Work became much easier once it was established that Charlie and Jessica were friends. She lightened up and was often more of help than the interns. Charlie was able to spend more time with Lea and Jake too, now that Jessica wasn't lashing out at everyone. Charlie couldn't help but notice that even though she'd warmed up to him and life on the reserve Jessica still didn't like dragons. It was true she had a soft spot for Norberta and Sabra both of whom she'd studied with Dr. Bartlett's teams, however, whenever they worked with dragons like Jamaya or Marius, the Longhorn they had on the reserve, Jessica would revert to her old ways.
It was frustrating to Charlie. Some days he felt like he and Jessica were getting along well and making real strides in their relationship and others he just didn't understand her at all. Jake said all women were like that but Charlie knew that there was something different in this situation. There was something that was really bothering Jessica. He wanted to know what it was.
One day after they'd eaten dinner Charlie decided to try and broach the subject. He was sitting outside of the keeper tent with Jessica. It was just the two of them talking and laughing. Their friendship was really progressing and Charlie figured he might as well ask her.
"Why did you decide to work for the Department?" Charlie asked her. Jessica's countenance darkened visibly.
"It's a long story," she sighed staring at the grass.
"We've got some time," Charlie told her.
"I don't think you want to hear it," Jessica said shaking her head.
"I do—only if you want to tell me," Charlie offered.
"Alright," Jessica agreed, "but you're not going to like it." Her warning made Charlie feel a bit uneasy but he tried not to let on. "Rob and I weren't always orphans. We used to live with our parents in a village in the Welsh countryside. The village was small and poor. We didn't have a lot of money but we were happy. Then one day everything changed. Our village was attacked by fire. At first we were all confused. No one knew where the fire had come from. It was chaotic. Everyone went running in different directions. Once we got outside we were able to see that the fire was coming from a dragon. I took Rob and we got the hell out of there. But our parents never made it. Rob's still got some burn scars. I don't know for sure but I'm pretty sure we're the only survivors from the attack. Rob and I joined the Department because we wanted to make sure that attacks like that would never happen again."
"Oh my god Jessica, I'm sorry. That's awful," Charlie said at the conclusion of her story. She nodded quietly. He was almost regretting having asked.
"I think we were about eight and from there were somehow got to England and spent some time in an orphanage there. Eventually we got to France and went to actual school. I'd never even held a wand until I was fifteen. I didn't really need it by then," Jessica added with a laugh. "Rob and I learned how to do magic by hand."
"That's incredible," Charlie acknowledged, deeply impressed. Other than Dumbledore Charlie had never met someone who could do wandless magic. Jessica just shrugged her shoulders. There was so much to her life that Charlie didn't know. He found that he wanted to find out.
"Jess, you know not all dragons are like that," Charlie said hesitantly.
"Aren't they?" she asked in a strained voice. Clearly the attack had a huge impact on her. It was pretty traumatizing.
"No. You know they're not. Whether you want to admit it or not you know it's true. You've met some amazing creatures here. I see the way you look at Norberta," Charlie reminded her.
"I don't know what to think anymore," Jessica admitted shaking her head. Charlie could tell it was hard for her to talk about but he didn't think she didn't want to. It seemed like she wanted to talk about it with someone but just didn't know who to talk to.
"Rob's lucky. He doesn't remember any of it. He was unconscious for half of it anyway. I couldn't forget it even if I tried. And it's just everything in my life has always led me to believe one thing—and then I come here and everything changes," Jessica tried to explain. Charlie didn't quite know what to say. He'd never met anyone who had been through as much as she had. He didn't quite know what to say to someone who had gone through so much.
"What happened to you was terrible but you can't blame all dragons for what one did. It would be like blaming all humans for the actions of one man," Charlie finally found a way to explain his point.
"I don't know," Jessica said shaking her head.
"You should try to forgive the dragons," Charlie suggested. "It's not going to happen over night but you should at least give it a shot."
"I'm trying," she eventually said.
"That's enough," Charlie told her with an encouraging smile.
