AU! No epilogue. Fred Lives (like in most of my stories :P)
I'm taking a bit of liberty for the dragon's characterization.
Warnings: Fred and George make a couple of suggestive innuendos. A bit of kissing. ;)
Written for Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
House: Thunderbird
Class/Task Number: American Magical History. 4. [someone taking drastic measures to save someone or something]
Bonus Prompts:
[character] Charlie Weasley
[weather] storm
[colour] black
Word Count: 3390/4500
Hebridean Hazard
After two dragons get lost on an island, it's up to Charlie, Hermione and the twins to get them back.
Charlie had seen Hermione Granger only once after Bill's disastrous wedding — the wedding had been fine; it was the Death Eater attack that had been disastrous.
Charlie remembered dancing with her under the starlight, her red dress had flowed around her with every step she'd taken. He still remembered the way her eyes had sparkled with happiness when she'd watched Bill and Fleur have their first dance as a married couple.
Charlie had claimed her for the first dance; he hadn't wanted her to dance with any of his brothers first. He still remembered the way he had held her on the dance floor — she'd fit perfectly against him. His heart had tried to beat out of his chest as the feelings had coursed through him.
He'd developed a crush on the younger witch, however unacceptable it was. He knew Ron fancied her, too; Charlie knew he didn't have any chance with her, so he'd stepped aside without pomp and grandeur.
When he saw her Disapparate with Harry and Ron, he hadn't known when he would next lay eyes on her.
It was at the Battle of Hogwarts.
He'd flown in on his broom alongside the Order and had battled the army of the Death Eaters.
He'd caught a glimpse of Hermione rushing across the courtyard with his youngest brother, a Death Eater on her trail. He'd instantly cast a powerful Stupefy on the man, Hermione had turned to look at him — and then, a smile as bright as a dragon's flame had spread over her face, and Charlie had almost tripped over his feet.
She'd squeezed his hand as she passed him a few seconds later, and the goofy smile that had stretched over his face had been noticed by both Fred and George.
They'd snickered and sang, "Charlie and Hermione, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!"
Charlie had tried to scowl but hadn't been able to.
And when Hermione had suddenly cast a quick Accio on Fred's robes and advertently dragged Fred towards her, Charlie had cried as his feelings had overwhelmed him.
He'd left for Romania soon after, and rarely came home for the holidays. The reason he'd given his family was that they had a lot of work at the dragon reserve; the real reason was that he didn't want to see Hermione and Ron's budding relationship. He was happy for his brother, sure, but he was also envious.
He had learned from his family that Hermione had been promoted to the Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures — now it was being called the Department for the Regulation and Care of Magical Creatures, due to Hermione's advocacy.
He knew she would do wonders in the Department; she was a true and dedicated advocate of creatures' rights.
Charlie needed help. He was way in over his head. The first person he thought of asking for help in his time of crisis was Hermione Granger.
He knew she would be able to help him — she was brilliant and loved magical creatures just as much as he did.
But how could he contact her without raising suspicion?
He thought of asking his family, but he knew that was a surefire way to alert everyone. He had an extremely close-knit family and they were sure to share their questions and suspicions with each other.
He had no choice. He needed to head back to England. He would have to meet Hermione in casual circumstances, else the authorities would be alerted.
He hastily submitted an application of leave, packed his bags, grabbed a portkey, and arrived in the Ministry of Magic early one morning.
He Flooed over to the Burrow and was greeted by his surprised, yet delighted, mother.
"Oh, Charlie! Goodness me, why didn't you inform anyone you're coming home?" Molly bustled around Charlie, as she hugged her second-eldest child to her bosom.
Charlie grinned sheepishly and said, "Sorry, Mum. I decided to come home on the spur of the moment, I guess. I missed you guys."
Well, it wasn't exactly a lie, he thought to himself as Molly quickly sent his bags upstairs with a wave of her wand.
"So, what are the others up to these days?" He casually inquired, as he sat down on the couch.
Molly sat down on the other couch and replied, "Oh, the usual. Bill's still at Gringotts, Fleur's now working in Madam Malkin's as a designer. Fred and George are still holed up in their flat above their shop — Merlin knows what they're up to most of the time."
Charlie laughed heartily.
"And then, Ginny's on tour with the Harpies and Harry's with Puddlemere United. I'm so proud of them! And Ron's working in Honeydukes — I've never seen him so dedicated to a job," Molly said.
"Ron's working in Honeydukes? What about his job as an Auror?" Charlie asked, bewildered.
