A/N: Short little author's note today, this chapter was an absolute joy to write and I hope it's a joy to read! :) 

~

Look in the mirror of my mind
Turning the pages of my life
Walking the path so many paced a million times
Drown out the voices in the air
Leaving the ones that never cared
Picking the pieces up and building to the sky

I got this feeling, yeah, you know
Where I'm losing all control
'Cause there's magic in my bones
I got this feeling in my soul
Go ahead and throw your stones
'Cause there's magic in my bones

"Bones"
Imagine Dragons

~

LUCY:

I was very, very, very, very deeply asleep on Saturday morning when I was shaken awake.

"Sorry to wake you, Cub—" George started to say.

"No we aren't!" Fred interrupted loudly, too loudly. "Pack a bag, we're going on an adventure."

George grinned in the darkness. Why is it still dark outside? "Just enough for one night. Might want to pack a couple changes of clothes though, just in case, you never know what might happen."

"Oh, and bring your broom, too."

I blinked, and blinked again, pushing myself up to a sitting position. "What's going on?"

"Another ridiculous and risky but fun and foundational life experience!" Fred announced.

"But this time, it's a surprise!" George added.

"It was a surprise last time too," I mumbled sleepily as I tried to wipe the heaviness from my eyes. "What time even is it?"

"Around four in the morning, I believe," Fred replied. "You have about an hour before we told the others we'd be there. If you're ready sooner, though, sooner is okay too. Now come on, we've got the world to see!"

~

GEORGE:

Lucy's eyes were half-open at most, but she seemed to understand. We left then, promising her coffee when she made her way downstairs.

Fred was practically buzzing with excitement. "This is going to be so much fun."

"I know," I replied, similarly excited. "Reckon she won't even need the coffee once she realizes what we're doing."

The two of us exchanged smug, conspiratorial grins as we set about making coffee anyway. She had been extraordinarily sleepy since Harry's birthday.

Nobody knew what exactly she and Harry had done after she dragged him out of the house. We had all watched from the window as they stumbled into the orchard, Harry dragging a giggling Lucy, and we were all still gathered around the turntable, talking and laughing, when Lucy returned an unknown amount of time later, the picture of serenity.

"What just happened?" Ginny demanded. "Where have you been?"

"Just talking to Harry in the orchard," Lucy replied with a soft smile. "We were reminiscing a bit."

"Is that what the kids are calling it these days?" Fred asked.

Lucy's smile faded, replaced by a look of genuine confusion. "What?"

"Were you only, ah, reminiscing?" I inquired.

"Yeah," she said slowly, as if it should be obvious, nodding.

Harry entered the room then, grinning widely. "You know what else was great? The moment you told me you had started flying again. You just casually mentioned that you did that instead of going to Herbology, last November. I told you that you were made to fly, and I never doubted that for a second even though you did for a couple of months there, the night after you got that letter from Malfoy."

Lucy flushed a bright red. "Almost falling off my broom that night was a low point."

"You got back up again," Harry said, playfully tugging on her bracelet as he walked past her on his way to flop down on the sofa beside Ron. "Always have, always will. Say, what song is this? It's nice."

Hermione passed him the album, pointing to the name of the song, as Lucy gazed at Harry with so much affection it was a wonder they weren't both glowing with warmth. She seemed to feel my eyes on her, and she glanced at me with a knowing look.

"Did you ever ask her what she meant the other night about almost falling off her broom?" Fred asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I nodded. "Given what we're about to do, yeah, I did. She said it only happened once, and it wasn't a big deal."

"And you believe her?"

"About the once, yes, but about it not being a big deal, no." I shrugged. "But we both know she's been perfectly okay in the sky her whole life, aside from whatever that was, so..."

Fred nodded slowly. "Yeah. What was it Harry said? She was made to fly?"

~

LUCY:

I pushed the door open to the kitchen, shaking my head. "Merlin's beard, you two. Yes, he said that our first year. I don't know why he mentioned it at all. It's not a memory I'm particularly fond of recalling." When both twins just looked at me questioningly, I sighed and reached for my coffee cup. "First year. Going after the Stone. It was one of the last things he said to me before we went our separate ways, Harry heading off to face who we thought was Snape, me following Hermione to take care of Ron. He said I could have his broom if he didn't make it back because he thought I was made to fly."

Fred whistled. "That's intense for two eleven-year-olds."

