"I'm sorry I made a scene," Jake mumbled as soon as they were out of everyone's earshot.

"It's alright," Lea said earnestly. Jake and Lea both looked incredibly intense at the moment that Charlie didn't quite feel right being there. Wanting to give their friends some space, Charlie and Jessica slowly backed away from the two.

"I don't want to eavesdrop," Charlie said hesitantly.

"But?" Jessica asked curiously. Charlie laughed. He loved how she sensed the unvoiced "but" in his statement.

"They're my best friends and I sort of want to see how this all plays out," Charlie laughed guiltily. He and Jessica stood a few yards off watching Jake and Lea. They were far away from the pair that Charlie couldn't hear what was being said. As much as he wanted to know he didn't feel right listening in.

"I hope it works out," Jessica commented.

"So do I," Charlie sighed heavily. Then the voices got a bit louder and Jess and Charlie couldn't help but listen.

"Jake are you sure?" Lea was asking hesitantly.

"Yes, I've never been more sure of anything in my life," Jake insisted. Charlie looked over at his friends just in time to see Lea pulling Jake closer to her so that she could kiss him. Charlie turned away smirking.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Jessica asked. She looked around Charlie and saw Lea and Jake together. When Charlie saw her face again she was smiling too. Charlie laughed and Jessica joined in.

"I'm so happy it worked out for them," Charlie declared walking away to give his friends some privacy.

"Me too," Jessica agreed following Charlie as they walked casually around the reservation.

"Jake's only liked her for…forever," Charlie informed Jessica.

"Forever?" Jessica asked jokingly.

"Well ever since they met. It was one of those instant attraction things," Charlie explained with a shrug.

"Do you believe in that kind of thing?" Jessica asked. "Instant attraction—love at first sight?" She looked at him curiously.

"Eh, I dunno. I guess it exists—it's just never happened for me," Charlie answered thoughtfully. He'd had a few girlfriends in the past but he had never been instantly attracted to someone.

"Me either…but then again, I haven't really been looking," Jessica told him.

"What do you mean by that?" Charlie wondered.

"I haven't had a lot of time for that whole romance thing. Until I was fifteen my single focus was survival. Even when we were in school I felt like I always had to look after Rob. He's so easy going and quick to trust everyone. I just wanted to make sure he didn't get hurt. And then right out of school I switched my focus to my career. It's hard to work your way to the top when you have a shady background like me and Rob," Jessica did her best to explain. Charlie nodded, taking all of this in.

"And now?" he asked sensing she wasn't finished.

"And now—I'm not sure exactly. But things feel different here," Jessica said shrugging her shoulders.

"This place can change people," Charlie agreed.

The next morning Charlie received an owl saying that his family intended on visiting him in the next week. Charlie wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, it would be nice to see his family again but he didn't want to give Jess, Rob, and Chase the impression that the reserve was always full of family members.

Regardless of Charlie's feelings on the matter, two days later Charlie's parents arrived along with Bill and Ginny. Percy was chasing his ambition to work at the Ministry of Magic, Fred and George were staying with their friend Lee Jordan and Ron was visiting his friend Hermione Granger. Charlie went over to greet his family and Jessica hung back and watched the exchange from afar.

"Charlie!" Ginny called out to him excitedly. Charlie went over to her and his little sister enveloped him in a hug.

"Nice to see you Gin," Charlie said to the beaming twelve year old. He then turned to greet his parents and Bill who had apparated over from Egypt.

"I haven't seen you in ages!" exclaimed his mother, her eyes instantly going to his hair. "You need a haircut!" Charlie resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her ever-predictable comment.

"It's fine mum," Charlie protested. "Actually if you have a second there's someone I'd like you to meet." Charlie's family followed him over to where Jessica was standing in the cafeteria.

"Everyone this is Jessica Sloan. She works for the Ministry," Charlie explained. Jessica smiled at his family in a polite manner. If Charlie didn't know any better he'd say she was nervous.

"Nice to meet you," she said still smiling.

