"I wondered if that was you. My name is Josh." He shook her hand. "It's really nice to meet you, my family really appreciates what you did for everyone, with the war, we know it couldn't have been easy."
"Thank you. I'm glad I'm not the only one that wants to wear the Ironbelly as art." She told him.
"Charlie didn't tell you he commissioned me to draw it for him?" Josh asked her.
"No, it never came up," She looked at Charlie "I guess we were busy talking about other things." Never in a million years would Hermione Granger have believed that she would have been on the exact same page as Charlie Weasley when it came to getting a tattoo. Her resolve was hardened, she was determined to get this tattoo if it was the last thing she did.
"I didn't think this one would be done so soon. Come on, love, it's fast" Charlie stripped his shirt off on his way into the room Josh had set up to do tattoos.
"If you've been in a muggle shop before the chair is really the only thing set up the same in a tattoo parlor. When it comes to a shop like this one, since we also do piercings, there are a few more similarities. We do sanitation spells, constantly and we keep healing potions on hand so that we can instantly heal it; you never have to worry about infections or rejections. For tattoos, we basically draw it out with magic and then transfer the art. After that, we make it come to life. Muggles can't see them moving, though, they only see them as they are when they first go onto the skin. Charlie, here, is pretty comfortable in here. You can tell that he's used to the process." Josh laughed.
"I can see that." Hermione tried very hard to avoid blatantly staring at Charlie, but it was almost impossible. She watched Josh set everything up and get Charlie ready. He put on gloves and cleaned his skin before telling her the numbing charm was really for a just in case, that a tattoo should never hurt. Hermione now had her excuse to look at Charlie.
He was all man, nothing like the boys she was used to. He had a few burn scars from working with the dragons but nothing large. His abs were well defined, but not over the top. He had played enough quidditch, since being home, that he was still in excellent shape. He had a happy trail that Hermione was happy to let her eyes follow, she could only assume that at the end of that trail would be great happiness. If only she could get to the other end. Charlie's arms were also quite large, she assumed he would be able to pick her up with ease. The only thoughts crossing her mind were involving Charlie manhandling her up against a wall or flinging her over his shoulder and running away with her. Hermione would be up for either.
"When we are ready we just perform a quick spell and we're all done," Josh told her.
All of the sudden Charlie had the Ukrainian Ironbelly standing proudly on his left ribs. With another flick of Josh's wand, the dragon came to life. His eyes were still the milky pink color from when Hermione Had first seen the dragon, but he was healing. He no longer had deep gashes all over, just scars that were healing and fading.
"He's beautiful," Hermione whispered entranced. She reached out and felt it, without thinking. It was smooth and soft. Hermione ran her fingers lightly down his ribs causing him to tighten all of the muscles in his abdomen. She was impressed with the way his muscles rolled under her touch and imagined how they would feel with him pinning her down to a mattress.
"He is," Charlie confirmed looking her directly in the eyes. His gaze felt like fire and Hermione had not only caught ahold of the flame but was also melting into a huge puddle.
"Your turn," Josh told her breaking their moment.
Hermione jerked her gaze away and yanked her hand back like she really had been burned. She looked away from Charlie's magnificent body as he stood up to put his shirt back on. Looking around the room she saw pictures of piercings and tattoos, lining the walls. Hermione felt like she was going to go crazy waiting on her tattoo, changing her body permanently scared her and thrilled her. Josh started setting up and Hermione paced the room.
"Charlie, can I do this by myself?" Hermione asked nervously.
"Love, you can do this however you want." Charlie put his hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes. Hermione couldn't breathe, she felt like the whole world was stopping, and was more than content to stand there in their moment. "I'll wait right outside for you." He stepped out of the room and closed the door.
Hermione placed a silencing spell on the door before turning around with determination. She could do this. She rolled her shirt up to her bra and leaned back on the lounge style chair. He was done faster with hers than Charlie's since he was already set up.
"I need one more thing," Hermione told Josh a bit hesitantly. "I want to get a piercing." She told him, steeling her courage.
"We can do that, what would you like?" He asked her, already grabbing the things he would need to set up.
It had taken less than five minutes from the time that Charlie had closed the door until Hermione walked back out. She was glad to finally be done and thought that she may end up getting more tattoos and piercings in the future, after this experience. Josh had given her a small vial of a healing potion that she would put on her piercing that night and once more in the morning, as a precaution and would be done. Being a witch surely had its advantages, she couldn't begin to fathom how bad she would be hurting without magic.
"How much do I owe you?" Charlie asked Josh
"Too late, Charlie, your girlfriend already paid me." He answered. If he noticed the way Charlie looked at Hermione, with a raised eyebrow, or the way Hermione started to flush; he didn't let on.
"Alright, then, I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon."
"Thank you," Hermione waved her wand and changed her appearance back to the altered state she had taken on, earlier. "I really appreciate your services, today." She obviously wasn't going to say much more in front of Charlie and knew that Josh would keep his mouth shut, thanks to practicing a bit of legilimency on him. They left the shop and made their way back towards Diagon Alley.
"So, how do you feel?" Charlie asked, holding her hand again.
"I feel good, relieved that it didn't hurt and that I finally did something crazy." Hermione couldn't help the smile tugging at her lips. "I feel like I'm finally living like I can breathe and do what I want to." She couldn't help looking in his eyes, to see if he understood her.
Charlie frowned down at Hermione after he met her gaze. She thought that maybe he didn't understand or that he was possibly annoyed at her thought process. The next thing she knew she was standing in an alley that Charlie had apparated them into. Hermione looked around confused for a moment and saw Charlie wave his wand at her. If it had been anyone else, she probably would have flinched and expected the worst.
"I wanted to look into your eyes, not the blue eyes you were wearing." Charlie told her gruffly, "You deserve the world after everything you went through." He was moving closer and looking her directly in the eyes. "I want you to know what your worth." He was still holding her hand and used it to pull her to him. He put his hand against her face and ran his thumb over her cheekbone. "You are a beautiful person."
Hermione had stopped breathing, she didn't know how to react. She couldn't break the eye contact and reveled in his touch. She was starting to feel things she had never experienced from a man, only from a book or herself.
"Why do you want to see my eyes?" Hermione was the only thing that she could grasp onto in her frozen brain.
"Because they talk to me when you don't, they tell me the things you're too scared to say." He was even closer than before. Hermione had to tilt her head back because of how close he was standing.
"What are they telling you, right now?" Hermione breathed.
"Everything." He moved his hand around to the back of her neck and tilted her head back further by gently tugging on her hair.
Hermione decided it was time to take control of one last thing, that day and leaned up on her tippy toes. She used his hand as leverage, since he was still holding hers, and balanced herself. The next thing she felt was a shock, her lips were finally against Charlie's lips and it was nothing short of electric.
A/N: Sorry this is so short, I have to leave for work in about 10 minutes and didn't get as far as I was hoping. My kid was messing with my computer all morning while I was trying to type (she's a year and a half.) GOODNEWS! The story should start getting smutty and more romantic very soon!