A Dragon's Tale

by Vaniwa

Hermione has been quite succesful in her career at the Ministry of Magic ever since the war had ended, and yet lately she has grown quite bored at work, in much need of a challenge. On Christmas Eve at the Burrow, she stumbles across Charlie, who just so happens to have such a challenge for her at the dragon reserve in Romania. If she accepts, how will their relationship evolve?

6. Uncovered past

Chapter 6: Uncovered past

A/N: I own nothing except my mistakes.

"Thanks for flying with me," Hermione said, stepping off her broom when a black-haired woman kept hoovering on her broom. It had been Sandra who had flown with her this morning, like she had done last night upon going to their cabins, for Charlie was still at the sanctuary after spending the night there.

"Of course! Are you settled for tonight?" Sandra asked her, a faint smile on her lips as she squinted her eyes a little. Sun was rising quickly this morning, and the rays bouncing off the snowy white which still covered the grounds made for a rather unpleasant twinkle to the eye.

"Yeah, I think I'll be all right," Hermione nodded, though didn't know if Charlie would be free this night to go with her. Then again, she had made sure to pay careful attention last night to the directions, and hoped she'd be able to start going on her own, so she would not be so depended on others all the time. She did really detest that.

"Marvellous! See you around then, Hermione," Sandra said, and waved after her as she soared away.

Hermione grabbed hold of her broom as she decided to walk to the hatchling's cages this time. It might have been an hour walk, but in all honesty, she was a little early. Sandra had to be at work earlier than Hermione, yet Hermione had wanted to go along for the ride, and so she had offered to go with. Besides, lately she'd been on a broom way more often than not, so she welcomed the lovely change of being on foot again, getting to soak in the sun as a cold breeze hit her face.

"Out for a stroll, eh?" Hermione heard from coming overhead, and shielding her eyes from the sun with a hand to her face, she looked up to see Charlie hovering above her, a grin on his face as his hair looked rather ruffled, perhaps from the all-nighter he had taken.

At this Charlie lowered himself, yawning in the process as he landed his feet to the ground. "Still scared to fly a broom?" He joked cockily, earning him a jab to his ribs from Hermione. "No," Hermione defended her honour, although it was partially true. "I just happened to like the early morning stroll."

Charlie laughed at her words. "Right, you keep telling yourself that."

Hermione stuck her tongue out at him. A rather childish thing to do, yet it felt entirely reasonable at the moment. Charlie raised his eyebrows in surprise, then lowered them as the booming of his laughter echoed through the sanctuary. "Morning attitude, I see," he said, then ruffled her hair like she was a sister of his.

Quickly straightening it back down, she gave him a glare, though it was only meant half-heartedly as she looked into his deep blue eyes, winning her over. "Don't you have work to do?" Hermione retorted, making Charlie's grin even wider as he slipped an arm around her waist, making her almost weak to her knees right then and there.

"Why yes, but I figured I'd greet my most jolly morning person over here," he grinned wickedly, licking his lips as he stared her in the eyes. Feeling a brush creep to her cheeks, she was glad he pulled her in a little further to his side, so that he would not be able to see it.

"Glad to be your ray of sunshine for the day," Hermione offered, recollecting her breath.

"Aren't you always?" Charlie winked, then followed it with one of his cocky grins as the left corner turned lopsided.

Hermione picked up her pace, hoping to escape the heat that was growing inside of her. "I wonder if the girl that was hospitalized – what was her name again?" "Janet," "Right, Janet, I wonder if she's back today," Hermione offered, ready for a change of subject.

At this Charlie's grin fell slightly as he furrowed his eyebrows in discomfort, his grip on her loosening. "Ye, part of the reason I came looking for you, actually. I figured I'd steal you for the day if she weren't here yet."

Having said those words, Hermione felt almost crestfallen when she did see the olive skinned girl in the distance, lounging against the cages, clearly waiting for her arrival. Upon nearing the girl, Charlie let his arm fall back to his side, his grin now completely gone and his face void of emotion.

