January 4th 2006 PT1

"Right, you need to listen to me very carefully before we see the dragons, ok?" Charlie said from his crouched position in front of Arty and Hermione smiled as she watched the interaction, seeing Arty nod, "they don't like loud noises, they can get scared and that isn't good."

"Why isn't it good, daddy?" Their son asked innocently and Charlie chuckled.

"Because dragons breath fire, buddy, and Dragon fire is very painful and does a lot of damage," he said, pulling his sleeve up and showing Arty is scarred arm, "I got this from Dragon fire and I don't want you to get burned, so can you be really quiet?"

"Yes!" He shouted and Hermione rolled her eyes with a grin before crouching next to Charlie.

"You want to go and see the dragons more than once, right my little love?" She asked and Arty frowned and nodded, "then you have to use your quiet voice, ok?"

"Ok mummy." He said calmly and when Charlie shot a glare at her, she laughed and shrugged.

"You need to be very good for daddy, and do everything he says. If you're naughty he will bring you straight home, understood?"

"Yes mummy." Arty nodded and she gave him a big hug, watching as he stepped into the floo to wait for Charlie, who now stood in front of her.

"Please be careful," she pleaded, "he's going to go absolutely nuts when he sees the dragons and I know he'll want to scream and shout an-"

"Hermione!" Charlie exclaimed, chuckling as he put his fingers to her lips, "he will be fine. I will bring him back at lunch time, ok?"

"Ok." She breathed, lifting herself up to kiss him, "You better be fine too, Charlie Weasley."

He nodded, smiling, and waved as he stepped into the floo and Hermione continued with what she had been doing before they had wanted to say goodbye. She was applying for jobs, having grown bored of her menial paperwork at the ministry and wanting a new challenge. She had expected to be making a difference, working with creatures who needed her, but even part time work which she had been doing since Arty had been born bored her to tears, so it was time for a change. Picking up the Prophet, she flicked through to the employment pages and found an exciting advert for a manager at a new branch of Flourish and Blotts opening in Hogsmeade. Instead of sending an owl, she decided that it might make a better impression if she went to speak in person to the manager and quickly dressed herself in a business appropriate dress, tamed her hair and stepped into the floo.

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Charlie watched as Arty, who had a volume reducing charm set on him after one too many close calls, wandered around the reserve peeking into all of the massive enclosures with wide eyes. It had been four months since he first met the little boy and Charlie couldn't imagine life without him. In truth, he loved being a dad, even though he had never expected to. When he was younger, he had never wanted a family of his own, thinking that his life with dragons would be enough, but as he had gotten older… Well, Arty just proved that the best things in life aren't always what you would have expected.

As he trailed after his son, his mind wandered to the little boys mum, Hermione. She had proven to be everything and more than he'd imagined her to be all those years ago when his regrets had begun. Not only had she brought up this incredible child on her own, but she had held down a career and helped to keep his family so wondrously happy, all the while thinking that he wanted nothing to do with her. He was, in fact, in awe of her and he truly was now in love with her.

The thought that he had this little family, a son with the woman he loved, brought a smile to his face whenever it entered his mind. He had, when he had first gone back to Romania 6 and a half years ago, deeply regretted saying that they shouldn't see each other in a romantic sense again. Even though it hadn't been planned, he had never experienced anything like the joy and passion he felt with her, and in truth he had slept with more than his fair share of women. Only one had been in his bed since the night he had shared with Hermione, immediately after his return to Romania, in the vague hope that perhaps it had been the sex and not the girl he had missed, but that theory had promptly been thrown out as soon as he felt the crushing guilt of being with someone other than her.

"Daddy?" Arty asked, slipping his hand into Charlie's and distracting him from his thoughts, "why are people running?"

Charlie looked up and to his horror, people were running past them in the opposite direction to where they had been heading. Looking up, he saw flames coming from one of the enclosures and swore, picking Arty up and turning to run with the crowd. As he ran, he chanced a look behind him and saw that one of the new keepers appeared to have left down the safety wards after feeding Norberta, the Norwegian Ridgeback. Cursing the idiot who would soon lose his job, he threw himself forward and into the closest building.

"Daddy?" Arty cried, "daddy what's happening?"

"There's a dragon that's got loose, that's all buddy," Charlie soothed, "do you think you can be a big brave boy and stay here for daddy?"

"Don't leave daddy!" Arty screamed, "Dragon fire hurts, remember!"

"I know, but this is daddy's job, Arty," he groaned, thankful when the door flung open and one of the girls that worked in the hatchery ran in, "Arnette, can you watch my son? I need to get out there."

"Of course, sir." She answered and Charlie passed his son to her and kissed him hard on the forehead, telling him he loved him and promising to be back before sprinting away and ignoring the heartbreak he felt as he heard Arty cry for him.