Dedications - to our bumpers! Old friends and new...
Jenni - Hi FIVE! It's going great and just as much fun as we thought!!
Ronsspawn - OUR FIRST REVIEW! He he he... you might have to fight Jenni for him, but he does have a bad boy appeal.
Louisa!! Thanks so much for bumping - oh, I meant REVIEWING. ;) Luv ya.
Kame - I couldn't agree with you more. Mmmm, Weasleys. :)
A/N - part two of the bit with the dragon. This is so much fun to write! I'm really glad people are enjoying it...
STORY AHEAD
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"I went to Hogwarts with Charlie. He won the house cup for Gryffindor when I was a fourth year. Fabulous Quidditch player."
"You played Quidditch?" Bill asked. Finally! A civilized conversation. This was much better, he thought.
"No, I tend to be rather uncoordinated in sports. But," Jenni flashed a dazzling smile, "I can yell insults at an unfair foul with the best of them." She looked over Bill. Now she could see the resemblance. She had always thought Charlie was rather good looking while at Hogwarts, and her endless chatter about him playing for Gryffindor had gotten Quidditch happy Nancy quite in awe of him as well. He had the same red hair as Charlie, or rather vice versa as Bill was the older one, and they both had blue eyes. Jenni's stomach did a strange sort of flip. It was bad enough he had red hair, but red hair and blue eyes? If she didn't dislike him so much, she might find him attractive.
Hell, what was she thinking? He was attractive, and stubborn, and rude, and he looked really nice when he smiled.
"So you're an avid fan. I can appreciate that." Bill thought he could appreciate a lot more than that if she'd only give him half the chance. She was a challenge, and Bill enjoyed a good challenge. Especially since most of the girls he met fell over him immediately. This was a change, a rather nice change. Realizing he had been staring at her, he searched for something to say to break the silence. "So, what else did you enjoy at Hogwarts? I mean obviously you didn't study any foreign languages."
Jenni glared. Why was everything a joke with him? Was she destined to be reminded of her embarrassing moment forever? "I'll have you know, I was prefect my fifth year, head girl my seventh year, and top of my class every time. Just because I don't speak Romanian is not a reason to start acting like a prat." Jenni felt the blood rising to her face in an angry flush.
Bill stifled a laugh. Obviously that was the wrong thing to say but he really enjoyed the way she looked when she was mad. "Look, I'm sorry. I was only."
"Yes, I know. You were only poking fun at me by referencing the fact that I had the paper wrong. Once again, you were being an insufferable git." Jenni caught the twinkle in his eye. He was enjoying this. He was intentionally trying to get her mad.
"Me? Insufferable?" Bill pretended to be insulted. "I was only asking a simple question. I'm just curious to know what Hogwarts was like in your day. That's all."
Jenni resolved not to let him get to her, however charming he thought he was being. "Well, if you really want to know." Jenni chanced a glance at Bill who had crossed his arms and leaned up against the wall waiting for her to continue. "My first three years were quite boring. I spent all my time studying. I was either in the library or in the common room surrounded by books. It wasn't until my fifth year that things changed."
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Ol' Blue Eyes was grinning. This girl was amazing. She'd lost most of her vision, was suspended in mid-air about one hundred feet off the ground, and was trusting him completely! It was enough to go to a man's head. His smile faded a bit when suddenly his sharp eyes spotted something small and black bee-lining it for them.
Nancy saw it too. To her it was only a blurry dot, but the way he'd tensed up she guessed it was important.
"What is it?" she asked softly, wincing as he tossed a small piece of rock straight at the blur.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the creature hare off in the other direction. The rock would have thrown its sonar off. He looked down at the girl he'd been holding for the last few minutes, and scanned her entire body carefully, explaining, "Vampire Bat. They're usually quite docile around these parts, unless they smell fresh blood." Ah HA. There it was - a rather large tear in the bottom of her brown robe. "You must be bleeding. Come on, we'd better close that up."
Nancy stared at him. Bleeding? VAMPIRE Bats? She fought the urge to giggle, mainly because he looked like he might object and she didn't really want to fight with the man suspending her who knows how high in mid air. So, she seized on the next easiest thing to question.
"Come where, if I might ask?" She shot him a sarcastic look. "Do you have a whole bloody hospital up there or something?"
