Spiritus aduro
Author's Note: Many thanks to Arabella for the beta – it was very much appreciated. Many apologies for the long wait for this – in my defence, I have been busy going on holidays and applying to universities in the last couple of months. Hopefully Part XV might be finished before Christmas. Many thanks to all reviewers, and on with the story.
Part XIV
The house was dark when Charlie arrived home, not that it surprised him. Merri and Jon were still at the ball, and as for Ria…well, Charlie didn't want to think about where Ria was or what she was doing.
"Lumos!" The candles in the hallway flared to life, casting flickering shadows. Charlie made straight for his bedroom, anxious to get out of his dress robes and into something more comfortable.
Back in everyday wear, he entered the sitting room. Ezara, who had been dozing by the fire, stirred when he entered. She trotted over to him, eager for attention. In spite of himself, Charlie smiled. Since Merri had adopted her, Ezara had lost all of her typical unicorn traits, most noticeably her fear of men. She was just as much a part of the family as Ria's owl, Phoebus, possibly more so.
"Hey, Ezzie," he said, rubbing the creature's head affectionately. "Merri'll be back soon…she and Jon are just dancing." Ezara nuzzled his fingers. "Hungry?" Ezara whinnied. "I'll see if I can find you an apple. And don't even think about telling Merri, okay?" Feeling slightly better, Charlie made for the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl. Settling himself into the armchair once more, he offered the young unicorn his quarry.
"Flamare." He pointed his wand at the fire, causing it to spark into action. He gazed at it, feeling sorry for himself, whilst Ezara chomped on the apple by his feet.
* * * *
"Charlie?" Merri's voice disturbed him.
"You're back then," he said, his period of solitude leaving him unwilling to entertain company, even if the company was Merri.
"Well, actually, this is a manifestation of Merri," she said, grinning. "Stating the obvious, aren't you?" She lowered herself into a chair. "My, I'm tired. Jon's dancing is enough to wear even the best woman out." Merri sounded far too cheery in Charlie's reckoning. He was pretty certain that she was being deliberately upbeat in an attempt to bring him out of the doldrums.
"Why don't you go to bed, then?" he suggested, unwilling to succumb.
"I wouldn't be able to sleep," Merri said, still with that annoyingly cheerful smile. "Too keyed up. I don't suppose you fancy a game of cards, or something?"
"If by 'something' you mean a whisky, I wouldn't say no," Charlie said, flatly.
"Someone's miserable this evening," Merri said, raising an eyebrow. "I'll get you a whisky, but only if you give me a game of Bloody Mary."
"Bloody Mary doesn't work with two players," Charlie pointed out. "We're limited to Exploding Snap or Chess, I think."
"Out of respect for Ester's children, I think we have to rule Exploding Snap out," Merri told him, comfortably. "My chess is pretty appalling, but why not? Ritual humiliation is my speciality." Winking at him, she disappeared off into the kitchen, presumably to locate his whisky.
When Merri reappeared, bearing a tumbler of neat whisky, Charlie was busy setting up the chessboard, an archaic looking piece of equipment if ever there was one. It was a Weasley hand-me-down, and he rarely had the opportunity to use it. Ria had never been into strategy games, and Merri was hardly ever at home to play with.
"That thing looks like it's about as old as chess itself!" Merri exclaimed as she settled herself opposite him.
"Do you have any chessmen?" Charlie asked, wondering if her remark was a subtle jibe or not.
"Lawks, no!" Merri looked highly amused. "Like I said, I'm awful at chess. I mean, I know the rudiments, but I'll never be a chess master. For years I thought that rooks moved sideways!"
"Merri, rooks do move sideways."
"My point exactly."
