Author's Note:

Thank you CarerraHughes for your reviews and thank you everyone for your favourites/follows etc. they make my days so much happier and make me feel more able to update!

I'm so sorry this has taken forever to be put up (anxiety really sucks) but I'm getting better again now and have still been writing so get ready for a few chapters to go up over the next week!

Love you all,

Wishin' Girl x x

...

"Okay, I'll send the letter to Mr Stoica from the international floo office and you go purchase our portkey tickets. There's one leaving early this afternoon so I sent a patronus to our families who are meeting us for lunch at St James' cafe in an hour." Ashlynn repeated for the third time in the last five minutes as she and Charlie neared the front of the queue for security at the Ministry of Magic in London.

"Yes love" Charlie replied, his face split wide with a boyish grin as she held his hand and gave her wand over to the security witch for verification.

"Welcome to the ministry dears" the witch said melodiously once they were both approved entry "international floo is that way then left and you can follow signs to the portkey office."

Soon the couple had reunited in the atrium and were five minutes early to meet their families, they rushed through the exit at Ashlynn's insistence although Charlie didn't understand why since they were ahead of schedule. From the moment they appeared back in the streets of muggle London though, Charlie understood as his girlfriend pulled him excitedly into a deserted alleyway and snogged him silly. Their hands began to roam and the couple quickly became lost in the taste and feel of the person they loved, by the time the pair came to their senses they were ten minutes late for lunch so Ashlynn pulled him flush to her body and apparated them into a patch of trees behind the agreed cafe.

"That is not going to help us get there on time love" Charlie groaned as he pulled her hips close and she rolled her pelvis into his.

With a lot of self restraint and a traitorous whimper escaping her lips, Ashlynn pushed herself away from his firm, muscular body and pulled him by the hand round to the front of the cafe in the bright winter sunshine. Loud chatter and joyful laughter reached their ears as they walked onto the cafe's terrace and they joined the enormous crowd that was making all the noise who began passing them around the table to receive hugs from everyone assembled.

Ashlynn lifted the blue haired baby boy from his grandmother's arms, she would dearly miss this little tyke as she was used to spending every third weekend looking after him. Tonks and Remus' infant son Teddy lived with his maternal grandmother Andromeda during the week while Harry Potter, the baby boy's godfather, tried to piece his life back together after his defeat of the evil wizard Voldemort. Teddy then spent two out of three weekends with Harry and his partner Ginny Weasley either at the burrow or at Potter Manor, she played chaser for the Holyhead Harpies and was completing her NEWTs alongside Hermione (who was also completing an apprenticeship in magical law at the ministry) through coursework and tutoring sessions with Professor McGonagall, while Harry was in the newly developed 'accelerated auror training programme' with his best friend Ron Weasley. Looking around the table she saw Ginny sat on Harry's lap between Ron and Hermione, next to Hermione was Fred who had recovered magnificently from his battle injuries thanks to Ashlynn's care and even regained sight in both eyes. Fred kept sneaking glances at Hermione and smiling every time her bushy hair caught in the wind, then there was George who was sharing a chair with Angelina (she insisted they weren't a couple as she greeted her old quidditch captain and his girlfriend) but Ashlynn saw a romantic spark between the pair of friends despite the other witch's protestations. Looking further round the table they saw another ex-Gryffindor quidditch player, Kenny, who used to share a dorm room with Charlie and was sat next to another fellow dorm mate, Jake. Ashlynn and Jake gushed to each other about the latest muggle bands while Kenny laughed at his boyfriend's eagerness to discuss muggle music with someone who actually knew what she was talking about.

"He's like this all the time at home" Kenny mused, looking lovingly at Jake "I can't believe it's taken you two so long to end up together. It took me all of two weeks to tell Jake my feelings last year when we finally noticed each other. You and Ashlynn however have been dancing around each other since first year!"