"Or something." He grinned devilishly. "Harder stunts have been tried on a broomstick." His wink made Nancy bite her lip to restrain the urge to blush.
"Yeah, but who are you to try them on me?" She steered the conversation triumphantly in a safer direction, trying to ignore the way he was gently lifting her up to sit with him, his large strong hands covering most of her ribcage. "I mean. . ." fighting for her composure, Nancy tried for an example. "Fixing up my leg while hovering above a village? I'd only trust that to someone the likes of Viktor Krum, or. . . or Charlie Weasley. Now THEY can do whatever they want as they fly."
He froze. What had she just said? Charlie searched her brown eyes for some spark of mockery or recognition. There was none, just admiration. She had just put him on par with one of the premier Quidditch players of the decade. And, she'd given him an open invitation, albeit unknowingly, to...
His hands tightened around her waist and he set her down rather hard in front of him. The sudden motion made the broom wobble violently, and Nancy grabbed instinctively onto his broad shoulders until it stopped. He seemed unnerved, she thought worriedly. Perhaps he knew one of them and resented the comparison. Nancy hurried to make amends.
"You all right there, Champ?" He had the oddest expression on his face. She hoped he wasn't feeling ill, because there was no way she'd get this broom back down safely without her glasses.
"You ever seen him. them play?" Charlie looked at her with a silly smile, wondering what kind of crazy rumors about the Bulgarian Seeker and himself the pretty young lady had been fed.
"Oh." She flushed. "Well, no. . . not exactly. See, I read about Krum's games all the time at work, and Charlie won the Hogwarts Quidditch cup the year before I came. Every Gryffindor told me stories, and my best friend Jenni, she was just a few years below him. . ." She trailed off suddenly, paling. JENNI! How could she have forgotten? Her friend was probably worried SICK right now.
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Bill looked at her questioningly, "Changed?"
"My best friend Nancy, the one you met earlier today, started Hogwarts my fifth year. I spent my remaining years watching out for her, trying to keep her out of trouble, and learning how to talk myself out of some pretty sketchy situations. Mind you, I'd give my arms and legs for that girl, but she does have a knack for getting into tight spots."
Jenni stopped suddenly and looked around to where her friend had last been spotted and sighed heavily, letting her shoulders drop with a sinking feeling in her stomach.
Bill had walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Jenni was suddenly aware that he no longer had a grip on her arms and his hand sent an electric jolt through her. "I meant what I said earlier."
Jenni turned to look at him, was that concern in his eyes? "What are you talking about?" She asked uncertainly.
"Your friend, Nancy. I'm sure she's ok." Bill winced at the worry in her face. She looked so vulnerable, so unlike the fiery tempered girl he had been having words with only moments before.
Jenni looked down, noticing she was twirling her wand in a nervous manner. How was it that someone so infuriating could be so sincere at the same time. She shrugged his hand away from her shoulder. She didn't want his sympathy. She kept her back to him as the tears threatened to spill from her eyes once more. 'I will not cry in front of that arrogant prat' she thought as she marched off towards the rubble and destruction across the street wiping furiously at her eyes.
Bill stood there gaping at Jenni's retreating form. Now where did she think she was going? He rushed forward and grabbed her by her shoulders spinning her around to face him. "What are you doing? I thought we went over this. There's a dragon out there."
"I'm tired of standing against a wall, trying to make nice conversation with you. I'm going to find Nancy." Jenni turned to walk away.
Bill gripped her shoulders tighter, keeping her from turning away from him. "You are not going out there. It's dangerous. My brother works with these animals for a living. I could tell you stories that would give you nightmares about these creatures."
"I don't give a damn about that dragon..." Jenni yelled.
"Well that's bloody obvious." Bill retorted back, yelling just as loud. "The only thing you're worried about is marching off full speed to get yourself killed. A lot of good that would do your friend."
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Without stopping to think, Nancy grabbed the broom with one hand and leaned hard, needing to find Jenni so that they could each be sure the other was fine. The broom, however, didn't respond to her touch, as Charlie had noticed her motion and countered it to keep them hovering steadily. This resulted in Nancy leaning hard to the side, and everything else staying put.
She was going to fall! The thought flashed through her head for a split second as air rushed up to meet her, just before those two strong arms wrapped themselves around her and hauled her back up to him.