"Jess this is some of my family. These are my parents Molly and Arthur," Charlie's mum and dad smiled at Jessica as Charlie gestured to them. "This is my older brother Bill. He's a curse breaker for Gringotts—works in Egypt," Charlie explained. Bill nodded his head at Jessica. "And this is my little sister Ginny."

"Mrs. Weasley!" Lea's voice carried across the room as she'd spotted Charlie's mother. Lea had met Molly during one of Charlie's mum's visits to the reserve. The two of them had bonded instantly and Lea loved Mrs. Weasley. Molly was sure to send Lea the occasional care package full of sweets.

"Lea," Molly said smiling, "how are you?" Lea and Jake walked over to the Weasley family gathering. Charlie was pleased to see that they were holding hands.

"Never better," Lea replied with a huge smile.

Jessica was oddly subdued all morning. She hardly said anything. It was almost like when she'd first gotten to the reserve. Only this time Charlie knew something was wrong. She seemed reserved and put out but Charlie wasn't sure why. He figured he might as well ask.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine why?" came her quick reply.

"You just seemed quiet," Charlie said shrugging his shoulders.

"I just have a lot on my mind," Jessica told him. Charlie could tell she didn't really want to talk so he let the subject drop but he could tell something was really bothering her. At lunch instead of sitting with Lea, Chase, and Jake, Jessica went over to sit with her brother. Chase's seat was also empty so Charlie's family sat with him, Lea, and Jake.

"Jessica is a pretty girl," Molly observed. Charlie glanced over to where she was sitting with Rob. She looked a little sad. Charlie wished he knew what was bothering her.

"She's nowhere near as bad as you made her out to be," Bill added.

"She's changed a lot since she first got here," Jake informed them.

"She used to be pretty awful," Lea admitted. "But now I really like her." Charlie didn't comment. His main focus was on Jessica across the room. He watched her play with her lunch before shoving the tray away seemingly having no appetite. Robert looked rather subdued as well. After a couple of moments Rob glanced over at Charlie's table—Charlie's family to be exact.

And then it hit Charlie. He couldn't believe he didn't realize it before. Jessica and Robert were missing their parents. The arrival of Charlie's family must have triggered some memories for the two of them. Charlie felt a pang of guilt as he remembered the unhappy look on Jessica's face. She'd never really known a family. She told Charlie as much. Charlie remembered the way she'd wistfully stared at the photograph of his family Charlie kept on his door and it all clicked.

"Do you miss your parents?" Charlie asked Jessica on their way back from feeding Norberta dinner.

"It's not really that I miss them…I didn't really know them," Jessica admitted. "I'm sorry for being weird this morning," she added, "It's just I was missing what could have been. I was thinking about what Rob and I could have had and it was a little painful."

"I'm sorry," Charlie said. It was sort of an automatic response. Whenever someone was in pain you just said I'm sorry even if there was nothing you could do.

"It's not like it's your fault," Jessica said laughing.

"I know but I just—I can't imagine growing up without a family. No one should be without a family," Charlie said.

"I have Rob and as long as we have each other we'll be good," Jess smiled.

"Family doesn't have to be blood either," Charlie added. "Jake and Lea are every bit a part of my family. They're my family here on the reserve." Jessica nodded thoughtfully. "My family is staying in one of the tents we have for guests. I'm gonna visit them tonight after dinner. Do you want to come?" Charlie found himself inviting Jessica along. He wasn't sure why he did it but something told him it was a good idea.

"I don't want to intrude," Jessica said shaking her head hesitantly.

"Don't worry about it," Charlie insisted, "Besides, Ginny has been dying to meet you." The second part wasn't even a lie. Ever since Charlie had told his sister about Jessica working for the Ministry Ginny wanted to talk to her. Ginny loved everything to do with magic.

"Okay then," Jessica agreed hesitantly. Charlie smiled at her reassuringly.

The two of them walked into the tent where the Weasley clan was staying. Ginny and Bill were playing exploding snap on the floor. Molly was sitting in the corner knitting and Arthur was reading the Evening Prophet.