"Oh, he gave that up a few months ago. He said going after Dark wizards and witches wasn't the same without his best friends. Personally, I think it's good he's not an Auror. I always worried about him when he left on missions."
Charlie nodded; he knew his mother worried about everyone, she still worried about him working with dragons on a daily basis.
"What about Hermione?" He tried to be subtle, but Molly was his mother, after all. She saw clear through him in a second.
She smiled softly and answered, "She's doing very good in her Department. She's just passed a bill regarding house-elf treatment, did you know?"
Charlie pretended he didn't know, like he hadn't obsessively read all the newspaper articles he could find regarding the beautiful brunette witch.
"Yes, she just passed a law. Now anyone who's found abusing a house elf will be punished according to the law. It's an amazing achievement, isn't it?" Molly smiled at Charlie.
"Yeah, it is wonderful. She's a hardworking witch, after all. I didn't expect any less from her," Charlie couldn't help but say.
Molly smirked to herself as she watched her son's cheeks redden with embarrassment at his admission. Looks like someone had a crush!
"Will anyone come for dinner tonight?" Charlie tried to change the topic hastily.
"Yes, everyone who's in the country at the time comes over for Sunday dinner," Molly said.
"I can't wait to see everyone," Charlie exclaimed, a grin on his face.
"Everyone? Or just a particular witch?" Molly teased her son.
"Mum! What are you even talking about?" Charlie protested, his face as red as his hair.
"Don't try to lie to your mum, Charlie Weasley," Molly admonished.
"Mum, no, it's nothing…" Charlie trailed off as the fireplace lit up and Fred stumbled out of it.
"Oye! What's this? Charlie, mate, is that you?" he squealed as he rushed over to his brother and hugged him tightly.
Charlie laughed and hugged him back just as tight. Merlin, he had missed his idiotic brothers!
"How come you're here? Are you here to finally whisk our little Granger off her feet?" Fred joked, when Charlie ruffled his hair.
"What?! No!" Charlie cried, embarrassed.
George's voice rang out from the Floo behind them. "What's taking you so long, doofus? Get back here, Fred!"
"You get here! Charlie's here!" Fred called out.
"What?! Charlie's at the Burrow?! I'm comin' over!" George tumbled out of the fireplace, a huge grin on his face.
"Charlie! Finally came to your senses, huh?" George joked as he clapped Charlie's back.
"What do you mean?" Charlie frowned.
"You're here for Granger, aren't you?" George asked.
"Why does everyone keep asking me that? No, I'm not here for Hermione! I'm here to see you guys," he lied petulantly.
"Whatever you say, brother dear." The twins laughed at Charlie's pout.
"Sorry, Charlie, but we need to get back to the shop for a couple of hours. We'll see you tonight at dinner," they apologized, before they rushed upstairs to their old room to grab a few products they'd dropped off a few days ago.
That evening, Charlie waited impatiently for Hermione to come to the Burrow.
When she finally walked in, Charlie caught the surprised look in her eyes when she saw him in the kitchen.
"Charlie! What a surprise!" She cried, as she walked up and wrapped her arms around his waist.
Charlie sighed, happily, when he finally felt her in his arms once again. She still fit perfectly against him.
"Meet me outside after dinner," he whispered in her ear, before he pulled away.
Hermione's eyes widened at his request, but nodded slightly.
They chatted amicably as they went to sit at the table. Charlie learned she was working to pass a law regarding centaurs.
After dinner was over, Charlie and Hermione snuck out the backdoor, unaware the entire family knew they were trying to disappear silently.
"So, what's up?" Hermione asked.
"I need your help," he blurted out.
"What? What's wrong?" Hermione frowned and turned to face him.
Sighing, Charlie ran his fingers through his hair, and whispered, "Have you heard about the storm that's happening on the Isle of Wight?"
Hermione nodded. "Yeah, it's really bad down there. No one's able to Apparate there or even use the Floo. Muggle transportation isn't working either. There have been incidents of people disappearing if they venture too far these days."
Charlie nodded; of course she knew about it, she always remained on top of things. "Yeah, it's about that storm. I'm sure you know all about Hebridean Blacks…"
"Wh— Charlie?! Do you mean to say that it's a rogue Hebridean Black that's flown down and is currently causing that storm?!" Hermione gasped, her hand over her mouth.
"Not exactly. A guy lost two eggs over there and they seem to have hatched. But because Hebridean's are really territorial, they're attacking each other. They usually need at least a hundred miles for themselves, you know," Charlie hesitantly explained.
