Chapter 9
It wasn't unusual for Charlie to sleep late at night because of this. There was no way that they wouldn't visit knowing that they had seen him, but they still seemed to surprise him when it was inconvenient. It was almost midnight when he got the last of the dragons to sleep. That first task was almost too easy for beautiful dragon rider. The Japanese Emperor Dragon was a nickname given so that no one would notice that it was a dragon from the White Kingdom, but it incredibly pleased to see Salamandra. In fact, it was almost too pleased. It would have much more amusing to see one of the other contestants deal with Salamandra's own dragon, but it had turned out well. He had become a dragon trainer for her. Charlie would have probably gone to play Quidditch for England if she hadn't come along, but he fell in love. There wasn't much a person could do about that.
One of the other trainers had just come to relieve Charlie of his watch, and Charlie went back to shower. He didn't want to be asleep just in case she visited, but he didn't want to stay awake the whole night. They had to take the dragons back the next morning. That girl was uncanny. He had just taken off his clothes and stepped under the hot water coming out of the spout when he heard giggles behind him. It wouldn't hurt for them to put stalls in the shower area would it? He could feel the heat rushing to his cheeks. He folded his hands carefully over his sensitive area, and turned around to glare at the girl who was embarrassing him. That glare lasted about two seconds when his face turned even redder when he saw that Roxanne was there too. He whirled around to face the wall being careful not to move his hands one millimeter.
"I needed to talk to you without the other trainers around, and I know you hate showering with people in the room." Salamandra said deliberately. She hadn't grinned so much since she did the same thing to Ken a few weeks before. It was probably why he was desperate to get her back.
"Without people were the key words, Sal. " Charlie spoke with an indignant voice looking over his shoulder. He naked, and the woman he loved was standing there staring at his bare body. He wanted to crawl into a hole at that moment, but he knew that there was a very good reason for this visit. There always was, and she was right. This was probably the one time that they would find him alone.
"You have a very nice bottom." Roxanne commented with more laughing. Charlie really wanted to cover that too, but was afraid of what would happen if he moved his hands.
"Don't look" Was all that he could say, but he knew that they wouldn't listen. He shrieked and jumped a mile when a pair of hands came around him. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stop himself from blushing. He couldn't push her away because then he would have to move his hands. All he could say was, "Stop, what are you doing? Don't touch me there."
"Relax, I'm just handing you a towel." Sure enough, Salamandra wrapped a towel around her friend's waist. Even though, Salamandra made sure that the towel was very tight, Charlie's grip around the fold was much tighter.
"What did you want to say to me that you couldn't say out in the open, Sal? Rox, you could stop giggling." Charlie asked, his voice was sounding more exasperated now. Salamandra hesitated. How could she tell him? Charlie loved his family, but she need his help and he deserved know the truth. She owed him a lot. It took her a good hour, but she managed to spit it out. Charlie's face turned white, "You mean to tell me that after all that we've been through together you want to get my baby brother involved in something that could kill him. Where did you get the idea that he could handle something like that, and that nut job Lovegood girl? "
He put his hands on her shoulder and almost shook her. Charlie never felt so betrayed. He loved this woman, and now she was tearing him to pieces, "I didn't mean to. It just happened. I'm usually so careful, I don't know what came over me."
"Leave, I don't want to look at you right now." Salamandra didn't cry. It was just simply something that she didn't do, but then why were her eyes wet right now? Why was there salt warm water dripping down her face right now? How could she have thought that he would help her when he had every reason hate her at that moment. Salamandra couldn't find the words to say anything. All she could do was leave with Roxanne close on her heels. She couldn't even blame her cousin. Roxanne put her hand on Salamandra's shoulder, but the dragon rider shook it off.
The next morning, Salamandra did the only thing that she could think of. She went to find Draco and gave him his next assignment. "You need to do something drastic to get him to trust you."
"So, I failed at my first assignment when Sera told me to befriend Harry, and you think that I can befriend Ron? I know I'm not supposed to ask this, but I'm going to do so anyways. Why are you going to ask me to do this job? Hermione is better at playing the good guy. Besides they're already friends. I'm better at playing the bad guy." Salamandra sighed. He really wasn't supposed to ask that, but the task that she gave him was really unusual for him. Sera had done the same thing, but Draco was a seasoned Clan member. He had been trained well, and he was anxious to prove that the previous assignment was just a fluke. "The reason I need you to do this is because Hermione is too close. You can tell her about it if you wish, or you can chose to leave her out of the loop its up to you. Remember this is your assignment, its under your control"
Draco grinned. As much as he trusted Hermione with his life, there was no way that he could pass up an opportunity to do a job that she couldn't. She had rubbed it in his face when he failed on the Potter assignment, but he would be damned if this one blew up in his face.
"Don't worry, I know how to do my job, Sal. This won't end up like last time."
