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Charlie met Bill outside the portkey arrivals in Bucharest and then Apparated them to his new house in the mountains near Transylvania. Charlie had shown up wearing a lime green dragonhide jacket. It was the second thing about this visit that gave Bill pause—the first being how vague on details Charlie had been in his letter inviting Bill. Usually he’d provide his full work schedule as an addendum.
Charlie typically never wore anything made of dragon material except the protective gear for his job at the Dragon Sanctuary. In fact, he’d been urging the International Confederation of Wizards for years to introduce legislation protecting dragons from being farmed worldwide. So a dragonhide jacket was unsettling.
“Welcome to my new home!” Charlie pronounced as they entered a tiny shack precariously perched on the mountainside. Even with magic, Bill wasn’t even positive how it was standing. The interior had an Extension Charm and featured three modest rooms—living, kitchen, and bedroom.
“Am I sleeping on the sofa?” Bill asked, eying the shabby piece of furniture.
“The bed’s large enough to share.” Charlie scuffed his foot on the ground. “Usually I just sleep on the floor though, so you probably can just have the bed. I’m used to it. I don’t mind.”
“We can share. It’s not a big deal. I’m sure you’re a sounder sleeper than Fleur anyway. She’s always kicking me throughout the night.” Bill laughed and set his small bag on the floor.
“I’m glad you could come,” Charlie said, threading his fingers through loose strands of his chin-length red hair.
Bill pulled his brother into one of their usual long hugs. Charlie squeezed him tightly back, not letting go for long enough to form worry in the pit of Bill’s stomach. This was marker three. Something was wrong.
“Let’s sit,” Bill said. He sat down gently on the sofa, worried too much sudden pressure might snap it in half.
Charlie perched on the armrest, one foot on the sofa cushion and a knee pulled to his chest. He rested his chin on it and smiled at his brother.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he reiterated.
“Me too.” Bill smiled. “Your jacket is an interesting color. What’s it made out of?”
“It’s dragonhide. And before you get all worried, it’s from a Croatian Citron I found dead on a trip to the Dalmatian Coast.”
“I’ve never heard of Croatian Citrons,” Bill said, relieved that Charlie hadn’t completely changed his tune on dragonhide.
“They’re very rare. They live in coastal cliffs and hunt sea creatures, mostly. Sometimes people mistake them for krakens, but they’re definitely nothing alike.”
Bill nodded, unfamiliar with krakens beyond that they lived in the ocean and looked nothing like the cephalopod-like sea monster of Muggle myth.
“So, how have you been? What prompted you to get a new place? I feel like we haven’t really talked since Fred’s funeral.” Bill hoped to get to the heart of whatever was going on with his brother.
It was true they hadn’t had a real conversation for two years, but Bill blamed that on himself for being so busy trying to help Percy cope with Fred’s death when no one else knew how to deal with his grief. Then he and Fleur had Victoire and any extra energy and time he’d had was claimed by his daughter. Sitting here now in Charlie’s little shack, he remembered communication worked both ways. Charlie hadn’t written either.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I promise it wasn’t intentional. I’ve had…Well, there’s been a lot going on.” Charlie swallowed hard and looked at the door in the back of the room.
“What’s been going on?” Bill asked gently.
Charlie took a deep breath and looked back at him. “I invited you here for a reason. I want to introduce you to someone who’s become very important to me. You’re the only person I trust with this right now.”
Bill sat up straighter. Has Charlie met someone? Why all the secrecy though?
“Before I introduce you, I need to just be sure you’re comfortable with this. You cannot tell anyone what I’m about to show you.” Charlie gave him a serious look, the kind Bill recognized from when Charlie had first told their parents he was becoming a Magizoologist to study dragons.
Charlie’s final sentence did not seem in line with him introducing Bill to someone he’d met, and Bill’s concern grew.
“Charlie, are you doing something illegal?”
