David held the wooden comb in his hand, feeling a faint tremble as Tina stood beside him, chanting a spell softly. Suddenly, a gust of wind whooshed past his ear, pulling him forcefully. In the next instant, he was no longer in the room.
The wind ceased, and the fresh scent of green grass filled his senses. David opened his eyes, finding himself in the middle of an endless grassland. He spun around, surrounded by nothing but lush greenery in every direction.
"Did the Portkey misfire?" David wondered, glancing down at the wooden comb still in his grip. He raised his head, squinting at the horizon, trying to find any landmark. After a moment, two small black dots appeared far off in the distance, slowly moving closer.
Relieved, David jumped up and waved. The comb fell from his hand, hit the ground, shivered twice, and vanished without a trace.
The black dots grew rapidly, and with a soft pop, two figures appeared before him.
"We got the coordinates a little wrong. It's tough finding the exact spot when everything looks the same," a familiar, gentle voice spoke.
David turned to see John, looking slightly disheveled as if he had just finished some heavy work. He was dressed in a bulky black jumpsuit with dragon leather gloves, covering him entirely.
Beside John stood a tall man with long red hair, his muscular build softened by the warmth of his broad smile. It was Charlie Weasley, Ron's older brother.
"If you hadn't called out, I might've been stuck wandering this grassland all day," David joked as he moved forward, embracing them both.
Charlie laughed, his deep voice echoing across the plain. "Did you bring your broomstick? John said you usually carry one, so I didn't bring a spare."
David nodded, retrieving a shrunken broomstick from his leather bag and restoring it to its full size with a quick spell. His bag was getting quite crowded lately, forcing him to shrink down some items to make room.
Seeing David ready, Charlie swung his leg over his broomstick. "I'll lead the way. Stay close. It's not too far from here."
"If Newt Scamander were picking you up, we'd have been there ages ago," John added with a grin. "But we're not quite skilled enough to Apparate with passengers yet."
David chuckled, mounting his broom. "I don't mind. Gives me a chance to enjoy the view."
With that, he kicked off the ground, the broom rising swiftly to meet Charlie in the sky. John followed closely behind, maintaining formation.
They flew for several minutes before David noticed a dark circle below them, barely visible against the sprawling green.
"There it is!" Charlie's voice barely carried over the wind, but his downward dive made the destination clear. David followed, descending rapidly toward the ground.
They landed near a stone formation surrounded by massive boulders standing several meters high. In the center was a clearing about ten meters wide.
"This is the entrance to the Dragon Farm," Charlie explained, pointing at the seemingly ordinary stones.
David raised an eyebrow, examining the area. From where he stood, they looked like normal boulders, though the grass within the circle was slightly shorter than the surrounding plains.
"Of course, you can't see the entrance just yet. Otherwise, anyone could stroll in," John teased, nudging David forward. "Go on, step inside."
David followed Charlie's lead, stepping into the center of the stone circle.
"Look up," Charlie instructed, raising his wand. He muttered a long incantation, causing golden light to pour from his wand, illuminating the ground.
Magic patterns emerged on the turf beneath David's feet, glowing in vibrant colors. The light extended toward the boulders, which responded by emitting a matching hue. The light climbed up the stones, reaching a point overhead where a round hole appeared, unnoticed until it was fully formed.
The light from each boulder converged at a single point above them. Charlie took out a round stone and placed it precisely on the glowing spot.
David's eyes widened in amazement. The light lifted the stone, spinning it in the air before expanding outward to form a shimmering shield around the boulders. On the surface of the light shield, a dark doorway appeared.
Charlie grinned, clearly proud of the spectacle. "Pretty neat, huh?"
David nodded, thoroughly impressed. "Yeah, it's incredible. But... do you go through this whole process every time you want to enter?"
Charlie laughed. "Of course not! Normally, we don't bother with all this. But since it's your first visit, I wanted to give you the full experience." He winked. "If Newt had picked you up, you wouldn't have seen any of this. Now, come on."
David took a deep breath, stepping through the dark doorway. A deafening roar exploded around him, echoing through the air.
No welcome like a dragon's, he thought, rubbing his ringing ears. As his vision adjusted, he found himself face-to-face with a massive dark green dragon, its long golden horn gleaming in the sun.
"That's a Romanian Longhorn," Charlie explained, stepping up beside him. "They love hunting by impaling their prey on that horn and roasting it with fire. Their habitats are always a bit... uneven, thanks to that."
The dragon, looming like a storm cloud above them, beat its wings powerfully, shaking the ground.
Charlie waved, shouting, "Larry!"
The dragon looked down, recognizing Charlie. It gave a throaty growl before soaring away, its wings stirring powerful gusts.
"Do they always fly around freely like this?" David asked, watching Larry vanish into the horizon.
"Not quite," Charlie pointed to the edge of a stone path in the distance, where black, rune-marked posts lined the perimeter. "Those posts emit a magical field that makes the dragons feel uneasy if they fly too close. It keeps them from wandering outside the designated area."
David nodded, taking it all in. This wasn't the sort of thing you learned at Hogwarts—real magical zoology couldn't be confined to classrooms.
"Where's my grandfather?" he asked, turning to John.
John's face softened. "He's been busy. Hasn't rested much since he got here, otherwise he'd have been the one picking you up today."
David's eyes widened. "Busy with what?"
"A Hungarian Horntail fell ill. Something we haven't seen before," John explained, his voice dropping. "But Newt's almost figured it out."
Charlie shook his head in admiration. "I've never seen anything like it. They don't call him the Master of Magical Beasts for nothing."
David's chest swelled with pride. Of course his grandfather was saving dragons. Nothing less from Newt Scamander.