Sorry about the delay! I've had the worst writer's block (Defined as: when the characters in your head get fed up with all the crap you put them through and refuse to work) about this chapter and how to make it right, but i hope you enjoy! Finals are over and now i have lots of time!!!
Disclaimer: I own nothing at all except for my OCs
Chapter 3: This Time
"I've been sitting watching life pass from the sidelines
Been waiting for a dream to seep in through my blinds
I wondered what might happen if I left this all behind
Would the wind be at my back ? Could I get you off my mind
This time…?"~ Jonathan Rhys Meyers "This Time
Early spring was slowly moving into late spring as the sun was setting later and later, or at least it seemed like it. The days dragged longer and longer and Charlie tried not to make note of them. He tried to fill them with mind-consuming tasks, like extra reports, so he wouldn't have to worry about his family. The news that was coming in daily from the papers was creating nightmare images that would flicker beneath his eyelids and they grew worse and worse with every passing day.
And while he couldn't wait to see his family, after all, he hadn't seen them in…three years now almost, it would be strange, he noted on some level. He was so far away from everything and everybody that this place had become home and the Burrow seemed like a vacation he'd taken a long time ago.
The other problem that was bothering him was that he still hadn't found a date for the wedding. The days, which seemed to move so slowly, somehow were suddenly behind him. He only had a month and a half to find one and he had no prospects.
"Sounds kinda nuts if you asked me," Faris was saying as he and Charlie were writing out their weekly reports on the northern main Observatory deck.
"Just because she doesn't find you attractive in the least bit, doesn't mean she's crazy," Charlie chuckled as he dipped his quill in the ink pot.
"No, no, no. That is the very definition of crazy, my friend." Faris countered.
"If it's any consolation, I doubt that she likes me much anymore. I royally screwed it up," Charlie admitted more to himself than to Faris It was true, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of her since. Sometimes, he was just stupid and there was no nice way of putting it. Really, he had to work on the whole brain-mouth filter thing. He let a perfectly interesting and pretty girl walk away from him, not once but twice. Man, when he was on, he was on.
"Why?" Faris scratched his head. "Did you sleep with her best friend or sister?"
"No, Faris…" Charlie pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "I don't even know if she has either!"
"Hey! It is not over until you sleep with one of those two and even then it's not so bad if she doesn't catch you red-handed."
"Faris," Charlie shook his head in shame at his friend. "Do you know how sick that sounds?"
Faris brushed imaginary dust off of his shoulders and gave Charlie a smirk. "Don't hate the playa; hate the game!"
"Good God!" Someone else shouted as a sudden burst of light lit ups the sky outside.
"What the-" Faris choked out as Charlie grabbed his arm. "Come on, it looks like it came from the eastern outpost!"
Fairs followed after Charlie and as they ran, they could hear alarms going off, the automated voice calling for all available Healers and Keepers to report to the Eastern sector.
They reached the eastern most outpost and observatory tower, where they met up with Hera and their boss, Merrit Kane; the director of the entire preserves. He was a stout man who only stood about five and a half feet. He'd always reminded Charlie of a circus announcer with his dark hair combed over and his handle-bar mustache. Kane was the kind of boss who knew all of the Senior Keepers (like Charlie, Faris and Hera) by first name and always had a kind word for everyone. Charlie had only seen Kane lose his temper once.
"…and then the dragon backed into Banks, snapped his leg," Hera was reporting to Kane when Charlie and Faris pushed past all the meek new students who were eyeing the entirely too quiet and dark forest. "Bowman ran after him-"
"Althea!" Kane snapped and everyone, including Charlie jumped as they watched the vein in Kane's neck twitch. "Althea's out there?!"
"We tried to hold her back, but she stunned a few of us. I'm sorry, we tried…"
"What in the world is going on?" Charlie asked Hera.
"We have a couple of renegade four year olds and a down keeper and a trapped healer," Kane informed them. "The dragons have Althea and Banks trapped down in the ravine over the ridge. He has to be moved very carefully
"Why is Allie even out there?" Charlie was puzzled.
"She saw Banks fall and the blood and she ran to help him. How she got by the dragons in the first place, I'll never know," Hera shook her head.
"How many are there?"
"Three,"
"And how many Senior Keepers?" Charlie was doing mental calculations.
"Ten," Hera gathered them.
"Okay, here's the plan…."
"Of course, they send the ginger to do the dirty work …" Charlie grumbled to himself as he crept through the trees, trying to be as silent as possible.
Suddenly there was a bang, the signal that Hera, Faris and the others were starting their distraction Charlie made a dash for the ravine. He nearly pitched head first into a few boulders as he tripped over the ravine's edge. He caught and steadied himself and lit his wand.
He was peering around a rather large boulder when something like a foot flew out of the darkness and caught him in the stomach. As Charlie fell to the ground he heard a sharp intake of breath.
"Oh my God! Charlie!" It was Allie. "I am so sorry! I didn't know it was you!"
"Yeah, well, if I didn't know any better I would think it's a lie…" He groaned from the ground.
"I'm so so so sorry!" Allie insisted again, kneeling down next to him. "Really? Are you okay?"
Charlie nodded. "Yeah. Where's Banks?"
"He's over here," she helped him to his feet and led him around the boulder to where Banks was lying on the ground, his head propped on Allie's lavender robes. Banks appeared as though he was asleep except for the grimace and Charlie noticed the tight black straps that looped around the top of Bank's thigh and just above his knee.
"What...what's wrong with him?" Charlie whispered.