"You must be the new one," Janet observed when they were within earshot, the brunette gazing at Charlie instead of Hermione, making Hermione feel almost as uncomfortable as Charlie seemed to be looking.

"Right, yes, Hermione," she said, offering the girl her hand, though the girl just waved it away with her hand, yet kept her body positioned against the fence. On her neck were still bandages, as well as peeking out from underneath her sleeve from the burning that had put her in the hospital two days ago.

Hermione let her hand fall back down, clearing her throat in awkwardness. "C'mon Jane, don't be like that," Charlie half-scolded, cocking her a challenging eyebrow. Janet just shrugged her shoulders, a lazy look on her face. "Not really up to you anymore, is it?" The girl challenge, raising an eyebrow herself.

Hermione heard a soft growl coming from the man beside her, though he kept himself composed. "Glad to see you're well," he managed to say instead, though it didn't exactly sound generous, and Hermione wondered what history those two had.

The brunette let out a humourless laugh as she shook her head, propping herself away from the cage. "No, you're not," she said, then finally glanced at Hermione, a cold expression on her face. "Well, let's get started then, shall we?"

Hermione did not feel the same enthusiasm about her work day as yesterday, but knew she had no other choice, and thus she nodded. Taking a step forward, she felt a tug on her arm as Charlie got a firm grip on it.

Looking over her shoulder, she watched Charlie not look at her, but instead at the brunette behind her, until his eyes finally landed on hers, darker than before. For a while he just looked at her, contemplating many things she did not know, but finally settled on a forced smile as he soothed his features. "Have fun, ye? I'll see you later on today," he offered, and Hermione accepted his offer with a warm smile on her face.

With that he let go of her as he got on his broom, one hard look at Janet before he took off.

"Jolly," Janet spoke sarcastically, then turned her back to Hermione as she entered the enclosure. "Well, c'mon then," the girl spoke lazily, urging her to follow.

Hermione, hating the feeling of this second-hand awkwardness, nibbled on her lips as she looked at the girl in front of her, still with her back turned to her.

"C'mon and spit it out already," the brunette said impatiently, finally turning around to look at Hermione, her arms crossed against her chest.

She had to try and not lift her eyebrows in an accusing manner, for she was starting to get rather annoyed at the impoliteness of the girl herself, so instead she took a deep inhalation as she plucked up her courage.

"You and Charlie..," Hermione tried to say, but luckily the girl could do more than just raise eyebrows as she helped Hermione out. "Did we date?" Janet filled in, and waited for Hermione to confirm if that is what she was trying to ask. "Oh yeah, we did, a little over a year ago now."

Hermione did not know why, but she felt a rather unsettling feeling in her chest upon hearing that information, and so she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "How long, um, did you two date for?"

Janet shot her a curious look, as if trying to assess her. "Almost a year," she said, then uncrossed her arms. "We were doing just fine, too," she went on, "at least that's what I thought. Until suddenly one morning I woke up, in his bed," Janet made a point of stretching those words, keeping a close eye on Hermione, as if trying to gauche her reaction, "and he told me that we weren't going to work out."

Swallowing, Hermione fumbled with her fingers against the side of her leg, trying to not show any emotion, for Janet was clearly testing her. Perhaps the woman felt a little threatened upon seeing them approach, in a side embrace.

"I'm sorry," Hermione said, though did not feel like she meant it. Janet, too, could spot the insincerity in her words as she simply rolled her eyes. "Right, save me your pity. Let's just get to work."

Hermione didn't feel as bright as she did on her morning stroll, yet gave the woman a half-hearted nod as an answer.

"We'll need to attend to their teeth today," Janet said, turning her back on Hermione again as she approached what Hermione recognized to be Marley. "Marley's best to show you on, so just come on over here and I'll show you."

Janet then pointed to the buckets and brushes near the entrance. "Oh, and grab those along, too, will you?"

If there's one thing that Hermione did quickly learn, it was that she much preferred Evelyn over Janet already, and not just because of the fact that she was bossing her about. In a way, it had to do with a certain male redhead in the equation, too.

