NUMB WITHOUT YOU | Draco Malfoy

| 31

We had been at the Dragon Sanctuary for an excruciatingly long week. I spent most of my time avoiding my mother. It was a nearly impossible task considering the size of the house. We could all barely fit around their kitchen table at meal times as it was. Draco was surprisingly a big help to me. He kept my mum occupied during the day helping her with chores, while I followed Charlie around the sanctuary like a lost cruppy.

"She's a bit rough around the edges, your mum." Charlie said as we hiked through the woods one afternoon. "She means well. She just doesn't know how to be vulnerable. You know?"

It felt like there were rocks in the pit of my stomach as my eyes bore into the back of Charlie's head. This is not the conversation I wanted to be having. "Yeah. I think I know plenty about not being vulnerable with people."

"Still... she thinks about you more than she would admit." Charlie continued. Obliviousness must be a Weasley trait. "She's got a class picture of you at Hogwarts on her dresser. One of the big ones with everyone in it. Draco is in it too, so is my brother. I act like I haven't seen it, but it's there."

I blinked. I remembered when we had to take those. Everyone from the year had to stand in a group. Parents liked to order the pictures to keep for themselves. "How did she..."

"It was mine. My mum sent it to me to show off Ron in his first year at Hogwarts. Your mum must have nicked it and pretended to be none the wiser." Charlie paused and looked around as he caught his breath. "We should be close now."

I bit my lip and thought about my mum. I still couldn't bring myself to talk to her. She didn't deserve it.

We made it to a clearing in the trees where the terrain began to get rocky and the jagged mountain range began. Charlie pulled out a pair of muggle binoculars and began searching. He laughed when he spotted what he was looking for, a Romanian Longhorn.

Charlie put his fingers in his mouth and let out a loud whistle. This instantly got the dragon's attention. He immediately began to fly over to us, and actually looked kind of excited. Naturally I cowered behind Charlie, who laughed indifferently. "He won't hurt you. You can relax."

"I admire your confidence, Weasley." I huffed, "But you and I have very different stances on dragons."

"Roman is a rescue." Charlie explained, "He cannot fully be acclimated to the wild because he was raised in captivity. He has a strong attachment to humans that he believes are part of his herd, which includes me."

I snorted, "Yeah, but that doesn't include me."

Charlie smiled as the ground shook from the landing of the dragon next to us. Roman looked at me curiously and let out a low grunt.

"It's alright, Roman!" Charlie's voice echoed through the mountain range. "She's a friend. This is Rory." Roman grunted again, but this time he bowed his head. Charlie laughed excitedly, "Oh this is perfect! Rory, come quick. He's letting you pet him. We he must really like you already. He takes a while to warm up to most people."

"What?" My mouth gaped open. "I dunno about all that, Charlie. I can just admire from a distance. I'm good where I'm standing, really."

"No, it's fine." He pushed me forward and I stumbled towards the beast. I extended my hand and placed it gently on his snout and let my hands drag across his scales. I let out the breath I had been holding in when he didn't immediately kill me.

"Roman." A smile grew on my face as I continued to pet him. I was growing more confident each second, "It's very nice to meet you, sir."

Roman made a screeching noise that made me cover my ears, and Charlie laughed so hard that his entire body shook. "He really likes you!"