"Charlie!" Ginny exclaimed happily from the floor.

"Hey Gin, I brought Jessica just like you asked," Charlie informed his sister. Ginny smiled excitedly.

"Charlie's other friends are so boring," Ginny said to Jessica who just raised an eyebrow.

"Jake and Lea are not boring," Charlie argued.

"They don't work for the Ministry and with dragons," Ginny replied evenly.

"The Ministry isn't really that exciting," Jessica told Ginny who looked surprised. "The dragons are a lot more entertaining."

"Really?" Ginny said not quite believing her. Charlie fought back a laugh. The disbelieving expression on Ginny's face was priceless.

"The dragons are a lot cooler," Jessica assured her.

"I don't believe you," Ginny said shaking her head.

Back when Charlie first met Jessica Sloan if someone had told Charlie that Jessica would be defending dragons Charlie would have sent them to St. Mungos. But Charlie watched in awe as Jessica told Ginny stories about all the dragons she met. Jess talked about Norberta and her eggs. She told the story about Sabra and the experiments and the story about Jamaya being a vegetarian.

"I like the reserve a lot more than I like my office back at the Ministry," Jessica told Ginny with a smile. "But you can't tell anyone I told you that!"

"Alright," Ginny said with a smile of her own. Ginny had listened to all of Jessica's stories with an awestruck expression on her face.

"You really have a vegetarian dragon?" Bill asked Charlie in surprise.

"We never would have known if it wasn't for Jess," Charlie admitted. He expected Jessica to deny this but when he looked over he saw that Ginny had challenged her to a game of exploding snap. Charlie also noticed that once she'd become relaxed Jessica had taken her hair out of her usual bun. It was only the second time Charlie had seen Jessica with her hair down and the affect was just as mesmerizing. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. She just looked so different.

Charlie pulled his focus back to his family. His mother was trying to tell him something and Charlie figured he should probably be paying attention. For the next twenty minutes or so Charlie talked to his parents. It was nice to hear from them again but it was getting late. They had an early morning ahead of them so Charlie stood up to leave.

"We should get going," he said to Jessica who nodded as she got up from where she was talking to Ginny.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," Charlie waved goodnight to his family.

"Goodnight," Jessica said to them. Charlie was relieved when they all waved back. Together Charlie and Jessica made their way back over to the keepers' tent. The only person left awake was Chase. He was sulking because pretty much everyone on the reserve was angry with him. Chase narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Charlie and Jessica when they walked in the tent together but neither of them paid him any heed. They walked right past him to their rooms. Charlie paused outside his door and Jessica did the same.

"Your family is really nice," Jessica told Charlie with a small smile.

"Thanks," Charlie said. Until he met Jessica Charlie never really appreciated how lucky he was to have grown up with a family like his. Jessica never knew what it was like to have a loving family.

"It must have been nice," she mused, "growing up with such a big family." Charlie nodded his head. He could tell that some sort of revelation was coming. She was about to say something. "I'd always sort of wondered what it would be like if my parents hadn't died—" Jessica broke off and looked away from Charlie. He could tell she was on the verge of tears. Charlie didn't quite know what to say. "If we'd actually gotten the chance to be a family," Jessica choked out. Her eyes had welled up and Charlie could tell she was willing herself not to cry.

Charlie reached out towards her hesitantly. He put his hand on her shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting manner. Jessica took a deep breath and she seemed to have gained some composure. At any rate it didn't look as if she was going to cry anymore.

"I'm sorry I'm being silly," she said with an attempt at a smile. "I have Rob. We're lucky to have each other," she said with a determined expression.

"It's okay to be sad about what happened," Charlie told her.

"What do you mean?" Jessica asked him. Based on everything he'd heard and observed Charlie figured that Jessica never properly mourned for the death of her parents. Even though Jessica and Robert were twins Jessica often seemed years older. It was clear that she'd put on a strong façade so that she could protect Robert. It explained Robert's constant easy going demeanor and Jessica's tendency towards being more serious.