Nonetheless, Hermione went to retrieve the supplies, and set them down at Janet's feet. "Okay, so what you do is you tap their noses like this," Hermione watched as the small dragon immediately opened his mouth slightly, "and as a reflex they'll open up and you can snap a small stone in the corner of their mouths like this, so that they'll keep it open."

"Don't worry, the stone won't hurt them," Janet followed, seeing the look on Hermione's face. "Then, you can take the metal brush," she said, showing her a small brush, no bigger than a child's toothbrush, with small metal spikes on it, "with which you can scrape their teeth one by one, so that all dirt, meat and bone rests can get off them."

Hermione, having parents as dentists, could not ever imagine allowing anyone to brush their teeth with metal. "Would that not damage their teeth?" Hermione inquired, though Janet looked at her a little bored, as if exhausted by the fact she would ask such a question. "Dragon's teeth are as hard a steel. No ordinary brush could clean them except for metal," the girl explained in a bit of a hurry, not taking a breath until she finally got all the words out.

Janet showed her a quick demonstration of how to handle the metal brush, and when Hermione had understood what to do, she moved onto the next item: a small metal thread, with the tip bending downwards as if it were a hook. "Now this," Janet said, adjusting the stone as it had shifted a little in the dragon's beak, "we use for nit-picking all that we couldn't remove with the metal brush."

"Oh, so like a toothpick," Hermione offered, though Janet looked at her weirdly. "A what?" The girl asked, a little dumbfounded. "Y'know, like what Muggles use for removing food from their teeth," Hermione explained, though the weird expression on the brunette's face did not waver.

For a moment there was an awkward silence, until at last Janet looked away, her eyes widening in disbelief, as she whistled a "Right" under her breath. "Anyway, you pick out the food, and then finish it off with a Gum Strengthening Lotion," at this she held up a small, green bottle, "and apply it to their gums, to make them stronger and thus the quality of their teeth better."

"Do you do this for the adult dragons too?" Hermione wondered, but Janet shook her head. "Just until they can fly and hunt, after that they learn how to do it themselves against the rocks and riverbeds. Once or twice a year we'll do a check-up with the adults, but usually they're all good. It's the hatchlings and the elderly that get attending to their teeth by us."

Hermione nodded in understanding as Janet removed the stone from Marley's beak, at last smiling to the small dragon, though it was quick to disappear as the brunette glanced at Hermione.

"There's a second spare of supplies in that bucket, so you can start on the Romanian Longhorns over there," Janet said, pointing to a group of dragons currently resting near the creak.

Glad to not be near Janet so much, she took the supplies from the bucket, and gingerly made her way over to the small dragons, not wanting to frighten them. The small dragons were still as grumpy as yesterday when she had fed them, though they seemed less worried about her presence now that they had made a small link to her and her giving food to them. It had all of a sudden made her a bit more likeable to the small creatures.

Hermione smiled to herself as one of them, missing a single toe already on its right foot, tried to breathe fire underwater, and was rather crestfallen as it removed its head from underwater, having a rather confused expression on its small snout.

Kneeling down, she propped herself on both knees into the grass – this grass wasn't touched by the winter outside yet, and the ground was cool and soft to the touch. Next to her she laid down her needed supplies in the order that was shown to her: metal brush, steel picker, lotion.

"All right, little fellows," Hermione spoke softly, the dragons twitching their ears as they moved her head to her, "who's first?"

None of them really seemed to volunteer, yet the clumsy guy who had been breathing fire underwater, hopped over to her by mistake, and thus made him her first victim. Grabbing a stone from the ground, she tapped the snout of the deep-green scaled dragon, with almost a bluish light shimmering through them, and watched in astonishment as it did indeed result in a reflex as it opened its beak.

Quickly Hermione recovered from her amazement as she slid the stone into the corner of its mouth before he could close it again.

Now that the fellow had no teeth to nibble at her with, she dared to softly let her fingers trace over the stubby scales, admiring its hardness as well as moist glands that covered it. It was most certainly a strange feeling, and never had she dared to imagine to ever get this close with a dragon before. Not counting her grand escape on one.

