“You must be the interns,” she said briskly. “Emmeline Vance. I’ll show you to your lodgings.”
“Professor Vance?” James inquired. “I remember you. You taught Defense my first year.”
“Call me Emmeline,” she answered, looking at him more closely. “Oh, yes, James Potter and Sirius Black. I remember you as well.”
Sirius grinned and elbowed James. “Wonder if she remembers the salamander incident,” he whispered.
Emmeline coughed loudly. “The dining hall for residents is on the right,” she said, pointing. “You’ll be staying in these dorms on your left with the other interns. Your things will be sent ahead, but for your first few days you’re going to be on site with Stefan and myself, a sort of initiation. I believe you know Stefan?”
James nodded. “He knows my mum. He’s the reason we got the job.”
A loud bellowing from out of sight startled the boys. “What was that?” Sirius asked, a tad nervously.
“That was Hua-Ling,” Emmeline replied. “She’s a Chinese Fireball, a recent arrival. She doesn’t much care for rain. You’ll be working with her, in fact.”
“Really?” James said in surprise. “I’d have thought they’d leave that to the more experienced people.”
“Normally they would,” said Emmeline. “But we’re short-staffed at the moment, and she’s a bit unpredictable, so we’re putting everyone we can spare on her. We’re on our way to see her now.”
They had been walking along a dirt path through a dim but pleasant forest. Apart from the dragon’s calls growing steadily closer, the only sound was the rain falling on the thick summer foliage. They rounded a corner, and James nearly gasped as Hua-Ling herself came into view.
She was a magnificent creature. Her brilliant red scales gleamed with a metallic luster. A ring of gold spikes went back from her face. As James watched, she tossed her head and let out an ear-splitting roar. A mushroom-shaped burst of flame shot from her snout, fizzling out shortly in the downpour. Several keepers were stationed around her roomy paddock. Although the enclosure appeared only to be confined by a split-rail fence, James knew it was the protective spells, much more than the physical barrier, which kept Hua-Ling in check.
“Stefan!” Emmeline shouted as they approached the compound. “Your minions have arrived.”
A burly man with a bushy brown beard jogged over. “Potter and Black, is it?” he said in a mild accent, shaking James’ hand firmly. “Stefan Iordanescu. Which of you can tell me the first rule of living with dragons?”
James looked at Sirius, who shook his head helplessly. “Uh…” James glanced sideways at Emmeline and ran a hand through his drenched hair.
“Never forget what you’re dealing with,” Stefan said. “They may be pretty, but these are dangerous creatures. They aren’t your pets. They’d flame your head off as soon as look at you, and that’s just what they’ll do if you’re not careful.”
“You don’t need to tell us dragons are dangerous, sir,” said James earnestly.
“We can see that for ourselves,” Sirius muttered, shooting an apprehensive look at Hua-Ling.
“Good then,” said Stefan, nodding in approval. “Smart boys. Emmeline, would you mind showing Potter and Black to their tents? I assume you brought your overnight bags with you?”
James nodded, pulling a miniature duffel bag out of his pocket and holding it up.
“That’ll keep you until you go back to the regular dorms,” said Stefan. “Even Emmeline here has had to learn to cope, give up some of her more feminine habits.”
“More hygienic is what you mean,” said Emmeline reproachfully. “But what can you do? This way, boys.”
James followed Emmeline around the enclosure to a row of small, canvas two-person tents. “Too much magic on these tents interferes with the spells on the paddock,” Emmeline explained. “You’ll be roughing it somewhat, I’m afraid. Drop your things and Stefan will get you started.”
James and Sirius spent the afternoon with Stefan setting up a larger, more permanent structure to move Hua-Ling into. Despite the help of magic, it was tiring work, and James returned to his and Sirius’ tent that evening exhausted.
“Hey, James, check it out,” said Sirius, rummaging around in his now full-sized bag. “Think we could have a bit of fun with these back at the dorms?”
James looked over to see his friend pull a bulky box onto his cot. “Filibuster’s? Sirius, are you mental?”
Sirius glanced up. “What?”
