Disclaimer: I don't own it…if I did own it then it would have an 18+ rating.

Thanks to fujutsuand padfootedmoony...I hope you enjoy this chapter, there will be a little angst that will develop in the nxt few chapters...but not to worry I'm building up the lemony goodness.

Chapter 5: Competition.

She was awakened the next morning by bright rays of sunlight dancing around her room. Not wanting to get up, she buried her face into her pillow. It had been a long and tiring night. The little sleep she did catch was filled with dreams that her mother would have scolded her for. The main attraction being a tall, muscular red head, that seemed bent on showing her the many pleasures of strawberries. However she was thankful because it was the first night since her parents death that she had dreamt of anything but screams, her parents screams in particular.

Although she never physically saw their murder, she imagined it all the same. Her nightmares were so vivid that she would wake up in a cold sweat, fearing that her parents were hurt. Then like being hit with a cold bucket of ice water the realization would come to her, they had been hurt, they had been killed.

Yawning, kicking back the heavy bedspread she swung her legs off the comfy bed and slothfully made her way to the bathroom. She hissed as her feet made contact with cold tiles in the bathroom and quickly went to the toilet and sat down with her feet held up away from the offending tiles. After finishing, she washed her hands and splashed her face with cold water. A quick glance in the mirror told her she needed to brush her hair. No matter how tame Sleekeazy's Hair Potion could make it during the day, it still became a lions main after sleeping.

Twenty minutes later Hermione had dressed in rack suit pants and a zip up jacket with her hair pull back into a ponytail.

Upon entering the lounge room she found Charlie sitting at one of the three stools at the kitchen table, munching on a piece of toast and reading the morning paper.

"Morning," he said glancing over the top of the paper at her.

"Good Morning," she replied as cheerfully as she could manage as she eagerly made herself a cup of strong tea.

"When you're ready I'll start with showing you where the Rec Hall and the Medical Office are located. After that we'll make our way to the main pens, and I'll introduce you to some of the tamers working there. You'll meet everyone else at lunch," stated Charlie as he laid the paper down.

"What about regular clothing for when I'm handling the orphaned dragon? All I have are clothes for below five degrees," replied Hermione.

Grabbing his dragon hide jacket from the back of his stool, he drained the last of his coffee and said, "Don't worry I'll set you up with all the gear you'll need after lunch." Placing his cup into the sink he turned to wait for her to finish her tea.

Charlie showed her where the Rec Hall was located, which from now on was where she would be having her lunch and dinner. After that they had made their way to the Medical Office. Charlie made sure she knew where to locate certain Healing Potions, in case no one was there if she or someone else were seriously injured. After spending much time hearing some of the more 'gruesome' injuries from over the past few years she was then taught the protocol for an emergency call if she was unable to get to the Medical Office. All she had to do was raise her wand in the air and send up bright red sparks. As long as she set off the call within the wards of the camp it would be recognized immediately and would alert others in the camp by triggering a loud siren.

After showing her where some of the larger pens were located with the forest and introducing her to some of the handlers, he walked her back towards the pen she had seen yesterday with the Hungarian Horntail still housed with in it.

"This is one of the three pens that we have right near our tents. We keep dragons who are injured or pregnant females in them. Although that depends on what breed of dragon, Chinese Fireballs prefer to be kept up in the hills. We have another camp set up there taking care of them, maybe on one of your days off I'll take you up there and show you around."

"I would love that Charlie," she said with a slight smile. Looking back at the pen she saw the female dragon eyeing them suspiciously and asked, "When I arrived yesterday, I saw people removing a baby dragon from that dragon's nest. Was that the dragon I'm to be caring for?"

Scowling he leaned forward on the fence,"Yea, I was suppose to be in charge and lead the team in creating a long enough diversion. I had it all planned out, instead because I'm injured, I have to wait till tomorrow before I can start working again," he spoke without looking at her, his voice easily revealing his disgust for his current state of health.

Walking up beside him, she placed her hand on his shoulder, feeling the texture of his cotton shirt beneath her hand she softly said, "Charlie, we all make mistakes. Especially when handling dragons because they are so wild and unpredictable. You're lucky to be able to go back to work even this soon, ointments can only do so much. You'll probably be left with little or no scarring, so you really are lucky."

Charlie simply huffed, it was clear he doubted that he was 'lucky'.

Sighing she tried another way of getting him to talk. "You should see my scar, it's on my left shoulder blade. It was incredibly painful, the healer on the site tried various potions, but nothing was able to take the pain away or aid in the healing of the wound. The Ice Dragons carry a toxin in their claws, it helps wound an adversary, letting the dragon kill it easily. I was lucky it was only a juvenile that took a hunk out of me, otherwise I would be a lot worse for wear. Of course I've never turned my back on one of them again"

Turning to look at her he contemplated the beauty before him. He wondered what happened to the young Hermione that existed during her Hogwarts years. After her parents death he remembered how distant she became, if only for a short while. The once ex-Gryffindor accepted a job offer from the Ministry and he had expected her to flourish again, eventually returning to the person he had grown to adore.