Knowing that the little fellow liked to wander off, Hermione reached for the metal brush, feeling the sturdiness of its stone handle resting in her hand. It made sense to not use wood as a handle, for it could easily be burnt. And so Hermione tipped her finger under its chin, lifting it slightly up, and upon doing so, she spotted a small name tag around its neck, collared like a dog.

Out of curiosity she was momentarily caught off guard as she read the name Riley, and by this distracted, she had not noticed little Riley having spit out its rock, and now slamming his jaws upon her hand.

Hermione growled at the pain, though wanted to keep her voice down, not wanting Janet to know how foolish she had been to lose sight of a dragon's movements. No matter how small they might still be, their jaws were well developed, and had felt like a steel bear trap had slapped down upon her hand.

Hissing through her teeth, she tried to pry open its beak with one hand, but it was futile.

Then, she thought of the obvious and tapped its snout again, a little harder this time, and it unhinged wide open, releasing her hand, and enabling her to put the stone back into it.

Ignoring the drops of blood, she quickly wiped her hand against her jeans, cursing at herself for forgetting to bring her dragon hide gloves, which might have offered her more protection. Nonetheless, she focused her attention back on the dragon at hand. "Okay Riley, let's try this again," she mumbled at it.

The little fellow looked at her curiously through slitted eyes, though narrowed them as the metal brush made contact with his teeth, clearly not fond of the feel of it as much as Marley had been. "Must be nasty, right?" Hermione mumbled to the dragon, not quite sure why she was bothering to speak to it in the first place.

On she kept brushing his teeth, having to carefully manoeuvre her hand inside as she needed to reach the far back and the insides of it. Not to mention the restlessness that Riley had, making him whip his head from side to side, as if trying to shake her off.

Hermione, however, wasn't having any of that, and though she kept on fighting, it must have taken her almost an hour or so, to finally be done with her very first dragon. To think that she would still have seven to go.

Luckily for her not all dragons had been as difficult as Riley, though some did have a temper as she was bitten yet again, this time in her finger, though it had been more than a nibble than an actual bite, thank heavens.

By the time all hatchlings had been taken care of, her workday had already ended, and she had actually made some overtime, as Janet had to leave in between to assist Evelyn with helping calm down some breeders and Hermione now had to do those dragons as well.

"Clean as a whistle," Hermione exhaled tiredly, using the back of her hand – which hadn't been nibbled on too much yet – to wipe the sweat off her face, as well as some hair out of her eyes. Halfway through she had thought it a good idea to put it into a ponytail, yet it had come slipping out many times.

A chuckle was heard behind her, a low rumbling sound, making her twirl around on her spot. "I see you start to talk to them, too," Charlie observed, a gentle smile resting on his face as he leaned his body over the fence. He too, looked worse for wear, making Hermione feel less awful to have him see her like this.

Grinning, she shrugged. "Comes naturally, really."

Charlie laughed as he nodded. "Tell me all about it," he agreed, then pushed open the gate as he came to join her inside. "D'you need help cleaning all this?" He asked, looking at several supplies scattered about the floor.

"Oh, that's all right, I've got it," Hermione dismissed, but Charlie did not listen as he already bent down to pick some things up, letting it fall into a bucket. "Where's Janet, anyway?" Charlie asked her, his voice a little strained at the words, though he tried to not let her notice as he offered her a half-hearted smile.

Hermione, having learned the truth about those two, couldn't help but feel a little awkward and distant as she averted her eyes. "Oh, um, she needed to help out Evelyn. Breeders have been quite wild," she spoke, her voice cracking slightly, though she managed to recover quickly.

When he remained silent, Hermione finally dared to lift her eyes after having picked up the last supply, and found that he stood staring at her, bucket in his hand as he let his eyes travel over her face, a curious wrinkle to his eyes.

"Actually," Hermione started as she cleared her throat, hoping that he would break that intense stare, "I was wondering how you know when your presence is required here at the sanctuary. Y'know, considering the dragons have been rather restless, and the sanctuary is so far away from the cabins."

