Chapter Text
Hasetsu
The Day After Victor’s Interview
They weren’t surprised Ministry officials were sent to Yu-Topia, but they were surprised they were sent at seven in the morning. Victor deserved to sleep in after the stunt they pulled last night, didn’t he? The only thing that got him out of bed and dressed was the anxious look on Yuuri’s face, his boyfriend worrying his hands as he paced the bedroom floor.
“I was right, I knew we’d end up in Azkaban. I told you we should do it anonymously,” he said quietly.
“We aren’t going to Azkaban,” Victor assured him. “If they were going to arrest us they would have done it last night.”
“In front of the crowd?” questioned Yuuri. “Their image was already bad, it makes sense they’d do this quietly.”
Victor huffed, pulling a robe over his head. “You think I’ll go quietly?” he asked. “Will you?”
Yuuri stopped his pacing. Leave Iggi and the girls without a fight? “No,” he admitted.
Fully dressed, Victor stepped over to Yuuri and took both his hands in his. “Yuuri,” he said gently. “Take a deep breath. We pissed them off, there’s no denying that. But we ran the plan past Mari, Charlie, Masumi, anyone with a Ministry background. They all agreed we didn’t break any laws, in any country.” Yuuri nodded, having heard this several times before and after Victor’s interview. “News is spreading like wildfire,” Victor continued. “They have so many better things to do than hassle us.”
“And yet,” said Yuuri. “We wake to Mom telling us two agents are in the lobby looking for us?”
Victor’s smile twinged. “I’m sure they have a few questions, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to Azkaban.”
By seven-fifteen the couple was in the lobby, the agents looking annoyed at having to wait despite their arrival being a surprise. “Katsuki Yuuri?” one asked. “Victor Nikiforov?” They nodded. Yuuri didn’t recognize him, but he did remember the witch beside him being the one who’d been particularly nasty last night. “We’ve been sent here on an urgent matter,” he began. “It’s come to our attention that you have violated several decrees of increasing severity over the past few months.”
“Oh?” asked Victor, sounding far more nonchalant than he was feeling. He felt Yuuri tense beside him. “And what would those be?”
“Cut the crap, Nikiforov,” snapped the witch. “Where are the dragons?”
“Ichikawa,” warned the man, shooting an unimpressed look at his partner, a clear be professional in his expression. Looking back to the couple he said, “To begin with, you are in possession of an extremely dangerous creature, posing a threat to the local wizarding and muggle communities alike.”
“Are you referring to Makkachin?” he asked. “She wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
The man nodded. “You stated yourself that you own five dragon hatchlings. Are you now denying this?”
“While I don’t consider it owning them, I will agree that I am raising five dragons, yes.”
“Ha!” the witch cried gleefully, pointing at them. “Five counts of Illegal Poaching of Endangered Creatures and five counts of Ownership of Unauthorized and Unacceptably Deadly Beasts.”
“Poaching?” gasped an enraged Yuuri, finally speaking. “We’ve never – How dare you-“
“Where did that come from?” asked Victor when it was clear Yuuri was too upset to get it out.
“How else could you have gotten them?” asked the wizard.
Victor opened his mouth to answer before realizing he’d be walking right into a trap. He’d been about to correct the man in that he’d rescued – technically stole – the Opaleye from Tausch, and Iggi had been one of the eggs they’d tricked a collector into ‘selling’ to Victor during their black market scheme over summer. He glanced to Yuuri, wishing they had telepathy.
“We found them,” Yuuri said.
“You…found them?” the man said skeptically. “Dragons. You just…stumbled upon them?”
“Yes,” said Yuuri.
“Where?”
“In America. New Mexico, specifically.”
Victor nodded along, internally praising Yuuri for his quick thinking. Tweaking the Azura and Verndari situation would be much easier than coming up with something on the spot.
“Yeah right,” scoffed Ichikawa.
“We’ll look into that,” the wizard said, not sounding any more convinced. “In the meantime, we’ll need to see your dragons.”
“What for?” asked Yuuri defensively.
“To inspect them,” the wizard said. “The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures requires us to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all beasts, especially endangered creatures. If there is any sign of abuse-“
“There won’t be,” Victor said sharply.
“…If there is any sign of abuse,” he repeated, “Then we would have grounds for removal for their protection.”
Anxiety building to a tipping point, Yuuri clenched his fists to prevent himself from grabbing his wand as he nearly hissed, “This is ridiculous. It is not illegal to house dragons. We checked the laws. In fact, there are no laws that refer to dragons.”
“Not by name, no,” the agent said. “However it is reasonable to conclude that any law referring to exotic or deadly beasts would include dragons.”
“Would that really hold up in court?” asked Victor without thinking.
