Hi folks! I apologize for the delay. I've been lacking some motivation, but when I did sit down to write I couldn't stop. So this came out really long. I'd love to hear what you think. Also, here's a picture of what I want my Charlie to look like (take out the spaces in the beginning):
community. sparknotes. com 2018/12/27/charlie-weasley-angelina-johnson-8-more-of-our-fave-under-appreciated-harry-potter-characters/slide/6
Enjoy!
Chapter Five
She didn't want to be thinking about him. There was no point in it. He hadn't even wanted to sleep with her, but there she was sitting on her broom, hovering above the pitch thinking of the last dinner they had shared in her apartment before he went back to Romania.
Adair remembered vividly the laugh lines around Charlie's eyes and mouth, as she had made some joke or another about what it was like to be playing Quidditch with her brother. Poor Oliver. Quite a lot of jokes were made at his expense where Adair was concerned.
She shook her head when Coach Williams yelled at her to pay attention to what was happening. She was just bobbing around on her broom, not focused at all on the new play they were trying to learn during that practice.
She somehow got through practice, but when she came out of the women's locker room, Oliver was waiting for her.
"What the bloody hell is going on with you?" he asked her. "You were a mess today."
"It was just an off day," she said with a shrug. "I've seen you have them."
"I think you were thinking about Charlie," he said with a smirk.
"Charlie?" she returned, not looking at him. "Charlie Weasley?"
"Oh don't play coy. I know he came to your flat before he left for Romania."
That got Adair to look at him. "How do you know that?" As far as she knew, they had not told anyone that they were getting together after Oliver's New Years party.
"I have my ways."
"I cannot believe that you're still on about this," Adair groaned. "It was a fling. It's over. Not even a fling. Nothing happened."
"What?" Oliver stopped walking. "What do you mean nothing happened?"
"We really don't need to discuss this," Adair said, continuing to walk toward the spot they all typically Apparated from outside of the practice pitch.
"So you just snogged a couple of times?" Oliver ignored her and went way past the line of propriety.
"I'm not discussing this with you," Adair repeated.
"That's disappointing," Oliver shook his head.
"That's not a normal brotherly response to the situation," Adair said.
"I thought there was something there. I thought you guys were feeling each other."
Adair sighed, not wanting to admit that she had thought the same thing as well, but had been turned down three times by Charlie when it came to taking him to bed.
"Apparently you were wrong," Adair said. "As we both tried to tell our very nosy siblings from the moment they got this ridiculous notion into their heads."
Olive sighed. "Bloody hell."
ooooOoooo
He woke up in the middle of the night thinking he could smell her perfume just like he could that night in the apple orchard. It was richer and perhaps muskier than the nearly sickly sweet scent of the overripe apples.
Or maybe it was her sweat from when he had met her at Oliver's flat after her run. That image of her was seared in his mind with her long blond hair and sweat running down into her sports bra and down the lines of her abs into the waistband of her leggings.
Charlie groaned and rolled onto his stomach, burying his face in his pillow. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept through the night. He dreamed of watching her play Quidditch and sitting in her flat with a glass of wine. And then there were the other dreams…
He had been an absolute idiot in not going to bed with her. When he left England it was all he could think about.
Adair had not been trying to play girlish games with him to maintain her image of innocence. She was real when it came to that, if nothing else. He had known from the first that if he had taken her up on it, she would've gone to bed with him straight away, but he had wanted to get to know her.
That had proved useless. He still knew nothing about her. And normally that would've been a turn off for him, but in this case he was hungry for information.
He had never met anyone like her. His family was loud and open as were the lads he worked with at the dragon sanctuary. They were all free with their feelings and opinions.
Adair could smile him and be distraught under the surface and he would never have known. He wondered if anyone would have known what was going on with her. Even Oliver didn't seem to have the clearest of ideas about his sister.
Charlie laid awake for another couple of hours, unable to fall asleep before he had to get up and start his day. Even has he dressed for the day his mind lingered on Adair.
He made his way out to the paddock. He faced the prospect of a very angry Romanian Ridgeback mother who had had her eggs taken from her before she was brought to the sanctuary and still his mind was on Adair.
He wondered what she was doing as he climbed into the paddock and caught the rope that one of his mates tossed him. He wrapped it tightly around his forearm, not for a minute alarmed that it was attached to the collar the dragon wore, and then got his wand out so he could charm the poor mother if need be, but they didn't like to do that if they didn't have to.