Charlie could feel her heart racing, and he stared down at her soft wavy hair. Forget amazing or plucky, the girl was insane! "What in the bloody BLAZES did you think you were doing?"
"Oh YOU wouldn't understand!" Nancy hung her head, embarrassed to have been so literally CAUGHT making such a foolish move. Still, she had the sneaking suspicion that she would be willing to do it again, if only because he'd pulled her into his arms like this.
She flinched when her rescuer made a sound which closely resembled a growl, and didn't resist as he pulled her in closer and brought her left leg up onto the broom. When he spoke his voice was calmer, almost amused, Nancy realized with an annoyed start. Was he laughing at her?
"No." Charlie grunted at her with the hint of a smile playing on his lips. He ripped off a bit of her robe to tie around her scrape and continued, "you're probably right. I don't generally spend my time trying to fall hundreds of feet to my death." He felt her wiggle to accommodate her odd position, and realized just how close he was holding her in order to keep her leg propped up. Odd, he was feeling damn warm, and he knew for a fact that is had been chilly when they were chasing after the Horntail. He'd really been up here a while, he thought a bit desperately.
"I wasn't TRYING to..." Nancy brought her head up to explain and saw stars for a moment as it crashed into his chin. When her head cleared, she set about trying to remember when she'd gotten THAT close to him.
Charlie rotated his jaw, trying to ignore the irony of the fact that the girl he was holding had a VERY hard head. He started to work faster on her leg, not really concentrating on what his hands were doing as much as trying to finish so that he could get a little space between them. It was really hard to think straight with her this close, and from the little stunt she'd just pulled with the broom, it was obvious he needed to keep his wits about him right now.
"OW! What are you DOING over there?" Nancy glared at his hands helplessly, knowing that he couldn't see her nasty look. Her leg had started throbbing; the numbness that had kept her from noticing the gash was fading. He made one final knot and immediately repositioned her on the broom. Nancy almost gasped when he lifted her to turn and face him. It unnerved her, how small he made her feel. It's not like she wasn't used to being 5'1" and the smallest around, but she didn't usually feel so... so darn DAINTY.
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Bill strode forward, intent on keeping Jenni from running out into the street and getting hurt just as her anger hit an all time high. Realizing she still held her wand in her hand she whirled on him and yelled the first spell that came to her mind. Bill was moving quickly towards her when her jelly-legs jinx hit him. He reached out in surprise as his legs gave way, grabbing hold of the only thing within arms reach. Unfortunately that something, or rather someone, was Jenni. She lost her footing under the momentum of his weight, unable to support herself, much less Bill as he fell forward. The end result was Jenni flat on the ground with Bill's face only inches away as he landed smack on top of her. Her hands (her wand was still clutched in her left hand) she noticed were clutching his shirt, in a futile attempt to stop herself from falling.
"Are you all right?" Bill spoke barely above a whisper.
"Yes, I'm fine." As the shock wore off, Jenni's sarcasm moved into high gear. "I'm on the ground, unable to breath because you landing on me knocked my wind out, and I've got a splitting pain in my head thanks to this nice soft cobblestone road. I'm just PEACHY! Now geroffmee!" Not to mention your face is only inches from mine, and if you don't move now, I'll just get lost in those eyes, she thought nervously.
"Well I would, but seeing as how I don't have much control over my legs, that's not quite as easy as it sounds." Not that I really want to move just yet. Bill grinned inwardly.
With a growl, Jenni pushed hard, shoving Bill off of her and taking a few deep calming breaths. He rolled to the side. As she sat up, deliberately ignoring him, she gingerly touched the back of her head, which had just gotten up close and personal with the street. She had a growing knot, and one heck of a headache, but other than that she was fine. She glared as Bill groaned. The hex would be wearing off anytime, and getting the feeling back into your legs was painful, she knew.
"Is your head all right?" He glared at Jenni as he sat up. Never in all his life had he met someone that could anger him so much. Granted his brothers came close at times, but she was definitely one of a kind.
"I told you I'm fine." Jenni stood up still rubbing the sore spot on her head.
Bill stood up next to her testing out his legs. "Good, now that we've established that fact. Expelliarmus!"
Jenni stood in shocked silence as her wand landed effortlessly in Bill's hand.