Charlie observed Jessica's behavior around Jamaya and finally pieced everything together.
"It was a Fireball wasn't it," Charlie asked her when he finally realized it, "that attacked your village?"
"Yeah," Jessica said nodding her head. Charlie nodded his head thoughtfully. He was slowly trying to piece together parts of Jessica's life to make sense of her. They'd come a long way from when Charlie first met her. He now reckoned they were pretty good friends. "I feel so silly but every time I see Jamaya I just—," Jessica broke off. She was staring off handedly at the troublesome Fireball in question.
"It's not silly," Charlie said shaking his head. As much as he didn't agree with her viewpoints it made sense. Her view of the world was influenced by a deeply tragic event. Charlie figured a dragon attack would scar anyone for life. Jessica looked up at him unsurely. She seemed to be deep in thought.
"I wonder why she doesn't eat," Jessica said looking over at Jamaya.
"She's trying to tell us something," Charlie voiced his opinion. He still hadn't lost faith in Jamaya. Most of the other keepers dismissed Jamaya as troublesome and erratic but Charlie thought that there was a method to her madness.
"Yes, but what?" Jessia added thoughtfully. There was a time when Charlie would have been surprised to hear Jessica agree with him. But now, now that they were friends things were different. They agreed on a lot these days.
"It's just so odd how she doesn't want to eat," Charlie sighed. Normally when dragons were temperamental they just went around eating everything in sight.
"Maybe she just doesn't like what you're giving her," Jessica suggested.
"But we've tried everything," Charlie pointed out. He began listing everything they'd offered Jamaya in her stay on the reserve, "Chicken, beef, turkey, ham, steak, raw meat, cooked meat, bird meat, horse meat…even rabbit!"
Suddenly Jessica got this look in her eye that can only be described as revelation. She'd thought of something, Charlie could tell.
"Not everything," she said slowly. She could barely contain her grin.
"What do you mean by that?" Charlie asked not entirely sure what she was talking about.
"Charlie, has it ever occurred to you that maybe Jamaya is a vegetarian?" Jessica suggested. Charlie almost laughed upon hearing that. There was no way that was the solution. Dragons were not vegetarians. It was completely unheard of. They ate meat. Always meat. They eat deer and other mammals. Not plants. Never plants. And yet, Jessica Sloan had yet to be wrong in her predictions about the dragons she encountered on the reserve. She was the one who helped figure out how to use the scales of the Horntail and she was the one who realized that Norbert was actually a Norberta. Maybe she was right about this too.
"Dragons usually aren't vegetarian," Charlie said hesitantly.
"Yes, I know but what if this one is?" she prompted.
"Then I will never question your judgment again," Charlie said with a laugh.
"So you'll test it out?" Jessica asked trying to not look as excited as she felt.
"Nope," Charlie said shaking his head. Jessica looked surprised to hear that. Her face fell as little bit. "You will," Charlie told her grinning. Jessica's mouth fell open in shock.
"I—I don't know about that," she replied warily. "I'm not exactly good at dealing with dragons. I figured you would have guessed that by now."
"I know but it's never too late to learn," Charlie said with a shrug.
So the two of them approached Jamaya with a giant lettuce cabbage. It was Jessica's idea. According to her, most every body likes lettuce. They couldn't go wrong with lettuce.
It was lunchtime so Jamaya was pacing angrily back and forth. She looked pretty irritated, even to Charlie who liked to see the dragon in a good light. The sun reflected off of Jamaya's scales and threw a red glare in every direction. Charlie and Jessica had to squint when they looked directly at her.
"I don't know if this is such a good idea," Jessica said nervously. She was standing in Jamaya's quarters, cabbage in one hand and her wand in the other, looking very uncomfortable.
"You can do it," Charlie told her in what he hoped was an encouraging voice. On the inside he was really quite terrified. Thinking back on it suggesting that Jessica feed the most temperamental dragon on the reserve probably wasn't one of his best ideas. But it was too late to do anything about that now. He was just going to have to hope that Jessica was right about Jamaya being a vegetarian.
