A/N: The long-awaited chapter 10 is finally here! As usual, sorry it took so long, but I've had a lot of issues to deal with later, and a mad case of writer's block,not only with my fanfic, but my original fic as well. I'm finally starting to get back in the groove. This one is looking to be twelve chapters total, mostly to tie up some loose ends. There isn't much Hermione/Charlie action in this one, but several questions get answered, but not all!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters, they all belong to the inimatable J.K. Rowling. They are her toys, I'm just playing with them for a little while. No money is made from this, if there were, I wouldn't have to talk to bill collectors so much.

Hermione stood at the foot of the stairs, watching Charlie hug his mum, not wanting to interrupt the sweet domestic scene. After a few moments, the two broke apart and Charlie sat back down at the table and Molly went back to her soup. Hermione cleared her throat slightly to get Charlie's attention. At the noise, Charlie looked up and smiled at the slender brown-haired woman standing with a rucksack thrown over her shoulder.

"I'm ready if you are…" Hermione trailed off, as Charlie stood to greet her. She was struck with the height and breadth of the dragon tamer as he held out his arm to take her bag from her.

"I can carry that, if you'd like me to?" Charlie grinned sheepishly, the tips of his ears turning red as she replied quietly,

"Oh, no, it's all right. Thank you, it's just that it has to be carried a certain way or the handle falls out…" Hermione explained, stopping herself, then blushing as she realized she was rambling. "Where are we going, anyway?"

Charlie grinned in response, dimples popping out on his cheeks before replying in a mischievous tone, "That's for me to know and you to find out." As he grabbed her hand in one of his and a handful of floo powder in the other, shouting out "Department of Magical Transportation!"

A few minutes later, Charlie and Hermione stumbled out of the grate at the transportation department at the Ministry of Magic.

"Never have quite gotten the hang of floo travel…" Charlie chuckled as he cleaned them both of soot with his wand. "From here we'll have to take a portkey to Paris, then to our destination. It'll take a few moments to arrange, do you want to go with me or wait here?" He asked as motioned toward a line of plastic seats that reminded Hermione of a muggle airplane terminal waiting area.

"No, go ahead, I'll wait for you here. What's our final destination?" Charlie opened his mouth to answer, then snapped his jaw shut, smiling in a secretive way before replying, "Nah uh uh, no fair using big words on the dumb wrangler…"

Hermione opened her mouth to argue that Charlie was far from dumb when he grinned and tapped the tip of her nose with his forefinger before turning and walking towards the desk, where a bored looking receptionist sat. It took Hermione a minute to realize Charlie had been teasing her, then she giggled internally at herself. Her natural curiosity was eating away at her, and it was killing her not knowing where they headed, but she didn't want to ruin Charlie's surprise, either. She wisely decided that she wouldn't ask him any more questions, but rather get to know the man behind the burns and freckles.

Charlie spoke for a few minutes with the receptionist, then signed his name to a clipboard on the desk before making his way back to Hermione.

"It'll be about an hour before the next portkey to Paris, so we've a bit of time to kill. Do you want or need to do anything in the meantime?"

"Not really, all I needed was clothes, and I don't have anyone I need to inform that I'm leaving, as your mum and Harry both know already. Let's just sit here and talk."

"Talk, alright, then," Charlie racked his brain for any subject not relating to dragons that he thought the pretty girl sitting next to him would be interested in, coming up short before asking, "So what do you want to talk about?"

"Well…" Hermione began, blushing a bit, a light dusting of pink across her cheeks, "I thought we might get to know each other a bit better…"

"I think that's a spanking idea." Charlie replied, grinning, thinking he would like to spank her pert little bum. Now, where did that thought come from, Charlie thought to himself, mentally slapping himself in the forehead.

"You do? How about a question game? You know, I ask a question, you answer, you ask, I answer, and so forth." Hermione suggested, turning in her seat and folding one leg under the other knee so she could look directly into Charlie's cerulean eyes.

"Sounds good to me. You ask first."

"All right, so, a question. What's your favorite color?" Hermione asked, internally groaning at herself. How much more mundane could she get?