Charlie rolled his eyes. He'd been playing chess for as long as he could remember. The Weasley family were renowned for their skill at the game. His grandfather had been one of the masters in his day, and Charlie could vividly remember Sunday visits to his grandparents. His mother would starch their Sunday best on Saturday evening, and then on Sunday mornings they were all required to stand for inspection. Once she was satisfied that they had all washed behind their ears, the whole family would Floo to Sett Cottage, generally arriving just in time for Sunday Roast around the huge family table. After dinner, Grandpa Weasley would take them into the Drawing Room, and then he'd play chess with them. None of them were too young. Ron was just two when their grandfather had first sat him down at a chessboard. By the time he was five, it was clear that Ron was the player of the family. He was the only person who could beat Grandpa Weasley on a regular basis. When the old man had died, he had left his chess set to his youngest grandson, with the stipulation that the family were to ensure that Ron developed his already honed sense of strategy. To Charlie's knowledge, Ron had never lost a game with those pieces.
Merri was better at the game than she professed to be, but even so, it only took Charlie half an hour to put her King into Checkmate.
"I told you I wasn't that great," she said, laughing, before glancing at the clock on the mantelpiece. "And now, we should get to bed."
"Ria's not in yet," Charlie said, allowing worry and irritation to seep into his tone.
"She will be," Merri said, knowingly, touching his hand gently.
"We hope." Charlie's tone was dark.
"Charlie, you aren't Ria's keeper. If she doesn't come home, that's her problem. She's a big girl."
"She's vulnerable, Merri, and you know Smith's reputation."
"Sure. But Ria's not stupid. Jacques or no, she won't do anything to regret." Merri softened. "Go to bed, Charlie. Your head will be clearer after a good night's sleep. If there's one thing Ri doesn't need right now, it's you doing the protective act."
"If I don't look out for her, who will?" Charlie demanded. "Sure, she's twenty-one, an adult, and experienced, but sometimes I wonder if she has any idea about life at all. In many ways, for all her toughness, Ria is just a little girl."
"Perhaps," Merri nodded, her eyes showing sympathy. "But she won't appreciate it if you interfere. And you'll regret it if you don't think before you act."
* * * *
When Charlie woke, his first thought was Ria. He sincerely hoped that she'd made it home last night. Given her lack of faith in the world, it wouldn't take much to push her beyond the brink. He'd had dealings with an angry Ria before. When infuriated, the illustrious Miss Rutherford was inclined to do things that she usually wouldn't dream of even contemplating. Her sense of caution tended to be thrown to the wind.
Sighing, Charlie got up and made for the kitchen. Merri was there already, looking over the Daily Prophet as she munched on a slice of jammy toast.
"Morning!" she smiled at him. "Coffee?"
"Please," he returned her smile, gratefully. "Anything interesting going on back home?"
"The usual. The Department of Magical Law Enforcement's going through some kind of scandal." She grinned.
"So what's new? Anything from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures?"
"Not really. There's a feature on some new variety of flobberworm that they've discovered. Quite frankly, I'm surprised that anyone cares about flobberworms enough to make the effort to study them. Give me dragons, any day."
"Nothing beats nearly getting toasted every day, then?"
"Certainly not force-feeding slimy insects lettuce."
"What's that about lettuce?" Ria entered the kitchen, stifling a yawn with her hand. She was still wearing her finery from the previous night.
"Never mind the lettuce, where have you been?!" Charlie glared at her, completely forgetting Merri's advice from the previous night. "Merri and I were worried sick last night. You could at least have owled us to let us know that you were okay. But I suppose you were too busy enjoying yourself to worry about your friends!"
"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Ria sounded hostile.
"Jacques' good, is he?"
"You are so far away from the line it's not even funny!" Charlie could see Ria's eyes beginning to smoulder, a sure sign that she was fast reaching boiling point. Usually he would have taken the hint. Not today, however. The trauma of the Ball had left him on edge and unwilling to compromise. He was vaguely aware of Merri slipping out of the room, muttering something about meeting Jon. In her pyjamas, apparently.
