talk to someone, Ron. You can't hide from it forever. And I can't believe you chose to be a dragon keeper, after a dragon was what ki-"

"Now's not the time, Harry," Ron growled. Bane turned around angrily, and Ron fell silent. Harry sighed.

Thankful for the excuse not to talk about it, they continued forward. Although a team of half a dozen men really didn't make sense to smuggle dragons, Ron hadn't thought about it at the time. But two dozen? How were two men supposed to take down two dozen?

Simple, according to Harry. By the help of a team of centaurs and by being invisible.

So they were trooping through the Forest to find the cave where twenty-three men were hiding out with six centaurs who each were carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows. And who didn't particularly like the people they were helping, either. Ron was not much comforted by the whole situation.

Suddenly Bane held up one fist and everyone came to a silent halt. Harry and Ron found themselves alone without warning. Harry turned to grin at Ron. "Good, aren't they?" he whispered.

Ron shook his head. "Being an Auror has addled your brains."

Chapter 2 - But the Old Memories Can Help Start New Lives

Harry laughed silently as he started walking forward. Ron sighed as he moved with him under the safety of the Cloak, trying desperately to be as quiet as Harry amidst the crackling leaves and dry branches.

A small clearing and the mouth of a cave became visible after a few moments; there were nine men, after a quick count, outside the cave. Three were sleeping in bedrolls, two were sitting by a fire, and four were walking the perimeter of the clearing. Ron nudged Harry and pointed to the men sleeping; no one should know they had been stunned if they could do it properly. Harry nodded.

On the count of three they silently stunned two of the men sleeping; no one seemed to notice. Ron congratulated himself, and waited for Harry to stun the last man. They turned their attentions to the men on watch. Harry pointed to two of the men; Ron nodded again, and took a deep breath. Now the real fun would begin.

Harry held up three fingers; as the third one fell, they both yelled out "Petrificus Totalus!" twice in quick succession. Both of Harry's men fell, but Ron's second use of the spell missed, and the man quickly threw a shield charm up. Harry swore under his breath. "He got lucky, he's blocking us. Now everyone's on alert."

"Yeah, but they're stupid. Everyone's coming out of the cave." Ron counted ten additional men quickly pour out of the cave, wands raised. He knew they couldn't be seen under the cloak, and the centaurs wouldn't be seen until they wanted to be. All of a sudden a volley of arrows rained through the air; screams rang out as men fell. Harry and Ron began casting more curses at anyone they could until all twenty-one in the clearing were down; two more had run out during the short fight.

"Let's go flush out the other two," Harry said, and keeping their wands in front of them, they moved to the mouth of the cave.

***

Charlie was exhausted. The stupid Greens were still fighting each other, though it finally looked like one was winning, and it looked as though they were going to have to either get their attention with only thirteen people on brooms - two more had suffered serious enough burns to go down--to try to get them to land or subdue one of them over the water.

"Where the hell are the rest of the keepers?" he muttered to no one in particular. His heart leapt. At that particular moment, a group of three people came strolling over the hill. His heart fell. They were from the Ministry. Great. At least they've got broomsticks.

"Hello!" One of them called cheerfully. "We're from the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. What seems to be the problem?"

Charlie almost fell off the broomstick as he stared down at the woman. "Ummm…there are rogue dragons on the loose?" he said, pointing up behind him at the two still fighting Greens.

"Well, not a problem. Thanks for handling it, we'll take it from here," another man stated, almost cheerfully. The three mounted their broomsticks and came to rest in front of Charlie, who continued to stare. He closed his mouth when he was afraid that drool would come out.

George came up to a stop behind him. "Can we help you?"

Charlie whipped his head around. "This Ministry buf-"

George interrupted him smoothly. "Ah, yes. It's about time you showed up. Thank goodness, we were getting worried. We thought it best to subdue them over the land for the dragon's sake, but we weren't sure of how best to do so. Now that you're here, I'm sure you'll figure out what we couldn't. Let's get out of their way, shall we, brother?"

Charlie thought his jaw would come unhinged, but at the look George gave him, quickly snapped it shut. "Oh, yes, of course, brother." As George yelled for everyone to come down to the ground and dragged him down with him, he hissed, "What are you doing?"

