Smoke Me Out || Charlie Weasley

Chapter Seven

Riley had woken up very close to the crack of dawn. Subsequently, she had caught the sunrise and walked around the sanctuary. She had made a pot of coffee and drank two cups, currently nursing her third, just having finished casting a few charms on Charlie's dying plants.

Charlie, however appeared to be one to enjoy his sleep.

It was nearing ten in the morning when the man moved groggily into the kitchen. 

He yawned greatly, stretching his arms up into the air so that the bottom of his shirt rose up just enough for Riley to see muscle and ink.

"You have a tattoo?" She asked curiously, meeting Charlie's kind blue eyes.

He smiled bashfully at the brunette, whose hair was pulled up into a ponytail which tumbled it's way messily down her back. He was momentarily distracted by how she looked as she sat in the chair, nursing a mug of steaming black coffee. She had on a pair of jeans, slightly baggy and unintentionally ripped at the knees and faded. Her white shirt was large and tucked into the waistband of her jeans, she wore socks decorated in tiny fireworks.

"Charlie?" She said, furrowing her brows at the man staring at her feet.

"Sorry, sorry," he replied, obviously flustered. "I just, well, cool socks."

Riley giggled, the small peal of laughter ringing blissfully through the kitchen.

"And yes, I do have a tattoo."

"What's it of?" Riley questioned

"It's the first dragon I ever encountered. I'd wandered off while dad had me at work, he'd been called out to look at some funny fence near a property. Apparently, it was firing nails at those who walked past, turns out it was just the man who lived there. Anyhow, in the woods where I walked, there was a baby Welsh Green. I watched him for a while, but he looked so lost that I made dad take me straight back to the ministry to find him a home."

"Did he come here? The dragon?"

"Sure did. He's still in the area, I believe. Up near the ranges, there's an area where dragons have made homes of a sort. We protect the area as much as we can but on the whole, they're left to their own devices."

Riley smiled at the story, a sort of wicked glint forming in her eye.

"Oh no. That's far too dangerous Riley, you are not going anywhere near those mountains."

As the young woman in front of him sat and poured her plump bottom lip, her eyes became large and shimmery with hope.

"Merlin help me," cursed the man. "Put your boots on then. You'll probably want a coat too."

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

A few hours later, Riley was lying on the stone pathway near the house, staring up at the puffy white clouds that were formed in the sky.

"I used to think the clouds were puffs of dragon smoke when I was a child," stated Charlie as he lay beside her.

She turned her head to meet the man in the eye. "No."

"Yes, I swear to you. Blame my parents, I asked what clouds were and my mother, who always told us stories told me they were puffs of dragon smoke. I was a little obsessed with dragons from there on."

"Were you disappointed? When you came here and none of them made clouds with smoke?"

"Of course I was Rye," he smirked, nudging her leg with his so that they intertwined delicately.

"Rye?" The girl asked.

"Do you mind? Makes it a little bit less of a mouthful."

Riley's eyes clouded over for a second, and then she shook her head. "No, I don't think I mind."