Dragon Egg (Demi)

[Charlie Weasley]

The dragonology department was buzzing with news that the Swedish Short-Snouts in captivity had finally produced an egg. Charlie hadn't seen this with his own eyes yet--everything had to be vetted through the other Charlie, of course. Git. But this Charlie knew it was only a matter of time before he finally got to see--maybe even touch--the egg. 

The Swedish Short-Snouts weren't exactly endangered, but after a spike in poaching they nearly had been. Charlie was desperate to avoid another case of Catalonian Fireball or Portuguese Long-Snout. Hunters already took away two beautiful dragons from this world, he couldn't stand the idea that the Swedish Short-Snout might be another. 

It was because of the department's efforts that occasions such as the Tri-Wizard Tournament could even safely handle a short-snout for the event. Sure, a dragon's a dragon, but at least the trainers could keep it under control for longer than a wild one that was dragged from its home just for some wizardkind festivities. (Neither Charlie would ever allow such a thing, as it were.) 

Charlie wondered what the egg might look like. Would its shell have the same silvery blue coating of the dragon's beautiful scales? Would it be hot to the touch, or delicately cold to the point that it must be always kept warm? He just had to know. 

Demi Nephilim. The woman came to his mind immediately. She had to know where the egg was in processing. Surely his department would be next to manage its incubation the second the paperwork was complete, right? Just as this thought was folding in on itself, Charlie almost ran into the woman herself. 

[Demi Nephilim]

Dragon eggs! She could actually handle DRAGON EGGS! Now to just find where they'd put the damned things. Demi was tracking where the egg had gone since it had come into ministry hands, rather than allowing it to be hatched and raised by the dragons in captivity. They did have a tendency of becoming quite possessive when nesting. And therefore hard to handle and keep under control safely. Currently, if her papers were up to date, it was sitting in the ministry's vaults. Which meant a visit to the Sphinx that lurked down there, guarding treasures and dark items that had been confiscated.

Demi looked up just in time to avoid running into the Head of Dragonology himself. "Oh! I'm sorry! I wasn't paying attention!" Last thing she needed right now was to make a bad impression on the people she was working with. It wasn't easy starting over, but so far, in her mind anyways, she was off to a decent start.

[Charlie Weasley]

Charlie chuckled gruffly and clapped the woman gently on the shoulder. "Demi, eh?" he said, giving her a look of recognition. "I was just on my way to your boss, well and hopefully to find you." 

He tried not to look too enthusiastic and unprofessional, but he couldn't help himself - this was one of his favorite moments of his job, in the wild and in the office. "I hear rumor that the dragon has laid her egg..." He gave her a cheeky grin and shook his shoulders in a small dance. Before she could respond, he clapped his hands together excitedly. "I wanna see!" 

Charlie was losing the battle to not appear like an unprofessional imbecile. He knew the second he got to the egg, he'd be like a kid in a candy store. Maybe that was his version of one... No, he loved candy stores, too. So, fine. This was his second candy store. Whatever. Where's the dragon egg? 

[Demi Nephilim]

Demi could see the enthusiasm in the man's eyes. This must be the other Charlie. "I assume you're Charlie Weasley? Especially if you were looking for me." She'd been warned by the Charlie she answered to that Charlie Weasley would probably come looking for the dragon egg if he'd gotten word of it.

Before she could answer his inquary, Demi was laughing at the outburst of 'I wanna see!' out of the man. She'd been told he was enthusiastic about his job, and it lived up to the warning she'd been given. "Well... It's down in the vaults... So as long as you're in good with the Sphinx down there, I don't see why not?" She hoped she didn't have to talk her way past the Sphinx with someone who wasn't in with her already.

[Charlie Weasley]

"Aye, 'at's me," Charlie replied with a tilt of his head as if he were tipping a hat.

At the mention of the sphinx, Charlie sighed. "She's certainly someone I've tried tuh handle, but she's righ' annoyin'..." He hated riddles. Perhaps if his brothers were here to help him annoy the big cat thing back they could just wear it down that way.

Charlie's eyes wandered down the corridor in the direction he believed was the vaults, and he quirked an eyebrow. "When you see 'im, send that git you answer tuh my regards for never bein' the more handsome Charles around here," he said to Demi with a smile. "Anyone y'know can help me with a sphinx?"

[Demi Nephilim]

Demi liked this man, he was a bit of a character in her mind. Which was never a bad thing. She got along great with characters. It made life more interesting that way. When others had a personality that is.

