Written for the Triwizard Challenge.

Plot 4 – Harry was tired of his life. He knew he had told McGonagall that he wanted to be an Auror, but truthfully he had only said it because it was what was expected of him. But he was so tired of it. After that awful year on the run the last thing he wanted was to hunt down Dark Wizards. Besides, he truly didn't want to work for the Ministry. Then in waltzes Charlie Weasley, with his tales of dragons, and flying, and freedom. Nothing had ever sounded better to Harry. Harry found a life in Romania that he never thought he could have, and if he fell in love with a certain red-headed dragon tamer that had enticed him to this life in the first place... well, that just made life even better.

Rules for this task:

Multi-chapter is allowed.

3 chapters max.

Word minimum per chapter 2500 words, word maximum per chapter 5000 words

Bonus points awarded if it's a multi-chapter. 5 points per chapter.

1 bonus point for every 150 words over 3500 words in the multi-chapters

Taming the Dragon

Chapter 1 of 3

Thanks to Firefly81 and RedButterfly33 for helping with this story, and Firefly81 for betaing it. :)

Harry stared at the thin pamphlet in his hand. Professor McGonagall had handed it to him a few minutes before, and Harry could only stare dumbly at it.

He had forgotten that he had wanted to be an Auror before the final battle. It seemed so long ago now.

So many things had changed. No longer did Harry feel that it was his duty to keep the wizarding world safe, and he knew it wasn't what he wanted any longer. He even questioned if he really did want to do it when he was younger, or if he felt it was something he had to do.

He turned the pamphlet over in his hands, his eyes moving uninterestedly across the back, before he dropped it onto the table. He couldn't even bring himself to open it up and read what it said inside.

Harry's gaze moved to Ron, who was seated next to him, holding a copy of the same pamphlet. The expression on Ron's face was the complete opposite to how Harry imagined his own to be. Ron was flicking through his, an eager grin on his face. "This looks amazing," Ron muttered, more to himself than to Harry. He turned his head, catching Harry's eye. "We might be partners or something?"

Harry nodded, forcing a smile onto his lips. He didn't want to let Ron down, but surely he had done enough fighting to last a lifetime? He knew without a doubt that he didn't want to do this for the rest of his life, but it seemed that it was what everyone expected of him.

He had been wishing for something else to come up but didn't know what. He hoped that someone would mention a job to him, and it would just hit him that it was the perfect role.

But that didn't seem to want to happen.

His gaze moved around the Great Hall, taking in all the students that seemed to know what they wanted to do with their lives. His gaze settled on the girl in the seat facing his, who was sorting a rather large stack of pamphlets into piles.

He watched in confusion as she picked up the first pile and spread the pamphlets out, before arranging them into an order, though he wasn't sure what the order meant. She followed suit with the second and third piles, frowning as she did so.

It was only then that Hermione looked up, looking a bit embarrassed at being caught making a fuss over the leaflets.

Harry glanced down one last time at his own, before pushing it away. He wanted to be like Hermione, with too much choice, rather than just one.

Ron didn't seem to notice Harry's distracted state, too focused on the Auror career he was looking to pursue.

Harry continued to nod along to Ron's words, though he didn't hear most of what Ron was saying. His eyes were fixed on the pamphlets that Hermione had spread out across the table again. His eyes searched the names, hoping something would grab his attention.

But nothing did.

...oOo…

It was a couple of weeks before they left Hogwarts, Harry without a single clue of what to do with his life. He was quite envious of both Ron and Hermione.

Ron was set on being an Auror, he knew exactly what he wanted to do with his future.

Hermione was still weighing her options. Instead of having no idea what to do with her future, the problem Hermione faced was having way too many choices. She was a skilled witch that wanted to make a difference in the wizarding world but didn't know where to start.

Harry wished it was that easy for him.

...oOo…

He sat at breakfast with Hermione, Sirius, and Remus. Hermione was eating quietly at the table, and Remus was nodding along to Sirius' ramblings.

