UNTIL I FIND A BETTER PART OF ME

Chapter Three

It was a grueling first few weeks. Hermione was glad to finally have some time off. She had decided to spend some time at Hogsmeade. It had been quite awhile since she had seen that little town. She was looking forward to getting some sweets, some books, and maybe a butterbeer. She was splashing water over her face when she heard a shout come from Charlie's room and then a loud thud. Quickly crossing to his doorway leading into the bathroom, she looked into his room.

"Charlie? Are you..." she trailed off, when she noticed him on the floor. "What happened?"

"Bad knee gave out."

Her eyes scanned his half-naked body. Why was it now that she decided to come check in on him? His impressive chest with his Chinese Fireball dragon tattoo dancing around his right pectoral blowing fire all over the place. Hermione blushed, realizing he was actually in his boxers. She groaned, shaking her head at her behavior. She was studying to be a healer. She needed to act professionally - not scare patients away with her hormones. She was certain this wouldn't be the only time she tended a handsome wizard.

"You never did tell me what type of injury you had," Hermione said, kneeling down in front of him. She began to observe his knee and noticed that his knee was bandaged. He was bleeding through. "They most likely stitched you up... or staples?"

"Both." He took deep breaths. The pain was starting to get him as was the loss of blood.

"You must've reopened them. Will you allow me to check it?"

Charlie looked into hers and she waited patiently for a response. He gave her nod. She gave him a slight smile before she told him to sit tight while she grabbed her supplies. She quickly obtained them and rushed back to a squirming Charlie with sweat dripping down his face and body. She slowly unwrapped the bandage and took a look at his injury. Thankfully, the staples and stitched didn't bust. He just had reopened it slightly. She quickly grabbed some antibacterial swabs. She looked over at Charlie.

"This is going to hurt," she warned. "But I need to clean out the wound so it won't get infected."

He nodded then pressed his head back against his bed post. "Go ahead."

Giving him a wary look, she touched the antibacterial swabs against the wound. His teeth clenched and his face was distorted in obvious pain. She quickly finished up scrubbing the wound. He put the bloody swab aside. She then put ointment on his wound then began to bandage up his wound again. He bit his lip, waiting for it to be all over.

"You'll need to have freshly bandaged up again. If you're still bleeding pretty badly after that, I will definitely inform Madam Pomfrey," she told him, helping him to his feet. Her eyes trailed down his body looking at the tattoos and scars. There was a script tattoo the side of his ribs in a different language. Burn marks on his arms. "You need to take it easy today, okay? Here, lean on me. I'm going to walk you back to your bed."

Together, they managed to make it to his bed. She had him lean against the bed post as she readied the bed for him. She fluffed up some pillows so he could rest his back against it. She then grabbed some pillows and placed them where she believed his knee would rest. When she got him on the bed, she helped him to a comfortable position with his injured knee resting on the pillows. She went back to her room and grabbed a soft blanket she had brought with her. She came back and promptly covered Charlie's lower half with it. It settled right below his pectorals. Her eyes landed on the now calm Chinese Fireball dragon settling in a rested pose.

"Thanks, Hermione," he said, giving her a slight smile. "I don't know what I would've done without you."

"Probably bled to death on the floor."

Charlie frowned. He eyed her strangely before she broke out into smile then winked at him. She was sitting next to him idly stroking his wrist. She was unaware of it until he looked down at his wrist. She caught him and looked down as well. She quickly ripped her hand away in embarrassment.

"Oh, sorry about that," she said. She jumped up from the bed. "I'm certain if you started yelling Madam Pomfrey's name, she would've heard you. So never fear, you wouldn't have bled too death... too much." He smirked in response to that. "Okay, well, I'll see you later. I'll stop by Madam Pomfrey's office and tell her about your mishap-"

"What is this, Miss Granger?" he teased. "Are you leaving a patient to fend for themselves?"

"Hardly! Madam Pomfrey will come and check on you. I actually have errands to run."