He knew he should've gotten his mind where it needed to be in order to deal with such an aggressive animal, but he couldn't tear his thoughts away from Adair.
She hadn't told him one bloody thing about herself, but still he wanted her. He wanted to wrap her long hair in his hand like the rope he was holding. He wanted to pull it and expose her smooth throat to his mouth.
He glanced down, picturing such a thing, just as the dragon turned her attention to him. She was enraged and she wanted to be set free to find her babies, but these men had her bound.
She loosed the flames from her mouth and Charlie wasn't even looking. His senses were dulled. He had never gone into a paddock so absolutely senseless.
"Charlie!" The other men cried his name.
He came to himself just in time to leap out of the way and avoid being completely engulfed by the flames, but he wasn't quick enough.
He shouted out in pain when the flames seared the flesh on his left shoulder.
The other men were yelling to distract the dragon and even in his nearly unconscious state he was horrified that they had to hex the Horntail to prevent it from killing him and others. It was his fault he had been injured.
Someone came and dragged him out of the paddock and he heard footsteps pounding toward him. It was all familiar. He had been there before. Not in a long while. Not since he was new to the sanctuary. He had had a very long record of sustaining no injuries from the dragons he cared for.
Charlie cried out in pain when someone dropped to their knees next to him and poured the burn potion onto his skin. They hadn't had to rip his shirt off of him as he imagined most of it was burned away.
"What the bloody hell were you doing?" His closest friend at the sanctuary,Sandor, exclaimed. He was the one who had dragged Charlie out of the paddock and sent for the burn potion. "You're lucky to be alive!"
Charlie sighed and shook his head. His shoulder still felt as though it was on fire. Injuries sustained from dragons weren't easily healed and so even though he had the potion poured on the wound it would still take time to heal and it would seep and pus and cause him a great deal of pain for the following week or so at least.
"You need to get your head right, mate," Sandor said, shaking his own head. "You won't make it out alive if you climb in a paddock like that again." He gingerly helped Charlie to his feet and then escorted him to his room.
ooooOoooo
"He's gotten rather animated," Adair said as she took James into her arms.
Ginny had reached out wanting to get together and get herself and baby James out of the house after a long few months cooped up in their house. Adair had suggested a walk in a fairly secluded park near to her flat.
They had done a few laps around the small park and then settled on a bench. James was staring up at Adair and giggling when she made a face at him.
Ginny laughed as well. "He's coming right along." She looked at her son lovingly.
"Are you going to go back to work and interview me anytime soon?" Adair asked, genuinely interested in her friend's plans.
"That's a bit conceited. You think I need to go back to the Prophet just to interview you for the Quidditch section?" She was still laughing, knowing that Adair had been joking. "Haven't plenty of the other reporters there interviewed you?"
Adair sighed. "I suppose they have, but they always botch it."
"'The Ice Queen of Quidditch,'" Ginny said quoting a line from a particular interview that had been done by one of her male colleagues. She knew Adair hated it.
"You'd really get my feminine, bubbly, friendly side," she scoffed.
"I didn't know you had one of those," Ginny returned.
"I may not."
They lulled into a silence. Adair tried to keep her thoughts from Charlie. She was afraid Ginny could read her mind and would know that she was thinking of her brother.
Adair was right.
"So when is Charlie coming back to England? Or are you meeting him while you travel?"
"How would I know what Charlie's doing? He's your brother," Adair said quickly.
"I just assumed you two had planned another rendezvous," Ginny replied.
"Your mum annoys the bloody hell out of me," Adair grumbled to James, who laughed up at her.
"Don't use profanity in front of the baby," Ginny said, not very seriously. Adair figured the baby had heard it many times from his mother's mouth.
"Don't irritate me in front of the baby."
"We were all just so hopeful that you guys might like each other," Ginny said softly.
Adair looked at her friend, eyebrow raised, not used to the tone she was using. "We liked each other fine, Gin. But we both told you that nothing was going to happen. I'm not sure why you're still on about it."
Ginny shook her head. "Neither am I. You just saw a lot of each other before he left."
"How do you and Oliver know this?" Adair exclaimed. "Are you having me followed? Did you put some sort of charm on me?"
Ginny laughed. "I love that Oliver knew too. Perhaps you just weren't all that discreet," she suggested.
"I'm going to have to stop seeing you both unless you drop this nonsense."
