GoF Ch 17- 20 post DH look - DRAGONS

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 181995

> Alla:
> 
> I really do not have much that jumped at me as new in those
> chapters, but rather than skip further, I figured I post anyways,
> maybe somebody else will see more. :-)

Mike:
Me either, Alla. But there is one or two favorite re-caps and a 
question. All these quotes are from pp 325-8, US Ed.
-----

"... and then [Harry's] mouth fell open.

*Dragons* "

Mike:
All the lead up to the TWT indicates it's going to be exciting. But 
we have no real idea how hard it's going to be. I mean, kids are 
going to exagerate the dangers. I expected that life was a little 
more precious in the modern age than it was for previous tournaments 
of centuries past. Besides, Dumbledore already told us there were new 
safety measures in place for this tournament. So when Harry's jaw 
drops and we see that one word, DRAGONS, I'm like, whoa maybe this 
isn't going to be so watered down as I thought. How the hell is Harry 
going to defeat THAT? He doesn't know near enough magic!
-----

"Really romantic date, Hagrid," said Charlie, shaking his head.

Mike:
Hee! Well sure, Hagrid could be a goof around the kids, he might be 
just trying to relate. Maybe he's different around grown-ups, 
especially ones that he's taken a liking to? Nope! That's our Hagrid!
-----

"The wizard who had warned Hagrid not to come any closer turned, and 
Harry realized who it was: Charlie Weasley."

Mike:
Now we know that the rumor was true, there was a dragon guarding some 
of the high security vaults in Gringotts. Is that what Charlie is 
doing with the dragons in Romania, training some of them for highly 
specialized jobs? I only remember people like Ron saying Charlie 
"works" with dragons, I don't remember anybody saying he "trains" 
them, but I might have missed that. 

I always thought of Charlie's job as a sort of magical gamekeeper, 
much like Hagrid's job at Hogwarts until he gets the CoMC teaching 
post. (Strike that, Hagrid still does his gamekeeping duties even 
after he gets the teaching post). But if it's a "job", who's paying 
Charlie and his mates to look after dragons? Qui bono, who benefits 
and therefore who gets something out of this group doing stuff with 
dragons besides the group themselves?