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"There, you're not going to get us swarmed by bats, now we'll work on you NOT jumping off of the broom and making me exercise my diving skills." Those blue eyes were dark with... something, Nancy couldn't quite tell what. She immediately rose to her own defense.
"I TOLD you already, I wasn't jumping! I was simply trying to steer the... er... YOUR broom," oh dear, this didn't sound right, did it. There was a grin on his face. Why was he always grinning? She was trying to explain her plan to steal his broom!
Charlie couldn't restrain his amusement as he watched the emotions run across her face. This girl would be wretched at poker. He'd have to keep that in mind for later, he thought a bit naughtily. Catching himself, Charlie groaned. Later? He'd known this girl all of a few minutes, had had to keep her from doing any number of insane things in that small time, and he was contemplating a LATER? Well, he just needed to...
"My best friend is down there! Jenni! I told you, the one who was in school with Charlie Weasley!" Nancy decided to just tell him, since she really had no way down but through his decision. "She was arguing her head off with some guy named Bill when I went to throw away the newspaper..."
"WHO!?" Charlie's familial instinct kicked in. He knew that Bill's hotel was around here somewhere, but had just assumed that he'd have seen his brother if he'd been around.
"Bill... oh, I can't remember the last name. Long red hair, a bit darker than yours, dressed all in Muggle clothes, and... oh he had a very odd earring." She noticed that he was looking at her with more than normal concern for two strangers that he'd never met. "What? Is something wrong?" Nancy gasped at his continued silence. "He IS a serial killer? Oh no... I never thought, it's just a thing Jenni has..."
Charlie was sorting through his memory of the dragon's fall to earth. The whole team had noticed this small girl in the center of the street who'd managed to evade being crushed by a matter of seconds. But no one had mentioned seeing anyone else hanging around. There was nothing for it, he'd have to go make sure that his brother was ok. He hooked an arm around his still talking cargo and began a slow descent just as she decided that this Bill must be a serial killer after all.
"No, he's not a serial killer." He sighed as he dragged her a bit closer to him, again. Distracting it might be, but he just couldn't dive with her dangling so far out on the broom.
"He... he's not?" The relief in her voice made him burst out laughing. It didn't help that those sweetly concerned brown eyes were presently glaring at him in confusion.
Jenni - Hi FIVE! It's going great and just as much fun as we thought!!
Ronsspawn - OUR FIRST REVIEW! He he he... you might have to fight Jenni for him, but he does have a bad boy appeal.
Louisa!! Thanks so much for bumping - oh, I meant REVIEWING. ;) Luv ya.
Kame - I couldn't agree with you more. Mmmm, Weasleys. :)
A/N - part two of the bit with the dragon. This is so much fun to write! I'm really glad people are enjoying it...
STORY AHEAD
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"I went to Hogwarts with Charlie. He won the house cup for Gryffindor when I was a fourth year. Fabulous Quidditch player."
"You played Quidditch?" Bill asked. Finally! A civilized conversation. This was much better, he thought.
"No, I tend to be rather uncoordinated in sports. But," Jenni flashed a dazzling smile, "I can yell insults at an unfair foul with the best of them." She looked over Bill. Now she could see the resemblance. She had always thought Charlie was rather good looking while at Hogwarts, and her endless chatter about him playing for Gryffindor had gotten Quidditch happy Nancy quite in awe of him as well. He had the same red hair as Charlie, or rather vice versa as Bill was the older one, and they both had blue eyes. Jenni's stomach did a strange sort of flip. It was bad enough he had red hair, but red hair and blue eyes? If she didn't dislike him so much, she might find him attractive.
Hell, what was she thinking? He was attractive, and stubborn, and rude, and he looked really nice when he smiled.
"So you're an avid fan. I can appreciate that." Bill thought he could appreciate a lot more than that if she'd only give him half the chance. She was a challenge, and Bill enjoyed a good challenge. Especially since most of the girls he met fell over him immediately. This was a change, a rather nice change. Realizing he had been staring at her, he searched for something to say to break the silence. "So, what else did you enjoy at Hogwarts? I mean obviously you didn't study any foreign languages."
Jenni glared. Why was everything a joke with him? Was she destined to be reminded of her embarrassing moment forever? "I'll have you know, I was prefect my fifth year, head girl my seventh year, and top of my class every time. Just because I don't speak Romanian is not a reason to start acting like a prat." Jenni felt the blood rising to her face in an angry flush.
