Hey, thanks to everyone who has reviewed and i hope you're all still enjoying the story. my pace will be slowed down for a while because school is kinda taking over, but i will try to get chapters out quickly. thanks for reading!
Between the two of them Hermione was moved in pretty quickly, and after she had finished settling into her room, she had to express her gratitude to Charlie. She walked out of her room and found Charlie sitting at the kitchen table reading a quidditch magazine. He heard her coming and he looked up at her with a smile.
"You all settled in now?" he asked. Hermione nodded.
"I think so" she said as she closed the distance between them. She went behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders and gave them a little rub as she continued to speak. "I just have to thank you Charlie, your house is wonderful, and I already feel like I'm at home, and it's nice to be around you."
Charlie looked behind him and up at Hermione. "I'm glad you're happy Hermione, I'm quite happy too. It's nice to have you as a room mate." They shared a silent moment, and Charlie placed one of his hands on Hermione's that continued to rub his shoulders. They were both enjoying the closeness that they were sharing, but were interrupted by the growling of Charlie's stomach. Hermione let out a laugh, and moved to his side.
"You Weasley men are all the same. I suppose that means we should head to dinner." Charlie chuckled and got up with a helping hand from Hermione.
"I just have a healthy appetite is all" and with that they left the house to head to dinner. It turns out that the place he had wanted to take Hermione was a rowdy pub down in the heart of the village. Hermione had to admit that she loved the atmosphere. She and Charlie found a table in one of the quieter corners of the pub.
"How do you like the place so far?" Charlie asked her, after they had ordered their meals. Hermione gave him a big smile, and then looked around the room again.
"It's great Charlie. I feel like it's really filling me with energy. I haven't had this much fun in a while." Charlie studied her face, and she did indeed have a lot of color in cheeks, which might have had something to do with the wine they were sharing, but she was glowing and she looked healthy and happy.
Charlie longed to reach across the table and just kiss her senseless. But as he sat their and studied her face, she pulled him out of his daydreams.
"What are you thinking about Charlie?" she asked. She tilted her head and looked deep into his sparkling green eyes, they were always so intense.
"I'm just glad you're happy Hermione. It's nice to see you back to your normal self" He said with a smile.
"Yeah, it's nice to feel normal again, and I'm so excited to start work at the reserve! Tell me all about it Charlie." Talking about the reserve always brought a smile to Charlies face, and it inspired Hermione by how passionate he always was about that particular subject.
Charlie spent the rest of the time there telling Hermione all about the things and place he loved most in life, with only a couple of pauses when the food came. When they were all done with their meal, and slightly tipsy from the wine, Hermione jumped up and grabbed Charlie's hands pulling him up from the table.
"Lets dance Charlie, Please!" Charlie hesitated for a minute, he was a really horrible dancer, but then again he thought it might be fun to dance with Hermione, and he couldn't say no that face. Besides she was already dragging him onto the dance floor, without waiting for his reply… he was going to dance no matter what.
Once they were on the dance floor he found that Hermione wasn't much better at dancing than him, and he couldn't help but laugh. In the end, he supposed it didn't matter, it was exhilarating to be on the dance floor and he thought Hermione looked beautiful, breathless and flushed from the dancing. Hermione could see Charlie loosening up, and she was glad. She was having a wonderful time.
At one point a rather burly man knocked into her, and she fell forward, and Charlie with his quick quidditch reflexes caught her in his strong arms.
"Well hey there" he said with a laugh in his voice. Hermione looked at him, and let out a very uncharacteristic giggle.
"Well hello… good thing you were here or I would have fell flat on my face. I guess that's the risk of dancing by a bunch of drunk people." Charlie was still holding her close, but neither of them really noticed, it just felt too natural. Hermione felt so content, and like a warmth was coming from inside her, and as she studied his face her eyes landed on his lips, her only desire was just to feel his lips on hers. She mused about this thought for a little while, and decided that she was finally starting to feel mostly comfortable with these feelings. Tonight was the first time she had really felt happy for awhile, and she had decided that Ron was right, she should try and be happy, and she didn't think Ron would mind her finding happiness in Charlie. The only problem, was that she was sure Charlie could never have those feelings for her, she would always be his little brothers girl to Charlie.