"It just seems that with everything that happened," Charlie began cautiously. "That you had to take on a lot more responsibility and you didn't get the chance to react the way you needed to." Charlie didn't feel as if he was making sense but Jessica seemed to understand him.

"I just—I didn't have a choice. Robert needed me. I had to be strong for him," she said and Charlie could see that she was about to cry again. Normally the idea of a crying girl would have scared the crap out of him. But this was different. This was Jessica and Charlie was beginning to really care for her. And she needed to cry. She'd never gotten the chance to have a good cry over something that should have been worth days of devastation.

"It's okay if you want to cry," Charlie told her, "crying doesn't make you weak." Jessica nodded as tears began to leak out of the sides of her eyes. She still seamed to be fighting it. Her shoulders seemed to shake and then all of a sudden she was crying full force. Without even thinking Charlie wrapped his arms around her and Jessica cry on his shoulder. He held her in what he hoped was a comforting hug. He rubbed her back and just let her grieve the way she should have years ago.

"I'm sorry," Jessica said once she was all cried out.

"You don't have to apologize," Charlie assured her. She smiled at him gratefully. And even though her eyes were swollen and blotchy and her face was slightly red Charlie thought that Jessica stilled looked pretty. "But you should get some sleep. You look exhausted."

"I feel drained," Jessica admitted. She turned to go into her room and paused with her hand on the doorknob. "Thank you Charlie," she said turning to face him.

"You're welcome," Charlie told her as they went into their respective rooms. Charlie wasn't quite sure what exactly had happened that night but he had a gut feeling that somehow, everything had changed.

When Charlie saw Jessica the next morning she looked like a different person. Jessica had forgone her standard bun and her hair was down falling in waves across her back. She was wearing sneakers, jeans, and a t-shirt. She looked like a regular keeper on the reserve. Charlie felt a surge of affection for her. He never would have imagined feeling this way about Jessica Sloan a month ago.

When Charlie took his seat at the table Jessica smiled up at him from her toast. She seemed to be in a better mood than Charlie had ever seen her in. Jake and Lea were talking about something or other and Ginny was going on and on about something while Jessica listened patiently.

Charlie watched as his little sister talked to Jessica as if Jess was the most important person in the room. The admiration in Ginny's eyes was clear. Ginny had found herself a new role model. Charlie would be exceptionally proud of his little sister if she grew up to be anything like Jessica.

"I was so worried I wasn't going to make Gryffindor," Ginny was telling Jessica. "Everyone in our entire family was in Gryffindor. What house were you in?"

"Oh, I didn't go to Hogwarts," Jessica told her, "I went to Beauxbatons."

"Where's that?" Ginny asked as her eyebrows shot into her hairline.

"In France," Jessica informed her. Ginny's eyes widened at the sound of the foreign country.

"You went to school in France?" she was clearly impressed. "Do you speak French then?"

"Yes I do," Jessica said holding back a laugh.

"School in France must be pretty cool," Ginny said thoughtfully.

"Hogwarts seems like it would be pretty cool too," Jessica assured her.

"Oh it is," Ginny agreed with a firm nod of her head. Charlie laughed to himself. Ginny was always very entertaining. "If you went to Hogwarts I think you'd have been in Gryffindor."

"I would have liked that," Jessica said with a smile.

"Oh I know," Ginny declared. "Gryffindor is the best." She said it so simply and so self-assuredly. Charlie was impressed that Jessica hadn't laughed yet. There was something highly amusing about listening to a twelve year old say things with such conviction. But that was Ginny.

"Hey Gin, if you don't mind I'm going to borrow Jess for a minute," Charlie said interrupting the conversation.

"Alright," Ginny said going back to her breakfast. Charlie and Jessica got up and went to look at the schedule to see where Schmidt has assigned them for the day. Charlie turned to look at Jessica who seemed much happier than last night.

"You have a new fan," Charlie said to her. Jessica laughed.