Thank Merlin he broke his gaze, as his features softened and a coy smile tugged on his lips. "Fair question," he noted, then took the supplies she had been holding out of her hands, his fingers gently scraping against hers, and let them fall into his bucket, opening the cage door and waited for her to move out first, "how about we fly home together, and I'll show you?"

Hermione did not know what to get in mind when he said 'show', but she doubted it could be anything bad, and so she agreed to his offer.

On their brooms they ascended, and made a short pit stop at the cleaning station, where he dropped off the bucket, and then they headed back to the village. "You've improved already," Charlie noted, admiring her as he watched her move with a bit more ease through the skies.

"Have I?" Hermione asked, crinkling her nose. "Doesn't really feel like it."

Charlie offered her a warm smile. "Baby steps, Hermione, but they're there."

With that compliment she let a smile creep on her lips as she held on to her broom a little tighter, not wanting to make a fool out of herself now that she had been complimented on it.

"D'you fancy to grab a bite for at the cabin?" Charlie asked, and almost if on command her stomach began to rumble. "Oh yes, would love that," Hermione accepted, and thus they lowered themselves down when reaching the village, stopping at a pub.

"Anything you like?" Charlie asked her, then peered through the pub's door, his eyebrows slightly furrowing.

"No, anything will be good," Hermione said nonchalantly, never having been a picky eater.

"All right, let me just get in here and grab a bite or two. It's quite crowded," Charlie said, and when Hermione had nodded her approval, he disappeared inside.

Rubbing her hands together, she blew into them as she stared about the streets, admiring the soft glow the lanterns offered as the sky began to turn a deepish blue, resembling the depths of the ocean. It made for a cosy evening, for packets of snow were still firmly scattered about the ground.

After a few minutes Charlie came out, his hands tightly wrapped around a carbon box before he levitated it, so he would be handsfree on his broom. Hermione felt rather stupid for not thinking about doing so yesterday, when she had been struggling to carry all her cleaning supplies to the cleaning station.

On their brooms they got, silently flying, for the wind was picking up and disabled them from properly hearing one another. At last they arrived at her cabin, and wiping her boots clean against the stone wall, she took them off and placed them around the corner, shuddering as her feet hit the cold floor.

The cabins were rather shabby, and thus the walls creaked and let through rushes of cold air. Hermione lit the fireplace quickly with a tap of her wand, and though it helped a little, it was still rather chilly all throughout.

Charlie followed after her, also taking off his boots, placing them next to hers, then let the carbon box fall down softly onto the kitchen counters.

"Look," he said, grabbing her attention as he moved to the right side of the room, coming to a halt in front of a grandfather clock, standing tall and slender next to the kitchen counters, an ornament in the room that Hermione had miraculously not noticed until now. Perhaps it was because the only times she was here, was when she passed through from night till morning, not really having had a proper sit-down in this room yet.

Moving closer to take a better look at it, she noticed something quite familiar to it. "Hang on, that's the same principle as at your Mum's house, isn't it?" Hermione noted, somewhat in awe as she looked at the display of the clock. This was no ordinary clock, she quickly noted. On it, it displayed ten parts, much like the clock at the Weasley's had, accommodated with ten silver fingers, though at the very moment, all of them pointed to the part 'stable'.

"Brilliant, isn't it?" Charlie breathed, and Hermione had to try and not jump out of her skin at his sudden speech, having nearly forgotten he was there with her. Closer he came to her, as he let his chest rest easily against her back, and Hermione had trouble speaking as she felt her breath hitch into her throat. "It's really clever, yes."

Behind her she heard a soft exhalation, much like that of a grin. "An idea of mine, actually. It's really easy, see?" He went on, then let his head move closer to hers as his arms grazed hers, pointing his finger to each part of the clock. In total it all read: stable, infirmary, elderly, wounded, breeders, hatchlings, enclosure one, enclosure two, mountains, emergency.

