Charlie had only been back in England for a few hours and already he was missing the charms they had at the reserve to keep things the same temperature all year round.  As he walked through the halls of the Ministry he almost wished he had worn his warmer cloak, the one with all the warming charms on it that he rarely wore at the reserve.  Instead he was wearing a sleeveless shirt under a long robe that was open at the front.  He hated the cold with a passion.  Nevertheless, he was here for a reason.  He hadn't even been home yet to say hi to his mum, he'd come straight to the Ministry, put on that ridiculous visitor's badge, had his wand checked and now he was finally at his destination.  Level Four.

Some of the people that worked up here weren't too bad, but a few could get under his skin pretty fast.  In one hand he had it rested on the lightweight bag that held all the reports for the last few months  - nesting mothers, new dragons, problem dragons, escapes, etc., and the other hand was in the pocket of his robes, touching the letter he'd received from one of his nieces. Rose had written him in her childish 5 year old writing to pretty please bring her something cool from Romania.

He stopped inside the offices of the Creature Division and waited to see if he could spot one of the people he could actually stand to talk to.

It was a quiet Saturday on Level Four.  Most of the offices were empty today, with just a few lone individuals at their desks or wandering through the hallways.

Kurby had gotten back to his flat late the night before after playing escort on Moira McBoid's visit to St. Mungo's.[1]  That morning, he'd gotten up early to head into the Ministry, in hopes of getting a few things done before the following weekend's full moon without having to deal with any of his coworkers.

Sitting at his desk for too long made him feel antsy, so he'd gotten up to deliver a couple of notes to Alec Carter's box in person.  On his way back to the Capture Unit office, he spotted a familiar shock of red hair -- though one not so commonly seen around the Ministry these days.

"Weasley."  Kurby paused, eyebrows raising, as he regarded his former housemate.  Charlie Weasley had been a few years ahead of him in school, a year behind his older brother and something of a minor celebrity due to his role as Gryffindor's seeker.   He'd also been intimately involved in the Order during the war, along with most of his family.  These days, though, he was a rare sight on Level Four, as made evident by the visitor's badge pinned to his robes. 

"Had enough of Romania for the moment, then?" he asked evenly.

1.	Following the events at Old Brick on Friday night.

Brought out of his thoughts by a somewhat familiar voice, Charlie turned to see who was talking to him.  "Bagnold, is it... yes."  He shook his head to clear it of any last stray thoughts of what little Rose might like for Christmas and focused on the man, "Me, tired of Romania, I don't think that will ever happen.  I like my dragons too much." he said lightly with a small laugh.

"I've been sent with some reports, the owls just take too long, so they send me out."  He looked around the room, "This way, their reports come in on time and I get to spend time with my family before going home."

He'd always harbored a minor suspicion for the members of Level Four who invested so much time in studying dangerous creatures.  Kurby comprehended wanting to understand them, especially when it came to knowledge that could be employed to keep people safe.  But studying them for years on end for purely esoteric purposes...he'd never understood why Amherst had felt such a call about dragons, and he didn't get Charlie Weasley's fascination with them, either.

It also seemed extravagant to come so far only to drop off a report, but people did more ridiculous things for family.  At least this way, someone like Weasley could control where or when he had to put up with them.  It was a model that he might have to try and think through himself, at least in terms of avoiding events that he didn't want to be present at.

"Nice timing on the trip, at least," he observed, more than a bit dryly.  "At least you'll miss the worst of the holidays, comin' home now."

Charlie chuckled at the thought, "Mum would track me down and drag me home by my ears if I missed Christmas with the family." He'd seen her do it to, to Ron four Christmases ago.  He'd not wanted to come as he'd had a bad month at work and didn't want to ruin the mood by being sullen and moody the whole time.  Molly had set others to keep working on the food and she marched right through the floo and came back ten minutes later with a red-faced Weasley by the ear.  He still laughed at his brother for that.

"Speaking of family, how's your brother Shay?"

That was clearly the way of pureblood families.  None of the elder generation of his own family would deign to resort to ear-dragging, but it was heavily implied that if anyone missed Christmas, there would be consequences.  For all that he hated the Bagnold-Whitman family get-together over the holidays, Kurby had never dared to dream about skipping it.  Instead, he and his younger sister Rosheen had both resorted to pushing limits and testing their relatives' patience; although Rosh probably just intended to shock, Kurby would have been ecstatic to be banned from attending the following year as a result.

Unfortunately, Weasley couldn't let the talk of family lie.  Sighing, Kurby rubbed tiredly at his face.  He really only liked to think about his older brother when he had a drink in his hand.

"Still alive," he said with a shrug.  "Or at least I'd probably hear if he were otherwise.  Last I heard, he was still happily climbin' the ranks down on Level One."  Shay probably had his nose right up the Minister's arse at this point.  Kurby had avoided getting pulled into too many conversations with his brother at the previous year's family Christmas, which was the last time he had really seen him.  At least his eldest sibling had better things to do these days than micromanage anyone else's life.

He could have asked about Weasley's own siblings -- Percy had been a year ahead of him in Gryffindor, and the twins the year behind -- but Kurby was happy to change the subject away from family.

"What's the latest news from Romania?" he asked, returning to a topic that he suspected the other wizard could talk about for hours on end.  "You lot never saw any effects from that dragon epidemic[1] last year, did you?"

1.	A Dragon Epidemic struck the dragon population of the United Kingdom in 2010, but it had largely died down by late 2011.

If Charlie noticed the lack of interest in the man's willingness to talk about his brother, he didn't show it.  Everybody felt different about family. So he jumped right in on the topic he most loved to talk about - - dragons.

"Well, we've got a few nesting mothers, Hungarian Horntails, so the reserve is treating a lot of burns right now, and I didn't hear about an epidemic, so I guess not."

[1]

1.	The shortness fairy has taken ahold of me.