"But I don't even know how!" Jessica protested. It was only a half lie. Jessica had seen Charlie and his interns feed dragons three times a day every day for the past few weeks. She knew how to feed a dragon…in theory.
"Just go with your instincts," Charlie instructed. Jessica glared at him in response. Charlie just smiled back at her. Taking a huge breath Jessica slowly began to move forward, towards the dragon. Jamaya regarded the newcomer with interest. The dragon's yellow eyes were fixed on Jessica and the green plant in her hand. Jamaya didn't look menacing though. She seemed more interested than anything. Jamaya probably didn't consider Jessica to be much of a threat.
When she was close enough Jessica tossed the lettuce to Jamaya. The dragon followed the foreign object with her eyes and let the lettuce fall to the ground at her feet. Jessica slowly started edging backwards, away from the dragon. Jamaya began to sniff the food as she did with all the meals the keepers brought her.
Then a miracle occurred. If Charlie hadn't been there as a witness he never would have believed it. But it happened all the same. Jamaya ate the lettuce—and she enjoyed it. She let out a sound of content after devouring the whole thing.
"I can't believe it!" Charlie exclaimed as Jessica came running over to him.
"I knew it!" she declared triumphantly. When he told this story to Jake and Lea he blamed what happened next on post-victory euphoria, he grabbed Jessica around the waist and hugged her happily. The two of them were so full of giddy laughter that it didn't even feel out of place. Actually, it felt quite nice.
"I can't believe it," Charlie said again. After they'd realized Jamaya liked plants Jessica and Charlie had fed her various plants they found around on the reserve. Jamaya had never been in a better mood. She was practically dancing when Jessica and Charlie left her. They were now on their way to the cafeteria to eat their lunch and tell everyone on the reserve about their discovery—Jessica's discovery really.
"It does seem pretty unreal," Jessica agreed.
"How did you know?" Charlie asked her. Jessica just shrugged.
"It was the only thing you guys hadn't tried," she replied but Charlie shook his head in disagreement.
"You're a natural," he told her. "I bet you aced Care of Magical Creatures," he said with a laugh. She just smiled in her own way. "I know you have your dragon grudge and everything but if you can get past that I think you would see that you'd make a really great keeper."
"You're just saying that," she said shaking her head.
"No I mean it," Charlie insisted. "You'd even be good at the research part. You're smarter than half of Dr. Bartlett's team." Jessica blushed slightly when he said that.
"I just know things," she replied with a small shrug of her shoulders.
"More like everything," Charlie said in response. Jessica just shook her head and laughed. They'd finally reached the cafeteria. Charlie couldn't wait to go inside and tell Schmidt and everyone else what they discovered about Jamaya.
Jake and Lea were sitting at their usual table. Rob and Chase were off to the side talking about something or other. To Charlie's surprise both Jake and Lea looked rather disgruntled.
"I wonder what happened to them," Jessica commented on the expression on both of their faces.
"They don't look very happy," Charlie agreed. Jessica and Charlie eventually got to the table. Jessica began talking to Chase and Rob, effectively distracting them so that Charlie could have an uninterrupted conversation with his friends. Charlie appreciated it very much.
"Are you guys okay?" Charlie asked his two friends.
"No," Lea growled, stabbing her fork angrily at the salad she was eating. Jake just remained somber and silent.
"Care to elaborate?" Charlie wondered. Lea didn't say anything.
"It's Chase," Jake said to Charlie in a whisper.
"What did he do?" Charlie wanted to know.
"It's really just the fact that he exists," Lea put in with a glare in Chase's direction. Thankfully for her, Chase's attention was otherwise occupied. Charlie was surprised to hear this attitude coming from Lea. He would have expected Jake to have that viewpoint but Lea seemed to be getting along fine with Chase up until now. Something had to have happened for this sudden change in her opinion.
"Is he mean to you?" Charlie prodded.
