A/N: Right, so Shaya is a bad influence who asked of so sweetly for the next installment and I couldn't tell her no because I adore her =) As such, here is the next chapter. I hope you like it. i'm so pleased that so many of you are loving Charlie as much as I do. Thanks ever so much to all of you who take the time to leave me glowing reviews. You're so wonderful. Much love! xx-Kitten.

Let it Burn

By Kittenshift17

Chapter 3: Douse

The sound of a frustrated and rather pained groan accompanied a loud and insistent beeping and buzzing of an alarm. Hermione Granger blinked her eyes open painfully, her head beginning to ache immediately at the assault of dawn light pouring through the window. She realised dimly that the alarm was buzzing loudly, making her headache worse and alerting her to the fact that less than four hours sleep combined with the worst hangover she'd had in a while we're going to make for a wretched day.

"Urgh," she groaned, attempting to twist towards the general direction where her own alarm clock usually lived, trying to cease the wretched sound to protect her aching head from its shrill squealing.

Her mouth felt dry and fuzzy, as though someone had been shoving cotton wool into her mouth all night long or some furry woodland creature had crawled inside while she slept and had the indecency to die there. Her head ached and throbbed dully behind her eyes and she had to squint, trying to make sense of her surroundings when her attempts to swing her arm proved fruitless. She blinked in confusion when she opened her eyes to the sight of soft red chest hair and a brightly coloured tattoo.

Hermione groaned a second time, trying to move her body and finding it useless. She seemed to be intimately entwined with someone and all four of her limbs had been immobilised. She laid on her side, burrowed into someone's chest with her forehead pressed against someone's neck. The tip of her nose rested intimately against a man's clavicle. One of her arms was stretched across the mattress where they lay, slotted into the small gap created by the man having his own arm curled beneath her neck and around her back, with a hand tangled in her hair.

Her other arm was curled over Charlie's ribs and around his back. Indeed, she had her fingers tangled in his soft red hair. Her legs were similarly trapped. He'd hooked his outer knee over her hip and pulled her outer thigh between both of his, his calf-muscle pressed against the bare length of the back of her thigh and his foot tucked under her calf. His free arm was wrapped around her waist, pressing her to his chest, their fronts intimately pressed together.

"It's the back-up alarm," Charlie grumbled, his voice husky with sleep when Hermione tried moving her hand, her fingers getting stuck in his red hair, as she attempted to stop the noise.

"Make it stop," she groaned, realising that the beeping and the buzzing were the result of two different alarms going off. One, she spotted on Charlie's nightstand when he lifted his head slightly. The other was somewhere out of sight

"Hermione?" he asked, peering down at her as though he wasn't sure just whom it was that he was in bed with.

Hermione tilted her head to squint at him in return. His eyes were bloodshot and narrowed as he squinted against the daylight pouring in through the open curtains. He looked like hell and Hermione imagined she looked worse.

"What time is it?" she groaned at him, trying to burrow her face back into his neck to hide from the sunlight, her mind not yet firing on all cylinders.

"If the back-up alarm is going off it means it's probably quarter to seven," he rumbled, his voice a deep baritone.

"What?" Hermione yelped, her eyes flying open again as she began to kick.

"It's been going off for a few minutes though, so it's probably closer to ten to, by now," he went on.

"No! No, no, no," she whimpered, beginning to writhe in his hold as she became fully aware of how entangled they both were at the moment, "I'm going to be so late. I've never been late on the first day! Shit! No, no, no! FUCK!"

Hermione shouted the final word in frustration as she tried to get loose of Charlie's hold in her panic. Charlie snorted in amusement.

"I didn't know you knew how to curse," he laughed before groaning when Hermione found the only way to get free of him was to roll him to his back, straddle his hips again, pry her arm from beneath him and then crawl right back off him again.

And she'd intended to do it in that order, but the second she straddled him, Charlie growled like a dragon himself, gripping her hips tight and lifting her right back off of him.

"Shit," he cursed, his eyes flashing with annoyance and pain. It was then that she noticed he had a bright white bandage wrapped around his left thigh, something she hadn't noticed until she moved the sheets out of the way as she attempted to clamber off him. He had another bandage around his left shoulder too.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked, holding herself off him, noting that his grip was still bruisingly tight on her hips. If she weren't so hungover and in such a rush to get to work, she'd have been turned on as hell by the feel of his hands gripping her so tightly.