"Oh, so there's a line, then. You didn't lose all sense of decorum?"
"Bloody hell, Charlie, you sound like my mother."
"I don't envy her, I can tell you that. So, come on then. Where were you last night?"
"I stayed with Eloise, not that it's any of your business."
"With Eloise, was it?"
"Yes, with Eloise."
"Why didn't you come home?"
"Because I didn't want to have to go through this, to be completely frank. Because I knew that you'd get up on your high horse and start making insinuations. Making me sound cheap. What kind of friend are you, anyway, Charles Weasley? I'm twenty-bloody-one, not two. If I want to spend the whole night away from home, then I will. It's not like you haven't done the same before."
"That's different," Charlie said. His relationships were not the issue here, and he told Ria as much.
"Oh, so it's one rule for you and a different one for me, is it? And how is that fair?"
"You're a girl," Charlie said, as if that explained everything.
"And there was me thinking that I was a hermaphrodite!" Ria was cutting.
"Don't be flippant."
"Flippant? Charlie, I'm not sure what century you're living in, but this is 1992. We're into the twentieth century now. Women aren't tied to the kitchen any more."
"I never said you had to stay in the kitchen."
"You might just as well have. And that's not the point. I can do what I like, when I like, however I like. My reputation is just that. Mine."
"And when you're on the maternity ward, I'll remind you of that."
"Oh, for goodness' sake!" Ria looked like she was about to slap him. "I'm going to say this once, and once only. My parents taught me the facts of life. I know how babies come about, and I'm not about to get myself 'into trouble'. And if all you can do is cast aspersions on my good character, then I'm not interested." She turned on her heel and stalked towards the door.
"Where are you going? We haven't finished yet!" Charlie shouted after her.
* * * *
"What's up, Charlie?" Joshua Hintown looked at Charlie curiously. "You've got a face like a wet weekend."
"Thanks for that, Josh!" Charlie glared at his friend. He sighed. "Ria and I had an argument."
"So what's new? You two argue at least twice a day, on average." Josh winked at Charlie, grinning.
"Not like this."
"What did you do?" Josh looked sympathetic. "No – don't tell me – I can guess. You came it all big brotherly on her, didn't you. Read her the riot act." He paused to write something on his parchment. "I saw her leave the Ball with Jacques Smith yesterday."
"Do you blame me?"
"Not really. But she's a woman – she doesn't see things like we do. You and I both know what Jacques was after, and we make no bones about it. Ri – she was flattered."
"Well, her opinion of me has sunk to rock bottom," Charlie said, glumly. "I think I insinuated too much."
"Ouch. Did she hit you?"
"No. But she came pretty close to it."
"Bad luck, mate. Not really much you can do. She'll get over it." Josh clapped Charlie on the shoulder. "I spoke to Kelley this morning. She wants us to help Rach with Helios. Apparently she's got some kind of cold."
"I don't pity Rach, then. You know what Viperteeth are like when they're ill. And Helios is temperamental at the best of times."
"Don't say that to Rachel. She's brought that dragon up, ever since her mother died of scale rot. Helios is her baby."
Charlie nodded in agreement. Helios was a Peruvian Vipertooth, just under a year old. He remembered her arrival vividly. There was no room left in the Nursery – and a litter of eggs had been abandoned by their mother. It was unusual for dragons to leave their eggs to the mercy of the elements, but Fremitia was a first time mother, and had been ill. A litter of eight eggs had taken up all of the spaces in the Nursery run by Fiona Shaw. Jon had gone off to Peru to rescue the egg before the Peruvians used it to make a fry up (Peruvian wizards considered dragons' eggs a delicacy) and when he'd returned they'd been at their wits end as to what to do with it. Fortunately, Rachel had always had a soft spot for the breed, and had offered to hatch it on the fire in her hut. Jon had accepted gratefully.
