Disclaimer: JK owns HP
1989
Chapter 38
When Hermione finally made it upstairs, it was with the discovery that her bed was not as empty as she expected. All she wanted to do was crawl under the covers and pass out before she could dwell on her loneliness any longer, but as she pulled the curtains of her four poster open she noticed a particular blonde girl in her way. She had obviously fallen asleep there waiting for her.
Her fellow Gryffindor stirred, before yawning; sitting up, and rubbing her eyes. "Did he just leave?"
Knowing that the dam would break if she opened her mouth, Hermione bit her trembling bottom lip; only nodding in response.
Laura opened her arms and held them out to her, sending an apologetic look her way. "I figured you'd be a wreck when you finally made it back. Come here."
Having someone there who cared about her made her feel both better, and worse about the situation at the same time. Before she could stop herself, she had fallen into her friend's arms, and was sobbing into the other girl's chest.
And while she didn't exactly know the severity of the situation, Laura wrapped her arms around Hermione and began to pat her on the back with a soothing rhythm all the same. Eventually, she helped her get settled in the bed in order to spoon her from behind, letting her fingers stroke through her unruly hair.
"It's going to be alright Jean." Laura whispered as she finally fell asleep. "It will all work out in the end. I'm sure of it."
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When his head finally stopped spinning from the rough landing, Charlie looked up in awe of his surroundings. The landscape was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. He was at the base of the Bucegi Mountains that housed the dragon reserve, which was covered in a mixture of green and rocky inclines. It was a sight one could definitely get used to, and he immediately thought of how much he wanted to share this view with Hermione one day.
His chest ached at the thought of her, and he knew it wouldn't be for the last time. He knew he had made the right decision, but that didn't exactly stop his heart from breaking in the process either. Luckily, he didn't have much time to dwell on it though, before one of the senior dragonologists had found him, and guided him over to the rest of the group.
Ever since he found out he was going to be moving to Romania for his dream job, he'd begun studying the language from a book in the library. It turned out however, that being able to read and write in a new language did not exactly mean he'd be able to understand someone speaking it in their normal tongue. Especially when everyone around him was speaking it fast, and fluently.
The trainer in front of him began talking animatedly again, but he only understood a few words of it.
Charlie paused for a second, wanting to panic, but not wanting to look completely incompetent either. "Um, numele mue esta Charlie Weasley." He replied, hoping that all they needed for now was his name.
The trainer laughed at him, before patting him on the shoulder and pointing toward a set of cabins to the left of them. He had a feeling his work was going to be cut out for him in more ways than one from here on out.
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It took him a while to finally understand, but eventually he'd deciphered enough words and hand gestures to realize that he was going to be sharing a cabin with the rest of the trainees for the first few weeks. There were eight bunks that made room enough for the sixteen of them, and a shared bathroom that reminded him of the ones in the dorms in Gryffindor tower. Once his training had been completed, and they were sure he planned on sticking around, he'd be assigned his own individual cabin after that.
After he'd been directed to his specific bunk, Charlie tossed his bag onto the bottom mattress; noticing someone had already claimed the top. He'd brought only what he needed with him from Hogwarts, as his spell books, and cauldron would have taken up too much room. Luckily, Devon had agreed to load up his large trunk for him, and Percy would make sure it got off the Hogwarts Express and into his bedroom back home.
Just as he sat down and started drumming his fingers against the bed frame, a slightly pudgy and dark haired guy in a Madrid Wolves quidditch jersey approached him. He extended his arm with his hand out as if to be shaken.
"Estevan." The Spaniard said. "You the English hombre?"
It took Charlie a second to realize that he was speaking a mixture of English and Spanish at the same time. And luckily it was one of the few words he understood from his lack of knowledge on that particular language.
"Uh, yeah." He replied, as she shook his hand. "Charlie."
Estevan chuckled as he rested his shoulder against the top bunk. "It's bueno for you that we were paired. I know five languages."
A wave of relief passed through him at that information. He'd have at least one person to converse with and help him out, even if he did get mixed up on a few words here and there.
"That's a relief. I tried to study Romanian of course, but I hadn't exactly had any real world experience with it yet." He tried to explain himself. "You said we've been partnered together?"
"Correcto." He confirmed, as he continued to mix the two languages together. "We the only two non Romanians, so imagino que the logico choice por them."
"Makes sense to me." Charlie replied, before pointing to Estevan's shirt. "You like quidditch, then?"
Estevan looked down to verify what shirt he was wearing before his mouth split into a large smile. "Definitivamente! Madrid Wolves por vida!"
Charlie wasn't one hundred percent sure what words had been spoken, but he understood him perfectly. "I'm a Kenmare Kestrals man myself, but I heard the Wolves absolutely obliterate the Chudley Cannons last month on the wireless."
As the two began to talk about their favorite sport even through the small language gap, Charlie could already tell that it was just the beginning of what was sure to be a great friendship.
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Hermione was trying to relax on one of the squashy armchairs in the corner of the common room, but as usual it was an impossible task. All of her attempts to keep her mind busy with either baked goods, or a copy of one of her old favorite books were not working whatsoever.
It had occurred to her once she'd finally woken up late that morning that her and Charlie had never really discussed where they planned on living once she made it back. Surely he wouldn't want to be separated again after her return. Would he expect her to move to Romania? Or would he be happy to move home after being away for so long. It was a conversation they definitely should have talked through, but with all of the important tasks regarding the amulets there just hadn't been time.
Luckily, a much needed distraction finally presented itself to her in the form of Fred and George Weasley. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of them, reminding her not only of Charlie, but of their whole family in general, who she was now more eager to get back to than ever.