"Letting them do our dirty work. It's obvious they have no idea what they're doing, considering they think they only need three people, and no use for a team of dragon keepers besides. We'll interfere if anyone looks to be seriously in trouble, but otherwise, they'll just be in for a rude awakening."

Charlie sighed, thinking that this was probably highly unethical. Yet after the morning they'd already had, it was sounding like a pretty good plan.

He watched the three Ministry officials randomly fire spells at one of the Greens. "Well, at least they're all aiming for the same one."

George laughed. "Yea, but not at the same time. Don't know if it'll be effective…oh!"

Everyone groaned collectively as one of the women barely missed being scorched by a narrow jet.

"This is so wrong," Charlie muttered.

"But it's working!" George shouted gleefully. One of the Greens had noticed the three officials casting spells, and was attempting to move towards them; they were now fleeing back over the grass. The second Green was still trying to fight it, but the fight was progressively moving from over the lake.

"Alright, let's go rescue them," Charlie declared.

"Need any help?" someone called. Charlie almost cried with delight; a group of twelve dragon keepers - sweet Merlin, flying on broomsticks - was headed towards them.

"Do we ever!" Charlie cried back. And everyone launched themselves into the air to mount an assault against the unusually aggressive Greens.

Minutes later, Charlie let out a shout of triumph as one of the Greens was successfully stunned and the trio of shopkeepers on the ground lowered it gently towards them. He yelled again a few seconds later as he dipped out of the way of a flame from the remaining Welsh, which they were able to surround and subdue with almost two dozen still on broomsticks.

Charlie descended to the ground as the keepers from Wales performed the necessary functions to keep it contained. As he sat down in the shade of one of the pumpkins near Hagrid's hut, Kingsley came walking towards him from the side of building. Charlie groaned and his muscles protested as he stood up again to meet him.

"Charlie, George," Kingsley said, nodding in way of greeting. Charlie turned to see his brother jogging up behind him; he came to a stop in time to nod back. Charlie turned back.

"Thank you for sending the Aurors, Kingsley, they were a big help in the fight against these dragons. Have you been able to find out where they came from?" Charlie asked.

Kingsley nodded again. "I've sent Harry and Ron to round up the remaining men involved in what we've come to learn is a dragon smuggling ring. There are only six men involved, five now that we've captured the man pretending to be Hagrid, so they should be able to handle the task quite adequately. However, I thought you'd like to be the ones to come with me back to the Ministry to question the man captured this morning, considering your friendship with Hagrid."

George answered first. "We appreciate you allowing us to come with you, Kingsley. I, for one, would love to be there when we find out where Hagrid's been all this time." Charlie echoed these sentiments, and the men headed off to Hogsmeade where they could Apparate to the Ministry.

***

He should get a vacation, Charlie mused as he ran. At least a week, perhaps down off the coast in Greece.

After running through Hogsmeade and then Apparating to the Ministry, Kingsley, Charlie, and George made their down two levels to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement where the man was being held temporarily until some solution was to be had. Then he told them without any use of coercion or force that his name was Don Myterial, that Hagrid was being kept in a cellar Myterial had created in Hagrid's own hut, and that Harry and Ron were running off to face twenty-three men in a cave deep within the Forest surrounding Hogwarts.

After Kingsley got the precise location of the cave, Charlie, George, and Kingsley turned around and ran back for Hogwarts.

His present musings were taking place as he was hurtling through dense underbrush, snagging his shirt and trousers; all three had abandoned robes in their flight to help rescue their friends and family. As the dragon situation at the lake had been taken care of, they left a small group behind for emergencies and to check on Hagrid, and had taken the keepers and all of the Aurors into the Forest with them. Charlie only hoped that they weren't too late.

***

The cave was absolutely silent. Harry had the tip of his wand lit, but they couldn't see more than a few feet in front of them. The centaurs didn't need light to see, and were staying back about ten feet.

All of a sudden the floor gave out beneath them; Ron let out an involuntary yell, but managed to keep hold of his wand. He fell what was probably twenty feet before landing heavily, and he felt his right ankle give out beneath him. Muttering several choice curses, he lit his own wand. He couldn't see anything in front of him.

He lifted the wand above his head, but didn't see anything but blackness. He lowered the light to illuminate the path in front of him.