On the enclosure one and two he let his finger linger, "Enclose one entail the Romanian Longhorns, Swedish Short-Snouts, Common Welsh Greens and Chinese Fireballs," Charlie explained, his voice soft as his breath tingled her ears. "Enclose two entail the Hungarian Horntails, Norwegian Ridgebacks and Ukrainian Ironbellies."

Hermione had to close her eyes for a moment, feeling herself lean into his chest more as she tried to relax her body, hearing the low, hoarse voice of the man behind her, sending heat to between her legs, having her bite her lips to not break out moaning right there on the spot.

Perhaps it had been better if she had banged a random wizard right before her departure to here.

"What about this one?" Hermione asked, cringing a little as she heard the sultry sound to her voice, as she let her finger rest on the emergency part, close to his.

Charlie slightly adjusted himself on the spot, and by doing so she could feel the lower half of his body now press against her, pushing lightly against her bum – for he had not been that much taller than she was, considering he was one of the shorter Weasleys – and she heard the sharp inhalation of breath she took, almost echoing through the room.

"It can mean the worst of things, really. An escape, or the place burning down." Charlie explained, his voice now rich and hoarser as he let his lips lightly brush against the tip of her ear. "You see," he breathed, "with every move these silver fingers make, you'll hear a 'ding', loud enough for you to hear in your sleep. Yet, with the emergency, it'll let out a loud screeching noise, that will not stop until the problem has been solved."

All Hermione could do was nod, as she did not trust her voice for a single moment. Charlie, too, seemed to be recollecting himself as he remained quiet, lingering tightly against her, before finally taking a step back, allowing Hermione to release a breath that she did not even know she had been holding.

"Let's not get our dinner cold," he said, though his voice sounded dark, almost lustful, and though Hermione was worried her cheeks had flustered all kinds of red, she did still dare to turn around, noticing the darkness in his eyes, almost dangerous looking as he peered at her through his lashes, biting the bottom half of his lip as she stared at hers.

It was as if she were a prey in the predators gaze, rooted to her spot, unable to move in fear of being grabbed. Except in her case, it was not so much fear that kept her rooted to her spot, her feet firmly planted on the ground, but instead the thrilling rush of longing to wrap her arms around that tight body of his, her fingers trailing themselves through his red locks, and to capture those moist lips, invitingly staring at her as if all they wanted was to be caught by her.

"Yeah," Hermione breathed softly, so soft she feared he did not hear her. "Best to get to it," Hermione said, but then felt the wetness between her legs when she tried to take single step, and worried that if she did not release herself of that feeling now, that she would jump him right then and there.

"Actually," Hermione said, her eyebrows furrowing together almost painfully as she watched him move silently to the carbon box, ready to carry it over to the couch where the warm fireplace began to heat the cabin, "I'll, um, just hop to the bathroom for a minute. You can get started," she offered, rustling a hand through her hair.

Charlie looked at her intensely, his eyes trailing excruciatingly slow from her eyes all the way down to her legs, but at last he nodded, unable to say a word.

With his approval she quickly dove into the bathroom, locking the door behind her as she rested her back to the door, cursing silently under her breath for allowing this man that she did not know too well yet, to do such things to her.

Now, as much as Hermione would like some release, she did not find it appropriate to do so with Charlie right around the corner, and so she would save that for later tonight. Instead she pulled down her jeans, rid herself of her knickers and quickly went to pee, wiping herself nice and clean before putting on her jeans again, grimacing slightly at the feel of wearing them without any knickers on. She definitely wasn't fond of that feeling.

Washing her hands, she quickly splattered her face to try and sober her up, and wiped both dry before opening the door again, watching as Charlie had made himself comfortable on the couch, a plate on his lap as well as a drink in his hand, having filled another plate and glass for her, waiting by his side.

Clearing her throat softly, Hermione moved over to him, grabbing for her plate and glass, and noting how Charlie would not in any circumstance move that plate from his lap, even when shifting a little in his seat to make some more room for her, since the couch was not very big.

Silently they ate, yet Hermione could not help but wonder if Charlie felt as hot and bothered as she was feeling, and on top of that, if it confused him as much as it did her. Why exactly was Charlie able to have such an effect on her? She could not recall the last time a man had ever made her feel this way, except perhaps for the very first kiss she had ever shared with Viktor Krum when she had been sixteen years old.