"He's such a prat!" Lea exclaimed in a hushed whisper.
"Yeah, well the guy isn't exactly my favorite either. Did he do anything specific to piss you off?" Charlie tried to get Lea to explain what was bothering her.
"He likes her," Jake informed Charlie.
"He's just such a jerk to everyone! He's so arrogant and such a narcissist. I want to literally gouge his eyes out," Lea hissed vehemently. Charlie was rather taken aback by her outburst. He had no idea how hostile her feelings towards Chase were. It was also surprising to Charlie that Jake was angry too. If anything Jake should be happy that Lea doesn't like Chase. Jake was so jealous that Chase got to spend all his time with her. And now that Lea hates his guts Jake shouldn't have any more reason to be jealous and he should therefore be happy that Lea hates the guy.
"I complained to Schmidt," Lea admitted. "But he's making me be nice to the guy. We only have a little over a month left working with them anyway," Lea sighed.
"That's it?" Charlie asked in surprise. He couldn't believe it had almost been a month since the representatives first came to the reserve.
"Only one more month!" Lea said sounding relieved. Charlie frowned.
"Why do you look so dismayed? I would have thought you would be happy to be rid of Sloan?" Lea asked.
"Jessica isn't as bad as I thought she was," Charlie admitted with a shrug.
"You like her!" Lea exclaimed.
"Yeah she's nice," Charlie agreed.
"No she means you like her," Jake said with a suggestive wink. Charlie's eyes widened at the idea.
"No," he said shaking his head. He'd only just gotten used to thinking of her as attractive. He'd barely gotten on a first name basis with the girl. There was no way he could possibly have feelings for her.
And yet…what could explain the weird sensation he felt whenever she was near to him? Not to mention the fact that his eyes were always drawn to her whenever she was in the vicinity. Charlie seemed to make it a personal mission of his to figure out her aversion to dragons and try to help her get over the traumas of her past. Suddenly the idea of him fancying Jessica wasn't so far off.
"I don't blame you," Jake said encouragingly. "She's actually pretty cool. When she found out that I liked Charms she let me borrow this great book."
"I didn't know that," Charlie admitted. He was surprised by Jessica's generosity. And yet, he really should stop getting so surprised whenever Jessica did something. It was obvious that she was a pretty special girl.
"Anyway, back to this issue at hand," Lea interrupted. Charlie was relieved when their conversation went back to Chase. He was starting to get uncomfortable with how close Jessica was. For all he knew she could have heard the entire conversation. Truthfully, he hadn't actually admitted to liking her…out loud at least.
"You're just going to have to ride it out," Charlie sighed.
"I don't want to ride it out. He's an ass," Lea muttered.
"Oh that reminds me!" Charlie exclaimed suddenly remembering the reason he'd wanted to come to lunch in the first place.
"What?" asked both Jake and Lea.
"Jamaya is a vegetarian!" he told them. Jake and Lea both looked at Charlie as if he had gone crazy.
"You're off your rocker mate," Jake said shaking his head.
"You've gone mental," Lea declared. Charlie looked to Jessica for back-up but she was currently talking to her brother. Jessica, seeming to sense Charlie's glance looked over.
"Isn't it true?" Charlie asked her.
"I'm going to go with yes," she replied not even bothering to ask what he was talking about. Charlie was internally pleased that she'd trusted his word but he clarified the point of discussion so that he could prove it to Jake and Lea.
"That Jamaya is a vegetarian!"
"Oh yeah! It took me forever to realize but it totally makes sense with the way she was behaving whenever she was forced to eat the meat," Jessica explained.
"You're sure?" Jake asked.
"Yepp!" Jessica supplied.
"We fed her just earlier. She's never been happier," Charlie told them triumphantly. He'd always been the one who said that Jamaya was just misunderstood. Everyone else thought that she was evil but Charlie knew that Jamaya was just trying to tell them something. She had been trying to tell them that she didn't eat meat.
"I don't know," Lea said hesitantly.