"Why hasn't anyone told the Ministry this yet? It's my Department that needs to handle this!" Hermione cried, worried.
"Umm.. no one really knows about the Hebrideans on the island… it's kind of.. my fault," Charlie admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck and kicked a stone away with his toe.
"What do you mean?"
"I.. might have.. known the guy?" He cautiously phrased his answer as a question.
"Charlie Weasley! What do you mean?!" Hermione placed her hands on her hips and scowled up at him.
"Fine, I'll tell you the truth, but please don't arrest me!" He pleaded, his eyes wide with hope.
"Charlie…" she warned, pointedly.
"It was Hagrid. He wanted to take the eggs up to the McFausty Clan himself, but he lost them on the way. I thought he would be able to take them himself — he said he would do it! But he got drunk and someone stole the eggs from him, and now they're hatched and causing the storm. He just informed me about losing them — after the McFausty Clan sent a letter saying they hadn't received the dragon eggs," Charlie stammered.
Hermione groaned and facepalmed. "Why did you give them to Hagrid? You know how he is with such things!"
"I know, but he looked so excited to take the eggs and I couldn't say no to him," Charlie admitted, worried about her reaction.
"I love Hagrid — I truly do — but he really can't be trusted with magical creatures," Hermione muttered, as she tried to think about what they needed to do.
"Please help me get the dragons off the island," Charlie pleaded.
"How do you propose we do that? If we're keeping this low-key, I can't really use any of the Department's resources for this mission."
"I.. have a plan. You might not like it, but it's the only way we can get on the island safely," Charlie said, quietly.
Incandescent lightning, like Poseidon's trident, lit the turbulent midnight-black skies in resplendent God-goldened streaks. Torrential rain poured down in icy sheets like needles upon one's face. Claps of thunder sounded that pierced through the eardrums.
Fog embraced every arcane limb of the wizened oak trees, every little inch of the ground; they groaned and moaned in wrath enough to scare the Gods.
"I thought you said you had a plan!" Hermione yelled, as the enormous scaly wings on her sides beat down powerfully.
"This is the plan!" Charlie laughed as Hermione tightened her arms around his waist.
"You didn't tell me we were going to fly in on a dragon! You said transportation was ready!" Hermione grumbled, as she buried her face against Charlie's shoulders.
"You rode a dragon out of Gringotts, Mione! Why are you so scared?"
"That was a matter of life and death! This.. is not," Hermione cried when the large Hebridean Black they were situated upon took a nosedive towards the island under them.
"Relax, Hermione, let us enjoy this once in a lifetime opportunity!" Fred laughed heartily, as he clutched onto the sharp ridges along the dragon's back.
"Just snuggle up to our dear brother and have fun," George teased, as he turned his head to look at Hermione behind Charlie's shoulder. He almost lost his balance when he tried to push the hair out of his eyes.
"Let me get off first — then, I'll hex you all," Hermione muttered as she clenched her eyes shut.
Fred and George had deliberately eavesdropped on their conversation outside the Burrow. They'd blackmailed Charlie so he had to bring the twins along with him and Hermione.
He'd gone to the McFausty Clan in Scotland and requested to borrow one of their trained dragons. They'd agreed to send a guide along with them who would steer the dragon.
If the McFausty ever let someone in to their tribe, Charlie would rush to them in a heartbeat.
"Why are you so scared, anyway? This is the second time you've been on a dragon," Charlie pointed out, as another bolt of lightning illuminated the obsidian-black sky — a colour that the dragon they were upon shared with their surroundings.
"That was five years ago! It's not like I'm used to riding dragons all the time or anything," she yelled over the din.
Charlie laughed, and then blushed when Fred and George screamed at the same time, "How about riding a dragon-tamer?!"
Hermione snarled and tightened her hold on Charlie.
When they finally landed on the sweet, sweet ground, Charlie wrapped his hands around her waist and helped her off. Heart still thundering along with the skies, she leaned into him, as her knees shook.
"We're here to find the baby dragons, not romance each other," Fred teased as he hopped off the great obsidian-black dragon with a cheerful grin on his face.
"You two can do that stuff later — when we're not around," George added.
"Oh, sod off, you two!" Hermione mumbled and straightened up.
Their 'pilot' called out, "Charlie, when do you want me to come get you?"
"I'll send you a Patronus," Charlie called.
The thin and lanky man nodded and patted the side of the dragon. It flapped its wings and rose up in the air, and flew off into the distance.