"I hope Janet didn't give you too much trouble today," Charlie finally spoke, his voice sounding much clearer and less heavy than it had before.

Hermione was about to take the final bite from her mashed potatoes, but the spoon remained hovering in the air as she slowly looked up from her plate. Finally he had put his plate down, and was now sat a little bit more comfortably on the couch.

"She is most certainly something," Hermione could not help but blurt out and Charlie laughed heartily at her honesty.

Yet, Hermione could not join his laughter as she recalled the conversation she had with Janet this morning. "She, um, told me about you and her," Hermione spoke tentatively, not sure if she was in the position to even discuss such personal manners with him. She did not even know why she brought it up. Why would she care? And yet, part of her wanted to hear from her that he no longer felt that way about her. That he had no romantic interest in Janet whatsoever.

"She told you about that, eh?" Charlie scoffed, bringing a hand to his hair as he pushed some fallen locks back into the bun he carried. Nodding, Hermione took her last bite, putting the plate on the ground beside her. Propping both feet on the couch, she let her back lean into the side of it, so she could fully look at Charlie.

Groaning, he stared off into the distance, until finally landing his eyes on her. "Yeah, we did date for a while," then as if on an afterthought he added, "probably longer than we should have."

He shrugged, scratching the stubble on his chin as he tried to keep eye contact with her. He seemed rather uncomfortable, yet still eager to see how she would react. "Things were fun with her," he admitted honestly, holding his breath as he looked at her carefully. When she did not react, he went on. "At least for a while. But the longer we were together, the more possessed she got of me. To the point I could not even owl my own mother," at this he grinned slightly, shaking his head as if still in disbelief.

Hermione grinned, too, albeit lop-sided. Of course she could not be jealous of him having dated some other girl – why would she be, anyway? – after all, she had had a pretty serious relationship with Viktor Krum for years herself.

"And after a few months in, I had wanted to break things off, but things got worse and worse at the sanctuary, and we were both under a lot of stress, so I felt rather burdened to do so right then and there." Charlie admitted openly, and Hermione wondered if in a way he was trying to justify his own actions.

"Wrong of me to do, of course. I should have just done it then," he admitted, "but no matter. One morning I woke up, saw her next to me, wondered to myself why I even allowed things to go on for as long as they had," he then broke his gaze with her as he furrowed his brows, "I mean, the girl and I had not had sex in months, and yet I let her sleep next to me almost every night as if I enjoyed the misery of it."

For some reason unknown to her, she felt a weight lift off her chest to hear that the last time Charlie had sex with Janet had been more than a year ago. It had made her wonder if perhaps he had strayed from it all together ever since.

"And so as soon as she opened her eyes, I told her how it was, and that was it." Charlie finished a little lamely.

Hermione brought the drink to her lips, warming at the herbal scents entering her nose. He had made a cup of tea for her when she had went to the toilet. Charlie, however, looked at her expectantly, as if wanting her to reply to what he had so openly shared with her.

Smiling softly, she shrugged as she took a long gulp of her tea. "It can be difficult to break things off when you know it will badly affect the other one," she spoke earnestly, lowering her gaze momentarily as she thought back to how she had been putting off breaking up with Krum herself, "but what matters is that you do. And I think it's a good thing you did. No point in staying in something that would eventually only worsen the both of you."

When Hermione looked up again she found him staring at her, a wide smile on his face. "I'm glad you're here, Hermione," Charlie said, unbothered and confident, making Hermione have her cheeks flustered.

"You're just saying that because I can offer you wise words," Hermione countered, trying to not feel flattered. Charlie let his head fall back as he let out a booming laugh. Slowly he came back to look at her, his chest still rapidly rising and falling as he shook his head at her, a wide grin on his face. "That, and because of your flustered cheeks, of course." He teased her, making her even redder to the face, snorting into her tea as he laughed even louder, obviously enjoying to put her in a place of misery. Oh, how she'd make him pay.