Bill stifled a laugh. Obviously that was the wrong thing to say but he really enjoyed the way she looked when she was mad. "Look, I'm sorry. I was only."
"Yes, I know. You were only poking fun at me by referencing the fact that I had the paper wrong. Once again, you were being an insufferable git." Jenni caught the twinkle in his eye. He was enjoying this. He was intentionally trying to get her mad.
"Me? Insufferable?" Bill pretended to be insulted. "I was only asking a simple question. I'm just curious to know what Hogwarts was like in your day. That's all."
Jenni resolved not to let him get to her, however charming he thought he was being. "Well, if you really want to know." Jenni chanced a glance at Bill who had crossed his arms and leaned up against the wall waiting for her to continue. "My first three years were quite boring. I spent all my time studying. I was either in the library or in the common room surrounded by books. It wasn't until my fifth year that things changed."
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Ol' Blue Eyes was grinning. This girl was amazing. She'd lost most of her vision, was suspended in mid-air about one hundred feet off the ground, and was trusting him completely! It was enough to go to a man's head. His smile faded a bit when suddenly his sharp eyes spotted something small and black bee-lining it for them.
Nancy saw it too. To her it was only a blurry dot, but the way he'd tensed up she guessed it was important.
"What is it?" she asked softly, wincing as he tossed a small piece of rock straight at the blur.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the creature hare off in the other direction. The rock would have thrown its sonar off. He looked down at the girl he'd been holding for the last few minutes, and scanned her entire body carefully, explaining, "Vampire Bat. They're usually quite docile around these parts, unless they smell fresh blood." Ah HA. There it was - a rather large tear in the bottom of her brown robe. "You must be bleeding. Come on, we'd better close that up."
Nancy stared at him. Bleeding? VAMPIRE Bats? She fought the urge to giggle, mainly because he looked like he might object and she didn't really want to fight with the man suspending her who knows how high in mid air. So, she seized on the next easiest thing to question.
"Come where, if I might ask?" She shot him a sarcastic look. "Do you have a whole bloody hospital up there or something?"
"Or something." He grinned devilishly. "Harder stunts have been tried on a broomstick." His wink made Nancy bite her lip to restrain the urge to blush.
"Yeah, but who are you to try them on me?" She steered the conversation triumphantly in a safer direction, trying to ignore the way he was gently lifting her up to sit with him, his large strong hands covering most of her ribcage. "I mean. . ." fighting for her composure, Nancy tried for an example. "Fixing up my leg while hovering above a village? I'd only trust that to someone the likes of Viktor Krum, or. . . or Charlie Weasley. Now THEY can do whatever they want as they fly."
He froze. What had she just said? Charlie searched her brown eyes for some spark of mockery or recognition. There was none, just admiration. She had just put him on par with one of the premier Quidditch players of the decade. And, she'd given him an open invitation, albeit unknowingly, to...
His hands tightened around her waist and he set her down rather hard in front of him. The sudden motion made the broom wobble violently, and Nancy grabbed instinctively onto his broad shoulders until it stopped. He seemed unnerved, she thought worriedly. Perhaps he knew one of them and resented the comparison. Nancy hurried to make amends.
"You all right there, Champ?" He had the oddest expression on his face. She hoped he wasn't feeling ill, because there was no way she'd get this broom back down safely without her glasses.
"You ever seen him. them play?" Charlie looked at her with a silly smile, wondering what kind of crazy rumors about the Bulgarian Seeker and himself the pretty young lady had been fed.
"Oh." She flushed. "Well, no. . . not exactly. See, I read about Krum's games all the time at work, and Charlie won the Hogwarts Quidditch cup the year before I came. Every Gryffindor told me stories, and my best friend Jenni, she was just a few years below him. . ." She trailed off suddenly, paling. JENNI! How could she have forgotten? Her friend was probably worried SICK right now.
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Bill looked at her questioningly, "Changed?"
"My best friend Nancy, the one you met earlier today, started Hogwarts my fifth year. I spent my remaining years watching out for her, trying to keep her out of trouble, and learning how to talk myself out of some pretty sketchy situations. Mind you, I'd give my arms and legs for that girl, but she does have a knack for getting into tight spots."
