A/N: *swoops in riding a Welsh Green*
*Tosses the chapter at you*
*Grins slyly*
*soars away, cackling wickedly*
xx-Kitten.
Let it Burn
By Kittenshift17
Chapter 9: Sear
Hermione woke in agony, her whole body screaming at her and aching in ways it hadn't since she'd endured the Cruciatus curse during the war. Blinking her eyes open groggily, Hermione tried to make sense of her surroundings, for the second time in as many days finding herself with a view of soft red chest hair and brightly coloured tattoos.
Charlie.
She smiled, realising he must've brought her home with him when he'd been too drunk to apparate her to her own cabin, obviously not knowing the way unless it was to get there by Apparation. Despite the pain in her body and the stinging ache in her hip where she'd been burned, Hermione found herself warmed and smiling to recall that she'd spent the whole day with Charlie and had even gotten to kiss him.
Shuffling slightly, noting that they were once again intimately entwined in the middle of the bed, his arms and legs curled around her protectively, Hermione pulled back just far enough to peer into his face. He was still sound asleep, his face tranquil and smooth as he dreamed. She couldn't help but smile just a little bit, tracing her eyes over his handsome visage and noting the stubble lining his strong jaw. Merlin, but he was nice to look at, that was certain.
He stirred as though feeling her gaze and Hermione wondered what time it was, lifting her head a little more and peering over his robust shoulder to spy the clock on his night stand.
Almost six o'clock in the morning, she noted. Her usual wake-up hour. Hermione smiled a little more, pleased she didn't have to be up and running out the door again today as she'd done yesterday when she'd awoken in his embrace. Supposing she ought to make the most of it and clear off before she could be caught in bed with her boss a second day in a row, Hermione began painstakingly trying to extract herself from Charlie's embrace.
Not that it was easy. Her whole body throbbed and ached painfully thanks to pulled muscles and her hip stung like hell where she'd caught the fire. She suspected from the pain radiating from that area that she must've torn the flesh open again during the night.
"Huh?" Charlie grunted just as she managed to slip out of his grip, only to find that she was caught between him and the wall.
"Charlie?" Hermione asked, looking back toward the Dragon Tamer. "Are you awake?"
"Am now," he grumbled without opening his eyes. "What time is it?"
"Almost six," Hermione whispered.
Charlie groaned in protest, his brow furrowing like that was the worst news he had all year.
"Why are you awake?" he wanted to know.
"I'm usually awake this early," Hermione told him. "But you can go back to sleep if you like. Let me just… clamber over you…"
She swung one leg over him, intending to climb over and get out of the bed, but before she could, his hands settled on her hips and he opened his eyes to peer up at her, still looking three quarters asleep.
"Where are you going?" he wanted to know, his voice like gravel.
Hermione shivered under the directness of his gaze, feeling that like most men tended to, he'd awoken aroused.
"I've got to get back to my hut," she told him gently. "And then I've got to get ready for the day and make some lunch, and I wanted to make some notes on my observations yesterday and…. Why are you looking at me like that, Charlie?"
He was eyeing her like he was thinking seriously and jerking down his boxers, and shoving aside her knickers, and impaling her on his cock. Hermione hated him a little bit for it too, because Merlin's hat, she wanted him to ravish her right there in that bed, even as sore as she was and as much trouble as she'd be in, she wanted him.
"Your hair is wild," he told her, releasing one of her hips to reach for her nest of curls and Hermione winced.
"Don't encourage them," she warned, though she found her eyes drifting closed when the handsome wizard carded his hand through her hair, his nails scraping gently at her scalp in a way that made her want to sit up and purr. "They're unmanageable enough without assistance."
Charlie chuckled.
"Are they always this mad naturally?" he asked, arching under her just a little bit and making Hermione bite her lip with how badly she wanted to fuck him in that moment.
"Yeah," Hermione admitted, her voice growing husky with her lust as she leaned into his touch and rolled her hips just a little.
"Nice," Charlie murmured, eyeing her like he wanted to devour her.
"I should go," Hermione said, reaching for his hand in her hair and untangling it carefully.
"You don't have to," Charlie said. "You want some breakfast?"
Hermione bit her lip, indecision warring inside of her.
"I don't want you getting sick of me too soon," she said. "You've got the next few months of putting up with me asking incessant questions all day long as you train me in dragonology. I understand if you need some time to yourself, Charlie. You didn't know I was coming, after all, and I don't want to cramp your style."
Charlie rolled his eyes.
"It's breakfast, love," he chuckled. "Not a bloody marriage proposal."
Hermione blushed, supposing he had a point.
"Fine," she said. "But if you're sick of me by lunch time it'll be your own fault."