The departing couple continued round the table greeting their (now permanently appointed) Minister of Magic Kingsley and Aberforth Dumbledore who were sharing some very rude jokes with Ashlynn's twin brothers while their partners Amanda and Dean sat and watched all the wizarding folk around them in wonder, they weren't aware that they were magical yet though and being in a muggle cafe helped the witches and wizards to remember to keep the secret under wraps. Lee Jordan and Percy Weasley were sat together having a very amicable conversation about the regulations around quidditch equipment, it appeared as though Lee had found their conversational niche and was helping Percy to feel more at ease around his family again. Finally the couple reached their two sets of parents and settled between them to eat their lunch, while Teddy switched between their laps every time he switched his hair colour to match the food he wanted to steal off their plates and the young couple tried to guess what he was after before feeding it to him.

…

"Charlie!" A tall, dark, exceedingly handsome man called Liam shouted across the arrivals hall as Charlie and Ashlynn's feet hit the hardwood floor. "Charlie you're back! My Sofia has been worried sick about you my friend, she looks so sad whenever we walk past your house on the reserve."

Charlie guided Ashlynn through the maze of chalk circles up to the desks and firmly hugged Sofia's husband.

"I'm back for good now Liam" Charlie explained.

"What about that Ashlynn girl you've been fawning over for years?" Liam asked quietly, trying to not let the girl Charlie had landed with hear his comments.

"Ashlynn meet Liam" Charlie pushed Ashlynn forward and beamed with pride "you'll be seeing more of each other now too as Ash here's got a job on the reserve, she's a healer."

"No way," Liam breathed, his eyes wide as he yelled "Oi Jacob get over here, it's actually happening!"

An equally handsome older gentleman rose from the visitors desk and sauntered over to them, his dark eyes full of life and his silver hair shimmering in the sunlight pouring through the open doors.

"This is Ashlynn" Liam stated, eliciting a raised eyebrow and delighted smirk from the older man.

…

After a very long chat with Liam and Jacob, causing a severe backlog in arrivals at the Romanian Ministerial Offices, and a promise to go on a double date with Liam and Sofia next week, Charlie and Ashlynn finally made it through the arrivals hall and out into the courtyard. Charlie watched his love with giddy delight as she walked out into the Romanian sunshine, exploring the details on the fountains in the courtyard's centre and taking her time to smell all the interesting flowers in the hanging baskets. As he watched her adoringly Aila and Marius strolled over to Charlie, hand in hand, from the shade by one of the pillars.

"So that's the one, eh?" Marius asked with a knowing smirk at Charlie's expression.

"Yeah, she's the one" Charlie confirmed, his giddy smile never faltering "but I'm going to take the whole relationship stuff slowly with her, she's already rejected two fiance's and I want to do this right for her."

Aila nodded in understanding, she had been the one Charlie went to on his worst days and she had held him many times as he cried and expressed how much he missed the gorgeous woman who was now dancing around the courtyard in front of them, dodging small piles of snow as she explored the new territory.

"Hi, I'm Ashlynn, you must be Mr and Mrs Stoica." Ashlynn greeted as she bounded back over to Charlie and held out her hand to the older couple. "Charlie has told me so many wonderful things about you and the reserve."

"Call us Aila and Marius" Marius said in such a soothing tone that Ashlynn felt like nothing could ever harm her when he was around, she assumed his voice was part of what made him such a successful dragon keeper "and you're family now so no need for hand shakes" he added wrapping his enormous arms around her and hugging her in welcome before Aila did the same with her much smaller arms.

The four landed on the cobblestone path in thick snow and Ashlynn transfigured her ankle boots into wellies and wrapped her Hufflepuff scarf tightly around her neck as Marius and Aila walked with them through the huge metal gates and into their offices to complete all the necessary paperwork with Ashlynn. Once it was all complete Marius took Charlie to one side.

"Now, I assumed that you two would be sharing your house so I've left a few items in there for your lovely lady. If that's wrong I'll get a welcome room set up for tonight while you take her on the tour, as a head of department healer she is entitled to her own silver level house so if you do stick with the sharing have a think about whether you want to stick with what you've got and she'll get a boost to her wages or we can combine your two silver level houses and move the pair of you over to one gold level house at the far end." Marius outlined slowly.

"She'll stick with me for now and I'll let you know what we decide" Charlie responded with a grateful nod in understanding of Marius' kindness before grabbing Ashlynn's hand and completing the tour of the reserve.