"I'm alright," he nodded, releasing her slowly as Hermione continued trying to clamber off him, "Herc got a bit stroppy with me, is all."

Hermione nodded her head, knowing that one of the biggest risks that came with working with dragons was that they were enormous, temperamental beasts who could and would turn on their keepers in a heartbeat if they were in a bad mood.

"How bad?" Hermione asked, climbing off Charlie and clutching at her head even as she found the stop button on the alarm clock by the bed.

She blanched before he'd even answered when she saw he'd been right about the time. She had to be at work in seven minutes.

"It's nothing," Charlie told her, watching her hurry over to the back-up alarm clock on his desk across the room and turning it off as well, "Just caught me with his claws."

"Do you know where my clothes are?" Hermione asked, turning in circles, still clutching her head and trying to remember what she'd done with them.

"They're in the kitchen," he chuckled, also clutching his own head, "Oi!"

Hermione spun back to him, already on her way to the door.

"Drink this before you go, you'll feel better," he tossed her a corked phial of hangover potion.

Hermione caught it instinctively and drank it, watching Charlie do the same. She shuddered at the wretched flavour and tried not to gag.

"You don't have to rush, you know?" he called after her as she mumbled her thanks and dashed out into the kitchen to retrieve her clothes.

"I have to be at work in five minutes," Hermione argued.

"I can guarantee that your overseer will be late, Hermione," Charlie laughed, watching her turn the gas stove on to boil the kettle for him even as she pulled her jeans on.

"That's really not the point," Hermione argued with him some more, squiggling into her jeans and racing to the door to collect her shoes, "I should've been ready by now. I should be there by now! Why didn't I even think last night that I could have just Floo'd to my place from here?"

"Because we'd both had enough drink to kill a troll?" Charlie suggested and Hermione tried really hard not to notice the fact that he was wandering around with no shirt on. He had donned a pair of jeans, though Hermione noticed he'd yet to button them up. He was wandering around scratching at his chest idly and looking like he needed to get to work.

"Don't you need to be at work by seven as well?" she asked him, grabbing a pinch of Floo powder and clambering into his fireplace.

He merely shot her one of those smouldering expressions Hermione so enjoyed before she dropped the Floo powder and disappeared. She landed in her own cabin and raced for the bathroom, groaning when she caught sight of her hair in the mirror. She hadn't gotten it wet so it wasn't a complete nest, but it seemed sleeping with Charlie's hands in it hadn't done her any favours.

She didn't even have time to charm it. Cursing under her breath, Hermione flipped her head forward, gathered the riotous curls into a thick bundle and used a hair elastic to tame it all into a messy bun. She was sure her day would consist of shovelling dragon dung and other such things, so she hardly thought she needed to look professional and ready to meet the queen.

When she was done Hermione grabbed her toothbrush, squirted some paste onto the brush and stuck into her mouth, scrubbing furiously at her teeth. Yesterday's jeans would have to do as she'd yet to unpack any others and Hermione surveyed her appearance in Charlie's jersey while she scrubbed. It was comfortable to wear and she would very much like to keep wearing it, but Hermione got the feeling that would look really bad. Especially given everyone would think she'd slept with him last night.

That, in itself would be bad enough. But the truth was worse. She hadn't slept with him because he'd been called away to handle a dragon issue and hadn't returned until much later, injured, and quiet enough that he hadn't even woken her up when he snuck in. She'd slept in his bed because she been too drunk to find her own bloody house and she didn't want to have to explain that to anyone.

Ripping the jersey off over her head as she raced into her own bedroom, Hermione chucked the garment on the bed and fished out one of her tank tops instead. She'd been told to dress ready for hard work where she was likely to get hot and sweaty, so that's what she did. Pulling a black tank top on over her sports bra, Hermione grabbed her deodorant can and doused her armpits thoroughly. She already had her shoes and socks on.

Racing back into the kitchen, Hermione was once again grateful for her own preparedness when she found her backpack already packed and ready to go. She grabbed her pre-made lunch from the fridge, skolled all the water in her drink bottle before refilling it, scooped up a snack bar since she didn't have time for breakfast and dashed out the door. As soon as she reached the porch, Hermione turned on the spot and apparated over to the entrance to the Dragon sanctuary where the enclosures and the dragon-clinic were located.