He found the Invisibility Cloak several feet away, undamaged, and threw it over himself and kept on walking, still favoring his right side slightly. After several more minutes of searching, he found no sign of Harry, and debated calling his name. Something wasn't right; what was going on? Panic was starting to grip his chest; he would have made a terrible Auror if he panicked this quickly.

As quietly as he could manage, he called out, "Harry? Can you hear me?"

Nothing. No sounds came back to him in the darkness.

So Ron grimly started walking with no idea of the direction he had chosen, keeping the light pointed downward. He called out Harry's name every few moments, stopping to listen for a response.

He was becoming more and more afraid. How could they have gotten separated like this? What if Harry was seriously injured and he was walking right past him and Harry couldn't answer because…Ron's brain refused to think the impossible. He'd lost Hermione, he couldn't lose them both.

His hand became sweaty; the light started to flicker as panic gripped him. His hand was trembling uncontrollably. He was starting losing control of the spell. His mind was flying in all directions as it latched on to the worst case scenario; even as he refused to accept it, he couldn't help thinking, "What if?"

Eventually it became too much to handle, and he collapsed onto the ground, allowing the spell to extinguish. He dropped his head onto his hands, and finally let the tears he'd only shed once for her finally come. There, in the darkness of the cave where he had no idea how to get out, no idea where his best friend was, no idea if his brother was okay battling three dragons, no idea if Hagrid was even still alive, he allowed the memories he tried to suppress and the truth he'd never come to terms with wash over him.

He remembered her last day; they had decided to honeymoon in a secluded hut in the mountains in Wales. Their wedding was a whirlwind of images and incredulity, for Ron at least. They had taken a series of Portkeys to throw off his brothers, and laughingly arrived at the hut as the sun was setting. While Hermione was watching the sun, he watched her. And they spent a glorious four days before she was taken from him.

A dragon had escaped from the nearby reservation. No one lived up in those parts, really. He was still asleep when he heard the roars of the Ridgeback. The keepers had been chasing it for half a day, and it was angry and hungry. It happened upon Hermione, who screamed once and then was accidently stepped on as the dragon turned around to investigate the scream.

By the time Ron had arrived, wandless and shirtless and panicky, the Ridgeback had been subdued by the team of keepers, who had been alerted to its presence by Hermione's scream. Ron had been the one to find Hermione; she was still holding her book in one hand.

He hadn't even known she had gotten up to read; she had gotten up that morning to watch the sunrise and take a walk. He found her note later that day.

The team of keepers was horrified, but Ron couldn't even speak or acknowledge their presence. At the funeral, one of them came up to him to offer their condolences, and quoted the dragon keepers' motto to him: "It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him*."

Ron thought it a horrible thing to say, especially as they were holidaying and didn't even know about the reservation. But for the next few weeks, as he sat alone in his room, he wondered if he would have done anything differently if he would have heard those words earlier. If he could do something about it now, in her memory. If he could honor it by those words, to prevent someone else from thinking that dragons weren't dangerous.

The quote began to fester in his mind, and over a year after her death, he entered into the training to be a keeper.

Ron began to shake as sobs racked his body; images of Hermione were pouring through his brain, things he had not let himself think about in his waking moments for almost two years. Hermione, smiling at him across the table in the common room as she took his homework from him, rolling her eyes. Hermione as she kissed him on the cheek before his Quidditch match. Hermione, sending a flock of birds after him, eyes flashing and hair standing on end. Hermione, throwing down a handful of Basilik fangs and kissing him for the first time. Hermione, tearfully crying that she would indeed marry him. Hermione, a vision in white as she walking down to be his bride. Hermione, lying next to him, smiling…

Hermione's face abruptly disappeared as he was kicked from behind. "Ron?"

"Harry?"

Harry was holding the wall next to him; he had tripped over Ron, who still wearing the Invisibility Cloak. He quickly wiped his face and removed it. "I thought I'd lost you, I'd been walking around, calling your name…"

If Harry noticed Ron had been crying, he chose not to say anything. "Me, too. Glad you've got the Cloak, thought I'd lost it. Let's both get underneath it again."

As they shuffled underneath it, Harry continued talking quietly. "Which direction were you going?"

Ron pointed, and then realized Harry probably couldn't see. "The direction you were going when you ran into me."

"Okay," Harry said as they started moving. "Er…why were you stopped anyway? If you want to talk-"

"Not now, Harry," Ron said, but not as harsh as before. They stopped moving, and Harry looked over at him. "But soon, I promise."