"I don't think I want to be an Auror," Harry blurted out, looking between his Godfather and Remus. The two men looked away from each other, their gazes falling on Harry.

Hermione put down her fork. "Well, it's about time," she said. "We've been waiting for you to say that for months now. When did you realise this?"

"When McGonagall passed out the pamphlets to us," Harry said. He frowned. "We've been waiting? Who are 'we'?"

"Well, I had a feeling that you wouldn't want to fight anymore," Sirius said. "Remus agreed with that. Plus, Hermione noticed you didn't have any interest in the Auror information and were looking at the ones she had, so it wasn't hard to work it all out."

"You fought because you felt you had to," Remus said. "You didn't sign up for that and never agreed to do it for the rest of your life. You've fought the battle that was forced on you, so let the world deal with everything else. It's about time you done something for yourself. There will be other Aurors."

"Any ideas what you would like to do?" Sirius asked.

"I haven't got a clue," Harry admitted. "I've been thinking about what I could do for weeks, and there is nothing coming to mind."

"I did think you would try out for Professional Quidditch," Hermione began. "But I personally think you'd be wasted there; you're smart enough to do a lot of things. But you love flying, you keep telling me how amazing it feels."

Harry nodded his head. "It really does," he replied. "But I'm not sure that I want a career that involves spending most of my time on a broomstick."

"What about a job at the bank?" Hermione quickly offered. "I have some information on bank-tellers. They want humans because they hope to get the Goblins and Wizards and Witches -"

"Thanks, but no," Harry replied, not eager at all to hear anything about Goblins and Wizards. He knew if Hermione got started, she would be going for ages. "That sounds a bit dull to be honest."

Hermione sighed and nodded. "I have to agree with you," she replied. "Though I've kept them in my maybe pile. I mean, the chance to be one of the first witches to actually be a trusted employee in the bank, doing roles that only Goblins have done for -"

"Still sounds pretty dull Kitten," Sirius finished. "Put that big brain of yours to better use - you don't want to pick something like that and just have a mundane job that'll bore you, you need something that will challenge you."

She nodded her head. "I'm still deciding myself," she replied, reaching for her fork again.

"If I recall, you made an excellent teacher for a certain illegal club," Remus replied, the corner of his mouth twitching in amusement as he turned his attention back to Harry.

Harry shook his head, looking downcast at the inevitable future of nothingness he was likely to face.

"Why don't I head upstairs after breakfast and get all my information? Maybe something there will strike your fancy?" Hermione suggested. "I have a lot of information so surely something would be good?"

"There's always travelling? Maybe you could go for a few months and relax and have a break - a holiday - and that might help you clear your head and give you an idea of what you want to do," Sirius suggested.

"I've already done enough travelling," Harry muttered, referring to the time that the trio had been on the run. "I'm not looking to do anything like that again. All I want to do is work out what to do with the rest of my life, before climbing into my nice, warm and comfortable bed each night."

"Not all travelling is sleeping in tents and scrounging for food," Hermione stated. "You could do the sort of travelling that involves comfortable hotel rooms and buffets."

"Fancy joining me?" Harry asked hopefully.

"I don't have time for a holiday," she replied. "Maybe once I've worked out what to do. There are so many options. I know Minerva hinted at me returning and training as a Professor, and it would be beneficial to teach a new generation, but in doing that, I could miss out on the chance to be a liaison between Wizards and other magical beasts? Or maybe a career in Wizarding law?" She stared off into space, and the three men turned away from her.

"Well, I believe the Weasleys are planning a welcome home party on Sunday," Remus stated. "We've all, of course, been invited. Arthur might be able to think of something at the Ministry that is more suited to whatever it is that you are looking for. Maybe he'll bring you to the Ministry with him one day and you can look around?"

"Yeah," Harry said, with a hint of doubt in his voice. But it wasn't like he had many other options. "Wait - welcome home? Who is coming home?"

"Bill and Charlie," Remus replied. "Charlie has some holiday from his job, and Bill's booked his own to coincide so the family can all have a couple of weeks together."