“Well, strictly speaking, it’s not exactly above board with the law. However, the law isn’t exactly above board on this! It’s a very shortsighted law, like most Wizarding laws when you really think about it. Take Rappaport’s Law, for example. Whoever thought that was a good idea? But it stuck around until the 1960s!”
Charlie only launched into diatribes when he was worried about disapproval or trying to get out of a particularly complicated scrape of trouble. Bill hoped now it was only the former.
“Don’t worry, I report to Goblins, and they hate Wizarding Law almost as much as you. But…you’re not in actual trouble with the law, are you?” Bill asked.
“No, nothing like that. I wouldn’t involve you in something like that,” Charlie said, affronted by Bill’s assumptions.
“Oh, okay. Well, you know you can trust me with anything, right? Even if you were in actual trouble, I’m here for you. We’re brothers.”
“I know. Why do you think I asked you here specifically?” Charlie laughed. “But seriously, you cannot tell anyone. This is of critical importance. Lives will be put at risk if you tell anyone.”
“I promise I won’t tell anyone. You have my word,” Bill assured him.
Charlie exhaled with relief at Bill’s promise. A broad smile then lit up his face. His sky-blue eyes, which matched Bill’s in color, twinkled with giddiness. “All right, great, come with me!”
He led them through the back door into a vestibule. There were all sorts of dragon care tools Bill recognized from his last trip to Romania years ago. Charlie had still been living at the Dragon Sanctuary then.
“Are you introducing me to a dragon?” he asked cautiously.
“Well, yes,” Charlie said. “Do you remember the protocol?”
“I think so, but best to go over it again.”
“Absolutely! Plus, this species is a bit particular. Different than standard.”
Bill chuckled. Only Charlie would consider some dragons ‘standard.’
Charlie handed him lime green dragonhide gauntlets. “Put these on.”
“Are these from the same dragon as your jacket?” Bill asked as he pulled the heavy material over his hands.
“Yes, he was the mate of the dragon I’m introducing you to,” Charlie explained. “Okay, so, you want to be very still when you first enter. Let her get used to your smell. I’ll talk to her and make sure she knows you’re safe. She knows me. If she rejects new company, I’ll yell, ‘Run!’ And, well, you’ll want to immediately Disapparate elsewhere so she can’t kill you.”
“Is she likely to kill me?” Bill asked, trying to stay calm. He’d faced worse than a dragon as a Curse Breaker.
“No, no, she’s very sweet. Docile through and through. I wouldn’t introduce you if she wasn’t. No need to stress her out like that!” Charlie said. “Okay, so this is very important. When you meet the baby, you can only touch him with the gauntlets or else he’ll bond to your scent and that would be extremely problematic.”
“Wait, there’s a baby dragon?” Bill gaped.
“I didn’t say that before?” Charlie’s ears grew pink.
“No.”
“Er, well, when I found her, she had two eggs, but only one of them made it after we relocated here.”
“Charlie, you what ?”
“Er, I relocated them here so they would be safe.” His entire face was pink now.
“With the help of the Sanctuary, right?” Bill pressed.
“Erm, well, not exactly, no.”
Bill stared at him, trying his best not to channel their mother’s wrath. A million questions went through his mind: What on earth is Charlie thinking? Does the Sanctuary know? Has he lost his job?
He settled on asking, “What’s actually going on, Charlie?”
“It’s just as I’ve said. I found a dead male Croatian Citron. He was the mate of another Citron, and I rescued her and her eggs from the exposure they would have had in Croatia without his protection. The Citrons mate for life.”
Bill couldn’t help but laugh. Finally, he asked, “When was this?”
“Six months ago.”
“All right, introduce me to them,” Bill said.
“You’re not angry?”
“No, I am just…amused. I doubt anyone else could relocate a dragon family without help. The ones you brought to Hogwarts six years ago required a massive team and a ton of Sleeping Draught.”
“True,” Charlie said distantly. “Okay, you ready?”