At the claim that the Sphinx was annoying, Demi burst out laughing in a very un-ladylike fashion. "Annoying?!" She couldn't help her chuckling as she talked. "I've never heard someone call the Sphinx or any Sphinx for that matter annoying. Must not like riddles then?" Demi loved riddles, that's why the Sphinx fascinated her. "I hope you weren't a Ravenclaw. Their common room password is riddles." The giggles slowed down thankfully, but the idea was just laughable at someone finding a creature like that 'annoying'.

Yeah, she liked this guy. He had personality and jokes galore. She would enjoy working here. "Luckily for you, she likes me and I'm good at her riddles. She asked me the first time I went down there which came first, the Phoenix or the egg. Had to remind her Phoenixes aren't born from eggs, they're born from flame and ash. I still can't tell if her smile was creeping Charlie out or not, since he was down there with me when I went the first time to see her." It probably had unnerved her boss a bit, it had been a proud and predatory smile.

[Charlie Weasley]

Charlie scrunched his nose up at the woman when she laughed. "Eh, laugh it up! Those sphynxes only know how tuh make things difficult." At the thought of being a Ravenclaw, he scoffed. "Madam, I am but from a loooong line of Gryffindors. If that big woman had ever asked me tuh solve a puzzle tuh get in, I would've just slept outside."

Demi's story about the sphynx was impressive, and she certainly seemed proud of herself. Charlie stopped pretending to be bitter, and let a grin split his face. "Well, I do love tuh see the poor bloke made uncomfortable..." He scratched his chin. "Duzzat mean you'll help me get past her? Or was that uglier fella lucky?"

[Demi Nephilim]

Demi had to laugh when Charlie declared he'd have slept outside if the Fat Lady guarding Gryffindor's common room had ever asked him a riddle. "From what I heard, when Sirius Black got into the castle and shredded her, there was a knight, Sir Cadagin or something like that, guarding the common room passage. He was asking the kids all sorts of riddles and changing the password constantly. So I guess be glad you graduated when you did." She'd been told that one by Peeves when he was being civil and having a conversational mood one day. The rare times the little ass hat wasn't causing problems for her to clean up.

Demi laughed again when Charlie asked if he'd get lucky enough for her to help him. "Come on ya big lug. I'll get you past her to see the egg. We probably should bring it up here anyways to keep an eye on it. Hate for it to hatch downstairs and for the dragon in it to bond to the Sphinx... We'd have a Gringotts situation on our hands forever that way." She waved her hand and started walking towards the lifts, shaking her head and smiling the whole time.

[Charlie Weasley]

"Puh," Charlie scoffed. "No thank ye. Cadogan nearly got his own shreddin' last time I had to talk to him. Can't imagine 'im being all that helpful as a common room guard..." No wonder the twins used to always laugh at him.

"Aye!" Charlie clapped his hands excitedly and followed Demi towards the lifts. "If the little tyke is gonna bond with anyone, it oughta be me!"

The way to the sphinx wasn't elaborate, but it was impressive still what the Ministry had done to secure it in the facility. Charlie let Demi go first, eyeing the beast from a safe distance - one of his eyebrows cocked as he tried to hide his revolt for whatever trickery it had planned.

[Demi Nephilim]

It made Demi laugh how afraid of the Sphinx people were. She wasn't THAT bad. But then again, being a Beauxbatons graduate who taught at Hogwarts, she'd seen some things at Hogwarts she found strange compared to the Sphinx in the vaults. Like the fact there was a hoard of Acromantula in the Dark Forest, and the herd of Centaur being rude as all get out towards anyone who wasn't welcome in their area. Not to mention rumors of a damned CERBERUS with an enlargement charm on it running loose in that forest. So a Sphinx was the least of it all for her.

She led the way towards where the vaults were, stopping short in the main doorway. You didn't enter the vaults without her permission. "Hello? It's Demi and Charlie Weasley. We've come to collect the dragon egg that was brought in earlier." She stuck her head in slightly, looking around for the creature that guarded the treasures in these vaults.

"Answer a riddle and I'll let you pass... Why is a Raven like a writing desk?" Demi looked around for the body the voice belonged to, not finding the Sphinx within eye shot. She looked to Charlie to see if he wanted to answer the riddle or if she needed to take a stab at it instead.

[Charlie Weasley]

The boom of the voice that came from the darkened corridor rumbled through Charlie's chest. A riddle. Of course it's a damn riddle. Charlie rolled his eyes. When Demi looked to him, he chuckled.

Charlie scratched his chin; he wanted to give it his best guess, but all he could wonder was if ravens were secretly poets... It wasn't his typical creature he studied. For all he knew they could be geniuses.

"Don' look at me," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "I don' do feathers."