Jenni stopped suddenly and looked around to where her friend had last been spotted and sighed heavily, letting her shoulders drop with a sinking feeling in her stomach.
Bill had walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Jenni was suddenly aware that he no longer had a grip on her arms and his hand sent an electric jolt through her. "I meant what I said earlier."
Jenni turned to look at him, was that concern in his eyes? "What are you talking about?" She asked uncertainly.
"Your friend, Nancy. I'm sure she's ok." Bill winced at the worry in her face. She looked so vulnerable, so unlike the fiery tempered girl he had been having words with only moments before.
Jenni looked down, noticing she was twirling her wand in a nervous manner. How was it that someone so infuriating could be so sincere at the same time. She shrugged his hand away from her shoulder. She didn't want his sympathy. She kept her back to him as the tears threatened to spill from her eyes once more. 'I will not cry in front of that arrogant prat' she thought as she marched off towards the rubble and destruction across the street wiping furiously at her eyes.
Bill stood there gaping at Jenni's retreating form. Now where did she think she was going? He rushed forward and grabbed her by her shoulders spinning her around to face him. "What are you doing? I thought we went over this. There's a dragon out there."
"I'm tired of standing against a wall, trying to make nice conversation with you. I'm going to find Nancy." Jenni turned to walk away.
Bill gripped her shoulders tighter, keeping her from turning away from him. "You are not going out there. It's dangerous. My brother works with these animals for a living. I could tell you stories that would give you nightmares about these creatures."
"I don't give a damn about that dragon..." Jenni yelled.
"Well that's bloody obvious." Bill retorted back, yelling just as loud. "The only thing you're worried about is marching off full speed to get yourself killed. A lot of good that would do your friend."
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Without stopping to think, Nancy grabbed the broom with one hand and leaned hard, needing to find Jenni so that they could each be sure the other was fine. The broom, however, didn't respond to her touch, as Charlie had noticed her motion and countered it to keep them hovering steadily. This resulted in Nancy leaning hard to the side, and everything else staying put.
She was going to fall! The thought flashed through her head for a split second as air rushed up to meet her, just before those two strong arms wrapped themselves around her and hauled her back up to him.
Charlie could feel her heart racing, and he stared down at her soft wavy hair. Forget amazing or plucky, the girl was insane! "What in the bloody BLAZES did you think you were doing?"
"Oh YOU wouldn't understand!" Nancy hung her head, embarrassed to have been so literally CAUGHT making such a foolish move. Still, she had the sneaking suspicion that she would be willing to do it again, if only because he'd pulled her into his arms like this.
She flinched when her rescuer made a sound which closely resembled a growl, and didn't resist as he pulled her in closer and brought her left leg up onto the broom. When he spoke his voice was calmer, almost amused, Nancy realized with an annoyed start. Was he laughing at her?
"No." Charlie grunted at her with the hint of a smile playing on his lips. He ripped off a bit of her robe to tie around her scrape and continued, "you're probably right. I don't generally spend my time trying to fall hundreds of feet to my death." He felt her wiggle to accommodate her odd position, and realized just how close he was holding her in order to keep her leg propped up. Odd, he was feeling damn warm, and he knew for a fact that is had been chilly when they were chasing after the Horntail. He'd really been up here a while, he thought a bit desperately.
"I wasn't TRYING to..." Nancy brought her head up to explain and saw stars for a moment as it crashed into his chin. When her head cleared, she set about trying to remember when she'd gotten THAT close to him.
Charlie rotated his jaw, trying to ignore the irony of the fact that the girl he was holding had a VERY hard head. He started to work faster on her leg, not really concentrating on what his hands were doing as much as trying to finish so that he could get a little space between them. It was really hard to think straight with her this close, and from the little stunt she'd just pulled with the broom, it was obvious he needed to keep his wits about him right now.
"OW! What are you DOING over there?" Nancy glared at his hands helplessly, knowing that he couldn't see her nasty look. Her leg had started throbbing; the numbness that had kept her from noticing the gash was fading. He made one final knot and immediately repositioned her on the broom. Nancy almost gasped when he lifted her to turn and face him. It unnerved her, how small he made her feel. It's not like she wasn't used to being 5'1" and the smallest around, but she didn't usually feel so... so darn DAINTY.
