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To the Dragons

Ophelia adjusted her knapsack as she made her way through the crowded and crazy Ministry of Magic in Bucharest. It was alive and full of people speaking in a language she didn't understand, but it was wonderful. She had done her share of traveling around the world, but there was something about being a new place that had her buzzing with life and excitement.

Someone from the Sanctuary was meant to meet her here and help her get there, but they hadn't exactly told her who it was. She couldn't help as part of her hoped it was Charlie Weasley.

She, like many young girls at Hogwarts, had held a mild crush on the Weasley before he graduated. He had been stockier and shorter than the others and held a bit of a rugged handsomeness to him. She wondered how he had changed over the years. Since he moved to Romania, she hadn't seen much of him and it had been a good five years or so since the last time she had seen him.

A flutter of something went through her stomach, but she quickly squashed it, reminding herself that she was here for work and work alone. Not to relive her Hogwarts crush.

She kept looking around the crowded atrium before looking down at her watch and wondering just how it was she was supposed to know who was here to retrieve her. She looked up again, just in time to see someone making their way towards her, a bright grin on his face.

Ophelia's eyes widened as she took in the bright red hair, slightly curly and pulled back in a short, low ponytail. The broad chest and arms covered in large muscles. If this is what working with dragons did to a person, then Charlie Weasley had been doing very well, indeed.

"No. No. Ophelia Grace Wood. Work," she scolded herself mentally.

"If it isn't little Phillie Wood," he said loudly as he approached her.

Ophelia immediately blushed, not realizing that he would remember the annoying nickname her brothers had given her. Normally she hated it, but there was something about the way he said it.

Wait. No. Stop it. Dinnae think that way.

"You've grown up."

"I... yea..." she stuttered. She then shook her head and smiled at him. "I could say the same for ye."

Charlie chuckled, a deep rumbling sound that Ophelia could feel even though they were a couple feet apart.

"Suppose you're tired and eager to get to the reserve," he said. Ophelia nodded. "We'll floo to the village nearby and then I can apparate us up there." He motioned for her to follow him. "Need me to help with anything?"

He looked back at the small knapsack on her back.

"Oh, I'm good," she said quickly, sure that she was still blushing. Charlie nodded.

"How long's it been?" he asked.

"Christmas, I think... five years ago," Ophelia said, remembering he had come to Duncan's annual party during the holidays.

She then blushed fiercely, remembering how drunk she had gotten that night. Charlie laughed.

"Didn't you get caught under the mistletoe with someone?" he asked, winking at her.

"I dinnae remember," she said abruptly. Charlie continued chuckling.

"You sure about that?" he asked. "From what I recall, you threw a fit when you realized one of your brothers had jinxed it." Ophelia rolled her eyes.

She had been stuck underneath it with some Ravenclaw bloke that was a couple years ahead of her at Hogwarts and had refused to kiss him to get out of it.

"Dinnae remind me," she muttered, causing him to laugh loudly.

"Here we are. Just say The Green Dragon," he said. "See you on the other side."