"Dear, your clothes are truly atrocious and full of holes. You need to buy some new ones or at least get these ones patched up a bit…" mum said, holding up a work shirt that was particularly full of holes. I shrugged, it wasn't like I could control when the dragons had their bad days. Mum cleared her throat and began tapping her foot on the wooden floor of the kitchen, clearly she was becoming irritated.
"I can just get these ones fixed, mum," I shrugged and mum smiled, her facial expression softening as she placed a weathered hand on my shoulder.
"You need to find yourself again, Charlie… I know that wretched girl broke your heart but you need to get it together and carry on with your life."
"But the thing is mum, I don't want to get over it… I don't think I can get over it." I looked around awkwardly for a few seconds and then smiled, "So, where's the best shop to get these fixed at?" I changed the subject back to my ripped and worn clothes; I knew this would distract her from my recent break up. I chuckled as she shifted through my clothes, picking out all of the articles that needed to be repaired and shoving them into my arms.
"There's a shop in Diagon Alley called Allison's Closet, go there, she's a talented seamstress and she gets things fixed for a decent price." Mum turned around and exited the room, I shook my head and apparated to Diagon Alley with the pile of my singed clothing in tow.
I sighed as I unlocked and entered my shop, I lit the chandelier in the small foyer and watched as it illuminated the whole place with a pretty, flickering light that danced on the walls and bounced off the many mirrors that adorned the walls. I had opened the shop just shy of five weeks ago and business was booming but I wished I could take a break from it all. I never imagined that owning my own shop would be this strenuous and demanding. I was supposed to have Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays off but more times than not I found myself working straight through those days just to get all of the work done. My mother had always said that I shouldn't take on something so big so early on in my life and I was now feeling like she was more right than I could have ever imagined. I mean, how much could a twenty-four year old take?
Without wasting any more time than necessary, I began bustling around the shop making sure everything was in its right place and every rack and shelf was stocked as full as it could be. I was beginning to think that maybe I should have hired help, it definitely would be an asset that would pay for itself in weeks and months to come. I had just finished restocking the women's casual robes when the bell attached to the front door alerted me of my first customer of the day. I emerged from behind the rack to see a young man, about my age with his arms full of tattered and burnt clothing.
"Oh, my goodness! Please, just set them on the front counter!" I exclaimed, seeing the large pile of material teetering dangerously close to falling over and spilling onto the floor. I rushed over and immediately began to examine a pair of pants that had been singed beyond any type of repair. I cocked my eyebrow at him, holding out the worn out pants,
"I know, they're in a right mess" he admitted, his freckled cheeks blushing ever so slightly. I chuckled as I held up a particularly crispy shirt,
"Well, you aren't lying about that one, sir. It looks as if I have my work cut out for me" I commented as I dumped the lot of clothes into the trash and took out my tape measure. He looked apprehensive and I unrolled the small tape measure and put it around my neck like a necklace, leading him back to the 360 degree mirror near the dressing rooms.
"Oh, come now, I promise I won't bite or poke" and set the pack of pins down on the stool beside the mirror. He broke into a boyish smile that would make even the strongest of women swoon. I blushed and looped the tape measure around his thickly muscled waist, writing his measurements down on a piece of paper and tacking it to the corkboard on the wall.
"So you work in Romania, huh?" I asked, trying to make conversation to distract myself from his very admirable body. "I bet you're a dragon keeper… I've always admired your line of work, sir" I walked to the back room and browsed the material I had on stock, looking for one material in particular that should hold up to the task at hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that the man had cautiously lowered himself into one of the poufs that I had situated in front of the mirror for family members to sit on whilst they were waiting.
"How'd you know?" he asked, getting right back up and examining the eccentric colored women's dress robes, stopping to closely examine a hot pink sparkly dress robe in horror. I shrugged and pulled out my dragonhide material, it was dyed a deep purple color that would look quite good with his reddish orange hair.
"Lucky guess?" I laughed and walked out of the back room, "Nah, my uncle used to work in Romania… Well, he died; obviously"
"What was his name?" he asked, frowning slightly in thought,
"Jared Ostman"
"No way! Wow, he was a great guy, hard worker and everything. He lived for that damn job, he died honorably. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to get to know him very well because the Hungarian Horntail got to him first." The man shook his head and watched as I closely examined the material for any imperfections. Once I determined that the material would hold up to the job, I marked the material with all of the measurements and such.
"I'm sorry, what was your name again…? I'm not sure I caught it…" I looked up from my work and tucked a stray piece of auburn hair behind my ear.