Charlie had been observing Hermione as she looked over his face, and saw her eyes sadden a bit as she stopped her gaze at his lips. This was the first time he had seen any sort of sadness come into her face that night, and he took one of his arms from around her waste and put it under her chin, lifting it up, so he could see her face better. Their eyes met, and Hermione smiled again seeing the passion and sparkle in Charlie's eyes.
"Ya okay? You looked sad there for a minute" he said, and she leaned forward into him, embracing him. While in the hug she stretched up to his ear, so he could hear better.
"I'm perfect Charlie. Thank you so much for this evening. I'm so lucky and grateful that I have you in my life." Fortunately the song changed, and a new slower song came on, and they stayed in their embrace and danced close and slowly to the music.
Charlie thought it was soft enough, but Hermione heard him let out a happy sigh of contentment, and Hermione's heart leapt in hope. Hermione and Charlie stayed for a couple more dances, and found any excuse to stay close to each other.
They finally found themselves back home close to midnight, and they both dropped exhausted on the couch, somehow Hermione found herself halfway draped over Charlie, and she began to roll off of him, but his arm grabbed her and held her there. She looked up at him in surprise, and he began rubbing circles on the small of her back. He knew he was taking a risk with her, but he didn't see her objecting, and he smiled a little when she closed her eyes and leaned into him, laying her head on his chest.
"Hermione" he said softly.
"Hmm?" she said peacefully, still snuggled into his chest, but she opened her eyes and moved her head back a little bit to look into his eyes. His eyes held so much emotion in them, and they almost reminded her of how his eyes lit up when he talked about dragons. Charlie stayed silent for a moment, trying to think of how to say what he wanted to, but Hermione urged him on by taking one of his hands and squeezing it gently. Finally Charlie took a deep breath and dove right in.
"I feel like you should know, just exactly how important you have become to me in my life. I feel like you're one of the main reasons I wake up in the morning, and I can't wait to see you smile everyday, or hear your voice. And I just can't hide what I'm feeling for you anymore. It's okay if you don't feel the same way, I just…"
"Oh Charlie" Hermione interrupted him, and brought a hand up to his face to stroke his cheek. "Of course I feel the same way… you have become the single most important person in my life, and it feels like a dream come true, that you have come to think of me in that way too." Charlies face broke out in a smile, and Hermione smiled back, feeling very content. They stayed quiet for a little bit, just looking into each others eyes, and reveling in the confessions they both just shared. Just before Hermione was about to drift to sleep, Charlie's voice brought her back.
"I understand if you're not ready for things to change too drastically. There are a lot of issues that we probably still need to work out, with Ron and the rest of the family and everything, but I hope you don't object to me showing you every day how important you are to me"
"I'm not worried Charlie, we'll get through this together one day at a time, right now I'm just too happy to be concerned about much" She said sleepily.
"Fair enough, sounds like an excellent plan. Now let's get you to bed" he said as he lifted her up and carried her to her bed. He stood in her doorway watching her sleep for a few minutes, and he couldn't believe his luck that this amazing girl of his dreams reciprocated his feelings.
Hermione woke up the next morning to a delicious aroma filling her room, and she followed her nose out of her room and into the kitchen, where Charlie was dressed for work and standing at the stove cooking eggs.
"mmm that smells delicious Charlie" she said as she walked into the kitchen. He hadn't noticed she had come into the kitchen until she spoke, so he turned around but then couldn't help but chuckle at her ruffled, rough morning appearance. Hermione instinctively brought her hand up to her hair, and could feel that it was all over the place. She groaned a little and turned to walk out of the room.
"Hermione, don't leave. Breakfast is almost ready" he pleaded with her. She gave him an incredulous look, she was obviously embarrassed by her untouched morning appearance. "Besides you don't look that bad, kinda cute actually" he added as afterthought.