"Now, what do you think we should do?" Hermione asked, serious all of a sudden.
"Well, we need to round up the babies — but first, we need to find them," Charlie started.
"Uhh — does this baby look like a mixture of our ride and Snape?" George cautiously asked, his eyes trained on a spot behind them.
"Weird description, bro, but yeah, similar," Charlie said.
"And, uh, how does one tell someone a dragon's behind them?" Fred squeaked out, his eyes trained on the same spot.
"What?!" Hermione and Charlie both cried, as they whirled around.
Shocking purple eyes stared at them from a short distance away. The dragon's nostrils flared and sent a hot steam of air towards them.
"Shit! It's going to blow!" Charlie cried, as he grabbed Hermione by her waist and swung her behind him, his wand out in an instant.
Fred and George quickly erected a strong shield around the four of them just before the dragon's flames surrounded them like a cocoon.
"Distract it!" Hermione barked as she quickly started to mutter different incantations and erect powerful wards around them all.
"Annoy it! But don't get too close!" Charlie added.
"Our middle name is Annoying!" Fred and George grinned as they ran in a zig-zag pattern around the eleven feet long dragon.
As the dragon focused on trying to roast or stomp on the twins, Charlie and Hermione worked together to hang a goblin-wrought silver net enchanted to calm down the dragon over the tall trees. It was difficult with the trees swaying so heavily in the stormy night.
"Over here, dragon baby!" Fred yelled as he danced just out of the furious dragon's reach.
"Roast me!" George cackled as he ducked under its sharp talons and poked its underbelly.
"Merlin, those two are awesome!" Charlie gasped, as he glanced at his brothers to make sure they weren't in any real danger. He continued to work on the net, and tossed the other end to Hermione.
"They need to be careful," she whispered, terrified.
Just then, another dragon swooped in from the sky. Charlie caught sight of it first. The dragon's target was obviously George.
Charlie barked at Hermione, "Grab the ends!"
Hermione barely had time to react; Charlie cast a powerful Stupefy at the dragon's wing, but it didn't work for long.
Before the dragon could swoop down and carry George off, Charlie threw himself at George, as his adrenaline pumped through his body.
The talons sunk into Charlie's side like a knife sinks into melted butter. He let out a heart-rending scream that startled the other dragon into glancing up.
"Charlie!" Three horrified voices echoed through the air, despite the heavy rain that fell on them like the devil's spit, hot and hissing.
Hermione activated the net to fall before either dragon could fly off. The twins rolled out of the way just as the net fell over Charlie and the dragons. They roared and blew fire, but to no avail.
A few seconds later, they became drowsy and dropped their heads to the ground.
"Charlie!" Hermione shrieked as she dragged him from under the dragon's body. Charlie panted as he clutched onto his blood-streaked shirt.
"Grab the first-aid kit!" Hermione stammered out. She worked on applying Dittany to his ruptured side, as her hands trembled.
"I'm okay, Kitten," Charlie whispered, before he winced in pain.
"You're an idiot!" George snapped when Charlie finally found strength enough to sit upright.
"I couldn't let you die," Charlie croaked as he leaned into Hermione. The rain fell in torrents around them, as Hermione cried, and the twins hugged Charlie for dear life.
"Mum would have killed you," Fred sobbed, as he wiped his eyes.
"Mum would kill us anyway, if she finds out what we're up to," Charlie pointed out.
"Merlin, I th-thought we lost you!" Hermione sniffled, her eyes red.
"I'm not going anywhere so soon," Charlie soothed her and pulled her into his arms.
Fred and George smirked and watched as Charlie gently cupped her face and pressed his forehead against hers.
"Dump Ron. Go out with me," he blurted out, as the adrenaline still pumped through his veins.
"What? Who said I was with Ron? He's dating Luna, don't you know that?" Hermione said, bewildered.
"What?! Fred, George! You two said that she was dating Ron!" Charlie cried, as he snapped his head to glare at the twins.
They grinned sheepishly and stepped back.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU TWO! YOU KNEW I LIKED HIM! WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS?!" Hermione yelled as she pulled out her wand to hex them.
"Mercy, mercy!" They shrieked as they fell onto their knees.
"You like me?" Charlie whispered, hopefully.
"I —"
"I know what the twins can do to make it up to us," Charlie murmured, before he gently pressed his lips against hers in a soft kiss that set Hermione's heart ablaze.
"It better not be watching you two snog like the devil," Fred muttered as he looked away from them.
"Knowing these two, it's probably going to be terrible," George complained.
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