![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingThis is really not what I meant to be working on tonight, but when the words come, I try not to argue too hard over their choice of story. It's better to write something than stare at a blank screen in frustration!
Anyway, in chapter 2 of Secrets, my still unfinished retelling of CoS, Ginny meets two original characters -- Apple and Daphne Rumluck, cousins and best friends -- who end up having a significant effect on Ginny's first year at Hogwarts.
On the Hogwarts Express, the Rumlucks mention a 'dragon debacle' that occured over the summer, during which they met Ginny's brother Charlie. Events conspire to keep Ginny from ever getting an explanation, and she soon finds other things to worry about. But I kept wondering what had happened to the Rumlucks, and trying to figure out what Horklumps could possibly have to do with a dragon and a Confundus Charm.
This is the story of Daphne and Apple's visit to the Romanian dragon reserve. It's ridiculously self-indulgent, but I have a weakness for characters who use insults as a way of affirming their affection for each other, and I'm still working out how to write humor properly, so...
---------------------------------------------
The Dragon Debacle, part 2
---------------------------------------------
Finding a broom turned out to be ridiculously easy, especially, as Apple later told Alexandria, since the staff ought to have known that two eleven year old girls shouldn't be trusted with dragons around as a lure. She also pointed out that Alexandria, who knew perfectly well what her cousins were like, ought to have warned people about them if she wanted to avoid trouble.
Luckily for the cousins' plan, Alexandria had done no such thing.
Apple had planned the broom acquisition and aerial escape rather loosely, choosing to take advantage of Daphne's natural charm and the general idiocy of adults when confronted with a cheerful young girl. "I feel like a fraud," Daphne muttered as the two girls peered around the corner toward the broom shed.
"You wanted me to plan. I planned. If you're too scared to carry through..."
Daphne glared at Apple. "I am not," she hissed.
Apple raised an eyebrow. "Really."
"Yes, you stupid cow," said Daphne, and, pasting a smile over her irritation and wounded pride, she walked up to the stocky, red-haired young man sitting by the shed door.
"Hi!" she said brightly. "I'm Daphne Rumluck, and I'm visiting my cousin Alexandria Davis -- I think I saw you yesterday at dinner? What's your name?"
The man smiled easily. "Charlie Weasley -- nice to meet you, Daphne. What are you doing out here?"
Daphne ducked her head and fiddled with one of her hair-clips. "We've been here for days and days, me and my cousin Apple, but everyone's so busy we haven't got to see anything yet. So I was wondering if we could borrow a broom and look at some of the dragons from far away." She glanced up shyly. "Could you take us around, Mr. Charlie?"
Charlie Weasley grinned, his broad, freckled face crinkling under his hazel eyes. "I think I could manage that, so long as you promise to stay close by me and listen if I tell you to leave. Why don't you fetch your cousin and I'll pull out brooms for you two."
"Great! Thank you, Mr. Charlie!" said Daphne, beaming, and she dashed back around the corner to where Apple was waiting.
"Do we take a broom now or slip away from him later?" she whispered. "And see? I told you I could do it!"
"We'll slip away later," decided Apple. "There'll be fewer people around to come after us right after he notices we're gone. And I never doubted you could do it -- you fall for that trick every time." She smirked at her cousin.
"Cheater," muttered Daphne.
"Now, now. Smile for 'Mr. Charlie,'" chided Apple, and the two girls rounded the corner to see Charlie Weasley propping two smallish brooms against the shed wall while talking into a hand-held two-way mirror.
"We'll have to steal that," said Apple quietly. "Shall you or shall I?"
Daphne cocked her head, considering. "You. I'll distract him. I'm more distracting than you are; you're boring. Also, you look like a terrible flyer -- you're all knees and elbows and funny angles -- but he'd never believe me if I tried that."
Apple conceded these points with rather bad grace, but concede them she did. Thus it was that as they kicked off from the ground under Charlie Weasley's careful eye, Daphne began flying small horizontal loops around the others, chattering loudly and at great speed about the "simply amazing view -- she couldn't believe it -- it was so much grander than England," while Apple wobbled back and forth in the typical unsteady pattern of novice flyers, until she sideslipped wildly right into Charlie's own broom and grabbed hold of him for balance. He reached out to steady her, at which point she snatched her arms back, and, frozen in seeming mortification, allowed him to settle her broom into a smooth flight.
Daphne immediately attempted a short dive, which dragged Charlie's attention back to her and her cheerful running commentary. Over his shoulder, Apple winked at her cousin.
Daphne's smile grew wider.
---------------------------------------------
Charlie Weasley led them in the opposite direction from Lacu Rosa, keeping well away from the badly-repaired Muggle roads and the occasional small farms. "We try to encourage them to leave," he said over his shoulder to the girls, "but people in the Balkans have stronger attachments to ancestral land than you'll find anywhere in the British Isles -- with the exception of Northern Ireland, of course. Often we can't pay them enough to leave, and if we used magic to encourage them to move, other Romanians and Hungarians would notice the exodus, decide it's an evil plot aimed at them, and probably attack whichever other ethnic group they hate the most at that moment."