“What do you think’s gonna happen if one of those goes off?”
“I’m not gonna set them off here, dummy,” said Sirius dismissively. “I’m not an idiot.”
“Sometimes I doubt that,” James muttered, shaking his head. “Put ‘em away, will you?”
Sirius shrugged and stowed the fireworks back in his bag. “Still, some summer job, isn’t it?” he remarked, sprawling out on his bed. “Pretty wicked of your mum to snag it for us.”
“She wanted me out of her hair, is what,” James replied. “You just got lucky.”
After a few minutes the boys decided to turn in. James dozed off to the crickets in the field, and Hua-Ling lowing herself to sleep.
James woke before Sirius the next morning, and noticed the box of fireworks poking out from under Sirius’ cot. James groaned inwardly. Sirius was James’ best friend, but the man could be a complete prat. Who knew what sort of trouble the two teens would be in if one of the keepers found out they were keeping explosives so close to a creature like Hua-Ling?
James peeked out of the tent flap. Used to his luxurious bed at home or his comfortable four-poster at Hogwarts, James had not slept well in the lumpy cot. It was early yet; the clearing was light, but the sun could not yet be seen above the trees. The rain had cleared up overnight, and the morning was cool and still. The remains of a silvery fog still hung about the tents, and the grass was wet with dew. James could see someone down by the far end of the enclosure, but no one else seemed to be up.
James ducked back into the tent and sat on his bed, staring at the fireworks. I’ve got to get rid of them, he thought. ,We can’t get caught with those here. What was he thinking? Although Sirius had said he didn’t intend to use the fireworks while staying in the tents, James couldn’t help but call to mind Sirius’ history. James knew how quickly a thoughtless joke could turn into a near disaster. Before he could change his mind, James seized the box and snuck out of the tent, heading away from the clearing into the forest.
A few metres in, James paused. What am I going to do with them? he wondered. I can’t just leave them somewhere.
After a moment’s thought, it came to him. I’m of age now; I can just Vanish them. Duh, James.
Just as James pulled his wand from his pocket, however, there was a rustle of branches behind him. James turned and almost cursed aloud as he came face to face with Emmeline. She crossed her arms and stood there, waiting for him to speak.
James sighed. “This isn’t what it looks like,” he began.
“I don’t even know what it looks like,” said Emmeline calmly. “So why don’t you tell me what it is?”
James hesitated. “Er, well””
Emmeline turned around as Sirius stumbled in from behind. “James, I saw you heading out here, what are you”oh,” Sirius said, catching sight of the box on the damp ground behind James.
“Sirius,” said James in relief. “Maybe you’d like to explain to Emmeline what I was doing with these?”
Sirius looked between Emmeline and James nervously. “Er…I’m guessing you were going to set them off? That’s what people normally do with fireworks, isn’t it?”
“James Potter,” said Emmeline sharply. “He had better be wrong. I haven’t forgotten the salamander incident, in case you were wondering.”
“Sirius, you know that’s not it,” said James irritably. “Tell her how you brought the fireworks but didn’t intend to use them. I just was being cautious and decided to Vanish them, just to be safe.”
“Sirius?” Emmeline demanded. “You can’t have been so thoughtless as to bring a set of fireworks within fifty metres of a dragon, can you?”
Sirius avoided James’ gaze. “ ‘Course not,” he muttered.
Emmeline turned back to James. “I’m very disappointed in you, James,” she said sternly. James almost smiled as he heard the professor in her tone. “Back to your tent, both of you. I expect you ready for work in fifteen minutes.” She Vanished the fireworks with a sweep of her wand and turned her back on them, walking back toward the clearing.
Sirius still would not meet James’ eye as he asked anxiously, “You won’t tell Stefan, will you?”
Emmeline paused. “Not this time.”
James did not speak to Sirius as they quickly dressed for work, and Sirius followed his lead and prepared for the day in silence. Emmeline and Stefan met them outside, and it was several hours before, during their lunch break, Sirius and James got a moment to themselves.
“Hey, James,” Sirius began, swallowing a bite of his sandwich and meeting his friend’s eyes for the first time all morning.
