Smoke Me Out || Charlie Weasley

Chapter Four

A violent cough escaped Charlie Weasley's lips as a cloud of smoke shrouded itself around him. Towering above him was a dragon, dark green in its scales and two long golden horns standing proudly in the air.

"Noodle, what's with all that smoke boy," Charlie choked out. He threw a small, dead sheep in the misty direction of the elderly dragon, who speared it with his horns and eagerly tossed it around before eating it.

As the smoke began to clear, there was a bout of laughter several metres behind Charlie and Noodle, the Romanian Longhorn. "He's probably acting up because you called him Noodle, Charlie."

Charlie turned around and grinned, seeing Lloyd. "He loves the name Noodle, he just doesn't love the cold," Charlie sighed, wandering over to the sanctuary head and tugging down the sleeves of his jacket. "What's going on Lloyd. You never come over to this side of the sanctuary unless there's a problem."

"Well, it's not so much of a problem. Just something that needs to be done. I believe it is your turn to do the rounds at the Ministry in France about their Magical Creature review?"

Charlie groaned, rolling his blue eyes dramatically. Everyone across the sanctuary knew that the monthly magical creature reviews at Ministry's all over the world were the worst. While Charlie and the other workers loved and understood dragons, many Ministry workers were more concerned by the profit coming out of Dragon Sanctuaries.

"Seriously? I thought it was Mitch's turn."

Lloyd shook his head at the red-haired man. "It was, but Mitch got sick, and you're next in line. It's really the last minute as well, you have to be there in two hours."

"You're kidding me. You know how much I hate apparating Lloyd," whined Charlie. 

Lloyd chuckled and began to walk away. "I know, but you can use floo powder if you hurry up."

Charlie sighed and began to follow Lloyd to the main office of the sanctuary. As he pulled off his thick gloves, he shook his tied back hair. "You really owe me this time man."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Charlie walked into the Visitors Entrance of the French Ministry, in Central Lyon, France. He wandered over towards the sign-up book, silently fuming about the fact he was here. His frustration was only amplified by the terrible lack of French he spoke.

Charlie sighed to himself and headed off along the marble floors, towards the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He watched as heads full of hairs of all colour walked past, black, blonde, red, purple, grey, and brown.

At the sight of the brown hair, Charlie did a double take and whipped his head around to look back. 

"Riley?" He called.

The girl froze, looking as though she was cursing under her breath, before turning around and sending the man a fleeting grin.

"Hi," she said, thrusting her hands into the pockets of her smart pants, forest green and plaid.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, chuckling lightly at his luck.

Riley bit her lip, softly pulling it back with her teeth before answering the man, who couldn't appear to stop smiling. "I can't really say actually, there is a possibility I could be arrested for sharing Ministry secrets and all."

A slight frown graced the man's features but was quickly replaced by a cheesy grin once more. "Well, since we're both here, why don't we go out for lunch after this? I do know of a rather nice pub just around the corner."

Riley sighed lightly. "Sure. I'll meet you back here in say, half an hour? Possibly longer, depending on how long my meeting takes. I'm already running late, so I best be off."

And with a small smile, the girl ran off, leaving a behind a red-haired man, for some unknown reason, grinning like an idiot.

~~~~~~~~~~

"So, what did you do over the Christmas period Riley?" Charlie asked, taking a sip of his Firewhiskey flagon.

"Just visited an old friend," she replied. "Yourself?"

"We had a big sanctuary Christmas party, and gave the dragons extra treats and such."

"What kind of treats?" Riley inquired, leaning forward in interest.

"Well, Noodle is a big fan of rats, so we froze a whole lot of them in some water and gave them to him. He also likes to play with his food and melt it."

Riley's eyes lit up in amusement.

"I never knew that dragons played with their food!"

"That's because they usually don't, but the Romanian Longhorn tends to spear their food with their horns before eating it. The ice just adds a bit of fun, especially for our older dragons."

Riley nodded in interest, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Charlie couldn't help but notice how tidily she was dressed. Her brown hair was still wildly curly but was pulled up behind her head with what Charlie recognised as a small, emerald coloured scarf. The scarf matched the green on her pants, and she wore a blazer of the same colour. She looked like a grown professional, hardly a teenage genius.

As Riley's green eyes locked back on her meal, Charlie realised the silence had fallen heavily over the pair.

Panicked that Riley would think he was odd for staring so long, Charlie hurried to pick up the conversation. "So Riley, what are your plans for the New Year?" 

"I actually have been given time off, but I have no idea what I'm doing yet. I'll probably just stay at my apartment in Wales."

"You have an apartment in Wales?" Charlie was stunned. At seventeen, he barely knew what an apartment was.

"Yes, I do. I don't stay there often in the summer though, I try and spend time with my siblings."

"Oh, you have siblings? How many?" Nothing resonated better with a Weasley than learning another person had siblings.

"Um, four. A twin sister, two younger brothers and another younger sister. Nobody knows we're related though, my entire life is kind of classified."

"Don't worry, I won't say anything," Charlie said, looking at Riley, his blue eyes filled with concern.

"Charlie, I can read your behaviour, remember? You have no reason to be worried about me at all, I'm more than capable." Although Riley was truly fine with her life, she couldn't help but be slightly flattered by Charlie Weasley's concern for her.

Charlie sighed at the girl. "Fine. Look, Riley, I have a proposition for you."

"Yeah," she said, furrowing her brows.

"Why don't you come back to Romania for New Years. You can spend the week with us all at the sanctuary, and get a first hand look at the dragons." Biting his lip, Charlie crossed his fingers beneath the table that separated the two. Quite truthfully, he had no idea what was happening to him. Charlie felt he had plenty of friends, but something drew him to Riley. It was different from how he'd ever been drawn to anyone before, even to his best friends.

Riley caught Charlie's eyes for a split second, before looking away and nodding.

"Okay. Romania it is."

And if it was even possible, Charlie's smile widened even further.