"I like her," she declared. "She reminds me of Lea."

"Norberta again today," Charlie muttered when he saw the schedule. It wasn't anything exciting but they could have gotten a much worse assignment.

"Thank you for last night Charlie," Jessica said catching him off guard.

"Don't mention it," Charlie shrugged off her apology. Jessica however seemed determined to say something.

"No really though. I just—I wanted to say thank you for just being there. I appreciated it," she looked earnest so Charlie nodded.

"Anytime. I'm here anytime you need me," he told her. Jessica glanced down at her feet and then back up at him. Charlie could have sworn she was blushing just a bit. He decided not to press the matter and the two of them went off to feed Norberta her breakfast.

"You look different," Charlie told Jessica while they were watching Norberta wolf down her breakfast eagerly.

"Different?" echoed Jessica questioningly.

"Good different," Charlie assured her hastily. Jessica laughed lightly.

"Thanks, I guess," Jess said. "I'm wearing some of Lea's clothes," She admitted with a grin. "I don't really own anything this casual."

"You should invest in some more casual clothes," Charlie suggested with a grin. He decided Jess looked good casual, really good. He liked the way her hair curled loosely around her back and how relaxed a t-shirt could make her look.

"I just might have to," Jessica agreed. "What time is it?"

"Around eleven," Charlie said after glancing down at his watch.

"Crap, I've got to drop by the owlry and get this mailed in by noon," Jessica said frowning.

"What do you have to mail in?" Charlie wondered.

"The weekly evaluation," Jessica answered simply. Over the past week Charlie had almost forgotten that Jessica was supposed to be evaluating the reserve. He'd grown used to having her around. He'd gotten so accustomed to her company that it was almost as if she was just another keeper he worked with.

"You send an evaluation every week?" Charlie was surprised to learn this. That meant she'd been sending evaluations for the past four weeks and he didn't even know it. It made Charlie feel slightly uncomfortable but he wasn't sure why.

"We all do," Jess told him. "I had to write about that fight between Jake and Chase though," Jess admitted with a frown.

"Why?" Charlie asked. He didn't really think that was any of the Department's business honestly.

"Because Chase's evaluation for this week is going to be crazy biased because of it. I'm sure all he did was say terrible things about the reserve and the keepers because of it. Chase is childish like that," Jessica explained. It was a good point.

"Good thinking," Charlie nodded.

"Then again I'm not really one to talk. My evaluations have been slightly biased too," she said with a laugh. That surprised Charlie. He knew Jessica wasn't exactly thrilled with dragons at the beginning of her stay on the reserve but he thought that he'd at least managed to change her opinion slightly. Charlie was rather upset that she still thought of dragons and the reserve in a negative manner.

"What bias?" he found himself asking. "I thought you were starting to like it here on the reserve."

"Oh I am!" Jessica exclaimed. "And that's just exactly the problem. Lately, I think it might appear that I like the reserve a little too much." Charlie was relatively pleased to hear her say that.

"That's not a bias that's just the truth. Everyone likes the reserve," Charlie said grinning confidently. Jessica laughed and shook her head at him.

"I didn't always like it here," Jessica reminded him. Although her tone was light and joking Charlie felt his smile fall a little bit.

"What made you change your mind?" he wondered. Jessica looked down when he asked her that.

"I'd rather not say," she said shyly.

"You know, that only makes me want to know even more," Charlie pointed out. Jessica's laughter rang out across the empty fields.

"You're not getting it out of me," she told him firmly.

"I'll get you when you're least expecting it," Charlie assured her with a grin. Jessica rolled her eyes at him but she was laughing all the same.

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. Charlie's team just observed Norberta and her eggs. Everyone was anxious for the eggs to hatch. It would undoubtedly mean more young dragons on the reserve and young dragons are quite the handful. The interns for that year were certainly going to get a lot more than they bargained for.