“Yeah, Sirius?” James replied, looking at Sirius challengingly.
“Er”I didn’t really mean for you to take the blame back there. I just sort of panicked.” Sirius dropped his gaze to the ground. James said nothing. “At least nothing happened, right?”
“Nothing happened?” James repeated. “Apart from Emmeline thinking I’m a stupid kid, you mean.”
“Emmeline’s a little uptight, if you ask me,” Sirius retorted. “What do you care what she thinks?”
James coloured in annoyance. “She decides what happens to us, you dolt, her and Stefan. If you had any brains, you’d care what she thought, too.”
“Whatever.” Sirius dismissed James with a wave of his hand. “You can be a right prat sometimes, you know that?”
“Piss off,” James muttered, turning his back and resuming his meal.
Until the next morning, a hostile silence reigned between James and Sirius, who spoke to each other only in monosyllables and only when their work required it. James sometimes caught Sirius looking as if he wanted to say something, but when he saw James looking, he changed his mind.
Emmeline and Stefan noticed the tension; James saw them exchange curious glances more than once throughout the afternoon. As the evening before, the boys were exhausted when they finished work, and went to bed without a word to each other.
The following day, Emmeline had an announcement for Sirius and James. “One of the Welsh Greens had a couple of eggs that have just hatched,” she told them. “Stefan’s given me permission to take one of you with me to help out with them. Sirius, I think I can trust you to do this. James, you’ll stay and help Stefan finish up here,” she finished, looking coldly at James. Although stung by the injustice, James set his jaw and nodded.
Sirius shuffled his feet and ran a hand through his shaggy black hair. “Actually, Emmeline, I think James should go with you. Out of the two of us, he’s more responsible.”
Emmeline was surprised, and glanced back and forth between the boys. “Sirius, are you sure?”
“Definitely,” said Sirius with confidence. James met his eyes, and Sirius smiled apologetically.
Emmeline nodded slowly. James suspected she guessed more or less what had happened. “All right, then. Sirius, go and report to Stefan. James, you come with me.”
Sirius grinned in relief, and James couldn’t help but smile back as he walked after Emmeline. They passed Hua-Ling’s paddock on their left and the path to the reservation entrance on their right, before taking a path that entered the forest straight in front of them.
“So what is it we need to do?” James asked. “Doesn’t the mother take care of her babies?”
“Normally, yes,” said Emmeline. “But for some unknown reason, this mother has rejected one of her three young. Without our intervention, the other two will kill it as they grow bigger while it starves to death, since the mother won’t bring it food. So, we’ll take care of it until it’s big enough to fend for itself.”
After a few moments, James and Emmeline came to a brick building surrounded by tall evergreens. Emmeline led the way through the doorway, down a corridor and through a door on the right. The first thing James noticed about the room was that it was very clean. There was white tile on the floors and countertops, and white paint on the walls. White light issued from domes on the ceiling. Every surface was spotless. As soon as she entered the room, Emmeline pulled on a white apron over her robes and gestured for James to do the same.
The second thing James noticed was the large wooden box on a counter in the center of the room, from which a small squawking sound was issuing. James walked over to the box and looked inside. A pair of protruding yellow eyes stared up at him. The foot-long baby dragon lay in a blanket of sawdust on bottom of his crate. He cried softly, giving James a curious look. James reached out a cautious hand. The dragon leaned into it slightly. His olive-green scales were still soft.
He seemed frail, almost harmless. In the back of his mind, however, James could see the enormous glittering beast he would become. As he thought this, in fact, the dragon made a sudden movement, and James felt a burning pain in his hand. He jumped back with a yelp.
“You might want these,” said Emmeline, smiling wryly and handing James a pair of dragonhide gloves. James grinned sheepishly and put them on.
“His name’s Lloyd,” Emmeline told James, lifting Lloyd gently out of his crate and setting him on the countertop. “Would you like to feed him?” She reached under the counter and came up with a raw, red hunk of meat.
“Sure,” said James, taking the meat from her awkwardly. “What do I do?”