Apple scowled. "That's senseless."
"It's awful," agreed Charlie. "I can't say that we're much better, though -- every group of people seems to find someone to hate sooner or later. In any case, we ring the forests with Confundus barriers to keep the Muggles from stumbling onto the dragons and the dragons from attacking the livestock. It works well enough, but we patrol the reservation for a reason. You don't mess around when dragons are involved."
"They breathe fire! Of course you don't mess around," said Daphne, swooping down to hover by Charlie's shoulder. "So where are we going? What kind of dragons will we see?"
Charlie grinned. "I figure I'll try to show you one of every dragon breed we have in the reserve, so you feel you've got your money's worth. Right now we're flying toward a Hungarian Horntail nest; the eggs hatched last week and the babies are moving around by now, so we might be able to catch a glimpse of them."
"Baby dragons?" said Daphne. "Cool!"
"We like to think so," said Charlie. "You have to be careful, though -- stay high and to the side so the mother doesn't mark you as a threat. All our brooms come with built-in fire deflection charms, but dragon fire is magical as well as hot. If you get a direct hit, it can overcome the charm and fry you in a heartbeat."
"Daphne, if you die--" Apple began.
"Don't worry, I promise I'll stick around and haunt you," said Daphne, with an extremely fake expression of solemnity. Charlie laughed.
"As I was trying to say, if you die, I plan to give your cat to Aunt Hortense," Apple said, without turning to watch her cousin. "She's been talking about breeding up a litters of kittens with fins and gills, to keep the goldfish in check. I'm sure she'd love to experiment on Boris. Then I think I might--"
"Okay, you win, I'll be careful!" said Daphne, scowling horribly. "You play dirty."
Charlie shook his head. "You remind me a bit of my brothers Fred and George," he said, "or maybe my little sister and my brother Ron. Anyway, the nest is just over the next hill. Let's go up a hundred feet or so, and I'll pass around my Omnioculars so you can get a good look."
---------------------------------------------
Back to part 1
On to part 3
---------------------------------------------
In real life news, the three pairs of mail order silver shoes arrived today. Two of them were a dead loss, but the third pair actually works better with my bridesmaid dress than the pair I bought from Target -- they're a more fabric-textured silver and less of a glittery metallic in-your-face-bling silver, for one thing. So tomorrow I'm mailing the two bad pairs back, and on Thursday or Saturday I'll take the other pair back to Target.
Anyway, in chapter 2 of Secrets, my still unfinished retelling of CoS, Ginny meets two original characters -- Apple and Daphne Rumluck, cousins and best friends -- who end up having a significant effect on Ginny's first year at Hogwarts.
On the Hogwarts Express, the Rumlucks mention a 'dragon debacle' that occured over the summer, during which they met Ginny's brother Charlie. Events conspire to keep Ginny from ever getting an explanation, and she soon finds other things to worry about. But I kept wondering what had happened to the Rumlucks, and trying to figure out what Horklumps could possibly have to do with a dragon and a Confundus Charm.
This is the story of Daphne and Apple's visit to the Romanian dragon reserve. It's ridiculously self-indulgent, but I have a weakness for characters who use insults as a way of affirming their affection for each other, and I'm still working out how to write humor properly, so...
---------------------------------------------
The Dragon Debacle, part 2
---------------------------------------------
Finding a broom turned out to be ridiculously easy, especially, as Apple later told Alexandria, since the staff ought to have known that two eleven year old girls shouldn't be trusted with dragons around as a lure. She also pointed out that Alexandria, who knew perfectly well what her cousins were like, ought to have warned people about them if she wanted to avoid trouble.
Luckily for the cousins' plan, Alexandria had done no such thing.
Apple had planned the broom acquisition and aerial escape rather loosely, choosing to take advantage of Daphne's natural charm and the general idiocy of adults when confronted with a cheerful young girl. "I feel like a fraud," Daphne muttered as the two girls peered around the corner toward the broom shed.
"You wanted me to plan. I planned. If you're too scared to carry through..."
Daphne glared at Apple. "I am not," she hissed.
Apple raised an eyebrow. "Really."
"Yes, you stupid cow," said Daphne, and, pasting a smile over her irritation and wounded pride, she walked up to the stocky, red-haired young man sitting by the shed door.
"Hi!" she said brightly. "I'm Daphne Rumluck, and I'm visiting my cousin Alexandria Davis -- I think I saw you yesterday at dinner? What's your name?"
The man smiled easily. "Charlie Weasley -- nice to meet you, Daphne. What are you doing out here?"
Daphne ducked her head and fiddled with one of her hair-clips. "We've been here for days and days, me and my cousin Apple, but everyone's so busy we haven't got to see anything yet. So I was wondering if we could borrow a broom and look at some of the dragons from far away." She glanced up shyly. "Could you take us around, Mr. Charlie?"