"You wouldn't do that," Ginny said taking James back and putting him in his pram.
"I'm really considering it."
"I know you play in Romania in a month," she said with a wink. "Maybe Oliver and I can arrange something."
"Don't you dare."
ooooOoooo
Charlie was sitting up in bed when he got his sister's letter. He had been in bed for a week from the burn on his shoulder. He hadn't yet put a shirt on, but he knew when he did that it would be visible, creeping up his neck.
Ginny had written to tell him that England would be playing Romania in Bucharest in March. He chuckled. Of course he already knew that.
Charlie had the date ingrained in his brain. He had asked for the day off so he could go to the capital. He had told his supervisor that he had a friend who played for England. It wasn't a lie exactly. Oliver was a friend.
He had been toying with the idea of writing to Oliver and figuring out where he could see Adair while they were in Adair. One or the other of them had told him that the team normally stayed the night wherever they were playing. Sleep was very important to the team so just in case a game went late they had hotel rooms booked for them so they could rest.
He was glad he had asked for the day off before his injury or it might not have happened.
Normally, he would've asked Sandor or someone else from the sanctuary to accompany him to Bucharest, but since he really wanted to see Adair alone he decided to keep it private.
ooooOoooo
England won, but Adair ended up with a cut from her cheekbone to her chin. In her career, she had found that some of the nastiest games she played in were with teams from Eastern Europe. Those players weren't afraid to go crashing into their opponents. Despite the foul being called, Adair would still have a scar from the incident even though the team healer had already made it begin to close over.
She walked into the little pub the team had decided to drink in after the game. It was already nearly midnight as the match had lasted so long.
She was lucky she hadn't sustained some worse injury. She had barely been able to focus on the match due to thoughts of Charlie. She was where he lived. She might have reached out to him if he hadn't seemed so utterly disinterested when they had parted ways in England.
Adair shook her head, trying to clear her head for the celebration, but as she walked into the bar she thought she saw a flash of red hair.
"Adair!"Sienna called out to her, gesturing for her to join her and Jasmine at a small table. "You have to try this shot. That red-headed guy at the bar recommended it."
"What red-headed guy?" Adair asked, taking the small glass in her hand and looking hard at her fellow Chaser.
"The tall, good looking one," Jasmine said. "Not sure what he's doing here. He's British too."
Adair looked back to where she had thought she had seen the red hair before. Charlie was grinning at her, leaning against the bar.
"He's a dragon wrangler at a sanctuary here," she said with a small smile.
"You know him?" Sienna exclaimed. "What are you doing with us? Get over there!"
Adair threw her shot back, surprised that it burned more than her favorite firewhiskey.
"So our siblings continue to conspire," Adair said when she approached him.
Charlie rubbed the back of his neck and looked at his boots. "Actually, not this time. Ginny threatened too, but she didn't have to. This was my doing."
"Your doing?" Adair raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah," he sighed and finally looked up at her. "I wanted to see you so I wrote Oliver."
"I didn't realize that was how we left it after the holidays," Adair said. "I thought that was sort of it." She was putting up some sort of front even though she was so glad to see him. She could feel the giddiness bubbling up in her chest, but she pushed it down.
"I could have been more clear," he agreed.
"More clear," Adair shook her head and then turned to the bar. "Firewhiskey," she said. "Double."
"As you could've been," Charlie said from behind her.
"I was very clear about what I wanted," Adair responded. "Even at Ron and Hermione's wedding."
"And that was it? That's all you wanted?" Charlie asked.
Adair kept her back to him.
As the bartender slid her drink to her, she felt Charlie's presence behind her. He placed his huge hands on either side of her and his breath tickled where her neck was exposed, blonde hair piled on top of her head.
"That's not all I wanted," he whispered. "But you're so bloody stubborn."
Shivers went down her spine and her hair stood on end.
Adair tried to pretend he was having no effect on her, but when she tilted her head back to swallow the entire firewhiskey, her head rested on his shoulder. She almost choked when he bent and pressed his lips to her naked throat.
Charlie's calloused hand just barely slipped into the waistband of her skintight jeans and pulled her flush against him. His mouth moved to her ear. "Let's go to your hotel."
Adair turned toward him. His mouth immediately found hers and he turned her so her back was pressed firmly against the bar. She wrapped her hands tightly in the light, beat up leather jacket he was wearing.