"Does Rach know if it's contagious?" he asked, worried. An epidemic didn't bode well for this year's breeding. Sick dragons made notoriously bad mothers, and treating any creature that weighs more that two tonnes when they're feeling particularly antisocial was nobody's cup of tea.
"She's not sure. Once we've knocked Helios out we can do some tests, but Rach said that if it is a cold then we should be giving them all immunity boosters with their feed."
"As if we didn't have enough to worry about already," Charlie sighed.
"It could be worse. At least we've caught it."
"I'd be happier if there was no epidemic."
"There isn't yet."
"Shut up."
* * * *
Rachel Peat regarded her dragon helplessly.
"If it's not a cold, then what is it?" she demanded, scowling at Helios' Stunned form. "She's coughing up smoke, and hasn't created a fireball for a good week now. If I didn't know better I'd swear she had some kind of adenoidal problem. But dragon's don't have adenoids."
"Well, it's not any of the usual culprits," Charlie said, wiping his hands on his robes. "But Helios is running a temperature, and there's definitely some sort of problem."
"Well, genius. But who the hell am I suppose to talk to about it? Who on the Reserve has any expertise in disease?"
"Well, there's Joe MacFusty, but he only really deals with Hebridean Blacks. Mind you, it might be worth consulting him." Josh grinned. "He has got nine centuries worth of experience to look help him, after all."
"The way you tell it, anyone would think that Joe was nine hundred years old!" Rachel exclaimed. "But you have a point – Joe might be good to talk to." She walked into the hut, and threw a handful of powder into the fire. Ten seconds later, Samantha Kingston's head appeared in the flames.
"Rach! Any success?" Sam, on top of her usual research responsibilities, was the 'Personnel Manager' for the British contingent of the Reserve.
"Not exactly. The good news is that Helios doesn't have any kind of cold, as far as we can discern. The bad news is that she's definitely ill, but we have no idea what it is that's wrong with her. Josh suggested that maybe we should get Joe MacFusty to give her a once over…" She looked at Sam hopefully.
"And Joe would, I'm sure, be an excellent asset," Sam frowned. "He's busy, though. Some of the French Sector Hebridean Blacks have been a bit off colour recently, and the Frogs commissioned him to have a look at them."
"Do you have any suggestions?" Rachel looked worried. "It's just that Helios is out for the count for the next hour or two, thanks to the Sedating Potion we gave her, so now would be the ideal time to get someone to take a look at her."
"Hrmmm," Sam looked thoughtful. "What about Ria Rutherford? She's pretty up on exotic diseases, if I remember correctly. She spent a spell with that magizoologist, didn't she, before she came here. The research one."
"Pecus Fera – that's right…Do you think she'd be able to help, Sam?"
"There's no harm in trying," Sam nodded. "I'll see if I can get hold of her for you. She's scheduled to be in the Nursery today, helping Fiona take an inventory. I'll send her right along."
"Thanks, Sam." The head disappeared, and Rachel turned to her companions. "You could have suggested Ri, Charlie."
"Didn't think to," Charlie replied, unwilling to talk about his friend, if indeed she was still his friend.
"Don't go there," Josh added, jovially. "He's had a fall out with the little missus."
"She is not the 'missus'!" Charlie glared at him. "And if she hears you say that, she'll hex you to Kingdom Come, so I do suggest you keep your suggestions to yourself."
"My, someone's touchy," Rachel smiled. "Poor Charlie. Ria bites, does she?"
"Shut up!" Charlie snapped, unwilling to listen to their jokes. He noticed them exchange concerned glances. He wasn't surprised, to be honest. Usually he could banter with the best of them. Today he just wasn't in the mood for flippancy, though. Maybe he was more tired from last night than he had thought.
* * * *
Ria made an appearance fifteen minutes later. She was dressed in her every day clothes now, and - dark circles under her eyes notwithstanding – looked perfectly normal. She nodded to the three of them, her hair working itself loose of its anchorings as she did so.