Charlie Weasley grinned, his broad, freckled face crinkling under his hazel eyes. "I think I could manage that, so long as you promise to stay close by me and listen if I tell you to leave. Why don't you fetch your cousin and I'll pull out brooms for you two."
"Great! Thank you, Mr. Charlie!" said Daphne, beaming, and she dashed back around the corner to where Apple was waiting.
"Do we take a broom now or slip away from him later?" she whispered. "And see? I told you I could do it!"
"We'll slip away later," decided Apple. "There'll be fewer people around to come after us right after he notices we're gone. And I never doubted you could do it -- you fall for that trick every time." She smirked at her cousin.
"Cheater," muttered Daphne.
"Now, now. Smile for 'Mr. Charlie,'" chided Apple, and the two girls rounded the corner to see Charlie Weasley propping two smallish brooms against the shed wall while talking into a hand-held two-way mirror.
"We'll have to steal that," said Apple quietly. "Shall you or shall I?"
Daphne cocked her head, considering. "You. I'll distract him. I'm more distracting than you are; you're boring. Also, you look like a terrible flyer -- you're all knees and elbows and funny angles -- but he'd never believe me if I tried that."
Apple conceded these points with rather bad grace, but concede them she did. Thus it was that as they kicked off from the ground under Charlie Weasley's careful eye, Daphne began flying small horizontal loops around the others, chattering loudly and at great speed about the "simply amazing view -- she couldn't believe it -- it was so much grander than England," while Apple wobbled back and forth in the typical unsteady pattern of novice flyers, until she sideslipped wildly right into Charlie's own broom and grabbed hold of him for balance. He reached out to steady her, at which point she snatched her arms back, and, frozen in seeming mortification, allowed him to settle her broom into a smooth flight.
Daphne immediately attempted a short dive, which dragged Charlie's attention back to her and her cheerful running commentary. Over his shoulder, Apple winked at her cousin.
Daphne's smile grew wider.
---------------------------------------------
Charlie Weasley led them in the opposite direction from Lacu Rosa, keeping well away from the badly-repaired Muggle roads and the occasional small farms. "We try to encourage them to leave," he said over his shoulder to the girls, "but people in the Balkans have stronger attachments to ancestral land than you'll find anywhere in the British Isles -- with the exception of Northern Ireland, of course. Often we can't pay them enough to leave, and if we used magic to encourage them to move, other Romanians and Hungarians would notice the exodus, decide it's an evil plot aimed at them, and probably attack whichever other ethnic group they hate the most at that moment."
Apple scowled. "That's senseless."
"It's awful," agreed Charlie. "I can't say that we're much better, though -- every group of people seems to find someone to hate sooner or later. In any case, we ring the forests with Confundus barriers to keep the Muggles from stumbling onto the dragons and the dragons from attacking the livestock. It works well enough, but we patrol the reservation for a reason. You don't mess around when dragons are involved."
"They breathe fire! Of course you don't mess around," said Daphne, swooping down to hover by Charlie's shoulder. "So where are we going? What kind of dragons will we see?"
Charlie grinned. "I figure I'll try to show you one of every dragon breed we have in the reserve, so you feel you've got your money's worth. Right now we're flying toward a Hungarian Horntail nest; the eggs hatched last week and the babies are moving around by now, so we might be able to catch a glimpse of them."
"Baby dragons?" said Daphne. "Cool!"
"We like to think so," said Charlie. "You have to be careful, though -- stay high and to the side so the mother doesn't mark you as a threat. All our brooms come with built-in fire deflection charms, but dragon fire is magical as well as hot. If you get a direct hit, it can overcome the charm and fry you in a heartbeat."
"Daphne, if you die--" Apple began.
"Don't worry, I promise I'll stick around and haunt you," said Daphne, with an extremely fake expression of solemnity. Charlie laughed.
"As I was trying to say, if you die, I plan to give your cat to Aunt Hortense," Apple said, without turning to watch her cousin. "She's been talking about breeding up a litters of kittens with fins and gills, to keep the goldfish in check. I'm sure she'd love to experiment on Boris. Then I think I might--"
"Okay, you win, I'll be careful!" said Daphne, scowling horribly. "You play dirty."
Charlie shook his head. "You remind me a bit of my brothers Fred and George," he said, "or maybe my little sister and my brother Ron. Anyway, the nest is just over the next hill. Let's go up a hundred feet or so, and I'll pass around my Omnioculars so you can get a good look."
---------------------------------------------
Back to part 1
On to part 3
---------------------------------------------
In real life news, the three pairs of mail order silver shoes arrived today. Two of them were a dead loss, but the third pair actually works better with my bridesmaid dress than the pair I bought from Target -- they're a more fabric-textured silver and less of a glittery metallic in-your-face-bling silver, for one thing. So tomorrow I'm mailing the two bad pairs back, and on Thursday or Saturday I'll take the other pair back to Target.