The bartender said something roughly in Romanian and Charlie pulled away. "He says we need to get a room."
"Tell him I already have one.
Charlie laughed and put some money on the counter for their drinks before they both headed for the door.
The hotel wasn't far away and so they walked, or jogged as it might have looked to anyone else, so eager were they to get to her room. They held hands the entire way there and luckily no one saw them. Not many reporters came in person to the games that were too far away.
They burst through her hotel door and Charlie barely took notice of the luxurious room they were in. "Bedroom?" he asked.
Adair led the way to the bedroom where a huge four poster bed sat with sumptuous red linens and a heavy comforter.
He took his jacket off and pushed hers off as well, hands going to her trim waist, pulling her against him hungrily, his mouth on hers.
Adair reached up wrapped her arms around his neck, fingers going into his hair. She had never been with anyone with long hair. The Quidditch players were all clean cut.
Charlie's hands slipped under her shirt and pulled it over her head, revealing the black bra she wore underneath. He pulled away a bit and studied her even as his hands went to the button and zipper of her jeans.
Adair's collarbone and ribs were visible, her stomach flat and tight, and her breasts begged to have his hands on them. He wasn't sure where to look or what to do first.
He pushed her onto the bed and yanked her jeans and underwear off so she was just left in the bra and then he pulled his own shirt off and pushed his jeans down. He hovered over and kissed her deeply, hand working its way under her backside for leverage.
"What happened?" Adair asked, when she noticed the burn that went from his upper arm to his neck.
"I was distracted and I got burned," he said lowly. He settled between her legs and pushed into her. "I couldn't stop thinking about you."
Adair gasped at the sensation and her eyes closed as he moved within her. Her hips met his every thrust. He pressed kisses to her neck and wrapped her long hair through his fingers.
It felt better than he had imagined it would.
"Harder," she urged him and it was almost too much for him to take as he did what she wanted. Charlie gripped her hips tightly in his hands and pulled her with each thrust into him.
Adair panted and moaned beneath him, feeling the all consuming wave of climax about to crash over her. Her back arched into him. Her insides felt like warm, dripping honey. And then she cried out, just as he bit her shoulder and groaned, going limp.
ooooOoooo
Charlie woke the next morning before Adair. Sunlight was creeping through the window and landing right on the huge bed where he was sprawled out. He registered where he was, but still wasn't sure that he wasn't dreaming. Images from what was either the night before or a very intense dream replayed in his mind as he put an arm over his eyes to hide from the light.
He rolled onto his side so he could see Adair and he let out the breath he had been holding when fearing that it had all been a dream.
She was still sleeping soundly on her stomach. The sheet was slung low across her hips and her blonde hair was fanned out around her.
In the few months since he had met her, he had never seen her so at peace. In public places, her brow was always furrowed just a little bit and her guard was up causing her mouth to be drawn.
The two times he had seen her play, she was fierce, her face stony and impassive even when she scored a goal or England won. She never seemed to give herself over even to the celebrations.
In her sleep, she actually looked like she was twenty-three and he realized just how young she was.
A smile played at his lips as he brushed the hair away from her face and then let his fingers linger on the scar on her cheek. It didn't mar her features at all, in fact he thought it rather added to them.
Adair took a deep breath as her eyes fluttered open. She smiled softly at Charlie.
And then the smile turned to panic. "Bloody hell! What time is it?" She demanded wildly as she stood and flung the sheet from her, pulling her jeans over her long, lean legs in one fluid motion.
She searched frantically for the rest of her clothes. Snatching up her wand from the bedside table, she sent her things flying into her bag.
"Well past noon." Charlie sat up. "You won yesterday. Surely you don't have a practice," he said.
"Not practice, but we have to watch the film," she said, tugging her black t-shirt over her head and pulling her hair back into a messy bun on top of her head.
Charlie chuckled.
"Is this funny to you?" she demanded, turning to him only briefly before she was pulling her trainers on.
"Surely you can miss film."
Such a thing would have never crossed her mind. "This is my job," she said.
"Everyone takes a sick day now and then."
Adair shook her head. "That's ridiculous. I'm not sick."
"Stay here. Just for a day or two. I know you don't have another match for like a week. You could miss a practice."
"No. I can't do that." She wouldn't make eye contact with him as she disappeared into the bathroom to gather the rest of her things.
Charlie pulled his briefs on and followed her. "Your body could use the rest," he said as he wrapped his arms around her trim waist.