"I was twelve, but yeah."

"How long had you been twelve?" George asked, eyes suddenly lighting up.

I nearly choked on my coffee laughing. I set the cup on the counter so I could gesture wildly with my hands. "You mean to tell me that you still haven't figured out my birthday?"

"You've never volunteered the information, and neither has anyone else!" Fred complained. "We've tried everything!"

George pouted. "Trust us, you would know if we knew your birthday. We thought for sure that it was going to be obvious this year since we learned that Harry's known since your third year, but we somehow missed it. Again."

"Oh, Harry's known since our second year," I replied, hiding my smirk behind the mug I lifted once again to my lips.

"WHAT?" they burst out in unison.

"Yeah. I didn't intend for him to find out, but it happened. Cedric's fault, really. Anyway, you didn't miss it in the sense you think you did. You weren't at school. That's your hint."

Fred slapped a hand to his forehead. "Damn! We could have figured it out this year if we had still been around! I blame Dolores Umbridge."

"If you had still been around, we wouldn't be here right now," I pointed out, "and I like being here."

"That's true," George agreed with a sigh. "D'you think we would have figured it out, though?"

I shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I almost missed my birthday."

George cocked his head. "How so?"

"I was forgetting about it. I was working in the common room late on what I thought was a random Wednesday when Harry asked if I wanted to bake cookies. Turns out it was my birthday. Hermione and I were still cross with each other so we weren't talking, but Ron and Ginny both remembered and gave me something early in the morning before anyone else was awake. You might have figured it out, but it was an even smaller occasion than usual this year."

"So you're saying it was on a Wednesday?" Fred asked.

I shrugged. "I think it was a Thursday. I'm not going to check a calendar, though."

"So it was a Wednesday or a Thursday between the day we left and your last day of school," George said contemplatively. "We didn't realize Ginny knew. I'm sure we could convince her to tell us. It sounds like we need to make up for how lackluster it was this year, I'm sure she'd be happy to support us in that endeavor."

Fred started talking again before I could protest. A strategic move, really. "You know what won't be lackluster, though? This ridiculous and risky but fun and foundational life experience!"

"Oh, right." I blinked, shaking my head. "How did the conversation even get here? I hate my birthday. Anyway, are you going to tell me what we're doing now?"

"You'll find out once we get there," Fred replied with a bright grin. "You've got your bag?"

I nodded and gestured over my shoulder. "It's the backpack you charmed for me last year. Figured it would do the trick."

"That's perfect, you won't have to try to hold onto anything when we use the Portkey that way," George said.

The word Portkey sent a devastating wave of grief ripping through me, but the fact that all of the blood had drained from my face was hidden by the makeup. It had its perks.

~

GEORGE:

Lucy smiled. "Cool."

"We have our backpacks right here." Fred tossed me mine and slung his over his shoulders. "The Portkey is that bowl in the middle of the table. It activated five minutes ago and will remain active for the next hour, so there's no rush. Unless, of course," he added with a grin, "you're ready now?"

"I think I am," she replied. "George? You ready?"

"Technically, it was my idea," I said.

"Interesting," Lucy commented, nodding slowly. She drained the last of her coffee and set the mug on the counter behind her. "Well... let's see what you've done this time."

The three of us gathered around the bowl and reached forward in unison.

~

LUCY:

The second my trembling hands touched the edge of the bowl, the world disappeared in a swirl of color. I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on the fact that this Portkey was good, it was okay, this Portkey was taking me on an adventure, it was okay. I trusted the twins. I trusted the twins wholeheartedly.

Since I was truthfully still half-asleep, I almost toppled over when the world stopped spinning and we landed hard on wet grass. Before I could fall, though, two strong arms that belonged to someone with a boisterous laugh pulled me up into a hug and spun me around.

"YES!" a familiar voice cheered. "LUCY'S FINALLY HERE!"

"She's not going to know where 'here' is if you don't put her down, Charlie," Fred chuckled from somewhere behind me.

Charlie Weasley set me down, and I blinked against the blinding sunlight as I looked around me. As my eyes adjusted, I realized I was on a high peak surrounded by rolling green hills and magnificent rock structures, with expansive forests down below. I looked skyward just as an Antipodean Opaleye soared above us, its scales shimmering in the sunlight.

"This is incredible!" I half-squealed, half-shouted.