Bill nodded and Charlie opened the door on the opposite end of the vestibule. Bill expected them to go outside and Disapparate to the nest but found himself inside a cave. The house’s impossible layout suddenly made sense. It was built in front of a mountainside cave and the Croatian Citrons lived in cliffsides.
“Now stand there, near the door, very still. I’ll let her know I’m here and let her smell you.” Charlie disappeared into the cave’s depths. Bill heard him talking but couldn’t make out the words.
After what seemed like an hour, Charlie called out, “Okay, it’s safe.”
Bill cast, “ Lumos ,” and wandered into the cave. The spell was soon pointless as he rounded a bend in the rock formation and sunlight streamed in through a wide opening in the cliffside. It was a sheer drop-off, yet Charlie stood right on the edge beside a massive whitish grey dragon.
“I expected lime green,” Bill said as the dragon appraised him.
“Only the males. The females are camouflaged with the cliffs, though both are bioluminescent at night. It’s quite spectacular!” Charlie explained. He motioned Bill over. “You can come closer.”
As Bill approached, Charlie lifted the dragon’s wing gently, exposing a vivid lime green baby underneath. For a six-month-old, he was still nearly a half meter high on four legs. Bill imagined his wingspan was two meters easily.
The baby dragon peered up at him with bright, orange eyes. Charlie nudged him with his foot, and he waddled forward awkwardly.
“He’s better in the air,” Charlie said with an almost paternal affection.
“Am I supposed to pick him up?” Bill asked, his eyes still on the baby.
“If you want.”
“What if I bond with him accidentally?”
Charlie scooped the baby up into his arms easily and handed him to Bill. “You won’t with the gauntlets.”
Bill took him hesitantly, expecting the worst. The dragon circled around with tiny steps on his outstretched arms and then settled into a curled-up ball.
“He likes you!” Charlie cried proudly.
Bill smiled at his brother. This was only slightly different than holding a real baby.
“All right, now that you’ve met everyone, there’s something I want to show you.” Charlie said, sounding nervous.
“Something else?” Bill frowned.
Charlie nodded. “Now, promise you won’t freak out?”
“I promise.”
Charlie stepped backwards off the cliff and Bill screamed. The mother dragon leapt off the cliff as well, and the baby flapped open his wingspan and followed them.
“Charlie?!” Bill cried, rushing to the edge.
He barely got out his name before a massive lime green dragon hovered before him, an orange eye fixing him with a friendly stare.
“Charlie?” Bill gasped. He knew it was him though because the speckles across the dragon’s underbelly resembled Charlie’s freckles.
The three dragons took off for a flight. It dawned on Bill that Charlie had relocated them here as a dragon, not as a human. He was an illegal Animagus. That was the big secret.
He settled into the cave to think. It was illegal for your Animagus to be an XXXXX-rated beast, so Bill knew he was unregistered. Still, this wasn’t as bad as Charlie had made it seem.
/\/\/\
Later on, after they’d eaten dinner on the sofa and Charlie had elaborated on everything, Bill finally said, “I still don’t get it. Sure, you’re an illegal Animagus, but you made it seem like this was a bigger deal.”
“Well, there’s more,” Charlie said, looking down as he worried his lip.
Bill waited.
“I’m going to take care of them, as you know, except that I’m not going to do it as a human.”
“All right, but how’s that any different from what I saw today?”
“Well, I’ve been living here for six months now, and this is the longest I’ve been in human form during that time,” Charlie said quickly.
“Oh.”
“And it’s going to take about two years for the baby to be able to live on his own. So, I won’t be able to visit England or have anyone here, really. Except you, I suppose, since you know.”
“Two years? You’re going to be a dragon for two years?!” Bill exclaimed.
“That’s the plan.”
“Sorry, Charlie. I'd love to support you in this, but this is a bad idea.” Bill shook his head. “Think about Mum and Dad. They’ll want to see you.”
“Mum and Dad barely see me as it is. They’ll be fine,” Charlie insisted.
“Well, what about Victoire? She’ll be three by then. You’ll miss everything! Does my child mean nothing to you?” Bill pushed back.