Harry just nodded, or at least, Ron thought he did in the darkness, and they continued onward.

For several minutes, neither said a word, and the landscape didn't change. It was a pitch-black, narrow corridor that gently sloped downwards, and no other sounds came except for their own faint footsteps.

Without warning, the path took a sharp right turn. Harry extinguished his light, and once he did so, they could see pale yellow light coming from around the corner. They hunched over as much as they could and quietly turned the corner. Ron had to place a hand over his mouth to stop the gasp threatened to come out.

A small adolescent Common Welsh Green was chained up in the back corner of a large cavern where two men sat talking in low voices at a small wooden table next to a spring that ran through the center. Several dozen dragon eggs from several different species lay roasting on top of a fire pit.

Harry and Ron turned to look at each other, and then nodded. Both raised their wands and shot a Stunning spell towards the two men--and the spell seemed to be absorbed into the air several feet before reaching them.

Harry swore under his breath. Ron just sighed. Harry started to pace in a tight circle in the opening, and Ron began slipping out of the Invisibility Cloak. He grabbed the back of Harry's shirt as his calf slipped out, and hoped they were still too far away for the men inside the cavern to notice. Harry swore again but stopped moving.

After a few more moments, he turned to Ron and began whispering in a low voice. "Okay, I think the shield around them is location based, so if we can flush them out, we should be able to take them down."

"Okay," Ron said, slowly dragging out the word. But before he could get anything else out, Harry had nodded and turned back towards the cavern. Ron shook his head. I guess we'll come up with a plan as we go along.

***

George gave a low whistle as the group came upon the clearing that was to house the entrance of the cave. A quick count by one of the Aurors gave the number of stunned or pierced men, all bound, to be twenty-one.

"How did they do this by themselves?" Charlie asked Kingsley in amazement. "I know Harry's good, but…"

"They weren't alone," Kingsley said, kneeling next to a man that was bleeding through his robes, an arrow protruding from his thigh. "Neither Harry nor Ron uses a bow and arrow. And judging by this man's wound, I think this battle took place less than twenty minutes ago."

"There are only two men left…where are Harry and Ron?" Charlie scanned the bushes surrounding the clearing but didn't see any evidence that his brother or friend might be laying there, unconscious or unable to yell for help. "If it's been almost that long, why haven't they come back out of the cave?"

Charlie, George, and Kingsley looked at each other for a few more moments, and then, shouting "Lumos!" to ignite their wands, started into the blackness. The rest of the Aurors and keepers, still roaming throughout the clearing, quickly followed.

Kingsley led the way, keeping his wand tip lowered to the ground. After several moments, he came to such an abrupt halt that Charlie nearly stabbed him in the back with his wand. He glanced up at Kingsley, who pointed in front of him.

A very narrow canyon spanned the path in front of them. Its depth could not be determined due to the lack of light; it could have been ten feet or ten thousand feet for all Charlie could guess. Before Charlie could open his mouth, he heard a large crack behind him that made him flinch with its suddenness, and George appeared in a whirl of loose dirt on the other side of the gap, wand tip still lit.

He flicked his hair lazily out of his eyes and shifted his stance as he brandished his wand. "Well? Are you gentlemen going to join me, or am I going to save the Savior of the Wizarding World and our little brother myself?"

Charlie rolled his eyes as he eyed the spot next to George, and then turned on the spot. The sound of almost two dozen wizards Apparating within a few seconds of each other filled the passageway like the sound of popcorn popping, and within a few minutes they were continuing along.

After several more minutes, it began to start sloping downward. As the passage suddenly took a sharp left, Kingsley threw out a hand as he extinguished his wand, and did not withdraw it until everyone had done the same. Then they all crept forward as silently as they could as the darkness began to turn into light. Charlie cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself, and heard others doing the same.

Charlie could see two men sitting at a low wooden table; there was a slow running stream next to them, providing a melodious background noise that echoed through the cavern. It was offset periodically by the bellows of the Common Welsh tied up in the corner to their left. He saw four species of dragon egg roasting off to their right. And he felt George elbow him sharply in his side and had to stifle the groan it threatened to release.

"What?" he hissed out of the side of his mouth.

"Look in front of you," George whispered back. Charlie looked straight across the cavern and didn't see anything…and then he noticed that just slightly off to the right, there was an identical opening.