The witch grinned. “Can’t wait to find out,” she sneered. “Dragons. Now.”
After sharing a look with Victor, Yuuri reluctantly nodded. “I’ll have Mom and Dad help me get them. I’ll meet you in the backyard, okay?”
“If it would be easier to simply Apparate to them, we can accompany you.”
“Not a chance,” said Victor, nodding in turn at Yuuri to go on ahead. Like hell they’d let them anywhere near the sanctuary. “Follow me to the yard.”
Yuuri Disapparated and Victor lead the two Ministry officials through the inn and out the backdoor, noticing they were looking quickly about the place as if a dragon may be hiding behind a column or under any table. Pfft, the girls had long since outgrown the days of scurrying around Yu-Topia. For the first time Victor was glad they were too old to live inside.
Outside in the yard, they waited nearly twenty minutes before Victor heard the telltale trills of approaching hatchlings. “Ah, here they come.”
“Finally,” the witch grouched. “Stalling isn’t going to help you any.”
“He wasn’t stalling,” Victor said. “You have no idea how hard it is to wrangle five boisterous dragons.” Soon all four Katsuki’s appeared, each with a lead in hand, two in Yuuri’s case. Victor felt relieved to see Mari, perhaps with her Ministry background she could help sort this out.
Though the witch had seen Makkachin briefly last night, Victor was still satisfied by the shocked look on her face to see yet again a dragon in the flesh. The wizard looked as if a light breeze might knock him over. Clearly they had never been part of the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau. How on earth would they be qualified to inspect the dragons?
The Opaleye were clearly antsy, picking up on the Katsuki’s stress during the walk from the field. Iggi seemed blissfully oblivious as he looked around at the small gathering, a bone securely clenched between his two rows of teeth.
Mari handed her lead off to Hiroko and stepped around the hatchlings to come to Victor’s side. Arms crossed and scowl in place she asked, “Department?”
“…Excuse me?” asked the wizard, finally dragging his eyes away from the triplets.
“What department are you with?” she said.
“Magical Law Enforcement.” A combination of police and justice facilities, the department had power over all other departments of the Ministry.
“Identification?” continued Mari.
The witch looked irritated. “Seriously?”
Mari held her hand out expectantly. “We’ve had a lot of people try a lot of different things to steal our dragons. I wouldn’t put it above them to impersonate Ministry officials. And, as you’re aware, all officers are required to identify themselves when asked. We have a right to get your name and badge numbers.” She wiggled her fingers impatiently, and reluctantly the two reached within their robes and pulled out their IDs. Mari looked them over, seemed satisfied, and handed them back.
With a huff the witch snatched her ID and pushed past Mari, intentionally knocking her with her shoulder as she did, and walked up to Ai. Sensing her negativity, Ai shrank down as small as she could, looking up with big wide eyes and looking so scared and pitiful it was a miracle Victor didn’t shove the woman away. “This is what all the fuss is about?” the woman griped, circling Ai. Hisa and Kou pulled on their leads, nearly pulling Hiroko and Toshiya over in their attempt to back up their sister.
“It’s okay girls,” Hiroko cooed, patting Kou’s side. “Calm down, everything’s fine.”
“Cracked scale,” called the witch, noticing a small line in one of Ai’s scales. Instantly a notebook appeared in the wizard’s hand, a quill in the other, and he jotted down notes.
Yuuri’s jaw dropped. “They’re kids,” he said. “They roughhouse. That’s normal for young dragons.”
“Scorched scale,” she continued. Perhaps a playful burst from Vicchan was a little hot, but that’s what scales were for, protecting the body beneath it. It clearly wasn’t bothering her! Turning her attention on Makkachin, she said, “Significantly smaller than the rest, possible malnourishment.”
“She’s several months younger,” growled Victor. “She’s supposed to be smaller.”
“And what’s happening with this one?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at Iggi. He looked nothing like his sisters, sporting hot pink scales, cotton candy fur down his back and little black antler stubs. “I suspect there’s been a breech of the Ban on Experimental Breeding.”
Yuuri was fuming. “He’s a perfectly normal Asian Red Pointer.”
“Asian Red Pointer?” she asked. “Never heard of it.” Before Yuuri could ask her just how many species was she even aware of, she leaned down to get a closer look at Iggi, reaching out to touch the pink fur on his head. Fearing she was coming for his bone, Iggi immediately let out his fiercest growl – which in any other circumstance would have been adorable – dropped his bone and snapped at her. The witch pulled away just fast enough to avoid losing a finger, shrieking as she jumped back. “Did you see that?” she asked her partner. “This thing is way too aggressive for a domestic residence. What if it got loose?”
“You provoked him!” cried Yuuri. “What do you expect when you-“
“He’s got to go,” she decided, speaking over him.