"Wait - Bill Weasley is coming back?" Clearly this piece of information was enough to break Hermione out of her dream world, and judging by the look on her face, it was enough to send her into a whole other dream.

Harry tried to hold back a snort as Remus looked slightly amused. Sirius seemed oblivious.

"How is Bill?" she asked, looking at Remus. "I saw Fleur in Diagon Alley the other day. She looked really different - her hair was cut shorter, and she was dressing completely different. She also looked like she was going to hex anyone who spoke to her."

Remus and Sirius exchanged looks, a silent debate going on between them. Harry and Hermione both forgot about what to do for their futures for a moment as they eagerly waited for some juicy gossip that Sirius looked eager to spill.

Finally Remus sighed and turned back to his food. Hermione and Harry waited for Sirius to tell them what was happening.

"Bill and Fleur's divorce has just come through," Sirius said, taking delight in the shocked looks. "Since Greyback gave Bill the scar, things have been a struggle between them."

"But that was before the wedding!" Hermione exclaimed.

Sirius nodded. "True," he replied. "And we think that she married him out of a sense of pride or something… Bill didn't really tell us that part yet. But she couldn't handle Bill's wolfish tendencies or his scars."

"They seemed close when we were there," Hermione said.

"Actually," Harry commented. "You weren't awake a lot there. Now that I think about it, I didn't see them much around each other at the time. I just thought it was the stress of the war, or because we were there or something…"

Remus shook his head. "I believe that Bill was already in the guest room at that point," he said. "The day after the final battle, the divorce application was filed."

"Another marriage during a war that seemed like a good idea at the time," Sirius commented.

Remus shook his head. "I don't believe my marriage to Dora was a mistake," he said. "I may not have loved her like I love you, but I saw a future with her, and she gave me a beautiful son."

"Speaking of Teddy, is he still at Andy's?"

Remus nodded. "Andy's still grieving hard for Ted and Dora. If having Teddy there a bit extra helps her... "

Sirius nodded.

"So… what does Molly think of all this?" Hermione asked, noting the sad expressions overcoming the men's faces.

"She is quite upset," Remus replied. "Divorces between witches and wizards are quite rare after all, but due to Bill's attack and the side-effects, the laws were easy on Fleur being able to get out of the marriage."

"That is ridiculous," Hermione said, frowning. "They shouldn't even have those laws at all. If you love someone and they get bitten or turned, you'd still love them because they are still the same person -"

"That is why I love you so much," Sirius interrupted, grinning at her. "Because you think a lot like I do. I fell in love with Remus. Do you think his Lycanthropy made the slightest bit of difference to how I felt about him? Not at all. In fact, werewolves have an increased libido, which is an amazing thing and-"

"I don't think they want to hear any more," Remus said, smiling at him. "Back to what we were saying - even though the laws make it easy, it's still unheard of for a couple to get divorced. Both parties have to agree."

Hermione's eyebrows widened. "So Bill just…"

"He was quite sure that if she wanted a divorce, he wasn't going to stop her. He would fight up until the moment she applied. He said that he didn't want to force her to stay with him if she truly didn't love him and didn't see a future with him," Remus continued.

"So, that's it - Fleur doesn't love him?" Hermione asked, her voice raising. "Just because he has a few wolfish tendencies?" Harry put a hand on her arm in hopes of calming her down.

"It's better that it happened now, rather than when children were born, or a few years in the future," Remus told her. "Bill will get his confidence back and be looking for a woman that will look past the scars."

There was a long silence around the table.

"I'm not so sure I want to work at the Ministry either," Harry admitted, his focus on his breakfast. "What about the both of you? What did you do when you left school?"

There was a short silence and he looked up again, his gaze falling on Remus.

"Well, due to my condition, it was near impossible for me to keep any sort of job for long," Remus began. "I just went from job to job, losing each one when my condition was found out. I just took what I could find before going out into the muggle world and searching there instead."

Harry's gaze moved over to his Godfather.

