Something About Dragons

James watched her look down at her drink as he talked and how she ran her finger around the rim. He didn't know what to say to her most of the time, though he knew that she was hurting. He could understand that a lot, he knew what it was like to lose someone. He would be there if she needed someone to talk to or to just listen to her.

He kept eye contact with her and nodded at her words. "You don't owe me anything Avery. I just want to help in any way that I can. I'll have to move Fergus to my basement in the house so that I can work with him more fully." He said knowing which dragons to move around and which to leave as they were. "I'll let you know if it comes to that."

"Any time is good, I have the rest of today and half a day tomorrow where I can go see him." He said looking at her. "It's more of when you would have time to have me come see him with you. I work most of the time with the dragons in the Ministry, I haven't been able to see Fergus. I've seen all the others ones though, so you'll have to let me know when your free."

"I'll probably make the arrangements for him to be moved to my house when we go to see him. I'll also have to make sure I get you some gear for when you do go in the enclosure with me." He said thinking about things a head of time.

At first, she just nodded along, trying to - first, understand how it worked - but also to determine how much of herself she felt she could give to the whole ordeal. Just the idea of it felt tiresome in ways she had expected to some extent, but on the other hand, it was thrilling to have someone willing and able to help. That in itself was a pleasant surprise. And that he was just agreeing to do it with no qualifications was almost unbelievable. Avery had never been brilliant at knowing who was really on her side, but she was starting to understand that James was someone that she could let herself trust - at least with this, for starters.

"To be fair," she said finally, "you probably haven't worked with him because he was so calm and did, essentially, nothing wrong around Robin. I think his reaction greatly depends on the person. Robin was... all confidence, and no fretting about anything. Calm. Perhaps that's what Fergus took to," she shrugged, accepting that, although it was hard to do, she needed to be upfront about things regarding Robin. The more she held back in order to protect herself, the more she could end up hurting Fergus, even inadvertently.

"And, I mean, I really ought to head back to the Ministry in a while anyways, so perhaps we could stop by on my way into the office? I know it's all short-notice, but if you really don't have anywhere else to be..." She trailed off, her eyes searching his, half expecting him to take it back now that she was jumping straight into it. She knew plenty of people who would have been tempted to, but somehow she didn't get that feeling from James.

"Yeah, I never got to work with the calm ones. I was always stuck with the ones who liked to breathe fire at me." James said with a laugh. "He was great with Fergus from what I did see. I think they purposely gave me the ones that were mistrusting of humans and were just ornery. The ones I've worked with though are much better than they were and don't try to breathe fire at me too much." He smiled at his own words. He had asked Robin one day what he thought of one of the dragons he was trying to help. He remembered Robin telling him that he needed to be calm and to let the dragon feel that too.


"Yeah that sounds good. No I don't have anywhere else to be, I'm free to check in on him now. I just gotta pay the check and I'll be ready." He said with a smile at her. He had finished his meal and thought that it was great that he would get to meet him right away. When the waitress passed the table, she put gave him the check and he paid for the meal. He added a nice tip before he stood up and donned his leather jacket. "I'm ready whenever you are."

He felt good about going to go see Fergus today. He didn't have anything planned for today, he was just going to lounge about at home for a little bit. He knew that he had some an extra set of clothes at the ministry, he just hoped they weren't the ones where the pants fit just not the shirt.

Avery was a little surprised when James paid, considering her drink had to be on that bill as well. But she just thanked him quietly, gathering her things and standing up to show him that she was, indeed, ready. Her hand reached for the fabric of his shirt so she could apparate them away.

They ended up in a cell of sorts that the Ministry had designated for animals like Fergus. At least it was safe, she supposed, even if it wasn't as sunny and nice as the dragon probably wished for. But she didn't know what else to do when he was acting so wildly. At least it had the appearance of being outside even though it wasn't really. How Robin had dealt with him was beyond Avery, but she supposed it was her own fault for not really asking.

When they stepped up to the gate, Fergus looked over. He was a little big for a Welsh Green, and that in itself made her a little nervous. But she hoped that if James could get a proper look at the dragon, he could figure out how it would be best to proceed.

"He used to be quite calm. But now he seems to have developed a temper, even though it's been over a year. I just don't know what to make of him," she told James. "Hopefully you'll have a couple ideas."