One of the downsides to having his family on the reserve was that Charlie was never able to hide things from his brother. Bill picked up on the fact that Charlie fancied Jessica right away. In fact, Bill probably realized that Charlie fancied her before Charlie himself did. Bill was so intrigued by his little brother's interest in the Ministry representative that he pulled Charlie aside to have a friendly brotherly chat.

"What gives?" Bill asked Charlie.

"Er, what do you mean?" Charlie wondered. He didn't exactly know what Bill was referring to.

"You write me letters ranting about how much you can't stand this girl, Sloan. You go on and on about how bloody impossible she is. You don't have one nice thing to say about the girl and then I come here and find that you fancy the pants off her. What gives?" Bill explained.

"I don't fancy her," Charlie protested in vain. Even as he said it Charlie knew it was a lie. He had to face the facts. Charlie was starting to fancy Jessica Sloan.

"Charlie I've seen the way you look at her. I know my little brother. I can tell," Bill explained.

"I didn't mean to fancy her," Charlie sighed.
"She's not so horrible after all," Bill added with a laugh. Charlie shot his brother a dark look. "Lea told me she's changed a lot."

"It doesn't feel right saying that she's changed. That makes it sound like Jess was a bad person before she got here and now she's a good person. I think she was always this amazing person but she just wouldn't let herself open up," Charlie tried to explain the evolution of Jessica the way he saw it.

"Yep, you fancy her," Bill said. He was completely and utterly convinced that his little brother was very much in like with this Jessica Sloan girl.

After their long day of work Charlie and Jessica were sitting outside of their tent relaxing in the night air. Bill had come over and he was talking with Jake and Lea about some treasure he'd found in Egypt. Ginny had challenged Rob to a game of exploding snaps while Chase sulked off in the corner. The night was filled with the chatter of other keepers on the reserve as everyone enjoyed the nice night.

"How long do you reckon until Gin beats him?" Charlie asked noticing that Jessica's attention was focused on the game between her brother and Ginny.

"I give him five minutes tops," Jessica said with a laugh. "Rob's rubbish at it."

"It's Ginny's new phase," Charlie informed her with a grin. "She challenges every person she meets. She's quite good by now—she beat me twice already. I wasn't even trying to let her win. It's ruddy embarrassing." Jessica laughed as the cards exploded in her brother's face. Charlie couldn't help but notice how nice her laugh sounded.

"We're going to call it a night," Jake announced to the group as he and Lea stood up. Charlie and Jessica exchanged a knowing glance. They were both aware that when Jake said that he and Lea were calling it a night that was code for they were going to sneak off to Jake's room for a quick snog before bed.

"Are there any married couples on the reserve?" Jessica asked Charlie off-handedly. Jake and Lea's new relationship had got her thinking—what happened to the keepers who fell in love? Jessica was curious as to whether they continued living sequestered in the tents or whether they got to live somewhere else.

"A few—it's not too common," Charlie admitted with a shrug. "Most of the keepers are single men. I mean, Schmidt and a lot of the researchers have their own families but they don't live on the reserve," Charlie explained. "Dr. Bartlett lives with his family a couple miles from here. He has to apparate here every morning. But Schmidt and his family live in their own tent." Jessica nodded thoughtfully.

"So if everything works out for Jake and Lea they don't have to stay living across the hall from each other forever?" Jessica mused. Charlie laughed.

"Of course not!" he said chuckling. "But then again a lot of keepers make the decision to leave the reserve once they get married. It's a pretty dangerous job—not conducive to having a family."

"Ah, that makes sense," Jess said. Her attention was diverted when Rob lost the card game again.

"Okay that's it I can't get beat by you anymore!" he declared. Ginny laughed, clearly pleased with herself. "I'm off," he said to the others. Jess and Charlie nodded their goodnights as Robert disappeared into the tent. After Rob's departure Chase got up and wandered off into the night.

"He gets weirder every day I swear," Charlie sighed shaking his head at Chase's retreating figure. Jessica nodded in agreement.

"I guess that's our cue," Bill said with a laugh. "Ready to go Gin?" he asked his little sister. Ginny looked up from where she was sitting happily on the ground.