“Just hold it in front of him, but keep your fingers out of the way,” said Emmeline. “Look, he wants it.”
Indeed, Lloyd was eyeing the meat hungrily. James held it out carefully. Lloyd made a sudden lunge and gobbled the meat in one gulp. He tilted his head back and swallowed, then glanced around eagerly for more. James laughed.
“You still hungry, Lloyd? Here,” James said. Emmeline handed James another piece, and James fed it to Lloyd. With his other hand he stroked the dragon’s back gently. “There’s a good dragon,” James murmured.
Emmeline smiled. “You’re pretty good with him. I think he likes you.”
Lloyd was making some rather odd cooing noises as James stroked him. After a few more bites of food, Emmeline lifted Lloyd back into his crate. James watched him while Emmeline wiped the counter down with a wet rag. Lloyd shuffled around for a bit before lying down and going to sleep. Every few breaths he would give a little snort and a small burst of flame would come from his nostrils.
“Is he snoring?” James asked incredulously, lowering his voice to a whisper so as not to wake Lloyd. James glanced up at Emmeline, whose eyes were alight with laughter. She nodded and put a finger to her lips. She removed her gloves and apron and took James’ from him. Turning off the lights with a flick of her wand, Emmeline shut the door behind James, and they headed back to the clearing where Sirius and Stefan were working.
By the end of June, Sirius had finished helping Stefan and the other keepers transfer Hua-Ling, and Sirius and James both moved into the dorms with the other interns. One cool, starry night, the interns and some of the other staff had a bonfire in a quiet corner of the wood, well away from the sleeping dragons.
One of the older keepers, Grigore, or Old Greg as he told the younger folks to call him, was telling the interns about the days he had spent in the north of Sweden, working with the Swedish Short-Snouts there.
“They used to fly all together late in the evening,” Greg said wistfully, with a faraway look in his eyes. “No Muggles up there, so they flew free. Up above the mountains, you could see them, all silver and shimmery, a great big flock of dragons…”
“You mean a weyr?” interrupted Larry, a short blonde intern who thought very highly of his own knowledge of dragons.
“What’s that?” asked Greg, squinting at him.
“A weyr of dragons. Or a flight, or a wing. Not a flock,” Larry explained.
“Yeah, yeah, a flock of dragons,” Greg repeated, winking at James when Larry turned away in frustration. “Anyway, one night Lars and I, we hiked up to the top of the tallest mountain in the area. Took us all afternoon to get up there, and then we stood in the snow and just watched ‘em, flying up there, with the biggest full moon you ever seen, twice the size of that one there.” He pointed up at the moon, a huge orange orb above the trees. “Just beautiful, they were.”
Over the next few weeks, James and Sirius did various odd jobs around the reservation, together or separately. James tended to work with Emmeline more often, while Sirius stuck with Stefan. Emmeline and James kept checking in on baby Lloyd, who was growing quickly and soon would be moved in with some of the other dragons.
Sirius had attracted the attention of one of the female interns, Marian. Marian was short and rather plump, with curly brown hair and freckles. She was a very sweet girl, and fun to talk to, James thought, but she had developed a habit of shutting up like a clam whenever Sirius was around and simply sitting and staring at him. She was not very subtle about it. Sirius had tried to engage her in conversation one afternoon, and she had turned brick red and stuttered out answers to his questions, finally making an excuse and hurriedly leaving the scene. Sirius had nothing against her, but was at a loss as to how to handle her. James found the entire situation quite amusing.
James, on the other hand, had caught himself staring at Emmeline on more than one occasion. She was your typical blue-eyed blonde, more Peter’s type than James’, but she had a certain mettle to her that caught James’ eye. Her no-nonsense attitude and professional approach to her job were causing James’ thoughts about her to be anything but professional.
Through their visits with Lloyd, James had a lot of time on his own with Emmeline, which did nothing to help his circumstances. It was during one such visit on a rainy afternoon in July that these circumstances came to a climax.