"Isn't it? I knew you'd think so! Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to convince someone to bring you here?" Charlie asked. "When the twins sent a letter last week asking, Merlin, I think that was the fastest I've ever replied to any letter from anyone."

"It was!" George piped up.

Charlie shrugged sheepishly. "What can I say? A man has priorities. Letters about dragons take top priority."

I laughed. "Those are good priorities."

~

GEORGE:

"Wait, Lucy." He spun Lucy around so he was holding her by both shoulders as he peered intently at her face. "Merlin, you don't have to bother with that. We've all got scars here. I mean, bloody hell—" Charlie rolled up his sleeve to show off an angry maroon gash. "I just got this one a couple days ago. You're safe, and in good company. It's okay."

Lucy immediately scrubbed the makeup from her face to reveal she was violently blushing, smile still fixed firmly on her face. I wasn't convinced she even realized just how radiantly she was beaming.

Charlie nodded approvingly. "Perfect. Now come on, I do believe you already have a friend here who would love to see you."

Lucy gasped. "Norbert! That's her name, I don't see why we need to change her name to Norberta just because she's a female, unless she prefers it, of course. How is she? Is she still friendly? With humans, I mean? Do you think she will remember me? I haven't seen her since I was eleven, after all, and she spent the most time with Hagrid. Has Hagrid come to visit her? Can I come with him sometime? I'm sure he would be even more excited to see her than I am, and I'm so excited I'm... rambling," she finished, blush intensifying.

"She's wonderful, she's still friendly, she will most certainly remember her, Hagrid hasn't come yet but you two are always welcome," Charlie replied with a grin. "Ramble away, Lucy. You're among friends here. Anything you want to know, just ask."

"Have you done any research on dragon memory?" Lucy asked immediately. "You seem awfully certain that she'll remember me. Do you think it's because I was there for the first part of her life, even though it's been a long time since we've seen each other? How would you even research that?" Lucy gasped again. "Baby dragons! Do you have baby dragons?"

As Charlie enthusiastically answered Lucy's never-ending stream of questions, Fred and I exchanged a fist bump.

"This was a good call," Fred whispered. "She looks... so happy."

I nodded, smiling as something Charlie said made Lucy's jaw drop in response. "I think we nailed this one, Freddie."

~

LUCY:

The Norwegian Ridgeback nest was about a twenty-minute walk away, and I asked Charlie question after question the whole way there. I would have been embarrassed by my enthusiasm if it had been anyone else, but Charlie somehow seemed even more enthusiastic than I was. We even talked at the same time on occasion, his answer to one question overlapping with my next question.

My dad had known a lot about dragons, of course, being a creature expert, but he never indulged me the way Charlie did, he never matched (or exceeded) my enthusiasm the way Charlie did. For one, my dad didn't like dragons, and for two, Cedric was afraid of fire and by extension dragons, and my dad reminded me of that more than Cedric ever did. He would just reprimand me for asking him about dragons while Cedric was around, and when Cedric went to Hogwarts and I thought I was free to ask all of the questions I wanted, he would complain that he was tired of answering my questions when our house was full of books on creatures. He never cared that my questions were ones that couldn't be answered by the books we had, which was why I was asking him instead of consulting one of the books I'd already read a million times.

Charlie Weasley was rapidly becoming one of my favorite people in all of existence.

I was interrupted mid-question by a low rumbling.

"I think she heard you," Charlie said with a grin, holding a hand out to stop me. "I think we should let her come to you. Go ahead and call her."

"Norbert!" I called. "It's me, it's Lucy! Remember me? I was the first person to hold you, when you hatched!"

"Were you really?" Charlie asked.

I nodded. "Of course. I passed her to Hagrid almost immediately, since she's really his dragon, but she climbed onto my hand as soon as I said hi."

"Well, I think it might be a little difficult for you to hold her in your hand now," he remarked. "You're welcome to try, though."

"She was quite fond of sitting on my lap, too. And wrapping herself around my feet."

"Like a cat?"

"Ron made the same comment years ago," I replied with a laugh.

My laugh was interrupted, though, by something that could have been a thunderclap if the sky hadn't been completely cloudless.

Charlie pointed forward at one of the caves about half a kilometer away. "She's in that one. That was the sound of her shaking her wings a bit."

"Exactly how big do dragons get in five years?" I asked, my voice little more than an excited whisper.