…

"So this one is us," Charlie said nervously as they reached the wooden house with a number 19 painted on the door.

Manoeuvring carefully along the icy path and around the windblown snowdrifts the couple stepped up to the door that led into the place that Charlie had called home for years, and he passed Ashlynn a large silver key with a wooden number 19 danging from it. Tentatively she unlocked the door and stepped inside the small house with Charlie so close behind her that she felt his warm breath blowing her curls about gently as he was so eager to see her reaction to his home, 'their home' he hoped.

"Wow…" Ashlynn breathed in astonishment as she gazed around in wonder, just like he had done four and a half years earlier.

She marvelled at the elegance of the slanting roof and descended the five wooden steps by the doorway into the pale green and wood filled kitchen that made her feel like she was in the heart of nature and back at her family's farmhouse kitchen all at the same time. She took in the little details that Charlie had added to make it his own, like the potted herbs growing on the windowsill and the apron his mother had sewn for him that hung on the back of a kitchen chair, she thought the small wooden table was just the right size for the two of them to eat dinner at and was excited at the idea of having breakfast with him every morning in their own home.

Progressing through the house she passed an open wooden staircase separating the kitchen from the lounge and admired the large stone fireplace surrounded by a soft grey sofa and a very comfortable looking large maroon armchair that she thought looked perfect for cuddling up together in on cold winter nights. In the middle of the room was a glass coffee table on top of a multi coloured thick pile rug, on top of which was a huge wicker basket filled to the brim and overflowing with goodies and a homemade card perched on top.

Welcome home!

Charlie we're so glad to have you back and Ashlynn if you fall in love with the reserve half as much as Charlie is in love with you we know you'll find no happier place on earth.

Marius and Aila

Every dragon keeper and the two healers had signed the card and added their own notes of welcome and well wishes too.

Digging into the hamper the couple found a pair of thick fur snow boots, a winter coat, hat, scarf and gloves for Ashlynn and a new pair of fur lined dragon hide gloves for Charlie. Underneath this first layer of gifts the couple continued to dig in the hamper and found a large bottle of firewhiskey, a crate of sparkling wine, a kit for making 'the ultimate hot chocolate', several books on healing dragon wounds and an assortment of bath bombs. Carefully laying everything out on the sofa Charlie encouraged Ashlynn to keep looking around the house.

She found a large walk-in wardrobe only half full of Charlie's things and with their bags already placed on the floor waiting for them. Continuing on, she opened another door and stepped into a large bathroom with a glass walled walk in shower and a huge roll top bath, easily large enough for two, set against the floor to ceiling window overlooking the snow covered reserve. She recalled that the floor to ceiling windows in the lounge had double doors in them and returned to investigate that further before her thoughts of what she and Charlie could do in that tub and up against the glass wall of that shower became even more tempting to try out right away, they would have plenty of time to reattempt what got interrupted by her twin the other day now that they lived alone.

However, her erotic thoughts did not ease much as she stepped out onto the balcony and Charlie wound his arms around her middle, pushing his chest against her back, her thoughts immediately flowed to an image of her simply bending forwards in this position for him to take her right there while they gazed out over the reserve together watching the dragons frolic in the snow.

With strict instructions to her brain Ashlynn told her thoughts to behave and, after an hour in the frosty air admiring the breathtaking view, she made her way up the staircase to see the bedroom. The mezzanine floor was set at half the house's height and the bedroom was open along this side so that they could view the reserve through the glass wall opposite. The back wall was covered in photos of her, Tonks and Charlie, she recognised many of them together over their years at Hogwarts but also saw photos taken of Charlie around the reserve, of his family back home showing his younger siblings growing up while he was away, of Tonks and Ashlynn at their flat in London or out somewhere having fun after long days in Auror and Healer training, of Tonks since Ashlynn had gone into hiding and even a few muggle shots of Ashlynn that Tonks must have forwarded on copies of.

"Tonks sent them to me to keep me up to date" Charlie explained as he watched her fingers delicately caress the photo of her and Tonks laughing as they sat on the window seat on the day they had moved into their London flat "I miss her."

