Chapter 115:

He relaxed into his mattress — at least, as much as he could knowing that in a little over twenty four hours he'd be facing a real live dragon. He had a plan. It wasn't the most foolproof plan in the world, but it was better than him trying to learn a Conjunctivitis curse strong enough to fell a dragon in a day.

Neville looked over at him when he emerged from bed. "Alright there, Harry?"

"Yeah, actually," he admitted, grinning. "Think I've got it all figured out." Neville's eyebrows rose, surprised.

"The task? Really?" Harry Neville beamed. "Brilliant."

nodded. Hermione, on the other hand, was not so convinced. "How can you be so relaxed?" she hissed at him during Herbology, her own anxiety palpable. Harry shrugged.

"I know what I need to do. No point worrying about it any more," he replied. He'd told her about the dragons, only because she wouldn't stop pestering him about studying between classes to make sure he was properly prepared. He appreciated the thought, but why couldn't she believe him when he said he had it under control?

She looked at him like he was mad. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

"It'll be optimistically.

alright,"

he

insisted Now that the task was almost out of the way, he had some other things to be worrying about.

.-.-.

Harry skived off Divination, pretty sure that no one would begrudge him that with the task happening the next day. Instead he went down towards the Forbidden Forest, following the path he'd taken with Hagrid. The dragons were, if possible, even more terrifying in the daylight. Harry refused to let it get to him.

He glanced around the gathered dragon tamers until he saw the one with bright red hair, hanging out in front of one of the tents. Harry edged closer, and sent a pebble flying towards the man with a flick of his wand. It hit Charlie on the arm, and he cursed, whipping around. Harry whistled quietly, popping out from behind the trees just long enough to catch Charlie's attention. His eyes widened, and he hurried forwards. "Harry!" he whispered, wrapping the teen in a quick hug, then ushering him further into the trees before they were seen. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"It's only Divination," Harry dismissed with a wave of his hand. "I came to talk to you."

"Calling in that favour?" Charlie presumed, glancing back at the dragons. Harry shook his head. "Nah, I've sorted that. This is about the letter I sent you the other week." That got Charlie's attention. To Harry's surprise, the redhead put up several privacy charms, then leaned back against a tree.

"What sort of trouble have you got yourself into now, Potter?" he asked, his tone fondly resigned.

"Did Bill talk to you about the letter I sent him?" Charlie nodded. "Good. See, when I was in Diagon the summer before last year — Ron told you about that, right? Blew up my aunt?" Again, Charlie nodded, grinning faintly. "Right, yeah, well when I was there, I went to Gringotts, and something a bit strange happened."

He told Charlie what Gorrak and Farlig had found, watching the redhead's jaw drop.

"Bill wondered if it was something like that," he admitted when Harry was done. "He said Gorrak only gets called in for really high-profile cases, inheritance theft and magic tampering and the like. And when he spoke to him, asked him about you, well; Gorrak didn't say anything, but I don't think he had to." Charlie ran a hand through his hair. "Shite, Harry. And you've been dealing with this alone ever since?"

"Not completely alone, but that's a whole other story that'll take too long to tell you now." Charlie had already been gone for a little while, his coworkers would eventually wonder where he was. "But safe to say, I don't trust Dumbledore anymore. And…" Here came the hard part. "Recently Gorrak sent me a list of withdrawals from my vault over the years, to see if Dumbledore had taken anything. He had, and I'll deal with that eventually, but… Charlie, your mum took money out, too. Way more than she could've needed to buy my school things for me."

That threw Charlie for a loop. He slumped against the tree, blue eyes staring at Harry pleadingly. "Mum? Really?" Harry wished he could tell the man otherwise, but he merely shook his head.

"I don't know if Dumbledore told her to do it, or she just thought she'd go for it since I wouldn't notice a few extra galleons missing here or there, but… she did it. I didn't want to believe it either." "It's been hard, raising seven kids on Dad's salary," Charlie said with a sigh. "But to think she'd stoop that low…"

"I'm sorry," Harry started, but Charlie cut him off.

"Don't, it's not your fault. She's an adult, and she makes her own choices. I just… fuck." He looked like his entire worldview had been rocked. Harry guiltily wondered if he shouldn't have kept quiet. "If my family have done you wrong, then I swear on the Weasley name I will make it up to you," Charlie vowed, his words thick with magic. Harry looked up in surprise. Charlie winked. "Heir Weasley, at your service. Bill's taking the Prewett seat." "Well met, Heir Weasley," Harry responded automatically. "Who has the seats now?"

"Dad, but he tends to just give his voting power to Dumbledore. Politics confuse him," Charlie said, grimacing. "It's one of the reasons Bill and I are thinking about coming home, properly. We want to take our seats; you're not the only one who's getting a little suspicious about the way Dumbledore runs things. After this, I definitely don't want him using my family votes any longer than he has to. We haven't spoken to Dad about it yet," he added, "but we were going to soon. I'll talk to Bill about what you've told me — if that's alright with you — and if he's got any ideas for how to help, he'll get in touch." "Yeah, I was hoping you'd tell him," Harry agreed. "I wanted to, but I can't exactly trust it all in a letter." It was a weight off his shoulders knowing he had two more people on his side. "I'm going to tell the twins, too. Unless you think I shouldn't?"

"They'll be good allies, and they're definitely not on Dumbledore's side," Charlie assured him. He glanced back at the dragons, which were beginning to get rowdy again. "Look, Harry, I should get back to work. But you've given me a hell of a lot to think about. I'll talk to Bill, and we'll be in touch." He placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "You sure you don't need any help with the task tomorrow?"

"No, I've got it, but thanks." Harry hesitated for a second, but it was long enough for Charlie to pick up on it, and the redhead pulled him into another hug.

"Good luck tomorrow, Harry. I'll be cheering you on." Charlie grinned, cheeks dimpling. Harry wondered if he'd been a bit hasty in telling George he didn't fancy any of his brothers.

Charlie dropped the privacy wards and strolled back out into the clearing as if he'd never been gone, and Harry watched the dragons for a few minutes more before hurrying back up to the castle.

Two more players on the board.

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