Hermione landed and righted herself, trying desperately not to vomit up all the water she'd just downed. When she had herself under control, Hermione glanced around the entrance and realised she was alone.

Had they started without her? Glancing at her watch, Hermione saw she still had a couple of minutes to spare before seven, so she wasn't technically late. Where were they? The information she'd been given said all the Dragon Tamers and Keepers within the sanctuary began their day at seven. Wandering around, Hermione found a section where she assumed everyone was supposed to check their stuff in.

She fished her information sheet from her bag and discovered her locker number and combination before locating that locker and opening it up. She squeaked in surprised when she opened it and discovered someone had clearly intended to surprise her and make her first day special. Inside the locker was a plush toy in the shape of an Antipodean Opaleye dragon the length of her forearm, along with a bundle of balloons that came flowing out of her locker tied on a string to a big card.

It wished her welcome and a happy first day in her exciting new career. Hermione grinned when she noticed that whoever had done this for her had clearly gotten everyone on the Dragon Tamer, Handler and Overseer staff to sign it, all of them leaving words of encouragement.

Hermione chuckled when she found the message Charlie had scrawled. It read:

You can't be a Tamer until you taste dragonfire ~ Charlie Weasley.

She didn't know what it would mean to taste dragonfire, but she hoped he didn't mean it literally. She couldn't help but smile as she read the well-wishes from the rest of the Tamers she'd met as well. Jason had written that he hoped she could take the heat. Caroline had signed it with the warning that if she couldn't handle the smell of dragon dung, she should switch careers now, because everything else in the job was more disgusting and even less fun to play with. Sid had signed his name alongside a note promising to buy her the first drink of the night if she could get through the day without pissing herself in terror.

Hermione laughed when she read the message Harvey had left – recalling from last night's drinking that he had a twisted sense of humour. His note said that if she made it through the day without quitting to pick a new career, he would teach her the Peruvian Vipertooth mating ritual and perform it on her, if she'd let him. There was even a message from Amy, though it was rather snarky. It warned that if anything chased her, she should run.

Dearest Hermione,

Welcome to Dragonsmeade and your exciting new adventure! You haven't met me yet, but my name is Saskia. I'm one of the Dragon Nursey carers and I wanted to make sure you received a really warm welcome. Don't worry too much that some of the other idiots have left you dire warnings and are probably placing bets on how long you'll last. They like you, I promise. They're just mentally preparing themselves in case this lifestyle turns out not to be for you.

They've been burned a few too many times before with newbies who come over to Dragonsmeade from every corner of the earth thinking this will be the life they want, only to change their minds.

I've read your files though, Miss Hermione Granger, and I know you're not going to give up on us easily. I just wanted to make sure you had a really warm welcome here at the sanctuary and to let you know that if you need anything, you let me know, alright? A friend. A guide around town. Someone to box the ears of the other Tamers when they get short with you (ignore their moods until after lunch – they work long hours late at night and tend to drink too much most of the time). The point is, I'm here for everything you need and am happy to help in any way I can.

Your overseer will show you around today, so I'll probably see you when you come by the Nursery, but if not, I'll find you later. Okay? You won't be able to miss me when you see me, I promise. And don't let the others fill your head with lies about me, okay? They're rotten liars, the lot of them.

Enjoy your first day! I can't wait to meet you!

-Saskia Kroshnovik

The entire letter was surrounded by glitter and stickers and other extremely girly and perky looking things like streamers. Hermione felt a little bit alarmed, but was touched that someone had taken the time to make her a welcome card and to make sure she felt like she was wanted here.

Tucking the card and the wayward balloons back into her locker, Hermione shrugged out of her backpack and stuffed it inside with everything else. She tore into her snack-bar hungrily and dug around for her purse when she spotted a girl across the street opening a small coffee shop. As soon as she snagged it, Hermione bounded towards the store.

"Hi!" the girl greeted her with a smile when she saw Hermione coming even as she opened up.

"Are you open yet?" Hermione asked the girl, "Sorry. That was rude. Hello. I'm Hermione. I'm new. Please tell me you're serving already?"

The girl began to laugh as Hermione rambled. Her nerves were getting the better of her as she waited for the other Dragon Tamers to arrive and waited for her overseer to turn up. She desperately needed caffeine or she was likely to get cranky since the hangover potion Charlie had given her had only achieved so much. Her head was still pounding and her stomach was churning.