Charlie’s eyes narrowed into an expression Bill didn’t recognize. “What about my child?”
“Your child? The dragon, you mean?”
“Yes,” Charlie hissed. ”While I can’t actually father any dragons since I’m not a real dragon, I still consider him mine.”
Bill stared at his brother, hoping to find his expression falter into laughter, but Charlie was dead serious.
“I don’t know what to say,” Bill finally managed in a small voice.
“What I really want to tell you is that I’m happier as a dragon. I feel most myself as a dragon,” Charlie said. “You act like two years is a lifetime, but it seems like a moment to me. It’s not enough time. I want to just be a dragon forever.”
Bill was thunderstruck. What does Charlie even mean? Does he no longer want to be human? Can someone even be an Animagus forever? “Is that even possible? I don’t know how Animagi work.”
“It’s possible.” Charlie breathed. His worried look betrayed all his fear of Bill’s rejection.
Bill pulled himself together best he could to reassure his brother. “I want to understand, I do. I just don’t know how yet. I would miss you. We would all miss you. It’d be like you were walking away from your family forever.”
“That’s the thing, I don’t see it that way. This is who I am, and the two Citrons out there are my family.” Charlie motioned towards the back door.
“Yes, but, while the Delacours are my family now, I still consider the Weasleys my family, too. Why would you choose just one?”
“I can’t just tell everyone. Mum and Dad wouldn’t understand. They’d try to stop me, and I don’t want that. You don’t even understand, and I thought you’d be the most likely.” Charlie said. “When I’m the Citron, I feel right. I feel like my true self. Listen, I’ve felt connected to my work before in that way where it’s just sheer happiness. Like how you must feel when you break a particularly difficult curse. You know what I mean?”
Bill nodded. He knew that exact feeling.
“Well, it’s not like that feeling at all. It’s something else entirely. It’s like I’m finally how I was meant to be.”
Bill nodded again, but this time he didn’t understand what Charlie meant. Instead of asking more questions though, he pulled his brother into a tight hug.
“I love you, Charlie.”
“Love you, too.”
They went to bed shortly after, and even though Bill’s head was swimming with confusion and shock, he fell asleep quickly.
Some hours later, he woke feeling cold and noticed he’d kicked off the covers. Reaching over, he realized he was alone.
“Charlie?” he called into the dark bedroom.
There was no answer. He unsheathed his wand from its ankle holster and went into the living room, casting, “ Lumos .”
The small room was empty. Bill inched into the kitchen, which also was empty. He remembered what Charlie had said when they’d first arrived, ‘Usually I just sleep on the floor.’
Bill looked towards the back door. He hadn’t meant the bedroom floor.
He went into the vestibule, pulled on the dragonhide gauntlets, and entered the cave. It was pitch black. The noise of the night’s wind was the only sound. Bill cast, “ Lumos ,” again to brighten his wand tip further. Its increased light cast long shadows across the space. A shiver went down Bill’s spine, but he crept forward, listening for the sounds of sleeping dragons. All he could hear was the wind.
He reached the bend in the cave and the wind rushed through the cliffside opening. The cave was empty. Bill wondered if he was dreaming. The stars shone brightly, unhindered by Muggle light pollution in these remote mountains. Suddenly, a streak of lime green crossed the sky. Before Bill could process it, another streak followed.
“Charlie?” he wondered aloud.
Moments later the dragons were hovering in front of him in midair, the baby fluttering playfully around his mother. Their skin glowed a bioluminescent lime green, almost a citron color. It illuminated the entire cave.
The sight of it was so stunning that Bill accidentally dropped his wand. It rolled off the edge and fell into the night. The speckled dragon—Charlie—dove to retrieve it in a flash of green. He returned it to Bill with his talon. They looked into each other, two sky-blue eyes mesmerized by an orange one, and Bill understood. He sheathed his wand and smiled. This was who his brother was now, and he was beautiful.