Full summary:
Charlie is a chronic bachelor, much to his mother's frustration. But hey, he can't help it that he has such a demanding job, right? Perhaps, somewhere in that big wide world there's a man who's perfect for him, but Charlie has little hope he'll ever find him and is quite content with life as it is. Until he meets a whole other brand of dragon - a blonde one with a past and a temper. A delicate love sprouts, but will it grow into something more when the Weasley family is in disarray, the Malfoy Company is under attack and the wizarding world is still full of prejudges, as well as threatened by a grave and mysterious danger?

Warnings: Explicit sex (slash of course, though other pairings are mentioned), substance abuse and swearing. All in all this will be a pretty lighthearted fic, though it has its share of drama and suspense.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I wish I did, but I don't *sigh* I did invent the town Greenbury, the dragon reserve and the university though, and there will probably be a few minor OC's in the future.

Chapter 1

The Greenbury Dragon Reserve was a grand and beautiful place. There were miles and miles of deep, flourishing woods; green fields and hills dotted with small lakes and veined with gently flowing rivers. It was very different from Romania, with its imposing mountains, wild valleys, roaring rivers and seemingly endless rolling hills. One could walk there for days and never see a soul. Charlie Weasley missed it, that savageness and sense of freedom you just couldn't find in Great Britain. He also missed his Romanian friends. Though loud and thick-headed they could be, they were also passionate and good-humored. Still, he felt at home here – and not just because of the presence of his beloved dragons. Here he felt more close to his family. He visited the Burrow way more often now than he did when he was still in Romania, which was logical considering the easiest way to travel between countries is via international portkeys, which are quite expensive.

His family was the sole reason Charlie had left the country he loved in order to return to the land he was born and raised. He wanted to be there – needed to be there – to help them pick up the pieces. The war had been hard on all of them, though things could have been way worse. They could've lost more than just Fred. Hell, if things would've gone slightly differently Voldemort and his Death Eaters would have been victorious and they would've lost everything. But Charlie wasn't the kind of man to dwell on the past and the different paths history could've taken.

Charlie was sitting in the grass in front of his tent. The tent was midnight-blue, and of course way bigger from the inside than it appeared on the outside. The summer sun had almost set, but there was still a lot of light in the sky. The summers in Great Britain were generally cooler and more stable than those in Romania, where – depending on the point of day and your location – the temperatures could vary between ten and fifty degrees celsius. Charlie found the British summer somehow less enjoyable and even a bit boring, but it couldn't be helped. The winters here were better though, less cold. Charlie did not like the cold, though years of icy winds and knee-deep snow had hardened his skin.

Charlie lit a cigarette. In the distance he could hear a dragon roar – it was a Hebridean Black, one of the two dragon breeds that lived in the reserve. Green Welsch was the other. The Reserve was a project Charlie had started with two British friends, and it was a great success. The thing that made this reserve so unique was the fact that people could visit it – under strict supervision of the tamers of course. The idea behind the project was to show people the magnificence of dragons, without turning them into pets. Dragons were wild creatures, majestic and unboundable. They could not be tamed, not really, and that's what made being a dragon tamer so exciting. It was a job that not actually existed. Every day was a challenge, and every day you discovered something new. A dragon tamer was never fully accomplished. Charlie would not trade his job for any amount of gold.

He exhaled deeply and lay down on his back. He knew he should eat something, but he wasn't hungry. Yesterday Molly had fed him so much food he was sure he wouldn't have to eat for days. His mother was always delighted when he joined for dinner, and she constantly urged him to come more often. Because despite the fact that he lived nearby now, he didn't show up as often as he could. Once every two or three weeks was enough for him. He loved his family, and the Burrow, but they could be suffocating.

Dinner yesterday had been a chaotic ordeal. Bill and Fleur and their baby daughter Amélie had been there, and Percy and his new girlfriend – a bland girl named Priscilla. Ginny and Harry had announced their engagement, and Charlie suspected Ron and Hermoine would be announcing theirs soon.

Of course, his mother didn't wait long to put a spotlight on his lovelife.

"Charles, dear, why don't you bring a nice boy along next time you visit?"

Instant silence. Bill, Harry and all the girls at the table shot him a sympathetic glance, while his father, Ron and Percy shifted uncomfortably in their chairs. George was just trying not to laugh.

Molly looked at him expectantly and Charlie resisted the urge to sigh. She just couldn't help it, did she? She just had to go and bring up his lovelife – or lack thereof, at least in her eyes – at the dinner table.

Charlie shoved a spoonful of pudding in his mouth. "Wouldn't count on it, mum. I'm not really seeing anybody."

"You never do. You should go out more, work is not everything in life."

Charlie thought he went out plenty. It was true he lived for his work - dragons were his world. A couple of months ago the eggs of one of the female Green Welsch' had hatched, and Charlie's heart had glowed as if he'd given birth himself. Not that he would tell that to anybody.