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Bill strode forward, intent on keeping Jenni from running out into the street and getting hurt just as her anger hit an all time high. Realizing she still held her wand in her hand she whirled on him and yelled the first spell that came to her mind. Bill was moving quickly towards her when her jelly-legs jinx hit him. He reached out in surprise as his legs gave way, grabbing hold of the only thing within arms reach. Unfortunately that something, or rather someone, was Jenni. She lost her footing under the momentum of his weight, unable to support herself, much less Bill as he fell forward. The end result was Jenni flat on the ground with Bill's face only inches away as he landed smack on top of her. Her hands (her wand was still clutched in her left hand) she noticed were clutching his shirt, in a futile attempt to stop herself from falling.
"Are you all right?" Bill spoke barely above a whisper.
"Yes, I'm fine." As the shock wore off, Jenni's sarcasm moved into high gear. "I'm on the ground, unable to breath because you landing on me knocked my wind out, and I've got a splitting pain in my head thanks to this nice soft cobblestone road. I'm just PEACHY! Now geroffmee!" Not to mention your face is only inches from mine, and if you don't move now, I'll just get lost in those eyes, she thought nervously.
"Well I would, but seeing as how I don't have much control over my legs, that's not quite as easy as it sounds." Not that I really want to move just yet. Bill grinned inwardly.
With a growl, Jenni pushed hard, shoving Bill off of her and taking a few deep calming breaths. He rolled to the side. As she sat up, deliberately ignoring him, she gingerly touched the back of her head, which had just gotten up close and personal with the street. She had a growing knot, and one heck of a headache, but other than that she was fine. She glared as Bill groaned. The hex would be wearing off anytime, and getting the feeling back into your legs was painful, she knew.
"Is your head all right?" He glared at Jenni as he sat up. Never in all his life had he met someone that could anger him so much. Granted his brothers came close at times, but she was definitely one of a kind.
"I told you I'm fine." Jenni stood up still rubbing the sore spot on her head.
Bill stood up next to her testing out his legs. "Good, now that we've established that fact. Expelliarmus!"
Jenni stood in shocked silence as her wand landed effortlessly in Bill's hand.
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"There, you're not going to get us swarmed by bats, now we'll work on you NOT jumping off of the broom and making me exercise my diving skills." Those blue eyes were dark with... something, Nancy couldn't quite tell what. She immediately rose to her own defense.
"I TOLD you already, I wasn't jumping! I was simply trying to steer the... er... YOUR broom," oh dear, this didn't sound right, did it. There was a grin on his face. Why was he always grinning? She was trying to explain her plan to steal his broom!
Charlie couldn't restrain his amusement as he watched the emotions run across her face. This girl would be wretched at poker. He'd have to keep that in mind for later, he thought a bit naughtily. Catching himself, Charlie groaned. Later? He'd known this girl all of a few minutes, had had to keep her from doing any number of insane things in that small time, and he was contemplating a LATER? Well, he just needed to...
"My best friend is down there! Jenni! I told you, the one who was in school with Charlie Weasley!" Nancy decided to just tell him, since she really had no way down but through his decision. "She was arguing her head off with some guy named Bill when I went to throw away the newspaper..."
"WHO!?" Charlie's familial instinct kicked in. He knew that Bill's hotel was around here somewhere, but had just assumed that he'd have seen his brother if he'd been around.
"Bill... oh, I can't remember the last name. Long red hair, a bit darker than yours, dressed all in Muggle clothes, and... oh he had a very odd earring." She noticed that he was looking at her with more than normal concern for two strangers that he'd never met. "What? Is something wrong?" Nancy gasped at his continued silence. "He IS a serial killer? Oh no... I never thought, it's just a thing Jenni has..."
Charlie was sorting through his memory of the dragon's fall to earth. The whole team had noticed this small girl in the center of the street who'd managed to evade being crushed by a matter of seconds. But no one had mentioned seeing anyone else hanging around. There was nothing for it, he'd have to go make sure that his brother was ok. He hooked an arm around his still talking cargo and began a slow descent just as she decided that this Bill must be a serial killer after all.
"No, he's not a serial killer." He sighed as he dragged her a bit closer to him, again. Distracting it might be, but he just couldn't dive with her dangling so far out on the broom.
"He... he's not?" The relief in her voice made him burst out laughing. It didn't help that those sweetly concerned brown eyes were presently glaring at him in confusion.