"Knock it off," she said shortly. "I have to get back to England."
"Who would ever know you were lying?" he asked, tightening his grip on her. "Who would punish you?"
Adair instantly flashed back to the one and only time she had skipped a practice or training session and the punishment that had resulted when her parents found out.
She had wanted to spend her Saturday at Hogsmeade like the rest of her classmates, but the private trainer her parents had hired was at Hogwarts to spend the day with her so she wouldn't be able to. She decided to try and sneak into the village anyway.
She hadn't been halfway down the drive off of school grounds when her mother's owl found her and dropped a Howler before her. Of course she couldn't hide it when it burnt up and her mother's voice came booming out, echoing across the grounds, screaming that she was ungrateful to her parents after all of the money they spent to make her into the player she was and the player she was to become. Her mother's voice pointed out all the mistakes she had made in her last match and so she really had no business skipping a private session when she had so much improving to do.
Adair didn't shed a single tear. Without a word to any of her classmates she turned around and headed for the castle. Her trainer was gone by then so she took her broom and a Quaffle onto the pitch to practice by herself until long after the sun had set.
That had been in her third year. Since that day she had never missed a training session and she had never been to Hogsmeade.
"No one," she said quietly. She was a grown woman and no one monitored her or reported back to her parents anymore.
"Then stay with me," Charlie said quietly. "Just for another couple of days."
Adair looked up at him, still uncertain he could tell.
"I want to show you the sanctuary." He bent and kissed her lips so softly she wasn't sure it had happened. "I think you'd like it."
She wanted to go, more than anything she wanted to be the type of person who would go with Charlie Weasley and see the dragons. But the person she actually was pushed against that idea.
There was a fierce internal battle raging just below her surface. No one would bat an eye at her missing a practice. Since she had started she was the only teammate who hadn't missed anything. Most of her teammates missed practice for nothing more than a hangover and Coach Williams didn't bat an eye.
Adair sighed, exhausted from arguing with herself. "Alright, but I need to tell Oliver."
Charlie nodded, going back into the bedroom to finish dressing. When he turned back to the bathroom a flash of silver shot of the door and he just barely had time to notice that her Patronus was a panther. He wondered what she thought of to conjure her Patronus.
Adair slung her bag over her shoulder. "Ready?"
Charlie nodded and took her hand. They had to leave the hotel to Apparate to protect the guests, especially the foreign Quidditch players.
They made their way to a dirty, dark alley and with a POP! they were gone.
As soon as Adair steadied herself, she heard the roaring of dragons and she wasn't sure, but the ground might have been shaking under feet.
"You get used to that," Charlie said with a laugh.
Adair looked up at him and she couldn't help but smile.
"Come on," he said. "I'll show you my place." He led her off into the woods and they eventually came to a cluster of very small cabins. Charlie made his way to the one on the far right. "It's not much," he said, a flush creeping up his neck.
They went up the stairs and Charlie opened the door to a small living room and tiny kitchen. "The bedroom is through there," he said, taking her bag from her and tossing it on his bed. "The whole thing could probably fit in your dining room."
"Well there aren't any dragons at my place, though."
Charlie laughed. "I suppose that's true. It's quite a real estate feature."
"I really like it," Adair said as she walked around. She was surprised to see that he had a few framed photos. Most men didn't have much decor at all in their homes she had found.
There was a group photo of his whole family in their Christmas sweaters from when they were younger. Another one depicted Charlie and a large, green dragon. The animal had its tail wrapped around Charlie's waist and seemed quite friendly.
"Am I allowed to see them?" Adair asked, straightening up and looking at Charlie.
"Of course. We have some new Chinese Fireball hatchlings," he offered.
Adair nodded.
Charlie happily led her back toward the paddocks, but instead of heading to see the larger dragons, he led her into a larger cabin type building.
"This is probably a silly question, but all of these wooden buildings are fireproof aren't they?" Adair asked as she stepped through the doorway.
Charlie looked taken aback. "Bloody hell, I'm not sure they are." He then broke out into a smile. "Of course they are."
Adair punched his arm lightly and then turned her attention to the building they were in. It smelled of rich fertilizer. The whole room was filled with terrariums, large glass structures with various habitats in them.
Charlie took her hand and led her to one in the middle of the building. There were lots of flowers; peonies and gardenias and lush green bushes. When they got closer, Adair could see that there tiny, scarlet dragons crawling throughout the plants.