Charlie looked like the thought amused him, and Hermione clambered off him, intent on getting breakfast started. She had to remind herself firmly that he was her supervisor and that they couldn't go shagging, no matter how pleasant a morning it might make. Hissing as she rose to her feet and clutched at her burned side, Hermione winced, bending down in search of her jeans.
"You alright?" Charlie asked, sitting up in bed and swinging his legs over the side to put his feet on the floor while he scrubbed his hands over his face before rearranging his junk in the hopes of calming down his morning erection.
"Sore," Hermione confessed. "I think I tore my burn open again during the night."
"Let me see?" Charlie said, reaching for her and stopping her when she tried to pull her jeans up her legs, conscious of the fact that she wore only a tank top and her knickers. Hermione whimpered when he slid calloused hands over her bare legs, steering her around until she stood in front of him. He squinted in the early morning light before reaching over and turning on the bedside lamp.
Hermione carefully peeled the hem of her tank top up, hissing when the fabric was stuck to the wound and had to be peeled away agonisingly.
"Bloody hell, Granger," Charlie muttered when they could both get a look at the angry red wound that wept blood and pus. "You're in a bad way, witch. I need to put something on this or it's going to get infected. You should've taken the rest of yesterday off after catching the fire."
"I wanted to keep working and it didn't hurt so much then. I'll be fine, Charlie," Hermione said stubbornly.
"I won't when Mum turns up here and rips strips out of my hide for letting your get so badly hurt and then letting you soldier on like it's nothing," Charlie informed her, rising to his feet and causing Hermione's eyes to dart to his bare chest. With pectorals like river rocks, and washboard abs, the very sight of him set her knickers aflame and Hermione whimpered very softly as she drank in the sight he made.
"She doesn't even know I'm here," Hermione managed to squeak, trying to keep her mind on the topic at hand, rather than on the sudden fantasies inundating her that involved her licking part of the wizard before her until she knew every inch of him by taste alone.
"Yeah, and I'm sure that – somehow – she'll find a way to blame me for that too," Charlie muttered darkly, clearly never in a very good mood first thing in the morning. "Wait here while I grab some salve and things to patch you up, yeah? Don't move."
Hermione bit her lip, nodding her head and watching as he stepped around her, his hulking frame rippling with bulging muscle as he moved. Godric, but she'd love to run her hands over every sinful inch of the man.
He disappeared from view and Hermione squeezed her legs together, trying to ignore the fluttering of her nether region and attempting to squash notions of shoving him back down on the bed and having her way with him the minute he returned. Merlin's boots, she was in over her head with this wizard. Maybe she'd shouldn't have come. Maybe she should've allowed herself to simply fantasize about him from a distance and should've just settled on some nice wizard like Oliver Wood, or maybe Seamus Finnegan. Someone who didn't make her feel out of control and like she couldn't get enough of them every time she even looked in their direction.
"Oi!" Charlie grunted, returning as she stooped and was attempting to wriggle into her jeans before he could come back and notice that she was slowly drenching her knickers with these traitorously lustful thoughts starring him.
"What?" Hermione squeaked, turning toward him, her eyes wide with concern and her cheeks beginning to darken with embarrassment when she got her jeans stuck around her knees because she was standing on the hems of them and too busy staring at him as he moved to figure out why she was having such trouble pulling them higher.
"I told you not to move," Charlie growled, and Hermione froze, blinking at him as he crossed the short distance between them.
When he'd invaded her personal space – stealing her breath and making her thighs clench together again involuntarily – he dropped down on the bed next to where she stood and he steered her around in front of himself once more, guiding her to stand between his spread legs, side on so that he could doctor her burn.
"This might sting," he warned before smoothing something cold over the raw flesh.
"Fucking hell!" Hermione hissed, attempting to dance out of his reach and almost falling thanks to still having her jeans caught around her knees.
Charlie didn't say anything before he snagged a finger in the waistband on her knickers, using the grip to pull her close once more. He smoothed more salve over the burn on her skin and though it stung like hell, it slowly seeped a cooling numbness into the stinging flesh.
"This one is going to seal the skin so you don't keep ripping it open, alright?" he told her. "Fair warning, even with the numbness of the salve working on it, this is going to hurt, Hermione."
Hermione nodded, grateful for the warning and bracing for the sting.
"Ouch!" she cried out when he smeared a thick and globbed paste over the flesh. It stunk like rotting greenery, and it was bright purple in colour. "What the hell is that?"
Beneath the thick paste she could literally feel her flesh knitting back together and it itched like having a million ants biting her all at once.
"You probably don't want to know what's in it," Charlie admitted. "But suffice it to say it's a quick fix for bruises and scars but it hurts like fuck to apply, and it leave some pretty nasty purple scars behind. Sorry, love, but you're going to have a nasty purple burn scar here for the rest of your life."