"Well then come with us after lunch and see for yourself," Jessica challenged her. Lea raised an eyebrow. She was shocked at the slightly antagonizing tone in Jessica's voice. Apparently Jessica did not like being doubted. After all, she was so smart that there was hardly ever a reason to doubt her at all.
Charlie and Jessica made their way back to Jamaya's quarters with an entourage of followers. Jake was eager to see Jamaya's apparent change of heart. Lea wanted proof that the dragon was in fact a vegetarian and therefore she had to drag Chase along. Schmidt was intrigued by the idea that Jamaya ate plants but he wouldn't quite believe it until he saw it. Dr. Bartlett and Christopher Stevens, both avid researchers and both rather fond of Jessica were interested in observing Jamaya's behavior. So the group walked to Jamaya's living area together.
"We're going to give her dinner," Charlie was telling the group that followed him and Jessica, "and you'll see how much it changes her."
When they got to Jamaya the dragon was resting peacefully. She looked rather pleasant; it was quite the change from her usual rowdy antics. Jake raised his eyebrows in shock, Lea looking disbelieving, and Chase just seemed bored. Jamaya perked up visibly when she saw Jessica approaching. Jamaya hadn't forgotten who had discovered her preference for plants.
"Do you want to feed her?" Charlie asked Jessica noticing the way Jamaya was acting. It was clear that the dragon had taken a liking to Jess.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea. Your boss wouldn't be too pleased," Jessica reminded Charlie that they had an audience.
"We're pretty relaxed around here," Charlie said shrugging his shoulders. Jessica regarded Jamaya for a bit before agreeing. Charlie handed her the assortment of plants the interns had gathered for him. Jessica took the plants with steady hands. The fear she'd shown earlier on in the afternoon had been replaced with stubborn determination. Jessica was determined to prove that she'd been right about Jamaya to all the doubting people watching her.
"Jess is going to feed Jamaya her dinner now," Charlie announced to the group watching. Jake and Lea exchanged incredulous looks. Chase just looked downright disproving. Dr. Bartlett, on the other hand, was beaming. Jessica slowly approached the dragon.
"You're not going to stun her first?" asked Jake.
"Or put on the chains?" inquired Lea. It was clear that they doubted Jessica's ability to handle Jamaya. Charlie just shook his head and smiled. As much as she would probably deny it Jessica and Jamaya had bonded.
Jamaya lifted her head and sniffed the air as Jessica made her approach. The dragon was obviously intrigued. Jamaya rose to her feet slowly. Her tail swayed back and forth in anticipation of her meal. Jessica tossed the first thing in her arms, cabbage, up into the air. Jamaya caught it eagerly in her mouth. The dragon devoured the cabbage and looked down at Jessica expectantly waiting for more. Jessica continued to feed Jamaya as everyone watched in awe.
"I can't believe this," Lea was saying in shock.
"This is certainly groundbreaking," Schmidt acknowledged.
"I don't think I've ever seen a vegetarian dragon," Chris nodded in agreement. Dr. Bartlett was watching the interaction between Jessica and Jamaya with an expression that could only be described as pride.
"How did you know?" Jake asked Jessica when she came back over to them. She was flushed with pride and Charlie thought it suited her well. She couldn't stop smiling and either could he. They'd proved everyone wrong and shown that they were right.
"It was the only thing you didn't try," Jessica said shrugging her shoulders in modesty.
"I never would have thought to try it either," Lea acknowledged.
"None of us would," Schmidt agreed. Charlie nodded his agreement. They didn't think like Jessica did. She was more creative and observant than the other keepers on the reserve. It was the second time she'd figured out something that none of the others ever would have even considered. She just had a different way of thinking and Charlie really admired her for it.
Dr. Bartlett was talking to Jessica about something and the others were all listening intently. Jake pulled Charlie aside so they could talk away from the ears of everyone else.
"You really like her," Jake said sounding rather convinced.
"No," Charlie said shaking his head in denial.
"Charlie it was written all over your face. You couldn't stop looking at her with that stupid grin of yours," Jake pointed out.