He gave her a puppy dog look and Hermione just chuckled at his antics. She patted his arm and noticed the dragon move closer to the side her hand was. She looked down at his chest. What was the dragon doing? Hypnotized, her fingers brushed his chest and she watched the dragon inch towards her then curl up next to her fingers.

"Well, that's different," Charlie muttered, staring down at his chest.

"Okay, I'll be seeing you later. Do you need anything at Hogsmeade?" she asked, taking her hand away from his chest. She watched the dragon start to get agitated by her departure. "Candy? Tea? Coffee? Books?"

"I would like you to stay and keep me company, if that's alright?"

Hermione stopped short, hearing the softness in his voice. She turned to look at the rough and tough dragontamer. His tattooed dragon blowing fire all over the place again and racing about his pectoral. Wide-eyed, she stared at the tattoo and then him. She watched him fiddle with the edge of the blanket. She took a deep breath then walked over and sat down next to him.

"You so owe me for this."

He looked up with a smile on his face. "Tell you what, when my knee isn't gushing blood, we'll go to Hogsmeade and I'll treat you to lunch."

"I'm going to hold you to that," she told him. She watched the dragon settle down calmly on his pectoral. "I'll be right back. I'm going to alert Madam Pomfrey what's going on and then I'm going to grab us some food from the kitchen."

"Sounds like a plan."

Charlie was grateful that Hermione stuck around and 'nursed' him back to health. They got in various conversations about the world, history, life, and of course, dragons. He especially loved when she talked dragons with him. It was very rare for a woman, who was not in the line of work as a dragontamer, to know that much about dragons. He would never admit it, but he learned a few things that he hadn't known about dragons from her. As obnoxious as it was, it was definitely a turn-on for him to hear a woman talk passionately about the same interests as him.

Yes, yes! He mainly thought of dragons and his work, but he was completely lacking in intelligence. He had to be intelligent, clever, and stupidly brave to work with dragons. Dragons were the most temperamental creatures. However, once one earned a dragon's trust, they had it until it broken. He already missed the dragons he was caring for back at the reserve.

"You miss it, don't you?"

His eyes looked to Hermione. There was a sad smile on her face. "Yes, a bit."

"I wouldn't know what to do in your place," she said honestly. She smirked, looking at Charlie. "Nevermind, I know what I would've done. I would've stuck around anyway and interjected myself into their endeavors."

"Are you certain you're not a dragontamer at heart, Hermione?" Charlie asked. He chuckled, shaking his head. "I actually did do that, but I got badly hurt. I couldn't run away in time and I got knocked back. I was already injured at the time."

"Ah, I see. So they banned you until you were fully healed to head back to work."

"Got it in one."

Hermione nodded, getting up off the bed. Charlie watched her as she cleared up the plates and tidied up the room. She had already changed the his bandage and the wound was thankfully clotting. It only oozed a little bit of blood. He watched as she worked meticulously and with care. He knew she was in the right profession.

He was getting tired and she saw that. Not wanting to be left alone quite yet, he begged her to stay a little while longer. Hermione relented, only one the condition that he settled in for the night. She helped him get into bed comfortably. She had disappeared into her room for a moment and brought back a book. It was ancient myths about dragons and dragontamers. She once again sat down next to him on the bed and opened the book.

It didn't occur to him to ask her why she had so many books on dragons. If she never intended to work with dragons, why did she know so much? However, sleep was weighing heavily on Charlie. He heard her sweet voice until his eyes slid shut and her voice faded away until he had passed out. When he had awoke the next morning, he glanced sideways to see that Hermione had fallen asleep with her body pressed up against the headboard. Her body was slightly curled unto his. Her book laid open on his chest. He realized she must have fallen asleep when reading. One of hands was touching his chest. His eyes focused on his dragon snuggled up right next to her hand.

"Not a dragontamer, huh?" he muttered, with smirk.

She murmured something softly in her sleep. Her fingers began to move against the skin of his chest. She began to shake her head slightly. Her fingernails began to dig into his skin. He frowned, wondering what in the world she was dreaming of. His eyes focused on her face and noticed the tension on her face. A canvas of emotions danced across her face - layers of sadness and pain.

"No, please, please stop" she whispered, breathlessly.

