"Are you sure that you aren't angry?" Harry bit his bottom lip and looked at Charlie, his green eyes full of worry and uncertainty. "I know that we didn't ask you but...you've been lonely."
Charlie leaned across the table and cupped Harry's cheek. "I am far from angry love. I wish you would have told me before now, but I understand your desire. Your heart's were in the right place."
There was no need for him to address Harry's comment about how lonely he was. It was something that couldn't be helped. The loneliness hadn't come on quickly – just the opposite. It was a slow process. In the beginning he hadn't been lonely at all. His time with Severus and Harry had started with a bang and continued in that fashion for over a year. They spent more time together then they did apart and the sex was always amazing. And then one day, eighteen months after their first night together, Charlie heard Severus say 'I love you' and knew it had nothing to do with him. For the first time in all the months the three of them had been carrying on together, he got up and left without staying the night. He hadn't stayed the night since either. Slowly he was pulling away. He knew that they wanted him but he also knew that he wasn't something that they needed to have. He wasn't part of their relationship. He was an extra, a treat. Something that they indulged in when they wanted to bend the rules and have a bit of fun... only he wasn't having fun anymore. Not emotionally anyway.
He was lonely. It was something that he was more aware of when he lay with Harry and Severus in an exhausted heap after their rough love play. It was something he felt when he saw then sitting together at Sunday Supper at The Burrow. It was something he felt every minute of every day, and it was getting to him.
"Well... if you are sure... I er, I have a few responses for you. They have been coming for a week, but I only brought the three that weren't completely ridiculous." Harry smiled at his friend and pushed three envelopes to him. "I'm pretty sure that the one on top will be your favorite, but you'll like all of them."
"I'm sure I will love." Charlie leaned in and kissed Harry's forehead, "I will be wanting to see that ad mind you."
~*~Charlie settled at the scrubbed wood table that had become his permanently the year before. With Hagrid's decision to stay in France the Care of Magical Creatures position had been open. He had already been the fill in so the job went to him, and he loved it more with each passing day.
The letters Harry had given him sat spread out on the table, a clipping for 'his' ad lay at the center. His blue eyes sparkled as he read it over for the first time.
Dragon Keeper looking for a new beast. If you have a naughty streak but yearn to be tamed then I am the man for you. I like leather and rough play. Like the dragons I handle, I guard my treasures jealously and make no mistake. If you are responding to this ad then you will be my treasure. I have a heavy hand and a wicked smile. If you are a dragon that needs to be taken in hand, I might just be the Keeper for you.
A smile started at the corners of his mouth and Charlie shook his head. Only Harry and Severus, he thought as he picked up a bright green envelope and began reading.
Dear Dragon Keeper,
I saw your ad and thought, "Hey why the hell not?" I like blokes and a bit of rough play now and then is nothing to be afraid of. I have never been in that type of relationship before but I think I could handle being handled, if you know what I mean. Not sure what else to say so I'll shove off here.
-Irish Eye's
Charlie smiled and set the green letter aside before picking up the off-while envelope that had been sitting beside it.
Dragon Keeper –
I know exactly what your ad is selling and I would love to buy. I have sadomasochist tendencies myself and love the idea of switching it up and reversing our rolls from time to time. I love to bottom but once in a while I like to take charge as well. I hope I'm not being too forward, but I felt it would be better to tell you that little bit up front. Just in case. I hope to hear from you.
- O. Wood
Charlie raised one red eyebrow when he saw the signature.
"Oliver you dog." He mumbled to himself as he picked up the cream colored envelope that Harry had informed him was the best. The parchment was soft beneath his fingers and he let his thumb caress it for a moment before he slipped his fingers under the flap and open the letter.
A scent, so faint he almost didn't pick it up, rose from the parchment as he unfolded the letter. Juniper he thought as his eyes scanned over the tiny yet perfect black letters that covered almost the entire length of the parchment.
As I do not know your name, or even what you prefer to be called at this point, I will just start this letter with out the normalTo whom it may concern lines and get right to the point.
When I finished reading your ad this morning my fingers began to itch with the need to respond. I was able to resist for exactly four hours and eight minutes. Just after I finished my lunch I sat down at my desk and thought about what to write you. I wanted to start out by telling you that under the right keeper I am a very good boy, but then I realized that I would be doing the same thing that dozens of other men had. I pushed that idea to the side and decided to tell you why I wanted to answer you so badly.
When I read your ad this morning I got the distinct impression that you were writing it just for me. Not because I thrive under a firm hand or because I do so love leather. No. I felt that it was written just for me because of what you call yourself. A Dragon Keeper. My familial nickname is Dragon. I have been called that all of my life and it is actually the form my patronus takes.
So you see, your ad called for a dragon and now that is exactly what you are being offered.
I am not so forward, or crazy, as to think that one little letter will have you demanding to meet me for tea. I do think that it would be nice to exchange a letter or two and then if we are both open to the idea, meet for tea somewhere in muggle London. I am not one for a slow courtship over parchment, I prefer to meet my men face to face before I decide to take it further. Call me vain, but I want to make sure you are attractive, and I feel that you have the right to make sure that I am attractive to you as well.
