Work Text:
Interrupted Vacations
by FaeOrabel
Charlie landed with a soft grunt. He’d never get used to Portkey travel. Looking around the Wizarding resort, he knew this would be a wonderful week away from… well, everything. He loved his job, especially now that they opened a reserve in Britain to try and help restore the magical ley lines throughout the country after they took such a hit with the war. But being close to home meant… being close to home. His mother was his best friend, but also a huge aggravation. Charlie was tired of hearing about how he wasn’t getting any younger and, “you really should start looking for a wife.”
Sighing, he went to check-in, excited for rest and relaxation.
"Mr. Weasley?"
Charlie looked up from the book he was reading, sprawled across a pool chair on the beach, to meet the eyes of the member of staff that had disturbed him.
"My apologies, Sir, but there's an urgent telephone call for you."
"Urgent telephone call?" Repeated Charlie the words feeling foreign in his mouth. Who on earth would know how to reach him here? He thought, closing his book slowly.
He had worked diligently to ensure that this summer holiday—the first he'd had in years —was as remote as possible. Going as far as travelling to an all inclusive resort on the other side of the world just so he wouldn't be tempted to be in contact with anyone. Hermione had even suggested this particular resort for its mixture of magical convenience with muggle technology—Charlie's mind stopped short and he swore under his breath. Hermione .
"If you could come with me, Sir?"
Sighing, Charlie shut his book with a snap and stood. Accepting the arm offered to him, Charlie took a deep breath as the familiar feeling of Apparation pulled at his navel. Instantly, he was transported from the remote seaside beach he'd been relaxing at to a quaint office space within the lobby's main facility. He allowed himself to be escorted to a private area and sat at the offered chair behind a desk.
"This rune will connect your call," offered the staff member pointing to a rune next to an odd shaped box, "and this rune series will activate the privacy and outside silencing charms for your comfort." Charlie nodded before thanking the man as he once again marveled at the convenience bringing the two worlds together wrought.
Charlie watched the man take his leave before enacting the privacy and silencing runes. Unless someone was dead or dying, he would have choice words with Hermione Granger for daring to disturb him on his holiday.
"Out with it Granger."
"What? Hello? Charlie?" She questioned on the other end of the line, as if anyone else in the world would have the gall to speak that way with the war heroine.
"Yes, Hermione. How can I help you?"
"Don't you take that tone with me Charlie Weasley—"
"Are my parents okay?" He asked, not at all sorry that he had cut her off.
"What? Yes, of course."
"And my brothers? Ginny?"
"Yes, yes. Everyone's fine,” Hermione sighed, knowing what he was doing.
"Then would you mind telling me just what the hell you're doing ruining my vacation?"
"It’s about work."
"No."
"Charlie, please."
"Have someone else handle it. Malfoy or Simmons." He’d been surprised when Hermione had joined the reserve under him as a Researcher, but he’d been even more surprised when the younger Malfoy had applied with her to be a trainer.
"We can't."
"Why the hell not?"
"Because we were contacted by the Oceania Ministry of Magic on behalf of the New Zealand Reserve. Someone's been poaching their population of Antipodean Opal-eyes-"
"What?"
"I know," Hermione paused. "There's more—They found the poachers and were able to take possession of many of the missing dragons, but Charlie… They took a breeding female. They found her clutch."
"The eggs?"
"Smashed."
Charlie swore under his breath at the potential impact to the breed. Losing a clutch and breeding female could potentially endanger an entire generation worth of dragons and throw the local magical community out of balance. Just what they needed when they were so close to near total restoration of the ley lines. "And the mother?"
"Injured." There was silence on the other end of the line.
"Not ideal. But she can be healed—"
"No. Charlie. She's missing." Hermione pressed, trying to get him to understand the full gravity of the situation obviously.
Charlie swore, closing his eyes for a moment. "An emotionally distraught—potentially nesting again —Antipodean Opaleye is injured and missing… Where exactly?"
Hermione paused. "Waikato."
"What? That's—" But Hermione decided to return the favor and cut him off again.
"Right where you are? I know. Charlie, listen you have to believe me, I wouldn't have asked otherwise, but they asked for you by name. The Oceania Reserve has their hands full gathering and healing all the other dragons—"
Charlie thought for a moment. While this wasn’t exactly what he’d planned when he’d arranged this vacation, Hermione knew he’d never say no to something like this. Especially not when she was fully aware of his soft spot for Opaleyes. "I'll do it."
"You're sure?" As if she needed to ask.
"Yes. Absolutely."
"Oh thank you, Charlie! She was last spotted near the Kaimai Range."
Charlie swore again. "I was literally there yesterday."
"Good. I'll send all the information I have to your communication mirror, and the Oceania reserve can send over gear and anything else you need through the hotel's floo."
