scripsi

Title: A Letter Concerning Dragons
Fandom: Harry Potter
Rating: All ages
Genre: Gen
Word Count: 740
Characters: Charlie Weasley
Warnings: None
Summary: Charlie writes a letter to Ginny. Set sometime before the first Harry Potter book.
AN: Written for isquinnabel in Fandom Gift Box 2016. Lindworm’s are “real” mythological dragons in Sweden. The only thing I have made up are the way they are born. The stone ship is real too and is called Ale’s Stones.

Dear Ginny,

You complained I never write a letter just for you, so here it is, and it is written from Sweden! I have been invited here to a conference concerning the categorisation of Lindworms and dragon experts from all over the world are here. Lindworms are a very rare breed of dragons peculiar to Scandinavia and it’s not related to the Swedish Short Snout. Those live in the north of Sweden, far from where Lindworms live, but that’s not the only difference!

Lindworms are not at all like ordinary dragons, the don’t have wings and they have a very long and snakelike body. Hadn’t it been because they have four legs they would look like a giant snake, or perhaps a worm, but even if the legs are short compared to the body, they can walk on them without problems. When they are in a hurry, they do something very peculiar which I’m sure will make you laugh. They bite themselves in the tail, forming their bodies into a gigantic O. Then they roll over the ground at great speed, which must be a very strange sight. Because of this behaviour they are sometimes called Wheel Snakes.

They also have a much gentler nature than dragons usually have and they don’t breathe fire. I’ve been told you have to be careful of them anyway because they are very fast and have very sharp teeth. They can also spew a milky liquid which can make you permanently blind if you are not careful! But it seems no one has been attacked for more than 300 years. I don’t know if it’s because they prefer not to blind people, or if no one dares to provoke them.

Anyway, as they are so unique there has been a debate for at least two centuries if Lindworms really should be called dragons or if they are something else entirely and the purpose of the conference is to talk about this. Tomorrow we will go to Uppsala for that, but I’m going to tell you what I did tonight- I saw a Lindworm!

I arrived to the south of Sweden by portkey which took me to an ancient stone ship, more than 200 feet long. It’s placed on a high cliff, overlooking the Baltic Sea. The view is spectacular and I’m sure the location was chosen to impress me, because the rest of Scania is very flat, at least as far as I have seen. After dinner we took a pleasant walk to a grove of old linden trees. Summer nights in Sweden never get dark and Midsummer Day, which was today, has the shortest night of the whole year. It is also the night when Lindworms are born. The mother Lindworms lay their eggs inside the bark of linden trees and on Midsummer they hatch. Wizard and witches comes here every year to make careful notations on how many hatchlings that are born.

We stood in silence for a good hour and then I saw several small snakes slither down the tree trunks and onto the ground. They didn’t form wheels as that is something only adults do, and they moved more like lizards than snakes. They all gathered on an open spot and then I suddenly saw an adult Lindworm coming through the trees. It was huge, especially compared to it’s tiny young, but despite the short legs it moved very gracefully. It had a dark back and sides, but the belly was pale. On its neck the scales were very long and thin, which almost made it look like it had a mane. It had very big, dark eyes and though I think it saw us, it ignored us completely. It carefully herded the mass of newborn’s away from the trees, gently nudging any strays back into the group. My guides told me that the baby Lindworms are taken to a place where there are many ancient cairns. They are raised there, the stones protecting them from being the prey of foxes and birds.

It was an amazing sight and I have never seen anything like it! I wish I could have taken pictures to show you, but no one was allowed to bring any cameras as to not disturb the Lindworms. I look forward to discuss this with my colleagues and I promise to write again soon though then I will write to the whole family. And in a couple of years, when you are bigger, then perhaps you can come with me to watch Lindworm’s be born, if you still are excited about dragon then.

Tell the rest of the family I love and miss you all. (And perhaps you can let them read this letter, even if it’s yours.)

XXX

Charlie