"Did those bastards send you to fetch their morning coffee on your very first day, Hermione?" the girl asked her, "And I'm Suzy, by the way."

"It's nice to meet you, Suzy. And no. No one sent me. I'm supposed to be meeting my overseer at seven, but it's almost ten past and I'm the only person here."

"They're probably all hungover again. As for your overseer, I'm pretty sure that was meant to be Marla, but she got pretty banged up last night with Hercules. One of the other Tamers will take over the job, I imagine. How do you take your coffee?"

"Can you do a triple shot mochaccino with three sugars, four marshmallows and a vanilla shot? In the biggest cup you've got?" Hermione asked hopefully.

"You got it," Suzy winked at her, "You seem pretty keen for today, all things considered?"

"All things?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Oh," Suzy paused and glanced over at her, "They um… I'm not supposed to tell you, but after what happened to the last newbie in training, I think I better… They're going to put you through your paces today Hermione. They'll wow you with the dragons, but they're going to make sure that every disgusting, gross, unpleasant and otherwise wretched job that comes with being a Dragon Tamer will be something you have to do today. They like to test the newbies on the first day with everything you might encounter in this job. They'll throw you in with a cantankerous shrew of a dragon and see how you do. They'll have you shovelling dung and scraping at scale-rot and other foul things that are going to make you gag. More than half the people who turn up wanting to take on this job end up quitting after day one. They prefer to put your through the paces and try to break you early so they don't waste time and energy training someone who will back out of the job a few months or weeks into it."

"They're already betting to see if I'll wet myself," Hermione nodded, accepting her coffee and drinking several large gulps, "They were running a pool on it at the pub last night."

"Oh you've already met a few of them?" Suzy asked.

"Yeah," Hermione nodded, "I'm best friends with Charlie's youngest brother and spent most of my summers with his family when I was still in school. I met a bunch of the other Tamers last night at the pub. It's why I'm so desperately in need of this."

She hefted the coffee cup indicatively.

"Well, you're doing better than the rest of them so far. Have you eaten? They'll be a while yet. Usually if they've had a big night like they did last night, or a bad night, which last night was, they don't tend to get here until seven thirty. You've got time for something to eat, if you want?"

"What do you have?" Hermione asked, "Keeping in mind that I'm hungover and that I'll be doing a number of disgusting things today and don't much fancy the idea of throwing up later."

Suzy laughed again.

"Well, at least you've got a sense of humour about it. The last newbie I warned nearly cried. She quit before she'd even finished her tour of the enclosures after what Marla put her through," Suzy told her, "In that case though, I recommend the savoury muffins. Fresh baked last night and coming in a number of flavours, they'll help soak up the alcohol in your system and aren't likely to make you throw up later when you're up to your elbows in dragon dung."

"Delightful," Hermione sighed, glancing over the muffins on the display case Suzy pointed to before settling on a bacon and cheese muffin.

Suzy heated it for her slightly and handed it to her on a plate with a bottle of sauce that she swore made it beyond delicious. Hermione decided she might as well trust the bubbly waitress and accepted both from her before tucking into the food.

She was just finishing off eating her muffin and downing the rest of her coffee when the first of the Tamers began to arrive. Hermione grinned a little when she spotted first Greg and then Sid arriving across the street. Both of them clutched at their heads and groaned at the effect of apparating.

"Ah shoot," Suzy cursed when more Tamers began to arrive, "They're a bit early. Shit. I'm not ready with all their coffees yet and they're going to be grouchy as shit until I get them caffeinated and fed."

"Do you need a hand?" Hermione offered, getting to her feet and carrying her plate around the counter without waiting for permission.

"Do you know how to make coffee?" Suzy asked.

"Not to café standards, but I can heat muffins and things if you need me to," Hermione told her.

"Um… yeah, they'll most likely all want a muffin this morning if they've had a rough night. Okay, could you warm up twelve more muffins? Nine of those savoury muffins and three sweet ones."

Hermione did as she was asked, waving her wand until each of the muffins was steaming while Suzy went to work steaming milk, pouring coffee and laying out large take away cups.

"Whose is whose?" Hermione wanted to know, picking up a big black marker.

"Oh, you're a life saver, Hermione," Suzy told her, "This one is for Sid. Harvey. Caroline. Jason. Charlie. Amy. Saskia. Ivan. Greg. Raja. Tatiana. Louis. And this last one is for you."