"Well, I just laid around a lot at first," Sirius said. "I did some order work but not much else. Moody approached me, telling me I was very quick and he wanted me to be an Auror."

"Did you become one?" Harry asked.

"I did," Sirius confirmed. "Though I had my reasons for wanting to be an Auror. I wanted to fight and make a difference. I wanted to stand up to the darker wizards… and it was an 'up yours' to my parents too. For me, it was the start of the fight and me signing up to these things… but for you, you're at the end of the fight."

"What about my dad?" Harry asked.

"Same as me," Sirius said. "He became an Auror first, and I said I'd only sign up if James could be my partner. There was a hell of a lot of training, but he agreed to it. As for your mother - she was training to be a Healer."

Harry contemplated what it would be like to be a healer, but quickly dismissed the idea. He turned back to his breakfast, hoping that he would find something soon.

...oOo…

The days passed by quickly and Sunday was upon them. The four of them got ready to go to the Burrow, taking the floo network, even though the weather was nice.

They stepped out and quickly began greeting everyone and headed outside.

Harry glanced in Ginny's direction, offering a small smile. Ginny had been clear that she wanted him back after the war had happened, even though Harry had explained to her that he had no interest in her 'that way' any more.

He had hoped that they could become friends, but the hopeful look on Ginny's face as she returned his smile showed that it was still too soon to think they could just be friends and nothing more. With a small sigh, he glanced around, spotted an empty chair by Ron and sat down.

...oOo...

As much as Harry tried to keep the conversation away from jobs and on other subjects, Ron finally turned it around, asking Harry outright if he had heard anything back about his Auror application and when did he send his in?

Harry didn't want to disappoint his best friend, knowing Ron was expecting them to both become Aurors and be partners… and as much fun as it would be to work with his best friend by his side, Harry didn't see that as a good enough reason to make him become an Auror.

He took a deep breath, realising he had no choice but to tell Ron the truth of the matter.

"I haven't applied," Harry told him. "The thing is, I've been having second thoughts about being an Auror. I don't know if it's what I want to spend my life doing. I think I've had enough of fighting, and I feel like my duty is done now."

Ron stared at him for what seemed like a long time. "You are joking, right?" he finally asked.

Harry shook his head. "I'm not joking," he confirmed. "I just feel like I've given enough and maybe now is the best time for me to find something that I really want to do, though I'm not sure what yet."

He waited, hoping that Ron would process the information calmly and accept what Harry was telling him.

"But I thought we were going to be partners?!" Ron stated, looking slightly angry. "I've been talking about this for weeks now, and you've not told me that you're not interested in this until today."

"I'm really sorry," Harry replied. The last thing he wanted was to fall out with his best friend over the matter.

...oOo…

Charlie swung the rucksack over his shoulder after putting the portkey back on the ground. He looked around at the area he had arrived in and grinned.

It was good to be back in England.

He looked over the fields that he knew would lead him home, but he wasn't going to do that yet. He quickly checked the time.

Four.

Ten minutes to go until Bill's portkey was activated. He took a few steps back so he was out of the way and dropped the rucksack down again.

He was exhausted. The Dragon Reserve had four eggs hatch in the last six months and that was a lot of baby dragons for such a small team to handle, but they had somehow managed.

It didn't leave Charlie with a lot of time to himself, but he had slowly started to realise that in his off-time, he didn't really have much to do.

The job didn't really allow much in the way of meeting new people, which is something Charlie realised that he needed.

He wanted to interact with someone outside of the friendships he had made with the other Dragon handlers. Not just a new friend, but maybe he needed something more than that?

It had been such a long time since he had someone special in his life after all, and things could get quite lonely.

His thoughts were interrupted by the quick appearance of Bill, who grinned before offering Charlie his hand, pulling him up from the ground. Once Charlie was standing in front of him, Bill hugged his younger brother tightly.

"It's good to see you," Bill stated when he had let go. "Have you been waiting here long?"

Charlie shook his head. "No," he replied. "About ten minutes now. Are you ready to go to the house?"