His eyes widened at her pleading. There was a thread of fear tied in the soft plea. She began squirm restlessly, twisting as if she was trying to free herself. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks. Startled, Charlie watched when Hermione began to twist frantically.

"I don't want this!" she gasped. "I-I don't want this! Please, Viktor!"

Charlie's eyes narrowed, realizing what this could possibly be a nightmare - or a shade of real life nightmare. His eyes never left Hermione's face is it contorted in pain and fear. She began to wrestle with an unknown force. Her body began to thrash as if she was fighting for her life. He reached out to her and she began to struggle more. Her entire body was shaking. He growled low in his throat. He knew exactly what Viktor had done or at least had an idea.

He was startled when Hermione abruptly twisted to the side hard and fell off the bed. He heard the thud then a groan. He waited until Hermione slowly picked herself off the floor. Her bushy hair popped up into view. Her eyes met his and he saw the fear within them. He wanted to hunt down Viktor and show him exactly what he thought of him at this moment. He watched as her eyes softened when she realized it was only him.

"Good morning, Hermione."

She yawned, stretching her arms above her head. "Sleep well?"

"Never better," Charlie muttered.

"How does your knee feel?" she asked, moving back unto the bed. She gently peeled back the blanket for his body. She inspected the bandage and smiled. "It's actually dry. That's a good sign."

"Does that mean I get up and walk around today?"

"Oh, no, it just means you stopped bleeding. You need to be in bed for a week until the wound properly clots and heals." She began to unwrap the bandage to put on a fresh new one. She inspected the wound and was glad that it seemed to be clotting well.

"But-"

"Do not push, Charlie Weasley. I will tie you down to this bed, do you hear me?" Hermione grabbed her wand from the nightstand and pointed her wand at him.

He raised an eyebrow at her choice of words. "Kinky, I like it, but I have a feeling it's not quite the same idea I had in mind."

She opened her mouth to retort. Instead, she blushed, realizing what he had said. He smirked at her reaction, but it was fleeting. He put up his hands in surrender when she jabbed the tip of the wand at him. He waited for her to do something or say something, but she remained silent. Her glare was the only thing keeping him from relaxing. This was the Hermione he knew. She could stop a man with a furious glare. He had seen her do it Ron, the twins, and even Bill. So this what it was like to be on the receiving end?

Casually, he just crossed his arms. "Are you going to back up that dark look with some action or are you going to just keep staring?"

"Ooh, you asked for it."

Before he could stop her, she had swished her wand and he wanted light stream out of it. Wide-eyed, he watched his arms shoot backwards and paste up against the wall. His entire body suddenly felt like led. He couldn't move his limbs. All he could do was stare at Miss Hermione Granger who had the audacity to magick him to the bed. He didn't know to say and definitely didn't know what to say when Hermione moved her body over his. Her knees sank down on either side of his hips and her hands rest on either side of his head. Her body hovered above his. Although, she was still wearing that long dress... sinful thoughts began to circulate in his head.

She just smirked at him, shaking her head. "Well, what do we have here? I think somebody's ego has been handed back to him."

"Gladly," he said. His own voice dripping with smugness. "Still kinky, but I still don't think we're on the same page here."

"You are-"

"Irresistible."

"No," she choked out, shaking her head.

"I think you want me," he teased. "I bet you're thinking in that little head of yours all the naughty things you can do to me right now, right here."

What he hadn't expected was lust to darken those wise eyes of hers. Now that was interesting. However, it was gone in a flash and was replaced with slight fear and shame. She blushed, quickly leaping up off of him. He watched her fumble with her wand to undo the invisible binds. He raised an eyebrow at her sudden change of demeanor. When he caught her stealing a look at him, he opened her mouth to question her.

"But yes," she cut in, straightening her back. "You will need to stay in bed for at least a week then you can start walking around. You'll be walking with a cane for a couple months. Your knee should be well enough to stand on without the assistance of the cane when the school year starts."

"Bollocks," he muttered, but he took in what she was saying. "Fine, Miss Rain On My Parade. I give, I give! We'll do this your way."

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