Romance Awareness Day 23: You share talents with your soulmate

The first time Teddy sees dragons, he's eighteen years old. Harry decided it was time for a family vacation. James is twelve, Albus is ten, and little Lily is only eight, so they start with the baby dragons — the ones that, if they bite, won't do the same kind of damage.

Ginny stays near Lily, and Harry is keeping a careful eye on Albus and James. Neither of them are really paying attention to Teddy, which is fair, because Teddy is eighteen and he doesn't need the same kind of monitoring.

So he wanders away, and he finds a young dragon off on its own. It's scales are dark brown, but there's a ridge of pitch black spikes along its spine.

Teddy edges forward carefully, because he's not an idiot. A mistake here would be catastrophic.

The dragon eyes him, tips its head. Teddy freezes.

"Hey, there," he says gently.

The dragon makes a soft, chirruping noise.

Teddy smiles. "Yeah, you're a sweetheart, aren't you? Why are you all alone?"

The dragon chirrups again, and then hops closer, flapping its wings, though it doesn't seem able to fly.

Teddy kneels, instinctively putting himself on the same level as the dragon. He reaches out a hand, palm down. He's not sure what makes him do it — it's probably stupid, but something inside of him is sure of his actions.

The dragon lumbers forward, an uneasy two-legged stagger. When it comes close enough, it dips its head and noses at Teddy's hand.

Teddy beams.

Without flipping his hand, he slides the backs of his fingers along the side of the dragon's neck.

The dragon lets out a rumbling noise that's almost a purr, and basically crawls into Teddy's lap.

Teddy falls back on his heels and laughs. The dragon curls up into a ball and keeps up the steady rumbling purr.

"What the hell?" Teddy whispers.

He hears a laugh, deep and resonant, and he turns with a start.

"I see Arriya likes you," says Charlie Weasley.

Teddy and Charlie have met before, once or twice, but he doesn't come to England often.

"Hiya, Charlie," Teddy says. "She kinda just… crawled in my lap. Is that normal?"

Charlie shrugs. "Honestly, Arriya doesn't usually take to strangers, but I was watching you. How'd you know to keep your palm down like that?"

Teddy shrugs. "It just… kind of happened."

Charlie hums, thoughtful. He steps up to Teddy's shoulder, looks at Arriya sleeping softly. "Huh," he says.

And then he puts a hand on Teddy's shoulder and both of them start to glow.

It's the first time they've touched since Teddy turned seventeen — since he could make a soulmate link.

He tips his head and looks up at Charlie. "So…"

Charlie smiles, a little hesitant, but gentle. "Guess that explains your skill with dragons."

Skills — major skills — tend to transfer between soulmates. Teddy could ride a broom before he'd ever mounted one.

"Did you know?" Teddy asks.

Charlie laughs lightly. "I became a metamorphmagus the day you were born."

Teddy laughs. "Are you for real?"

"Yeah. So yes, I guessed. But it's…"

"I'm young," Teddy says, reading the lines of Charlie's hesitation.

Charlie's grin is lopsided, wry, and just a little bitter.

"You are."

Teddy shrugs, inasmuch as he can with a dragon on his lap.

"Soulmates can mean whatever we want it to mean," he says. "I never figured it had to be romantic. Especially not at first. It just means we'd be good together."

This time, when Charlie smiles, there's no bitterness in it.

His smile is fond.

Writing Month/Dragons: 594

Auction: catastrophic, 60 coins

Romance Awareness: Day 23

Fortnightly: Snape: 16. Babbling Beverage – write about a talented person

Trope of the Month: Crossgen, "Are you for real?"

Lyric Alley: 15. Look out 'cause here I come

Sophie's Shelf: 71. CharlieTeddy

Em's Emporium: 4. Sam (MissingMommy): Feature dragons in your story.

Bex's Bazaar: O6: Babar- Write about an orphan.