DISCLAIMER: ALL THE RIGHTS BELONG TO J.K. ROWLING
Chapter 1- Taking Care
When Dawn woke, it was still dark outside.
She put on her blue jumper and slippers to fight off the chill in the wintry air. She stealthily descended the stairs from her room in the Burrow to the kitchen so as not to wake anyone else. She put a kettle of water on the stove-top to make a pot of tea. The house was still in the early morning hours. A nice change from the bustle of people that would start soon after sunrise. She was thinking about her plans for that day while waiting for the water to boil when she heard a cough from the kitchen table. Surprised, she turned around too fast and knocked over the kettle. The almost boiling water splashed across the stove, counter-top, and her arm. The sound of the kettle clashing against the tiled floors mixed with her cry of pain. The young man, who startled Dawn accidently, rushed forward and put her arm in the kitchen sink and ran icy water over her fresh burn. Tears stung her eyes and the water stung her skin. With a fluid swish of his wand, the water was cleared away from the counter and stove and the kettle put back on the burner. He turned on the light above the sink and gently took Dawn's arm out from under the water. Her arm was a fiery red and almost hot to the touch. He was calm but moved quickly. He led her over to sit at the table, took some ice from the icebox and put it in a bag to keep on her arm.
"I'll be back in a minute. Keep that ice on your arm," he commanded. He disappeared from the kitchen and left Dawn in silence. The silence seemed more intense now after the clanging of the kettle and rushing of the water. She could feel her forearm pulsing and cursed herself for being clumsy. She closed her eyes and focused on steadying her breathing and recalling spells or herbs that remedied burns. Before she could decide on the best one, the young man returned with a small bottle of blue liquid. He pulled a cup from one of the cabinets and filled it with water from the sink faucet. He then brought it over to the table and put a few drops from the bottle in the cup and let it mix together.
"Drink this."
Dawn looked in the cup cautiously. "What is it?"
"Something that will help. But only if you drink it." His tone was not coarse but concerned.
Dawn held the cup to her lips and gingerly took a sip.
It was ice cold- colder than the water from the faucet, she thought.
It was refreshing and she continued to drink from the cup until it was empty. She placed the cup on the table and the young man took a seat next to her. She was waiting and wondering what the drink would do. He too was watching her in hopes of noticing a response. Dawn felt the throbbing fade from her arm. She lifted the bag of ice away and saw that her arm looked normal. She touched the place on her forearm where the water had burned her and it felt cold. They sat at the table in a silence that was increasingly growing more uncomfortable. He rose from the table and added water to the kettle and turned the burner back on. There was a window above the sink and through it Dawn saw the dark blue sky lightening along the horizon. She tried to speak in a whisper but her vocal cords were still rusty from sleep. She cleared her throat and stammered, "Thank you."
He looked at her with furrowed brows, "You shouldn't thank me. It's my fault you got burned in the first place."
Dawn let out a small chuckle. "I didn't see you when I came in so it would have been challenging for you to not startle me when I thought I was alone." He nodded his head in acknowledgement of this speculation. When the water was almost to a boil, he put a few bags of tea in a green tea pot and pulled out two teacups from a cabinet. The kettle began to whistle so he removed it from the hot stove and proceeded to poor water into the tea pot. He put the kettle back on the stove and brought the teapot and teacups over to the table.
"I'm Charlie," he stated, looking at her intently.
She smiled pleasantly and replied, "My name's Dawn."
"I'm sorry that I startled you." He looked down at the empty cup in front of him.
"It's okay now. You did heal my arm." Dawn remarked encouragingly. Charlie gave a halfhearted smile but it only lasted a few seconds. Dawn had heard of Charlie and how he worked with dragons in Romania. She also knew he didn't come home very much because of his work.
"Did you just come in this morning?" She coaxed, trying to keep a conversation going.
He shook his head, "No. I got in late last night but didn't want to wake anybody."
"You must be exhausted. Why are you up so early?"
"The time change takes a day or two for me to get used to." Charlie poured some tea into both of the teacups. He commanded the cream and sugar to come to the table with a simple swoosh of his wand. He then added some cream to his tea while Dawn added a little sugar to hers.
"Please don't think me rude but why are living here?" Charlie inquired.
"I don't think that's rude at all. I work with Arthur in the Muggle division at the Ministry and I fell on a bit of bad luck with my finances. Your mum demanded I stay here for the time being and that was the end of that discussion," Dawn chuckled uneasily.
"She can be very convincing when she chooses to be," Charlie too let out a nervous laugh.
The morning star was now above the horizon and beaming through the kitchen window. The two continued to drink their cups of tea until Mrs. Weasley groggily entered the kitchen to start on breakfast.
"Good morning, Dawn. Good morning, Charlie," she said absentmindedly as pot and pans started flying from cabinets.
"Good morning, Mum," Charlie answered with a beaming smile. Mrs. Weasley looked at her son and realization swept across her face and removed all hints of sleep.
"Oh Charlie!" She declared as he went over to his mother and gave her a hug. "We weren't expecting you. Why didn't you send an owl? Surprises are nice but you could have mentioned that you were coming by. When did you get in? Why didn't you wake someone?" Her excitement made it hard for him to answer all of her questions especially when she wanted them answered at the same time.
"I didn't know I would be able to come home and by the time I found out, it was really quite pointless to send an owl because I would have beat it here anyway. I got in late last night and I thought I would just surprise all of you today, after everyone had gotten enough sleep." He chuckled as his mother squeezed him tighter.