"Rachel. Josh. Charlie."
"Ri!" Rachel smiled at her. "You are good, to come this far. Sam said you might be able to help. It's Helios. There's something wrong with her."
"Sam said," Ria replied. "Something about a cold that isn't actually a cold?"
"That pretty much sums it up," Rachel agreed. "She's spluttering a lot, and I haven't seen a fireball for a good week, and that's unusual for Helios. Plus, when she splutters there's a lot of smoke. It's like her fire chambers aren't working properly."
"They probably aren't," Ria told her, approaching the dragon with a purposeful stride.
"You what?" Rachel looked at her.
"It's unusual, but it can happen," Ria said. "All the talk of dragons having fire in their bellies – that's codswallop, we all know that. They have, as everyone here knows, two highly developed fire chambers behind their lungs. That's why dragon heartstrings and such are so desirable. All of their 'chest' cavity is incredibly strong, and flammable to boot. For obvious reasons. Anyway, when I was doing my magizoologist apprenticeship with Pecus Fera, we went to Peru. He was a bit of a gadabout, you remember? Well, we came across a herd of dragons," she noticed the astounded look on Rachel's face. "Yes – a herd. Peru's a bit less cultivated than Romania. You go into those forests, and there's no knowing what you'll find, which I think is why we went there in the first place. The Viperteeth all had some kind of problem that meant they couldn't breathe fire. Turns out that they'd been eating some herbs containing some component that affected the workings of the fire chambers. If that's Helios' problem, we can clear it up within a week. It's not too serious, assuming you treat it properly. Of course, poor Helios feels like it's the end of the world. I daresay she's been more than a little tetchy recently. It's because she's lost her most important defence mechanism." As she spoke, Ria examined the dragon with gentle fingers, nimbly feeling scales and looking into Helios' eyes and down her throat. Charlie couldn't help but marvel at the ease with which she did things. He never really thought of Ria in a professional capacity – the two of them hardly ever saw each other when working, and it was all too easy to forget that she had trained with one of the best magizoologists Britain had ever produced. Quite how she'd ended up in Romania, Charlie didn't know. Ria's expertise ranged from Acromantula to Yeti, and yet she had chosen to spend her life incarcerated with dragons. It was an odd decision. By all accounts the young Rutherford had been of some renown within the magizoology circle, and great things had been expected of her. Charlie wondered just what it was that had made his friend abandon such a promising career for the Romanian Outback.
"Is it serious?" Rachel sounded nervous.
"Hrmm? Oh – Fire Chamber Corrosion? Not at all – as I said, as long as you treat it… And Helios is displaying all the symptoms. I'll get Nigel to whip up the antidote for you, and with any luck she should be blasting fire with the rest of them within a fortnight."
"Is it contagious?" Charlie asked, and wished he hadn't when a pair of frosty eyes fixed him to the spot. Ria hadn't forgotten their discussion, then.
"No, it's not," she told him, icily. She turned to Rachel. "I'll send Phoebus along with some instructions later, Rach. You should be able to collect the potion this evening, if Nigel is running to schedule."
"Thanks, Ri!" Rachel smiled gratefully. "I'll see you later, okay?"
"Sure. Come and visit Merri and me at some point. We could always use your company. Ciao." Raising her hand, Ria wandered off in the opposite direction.
"Why didn't she Apparate?" Josh asked, mystified.
"She likes to walk," Charlie said, idly. "Says that nature's too pretty to ignore by Apparating and Disapparating."
"That's one odd girl you've got there, Charlie," Josh said, shaking his head.
"I know."
* * * *
When Charlie arrived home that evening, the house was filled by a melodious voice singing a medieval ballad. The voice he recognised as Ria's, but it was Merri who met him in the kitchen.
"She hates arguing with you, you know," Merri told him, gently chastising him for provoking Ria into a response.