Hermione blushed a little, but decided to sit down, she was too hungry to wait much longer for food, but she decided to shoot him a warning.
"Okay I'll stay, but only because I'm hungry. By the way, you should never make fun of a woman in the morning. You may work with dragons, but those dangerous dragons are nothing compared to my wrath" she was surprised by how scared he actually looked for a minute and she cracked a little smile. She got up and walked over to him to give him a hug.
"You actually scared me there for a minute Hermione" He said lightheartedly.
"I know I could tell. But don't worry, that was a fair warning and now you will never have to see how scary I can get" she laughed, Charlie thought that was fair, and joined in her laughter.
After a couple more minutes breakfast was ready, and they ate while talking about how their day would go. It seemed to Hermione that in no time at all she was standing outside of the reserve, ready to go in and start her job for the first time.
"Are you ready?" Charlie asked her. "You're gonna love it." Hermione nodded stiffly and he knew she was feeling nervous. "Don't be nervous" he told her. "You're gonna be great."
Charlie gave Hermione a personal tour of the reserve and she was fascinated by all the dragons. She was also fascinated with Charlie… she had never actually seen him in his element before, and she loved it. Her blossoming feelings were now in full bloom, and she couldn't get rid of the butterflies in his stomach whenever he was around. She was kinda grateful when he left her at her office, so that she could start to focus. There was no chance she could focus with him around.
When Charlie left her for the day, he too was grateful. He had to be at the top of his game and really focus when he was working with the dragons, and when she was around all he could think about was her, all he could feel was her presence. Eventually the two were able to focus on their jobs, but were excited to meet back up at lunch, where Hermione was introduced to all of Charlie's friends and fellow dragon tamers.
After lunch, on the way back to one of the dragon cages Charlie's friend Silas addressed him with concern.
"That's one pretty bird you got there. You said she's living with you now?" Charlie could never hold back the smile that came to his lips when he thought about Hermione, and Silas noted this.
"Yea she is, it was a really perfect opportunity actually."
"yeah, you two seem to be quite taken with eachother…."
"Oh it's not quite what you think it is, I only just last night got the courage to tell her how I felt, and anyway it may have to go kinda slow, she was my brothers fiancé…"
"Dude, are you serious? That's a bit complicated. Just whatever happens between you two, I don't wanna see you end up like Andrew." Andrew used to be a dragon tamer, but ended up leaving when he got serious with his girlfriend, like so many before him. It was hard to stay a dragon tamer and maintain a serious relationship.
"You don't have to worry about that dude. She's not like that. Hermione has dreams of her own, and she would never dream of taking mine away from me" Charlie replied. Silas remembered what little he could after meeting Hermione for such a short period of time, but decided that she did seem different, and that he trusted Charlie, so he dropped the subject.
Hermione found that she really loved her new job and the work she was doing. Life was really looking up for her. She couldn't wait to get started with more intense research on the dragons, and she couldn't wait to get closer to them, and she knew under Charlie's protection she would be safe.
At the end of the day it was with a light heart and a smile that she met Charlie at the main gates at the reserve. He held out his arms for a hug and she practically tackled him to the ground as she flew into his arms for a hug. Charlie stumbled back a little but recovered and laughed into her hair.
"I take that to mean you had a good day?" he asked.
"Oh Charlie I love it here" she said as she let go of him. "I can't wait to see and do more!"
"I knew you would love it" he said. "But for now lets go home and get some dinner. I promise the dragons will be here tomorrow." They started to walk to the apparition spot, but not before Hermione grabbed Charlies hand with a little smile and a little blush in her cheeks. His strong hand felt so good in hers, Hermione felt so content, as did Charlie.
Over the next couple of weeks Hermione fell into her groove at work, and she and Charlie were growing even closer, but taking things at a nice slow speed, they had not even kissed yet. Soon it was mid august, and Hermione and Charlie were scheduled to go on a research expedition to try and track a wild dragon there had been rumors about in the village.
"Are you ready Hermione?" Charlie called from down the hall.
