A Small Continuation Of Charlie Weasleys Life Story. Picks Up Where I Left Off Here.

A small continuation of Charlie Weasley’s life story. Picks up where I left off here.

A few years after the war, while the Weasley clan and the Ministry of Magic itself is still reeling and trying to figure out the right ways to proceed, Charlie is working at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes and trying to plan his next step. Ideally, he’d be working with his hands, absorbing himself in his work as completely as he did when he was working with dragons. It’s been nice, though, being so close to everyone, and to be on hand when George needs someone to cry to.

The family is having Sunday dinner, everyone’s a little tipsy, and an idea begins to form in Charlie’s head while Ron is telling the dragon at Gringrotts story again.

The institutionalized fear, concealment, and killing of dragons…What if that never had to happen again? What if there were a place for dragons in England? What if we had a sanctuary so we could stop illegal trading? What if I could protect them?

The problem isn’t so much the traders individually, because they buy and sell whatever they can get, it’s the fact that all of it is done underground and everyone - dragons, buyers, and sellers - ends up hurt. What if the laws meant to protect wizards and muggles alike from the dangers of unchecked dragon populations were shifted? What if no one had to be caught in that cycle anymore?

It takes a couple of frantic days and sleepless nights, but very soon, Charlie has drawn up a detailed plan for a ranch similar to the one he’d worked in Romania, but adjusted for England’s stricter rules. Thought it’s a little known, due to his quiet, relaxed aura, Charlie is just as nerdy as Percy, and just as thorough. The plan is complete with visual aids, and list after list after list of to-do’s, and S.M.A.R.T. goals.

An important piece of the plan is, of course, his partner in crime. Who would he want by his side in this, but the only other dragon-crazy git in England?

He stops by Hagrid’s hut late one evening, crazed with the sleeplessness of planning, and lays out everything he wants the ranch to be, how beautiful a place for dragons to breed, recover, and live in safety, away from Muggles and Ministry laws. How the two of them could work with dragons full time, always. Live and breathe their shared passion.

Hagrid agrees, of course, and Charlie takes the plan to his favorite sister-in-law, who happens to be the Head of the new and improved Department of Magical Creatures.

Hermione says that if they can get the funding together, the project really would make sense for everyone.

It takes a year or two of intense planning, campaigning, budgeting, and eventually using the funds from the deserted Lestrange vault, where the dragon who had started the whole idea in the first place, had been contained for so many years, but the ranch dream becomes a reality.

Hagrid and Charlie work together as a seamless team, buying dragons and dragon eggs off of illegal traders, living on the ranch in a cottage designed for the rural life the two of them were embarking upon.

A few Shield Charmers come to the open field they’ve chosen for the project, set up a big enough space for the creatures to fly free, without bothering the people nearby, and it begins.

Dragon-related crime stalls in its tracks, and dragon-related incidents affecting both wizards and muggles stop entirely. The ranch, this crazy dream, is working.

Charlie works with dragons of all ages, sizes, temperaments, and breeds; grows orchids in the back garden; learns to cook simply but deliciously, and enjoys the rough, real work.

He and Hagrid get close, of course, working and living so closely together, and Charlie is more comfortable with this arrangement than he’s ever been with anything ever. The work, and his partner in crime, fill him a purpose and inner peace he’s sure is what everyone must be looking for in romance.

And he’s found it.