"We nicked these off of a dragon dealer in Morocco," Charlie said. He reached over the edge of the glass case and lifted one of the babies into his hands. It scuttled around quickly and he had to keep moving his hands to keep it in place.
Adair had never seen anything like the baby dragon. She had seen them from afar during her fourth year TriWizard Tournament, but she'd never been so close to one.
The little Chinese Fireball was scarlet and it looked smooth, but there was a burst of scales and spikes around its face and it had protruding eyes.
"Do you want to try?" Charlie asked, holding his hands out.
Adair nodded eagerly and he deposited the little beast into her hands. She wasn't quite quick enough though, and it quickly made its way up her arm to her shoulder.
Charlie moved to grab it, but Adair shook her head and held him off. "It's alright." She giggled as it sniffed at her neck and then began to rustle about at the bottom of the bun she wore. "Is this one a boy or a girl?"
"That one is a boy."
"Does he have a name?"
"Not that I know of. Would you like to give him one?"
"Can I?" She burst out laughing as the dragon snuffled around near her ear.
Charlie couldn't help but chuckle. "Sure you can."
Adair thought for a minute. "How about Winston?"
"Winston?" Charlie snorted. "You know one day he'll be a full grown, fire breathing dragon, don't you?"
"I do, but I think it's adorable."
"Winston it is then," Charlie said with a sigh.
Winston settled down on her left shoulder and went to chewing on a lock of her hair that had come loose.
"Charlie!"
Charlie turned to see his mate, Sandor.
"Have you recruited a new dragonologist?"
Charlie shook his head and began to rub the back of his neck.
"Not exactly. Sandor, this is Adair Wood."
"Adair Wood. Adair Wood?" he repeated her name in his accented English, obviously having heard it before. "The Quidditch player?!" He turned to his friend.
"In the flesh," Adair said, reaching her hand out.
"My name is Sandor," he said, shaking her hand vigorously. "Some of our colleagues have posters of you in their cabins."
"Sandor!" Charlie exclaimed, shaking his head at his friend.
Adair laughed. "I suppose that's what the photos are taken for."
Charlie swiped a hand over his face, which was bright red.
"I might myself, but you beat our Romanian team yesterday. I can't support that."
Adair laughed once more, quite taken with the short, dark man before her and his sense of humor. Mostly she was amused at how distraught Charlie was.
"It wasn't easy," she said, indicating the still pink scar on her cheek.
Charlie plucked Winston from Adair's shoulder. "Think you could keep this to yourself, Sandor?" he asked.
"Oh of course. You know me. My lips are sealed."
Charlie rolled his eyes as he guided Adair back out of the building. "The whole sanctuary will know you're here in half an hour."
Adair shrugged, though she was a bit put out. Even when she thought privacy might be possible, it wasn't.
"Let's go back to my cabin and hide out the rest of the day," Charlie suggested, noting her mood.
Adair nodded.
There was still a chill in the air and so Adair was grateful when Charlie lit a fire. He then settled on the small, worn out sofa and gestured for her to join him.
"It's so cool that you do this," Adair said when she settled against his side and drew a blanket over them both.
Something settled over her and it was such an unfamiliar feeling that at first she had trouble placing it. Finally, it came to her. Peace. She felt at peace, content, comfortable. It was so completely foreign to her that at first she wanted to push against it, to go back to her normal life, but when Charlie wrapped his arm around her shoulders and stroked her upper arm, she decided it wasn't so bad.
"Says the professional Quidditch player," he laughed.
Adair shook her head. "Not quite the same."
They settled into a comfortable silence. Charlie didn't seem to feel the need to fill it and Adair never did in those situations, but she knew when people were babbling on in order to make up for her silence.
They just sat there listening to the fire crackle and pop.
The sun was setting before Adair knew it and she blinked awake. "You didn't have to stay there the whole time. You could've woken me up."
"It seemed like you needed it and I enjoyed it," Charlie said. "Are you hungry?"
"Not really," Adair said drowsily.
"Well what are you?" Charlie asked.
Without a word, Adair stretched up and pressed a firm kiss to his lips. She pushed his jacket off of his shoulders and when he was free of it, he hauled her so she was lying across his lap. He cradled her to him and kissed her softly.
As they tried to undress and get situated on the sofa, they went tumbling to the floor, Adair underneath Charlie. She quickly peeled her clothes off as he did the same. He then began kissing from her throat to her hips, making her toes curl in anticipation.