He had seen her during the final battle. She, along with Harry and Ron, had trained along side Dumbledore to master the art of wandless magic. She did wonderfully during the battle and it seemed the only injuries she had obtained were a few Slicing Hexes that Bellatrix landed right before Tonks had taken her down. The final battle had resulted in teaching far too many people how to kill, especially those who were barely of age. He still had dreams of the devils in black coats and white masks.

Looking deep into her eye he could see the old Hermione buried deep inside, the Hermione who rushed to do more work than was capable of any other person. The Hermione that came to the Burrow and smiled at Ron getting scolded by his mother. Scowled at Fred and George's antics, or desperately tried to stay silent as his mother told her that settling down and living a life as a mother and wife would suit her fine.

This was the last place he expected to find her, he figured she would prefer to spend her days pouring through books. He knew what kind of intelligence was housed within that head, after all she had graduated at the top of her year.

Charlie was interrupted from his thoughts by someone coughing behind him.

"Charlie, when were you going to introduce me to your friend?"

Hermione had felt like a deer or even a rabbit stunned by a set of headlights. She had felt Charlie's intense gaze, it felt like he had been burrowing deep with in her, searching for something. So when she heard a silky voice behind them she was disappointed that Charlie tore his eyes from her.

The owner of the silky voice turned out to be a man of average height, dark wiry hair and brown eyes with yellow flecks in them. He was looking directly at Hermione, without diverting his gaze he said, "You must be the new recruit. I'm Damien," bestowing her with a confident smile.

"Hi, I'm Hermione," she replied, smiling nervously at the man opposite her.

Charlie knew nothing good could come of this, Damien still had a grudge against him. Everytime they found themselves in each others company they would exchange snide comments briefly before all talking stopped. This was usually because they would be too distracted by the others fist flying at their face.

"Damien aren't you supposed to be helping Brooks?" snarled Charlie.

Sneering Damien turned to Charlie, "No, I've finished," he said, his words drenched with loathing.

"Hermione," he said, pausing a second after saying name and giving her another dazzling smile whilst offering her his arm, "I was on my way to lunch, and I noticed Charlie standing here with you, obviously trying to starve you. Though I don't know why he would feel the need to do that to such an extremely beautiful thing as you."

Blushing she glanced at Charlie, not since the Final Battle had she seen Charlie so enraged. She could practically feel the rage emanating off his body. If looks could kill, Damien would have been dead ten times over.

"Come, I'll Introduce you to some of the others" Damien said, waiting for her to take his arm.

Giving Damien a small smile she stepped towards him and took the offered arm. She really wasn't sure if she wanted to take is arm, but decided that it was best not to make any one upset on her first day. She hoped Charlie wouldn't make anything of it, it wasn't like she was accepting a marriage proposal.

"You look like crap Charlie, perhaps you better go back to your tent and rest. After all you'll need your strength tomorrow, what with the injury you sustained," he said with a calm voice that lacked any real concern.

Charlie raised one eye brow at the man possessively holding his girl, wait, his girl?' Hermione wasn't his nor was she a girl, no she was very much a woman. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts Charlie watched as Damien smiled another nauseating smile.

"No, I think I should come and eat," Charlie replied stiffly.

Shrugging Damien walked Hermione to the Rec Hall, telling her about himself on the way. It seemed Damien came from a Pure-blood family, with one younger sister, who was one of Celestina Warbeck's wardrobe designers. He had become interested in dragons at a young age and had pursued a career in dragon taming not long after graduating. His father had wanted him to work in the family owned Apothecary, so he had focused his schooling years on Potion classes. According to Damien, his father had been most displeased and had nearly disowned him when he had told his family his choice of career. It had taken almost a year before he and his father were on speaking terms again.

Once they had reached the Rec Hall Damien directed her to a table of the left side of the hall. The Rec Hall, like the Medical Office, was one of the only structural buildings in the camp. Hermione noted as she looked around that everything was predominantly white, the tables, the chairs, and the walls. Since most of the hall was already filled with the people who stayed and worked at the camp, Damien directed her to a table with two women sitting at opposite ends and two men sitting on one side of the table with an empty seat between them, the seat which Charlie took. He wanted very much to be alone with Hermione again. Like a hawk, he watched as Damien pulled back the chair directly opposite him for Hermione to sit in. With a murmured thanks she sat down and gave a reassuring smile to Charlie.

By the end of the meal Hermione had found that the two men sitting either side of Charlie were partners. It seemed Bradley and Joseph, or Brad and Joe as they preferred, were the ones who Hermione would also be working with. Everybody in the camp had a partner, as she already knew. It also seemed that two sets of partners get assigned as a group of four and in that small group they handle one particular dragon, whether that be feeding, cleaning, and other general daily duties. Hermione was relieved to find that they were the ones she would be working with, considering the two women at the ends of the table had been eyeing her with barely concealed contempt. She wasn't sure she would have enjoyed being in their company for long periods of time everyday. Hailey, the woman who was on the other side of the table with the Brad, Joe and Charlie, had deep red hair, nothing like the Weasley's red Hermione had grown to love. Hailey was wearing, in Hermione's opinion, way too much make up, not to mention her dragon hide outfit seemed tighter on her than most. She was looking down her nose at Hermione every now and again, coming off as very contemptuous, but it was the blonde that concerned her the most.