Allie pressed her fingers together and looked up at him. "The dragon…the mean one, stepped on his leg and broke it, clean in two. Snapped the artery that runs through his femur. There was a lot of blood…"
Charlie glanced at her, noticing the dried blood stains all over Allie's tank top and shorts. She sniffed a little and scratched the back of her neck and winced.
"You okay?" He asked quietly.
"It's a burn on my arm. It was fine before but now it's starting to bug me. I can't do much because I can't concentrate enough. And the dragons…and…"
"Hey," He grasped her left shoulder. "It's all right. Kane sent us to get you and him out of here….we know what we're doing."
Allie nodded without speaking.
"Weasley?!" Banks hissed, struggling to sit up and in the moonlight Charlie could see the blood stains criss-crossing across Banks' pants. "Weasley! I was stupid and I didn't think and-"
Charlie stopped him from saying anything more. "Look, accidents happen. It's gonna be fine. Let's get you out of here.
"He can't walk on his own," Allie informed him as she helped Banks sit up.
"Faris is going to send up a flare when they've distracted the dragons and led them far enough away that we can bring Banks to the outpost. Ready?" He asked them both.
Allie and Banks nodded and then suddenly the sky was alight with a bright red and blue flash.
"Locomotor!" Charlie hissed and Banks rose up, levitating over the ground as Charlie grabbed Allie's free had and helped her up the ravine wall.
The woods were utterly quiet as Charlie and Allie crept through the underbrush. She didn't limp or stagger every so often she would squeeze his hand for support and he would squeeze back, pulling her along a little.
"So, do you come here often?" He joked, trying to lighten the mood a little.
"Very funny," Allie snorted. "I am totally crossing this kind of place off my list."
"Really?" Charlie glanced at her. "Why?"
She pointed to Banks, who'd passed out again. "Look at him. That dragon could have easily killed him. And me, and you…"
"Every job has its risks, you know." Charlie shrugged. "You gotta take the good with the bad."
"I suppose so," she replied as they reached the edge of the woods and the outpost came into view. And along with the outpost, Kane also came into view and he looked irate.
"Let's get you all to the infirmary, Svelta and a few others are waiting inside," Kane insisted and led the way.
When Charlie settled Banks on an empty bed and was sitting with him for a moment while Kane caught up with Allie.
"Althea Bowman! How could you do something so stupid?!" Kane growled as he grasped Allie's left arm to wheel her around to face him. "Do you want me to have a heart attack at fifty?"
"I was doing my job, Merrit!" Allie shot back. "Banks would have died! His own shattered bone cut through his femoral artery! Was I just supposed to watch from the sidelines?!"
"I told you to be safe! I was going to send someone else! I promised your parents that I would make sure you would be safe!" Kane snapped. "Did you even tell them that you were coming here?"
"I don't see why it's any of their business! It is my life!" Allie suddenly let her arms drop to her sides and doubled over in apparent pain.
Svelta came over a look of horror on her face. "Allie, honey! You've got a massive burn down your arm!"
"You said it wasn't that bad," Charlie chimed in.
"You knew about this?" Kane growled.
"She said it was nothing…"
Svelta turned Allie around and gasped. She lifted up one strap and gasped at the bright red and slightly bubbling skin beginning at her shoulder and is spanned all the way down to her elbow.
"Althea…" Kane hissed.
"Please…stop calling me that; only my mother calls me that," she sighed.
"Sit!" Svelta insisted with more authority in her small voice than Charlie had ever heard before. "Now!"
Allie sat on the nearest bed, rolling her eyes.
"Charlie, hold her hand!" Svelta was dousing a cloth with some kind of clear liquid as Charlie moved over and sat next to Allie who pulled away wincing.
"Svelta, really it's not necessary-MARY, MOTHER OF GOD!" She screeched as Svelta applied the gauze to her arm. Charlie reached out one hand and Allie clawed at it. She bit her lower lip and closed her eyes.
"You shouldn't have let it sit so long," Svelta insisted as she applied another strip of gauze to Allie's shoulder.
"I understand that now!" Allie hissed and buried her face in her knees.
"Oh God…" Svelta murmured as she lifted Allie's hair and pulled it back into a bun. "It keeps going,"
As Svelta laid more and more strips on Allie's neck and back; she dug her fingers into Charlie's hand. Before he knew it, he was talking; telling her funny stories about the twins and Ron, about her about Ginny and her possible new career in Quidditch and about Bill and Fleur's wedding in a few months. And as he spoke, quietly into her ear, Allie relaxed some, her breathing grew steadier and her grip slackened some.
"There, that's all I can do for tonight," Svelta said when she'd finished, washing her hands. "Allie, you're going to have to sleep on your stomach your skin heals, okay?"
Allie nodded, but said nothing.
"Help me get her on her stomach," Charlie motioned for Svelta to hold one of Allie's hands and pull her forward until she was crouched over and then they guided her back to the bed.
Allie turned her head to where Charlie sat and waited to be dismissed. "Thanks," she whispered. "Really, I owe you big."
"No problem," Charlie bowed his head a little, unaccustomed to this kind of gratitude. "Get better okay?"
"Will you come by tomorrow? And tell me more stories?"
Charlie looked down at her, looking so serene and calm, unlike her usual tough exterior and couldn't stop the promise tumbling out of his mouth: "Sure, I will."
Uh-oh...I think Charlie has a wee crush!!!!
Ginger= people who have red hair.
i now press that little purple button and make all my dreams come true!!!