Bill nodded. "Can we walk?" he asked.

Charlie smiled. "Sure." Bill asking to walk down meant that Bill wanted to talk in private before they were surrounded by other redheads, and Charlie enjoyed talking to his older brother in private. Bill was his best friend after all, and the only one he was really able to confide in.

"So… how are things?" Bill began, as Charlie grabbed the rucksack for a second time, swinging it onto his shoulders.

"A bit busy," Charlie replied. "The usual really, there aren't many of us there, and it's just the same faces every day. I get a bit lonely sometimes… do you get what I mean?"

"I do," Bill said. "I think it's because we've come from a large family, that we expect there to be a lot of people around. Have you looked at getting more staff in the reserve?"

"We've had a couple of applications but have yet to find anyone suitable. A couple of the candidates were applying because they thought they would have access to rare ingredients that they could sell for profit, and another was scared of Dragons. It's ridiculous. How are you doing?"

"The divorce is final now," Bill replied, his eyes moving down to the ground. "Fleur is no longer a Weasley. I keep getting letters from mum on a daily basis to see how I'm doing or to make sure I'm okay. She turns up with food every time I return to Shell Cottage to make sure I'm eating properly."

Charlie chuckled. "What did you expect?" he asked. "I'm surprised that mum didn't turn up with food even when Fleur was there. How are you feeling about everything?"

"I'm not sure. I thought I'd be more upset when this was all final," Bill explained. "But I think I'm more relieved that this is all over now. No more arguments and disagreements. No more snide comments or Fleur with a headache because she can't stand me being near her or in her bed. I think I feel like a different person - someone who can start looking to be happy again."

"So, there's clearly no chance of you reconciling with her?" Charlie asked.

"I think the problem was that we fell for each other quickly and rushed things because of the war. Fleur shouldn't have married me after the attack - I thought she wouldn't want me, but she insisted she did. If she had just told the truth at the time, or we pushed the wedding back, this would have been different. I'm just glad that it's over now."

"Good thing you didn't have kids or anything," Charlie commented.

Bill laughed. "You have to have sex to be able to produce children," he informed his brother. "Not that you'd know much about that!"

"I happen to know a lot about it, it's just that I don't plan to ever impregnate a witch," Charlie said.

"It's a good thing that Wizards can't get pregnant, otherwise there would be many little Charlie Weasleys around."

Charlie grinned at the accusation. "Maybe in the past," Charlie said. "I've not been like that for a while. Call it lack of time or lack of enthusiasm, or maybe the urge to find something serious."

"He'd have to be someone special for you to get serious," Bill said. "It's not often you get serious with someone -"

"You're talking like I've met someone," Charlie grumbled.

Bill shrugged."I just don't want you making plans before you've even met the person, otherwise you might latch onto the next guy, thinking that he's the one for you when he's not…"

"He might be," Charlie replied. "So, enough about my failing love-life."

"And back on mine," Bill sighed. "Well, I got the forms the other day stating that I was now a single man. I didn't know what to do with myself after that. I checked over the cottage to make sure that all her stuff was gone, and felt… free."

"Still convinced that she used those Veela charms?" Charlie grinned.

"She was pretty. but not my type. Now she's gone, I can't even remember why I fell for her in the first place to be honest! Must have been the veela charms, I'm not usually one for the blondes."

"Of course you're not," Charlie muttered. They got to the top of the hill, spotting the house in the distance. "Home sweet home," he said.

Bill followed his gaze, and they stared at the lopsided house in the distance.

"I've missed this place," Charlie admitted.

They started down the hill towards their childhood home.

...oOo…

Charlie and Bill were both surprised that Molly wasn't waiting to welcome them as they walked through the door. After a peek into the living room, they headed through the empty kitchen into the dining room.

They paused in the doorway.

"But I thought we were going to be partners?! I've been talking about this for weeks now, and you've not told me that you're not interested in this until today."

"I'm really sorry," Harry replied.

"So, if I didn't bring this up now, would you have even told me, or would you have just let me turn up there alone and find out?"