Gearing up for a seemingly rough couple of days, Charlie’s stomach clenched at the possibility of not finding her. "Sounds like a plan."
"Just be careful Charlie. You're in a different country with no backup—"
"Wouldn't be the first time, Hermione," Charlie replied with a laugh. It was only a moment longer before he was saying his goodbyes and ending the call. He had a dragon to find.
Using yet another Merlin forsaken Portkey up to the Kaimai Range, Charlie landed with a slight misstep and ended up on his ass.
“Great start, Weasley,” he muttered to himself.
Looking around at where he landed, choosing the top of the range, he knew he had a long day ahead of himself. There were no signs that he’d expect from an injured dragon, so he figured he’d just have to Apparate around the range until he got even a small sign of her.
“At least I’m starting early,” Charlie shrugged, starting to hike down a trail at random.
The sun was just starting to rise.
Finding a clear ridge an hour later, Charlie looked around at the mountains that he could visibly see. He hoped that he’d be able to see some broken branches, holes in the treetops, or even something sparkling in the foliage below. Her scales don’t exactly make for great camouflage.
With no luck, Charlie Apparated to a new mountain.
Immediately, he sensed something different about this part of the range. Holding his breath, he looked around for signs of life. Snapped branches, broken bark, flattened brush—all signs that he was near a large disturbance in the trees. He knew that it could be something other than his dragon until he saw some torn off scales stuck in one of the trees.
Crouching down, he tried to determine what direction she was going and started following her path.
Hours later, he reached an open clearing with a cave off to the side. This had to be where she settled. He could hear a creek off in the distance. The clearing would attract wildlife, the creek would provide water, and the cave was a perfect shelter.
“Good girl,” Charlie whispered, glad she still had her wits about her to settle in an ecological haven.
A metal tang in the air told him that she’d been bleeding recently and may still be. Pulling his backpack off his shoulders, he reached inside for the sleeping draught laced meat he’d prepared and packed. Charlie would need her to be asleep so he could heal her as best he could temporarily, then he’d contact his reserve and they’d send an extraction team.
He hoped Hermione and Malfoy were on it to get back at her for putting a kink in his vacation.
Sneaking to the opening of the cave, Charlie’s muscles were all on edge and ready to flee should she be in a bad mood. A sound stopped him from throwing the meat into the cave’s mouth.
Singing?
Why on earth would there be singing deep inside a cave where all signs point to there being a presumably very angry and most certainly very large dragon inside?
“You can come in, if you’d like. She already knows you’re there.” A singsong voice echoed from inside.
Charlie held his breath. What the fuck was going on?
Creeping deep into the cave like the voice suggested, he glanced all around trying to prepare himself for whatever he might see.
Nothing would have prepared him for what he actually laid eyes on.
A girl, small in stature, and positively dwarfed by the Opaleye, sat next to the dragon, rubbing some sort of balm on a very large gash down the length of her side. Most of it was already covered in the green paste, and it seemed to be some sort of coagulant because it was halting the bleeding and helping the dragons natural healing abilities to take over.
“What—Why are you—How—” Charlie stuttered, finally settling on, “Who the fuck are you?”
“As eloquent as ever, Charlie Weasley,” the pixie-like girl giggled at him.
“So, you know who I am. Now, who are you?” he repeated, unnerved by her knowledge of his identity.
“I am Alice Cullen,” she smiled, finishing her treatment of the dragon’s wound. “And this is Zephyr. She’s very wary of you and upset you were going to drug her.”
“Not drug her, I just needed her to sleep so I could heal her. Not that I need to now, seems like you’ve got that covered.” Charlie motioned to her green hands.
“She’ll still need a round of antibiotics and some stitches for the deeper areas. They really did a number on her and she didn’t help herself by running into that tree.” Alice seemed to say that pointedly to the dragon as if it would understand her.
To Charlie’s utter surprise and confusion, the dragon snorted, smoke rising from her nostrils and it looked as if she even rolled her large eyes.
“She… just let you do that?” Charlie asked for lack of any other words for the bizarre situation in front of him.
Alice chuckled, her laugh sounding like little bells tinkling. “Of course, but only once she trusted me.”
“And how did you get her to do that?”
“By treating her with the respect she deserved.” Alice tilted her head as if it was the most obvious answer in the world, her smile more radiant than any Charlie had ever seen.
Who the fuck was this girl and why was she having such an affect on him? He only ever felt this way about his dragons.
“Would she like some non-laced food?” Charlie asked.
“You can ask her,” Alice prompted.
Looking up to the large, intelligent eyes watching him, Charlie took a deep breath. “Would you like some food?”