"I take it this is something you use often?" she asked, eyeing the number of purple blotches hidden amongst his freckles and tattoos.
"Yeah," he nodded. "Bit of a home remedy. The Healers at the clinic don't recommend it, mind, because it makes you a bit…"
Hermione felt a wave of dizziness engulf her before a low moan tore from her lips as though she was experiencing and intense orgasm out of nowhere.
"Yeah," Charlie chuckled huskily. "That about covers it. It'll wear off in a minute, but you'll be pretty sensitive and uh… easily stimulated… all day today. And that'll be on top of the effects in the air from dealing with migration-mad dragons as the lizards all start pumping out pheromones for breeding season. Don't worry too much if you find yourself in need of some… ah… relief, throughout the day, yeah?"
Hermione closed her eyes, tipping her head back, her breath laboured as she tried to navigate the wild feelings coursing through her body like wildfire.
"Gods, Charlie," Hermione moaned softly, reaching for him with one hand and gripping his robust shoulder tightly as endorphins rushed through her, making her pussy throb and clench wildly.
"Yeah," he muttered. "I know, angel. But I can't help you out with that just yet. Need to get you patched up, and then I need you to do me, alright?"
"I'll do you right now if you'll just strip out of those boxers," Hermione heard herself say sultrily, and though her cheeks flushed with warmth, she meant every word.
Charlie paused, tipping his eyes up to meet her tortured gaze when Hermione looked at him pleadingly.
"Fuck," he murmured as her nails dug into his shoulder insistently and she looked at him imploringly. "Hermione… we can't…"
Hermione whimpered, closing her eyes and trying to hold in the urge she had to sob.
"Bloody hell, I forgot how strong it is the first time you use it," Charlie muttered, tracing his eyes over her.
Using a warm, damp cloth he wiped the excess, globby concoction from her skin, leaving a large purple stain in the shape of her burn behind. Hermione noticed that his hands where stained purple too, from the application and she watched, feeling like she was being tortured, as he contorted himself a little to begin applying some of the same substance to the bites and claw marks on his body.
"Fuck!" he snarled gritting his teeth and tensing under her hands while Hermione tried to get a hold of herself, feeling some of the effects lessen now that the substance was removed.
Charlie twisted under the hand she still hand on his shoulder, contorting himself to apply the concoction to all of his wounds, sealing each one closed and looking like he was torturing himself. Knowing how much it'd hurt before the lusty effect kicked in, Hermione winced along with him as he applied more and more of the substance to his skin until every gash and bite he bore was closed off. She couldn't help but notice the way his erection grew more and more pronounced inside his boxers, too, and when he was done, and had wiped the leftover residue from his skin, Hermione met his gaze intently.
"Don't look at me like that, Hermione," he warned her, his voice low and husky with need, his eyes glittering with flames as though he were a dragon himself.
"Or what?" Hermione challenged.
"Or I'm going to pin you to this bed and fuck you until neither of us can move," Charlie threatened, and Hermione whimpered, wanting him to do just that.
She knew he knew that was what she wanted when she kept right on looking at him like she wanted to ravish him within an inch of their lives. Hermione thought she might get her wish when he groaned and reached for her, shoving aside the healing supplies and pulling her down on top of him and he laid back on the bed.
Hermione moaned at the contact as she stretched out on top of him, smoothing her hands the length of his arms and across his shoulders before sliding them into his hair. Charlie slid his hands slowly down her back, pressing her to him firmly and holding her so tightly it almost hurt.
"I can't fuck you, love," he muttered into her neck, peppering her skin with little nips and kisses that were driving her mad.
"Why not?" Hermione wanted to know, groaning against his skin.
"You'll get fired and I'll be in shit for seducing a rookie under my tutelage," Charlie reminded her. "And no matter how badly I want to drill into you until you scream out your pleasure, I don't want to have to send you packing, love. Hold out for me, yeah? Come on, angel. It's just a little lust from the compress. It'll pass, I promise."
"It won't," Hermione muttered, delirious with lust as Charlie bucked his hips under her, his hands gripping her arse tightly while he thrust against her despite the clothes the both wore. "My desire for you never goes away, Charlie."
"Ah, fuck, darling, you're killing me here," Charlie groaned, grinding against her harder, rolling the two of them until she was pinned beneath him, her legs spread wide and curled around his waist while he ground himself against the junction of her thighs.
"Oh, gods," Hermione whined, her eyes squeezed closed when the sensations became overpowering. "Charlie… I'm… I'm gonna…"
Hermione squealed when the orgasm slammed into her, fire dancing behind her closed lids and cold heat burning through her core, making her crazy and filling with joy before leaving her sated.
"Fuck!" Charlie growled against her skin, frotting her harder before he cursed against, groaning as he followed her into orgasm despite the underwear they both still wore.