"Charlie Weasley, you're Allison, I assume?" I nodded and then met his gaze,
"You can call me Allie, Allie Easton" I smiled, offering my hand "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Weasley" I turned back to my work, making sure everything was spot on and handling everything with care not only because I wanted it perfect for this gorgeous human being but because dragonhide was bloody expensive.
As I was cutting the last bit of material, I noticed that Charlie was making his way around to some of my most eccentric pieces in the shop. Well, what could I say? I had to make clothes that fit everyones needs… and I mean everybody, and there were some weird people out there.
"I take it sparkles and animal print are your favorite?" he asked, pulling an especially poufy dress from the rack labeled "Women's - Formal". I laughed and nodded, setting down my scissors; I walked over to him and pulled a dress out of the back of the rack. The dress was multicolored and sparkled like crazy on the top; there was a deep purple sash separating the top from the bottom. The bottom was adorned with zebra and cheetah print mesh material that was equally as sparkly as the top.
"I wore something similar to this for a dance when I was in school, let's just say I started a trend" I winked and tucked the dress back into the rack with the other ones. Charlie chuckled and then nodded,
"Strangely enough, I could see you wearing something like that" I burst out laughing and blush crept across my face.
"Well, Mr. Weasley, I would say you should come back tomorrow, this order is going to take a while," I said as we walked away from the dresses and back towards the main counter. He smiled and leaned casually against the granite surface,
"How much?" He asked, eyeing the dragon hide material that I had placed on the back counter. I sighed and wrote him up a receipt,
"Here ya go, now if you can't pay that, let me know and we'll work something out, I don't have a problem lowering the price" I winked and watched as he walked out of the shop, I noticed that he looked back and waved before disapparating out of Diagon Alley.
I landed in the kitchen of the Burrow and was greeted by the wonderful, mouthwatering smell of onion soup and fresh biscuits. Everyone was already gathered in the kitchen, waiting for me to arrive home.
"Charlie! Just in time, really. How was it? I don't see any fixed clothes… Was she not there?" mum interrogated me as I took my seat next to Ron who was stuffing his face obnoxiously with biscuits. As I filled up my plate I answered my mom,
"She was there, she's going to be making me all new ones, the bill should be here somewhere…" I said digging through my pockets, pulling out the tiny blue receipt.
Six Dragonhide pants - 49 Galleons
Twelve Suede and Dragonhide shirts: assrt. - 87 Galleons
One Dragonhide Boot Set - 16 Galleons
Total:_0 Galleons
I laughed and shook my head as I held out the slip to my mother, she took it and sighed happily, looking up at me.
"You better thank her very much, Charles Weasley, this is very generous and she didn't have to do this. Especially since dragonhide doesn't look like the least expensive material she had available, that's for sure," she said handing the slip back to me. I simply nodded and went back to eating my dinner before it got cold. I thought about Allie. She seemed like such a nice girl, I was skeptical at first because the shop looked like a miniature palace and I had expected her to be some stuck up witch with no sense of humor. However, what I really seen was a brilliant young woman who had humor lingering in her vivid blue eyes, a small smile playing on her lips, and her auburn pulled back into a messy bun, which reflected on her carefree attitude. Her personality radiated confidence and comfort.
Allison also had a huge heart to go along with her carefree attitude, she could have charged me for making those clothes, not that it mattered anyways, I was paid handsomely for being a dragon keeper, even if it was at a great risk on my life, but it was the point that she made with her gesture. Her point was that every deserves a break sometimes, even if it was something as meaningless as money. My mind flashed back to Alexandria, the girl who had broken my heart only three weeks ago. Alexandria was nothing like Allison, Alexandria was cruel and self centered, firm and heartless. She had broken up with me because I didn't let her schedule determine my whole life, I didn't revolve around the world of Alexandria and that was a problem for her. I thought of Allison again and it made my hurting subside ever so slightly. She made the pain of losing Alexandria go away, even if it was a small amount, it was better than anyone else attempt and she wasn't even trying.
"Right, Charlie?" I heard Ginny exclaim as everyone roared in laughter,
"Erm, what, Gin?" I asked, holding out my wand so I could counter a hex I was sure was coming. Surprisingly, she skipped the hex and just gave me an annoyed look,
"I was telling them a story about the Quidditch match I played against you, you know, the one where you flew right into the Keeper's rings" she was struggling to keep a straight face as the rest of the family roared with laughter once again. I shook my head and smiled,
"Ha ha, very funny, you must have left out the part where I beat you so badly it didn't even matter if you would have caught the snitch or not!" I sent my plate floating into the sink, it neatly landed on top of the pile. Defeated, Ginny changed the subject to Harry's upcoming birthday and then Bill and Fleur's wedding, which was to be the next day.