"Red and gold, typical Gryffindor colors. What's your middle name?"

"It's Jean, my mum's name." Hermione replied, smiling sadly at the thought of her deceased parents. "My turn again, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to…why were you so upset day before yesterday?"

Charlie thought hard for a few minutes, trying to decide how to answer her question without sounding weak. He decided honesty was they best way to go and started explaining, "Technically, I'm here on holiday, but I took it now instead of during the Christmas holidays for a reason. Right before I left, one of the Norwegian Ridgebacks had just died, and it tore me up, as it was one of my favorites."

"That's horrible, Charlie, I'm so sorry." Hermione whispered, placing a dainty hand on his upper arm in a gesture of comfort. He reached around and covered her hand with his, nodding his thanks, before continuing.

"Yes, well, the same day that I caused your and Ron's argument I had an errand to make, I left the Burrow and headed straight for Hogwarts."

"Why Hogwarts?" Hermione asked, wondering if something had gone wrong at the school.

"Had to go see Hagrid and let him know. Poor bloke couldn't stand the thought. Kept saying he wished he could have kept it, even thought we both knew that was totally unrealistic."

Something finally clicked in Hermione's brain and her eyes widened in surprise before she said in a low, breathy voice, "Norbert." Charlie chuckled before replying,

"Berta, actually, apparently Norbert was a girl. I hatched one of her eggs myself, named the little fellow Spot." Hermione snorted in reply, trying to hold in her giggles. Apparently, Charlie came from the Hagrid school of naming pets. "So, that's why I rented the room at the Three Broomsticks, I needed to pull myself together after my visit to Hagrid before I tried to face you or Ron, but you took care of it for me," Charlie grinned.

"I'm so sorry about that, I acted way too hastily. I should have calmed down first, but the Weasley temper seems to be rubbing off on me. It's your turn to ask."

"It is, isn't it. Speaking of Weasleys, how did you come to stay at the Burrow? Mum was a bit vague on the details."

Charlie watched Hermione's face fall and started to regret asking her, before she answered, quietly, "I have my own house, in muggle London, but it's always so quiet now. During the worst part of the war, before I left with the boys on the hunt for horcruxes, I modified my parents' memories and shipped them off to Australia." Charlie nodded, he knew this much already, but he hadn't known what had become of the Grangers afterwards. Hermione continued after a shuddering breath, "After the defeat of Voldemort, I found them and reinstated their memories, and they moved back to London and started up their practice. A week later, I came home and found them both…." Hermione couldn't continue, and she gave a shuddering sob. Charlie didn't ask her to finish, he could guess the rest of the story, as his father had let him know in several letters about the rounding up of rogue death eaters that had managed to escape the scene of the final battle. He looked at her helplessly before pulling her into his embrace, causing her to sit sideways in his lap, shushing her and whispering nonsense comforting words into her hair, rocking back and forth. After a few minutes, her shoulders stopped shaking and she shook her head, then looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy. Charlie couldn't remember the last time he had seen a more beautiful person than Hermione was at that moment. Hermione started trying to escape his embrace, remembering Ginny's words about his aversion to public displays of affection.

"Oh, Charlie, I'm so sorry, I've soaked your shirt, and I must look a fright." She said, almost whispering, as she wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. Charlie silently handed her a white hankie, smiling slightly and shaking his head before replying,

"You look find, Hermione. Cry on me all you want, whenever you want, that's what I'm here for." He mumbled quietly into her ear before brushing his lips across her cheeks, tasting the saltiness of her tears on his lips.

"Weasley, part of two?" Came a woman's voice from the other side of the room, causing them both to jump, making Hermione giggle a bit.

"Now, that's the spirit. Apparently that's our portkey, you ready?" Charlie smiled at her as they stood and he took her hand. As they walked toward the desk and both placed their hands on a rusty soda can, he answered her unasked question, "I don't like to apparate internationally 'cause I have a tendency to splinch myself." Hermione giggled at the thought of Charlie's left arm still in Romania when the rest of him landed in Paris. He narrowed his eyes at her before replying shortly, "It's not funny."