“James, will you start feeding Lloyd while I get his last potions ready?” Emmeline called as she entered the room behind James. In a couple of days, Lloyd was scheduled to be moved in with some other Welsh Greens, but first he had to be protected against certain diseases. James put on his apron and gloves and located Lloyd’s daily meat rations. The now two-metre-long Lloyd was housed in a magically reinforced metal cage in the next room over. Lloyd was dozing when James came in, but he lifted his head and roared in a friendly manner when he heard James’ footsteps.
“Hello there, old boy,” said James, tossing a hunk of meat through the bars of the cage. “Nothing like fresh raw sheep to start the day, is there?” Lloyd gobbled up the meat noisily and looked at James expectantly for more.
“Hold up on that next one,” said Emmeline, coming in with a metal tray in which a dark green liquid was sloshing about. “Soak it in here for a bit. The meat will cover the taste.”
Once Lloyd was fed and watered, James and Emmeline set about cleaning the countertop on which his food and potion had been prepared. “Always leave a room cleaner than you found it,” Emmeline had taught James.
James finished scrubbing the countertop and walked over to the sink, where Emmeline was rinsing her rag. Emmeline turned away from the sink just as James approached. Suddenly James slipped on a wet spot on the floor. He caught the rim of the sink, barely keeping himself from crushing Emmeline. She leaned back, her face barely two centimeters from his.
James’ breath caught in his throat as he looked at her. She was startled, breathing hard in the close space. For a long moment, neither of them moved. Finally, she spoke. “James,” she said, softly, invitingly. James dropped his gaze to her lips. His throat was dry. He swallowed hard. He moved a bit closer.
“James,” she repeated more urgently. James could feel her breath on his face.
“James!” She stood up straight and shoved him away. James slammed into the counter behind him and felt his brain cells jump back into gear. He shook his head violently.
“Sorry, Emmeline, I, er…” James could feel himself turning red. He stared at the ground, catching his breath.
Emmeline sighed. “James,” she said again, gently. “How old are you?”
“Seventeen,” said James in confusion, glancing up at her.
“And how old am I?” Emmeline asked, the remnants of professorial firmness showing on her face.
“I…I dunno,” James admitted.
“I’m twenty-eight,” said Emmeline. James let out a deep breath.
“Yeah…Yeah, you’re right, Emmeline, I’m sorry, I was out of line.” James tossed the rag he still held in his hand into the sink.
Emmeline smiled. “You’re a good kid, James. Let’s go.”
James’ job became fairly uneventful for the next few weeks. Lloyd moved safely to his permanent home. Sirius and James kept on doing odd jobs, although James noticed that lately he had been working more often with Stefan, while Sirius was working with Emmeline. Although it made him feel sheepish, this arrangement suited James, who would rather avoid the awkwardness as much as possible.
James was relaxing in the room he shared with Sirius one evening, when he heard a loud, siren-like noise and red light began pulsing from a device on the ceiling. James ran out into the corridor and saw the other interns poking their heads out of rooms all down the hall.
“What’s going on?” James asked Larry, who despite his pompous attitude could usually be trusted to have the answers to such questions. Larry did not fail him now.
“It’s the emergency alarm system,” Larry said. “Something’s wrong at one of the dragon enclosures, and they need all hands on deck, so to speak. We’d better head outside.”
James hurried down the stairway and out onto the path, where he ran into Sirius. “There you are, mate,” said Sirius, panting. “Come on, this way.”
“What’s going on?” James asked, jogging beside Sirius down the path toward the dragon enclosures.
“One of the Chinese Fireballs escaped into the Peruvian Vipertooth pen,” Sirius explained. “Somehow the magical barriers between them collapsed. Peruvian Vipertooths are really territorial. If we don’t stop them, they’ll tear the Fireball to shreds.”
James and Sirius rounded a bend in the dirt path and came into view of the Vipertooth enclosure. The Fireball stood out dramatically. It was significantly larger than the Vipertooths, with scarlet scales instead of copper. Six or seven Vipertooths surrounded it, snarling menacingly and spreading their wings. It reminded James of a scene from a dinosaur book his mother had bought him when he was younger. A lot of small dinosaurs had surrounded a huge one and brought it down by all jumping on it at once. James could see that Sirius was right. The Fireball was history if the keepers didn’t do something, and fast.
