CLXVIII: A Fourth Dragon

                                    

                                          
Florean Fortescue donned his fireproof leathers, pulling tight the laces and reaching for a pair of gloves, which sat on his dresser. He walked down the hall of the Dragon Training Academy's chalet quickly, with purpose. Waiting in the foyer for him, right by the front door, stood the brute form of one of the best dragon trainers on site - Reginald Staves - who was also clad head to toe in the flame resistant leathers. 
"Where is Weasley?" Fortescue asked.
Reginald said, "Well... I knocked on his dormitory to no answer, finally just barged in to find the bed empty. After asking around the lads... it seems Charlie has... taken to sleeping in the nest with his Horntail's egg... to protect it from the Ridgeback. Apparently there's been some thievery between the two."
Florean Fortescue was tugging his gloves on and had paused when Reginald had said the words sleeping in the nest. He looked up, shocked. "Excuse me? He's sleeping where?"
"In the nest," Reginald repeated.
Fortescue stared at him.
Reginald shrugged.
"Is he mad?"
Shrug again.
"Bloody hell." Florean pushed 'round Reginald Braves and out the door. The pair of them headed down the winding path that carved into the mountain cliff overlooking the valley, out of which many of the dragon caves opened. They passed several trainers headed down to start their day mucking out their dragons' lairs as they hurried down the pathway.
The Norwegian Ridgeback was perched on a jetty of stone not far from the Horntail's cavern opening, clutching the stone with her claws, her scales glistening in the sun. She stared with frustration at the mouth of the Horntail's cave, snapping her jaws in the general direction, though not actually putting her head into the opening.
Florean and Reginald stopped just outside of the cave mouth - and thankfully so for there was a sudden blast of fire that scorched the pathway in front of it, furiously bright and hot, singing the air before them as it blasted by. It was a warning for the Ridgeback. Florean's arm had flown out at his side to stop the younger man from rushing straight into the fiery explosion. They looked at one another with concern as the fire died and disappeared. Then Florean took a tentative step forward. "Charlie?" he called into the cavernous mouth of the cave.
His voice echoed 'round the stone interior.
"Charlie?"
Charlie Weasley lay in a bed of straw, curled up and hugging the tip of the dragon's tail. He let out quiet snoring sounds, which prompted Zuzu's eye to crack open and peer through the dark at him, checking that he was alright. Satisfied, she closed her eyes again and rested her chin back down on the edge of the nest. Small plumes of smoke arose from her nostrils and up into the air of the cavern.
Ever since the incident over summer when Norberta the Ridgeback had stolen Zuzu the Horntail's eggs, Norberta had been turned nasty about trying to sneak into Zuzu's cavern claim the egg back again. Ridgebacks were known for never forgetting something once they'd become fixated on it, and so Charlie had decided it was safest to stay in the cave and protect the egg from Norberta himself. They were both his dragons, after all, and he was the only one that had any sort of control over the Horntail, who was a particularly nasty thing. If she got hold of Zuzu's egg again she would no doubt eat it or drop it into the valley in a sort of "if I can't have it no one can" tantrum. Twice in the weeks he'd been sleeping in Zuzu's cavern, Charlie had already chased Norberta away and she lurked just outside, climbing the stone ledges and seething, putting the other dragons in the levels above Zuzu in a state of unrest as there seemed an ever-pending fight loomed ever closer.