My question was answered four seconds later, when she emerged. Her eyes were still a brilliant shade of orange, and they were incredibly sharp as she scanned her surroundings.

I stepped forward, just one step, just to distance myself from the boys.

"Hi, darling," I called, holding out a hand to the creature that was now nearly as tall as the Burrow. "I've missed you."

I watched in wonder as she straightened up and extended her wings, orange eyes locked on me.

"Charlie, are you sure this is safe?" George squeaked. I didn't know his voice was capable of going that high.

"For Lucy? Absolutely," Charlie replied.

"What about for us?" Fred asked in a similarly high voice.

"Shh, don't worry about it, just let her do her thing."

Whether he was referring to me or to Norbert, I had no idea. All I knew was that the dragon I'd helped raise from birth was in front of me once again, big and strong and healthy and looking as if she recognized me.

With a flap of her wings, Norbert was in front of me once again, pressing her nose into my outstretched hand.

~

GEORGE:

"She's a bloody natural," Charlie whispered, practically vibrating with excitement. "Merlin's beard, I've never seen Norbert do that with anybody! Lucy's one of a kind, truly, I can't believe she hasn't been here sooner. Are you sure you need her at the joke shop?"

"We absolutely do," Fred and I responded in perfect unison.

Fred narrowed his eyes at our brother and crossed his arms. "Don't even think about it, Charlie."

"Yeah, she's our Cub," I said, copying Fred's posture.

"Does she need to go back to Hogwarts?" Charlie asked desperately, eyes still glued on Lucy.

Norbert had lowered herself to her haunches and was resting her chin on her front claws. Lucy was gently stroking the dragon's nose as she murmured something, her blue eyes wide with awe.

"She's only 16, mate, so yeah, she does," Fred replied.

"Can we keep her here once she graduates, then?" Charlie asked, growing more desperate by the second. "You don't understand how amazing this is."

"Everything she does is amazing, Charlie," I said as I clapped him on the shoulder. "Just you wait and see."

Charlie's eyes were wide as he nodded. "I'm seeing. Trust me, I'm seeing."

"By the way, it's good to see you again, big brother," Fred piped up teasingly.

"Right. Right. You two are here too. Yes, it's good to see you both again too," Charlie said, turning to face us with a sheepish smile on his face. "All three of you brought your brooms, yes?"

We both nodded.

Charlie grinned. "Good. I'm guessing you want to actually fly with the dragons for your memory, so brooms are obviously the easiest way of doing that. We can head back to the lodge and I can grab mine, and we can see if anyone is interested in flying with us. We should start with the Antipodean Opaleyes, they're the least aggressive dragons. Don't worry," he said quickly, as we both glanced over his shoulder to make sure Lucy was still okay, "Norbert is remarkably tame, and Lucy is remarkably good with dragons, as we've all seen, clearly. Anyway, I was thinking if the other dragons saw us flying with the Opaleyes, they might want to join the fun too. If not, at least you've got the Opaleyes. They're beautiful dragons, really."

"As opposed to that thing?" Fred asked with a snort, gesturing with his chin at Norbert.

Norbert wasn't particularly beautiful, as far as dragons went, big and skeletal with brown and black scales and orange eyes not unlike the color of my shop uniform. Lucy seemed to think the world of that dragon, though, so I stifled my laugh.

Charlie rolled his eyes. "It's subjective, but I suppose—"

Lucy's voice interrupted him. "Charlie?"

He whirled around, and Fred and I glanced her direction. Norbert had lifted herself off the ground a bit and was swinging her head back and forth, looking at Lucy then tossing her head backward, repeating the gesture over and over.

"Is she asking what I think she's asking?" Lucy inquired.

"I've never seen a dragon do that," Charlie said in an awed whisper. "What in the ever-loving f-"

"What do you think she's asking, Cub?" I called.

"I, er... I mentioned flying," she replied, "and I think she understood me."

Fred and I both glanced at Charlie, who was appraising the situation with wide eyes.

"She is particularly receptive to human speech, since you talked to her so much before she hatched," Charlie said quietly, blinking as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "I — I have no idea what to — I've never — er — ask her, Lucy. See what happens."

Lucy reached forward and stilled the dragon with a gentle touch on her nose. "Darling, are you asking me to get on your back?"

The dragon huffed, a couple of sparks shooting from her nostrils directly in Lucy's direction.