I am going to go now, because I am dangerously low on parchment, as I am sure you can see, and I would rather not look desperate by adding another entire page.
I hope to hear from you soon
-Dragon
Charlie sat the letter down on the table and took a sip of his tea. Harry had been correct in his assumption that the last letter would be his favorite. The writer, Dragon, was witty and charming without being abrasive. It's a bit like talking to Severus and Harry all rolled up into one person he thought to himself with a slight smile.
The idea that he might have found exactly what he needed, and what Harry and Severus were looking for with the ad they placed for him, had him walking to the desk that sat along the wall by the fireplace. He kept the parchment sets that Hermione gave him every year for Christmas in the top drawer. She said the parchment would make him look like a proper professor. He didn't care what it made him look like as long as it didn't make him look like an idiot.
With that thought in mind he sat down and began to write.
~*~When Charlie's letter reached its destination the addressee was sitting in the bath. Oil slicked water caressed his pale pink nipples as the delivery owl came through the window.
"Hello. I assume that is for me?" He drawled at the bored looking bird. It clicked it's beak at him, dropped the letter on the small table that stood next to the old fashioned claw foot tub, and swooped back out the window it had arrived through.
Reaching one pale arm out he lifted a glass of Oban off of the low table and took a sip before picking up the letter. The ink was a pale grey and the letters all slightly rounded. The paper was a pale green with gold and black flecks spread through out it. Something about the way it felt against his fingers told him that this was the letter he had been waiting for. He took another sip of his whisky and slid his thumb into the envelope.
Dragon ~
I'm going to be straight with you. I wanted to kiss you after I finished your letter. You are adorable and funny, at least on parchment, and I would be nuts to pass up the chance to get to know you.
I have always had a soft spot for animals, dragons in particular, and that is how I found myself working with them after I left Hogwarts. I was, and still am for that matter, a certified Dragon Handler for a reserve in Romania. I live in Scotland full time at this point, though I spend a good amount of time in the Devon area.
I agree that it would be better to just meet up in person after another letter or two. I would rather not waste time that I could use for other, more interesting, activities.
On that note, I want to know something. This may sound odd, but do you bruise easily and if so, do you have a job that would prevent you from having those bruises? I am rather hands on when it comes to my... pets, and I would like to know that you will wear any marks I give you with pride.
Write me back and tell me a bit about yourself. I don't care what you tell me besides how old you are and how you take your tea.
I'm 29 and I like my tea milky with a touch or honey. I prefer black tea but have been known to dabble in herbal and green teas, courtesy of my sister-in-law.
I have recently discovered that I like muggle alternative music and I think that lasagna is the most brilliant culinary invention since the potato. I tend to walk around my place half naked and from time to time, fully naked. I can get away with it though because my body is amazing. I work hard and it has paid off. I have ginger hair and more burn scars then you can imagine.
I am going to take a shower and then hit the sack, but I expect to have a letter from you in no less then two days. If I don't have one by then I will assume that you have changed your mind.
I hope you have a good night.
-Your Keeper
~*~One week, three letters, six notes and more smiles then he could remember in the recent past later Charlie stood outside of an out of the way tea shop in the heart of muggle London. The jeans that Harry had insisted he wear sat low on his hips while the shirt that Severus had handed him hugged his chest tight enough to show off his sculpted chest.
With a deep breath he scratched his firm belly and opened the door to the shop. A small set of bells jingled as he walked across the thresh hold. The shop was open and bright, the white washed walls held non-moving pictures and a two different menu boards. Along the far wall was a set of shelves filled with different sized tins and other tea accessories.
Charlie let his eyes scan the three occupied tables. The one closest to him held an elderly couple. The woman's hands worked quickly over whatever she was knitting as her husband read to her softly from the newspaper in his hands. A group of seven people, five women and two men, sat in the far corner. What looked to be textbooks were spread out between them as they talked, highlighted and sipped tea from large white china cups.
In the other corner, near the window, sat a blonde man with a slightly pointed face. His grey eyes focused on Charlie as he made his way to the table.
When the tall redhead came to a stop at the table, the blonde tilted his head back and raised one perfectly arched eyebrow.
"Are you my dragon?" Charlie asked with a smile.
The blonde took in the smile as he pushed the chair across from him away from the table with his foot. He waited until the other man sat before he answered.
"Are you a Weasley?" His tone was even and light as his eyes lingered on the freckles that decorated the other mans entire body.
"Yes. Is that a problem?" Charlie asked, his voice even and ever so slightly cooler then his smile had been a moment before.
"No. Not really. I know your youngest brother from school." The blonde said in a nonchalant tone. His hands busied themselves with making the other mans tea. "Milk and honey right... You didn't tell me your name."
"Charlie. Charlie Weasley." He leaned in and took the cup the blonde was offering him. His fingers lingered on the other mans before he leaned back in his chair and took a sip. "This is good Dragon. Thank you."
"You are more then welcome Charlie. I'm Draco Malfoy by the way." He bit his bottom lip and prepared for Charlie's reaction. He knew that his name had been spoken in the Weasley house. It had to have been considering the animosity between himself and the younger Weasley's.
Charlie set his cup down on the table and leaned in so that he was less then a foot from Draco. "I know."
~*~