Chapter 74: Fire Dragon Reserve

"Hello, my name is Charlie, Charlie Weasley."

Silven looked at the familiar red hair in front of him and raised an eyebrow; he hadn't expected that the guide Alistair had found for him would actually be an old acquaintance.

"We've met before, in Diagon Alley, do you remember?" Charlie clearly recognized Silven too, and he took out a wand from a clasp on his sleeve.

"This wand is the one you helped me pick, and it has saved me from the jaws of a fire dragon countless times."

"Of course, I remember it clearly." Silven said, and he also glanced at that wand.

The surface was smooth and clean, and there wasn't a single bump or scratch to be seen.

"You keep this wand in pretty good condition."

"Back when I was at school I didn't understand anything, I thought a wand was just a tool, so it didn't matter what happened to it."

"But now I know how important a good wand is — sometimes if your spell forms half a second faster than your enemy's, you get to live." Charlie shrugged, "Besides, I don't want to get another scolding from Mr. Ollivander."

Silven smiled, "My grandfather is usually quite kind, he rarely scolds anyone, especially guests."

"I suppose that's true." Charlie said self-deprecatingly, spreading his hands, "Alright, enough about that — it's your first time at the Fire Dragon Reserve, right? Let me show you around properly."

Charlie led Silven into the Lin Zi, and Silven had expected it to be like the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts, but once they went in he discovered that the Lin Zi only served to block the line of sight.

"That's a large-scale Muggle-Repelling Charm, same as the one on the Leaky Cauldron." Charlie explained, "Once a Muggle wanders in, they'll see the creature they fear most…"

"What was the Muggle-Repelling Charm on the Leaky Cauldron again? Oh, right — suddenly remembering something terribly urgent, this one is more effective!"

"What, do Muggles wander into the Fire Dragon Reserve often?" Silven asked curiously.

"Not really, only one or two every so often, and we can handle it…"

"This way, I'll take you to see a pretty girl — by the way, she's from Hogwarts too."

Charlie said mysteriously.

And upon hearing Hogwarts, Silven immediately guessed what Charlie was about to show him.

"Look, a Norwegian Ridgeback — isn't she beautiful?" Charlie pointed at a grey-green juvenile dragon on a cliff not far away and said, "Hagrid called her Norbert, but later we discovered she's a female, so we renamed her Norberta."

"Oh right, do you know Hagrid? He's the gamekeeper, in charge of leading the new students across the lake by boat at the start of term and the holidays."

"Of course I know Hagrid." Silven said, "And we're quite close."

"I see, then you must know Norberta too." Charlie said with a smile.

Silven felt as though an arrow had pierced his heart.

No — before today he had never seen a Norwegian Ridgeback, and Hagrid hadn't told him either.

"After receiving a letter from my little brother, I was simply startled."

Charlie didn't notice the complicated expression on Silven's face and went on talking to himself, "But Hagrid really is amazing — even the most experienced dragon-keepers wouldn't dare say they could definitely hatch a dragon egg, yet he did it, and he raised Norberta that big too."

The more Silven listened, the more his heart ached, so he hurriedly took the initiative to change the subject: "Is this the activity area for Norwegian Ridgebacks?"

"Not exactly." Charlie shook his head and explained, "This is actually an acclimatization area — before the dragons outside enter the reserve, they all live here for a while first, and we observe them to judge their temperaments."

"If a dragon's temper is too violent and its territorial instinct too strong, we have to separate them from the docile dragons."

"Dragons can be docile?" Silven asked incredulously.

"Relatively docile." Charlie said, "For example, the Welsh Green and the Australian Opaleye — as long as you don't provoke them, they basically won't attack you."

Afterwards Charlie introduced some other interesting things about the reserve, and Silven nodded along perfunctorily while looking around, searching for something.

"If you're looking for other dragons, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed." Charlie said, "Recently very few dragons have been sent here — right now there's only Norberta in the whole reserve."

"If it were another time, I could take you into the real reserve to have a look, but not now… something big is happening in the reserve."

"I know about that." Silven said, "But — aren't there any Dragon Blood Trees around here?"

"Dragon Blood Trees?"

"Mm." Silven nodded, "I remember where there are fire dragons there are Dragon Blood Trees — how come I haven't seen a single one?"

"So that's what you were looking for." Charlie said in sudden realization, "You won't see Dragon Blood Trees here — they're on the other side, near the dragons' nests."

"How about this — wait here a moment, I'll take you to have a look."

Charlie told Silven to stay put and hurried off, only returning twenty minutes later with two brooms in his hands.

"Can you ride one?" He handed one of the brooms to Silven, "It's a bit far, and we have to get over a mountain — flying will save quite a bit of time."

Silven shook his head, then nodded, "I've only ridden one in Flying class."

"That's enough." Charlie said, "I specially picked out two very old Silver Arrows — they're not fast, but they're stable."

Just as Charlie had said, the moment Silven mounted the broom he felt as though he was right back in Flying class at school, brimming with a sense of security.

It was just that Charlie didn't seem quite used to this speed, but in order to look after Silven he could only patiently lead the way at a leisurely pace in front.

Fortunately they only needed to get past the mountain in the middle, and once they reached the other side Charlie immediately leapt off his broom and pointed at a few grey-brown trees not far away, saying, "Those are the Dragon Blood Trees you're looking for."

Silven flew over eagerly, but he soon discovered to his disappointment that those Dragon Blood Trees had long since withered and died.

The Dragon Blood Tree is a special magical plant — it doesn't need rain, but it does need to be watered with fire, preferably dragon flame.

Then the Dragon Blood Tree will take on a golden-red color and produce a scent that fire dragons love.

The ones in front of him were certainly not golden-red, and when Silven tried to break off a branch, it snapped in two with just a gentle squeeze.

Withered to this extent — let alone making a wand, even bringing one back intact would be quite difficult.

"Are there no other Dragon Blood Trees?" Silven asked, unwilling to give up.

"There are." Charlie thought for a moment and said, "But you said it yourself — Dragon Blood Trees only grow near dragons' nests…"

He didn't continue, only casting a casual glance at the flying broom beneath Silven.

Not to mention that the Fire Dragon Reserve doesn't let just anyone in easily these days — even if it did, he wouldn't take Silven there, otherwise if a dragon spotted them he wouldn't even be able to run.

……

(End of this chapter)