She pointed at each cup in order as she began fixing them and Hermione wrote the names of each person on the side before clipping a lid onto each enormous cup.

"Oh. You didn't have to make me another one," Hermione told her as she helped out, "Though I'm grateful."

"It's no problem. Now jump around the other side there before they see you and get ideas about making you their coffee girl until the next newbie shows up. They'll give you enough little minion-type tasks if you stick around as it is. You don't want them getting ideas."

"I'm glad I met you," Hermione told her.

Suzy smiled at her and waved her hand, "Get over there and greet them all until I'm ready, could you? You don't want them to think you're late."

Hermione did as she was told, taking her coffee and strolling across the street as more and more of the Dragon Tamers began to arrive.

"Bloody hell, Sid!" Caroline growled as Hermione walked into the shed where the lockers were, watching as most of the Tamers stashed their things in lockers and dug around, "Why the fuck did you make me drink so bloody much!"

"Me?" Sid snarled in return, "You were the one who kept insisting on the tequila shots with whiskey chasers!"

"Piss off, it was your idea to do shots in the first place!" Caroline argued right back.

"Jam it, the both of you," Jason snapped when he arrived, "Or I'm going to bash your heads together and see who splits first."

"Fuck you, Van Der Meene," Sid swore at the man in return and Hermione looked on with no small amount of amusement when she realised that her new colleagues were clearly as cantankerous as the beasts they saw to every day.

"Blow me, Reynolds," Jason retorted to Sid immediately.

Propping her shoulder against the wall just inside the door where she wouldn't be in anyone's way, but could watch as the temperamental Tamers continued to argue and snarl at one another over who was to blame for their hangovers and who'd done what the night before, Hermione watched the carnage. When Charlie appeared on the scene, he looked mildly more revived than the rest of the team and Hermione noticed he'd been smart enough to collect his coffee and what looked like one of the sweet muffins from Suzy across the street before joining them.

He was tucking into the muffin hungrily and Hermione watched him with some amusement when he got powdered sugar on his nose while he scarfed down the food. He ignored his fighting colleagues even when Sid and Jason began shoving one another while he carried his bag to his locker and opened it one handed.

He'd managed to button up his jeans in the twenty minutes since she'd left his cabin, and he'd found a shirt, though Hermione noticed idly that it was once against a sleeveless dragon-hide tunic designed to protect his torso from being roasted. His hair had been pulled into the leather throng he tamed it with, tied low at the back of his neck where it would be out of the way. The white bandaging around his shoulder was visible but as he ate his muffin and drank his coffee, he didn't give any indication that he was hurting from whatever Hercules had done to him.

"Oi! Where's mine, you bastard?" Greg demanded of Charlie when he spotted him polishing off the last of his muffin and drinking his coffee.

"Suzy's waiting on you lot with your food and coffee," Charlie shrugged at them, "Get it your bloody self."

"Bastard!" Greg accused, "What the fuck happened to you anyway? That fiery little kitten get rough with you, did she?"

He poked his finger at Charlie's bandages and Hermione got the feeling that the 'fiery little kitten' was her when Charlie slanted a glance in her direction, clearly aware of her presence though he'd yet to greet her.

"Hercules mauled Marla, Henry and Samson last night," Charlie said, looking back at Greg, "Gerry came to get me."

"Fuck!"

"Shit, are they alright?"

"How bad are they?"

Everyone stopped squabbling at the news, turning to look at Charlie.

"Marla's pretty messed up," Charlie sighed, "Hercules grabbed her and flung her around in his jaws. Nearly torn her arm off. She's out for a month at least. Henry and Sam both caught some claws and the fire when they were distracting Herc while the team got Marla out."

"Ah, shit," Caroline dragged a hand through her pixie-short blonde locks, "Got stroppy with you too, eh?"

"Caught me with his claws 'cause I was still fuck-eyed," Charlie shrugged.

"How's Herc?" Jason wanted to know.

"Sedated. They upped his dosage a bit more too," Charlie sighed, "Go on and get your food and your coffee, you lot. We're covering for the three of them today and we've got Hermione here for her first day of training too."

He nodded in Hermione's direction.

"Ah, you're alive then, kitten?" Sid grinned when he spotted her leaning against the wall and sipping her coffee.