"No," she declared gathering up her cards.

"Gin you should get to sleep it's getting pretty late," Charlie told her.

"It's barely past my bedtime," Ginny protested putting her hands on her hips in true little sister fashion.

"We're going to go to bed too," Jess added. Charlie raised an eyebrow at her. It was barely ten thirty, still early in his opinion. Jessica shot him a pointed look. Charlie understood. They stood up from their chairs as to demonstrate their point.

"Oh fine," Ginny sighed standing up. She shot her older brothers a fierce glare. Ginny clearly was not ready to call it a night.

"See you tomorrow," Jessica said to Ginny.

"Bye Jess!" Ginny waved happily over her shoulder as she and Bill began walking back to where the Weasleys were staying.

"You she'll listen to but the rest of us, forget about it!" Charlie laughed shaking his head.

"She likes me," Jessica said shrugging her shoulders.

"She practically idolizes you!" Charlie agreed, "She wants to be just like you when she grows up. Then again last week she told me she wanted to be just like Helga Hufflepuff. It changes a lot." Jessica laughed a big full laugh. Charlie loved it. "She'll be lucky though, if she grows up to be even a little bit like you." Jessica looked down at her feet.

"Not really," she shook her head. A small blush had crept up on her cheeks.

"C'mon Jess. You're smart, smarter than half of Dr. Bartlett's research team really," Charlie pointed out.

"That's true," Jessica laughed despite herself.

"And surprisingly nice," Charlie added. "Honestly when I first met you I couldn't really stand you—"

"Hey!" Jessica interrupted whacking him lightly on his arm.

"BUT! Once I got to know you I found out how awesome you can be," Charlie amended quickly with a lopsided grin.

"Much better," Jess laughed.

"And you're funny," Charlie continued.

"That's not true," Jess countered, "I have a terrible sense of humor."

"I never said you told good jokes. But it's bloody hilarious when you manage to trip over your own feet at least three times a day."

"Me being clumsy has nothing to do with this," Jess argued.

"Alright alright," Charlie agreed just to placate her. "But we can't forget that you're bloody gorgeous." Jessica opened her mouth to argue that point as well. "And the best part is you don't even know how beautiful you are," Charlie added in a voice that was barely above a whisper. That seemed to shut her up. Jess just looked at him as if she didn't quite believe what he was saying.

Charlie hadn't meant to let Jess know how he felt about her but somehow it all came slipping out. It wasn't a flat out confession of how much he liked her but she was a smart girl. It didn't take an Arithmacy expert to figure out that if a guy tells a girl he thinks she's beautiful he has feelings for her.

"You think I'm beautiful?" she asked with a smirk. Charlie grinned at her.

"Yeah well you know," he said with a shrug.

"You're not too bad yourself Weasley," she added in a joking manner.

"Ah, Weasley it's Weasley now?" Charlie asked continuing the joking tone.

"Well that really depends," Jess said nonchalantly.

"Oh yeah? Depends on what?" Charlie wanted to know.

"Whether or not you kiss me in the next ten seconds," she declared. Charlie didn't need to be told twice. Flashing her a brilliant grin Charlie leaned in to close the space between Jess and himself. He never in a million years would have imagined kissing Jessica Sloan when he first met her and yet here he was. As it turned out, in Charlie's opinion, kissing Jessica Sloan was even better then playing with dragons.

Charlie and Jessica were far too engrossed in each other to notice Chase's return. The ministry representative sent the pair of them one of the dirtiest looks he could muster. Chase's glare was wasted upon them as neither Charlie nor Jessica noticed Chase or his glowering.

Author's Note: Please leave a review if you liked it :)
Sedana: Thank you so much. I hope you liked this chapter too.
yellow 14: I completely agree, Charlie is the most lovable! Haha and yes I'm thinking vegetarian dragon = crazy. But that's how my weird mind works.
Evisawesome: Thank you! I'm really trying to work on the characters' interaction so thank you!