"Yes, it is. Thanks, Charlie, I needed that."

Charlie smiled at her, glad she could laugh so soon after such an emotional upset, and replied, "glad to be of service." They portkey activated and they whirled away, landing at the magical consulate in Paris.

After another fifteen minute wait in France, they took another portkey to the magical government building in Bucharest, where Charlie and Hermione both turned over their wands for inspection and bags for customs. A bored looking security guard handed their wands and bags back before beckoning them through the door of the Romanian magical transportation office.

"Do you always have to go through all that?" Hermione asked, pocketing her wand.

"No, normally I floo straight to the Burrow from the personnel office at the Reserve. I chose not to go that route this time because I didn't want to go through all the paperwork of having a visitor, and I certainly don't want to go to work on my holiday." Charlie replied, then chuckled at the intrigued expression on Hermione's face.

"Personnel office?" Hermione asked before she could help herself. She had gotten the impression the dragon reserve was rather rustic. Charlie grinned and shook his head before explaining,

"It's a common misconception, Hermione, that all the Dragon tamers live in tents around a bunch of dragon pens. It's more like a modern complex, very similar to your muggle zoos. Don't misunderstand me, the dragons are in pens, but we wranglers actually live in barracks that look a lot like apartment complexes, close to where the dragons are housed. There are several other endangered animals at the reserve."

"It all sounds really interesting, perhaps I can visit soon and see for myself." Hermione replied as Charlie hailed a cab. They both scooted into the back seat before Charlie gave the driver directions in Romanian.

"Are you going to tell me where we're going yet?"

"Impatient one, aren't you? We're almost there…maybe ten more minutes."

Hermione grinned at his evasive answer and contented herself with looking out the window at the rolling hills and the mountains off in the distance. She didn't think she had ever seen anything quite like it, even on the many skiing trips she had taken with her parents. She noticed they were climbing a steep hill and was surprised to find they had come to a stop at what seemed like the crest of the hill and the driver said something to Charlie in rapid Romanian. Charlie shook his head and replied before paying the driver in muggle money, and turning to Hermione.

"We'll have to walk from here, the drive won't go any further. You don't mind a stroll, do you?"

"No, of course not, but why won't the drive go further? Where are we, anyway?" Hermione asked as she got out of the car, Charlie following her.

"You'll see in a few minutes. Shall we?" Charlie asked, offering his elbow in the same way he had seen the potions professor do. Hermione flung her rucksack over her shoulder as she wrapped her hand into the crook of his elbow. They walked for a few minutes before they came to a set of imposing wrought iron gates with the letters V and D in the middle of the gates. Charlie held his wand to the latch on the gates and they glowed a vibrant green for a few minutes before silently swinging open.

As they walked up the drive, Hermione was surprised to see a castle looming before them, very similar in style to Hogwarts, but perhaps 1/3 the size. She wondered who on Earth could possible live in such a huge residence, or perhaps this was a school or museum of sort? Hermione was becoming more and more excited with every passing moment, hardly able to contain herself, as she added a little bounce to each step. Charlie grinned down at the woman bouncing around next to him, he knew this visit would be a good idea, and hopefully the Viscount would let them hide out in his guest suite for a few days.

They reached the front doors, with two imposing brass knockers shaped like bats in the middle. Hermione was reflecting on the interesting choice of decoration as Charlie banged one of the knockers three times. A few minutes later, a tall, thin man with shoulder length black hair, a hooked nose and a long black cloak on pulled open the door to greet his guests. Something about the man struck Hermione as completely familiar. As the man started to greet his guests, Hermione interrupted him.

"Severus, What are you doing here?"

End notes: Another cliffie, I know, I'm horrible, mean, evil, yada yada yada. I promise y'all wont have to wait as long for chapter 11 as you did for Chapter 10. I want to thank everyone for reading (I know your out there, I see the number of hits I get) I don't normally like to whore for reviews, but please please please leave something, even if it's to tell me it's a load of codswollop!