poly_chromatic

When you've got a dragon keeper for an older brother, you tend to pick up a few things about his studies. So let's cover the basics, shall we, before it all gets more out of hand—and keep in mind that the dragons I know are probably not the same as this lot but there's got to be some overlap, right?

1. Most breeds aren't fully mature until they're about two years old, but since this is the City, we're going to have to ignore the logic of this part. Because obviously fire-breathing and flying are coming along quite nicely. Lovely.

2. For the love of Merlin, don't approach them alone. Or even unarmed. No, it doesn't matter how big or small they are. It's still a dragon. Charlie might love them but that doesn't stop him from getting hurt on the job, trained to handle them or not. Back home, it takes about a dozen wands to Stun a dragon and you're mad if you think you could take one alone. (And that's coming from me.) There's a reason dragon hide's so valuable; it's one of the toughest, strongest things out there. Magic can get through it but it takes a lot.

3. Following up on #2, don't hack them off. You might think fire's all they've got against you and if you can protect yourself from that, then you're alright, but they've got claws and their tails could snap you properly in half if you aren't paying attention. Sometimes they'll have horns or spines. Every bit of them could be a weapon. That being said—

4. Leave them alone. There's no predicting anything in this place, but dragons are animals, really, so how much different would they be? You don't just corner a unicorn and expect it to adore you because you're a nice person. They don't know that about you, do they? People get gored by unicorns if they aren't careful. Don't provoke the poor things if they aren't doing anything.

5. But I've got my wand if you need anything. I'm no Harry Potter, I haven't dueled a dragon by myself, but I've seen it and I know it can be done. And that's all that matters, isn't it?

I'm sure we all wish Charlie Weasley was the one here for this mess, but he's the only one in my family who hasn't come by the City. Not even on a visitor's weekend. So you'll have to make do with whatever I can remember from his stories about Romania and hope we won't have to make our own.

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Oh, you are godsent.

Am I?

[She seems amused but at the same time, she's distracted, eyeing her own steadily growing dragon offscreen.]

Mine's kind of ... friendly. Is it supposed to be friendly?

I mean, I suppose they could be. Like I said, I don't know if these dragons are like the ones from home.

[Ginny looks thoughtful, biting her lip.]

Suppose you treated it right when it was little. Or it's a friendly breed?

Chicken just seems to want to eat my hair.

[ Yea, they called their dragon Chicken. ] Or my sketchbooks. He doesn't seem interested in aything else.

You know dragons. Clary has one. We have one, I suppose. It likes to eat a lot of things.

Maybe if you give him something else, he'll leave those alone.

[Pause.]

His name is Chicken?

I know just what I've heard from my brother and in class. We don't really, er, cover dragons in Care of Magical Creatures since you can't exactly keep them as a pet.

[Doesn't mean their professor didn't try. Thanks, Hagrid.]

Of course, people'll still try.

[Hers was sweet until it started to get bigger.]

Yeah, uhm...Chicken seems pretty harmless for now, save for the rapidly growing collection of stuff he's been chewing on. I think Clary's too taken with him - and the idea of flying on him.

Flying on him?

[That would be brilliant. But. Dragons.]

Harry dueled a dragon? How did that go?

Uh, I guess it went well, but I mean. How'd he do it?

[She smiles, because the memory was terrifying when it happened but looking back, it's alright.]

He outflew it.

Out...flew it-- On a broom?

Yeah. The task was all about getting to this golden egg and they were nesting mothers. So instead of trying to overpower it with magic like everyone else, he used his broom.