Yuuri’s heart sank. “What?”
“All of them,” she said. “Danger to society, improper care, clear evidence of neglect in regard to scale condition…”
“You-! Mari?!” he asked desperately, turning to his sister. “Can they take them?”
“Absolutely not,” Mari said. “Any Magizoologist would agree they’re in excellent condition.”
“Well when we have them looked over by a Magizoologist, we’ll let you know if that is the case,” said Ichikawa. “Until then, they’ll remain in Ministry custody.”
Victor was certain if they were taken they’d never be seen again. They’d be ‘lost in transportation’ or fall through the cracks, paperwork misplaced and incorrect and redone so many times no one cared to follow through. Iggi and the girls would be dropped in a zone and never retrieved, or worse, smuggled off to someone as foul as Alice and Antonin.
Mari’s eyes blazed. “I don’t recall you providing a search warrant. You can’t just show up here and take them.”
“We can if you agree to a search, which you did,” smiled the witch. “And we can seize evidence if we suspect a crime has been committed. Which I do.”
“We’ve done nothing wrong!” cried Yuuri, feeling himself begin to panic.
The wizard repeated everything they were accusing them off, ending with, “Under the Decree for Justifiable Confiscation, we can-“
“Stop,” said Mari. “You know as well as I do that the Decree for Justifiable Confiscation is specifically for wills. None of these dragons were willed to us. Furthermore, that only applies to objects under suspicion of being illegal or Dark artefacts, and you must have significant evidence to suspect them being illegal or Dark. Nice try, but we aren’t naïve enough to hear the name of the decree and let you push us around.”
Victor was thankful once again for Mari’s presence. He’d never paid much attention to magical law classes at Durmstrang, and Decree for Justifiable Confiscation certainly sounded like something that would require them to surrender the hatchlings.
“Mm,” hummed the wizard with a frown, clearly having hoped that would intimidate them. “Anyhow, you’re still under investigation for negligence and illegal breeding. We will be seizing the dragons and will hold them until further notice.” He flicked his wand and immediately a rope began forming from the tip, twirling out longer and longer and clearly meant to restrain the hatchlings.
“Ropes aren’t necessary, they’re already leashed,” said Victor, mind not comprehending that they were actually being taken and focusing on their comfort instead. Beside him, Yuuri was shaking.
“Where will they go?” asked Hiroko. “How do we get them back?”
“They aren’t going anywhere,” Mari insisted. “You two clearly have no experience with dragons. I want to talk to someone from Dragon Research & Restraint.”
“Tough,” the witch sneered. “We have authority over Dragon R&R.”
Answering Hiroko, the wizard said, “We’ll report back to Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. If you feel you have been wrongfully accused of negligence you may file a complaint there. All seized creatures cannot be returned until fully inspected by a Magizoologist and their condition confirmed. Additionally, it has not been determined if dragons are permissible pets, and if it decided that they are not, then the Ministry reserves the right to retain ownership until a suitable habitat can be secured.”
“A suitable habitat?” echoed Victor. He knew what that meant. “You can’t just drop babies off in the middle of nowhere!”
“They’re wild animals,” the witch sighed. “They’ll be fine.”
“W-we have an adult!” Yuuri hurried to say. All eyes flew to him.
“What was that?” asked the wizard. “You have another?”
“Yes,” said Yuuri. “A mature Sui Riu.”
“Yuuri,” Victor hissed.
Ichikawa’s eyes narrowed. “Where is it then?”
“It’s not far,” said Yuuri. “Victor, will you help me?”
At a loss for words, Victor grit his teeth and nodded. He felt Yuuri take his hand, and then the two Disapparated for the sanctuary. Alone, Victor immediately turned to face Yuuri, clearly unhappy. “What are you thinking?!” he demanded.
“That we can’t let the hatchlings go alone!” Yuuri insisted. “We clearly can’t talk our way out of this.”
“There has to be some…some loophole that Mari can work out,” Victor insisted, trusting in her to come up with something.
“Yes,” Yuuri agreed. “She’ll think of something. You’ll think of something. But until then I can keep an eye on them.”
“No Yuuri,” Victor frowned. “We’ve been down this road before. You still have scars from the last time you were held captive! You can’t go through that again, and neither can I!”
“It’s not poachers this time, it’s the Ministry.”
“That’s probably worse!” Victor whined.
“All the more reason I go,” said Yuuri. “They’ll have no idea what’s going on, they won’t know the danger, they won’t know to stay together… What if they panic and bite, or get aggressive? You know how Iggi is… If I’m with them I can try to keep them calm. Meanwhile, you figure out what ‘evidence’ we need to prove they’re happy and healthy with us. Like Mari said, any Magizoologist that looks at them will see they’re perfectly fine.”