When his mouth closed over her, she thought she might scream from the sheer pleasure.
Charlie's hair had mostly come undone and she twined her fingers through the red locks.
Just as her thighs were tightening around him, he broke away and moved level with her, slowly slipping inside her.
Adair moaned. Charlie moved with little urgency and he watched as her green eyes fluttered close. His hand trailed over her breasts and bumped along her ribs. He nibbled at her ear and kissed down her throat.
"Harder," she said again.
"No," he replied.
Her eyes opened and she stared up at him curiously. "What are you doing?"
"Taking my time," he said softly. "Enjoying you."
Adair sighed and closed her eyes again, trying to go somewhere else.
He kissed her softly again, continuing with his slow movements.
"Open your eyes," he murmured into her ear. When she did, he buried his hand in her blonde hair and looked down at her.
She wouldn't have thought it possible before the sensuality in the very slowness brought her to the edge. Her fingernails dug into his back and she buried her face in his shoulder as once more she spasmed and cried out.
She felt Charlie smile against her neck as she laid beneath him, enjoying the sensation of pure pleasure and release.
His pace picked up then and he was soon lying next to, breathing heavily and tracing circles on her arm.
After a long moment, he shifted. "Now I'm starving and you're going to eat too," Charlie said, standing and pulling his jeans on. He went to the kitchen with nothing else on. Adair tried not to stare at how low they hung on his hips.
For the first time, she had the time to truly study him. There was more than just the large burn on his shoulder. His torso was covered in scars and shiny burns. He also had several tattoos. The arm that wasn't burnt had a nearly complete sleeve. She spotted a dragon, roses,and a snitch among others. There was some space left bare on his forearm.
He stood before the open refrigerator as he re-tied his hair back away from his face in a bun.
"I don't think you should ever let your mother cut your hair," Adair said with a smile as she watched him.
"No? Well maybe you'll want to get in front of her scissors the next time I'm home," he chuckled.
"On second thought…"
It seemed like an invitation of sorts, that Charlie thought whatever they were doing might continue and Adair's stomach clenched up at the idea.
"What do you like to eat?" he asked from the kitchen. "I can make just about anything."
Adair shrugged. "My meals usually consist of a glass of firewhiskey and a piece of fruit if I've got it on hand." She looked up at him.
Charlie looked at her, perplexed. "Alright, so you're not much of a cook. What did your mum cook you when you were little that you loved?"
"My mum?" Adair repeated. Charlie nodded at her encouragingly.
Adair shook her head and looked away. "She wasn't around much. She played for Scotland until after I went to school."
Charlie's brow furrowed as he studied her. "What about your dad? Could he cook?"
Once more, she shook her head. "I'll eat anything," she said quickly with more force than she intended.
They were silent for a minute.
"Do you mind if I grab a shower while you do that?"
"Towels are in the cupboard," he replied, indicating the closet with his wand.
He shook his head when Adair disappeared. She was difficult to get to know, but when she did share anything he understood why she might want to keep it to herself.
Charlie couldn't imagine having a mother who was never home. Mrs. Weasley was the epitome of a homemaker. She had poured love into everything she had ever done for her family and he was nearly certain that Adair did not come from such a home.
The water was scorching her skin and she didn't care. Often it was how she coped with thoughts of her mother or her childhood. It was one of the ways in which she knew how to transfer pain to the physical.
When she came out of the bathroom in baggy sweats and another black t-shirt, Charlie was guiding a pie pan onto his small kitchen table.
"It smells good," she said quietly.
"I thought shepherds pie might work on this chilly day," he said with a gentle smile.
Adair sat across from him and took the plate that floated toward her.
"Tuck in then," Charlie said when he sat down as well.
Adair chuckled, but diligently took a bite. "This is amazing," she said.
"I'm glad," Charlie replied with a smile. He shovelled the food into his mouth and had a second helping. When he took a breath and looked up, Adair was seemingly done after half a portion.
He tried not to say anything. He didn't want to push her after what she had said about her mother.
They spent the evening quietly. It felt like they had spent many such evenings together. The radio played quietly in the background and they spoke here and there, but not constantly.
"I have an early morning with a Horntail tomorrow," Charlie said quietly. "But then we can do whatever you like after that." He stood to go to bed.
"This?" Adair asked, quietly.