"Mhmm, now I am" she replied as she walked down the hall towards him, with her heavy camping bag on her back. "I'm really excited" and Charlie could tell, her eyes were sparkling and she had color high in her cheeks.
"Me too Mione. This is going to a great experience for you" amd Charlie took her hand and they headed out on their journey.
It took about an hour of walking to get to their destination, but both of them felt very exhilarated. Finally they came to a little clearing and Charlie suggested they set up camp there. Charlie got out the magical tent, and then turned to rummage in his bag for some other plans. When he turned back around to set up the tent, he was surprised that Hermione was almost half way done. Hermione noticed him watching her and cracked up at the surprised look on his face.
"What's so funny?" he asked, his voice full of curiosity.
"You're face" she laughed, and then stopped as he sort of looked hurt. "No, no silly not like that. You just look so surprised, and it was very funny." Charlie smirked and started to help Hermione.
"I just didn't think you would know how to set up a tent… most girls don't" He said as he worked. At this point the tent was set up, and the two went in to get settled in.
Once they were settled, and sitting at a little table they picked the conversation back up.
"You must remember Charlie, I spent about half a year camping and hiding in the wilderness. So I'm no stranger to all of this. This is just easier, I don't need to set up as many wards." Hermione was surprised by the amount of emotions this topic brought up. She had never really talked about her experience much to anyone besides Harry or Ron. It was a very emotional subject for all of them. Charlie was too tuned into her to not notice her tone change and her eyes sadden.
"I'm sorry Hermione. Ya know, I guess I never really knew that. Harry hasn't really told very many people the full story." Hermione nodded, this was true. They had all decided that it would be better if no one knew about Voldemort's horcruxes. Harry had told Ginny, and that was about it. After the war, Harry had made it seem to the reporters that they had been hiding and traveling to bide time and to practice their defenses. Some people like Bill and Fleur knew this was not the true story, but they never pushed. Hermione thought that some day they might tell the Weasley's of their true journey, but they had to heal more before that. However, she was beginning to think that having someone like Charlie know, might help her out, just to unload some things.
"That's true" she replied. "I sometimes forget that no one really knows our true story, but that is the case. I did a lot of camping… except it felt more like survival. The true story is really not as glamorous as Harry made it out to be, but it's for everybody's safety that we didn't tell the real story." Hermione had been staring off into space the whole time she had been speaking, she hadn't talked about this for so long, and there was so much that was coming back to her. Charlie could see this was a touchy subject, as it should be, and he scooted his chair closer to Hermione and put an arm around her. This brought her out of her thoughts and she turned to him, and gave him a small smile of reassurance.
"Well I'm here if you wanna talk about it. You know there's no pressure or judgment from me" he told her as he squeezed her shoulder. Hermione leaned her head in and rested it on Charlie.
"I know" she said. "But I think I'm ready to share my story with you now."
"If that's what you want… you know I'll listen"
"You have to understand Charlie, and you'll see why when it's over, but you can never tell a single soul what I'm about to disclose to you." At this point she lifted her head up again and looked hard into his eyes, and she saw his promise there. "I know I can trust you." Charlie nodded and Hermione dove into the story.
She started off with the prophecy, and recounted how Dumbledore and then Harry began figuring out about the horcruxes, which she had to explain to Charlie. Normal wizards never heard of such dark things. Charlie gasped, and his face changed into a look of disgust as she explained the horcruxes. She then recounted how the task of destroying them was left to the trio, and she told him of their year. She didn't leave anything out, and she felt Charlie tremble in anger at her side when she got to the part at Malfoy manor where she had been tortured. She saw his eyes light up in curiosity at the part where they escaped from Gringotts on the blind dragon. Not many people knew about this, and those who did thought it was a rumor.
It wasn't until she finished her story that she realized she was crying, and Charlie wordlessly brought his hand to her face and gently wiped away her tears.