"More so than you, by the looks of it," Hermione returned the smile, "Get on and drink your coffee before you vomit, would you?"

"Reckon Suzy's ready for us?" Caroline asked as they all began heading for the coffee shop.

Hermione didn't comment as she watched them go, shaking her head and chuckling a bit.

"Told you that your handler would be late, didn't I?" Charlie said when it was just the two of them left.

"Which one's in charge of trying to run me out of the dragon program today?" Hermione asked him, watching him stroll closer to her until he stood in front of her.

The sunlight gleamed off his fiery red hair and those wild-eyes surveyed her relaxed posture calmly.

"You were here before seven, weren't you," he smirked suddenly, eyeing her, "That's your second cup of coffee and you've already had breakfast."

"How do you know?" Hermione asked.

"This isn't Suzy's writing," he told her, tilting his cup towards her to show how she'd written his name in neat letters across the side of his cup, "I know your handwriting well enough to recognise it when I see it."

Hermione shrugged her shoulders, "I wanted to be on time and the rest of you were late."

"You opened your locker yet?" Charlie asked her, seeming amused by her attitude.

"Mmhmm," Hermione hummed, "Tell me how one goes about tasting dragonfire?"

Charlie laughed at her words.

"You'll see," he assured her, "Marla was supposed to be your handler while you're here, but after last night she's out of commission for a few weeks."

"Who's in charge of my training in her stead?" Hermione wanted to know, watching the still-grouchy Tamers across the street where they were tucking into muffins and skolling their coffee.

"Me," Charlie told her casually.

"Seriously?" Hermione asked, glancing back at him with wide eyes.

Hermione eyed him carefully, wondering if he was having her on. The last thing she needed was to complicate her crush on him even more by having him be in charge of her training. She couldn't be seen lusting after her boss.

"Told you that your handler would be late," he smirked again, looking amused when her cheeks turned pink in horror over her own thoughts and over the fact that she'd been cuddled up in his bed with him half an hour ago.

Hermione bit her lip, trying to hide her panic of the idea of him being her handler. It wasn't that she didn't relish the idea of working in close quarters with him or that she was bothered by the idea of having him teach her. But she'd been lusting after him for years. Being in his presence made her all hot and bothered. She'd been in bed with him last night, letting him kiss her neck and rubbing herself all over him.

As her boss and her superior, it would look bad if she was seen to be lusting after him or getting romantically involved with him. They could circumvent her training and claim she'd shagged her way through the testing with him being in charge of her training while she was there. If someone like Amy were to argue that she was incompetent and had been shagging the boss, she could be kicked out of the program.

Hermione felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she stared at Charlie for several long minutes in silence. She'd just have to squash down her interest in him. As much as she burned for him, she wanted to complete her training more. Besides, she'd been squashing her interest in him since she'd first met him. What was a few more months or one more year?

"You alright with that?" he asked her, his eyes scanning her face carefully as he gauged her reaction.

Hermione nodded her head slowly, making sure to keep her gaze fixed on his freckled, handsome face rather than allowing herself to drink in the sight he made in his gear.

"So how about it, Hermione?" Jason asked, striding back over towards them near the entrance to the inner centre of the sanctuary, "Are you ready for your first day of dragon training?"

"Are you ready to lose money over betting I'd be out of here by the end of the day?" Hermione retorted, turning her gaze from Charlie and raking her gaze over the dark haired Romanian Tamer.

"Ooh, getting cocky already there, girly?" he asked, grinning at her challenge, "Weasley you better not go easy on this one."

"Do I ever go easy on anyone?" Charlie asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Usually no. But this is Hermione we're talking about," Jason winked at Charlie in return.

"If you go easy on her, she'll automatically fail her training, Weasley," Amy piped up, having followed Jason over from the coffee shop.

"Hermione's never failed anything in her life," Charlie rolled his eyes, "I hardly think that there's anything that we can do to her that will break that record."

Hermione smiled widely at the praise.

"Not that I'm not going to try, mind you," he smirked at her suddenly, looking wickedly amused and more than a little dangerous.

"If she's still here by the end of the day," Harvey began, sipping his coffee.

"Please don't say it, Harvey," Hermione held up her hand, "Reading it in my welcome card from you lot was bad enough."

Everyone began to laugh at her words.

"Peruvian Vipertooth mating ritual?" Caroline asked.

"Mhmm," Hermione nodded, "Apparently there'll be a demonstration."

