Smoke Me Out || Charlie Weasley

Chapter One

The air was cool, a slight breeze shivering through the trees, whispers passing through branches as the ground beneath them crunched. It was the footsteps of a tall girl, running through the long grass, a tangle of dark, unruly curls flying along behind her, as she ducked beneath low hanging leaves and attempted to dodge rocks that lay on the forest floor.

Suddenly, a break in the brush allowed a house to come into the young woman's eyesight, although, she thought, it may be better classified as somewhat of a cabin. The girl found herself feeling awfully lucky as a light shone through one of the small windows, providing her with more than mere moonlight to come up to the home.

Remembering there was no time to waste, the girl ran with haste towards the splintered oak door and knocked thrice.

She took a deep breath, counting down from fifteen, before she knew she would attempt to knock once more and rouse the occupants of the home.

However, the brunette had barely got down to eleven before she saw a shadow move through the house and appear through a crack under the door.

"Ed? Is that you," a voice called from inside the walls, as the door was pulled open hinges squeaking obnoxiously.

It was fair to say that both parties at this point were confronted by a sight they did not expect to see.

The girl, pleased to see that someone did open the door at such an hour, was rather surprised to see that it was a man not much older than her, with kind blue eyes and a concerned expression. Although, it was fair to say that the girl had no true expectations or any clue at all who would open the door at such an odd hour.

The man from inside the home ran his hand through his thick, red hair, noting that his visitor was certainly not Ed, and was in fact not anybody he knew at all. Rather, there was a tall stranger stood before him, lean, with thick brown hair and green eyes holding a steady gaze.

What was even more surprising to the man, was the fact that in the slim arms of the woman was a small dragon.

"Riley McAuley," the girl announced in a slight Irish accent, sticking out her hand, which the man noticed had a rather nasty burn and a copious amount of blood on it. "I'm terribly sorry to be here, bothering you, so late," she paused. "Actually, I truly do not know where I am at the moment, nor who you are, so I suppose to some extent it is unfair to say I am terribly sorry, as perhaps you deserve to be intruded on at whatever hour this may be. More importantly," she continued, shaking her head, "I found this guy here half underneath a bush, and he's got quite a nasty scratch on his wing."

Starting to think he was in an incredibly odd dream, the red haired man looked down at what was held in the woman's arms, indeed, appearing to be a small dragon.

Looking back up into the woman's eyes, he slowly began to pinch himself, hoping to wake himself up.

"I was wondering, perhaps,  if you had a Floo system I could use to get him some medical help? Oh dear, I really should have double checked whether who were a wizard or not first," sighed the girl. "Possibly, I should have even begun by asking you for your name."

The man blinked once, an awful sense of confusion washing over him, before tentatively beginning to speak. "Charlie," he said, reaching out to shake Riley's hand, still outstretched from her introductory spiel. "Charlie Weasley."

"Well, Charlie Weasley, it's a pleasure to meet you," the witch spoke eloquently, before she paused, waiting for Charlie to speak.

The poor man felt incredibly flustered, stuttering for a second before  he was able to get his plan out. "Actually, I study and work with dragons. You've ended up in our dragon sanctuary, so I can actually get him to a warehouse that's just down the hill, where we treat the injured. Follow me," he spoke, grabbing a jacket and closing the door.