Lacerta, the name seemed like poison on her tongue. Hermione knew nothing of this woman but her sharp features made her a striking beauty. She had classic long legs, long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Hermione could easily peg her for a future Mrs. Malfoy. Hermione was by no means envious of the woman's beauty. What she was envious of were the looks Lacerta would give Charlie. Batting her eyes and playfully running her hands over her neck and lips. Lacerta was getting a lot of attention from nearby tables, but Charlie seemed to be immune from the Veela 'wannabee's' tactics.

Hermione was becoming increasingly agitated by the antics the bitch was pulling, silently fuming and planning the blonde's death. She rather thought her name suited her now, since it sounded much like Lacerate. She was pulled from her musings as she noticed many people at the other tables getting up to leave.

"Reading to go?" Charlie asked.

Looking into the Charlie's blue eyes she gave him an affirmative nod and stood ready to leave, wanting to get away from any area in which Lacerta occupied.

"I'll see you at dinner then, yes?" Damien said pleasantly.

"You shall," she replied as she noticed Charlie scowling at the dark haired man again. She refrained from saying more seeing as she was going to be spending a lot of time with Charlie and she didn't want to have to deal with him being cranky.

Nodding goodbye to Brad and Joe she set off with Charlie to go get fitted for the required clothing that was to be worn around the camp.

Charlie didn't say anything to her on the way there. She was itching to break the silence because each step she took made her feel like she was on death row.

Finally Charlie stopped in front of a tent and said, "This is where you'll be set up with the clothes you need." He opened the flap for her to entere, it appeared to be much like a dress maker's shop. The small room she had entered had an even smaller room off to the side that appeared to have clothing material hanging up. She turned to look at Charlie and he nodded back toward the open door. When she looked back at the door she saw a middle aged witch make her way over to greet her visitors.

"Ah, yes, you must be Hermione?" queried the witch.

"Yes, I'm here for-" Hermione was interrupted by the witch holding her hand up.

"That's alright dear, you can call me Rosie. I know why you're here and all you need to do is stand right where you are while I take some measurements," stated Rosie.

If Hermione could say anything about the witch it would be that she was very assertive. She bustled about Hermione,taking her shoes off and standing her with her arms spread as the measuring tape went to work. The woman took Hermione's measurements with a Magical Measuring Tape. When Hermione finally left the tent it was with an armful of dragon hide clothing. But not after spending much time standing like an idiot while being measured, and having to deal with Charlie's sniggering whenever the witch would touch her in areas that made her uncomfortable, or made her laugh because she accidentally tickled her.

Hermione spent the remainder of the day chatting with Charlie about the current events of the Weasley clan. Charlie made sure to inform her that Molly had continued to let it slip, during many of her son's visits, that Hermione would make a wonderful daughter in-law.

Hermione blushed, well aware of which Weasley son she already preferred.

Dinner was the same a lunch in the way of proceedings, Hailey and Lacerta continued to make it clear that Hermione would have to seriously shape up if she ever wanted to breathe near them. Whilst Brad and Joe shaped up to be the spitting image of Fred and George, she knew she would have to keep her eye's on those two, lest she wake up one morning with blue hair. Shuddering at the memory when the evil twins had played that a prank on her, but she made sure her revenge was memorable. After all, she wasn't the brightest witch of her age for nothing, her time in the Hogwarts Library and her short time as an Unspeakable really did pay off at times like that.

Once again Charlie witness Damien fawn over Hermione, lightly touching her hands, gazing at her eyes with the occasional glance at her lips as she talked. He was conscious of Lacerta's attempts to seduce him, but he wanted nothing to do with her. He hated that he had once fawned over her, when he had first met her he had become wrapped in her beauty. He had even believed himself in love with her and they had been lovers for some time. However, that had all been destroyed by Damien. Pushing away the unpleasant thoughts he dived back into the conversation he was supposed to be participating in between Brad and Joe.

Hermione slipped out of her clothes, dumping them onto the floor, she was to tired to care about putting them away at the moment. Hermione had spent every minute after lunch watching Charlie, he seemed upset with her, especially during dinner. As soon as they had made it back to their tent his demeanor changed back to that of the Charlie she knew, he even gave her a lop-sided grin when he said goodnight to her.

She hated that Charlie saw her as just a friend, or worse his little brother's brainy friend. She had developed a friendship with him after graduation, but now she was tempted to push that friendship to something more but she was unsure of how he would react.

A/N:
Thanks guys for waiting...I'm glad to have this chapter finished and loaded. And yes I know theres no smut in this chapter, but I can't give you too much smut too quickly...gotta built it up to the climax, pun intended.

As always, thank you to my brilliant beta, Shawna. She gives this story that little extra spice!

And remember to review, I love reviews.

Ciao!