"Where do you think that comes from?" George whispered. "We came straight here, and there weren't any branches or detours."

"Harry's still got the Cloak?" Charlie whispered back. After a few seconds, George affirmed. "He's got to be there, then. How do we get his attention?"

If Charlie had been able to see George's face, he would have known by the grin that spread across it what George had planned. As it was, knowing George as well as he did, he wasn't at all surprised when a series of fireworks exploded in the cavern. The noise was deafening, and Charlie pressed his hands over his ears to try to keep out some of the noise.

"Well, now they know someone's here!" Charlie yelled to George.

"Yes, sir!" one of the keepers yelled back.

***

The dragon was furious at the noise the fireworks were making; she was contributing her own high-pitched bellows that were making Ron's ears actually twitch. He winced at a particularly loud one.

"So, I assume that they came in a different way, so hopefully they'll know how to get us out of here," he yelled to Harry.

Harry nodded. "Well, let's assume that they can see us, as well, if they're galloping around setting off fireworks, and that they'll back us up when we need it."

Ron snorted. "When we need it? We took out twenty-one guys out in the clearing in less than a minute! Why do we need back-up for two--assuming we can figure out a way to get them to move, of course?"

Harry was already eyeing the rock wall below the opening they were standing in. "Because I think they've figured out a way to control the dragons. And even though that one over there isn't full grown, we'll need back-up if it decides to start attacking us."

Ron stared at Harry for a minute, and then swore. Harry didn't notice; he was still looking for a way to get down the twenty-five feet or so to the cavern floor. Ron shook his head; for someone who was supposed to be an outstanding Auror, he didn't think sometimes. Ron gripped his wand and turned on the spot, appearing exactly in the spot as Harry's eyes.

"See?" he said, looking up at Harry. "I could have been an Auror. Look at me, thinking smart in dangerous situa--"

An alarm started sounding. Harry sighed and then appeared next to him. "We can Apparate in this cavern, but they have alarms."

"So?" Ron said. "They already knew someone was here because of the fireworks."

Harry pointed. "Now they know where." The Common Welsh, no longer bound, was bearing towards them.

***

Charlie had no idea what spell the men had used to free the dragon as they were too far away, but he saw the movement of the wand, and then the dragon move towards the passageway where Ron and Harry were. Kingsley began barking orders to the Aurors concerning the dragon; Charlie turned to George.

"Let's go find those men." George smiled grimly and then Apparated without waiting for Charlie. Once on the ground, the two began moving stealthily through the large cavern. Besides the small stream, there were several large rock formations, spires that reached to the ceiling in places, and areas of the floor that sloped upwards for up to ten feet before dropping sharply on the other side. The men were no where to be seen. Neither were Ron and Harry.

After checking behind boulders and around stone structures, Charlie leaned back against the sheer face of a wall that rose perhaps a dozen feet in the air. George slumped next to him. "That dragon's putting up a tougher fight, just like those Green's out by the lake," he said softy. "Whatever spell they're using, we've got to find them to put a stop to it."

Charlie didn't say anything, for he heard movement around the corner. He brought his own wand up--only to come face to face with his brother. "Ron!" he said with relief. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine. We threw the Cloak over us when the dragon came near and it got confused," Ron said as Harry seemed to come out of thin air behind him.

"Have you seen the two men who were in here?" George asked.

Harry shook his head, and then spoke quickly. "Let's Disillusion and split up. Shoot up red sparks if you find them. We're close to a corner now, we'll work our way out in an even pattern until we reach the opposite side. I'll take this wall, with Ron covering the middle next to me. George and Charlie, do the same for the opposite side."

Everyone nodded and then began to move their respective directions. Before splitting up with Harry, Ron called out to him. "Be careful, mate."

Harry grinned. "You, too. See you on the other side."

Ron quickly cast the charm on himself and began jogging from structure to structure. After a couple of minutes, he had to bite back a curse as he almost ran into one of the men. They were huddled behind one of the large formations towards the center of the cavern; if George were moving at the same pace, he'd be the closest…Ron wondered if he could stun one of them first before shooting up sparks.