"So?" Fred spoke up first as usual. "How long do you think it's going to take for a howler to get from Ottery St. Catchpole, all the way to Romania?"
"Seriously." George took over. "Because quite frankly, our mum is going to be awfully pissed when she learns that Charlie didn't stay to finish his N.E.W.T.S."
"No doubt, Georgie, no doubt." Fred commented. "But perhaps it will be to our benefit. It might even get her off our ornery arses for the summer."
"Yeah Freddie! Good thinking." George chimed in again, feeding off each other as normal. "She'll be so distracted in her anger over him leaving, that she won't have the near enough energy to keep her eye on us all the time."
"And even if she does catch us, anything we do won't seem near as bad in comparison now will it?"
"Nah, we'll practically look like angels won't we?"
The twins continued to discuss their upcoming summer shenanigans directly in front of her, causing Hermione to shake her head slowly back and forth at the pair of them.
"Boys." She was finally able to get a word in edgewise. "I highly doubt that you'll be able to get anything more past her than normal."
The sounds of their mutual groaning finally cheered her up enough for her lips to form into a small smile.
"So did you finally tell Charlie your real name?" George asked, getting to the subject of what they must actually have wanted to discuss.
Hermione double checked that no one was listening in before nodding. "Yeah. He's known for a while. I ended up telling him the same day I gave you the secrets to the map actually."
"Oh." They both commented at the same time.
"So that's not why he left so early then?" Fred asked.
"No." She shook her head solemnly. "He just really needed to follow his dreams of working with dragons."
"Ouch." Fred responded with a grimace. "Well, I can't say I'm sorry it didn't work out between you."
"Yeah, you were much too good for him to be honest."
"Seriously." They added together at the same time.
"Plus." Fred leaned in with a grin that was much too flirty for comfort. "Now that means he isn't in our way anymore."
"Oh yeah!" George grinned too. "Just the brothers she really wanted anyway."
And just like that, no matter the timeline, the two boys currently keeping her company always seemed to know just how to cheer her up. Though in a few days, they wouldn't remember this conversation at all, or that Charlie had a girlfriend this year to begin with.
But then again, in a few years, they'd learn that he actually did.
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He knew he wasn't supposed to yet, but his fingers were absolutely itching to rip that damn blue envelope open. He'd been thinking about it all day, wondering what lay beyond the seal, and somehow it had ended up in his hands just after dinner in the cafeteria.
"I'm bored." Estevan hopped down from above him, and onto the floor beside their bunk. "Want to go check out that tavern in Busteni?"
Charlie sighed, and sat up, tucking the envelope under his pillow. "I hate to be a bummer on the first day, but I'm actually exhausted. You can go without me though, or we can try tomorrow instead?"
"Eh, I'll wait." Estevan crossed his arms over his chest. He smirked and raised an eyebrow at him with a knowing look; reminding him far too much of Devon and Bill. "So you had a novia back in Scotland?"
He figured novia meant girlfriend, so he nodded to confirm that he did. "It's why I'm too tired to go out. I was up all night saying goodbye."
"Properly, I assume." Estevan grinned widely at him. "Charlie, my hombre, we are going to get along just fine."
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So far his first day on the job had been full of shit. Literal shit.
The first thing they learned at the start of the day were the proper transportation and cleaning charms for the mess left in the pens. There hadn't even been any dragons in them either, just their excrement. Apparently most of the beasts lived in caves up the mountain, and usually came out around dusk to hunt for livestock. The pens were mainly for the injured and nesting dragons, or any incoming ones that needed a checkup or tracking spells placed.
Once they'd been given a rundown of what a dragon tamer's day looked like, and moved around some shit, they were lined up outside and instructed to practice a series of defensive, and protection spells. The reserve was much more reliant on spells and charms than he'd originally thought, but he figured that whatever they were teaching had to be important for working in such close proximity to dragons.
After lunch it was back to wandwork, but this time so they could practice their stunning spells in tandem. The instructors admitted that they didn't like to stun the dragons if they didn't have to, but sometimes there just wasn't any other option. Most of the rest of the day was taken up by more spell practice, and checking on the herds of cows, goat, and sheep that the dragons would later come out to feast upon. It was honestly a bit boring, but he knew that it was all a necessary part of the job, and he'd have to prove himself capable before he got to work directly with the fire breathing beasts.
Finally, just as it was starting to get dark, the two Romanian wizards in charge of the training program took them halfway up the shortest hilltop, where Charlie finally had his first look at a real life dragon. It was dark green with two large golden horns sticking straight up out of it's head; a Romanian Longhorn, but he didn't have to speak the local language to realize that.
Though they were a good fifty paces away as it emerged from it's cave, Charlie couldn't help but stare in awe as it stomped around and stretched its wings; extending its neck upward to blow a long stream of flames toward the sky. This was the exact moment he'd been fantasizing about since the age of four.
The group of trainees followed the experienced tamers along the treeline to watch the dragon hunt, and it was soon joined by several more dragons of varying species. The hollow pit that seemed stuck in his chest the past few days bloomed with excitement. He was here in Romania, at the largest dragon sanctuary in Europe, getting the opportunity to become a licensed dragonologist. It may have only been two days since he'd left Hermione at Hogwarts, and he already missed her more than he could bear, but at the same time, he now knew for certain that this is where he belonged.
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A/N: So I have had Estevan's character planned for about two years now. I needed a fun partner for Charlie, and he is based off a guy I worked fast food with in high school, who always made me laugh. I hope you like him.
Also, for any of my Spanish speaking readers, please let me know if I messed up on any of his dialogue. I would of course like to fix anything that I might have mistranslated.