"Even if I did like her it wouldn't matter any way. She's leaving in a month with the rest of the reps. It doesn't make a difference how I feel about her," Charlie decided to humor Jake in his thoughts.
"So you do like her!" Jake whispered triumphantly.
"No! I—well I'm not sure okay?" Charlie sighed. It was true that lately his opinion of Jessica Sloan had changed drastically. When he first met her the very sight of Jessica made him wrinkle his nose in dislike. But once he'd gotten to know her everything changed. Jessica was smart, funny, kind, and just different than every other girl he'd ever known. Maybe he did like her after all.
Either way it didn't matter. She was only on the reserve for a month more. After that she would go back to Paris and he would never see her again. Any feelings he could possibly have for her were useless.
"Well I think you should tell her," Jake said to Charlie. "I think that was my biggest mistake with Lea…not telling her that is."
"It wouldn't get us anywhere," Charlie protested shaking his head.
"It's just my suggestion," Jake said shrugging his shoulders. "And Lea thinks it's a good idea too," he added as an afterthought.
"I'll think about it," Charlie said mostly to appease his friend. Never in a million years was he going to tell Jessica that he liked her more than he should. Charlie knew that there was no chance in hell she could ever like him back. She was beautiful and intelligent where as he was plain and simple. They came from two different worlds. And then Charlie remembered her troubled past and it seemed even less likely that she could possibly reciprocate his feelings.
On their walk back to dinner Charlie couldn't help but overhear a slight disagreement between Chase and Jessica. They seemed to be discussing a rather unpleasant topic judging from the harshness in their tones.
"I can't believe you!" Chase hissed at Jessica in scorn.
"I don't really care what you think Chase," Jessica said. Charlie could just picture Jessica rolling her eyes at the annoying man.
"We came here to evaluate a dragon reserve and here you are feeding a fucking dragon!" Chase shot back.
"So what?" Jessica asked defiantly.
"You're letting yourself get sucked into the system. It goes against everything you stand for!" Chase accused.
"Roland you have no idea what I stand for," Jessica replied evenly. Charlie could tell he was really pissing her off so he decided to interrupt the conversation and save Jessica some annoyance.
"Chase!" he called out loudly. The blonde man turned to Charlie, annoyance written all over his face.
"Yes," he drawled back in reply.
"How was your afternoon with Lea?" Charlie inquired. Jessica flashed Charlie a smile of gratitude. That smile made the torturous conversation with Chase worth the irritation. Charlie then realized, that he indeed did have feelings for Jessica. He may as well accept it.
Dinner was a loud and boisterous affair. Everyone was full of excitement at the day's discoveries. Jamaya's newfound vegetarianism was a common topic of conversation. The discovery had left almost everyone in a good mood. It seemed that the only glum face in the entire cafeteria was that of Chase Roland. The man was always frowning lately. It was beginning to get on a lot of people's nerves.
Robert had come over to congratulate his sister on her discovery. Charlie watched as the siblings chattered away happily. When Charlie had first met the Sloan twins he had thought that Robert was the more attractive of the two. Now that Jessica had let her guard down he could see that they were both equally attractive. Their faces were almost identical. But when Jessica smiled she seemed that much prettier. Maybe Charlie was just biased now that he knew he liked her.
Everything seemed to be going fine when suddenly there was a loud outburst from Jake's end of the table. Charlie looked over to see Jake and Chase staring daggers at each other. Well that wasn't highly unusual. The two of them didn't like each other. It was practically common knowledge. But this seemed different.
"Don't talk to her like that," Jake was saying angrily.
"I can talk to her however I want," Chase replied defiantly jutting his chin out towards Jake. That probably wasn't the best idea. Seconds later Jake's fist made swift contact with Chase's face. There was a bone-crunching crack and Chase clutched his nose angrily.
"Jake!" Lea exclaimed in surprise. Jake was not the violent type. He was generally easy going and liked almost every body. Jake was not the kind of person who went around punching people.