"Thank you Hermione, for sharing that with me. It really means a lot to me, that you would share that with me." Hermione wanted to tell him that she wanted to share her whole life with him, and that she trusted him with all her secrets, but there was suddenly a rustle outside their tent. Charlie instantly became very alert and put a finger to his lips, motioning to her to be quiet. He listened to the noises for a couple of minutes and then very quietly whispered to Hermione.
"I think that's our baby dragon. We'll have to be very still and quiet until it leaves, and then we'll have to track it. It probably won't go far." Hermione silently nodded, and wiped the last of her tears from her face. She was glad that Charlie knew now, that experience in her life had greatly influenced her and shaped her, so it was a major part of who she was. She realized she didn't want to keep anything from Charlie, there was a sort of thrill with being a little vulnerable to him, and as she thought about Charlie her thoughts drifted back to Ron.
She realized now the difference. What she had with Ron had been a very comfortable friendship, it had seemed natural that it should progress into something more, and while their romantic relationship was okay, it wasn't right. But she couldn't have known that until she had experienced the intense feelings that she felt for Charlie. She was right in her thoughts before, that she didn't have enough experience. She shuddered at the thought that she might have missed out on these wonderful, intense, passionate feelings, to only know the comfortable, but not right relationship with Ron.
She had forgiven Ron a long time ago for the way that he had acted shortly before he died. She had realized that they were two fundamentally different people, and Ron had probably felt pressure and desire to have a wife that was like his mother. She didn't think that he had ever meant to hurt her, but in all his pressure and desire, he had forgotten that she couldn't be changed like that, a compromise never would have come easily. But it was always assumed they would end up married, so they never talked about any of the important issues, it was really both of their faults.
She often times wondered what her life would be like if Ron had lived. She liked to think that they would have realized they weren't right for each other, and that they would have remained friends. Would she still have a chance to be with Charlie? She knew there was a slight chance that if Ron was alive he would feel betrayed, but she was happy now, and that is what he wanted for her. It turns out that Charlie may be the right Weasley for her, and she thought there was nothing wrong with that. It was weird that they were brothers, but she couldn't help that, and maybe in a way Ron was a stepping stone for her to meet and become close to Charlie. As she waited for the rustling noises to stop she looked towards the heavens and hoped that wherever Ron was he was happy, and that he was happy for Hermione.
Finally after about half an hour the dragon seemed to have left. Once it was safe to talk again Hermione and Charlie made the plan that they would track the dragon to where It was, but stay hidden until nightfall, where they could sneak up on it better. Once they had a hold of it, they would take it back to the reserve to make sure it was healthy, and to train it a little until it was a little older and less destructive so it could be set free.
Tracking the dragon was far more challenging than Hermione had expected, and she felt like she was just about ready to collapse, when all of a sudden they saw it through a thick of trees. Charlie put an arm in front of her to keep her from moving forward. He told her quietly that it was a male Romanian longhorn. There was still a little bit of light left so Hermione decided to take some notes and observations of the dragon in it's natural habitat. There weren't many studies of dragons in their natural habitats, since it was very hard to get close and stay unnoticed for long.
They watched the baby dragon do a little hunting and then eat. They also watched it clean itself, and fly around in circles. Finally nightfall came, and Charlie went over the plan with Hermione. Charlie was going to give the dragon an injection of tranquilizer and then Hermione would spell a blindfold around it so it couldn't see. If it went right, this would be almost simultaneous, if not the blindfold would keep it subdued until the tranquilizer set in, since dragons get very confused without their sense of sight.
Together they slowly and quietly made their way toward the dragon, Charlie going towards the rear and Hermione towards the front. Hermione got the signal and quickly worked on casting the spell, but the dragon did not like the little poke and before she could get the blindfold around him he reared up so quickly she had no time to move back. She vaguely heard Charlie call her name, through her deafening heartbeat. Then the tranquilizer set in and the dragon fell heavily, but not before twitching an arm out a little, and somehow Hermione was in just the wrong spot, as one of his giant falling claws scraped down her stomach and around her hip.
Hermione screamed in pain and brought her hands down to her stomach that was freely leaking blood. Charlie was at her side in less than a second, scooping her up and running her though the forest and back to the trees.