The couple stood in place holding each other and reminiscing of the thousands of good times they had spent with Tonks over the years. They stayed up late trading stories from each of their perspectives and together they allowed themselves to fall apart.

…

The next morning they were woken by the sun's rays shining through the tall glass windows before realising that they were both running late for their first day back on the reserve. Charlie's breath caught though as he took in the sight of an underwear clad Ashlynn who had jumped up in panic, they had slept in their underwear from the day before as neither had wanted to leave the wall of memories to retrieve pyjamas from their luggage as they finally said goodbye to their best friend. Shaking the fog from his mind, and adjusting his painfully hard erection, Charlie ran downstairs after Ashlynn in time to help her find the appropriate clothes while she did her teeth, face and hair ready for the day. Lacing up her new snow boots and pulling on the warm winter coat she had been given as part of a combined 'welcome to the reserve' and 'thank you for persuading Charlie to come back' present, Ashlynn looked radiant and the excitement pouring off her smile was tangible. Charlie had a hard time trying not to get distracted by her but, having done this routine so many times before, was quickly dressed and had his kit ready to go for the day in no time at all.

The couple ran down the snow covered cobblestone path following the hazy red glow that lit up the snow that rested on top of the cobblestones. One gloved hand each held an apple that they munched en route for breakfast, while the other was firmly entwined with their partner's, their clasped gloved hands swinging between them as they power walked the last few feet to the gate.

The gate immediately swung open for the pair.

Immediately Charlie's hackles were up. The dragons were supposed to guard until they knew someone, sure Ashlynn had come straight through yesterday but that was with both Marius and Aila too and newcomers were supposed to register their wands at the gates until the dragons knew your scent and sight and sound. He spun at the sound of a chortle from his left and pointed his wand threateningly into the round face of Healer Haile.

"Calm down Mr Weasley" she admonished "The dragons already know the soul of the woman beside you."

"Why? How?" Charlie spluttered in confusion with his heart still beating wildly. "They go from smell and sight and sound not souls anyway."

"Mr Weasley, take a deep breath we don't want Healer Bird to have to deal with a cardiac arrest from you having a heart attack on her first day in post now do we?" Healer Haile chided with a sharply arched eyebrow that even Madam Pomfrey would be jealous of "The smell and sound thing is how they get to see your soul and match it to the person in front of them, but they don't need time to identify Healer Bird's soul. Show me your patronus you two."

The pair glanced at each other in confusion and surprise, neither one knew that the other could produce a corporeal patronus and were excited to find out the form each other's took. With a deep breath Charlie and Ashlynn each conjured a series of happy memories.

Ashlynn thought of running across the farm with her brothers as a child, of the first day she met Charlie and how she felt lying on his chest in Hogwarts' entrance hall, of her grandmother's lessons in basic healing, of the white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies that Charlie cooked her at the burrow, of holding Charlie's hand every week during prefect rounds, of Charlie holding her hand tight when they made love on New Year's morning eight years ago, of holding a blue haired newborn baby boy before laying him on his mother's chest for the first time, of snow angels and laughter, of sitting on her window seat listening to Tonks regale her with stories of how she'd pissed of Mad-Eye this week… a majestic female Romanian Longhorn burst from the tip of her wand and circled over their heads in flight.

Charlie's head filled with memories of playing with his sibling in the orchard behind the Burrow, of his first ever broomstick flight, of getting lost in the hazel eyes of the girl lying on top of him on the first day he met Ashlynn, of opening the gift she gave him for Christmas in first year, of playing with that gift between his fingers as he watched her mind and heart bloom over the next seven years, of throwing banter around with his older brother Bill, of the elation he felt at being named quidditch captain, of the scent of her sweet floral perfume on his jersey after every Gryffindor match in seventh year, of his first day on the reserve, of the first hatchling he had bonded with, of the way Ashlynn stared deep into his heart when she said 'I love you'...a male Romanian Longhorn, almost twice the size of Ashlynn's female dragon, soared up and the complementary patronuses started to dance together across the skies.

"You see," the Healer continued "the dragons don't need long to get to know her soul when it is the other half of yours."

The couple stood stock still in complete shock.

They were soul mates.