Still, he did have a social life. If wanted wanted amiable company, he'd go to his co-workers or Bill. If he wanted sex, he'd go to Moonlit alley, where the gay bars of wizarding London resided. It's true he hadn't been in a committed relationship for a long time, but Charlie couldn't imagine that would change in the nearby future. He had an unusual life. He spent a lot of time with the dragons and often travelled abroad for jobs. He'd have to find a man who accepted that and shared his need for freedom as well as his love for dragons. A man with personality and a strong will. A man who could appreciate silence and liked to play it rough sometimes. Charlie was sure a man like that existed, but to actually find him was a whole other story.

"I don't want to be meddlesome, dear," his mother said. "I just don't want you to be lonely."

"I'm not, mum, really" Charlie said, slightly irritated and not hiding it. Truth to be told, sometimes he did feel a bit lonely, sometimes he did miss a warm body to wake up with, someone to share trivial things with and shag on a daily basis. But he wasn't going to tell his mother that. Merlin knows she'd try to play matchmaker between him and some boring ministry paper-pusher that happened to be gay and single and friends with one of the numerous members of the Weasley-clan.

Before Molly could pursue the topic any further Bill distracted her with a story about little Amélie and her love for all things shiny. Charlie was thankful he could always count on his older brother to safe his ass. Bill was easily his favorite sibling, they could talk to each other about everything. Whereas his father and his other brothers still not felt completely comfortable around topics like his sexuality, Bill had been accepting and supporting from the start.

Charlie made a mental note to pay a visit to Bill and his family one of these days. It had been months since he'd been at the Shell.

Charlie put out his cigarette and rubbed his face, which was so tanned you could barely see his freckles. It was time to check how the little dragons were doing. Dragon tamers distinguish three phases in a dragon's life. The first phase is the infant phase that starts right after the hatching, when the dragons are dependent of their mother. During that phase it's veritably impossible for tamers to get close to them. The second phase could be compared to a child's teenage years. In that phase the dragons leave their parents and work together as siblings to find food and shelter. Their mother pretty much disappears out of their lives, though they stay in the neighborhood. The third phase is adulthood: each dragon goes his own merry way.

The dragons Charlie was going to check up on were four Green Welsch in the second phase, hatched a few months ago. He grabbed his broom and flew over the trees, to an open spot beside the river where the dragons had built their nest.

Even high up in the air, Charlie spotted the man among the young dragons easily – his half-long, very light blonde hair stuck out like a star in the night sky. He was on his knees in the grass and cautiously stroked Lara with the tips of his fingers. Lara was one of the more quiet teenage dragons, yet it was hard to believe that she would let a stranger touch her. Frankly, Charlie was astonished. He had to blink a few times to wrap his mind around the scene in front of him.

The rare moment of astonishment did not last long and Charlie all but raced towards the man.

"Hey! What are you doing?! Are you fucking trying to get yourself killed?!"

Lara screeched, startled by the shouting. She spread her wings and flew to her nest with a sharp swipe of her tail. The blonde hissed in pain and grabbed his right arm.

Charlie threw his broom in the grass and crouched down beside him. "Are you hurt?"

"No," the man said defiantly, still cradling his arm.

"Yes you are. Let me take a look at that."

Charlie lighted his wand with a voiceless Lumos. The man's sleeve was torn and his arm bloody, probably cut by Lara's tail. Charlie inspected the wound and saw it wasn't very deep.

"Nothing I can't fix… But it could have been way worse. This was extremely stupid of you."

The man huffed. "Everything went well until you started shouting. Some dragon-tamer you are."

"Hey, do you want me to fix you up or are you going to keep up being an arsehole?"

The blonde sighed but didn't protest.

"I thought so." Charlie apparated them both to his tent. He ordered the man to sit down on the sofa and kneeled down in front of him.

"Roll up your sleeve."

The blonde obeyed and Charlie muttered a healing spell. Within seconds the wound was closed.

"There. Not even a scar." He got on his feet and sat down next to him. "What were you doing there anyway?"

"Well, this reserve is open for public, is it not?" the man drawled.

"Yes, but at daytime. In the company of one of the tamers. And you have to pay for entrance."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh. And it sure as hell didn't look like you were doing this for the first time." Charlie was not as mad as he should be. He was mostly curious.

"I've been here a few times before," the blonde admitted.

"I thought so. Still, it's surprising she allowed you to do that. She must've taken a liking to you, otherwise she would've ripped your arm right off your body. Do you have experience with dragons?"

The blonde looked him in the eye, for the first time that night. His eyes were grey, perhaps even a bit blue. It was too dark to tell. The only light came from a small oil lamp on the side table that cast large shadows in every direction and gave the blonde's hair a fiery glow.

"Not really," the man said. "I've only ever seen them in my fourth year at Hogwarts, at the tournament. That first test was the only one that wasn't a complete bore to watch."

"Ah, the tournament." Charlie smiled. "I was there to keep the dragons in check. Good memories. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"

Charlie found the man's age hard to guess. He could be eighteen; he could be twenty-eight. He had a slender physique and – as far as Charlie could tell – an almost impossibly pale and flawless complexion. If he were to make a guess based on those traits alone, he would've gone for eighteen, but his eyes didn't seem those of a teen. They were the eyes of a man who'd seen many things and lost a lot of illusions.

