"Lydia, run!" the last words I heard from my mother before she went to Azkaban. I should explain. I'm Lydia Jones and my whole family are tomb raiders. Right back to the 1800s, my family have raided the ancient Egyptian tombs. So you can imagine how shocked I was when my brother announced,
"We're moving to Romania."
"Romania? Why, Liam?"
"I'm sick of this lifestyle, and I need a change. And as you live here, you're moving too, Lydia." he explained.
"I know," I said. My first thought though was that Liam knew something we didn't . But really Liam would have told us. He tells us everything. Doesn't he? Anyway, I had no choice and so packed my bag, and helped my sister, Jaycee, pack hers too.
Soon, we were ready to apparate to Romania. Liam still hadn't told us where we were going, so we used side-long apparition. When we arrived I thought Liam was joking. There were dragons all over the place.
"Liam, you aren't serious are you?" Jaycee asked.
"This is our new life. We are now dragon-trainers," he finally explained. My face dropped.
"Dragons?" I shouted, " You said a new lifestyle! Not a new death choice!" Liam just laughed. A young dark skinned man, who couldn't have been more that in early 20's, had spotted me shouting at Liam and came over to see what I was shouting at him for.
"You must be the Jones'," he chortled. I nodded grudgingly. He walked away and me, Liam and Jaycee followed. He walked us past various dragons, and I looked in each paddock, hoping there would be something else to do. Still, I flicked my long, brown hair back and carried on walking again. Deep breaths , I thought. Finally we stopped at door to a cabin.
"Jaycee Jones, in here." the young man said. My sister walking in sadly, sorry to be leaving us. The young man carried on walking and went inside a larger building, the stopped and bent over a desk and picked up a key.
"Room 25, on the second floor," he said to my brother, "Right all done."
"Excuse me, but what about me?" I asked.
"Oh, Charlie'll show you around." he said. Then he whistled. A average sized, muscular, ginger boy came up to our tour guide.
"What, Rob?" he asked.
"You need to show her around," Rob said.
"Right, well come on then," he said to me and walked off. I followed obediently.
The ginger boy led me out to one of the paddocks.
"This is Gertrude, our oldest dragon. She's a Chinese Fireball." he said.
"I know, I did Care of Magical Creatures, you know," I snapped, "I'm Lydia, by the way, since you didn't ask."
"I like your personality, Lydia. I'm Charlie," he said, a kind smile spread over his face. How he could be so kind after I was so horrible, I didn't know.
"It wasn't your choice to come here was it," Charlie said.
"No, it was my brother's. But we always stick together." I explained.
"Huh. Anyway, I'm starving, do you want to get something to eat?" he asked.
"I'm fine. But if you want something I'll come too, as I need to be shown around, anyway. I wasn't hoping for someone with just food on their mind though." Charlie laughed. We walked to get something to eat. The cafeteria was huge. But I was used to eating in small places, so I was nervous about eating here, everyday. Charlie obviously saw my nervous look and he smiled.
"You'll get used to it," he whispered, putting his arm around him and squeezing me gently.
"I know," I said.
~~~/~~~
A few months had gone since I'd met Charlie, and we'd become good friends. We were sat in the cafeteria one day having an okay time. But then the dreaded minute came and Charlie made what he obviously thought was a passing remark.
"You've never told me anything about your past, you know, Lydia."
"Really?" I replied, hoping he wouldn't enquire further.
"Well aren't you gonna tell me?"
"No," I said innocently, "After all, why should I?"
"Because I've told you everything about my life, my brothers and sister, my mum and dad, my home. And you've told me nothing."
"I suppose," I sighed, "I'm from Egypt, and I have one sister and one brother, Liam and Jaycee, and they work here too." I sighed and went back to my plate of gammon and chips.
Charlie leant in" I mean everything, Lydia. And you know that."
"What?" Charlie shouted after I told him about my tomb raider past, "Are you mad to come here?"
"Yes," I mumbled, "I must be mad to tell you the truth, and come here. But you will keep quiet, won't you?" I looked at him pleadingly.
"I don't know. Someone need to know about this," he said. I started to cry.
"But I wanted to stay here," I sobbed. He put comforting arm around me.
"I know, but someone need's to know about this." I just cried harder, and he pulled me into a hug. I cried on his shoulder. People were starting to stare so I pulled myself out of his hug, and I walked out of the cafeteria, leaving a half full plate of gammon and chips.
~~~/~~~
I buried my face in my pillow. Why did I tell Charlie? It was a stupid thing to do. He would always tell someone. I trust people too easily. I never used to trust anyone. So why do I now? I'm being stupid. It's not a bad thing to trust people is it? But I trusted him, I trusted Charlie. I trusted my brother before he made us move. But suddenly,
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
The door was pushed open a few seconds later, and the person closed the door. They walked over to me and sat on the side of my bed.
"Lydia," the person whispered, "I'm sorry." It was Charlie. He put his hand on my cheek and pulled my face up to meet his. My eyes were red and puffed up from crying and he looked like he had been crying too.
"I'm sorry," he repeated.
"I know," I whispered.
"You're the only person who would ever say that now. You're unique. Too unique." he said to me. Then he did the thing I thought he would never do.
He leant in and his lips met mine. He kissed gently, but with passion. He had wanted to do that for ages, I could tell. I put my hand behind his head and felt his hair. He pulled me closer and kissed a little harder. Then he pulled back.
"I sorry," he said sadly.
"Why?" I asked
"Because we're just friends."
"We don't have to be."
"What?"
"We could always be more," I smiled. He looked me in the face.
"Really?"
"Really."
He leant in and kissed me again. As he pulled back he said,
"Will you be my girlfriend?"
I nodded and kissed him gently.
~~~/~~~
3 months later and I was sat at a small table, at a house, in the middle of nowhere. I'd been introduced to Harry Potter, a friend of one of Charlie's younger brothers Ron. I was eating breakfast and Charlie was sat next to me. His older brother, Bill was sat opposite me, and I was dressed in my scruffiest clothes. We were going to the Quidditch World Cup, and Charlie's mother, Molly, had said that they could get me a ticket. But I said that I would pay for me, Charlie and Ginny, who I had taken a liking to. I used my massive pile of gold that I owned, the one good thing about tomb raiding, to buy them for us.
But this is where I must leave you, as the rest they say, is history.