"Gross," Caroline wrinkled her nose, "Harvey, you're twisted, you know that right?"

Harvey flipped her off and kept drinking his coffee.

"So, what have you got us all doing to pick up the slack, boss?" Sid wanted to know when he returned.

"You three can cover Samson's dragons," Charlie said, all playfulness and banter leaving the group suddenly as they got down to business for the day, "He's been trying to get Hera to go into heat too, so make sure you keep that up. Jace, I need you to handle Henry's ordering and stocktake until he's back on his feet."

"Got it, boss," Jace grinned and Hermione got the feeling that whatever the hierarchy was around here, Jace was Charlie's second in command.

"Tatiana, you and Amy handle Henry's Fireballs. Caroline, you take Sid and Ivan to handle the Ironbelly's. Harvey," Charlie said.

"Vipertooths?" Harvey interrupted, his eyes lighting up.

Charlie nodded, smirking at him.

"Saskia will handle things at the Nursery. The rest of you stick to your usual routine, but if something looks like it needs doing, do it. Me and Hermione will handle things here, so I need you lot out in the field," Charlie told them all.

"You're going to put her in charge of overseeing all the dragons in here?" Amy demanded, narrowing her eyes and pointing indicatively to the sanctuary through the large wrought iron gates that led to the part of the enclosures where the injured, sick and breeding dragons were housed.

"Weren't you just whinging that I'd go easy on her?" Charlie retorted.

"Yeah, boss, but all of them?" Sid asked, "That's over fifty dragons who need medication, sedation, cage-cleans, feeding, bathing, scraping, scrubbing. Hell, boss. I couldn't take on that many alone. It's her first bloody day."

"You take on more than that in the field," Charlie argued.

"Yeah, but they're all healthy and easy to look after. They hunt their own food, and don't need constant attention," Sid argued, looking puzzled about the workload Charlie apparently intended to give her.

"Well, they're all going to need your attention over the next couple of weeks," Charlie informed him, "Because they're all due for their inoculation and their medication in the lead up to breeding season. I want every dragon on the reserve fit, healthy, and ready for the strain of breeding season. They're all due to be fitted with new trackers too. And that falls to each of you."

As a group the gathered Dragon Tamers all groaned.

"Already?" Caroline demanded, "They were all tagged…"

"Three years ago," Charlie finished for her when she trailed off clearly trying to remember when the dragons had all been tagged, "Exactly. They're all due for new trackers. With breeding season around the corner I want them ready. I want the males strong, and the females fattening up to take the strain of pregnancy, egg-laying and egg-sitting. They've got to be inoculated so we don't have another Pox outbreak and they've got to be ready survive the mating rituals and the battles. Jace, I want you ordering triple the usual amount of food we need for the sanctum. Next few months will see most of the beasts coming through the gates for one thing or another."

"Ah hell," Greg grumbled, "We'll need to be ready for callouts too. Migration will have started last night. No wonder Herc was so stroppy. Shit."

The rest of the Tamers, suitably grumpy again, all accepted their orders and began stomping off towards their respective areas to handle their own jobs.

"There's no way she'll be able to take on the entire sanctum, Charlie," Amy stated, hanging back when everyone else left, "She'll take one look at those dragons and she'll turn tail to bury her nose back in her books."

"Amy?" Charlie asked, leaning forwards a little in a way that Hermione found sexy as hell. He sort of braced a little, like a big cat just waiting for his prey to put a foot out of line and make a mistake so he could lunge for the throat. Amy was clearly intimidated by the pose because she raised her eyebrows questioningly, but she also took a small step back from Charlie.

"Go handle your dragons and leave Hermione's training to me," Charlie commanded of the other witch, narrowing his eyes on her dangerously.

Amy didn't say another word, though she did pause to rake a hateful glare over Hermione before she turned on the spot and Disapparated with a crack.

Charlie loosed a small growl like he were a dragon himself, clearly annoyed by Amy's behaviour. He turned back to her slowly and Hermione found herself needing to tense her entire body to keep from throwing herself at him and rubbing herself all over him. He looked entirely like a predator, ready to breathe fire all over someone if they annoyed him and Hermione could tell he was still hungover and annoyed by their questioning of his Orders.

"Right. Come on," he told her, nodding her towards the gate into the sanctum, "You've got a lot of dragons to meet and a lot to learn."