The dragon stared at him for a moment, as if looking into every nook and cranny he possessed. He’d only ever talked this way with the dragons he raised from hatchlings. Adult dragons never allowed him the same kind of relationship, usually having trauma related to humans in their past. The most he ever got from them was disinterest and apathetic acceptance of his presence.
Finally, she nodded her head once.
Charlie pulled out a different piece of meat, basically an entire elk, and set it in front of her, watching her mouth and claws closely while he did.
Backing away again, he watched as she snorted at his actions and then started eating, ignoring the humans while she feasted.
“Would you like to walk with me to the creek? I need to wash my hands. Then you can call for your friends,” Alice asked, bouncing from her toes to her heels in anticipation like a child on Christmas morning.
Everything about her screamed childlike except her eyes. Her golden eyes showed years that she couldn’t possibly possess, looking around the same age as Hermione.
“Sure,” Charlie nodded.
On the way there, Alice explained how she’d come upon the dragon after she got away from the poachers. How it took a lot to get the injured dragon to trust her, but once she proved she wasn’t one of the bad humans, Alice rode her to this point. Alice worked through the night, collecting the ingredients for the balm she’d used to help heal the dragon. Giving Charlie the recipe for that as well, she mentioned that it would be good to have at the reserve for any cuts the dragons might endure due to in-fighting or sheer clumsiness. Charlie chuckled at the thought of his dragons being clumsy, but he had to admit it seemed like that sometimes.
They’d walked under complete tree cover the whole way there, so it was a shock to Charlie’s system when Alice stepped out into the sun to wash off her hands.
Her skin was exactly like an Opaleye’s scales, shining in the light and reflecting a symphony of colors.
“What are you?” Charlie asked, suddenly realizing there was no way she was human.
Alice chuckled her tinkling laugh again, not even turning around as she washed her hands. “What do you think, Charlie Weasley?”
Going through his knowledge of magical creatures, the list spun by behind his eyes. The eyes threw him off, thinking they only ever had blood red eyes, but there was only one real answer.
“Vampire?” he asked, suddenly uncertain and feeling foolish.
“Correct,” Alice said, becoming a blur and disappearing from his sight.
He didn’t feel any fear, however, only wonder.
“Is that a problem?”
Charlie spun around, her voice coming from behind him. She stood closer than he expected, and he looked down at her small figure—the epitome of a vacationer. Even wearing a floral shirt and flip flops, it appeared she wasn’t expecting this detour to her trip either.
“No,” he whispered.
“Good to know,” she smirked.
“Where are you staying?”
“Wherever you are.”
Charlie felt a spark in his veins as he stared into her eyes. He knew then and there, this girl—this vampire—was going to become very important to him, and it seemed like she knew it too, if the sparkle in her eyes was anything to go by.
An hour later, Charlie had called for the extraction team, making sure Alice wasn’t seen by them. They stood together as they watched the team fly away with the dragon close behind them. She had a long journey ahead of her, but Charlie swore the dragon seemed excited to be going to his reserve.
The rest of his vacation was spent mostly once the sun had set, spending every waking moment with Alice. It seemed like they never ran out of things to talk about, and Charlie shared stories with her that he never thought he’d share with anyone. She spoke of her family, and he told her about his.
While it was probably insane, he knew he was quickly falling for the tiny vampire. Her care for the Opaleye was definitely the best first impression anyone could have ever made on his dragon-obsessed self.
Finally, on the last day, she told him of her gift. That she had seen a vision of Zephyr and even of Charlie, and she’d followed her gut.
“Do your visions show you our future?” Charlie asked as they strolled lazily down the beach that night.
“They can. It’s all centered around decisions. Once someone makes a decision, if I’m watching or it’s important to my life, then I’ll see it,” Alice explained.
“Did you see me coming?”
“Years and years ago, probably before you were even born, I saw you. The vision itself has changed over time, but you always stayed the same,” Alice whispered, as if she was worried the revelation would scare him off.
Charlie stopped walking suddenly, turning to her and grabbing her hand. Pulling the little vampire into his arms, he leaned down and kissed her softly. After a moment of surprise and stone-like stillness, Alice melted into his arms. They kissed languidly, discovering every part of each other. His large hands wrapped around her small waist.
Breaking apart for air—on Charlie’s part—he smirked down at her.
“Did you see that?”
“Surprisingly, no.”
“Was that okay?” Charlie asked, not sure if she liked being caught off guard with a gift like hers. He figured if he was able to do something like she could, he’d rely on it after a hundred or so years.
Alice giggled softly, “I think you’ll find I enjoy surprises more than the normal person.”
“Noted.”
They smiled sweetly at each other, slowly coming together again under the starlight. Unbeknownst to either of them, a shooting star whipped overhead, lighting up the sky for a brief moment of fated bliss.