The blonde was silent for a moment, and Charlie feared he'd asked too personal a question.

"Twenty-one," he said eventually.

"Then you were probably in the same year as my brother, Ron."

A slight look of disdain flickered in the blonde's eyes. It was brief, but Charlie didn't miss a beat.

"I take it you two weren't friends."

The man shrugged. "I was in Slytherin, he was a Gryffindor and a git," he said, as if that explained everything. Charlie didn't know whether to be amused or insulted. He settled for mild amusement and a slightly accusing stare that the blonde ignored.

The man shifted and gave Charlie a subtle once-over, his eyes lingering on his broad shoulders before returning to his face. "Should have known you were a Weasley. With the hair and stuff..."

Charlie grinned. Everybody knew of the trademark Weasly red hair. "Charlie Weasley, nice to meet you." He offered his hand.

The blonde shook it. "Likewise."

"And you are…?"

"… David. David Faith."

Charlie let go of his hand. "You live in the neighborhood?"

"Yeah."

"Let me guess, a student at the Magical University Of Greenbury?"

The Magical University Of Greenbury was one of the four magical universities in Great Britain, specialized in the study of nature, creatures and the universe. It was located in the center of Greenbury, a small and very old magical village in Wiltshire, completely devoid of muggles.

"Hmmm," David hummed consentingly.

"What's your major?"

"… Astronomy. I study the stars and stuff."

"Sounds fascinating."

"It quite is. Otherwise I wouldn't be studying it, obviously." There was an arrogant tilt to his chin Charlie found oddly… endearing.

"Too bad. You would have made a damn fine dragon tamer."

"When I was young there was a time when I wanted to work with dragons. I admired them, and dreamed of seeing one in real life. I even asked one for my birthday."

Charlie snickered and David gave a small smile.

"Of course my dad wasn't at all impressed with my career-plans. I was to take over his business."

"That sucks. What does he think of you studying astronomy then?"

"If he'd still been alive, he'd be furious. Eventually he would've accepted it though. After all I was his only son. He spoiled me rotten."

"I'm sorry."

"About what?"

"Your father, that he's dead."

"It's okay. He's been dead for almost a year now." David looked at his feet. There was a gravity in his voice Charlie recognized all too well.

Charlie grit his teeth. "I hate that fucking war. It took my brother, an Auror that was one of my best friends, her husband, and so many other lives. And for what?"

"A madman," David said softly, his gaze thousandth miles away.

"Yeah…" That one man can cause so much pain and suffering was beyond Charlie. Though it was never just one man, was it? He couldn't have come as far as he had without his followers. But it was one idea, one hate, one dedication to madness.

"But to hell with this depressing subject. The war is over. Firewishkey?"

David blinked in surprise. "Firewishkey? Well, if you're offering…"

Charlie grinned. "Nothing like alcohol to drown depressing thoughts." He accio'd two glasses and a bottle that was already half-empty.

"I like your way of thinking, Weasley. You're not half bad."

Charlie raised his eyebrows. "Not half-bad? I suppose that's a big compliment coming from your mouth." He handed David a well-filled glass.

"How come?" David leaned back and swirled the liquor in his glass in a graceful, hypnotizing manner.

"You don't seem like a very complimentary person."

David seemed amused. "Found that out already, did you?"

"I'm good with people."

"And here I was thinking that dragon-tamers were unsocial hermits."

Charlie laughed. "Yeah we kinda are. But every once in a while we feel a desperate need for human contact and let our true colors show."

"So this is one of those moments? I feel honoured."

"Yeah you should." Charlie sipped from glass. There was a comfortable moment of silence. "You know what, David? We should do this more often," he said without thinking.

David looked slightly taken aback.

"I mean, I figured you might want to see Lara again – the dragon. You seemed quite smitten with her and I daresay she feels the same about you."

The blonde relaxed. "Yeah, that would be nice."

"I'll be here every night for the next five days. Just apparate and I'll bring you to her."

"And where will you go after those five days?" the blonde asked curiously.

"Home. I don't always live in a tent, you know. I have an apartment in Greenbury. Nothing fancy, but good enough for me. We work with a small group here at the reserve, eight people me included, and there always have to be at least two of us present to keep an eye on things. So we have shifts. This week it's my turn."

David nodded. "Fair enough." He put his glass down on the side table and stood up. "I should be going. I've taken up enough of your time."

"I don't mind," Charlie said. "It's nice to have some new company every once in a while."

"In that case: you're welcome." That small, haughty smile Charlie was starting to like was back.

"I'll see you around," Charlie responded.

David studied him for a moment. Charlie didn't know what the man was looking for, neither if he'd found it or not when he said: "You will" and apparated away.

Charlie poured himself another drink and realized he was still smiling – a smile that didn't leave his face for quite a while, not even when he fell asleep.

-TBC-

Let me know what you think ^^