"So what's the first thing you're going to so once you turn seventeen, Harry?" she asked, and he just sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"That's a good question, I really don't know what I'm gonna do." He said and brought his plate into the kitchen, placing it neatly on top of mine. I nodded and then cracked a smile, deciding to change the subject and crack a joke,
"You still thinking about becoming an Auror, Potter? We could use another Dragon Keeper if you're interested in something more exciting" I laughed as three woman's voices spoke up, sounding threatening:
"Nope,"
"Not a chance!"
"Charlie Weasley, you better watch it!"
They all warned, I looked from my mother's reddening face, to Ginny's horrified one, to Hermione's stern look and then I burst out laughing. They all relaxed a bit but chewed me out for even joking about it; I shrugged but apologized, leaving the table to go sit in the livingroom.
As the evening wore on, people started to file out of the living room, leaving only Bill, Fleur, and I basking in the warm, glowing light of the fireplace. Although, they didn't last much longer than anyone else, Fleur's yawing had become more and more frequent and so had Bill's. I shook my head,
"You don't have to stay away Bill, for Merlin's sake, Fleur is going to need some sleep before the wedding! Get her off to bed," I said and eyed Fleur cautiously, she had been trying to stay awake so hard that she had resorted to shifting positions every few seconds to even keep her eyes open a sliver. Bill nodded in almost a comatose state and lead Fleur upstairs, leaving only me… The blazing fire as my company.
I felt myself grow nervous as I checked the time, I would be going to get my clothes in a little over twelve hours and I would get to see Allison again. I wasn't sure I was thinking about her this way because I had feelings for her or if it was just because it was great to have someone so, for the lack of better words, cool, to be around. Either way, I found myself excited for the first time in months and that was okay with me. It felt good to be experiencing feelings inside of me that weren't anger, sadness, and the most annoying and ever present emotion of them all, frustration.
I woke up in the morning feeling dazed, I had been up late working on Charlie Weasley's order. Oh no, I didn't mind one bit, but I definitely wouldn't have complained if I could have had a few extra hours of sleep. I swung my legs over the edge of my bed and stood up, groaning as my feet hit the cold wood floor of my flat. I made my way to the kitchen and started some french vanilla coffee, I then walked over to the bay window and fetched the daily paper from the mail owl who was waiting patiently for me.
After having my coffee and finding no one I knew had passed away or gone missing, I decided to get ready for the day and head off to the shop for an early start. I slipped into the warm water of the shower and sigh, basking in the soothing warmth. I dressed in light purple robes with a sparkly clasp and french braided my hair so it wouldn't be falling in my face all day. I quickly dabbed on some makeup and gave myself a once over in the mirror, on a whim, I put on some bright red lipstick and walked out the door before I had a chance to rethink and change my mind. I walked down the stairs and down the Diagon Alley, making it to my shop in a few minutes. I unlocked the front door and went straight to work.
I had been working for two hours before I heard the bell go off, my heart leapt as I hurried to the front of the store. It was Charlie Weasley, standing there in all his glory, wearing khaki pants and a white oxford button down shirt that he filled out very nicely. I rushed to the back and got the stack of clothing,
"Would you like it wrapped or…?" I asked, trailing off,
"They're nothing too special, you can just put them in a bag. They'll be ruined in about two months anyways," he laughed quietly and looked around, his eyes finally resting on my lips. I tried hard not to smile but he caught me, "what're you smiling at?" he asked, his eyes twinkling mischievously in the light of the chandelier; I shrugged and let out a small laugh,
"Oh, I just am" I laughed again and continued to fold his clothes and place them in the bag. He watched me in silence for a few moments and then took a breath,
"Since these are free of charge and I would feel terribly guilty if I didn't pay you anything… I was wondering if you wanted to grab a butterbeer or firewhiskey at the Leaky Cauldron? I know it's a risk but you know what they say, what's life without risk, anyways?" he asked and ruffled his hair a little, looking nervous as all hell.
"Why, Mr. Weasley, are you asking me on a date?" I asked politely, smile playing on my lips, he looked taken aback but then relaxed and shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess that's exactly what I'm doing"
"My lunch break starts in an hour" I said and winked, sliding the bag of clothes over to him and walking into the back room.