"Lucy, look out!" I yelped, but she had already used her free hand to send a small jet of water to extinguish the sparks before they got the chance to ignite anything.

She didn't blink once as she studied the dragon, her hand steady against its nose. "I think that was a yes."

"I think so too," Charlie said, sounding very much as if he was about to explode. "Well... do you want to?"

~

LUCY:

"Yeah," I replied, feeling something deep inside me begin to stir as I gazed into Norbert's warm orange eyes.

"Well, my broom is back at the lodge, but Fred and George can keep an eye on you while I race back there, I'll catch up with you in a bit," Charlie said as his retreating footsteps hurried across the grass. "Merlin's beard, nobody is going to believe me, nobody!"

"You're sure about this, Cub?" Fred asked, sounding anxious once again.

I nodded. "Of course."

"Flying with the dragons would be okay, too, that was the plan," George said.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say the Weasley twins were scared," I replied teasingly, turning to look at the boys for the first time. "Aw, you are scared. Don't worry, you can stay on the ground if you'd prefer."

"You think we'd let you fly a dragon without us there with you?" George asked incredulously.

I shrugged. "I've flown hippogriffs before without issue, not to mention everything you've seen me do on a broom. Besides, Norbert wouldn't let me fall."

George cocked his head. "You sound absolutely certain. How do you know that?"

"Intuition. Besides, we have an understanding. Creature to creature. Trust me, she won't let me fall," I said.

"Well, neither would we, for the record," Fred grumbled as he and George whipped off their backpacks in unison and started digging around for their brooms.

"I know," I replied with a smile. "C'mon, boys, let's put the 'ridiculous' into 'ridiculous and risky but fun and foundational life experiences,' shall we?"

"What, flying on a dragon isn't risky enough for you?" Fred squawked.

Instead of answering, I focused on climbing onto Norbert. I positioned myself at the base of her neck so I could wrap as much of myself around her as possible.

Once I was secure, I pressed my cheek against her neck. "You're brilliant, you know. I've missed you."

I wasn't sure how much of what I was saying she understood, but she seemed to puff up regardless.

"I'm ready when you are," I whispered. "Go ahead."

She seemed to understand the word "Go." With one, two, three, four flaps of her wings, we were airborne.

The happy sound that I produced was something I'd never heard myself make before, and I wasn't sure if I'd ever make it again. I squeezed Norbert's neck at first, then slowly loosened my grip as I realized just how safe I was. She wasn't like a hippogriff, which needed to constantly flap its wings to stay aloft. She wasn't a broom either, which needed to be told what to do and where to go at all times. She was a dragon. She was powerful and graceful and perfect as she glided on the wind through the endless sky.

Below us, the hills and trees and rocks made a beautiful mosaic of green and grey, and I was struck by how vibrant the colors were. Green and grey. Harry and Cedric.

And then the sky above to match. Me. Sky Eyes.

The world was beautiful from my vantage point. I was untouchable in the sky.

Magic was what kept me afloat in the storm, when I'd been tossed out in the waves. Magic was what kept me aloft in the sky, now that the worst of the storm had passed.

The world was beautiful. And I was untouchable.

~

GEORGE:

Keeping up with a dragon on a Cleansweep Five? Impossible.

Thankfully, Norbert and Lucy headed straight for the lodge, so we were soon joined in the sky by Charlie and a whole score of his fellow dragonologists, whose brooms were perfectly capable of keeping up with dragons. Charlie was right — the Opaleyes were quite friendly. They eagerly joined the crowd in the sky, and before we knew it, several other dragons of all shapes and sizes and colors were soaring too. In the heart of it all was Lucy. The expression on her face was absolutely priceless.

We spent the morning exploring the sanctuary from above, Charlie explaining everything to Lucy while a couple of his mates explained everything to Fred and me. Once we were on the ground, official introductions were made, and Lucy and Norbert were promptly swarmed by a dozen dumbfounded dragonologists. Charlie, however, headed our direction and pulled us away from the crowd.

"What's up, mate?" I asked, noticing the slight crease between his eyebrows that suggested something was on his mind.

"Before I ask this, I need you both to know that I don't care one bit if the answer's yes and the secret will be safe with me," Charlie said in a low voice, his face uncharacteristically serious, "but she's a werewolf, isn't she?"

Fred and I exchanged a quick glance.