Ron paused for a second to wonder why they had moved. Their previously location was out in the open, but no spells could penetrate the shield surrounding it. Ron assumed that people could, if they were now hiding. He hoped Harry was right about it being location based…

They were hiding in the middle of the formation, so Ron's disadvantage at not being able to stun them from where he stood gave him a communicative advantage. He sent his Patronus out as quietly as he could to the rest of the party, strengthened his Disillusionment Charm, and tried to figure out the best vantage point to stun the men from.

When Harry and George arrived, he quietly whispered what he decided, and Harry laughed quietly. He also suggested it would be nice to wait for Charlie. After a few minutes, a limping, cursing Charlie arrived; he'd tripped over some loose gravel. George wasn't as polite in stifling his laughter as Ron and Harry, although he did it silently, as the two men were still hiding in the next formation over.

"Are you ready?" Ron asked Harry. Harry just grinned again, and then put the Invisibility Cloak on. After a few more minutes of silence, Ron saw Harry's foot appear briefly at the top of the rock formation above the two men's head. Trying to picture where the rest of Harry's body was, and hoping he was holding tightly onto the Cloak, he raised his wand and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry remained invisible, and Ron breathed a sigh of relief as he held his wand aloft. But the two men remained unbound and unstunned.

"What is he waiting for?" George hissed.

Suddenly one of the men began laughing loudly. The second man looked terrified at the volume of his laughter, and frantically tried to quiet him. While he was looking panicked and gesturing with his hands, his legs started a frenzied dance, kicking and flailing about without regards to the small confines of their hideout. Ron winced when he heard one foot connect with the rock. The three moved in to bind the men while Harry's charms had them distracted.

It was over within minutes; Harry had removed his spells as soon as the ropes were in place and then men had been moved out into the open. Charlie, Ron, Harry, and George all pointed their wands simultaneously, and Harry simply said, "Stop the dragon."

With the fight over before it had begun, though the man who had been hit by the Tickling Charm glared at his partner, they were told the counter spell to release the amplification of the dragon. George stayed to watch the men as the other three hurried off to help out their companions.

***

Kingsley yelled, "One more time, everyone! On three!" All sixteen wizards and witches raised their wands and shouted the stunning spell at the same time--and to their tremendous surprise, the dragon went down heavily. It slammed into a rock arrangement with spires and barbs.

For several stunned seconds, no one spoke or moved. It took Kingsley that long to notice that Harry, Ron, and Charlie were standing off to the side, Harry with his wand still aloft, with the same stunned look on their faces. Harry broke the moment by lowering his wand and moving toward Kingsley.

"The two men are bound somewhere out in the middle; George is watching them. They have some sort of spell to amplify the dragon's power, sort of like giving them an adrenaline rush. We had just removed the spell when…" he trailed off, looking over at the dead dragon. Blood was oozing down the rocks. He glanced back at Kingsley. "We need to get these men back to Headquarters and see if they know of any more groups like this, and where they learned this spell."

Kingsley nodded, and turned towards his team to start issuing orders. Harry walked back over to Ron and Charlie, the latter still staring sadly. "I'm sorry, Charlie," he said. "I should have waited, or at least warned them--"

Charlie held up a hand. "No, it's not your fault. Let's just get it out of here and go home. It's been a long day." Ron snorted, and Charlie laughed as he slapped him on the back. "Not a bad first day, huh?"

***

Much later that evening, as they stood outside the forest watching the fire burn the body of the young, dead dragon, Ron moved closer to Charlie. "It really affected you, didn't it? Seeing it die, I mean."

Charlie didn't turn to look at Ron, but continued staring into the flames. He didn't speak for several minutes. They had levitated the dragon out of the cavern Charlie had come through after Vanishing as much of the blood as possible, and been happily reunited with an undernourished but safe Hagrid. As the sun had set, per dragon keeper tradition, they were honoring this deadly, powerful creature in the manner in which it was most familiar: fire.

"So comes snow after fire," Charlie finally said quietly, "and even dragons have their ending.*" He finally removed his eyes from the fire to look at Ron. "You joined us because you finally learned to respect and fear their power. They are magnificent creatures, greatly misunderstood, but never to be taken lightly. But they are also not villains--anything they do is just in their nature. And that nature is beautiful and deadly. So yes, it is something that affects me, seeing a dragon die."

Ron turned his eyes back to the fire. So comes snow after fire. After the past few years of his life, maybe, just maybe, he could have peace after all.