"Lea I'm sorry but I can't sit around and watch that guy treat you like crap," Jake said, still seething. Chase eventually recovered from the punch and was back on his feet ready to fight. Within seconds Chase had launched himself at Jake. Jake ducked his first hit but Chase eventually got in a good punch. Jake stumbled back and glared at Chase.
"Chase!" Robert yelled angrily. The Sloans had realized that there was a slight situation at hand.
"What the hell?" Jessica exclaimed completely shocked by the situation at hand. Jake had launched himself back at Chase and the two of them were practically rolling around on the table trying to kill each other.
"Shouldn't we try to stop them?" Rob asked glancing over at Charlie. Personally, Charlie was hoping Jake could get in a few more punches before he stopped the fight.
"I guess so," Charlie sighed. He could have easily stopped Jake but Charlie wasn't exactly Chase's biggest fan. Charlie strolled over to the brawling men and pulled Jake off of Chase. Chase didn't even try to fight back he just rolled over moaning. Charlie couldn't help thinking that Chase was such a wimp. Jake tried to shake Charlie's hold but Charlie was significantly stronger.
"Let me go!" Jake yelled angrily trying to get back at Chase.
"Calm down first," Charlie insisted.
"I won't hit him again just let me go!" Jake urged. Charlie relaxed his grip and Jake pulled away. Jake was so angry he was shaking.
"Jake are you alright?" Lea asked running over to him. Upon further inspection Charlie noticed that besides a little blood Jake seemed to be relatively unharmed. Chase on the other hand was clearly sporting a black eye and a broken, bleeding nose.
"It's not my blood," Jake said with a shrug. He was still seething with anger but it wasn't directed towards Lea. He was angry with Chase.
"Roland quit moaning would you?" Jessica sighed.
"Escort yourself to the healer's tent Charlie suggested. Chase got up and practically sprinted away from the cafeteria.
"Are you out of your mind?" Lea exclaimed instantly angry. Once she saw that Jake wasn't injured she became very upset with him. "This is so not like you to go around hitting people like that!"
"Lea that asshole treated you like you were nothing. He acted like you were the dirt underneath his shoes. I couldn't listen to him talk to you like that anymore," Jake said seeming to have calmed down a bit. He didn't want to yell at Lea.
"Why not?" Lea asked. "Why couldn't you just let it be? I was fine just ignoring him like everyone else. We only had one more month left of his crap. Why couldn't you just let it be?"
"I just couldn't!" Jake sighed averting his eyes from her face. Charlie felt like he was intruding on a very private moment even though the entire cafeteria was witness to the events. He could tell Jake was on the verge of admitting his actual feelings for Lea.
"Why not?" Lea demanded to know. She seemed very upset by the whole thing. Jessica looked over at Charlie. He could tell she knew what was coming.
"Because I love you!" Jake exclaimed. "I love you and I couldn't sit by and watch him treat you like that alright!" Lea looked slightly taken aback by that.
"You what?" she whispered in shock.
"You heard me," Jake replied equally as quiet. Now that Jake had calmed down he was rather embarrassed by all the attention he seemed to be getting.
"I know I'm just—" Lea broke off at a loss for words.
"Maybe you guys should take this somewhere else?" Jessica suggested. Lea looked around and blushed when she saw just how many people were watching the events unfold.
"That's a good idea," Charlie agreed. He grabbed Jake by the elbow and pulled his friend out of the dinner area. Jessica took Lea's arm and the two of them followed. Charlie led the way back to the keepers' tents.
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in updating. I'm starting my freshmen year at college and I just finished my first week of classes. I've been a little preoccupied to say the least.
yellow14: Thank you for your lovely review as always. You're the best!
Evisawesome: wow thank you so much for your review! It seriously made my day. I just wish there was more out there about Charlie. He's my favorite Weasley in case you can't tell. haha. And I just re-read the seventh book a week ago and picked up on that little mention Charlie gave Norberta. Haha my mistake-I didn't notice it before.