“How did the barrier collapse?” James asked Sirius.
“No one seems to know,” Sirius replied as they jogged toward Stefan and Emmeline, who stood conversing urgently together near the fence. “But by the look on Stefan’s face, whoever messed up is gonna have hell to pay when this is over.”
“Stefan,” James called out. “What can we do?”
“Oh, good,” said Stefan, looking up at them. “I’ve got all the professionals trying to get the barrier ready to go back up so that once we get the Fireball back where he belongs, he’ll stay there. I need you two to go and round up the other interns. We need to incapacitate the Fireball and move him back into his own enclosure.”
“Sounds great,” said Sirius. He clapped his hands together in front of him and shook his head incredulously. “How are we going to do that?”
Stefan puffed out his cheeks and let out his breath in a long whoosh. “Gather the interns, Black. I’ll tell you when you get back.”
Sirius and James trotted back down the path toward their lodgings. Larry had done a fairly efficient job of gathering the anxious interns and hurrying them toward the enclosures. Sirius and James met them halfway and urged them on. The group arrived back on the scene, and Stefan jogged to meet them.
“All right, everyone, this is the plan,” he shouted, planting himself in front of them, his deep voice booming over them and startling them into silence. “Does everyone know how to cast a Stunner?” Heads nodded. “Okay. We’re going to need all of you to cast a Stunner at the same time, on my count. The target is that big red dragon over there. Everyone get over there and spread yourselves out along the fence.”
Once the interns were spaced along the fence, Stefan raised his arm and shouted, “On three! One, two, three!”
A resounding “Stupefy!” rang through the clearing. Nearly all the red jets hit their mark. The Fireball collapsed on the ground. Almost immediately the Vipertooths moved in closer, baring their teeth and growling.
“Now Wingardium Leviosa on three!” Stefan yelled. “One, two, three!”
With the help of shouted orders from Stefan, the interns guided the Fireball over the fence and into its enclosure. They set it down gently, just as it woke from the spells. Emmeline ran forward to help get the magical barriers back up before the Fireball could get its bearings.
Suddenly there was an ear-splitting screech. One of the more aggressive Vipertooths had, in the split second that the barriers were down, leapt over the fence and landed on the ground behind the interns. Several people had to dive out of the way of its swishing tail as it swung its great head from side to side. James saw a hungry glint in its yellow eyes. He realized with a sickening jolt that it had locked its gaze on Emmeline, trapped between it and the fence.
Emmeline stared at the dragon, too terrified to run. Without thinking, James bolted towards her, brandishing his wand. “Get its eyes!” he heard Larry shout.
“Caecas ocules!” James bellowed, jabbing his wand at the dragon’s face. The Vipertooth howled and threw back its head in pain.
“Now!” Stefan roared. The interns Stunned the Vipertooth, which fell to the ground with a heavy thud, its snout not half a meter from James’ feet. Quickly, the Vipertooth was levitated back inside the fence and the barriers were raised.
“Nice Conjunctivitis curse, James!” Larry exclaimed. James nodded in acknowledgement, bending over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
Emmeline still had not moved. James turned around and stepped toward her. “You all right, Emmeline?” She took a deep breath and nodded.
Emmeline cleared her throat and recovered herself. “Very nice work, everyone. I’m proud of all of you.” Her eyes rested on James as she said it. “Now that the disaster has been averted, you can all go back and enjoy your night off.”
The interns dispersed, talking loudly about what had happened. Sirius hung back, and James waited with him. “Do we have any idea how that happened?” Sirius asked Stefan.
Stefan shook his head. “The barriers don’t just come down. They would have to be actively removed.”
“Someone took them down on purpose?” said James incredulously. “Why?”
Before Stefan could answer, one of the keepers, a small man named Anton, came running into the clearing. “Stefan,” he said breathlessly. “You’ve got”to come quick. Hua-Ling”the Fireball, she’s having a fit”one of her eggs is missing.”