"Well, maybe she should be a bit more responsible-" Charlie began, unwilling to admit that perhaps he was in the wrong. Merri raised her finger to her lips.
"She has a point, you know. You do mother her. I've seen broody Puffskeins that fuss less than you do. Let her live life a little. Allow her to make her own mistakes. Be there to pick up the pieces."
"I-"
"You're only trying to help," Merri completed the phrase for him. "I know," she said, gently. "But Ria doesn't need another parent. She already has a mother and a father. Nor does she need another overprotective sibling. Her sisters are plenty for one girl to cope with. What Ria needs, Charlie, is a friend. Someone who won't judge her. Someone who'll offer advice, but accepts that she won't always take it. Someone who won't say 'I told you so' when her life goes wrong. Someone to pick up the pieces. Think about it." With that, Merri walked out of the kitchen, leaving Charlie to his thoughts.
Merri had a point, of course she did. But then, Merri was the one who seemed to be all knowing. An odd type of calm emanated from her, and you couldn't help but listen to the quiet authority in her tone – the singsong voice with its lilting Scots burr had an almost hypnotising quality at times. Merri could be relied on to see things clearly. She was the peacemaker, the one who never argued. Oh, she'd join in with the banter, but she never allowed Ria or Charlie to coerce her into fighting. It was almost as though fighting was below her.
Charlie's brooding was interrupted when Ria walked into the kitchen. She saw him, and turned around, leaving him with the briefest impression of well ripped jeans and wet hair. A second later, he heard Ria's bedroom door slam. Clearly she wasn't in the mood for another lecture. Charlie grimaced. It was as though he was the big bad father figure, and Ria was the naughty schoolgirl running away.
"Ria! Wait!" He called after her, making his way to her bedroom door. This was going to be humiliating. "Ri! Open the door? We need to talk."
"Go away." She sounded sullen. That was not a good sign.
"No. Ri, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so…so…"
"Irritating? Rude? Big for your boots?" He felt reassured by the scathing element to her voice.
"All of the above?"
"I'm listening."
"Through the keyhole."
"What, you expect me to come down off of my melodramatic high horse straight away? I want poetic declarations of sorrow, Weasley. I want to see you sweat." He could almost see the gleeful look on her face.
"Oh, do grow up, Ariadne Rutherford," he said, only half joking. He heard a cough in response, and remembered that he was supposed to be bearing an olive branch. "Ria, light of my life! Without you I am not complete. There is a gaping hole in my heart where you should be. My life is over when you're not in it. If you do not forgive me, I shall go and throw myself into the river."
"Or maybe allow Helios to toast you with her new found fire?" The door opened, and Ria stood there, grinning. "Very poetic, dear. A simple 'I'm sorry' would have sufficed."
"But you…"
"I do like to see you squirm," Ria smiled wickedly. "And I was prepared to allow you to bugger off and drown yourself until Merri spoke to me. So you might want to thank her."
"She's already spoken to me," Charlie admitted. "Told me I was too big for my boots, as you so aptly put it. Pointed out that I'm not your father, or your protector, or any of the above, and that as a good friend, my job is simply to pick up pieces. Which doesn't bode too well for you, really."
"I think I'll survive," Ria said, wryly.
"I daresay you will. And why didn't you tell me you were a trained magizoologist?"
"I thought you knew!" Ria looked genuinely surprised.
"I did," Charlie admitted, slightly shamefaced. "I just never really thought about it. Anyway, why did you give it all up? You could have been top of your field, if everything that they say is true. So why are you rotting away in Romania?"
"Firstly, I'm not rotting," Ria said. "Secondly…You'd better come in. I have no intention of sharing the stories of my apprenticeship on the threshold." She waved him towards her bed. Charlie had been in Ria's room many times before, but generally the visits were whistle-stop as he tried to locate his favourite jumper, which Ria was in the habit of stealing. "As you know, I left Hogwarts in 1987. I could have left my education at that – that's what my sisters did. But I've never really been into the whole debutante society girl milarkey, and so I decided that I was going to get myself a profession. Mums was horrified, of course. A woman of my means shouldn't take jobs away from women who needed them, she said. But then, how many needy women are looking for jobs in magizoology? Not many, I'll wager."