"I would have told you," Harry said. "I was just waiting for a good time to bring it up."

"So - what are you going to do?" Ron asked, glaring at Harry. "What job is more important to you than working with me? I'm sure you have loads lined up, after all."

"I don't know," Harry snapped. "I just know that I've had enough of fighting. There's nothing stopping you from doing this alone."

"I can't believe -" Ron began.

"The boys are here," Molly shouted, cutting Ron off as she spotted them. "Ron, take Charlie's bag to his room please."

Her voice left no room for argument, and Charlie watched his youngest brother give a cold look in Harry's direction before getting up from the table and walking straight past Charlie and storming upstairs.

Charlie looked after Ron in concern, but from the gist of the conversation, it sounded like Ron was overreacting as usual. Charlie turned back to greet everyone, but a strong arm hooked around his neck, dragging him downwards into a hug.

"Your hair is too long," Molly stated as she clung to her son. "You should let me cut it."

Charlie grinned as his mother let go and watched as she pulled Bill into a hug. "Don't even get me started on yours," she told him.

"I missed you too, mum," Charlie laughed as she let go of his brother and pushed the pair towards the table.

"I thought you were never going to arrive," she said, heading around the table to where the cutlery sat in a heap. With a wave of her wand, it all slid across the table to the right places. "What held you up?"

"We decided to walk down from the apparition point," Charlie said, slipping into Ron's abandoned seat between Harry and Percy. "Just thought we'd catch up."

Bill took an empty seat facing Harry, smiling at him. "What was that about?"

"I told Ron that I wasn't going to be an Auror," Harry told him. "I thought I wanted to be one when I was younger, but I know that I don't want to be one anymore."

"He'll forget why he was annoyed tomorrow," Bill said. "Just leave him to cool off."

It was a couple of minutes before Molly brought the plates through, and everyone was eating. Ron still hadn't returned to the table, but Charlie had spotted him through the doorway, grabbing his plate from the kitchen before heading back upstairs.

After they had eaten, everyone headed into the living room.

"So how are the applications going?" Percy asked Charlie.

"Terribly," Charlie sighed. "There was no-one this year that we felt had what it takes to work with Dragons. I think the only applicants we had were those that wanted to harvest the dragons for blood or scales or other rarities, and one applicant that was terrified of dragons."

Hermione stared at him curiously for a moment. "So, what does it take to be a Dragonologist?" she asked.

Charlie turned to his youngest brother's friend and smiled at her. "You thinking of applying?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "I don't think it's right for me; I'm just curious actually." Her eyes slid in Harry's direction for a moment before she returned her gaze to Charlie.

"Sure. Well for a start, a good grade in Care Of Magical Creatures," Charlie began. "I think a liking for magical creatures is essential to doing this. Right now we're understaffed, so between you and me, we'd accept anyone who we think capable of working in the Reserve, no matter their grades."

Hermione glanced over at Harry again, who was listening to Charlie intently. Charlie followed her gaze.

"But it's an interesting job," he continued, looking between them. "I mean if either of you just wanted to come and see the Reserve, you're more than welcome."

"How about it Harry?" Hermione asked. "You've been around dragons before - you'll be out of the public eye, you'll be working with Charlie, and it's not a boring office job."

Harry hesitated.

"I could arrange for you to spend a couple of nights on the reserve so you can see what it's like there, and if you don't like it, you can come back," Charlie said.

"Sure," Harry replied. "I guess it could be exciting to work with dragons."

Charlie let out a laugh. "That's one way of putting it. You'll get a room to yourself as we haven't had anyone else that we felt suitable. You can stay up to a week, as seven days is the longest one of us can guide you before needing to return to work."

Charlie felt more optimistic. He had arrived home with the worry about the lack of applications that year, but now he had a potential Dragonologist in front of him. He was determined that Harry would see the joy of working with Dragons.

He would make sure that he was the one to show Harry around the Reserve.

Chapter 1 of 3.

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Word count: Exactly 5000 words.