Hermione traced her fingers over his back slowly as she tried to catch her breath, feeling the way his muscles shifted beneath the skin with every breath he took.
"Blimey," she heard him muttered before he slowly pulled back far enough to look into her eyes. "You alright, love?"
Hermione smiled contently. "I'm great," she nodded, supposing she must look a little goofy if the way he chuckled was any indication.
"Should've warned you about the effects of that stuff before I used it on you," he said apologetically.
"I certainly wasn't complaining," Hermione replied.
Charlie nodded, eyeing her like he wanted to catch his breath, and kind of like he wanted to fuck her for real the minute he did. Before she could suggest it, the alarm clock on his nightstand began to beep and Hermione winced, groaning at the uncomfortably loud noise.
"Ah, fuck," Charlie grumbled, glaring at the clock before rolling off her so he could reach for it.
"What time is it?" Hermione asked, staring at the ceiling of his bedroom and supposing that she'd better get going.
"Six thirty" he told her, sitting up once more and scrubbing his hand over his face.
"Bugger," Hermione said. "So much for breakfast."
Charlie laughed darkly.
"We can still eat."
"I think people might realise I slept over again if we both show up late, Charlie," Hermione sighed.
"Probably," he muttered.
"Do you think anyone would notice if I dragged Amy by the hair to Esmerelda's cage and locked her in?" Hermione asked, feeling rather mean-spirited about the other witch who seemed to be the only thing standing between her and her intent to shag Charlie senseless.
"I doubt anyone would object," Charlie muttered.
"Is she really so in love with you that she's going to make a fuss at every turn?" Hermione wanted to know.
"Unfortunately I've developed a bad habit of shoving her away as being everything I don't want in a witch right up until I'm drunk and horny," Charlie admitted. "She thinks this is all just a game her and I are playing. And she sees you as competition because she knows that, given the choice I'd rather bed you than go anywhere near her again."
"Except that you apparently do keep going near her again whenever you're lonely," Hermione muttered, not at all thrilled to hear that.
"I'm going to speak to Marla today to do a proper handover with her to take charge until she's healed up," Charlie told her. "I'm going to mention that Amy's giving you some grief already and that I don't want her around anymore. I'm going to suggest she be recommended for a transfer to one of the other Sanctuaries, far away from me."
"You think Marla will listen?" Hermione asked, sitting up beside him and righting her tank top before reaching down to properly put on her jeans once more.
"Maybe," he nodded. "Unless she thinks it's because I want to be fucking you while I'm your supervisor. She's by the book, Marla. And Amy knows it. I wouldn't put it past the insufferable shrew to have told her that I took you home the night before last with the intention of shagging you – even if Herc did interrupt – and she'll likely have gone running to Marla after I carried you home last night, too."
"And killing her is out of the question?" Hermione confirmed. "I'm sure that in a big Sanctuary full of dangerous dragons, I could stage an 'accident' for the bitch if she really wants to test me."
Charlie shot her a sideways grin, looking rather like he approved.
"Sometimes I forget that you've got a mean streak, Hermione Granger," he said, looking amused.
Hermione sighed, nodding her head and knowing it was one of her less desirable traits.
"I'll just…" she sighed again and rose to her feet. "Go about my business like I'm only here to learn about dragons and make sure everyone else thinks I've never even looked at you sideways."
Charlie raised one eyebrow in silent challenge and Hermione returned the look stonily, refusing to rise to the challenge. She didn't want to come right out and tell him she fancied the pants off him and she didn't want to jeopardize her position in the Sanctuary or Charlie's job.
"You alright?" he asked when she picked up her jumper and pulled it on over her head, a scowl affixing itself to her face.
"I'm fine," she nodded, plotting ways to rid the world of a certain female dragon tamer who just so happened to have fucked the man Hermione suspected she was in love with.
"You don't look it," Charlie told her, frowning and still sitting on the edge of the bed as he watched her dress.
"Well, I am," Hermione told him, feeling irrationally annoyed with him for ever having looked sideways at the sly little bitch trying to impede her plans to seduce Charlie Weasley into giving her his last name and siring her children.
She strode for the door before she could say something to indicate that she was annoyed with him for his past taste in women and before she could do something stupid, like fling herself at him.
"Hermione?" Charlie called after her, sounding very much like he knew she was very far from being fine.
Hermione stopped, bracing her hands in his bedroom doorway. She didn't turn and look at him before one wretched question slipped off her tongue, unbidden.
"Did you fuck that vile shrew in this hut, Charles?" she asked, her voice low and radiating the fizzing fury she was trying to hide.
The guilty silence from him was all the answer she needed, and Hermione gritted her teeth before she strode out of his bedroom and crossed to the Floo, leaving his hut and making a mental note never to return.