Charlie smiled, it was almost sad, down at her. Most people wouldn't have been content to just lie around, but Adair's life was nonstop motion. Everything passed her by in a blur of matches and travelling and interviews and photographs.
"Sure, "he agreed. He held out a rough hand and pulled her to her feet, leading her to his bedroom.
He was conscious of the fact that the bed was much smaller than the one they had slept in the night before in the hotel in Bucharest. Adair didn't say anything as she slipped under the soft, well-worn covers. Immediately, she rolled onto her side, her back to Charlie.
Charlie settled gently next to her as she pulled her knees to her chest, nearly rolling herself into a ball. After a minute, he rolled as well and wrapped himself around her from behind.
"Thanks for coming out here, Adair," he whispered, pressing a kiss to the nape of her neck.
"Thanks for persuading me," she murmured, a smile on her lips as she fell asleep.
ooooOoooo
When Adair woke the next morning, Charlie was gone. She rolled over to where he had slept and inhaled deeply the scent of his pillow. It smelled like the cologne he wore, but muted and tinted with the scent of sleep.
She rose and brushed her teeth, pulled her hair back into a ponytail, slipped back into her jeans and black t-shirt. A zippered sweatshirt of Charlie's was lying on the back of a kitchen chair and she shrugged into it as she left the cabin.
As Adair got nearer to the paddocks, she could hear a ferocious roaring and she made her way toward it.
The paddock was a tall metal cage, but she was the perfect height to stare though two of the rungs.
First she saw the Horntail, black as night and angry. Not thinking, she walked up to the paddock and watched the proceedings. Charlie, Sandor, and several other men were yelling back and forth trying to calm the beast.
The smell of sulphur overwhelmed Adair as the dragon breathed fire over and over again. It whirled around and she caught a glimpse of its shockingly yellow eyes. Its gaze locked on her and she couldn't look away. It was the most incredible thing she had ever seen.
"Adair!" She heard Charlie's voice.
The enraged dragon reared back and she ducked quickly, hitting the ground on the other side of the paddock. Sheets of flames blew over her head and even though she wasn't hit by them, she felt their blazing heat.
"Adair!" Charlie shouted her name again and she peeked above the paddock, showing that she was alright.
"This one's got to go to sleep, boys! She's too wild!" Sandor called and at once they all used a charm that caused the dragon to collapse into a deep sleep.
Charlie sprinted to Adair, heart pounding in his chest. It had taken everything in him not to leave his post when he first caught sight of her.
"Are you alright?" he demanded, gripping her upper arms tightly and looking her over.
"I'm fine," she said with a smile, not nearly as fazed by the whole thing as Charlie was.
"It's not funny," he said rather sharply. He took a deep breath. "You're lucky you have Quidditch reflexes or you'd probably be dead."
"Probably," she agreed, grinning up at him.
Charlie shook his head as Adair pulled her ponytail over her shoulder.
"I did lose about seven centimeters of hair." She studied the singed ends of her ponytail and Charlie couldn't help but laugh, draping his arm over her shoulders and guiding her back to his cabin.
"You didn't have to put her to sleep because of me, did you?" she asked quietly.
"No," Charlie replied. "Sometimes you have to do that when they just won't calm down. It was a rough morning."
ooooOoooo
"Please tell us you weren't actually sick," Jasmine said the following Saturday when they Apparated from the practice pitch onto a dirty side street in London after a brutal practice.
"Please tell us you were holed up with that gorgeous dragon wrangler," Sienna said.
Adair laughed. Before she could answer, both girls gasped and she looked up from her jacket that she had been zipping up, shocked at what she saw.
"Bloody hell, speak of the devil! There he is!"
And there was Charlie Weasley in his leather jacket leaning against a brick wall that separated a townhouse from the street. His arms were crossed over his broad chest and he was smiling at her.
"Bloody hell, he is dreamy," Jasmine breathed as Adair left their sides to go to him.
Charlie straightened up and draped an arm over her shoulder after taking her gym bag from her and slinging it over is own shoulder. He leaned down and whispered something in her ear that the girls couldn't hear and then they were on their way back to Adair's apartment.
I hope you loved it! I really enjoyed writing this one! I need cute, fluffy ideas for these two for the next couple of chapters for these guys so help me out!
I love to hear any and all thoughts except hate comments and flames. Let me know what you think so far. I think I'm really getting into a stride with these characters. I hope you think so too.
Happy reading,
Avonmora