"It was the wandless magic," he continued, "I've only ever seen Giovanni do something like that, when he first got here. Stop looking so worried, you two, she's perfectly safe here. Everyone knows about Gio, everyone's perfectly okay with Gio, we have a garden of wolfsbane ingredients and we all stay inside at night when it's a full moon, it's as simple as that. Something tells me it's not quite that simple back home."

Fred and I looked at each other again before deflating a bit.

I nodded. "She is."

"It's not that simple at all," Fred added with a sigh.

Charlie shook his head. "I hate that bloody meddling Ministry of Magic. Harvey Ridgebit, the bloke who started this place, had a son who was bitten. Liam was one of the best damn dragonologists in the world, and he and his dad made sure anyone was welcome here."

"You can't tell anybody," I said. "Not even Mum knows. Just a few of Lucy's closest friends and a handful of Order members do, and we need to keep it that way. The target on her back is already too big, we can't risk that information falling into the wrong hands."

"Hey, hey, the secret's safe with me," Charlie said, holding his hands up in surrender, "I swear. She doesn't even need to know that I know. I just wanted to ask, because she would be completely safe here if something were to ever happen back home. We'd take good care of her here."

I exhaled, feeling defeated. "We're trying our best, Charlie."

"Hey, you're doing a great job!" Charlie placed a heavy big-brother hand on my right shoulder and the other on Fred's left shoulder. "Bloody hell, don't take that the wrong way, you two are doing so very well. I can't imagine it's been easy, but it's obvious she's happy with you two. I wasn't really sure what to expect from her today, after everything she's been through since I last saw her, but she's happy and you make her that way."

"The dragons didn't hurt," Fred remarked with a grin.

Charlie grinned back. "They never do. But hey, this was all your idea." He moved his hands to ruffle our hair, as if we were his little seven-year-old brothers again. "That being said, she would be a tremendous asset to our team here, and I will be trying to steal her from you."

I swatted his hand away. "You can try."

"But you'll fail," Fred added, "because she's our Cub."

"And we love her and we need her, and she loves and needs us too," I finished proudly.

~

LUCY:

I was deep in conversation with one of Charlie's mates about typical Norwegian Ridgeback growth patterns when George and Fred and Charlie returned from wherever they had gone. Charlie asked if I wanted to see the sanctuary on foot after lunch, to which I obviously replied yes, so we did exactly that. As I walked around with the three Weasley boys, they appeared to be engaged in a fierce battle for my future loyalty. Charlie was practically begging me to stay in Romania with the dragons for the rest of my life, not bothering to go back to the joke shop or to school or anywhere else ever again. Fred and George, on the other hand, argued equally fiercely that I should spend the rest of my life at the joke shop, going out on adventures at night and filling my days with mischief and magic. I merely laughed and rolled my eyes at everything they said, not able to give either party a true answer because their stream of bickering was too constant for me to get a word in edgewise.

"Well, tomorrow, before you leave, I'll take you through a day in the life of a dragonologist," Charlie said. "You can make your decision then."

"Perfect!" Fred replied on my behalf. "And once you realizes there's no place in the world better than Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, Charlie will have no right to complain about how he never got a fair chance to win you over to his side!"

I laughed, once again, and rolled my eyes, once again. "I still have two years of school left. You all do realize that, right? I can't just drop out?"

"Gio dropped out of Castelobruxo, and he turned out just fine," Charlie argued with a shrug.

"And you know damn well we didn't finish our formal education," George said, grinning.

"Well, I'd like to finish mine!" I protested. "Pink Venomous Tentaculas notwithstanding."

"What notwithstanding?" Charlie asked.

That question, obviously, led to a detailed description of everything that had happened in regards to Umbridge the past year, a conversation that managed to convince Charlie even more that I belonged in Romania. After all, he thought I was, and I quote, "a badass."

Once our tour of the grounds was over, Charlie asked if we wanted to take to the skies again. The answer was an easy yes, and it was on Norbert's back that I got to witness the beautiful sunset over the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary.

I was more at peace in that moment than I had been since the last sunset I had seen that was comparable: our last night in Tahoe. The Tahoe sunset was still better, in my mind, by virtue of coming before my life had fallen apart instead of after. But there, in the after, on the back of a dragon, somewhere in Romania, with the twins on brooms on either side of me, green and grey landscape stretching out infinitely beneath us painted in a thin sheen of gold, I had discovered a new form of beauty.

I was free.