"I dunno – there's a sixty-forty male to female ratio on the reserve," Charlie pointed out. Ria shook her head.
"I did my research. In Magizoology, the ratio is more like eighty-twenty. Anyway, I was lucky. A friend of dad's – someone he'd been in the Force with – had contacts in the zoological circle. He offered to introduce me to Pecus Fera. I'd have been a fool to refuse: Pecus was – is – the greatest magizoologist of modern times. He and I got on like a house on fire, and when Dad's friend mentioned that I wanted to go into the field he offered me an apprenticeship."
"It's not all fancy frocks then, your father's life?"
"Of course not," Ria replied, lightly. "What on earth gave you that idea?" She winked. "Pecus was fantastic to be with. He didn't believe in any of the textbook studying lark, he insisted that the only way to learn was to do. So I spent a year gadding about the world with him, making discoveries, helping animals, documenting findings. The usual stuff."
"By all accounts, Miss Rutherford, you were very good at what you did. Fera's greatest apprentice, according to some." Charlie smiled at her.
"I doubt it," Ria blushed.
"So what changed? Fera declared his undying love for you?"
"Hardly," Ria smirked. "He was pushing it for sixty, after all, and far too attached to his passion to ever be interested in women." She sighed. "I met Aiden. We had a whirlwind romance. He was so utterly charming. Pecus didn't like him, of course. Said that I was doing myself a disservice, falling for a Quidditch player, and a mediocre one at that. But somehow his warnings didn't make it through." Her eyes darkened with an emotion that Charlie couldn't identify, and he squeezed her shoulder supportively. "On some levels I suppose the glamour factor appealed to me. Aiden and I rarely saw each other – he was always touring with his team, and I was always jet setting with Pecus. We wrote, of course, but we never really got to know each other. Not in the way that most lovers do. We spent two weeks in Scotland, once. That was the longest we were ever together for. And that was when he proposed." She sat, playing with her left ring finger, idly tracing the long since gone engagement ring. Charlie noticed this, but didn't comment. Somehow he knew that it was not a good idea to break the spell. Ria so rarely told him of her past, and it was imperative that he understood.
"I accepted," Ria told him, almost defensively. "I was young, and I was starstruck. Blinded by what I thought was love. I barely knew Aiden, but he was handsome, he was famous, and he made me feel like a goddess. We were engaged, and then we continued on our merry way. He carried on playing Quidditch, I carried on with Pecus, doing what I loved." She paused, and Charlie was suddenly aware of the chill of her fingers. "But when…when…I couldn't stay in the same life, Charlie. Not knowing what he had done. I had to get away. Pecus was devastated, of course. Tried pleading, threatening, cajoling…I didn't want to leave him, he didn't want me to leave. We kept each other company. But I needed to get away, and he could never have left his life. It was part of him. So he arranged for me to come and work here. He knew how much I loved dragons – I've always been fascinated by them. I was still in the trade. I suppose he thought that perhaps one day I would return to magizoology. But I'm too set in my ways now, too comfortable here. I never want to go back."
"Never is a long time," Charlie said, gently, rubbing his hand down her spine.
"Too long," Ria admitted. "For some things. But not for others. And I never want to go back to being the naïve eighteen year old I was then. I thought I had a future. I thought for me it would be different." Even talking about it her face brightened. Then she stopped, and suddenly she looked old, much older than her years. "I was wrong."
"You have a future," Charlie told her, hugging her to him. "You do, Ria. It might not be the future you envisaged, but you do make a difference. Maybe not in the same way as you did. But you do. Hold on to faith, Ri. And never let the sun set on your dreams."