Feeling helpless, Victor stared at him in disbelief. “And if I can’t provide whatever evidence they require?”
“You will,” Yuuri assured him. “I know you will.” He wrapped his arms around Victor’s waist, squeezing him lightly. “It shouldn’t take more than a few days. I can handle that. They aren’t black market thugs, they’re police. We should just be put in a cage. Examined a little bit, maybe, but I doubt they’ll be throwing parasites at me like Antonin.”
“We don’t know that,” countered Victor, still wholly unhappy with this plan.
Yuuri closed his eyes, holding Victor a little tighter. “If I don’t do this, the hatchlings will be completely at the mercy of the ministry. You can’t think that’s a better situation.” Victor was silent, which Yuuri took as reluctant agreement. “You have to trust me to keep us safe. Just like I trust you to get us out.”
“…Okay,” Victor finally said. “But if you are left alone for even a second, you Disapparate yourself and the hatchlings out.”
Yuuri nodded. He’d never tried to travel with all five, he’d have to be exceptionally careful that one didn’t get left behind, but if that was their only option, he’d do it. After a few moments he leaned back and looked up at Victor, catching his eye briefly before stepping up on his toes for a kiss. It was grounding and comforting, and he felt a little tension seep away. Together, they could do this.
Mari was in the middle of arguing once again with the Ministry agents when Victor appeared in the yard with a large blue dragon at his side. The two were shocked at its size, taking several steps back as their jaws dropped.
“H-how are we supposed to take that with us?” the man asked his partner, starring up at Yuuri in disbelief.
The dragon growled, baring its fangs but making no move to attack. Beside him, Victor was wondering why these two were sent if they hadn’t had any experience with dragons. It’s like the Ministry didn’t think there would be dragons to actually claim, despite their very clear show of Makkachin yesterday.
Even the witch lost her smug aura. Figuring out five little ones was going to be hard enough, but a fully grown dragon? “Screw this, I’m calling HQ.”
“You could just leave them here,” Victor suggested, feeling a spark of hope that they’d give up this venture. “Tell me what paperwork or whatever it is you need and I’ll take it to the office myself, and you won’t have to bother with transporting them.”
The wizard looked tempted to call it quits by now, but Ichikawa pulled out her two-way mirror and stepped aside, calling her office for backup. Within an hour an additional five wizards appeared at Yu-Topia, four focused on restraining and transporting Yuuri, the other helping with the hatchlings. Victor and Mari were able to convince them the leashes were fine, and the little ones weren’t tied to the point of immobility, though their snouts were secured shut, even after Victor assured them none of them had mastered fire breathing yet.
Yuuri, on the other hand, was deemed too dangerous to risk it. Ropes encircled him at every conceivable angle, his snout was tied shut, and he was hit repeatedly with the Leg-Locking Jinx until they were sure he was immobile. Victor was very vocal about how unnecessary all this was, seeing as the dragon wasn’t even remotely struggling, even if it was occasionally grumbling unhappily.
One by one the agents Disapparated with the hatchlings, and then finally the group with Yuuri blinked away. Victor stared at the spot the dragons had just been for a moment longer before turning to the Katsuki’s. Hiroko and Toshiya were holding each other, Hiroko with wet cheeks but looking like she was doing her best to keep herself together. Mari, though, had no problem letting her anger and worry show in her expression.
“I don’t believe this. I’m calling the Ministry, and if they think a simple complaint is the only thing coming their way… And you!” she said to Victor. “Do you two have a plan? How did we lose Yuuri again?”
“This wasn’t my idea!” Victor said. “I tried to talk him out of it, but he has a point. Better he be with them than the hatchlings be on their own, right?”
Mari scowled. “We don’t know they’ll keep them together,” she pointed out. “They could all be split up, and then what good does that do us? The hatchlings are alone and we’re short Yuuri on coming up with a plan to get them back.”
Victor sighed. “I’m not any happier about this than you are. But instead of arguing, we should get started on sorting this out. You would know better than any of us, what kind of evidence are they expecting? It’s not like we had to get them licensed like a hippogriff or have any kind of medical history on them. How do we prove we are fit to raise them?”
“…I don’t know. There’s no rules about dragons and that’s what they’re counting on. I’m calling the Ministry,” she repeated, and with a crack she was gone.
That left Victor with Hiroko and Toshiya. Once again, their son was gone, and Victor was feeling he hadn’t done enough to prevent it. “He’s perfectly safe,” he said, hoping they would believe it more than he did. “It’s not like last time. The Ministry has no reason to hurt him, or the hatchlings, we just need to get the legalities sorted out.” They didn’t look completely convinced, and honestly, he couldn’t blame them.