The Only Thing That Matters (charlie)

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"Arrgh!" Nat yelled in frustration and pain. This experiment was not going well. She was trying to create a special fire that didn't burn the skin but could still be used for light and even warmth when needed. But that was the hard part, how do you get warmth without burning? That was why her hands and arms were covered in little burns now. She would heal it all up later once she solved the case or was done for the day. No point in continuing to heal herself if she was going to keep getting burned.

This last burn, though, hurt the most. She dropped her wand after putting the fire out and ran to the sink to run her hand under some warm water. "Youuuuuu," her eyes narrowed and she glared at her hands. She didn't have time for them to be throwing little hissy fits of pain every time they got burned! Her Charlie was burned every day and his hands probably weren't whining about it.

Speaking of Charlie, she heard the door open to their house and she turned off the water, rushing into the front room. "Charlie, is that you!?" she said excitedly.

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@natalie

Another long day. He couldn’t understand why people kept on insisting to keep dragons as pets. It must have been something in the water lately, because there had been more than enough cases to keep him stuck in London instead of going back to research in Romania. Sometimes he wished he didn’t owe favors to the Ministry, because it was getting out of hand. One of the little buggers this morning managed to singe half of one of his eyebrows off. He really liked his eyebrows too. At least it wasn’t his beard. He would have roughed up the black market dealer at that point. No one hurts his beard and gets away with it.

Finally, he was home. Unlocking the front door, he tossed his jacket, which was sufficiently covered in ash and soot again, onto the coat-rack near the door and kicked off his shoes. It took him a few moments to notice that the smell of smoke in his nostrils wasn’t from him for once, but somewhere in the house. Years of dealing with fire had trained his nose enough that he could pick up on it in a heartbeat. Usually his own cloud of smoke particles from the dragons masked anything else. Not today though. Curious, but not too concerned about it, he continued to get rid of his work materials by the front entrance. Within moments of entering though, he already heard Nat running towards him. What in the world had he done to deserve her? “The one and only.”

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There he was, with that rugged handsome smile and that welcoming voice. She grinned at his words and didn't stop her run, jumping when she reached him to wrap her burnt arms around his neck and lift herself off of the ground in order to wrap both legs around his waist. After nineteen years of marriage he should be expecting her to do something like that. "Hi," she said quickly before kissing his cheeks, his forehead, his nose and then finally his lips. She pulled away and tilted her head to once side, "Long day? How are the dragons? Anything exciting happen?" she asked all these questions incredibly quickly, excited to hear his answers to each of them.

Natalie loved hearing about Charlies work and even sometimes thought about joining him, but she never had. She did like to take care of their house and not really have a set schedule. Though, today she was going to tell him about the Hogwarts Librarian position opening up at the school, and how she was wanting to take it. She knew she might go a little stir crazy there, but at least she'd be close to the kids and her nieces and nephews. Ondina had one year left and Xavier had two, so she'd made it clear to the school that she wouldn't be there for long. She just had to run this idea by Charlie now...

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@natalie

Somehow, he didn’t expect a different reaction out of Natalie. He had grown accustomed to the insane amounts of affection he received from her on a daily basis, which was nice after a bunch of angry dragons tried to chomp on him every day of his life for the last thirty years. Charlie had always figured that all of this was because he could be gone at any moment. His own mother had adopted the same principle when he first started working, and it hadn’t let up once since then. It was safe to say that he was used to it, and if Nat or Molly weren’t all over him the second he stepped through the door, then there was definitely something wrong.

“Hello.” He managed between kisses. Eventually she pulled away from him, and started firing off questions. Typical ones, but that didn’t mean they weren’t welcome. Dealing with dragons had taught everyone around him two things: there was always a new story, even if it was the same job but a different day. The second, never stick your hand in a dragon’s open mouth. Fastest way to lose fingers, a hand, or maybe half your body. Gruesome, but important information. “Unfortunately long. Black market dealers smuggled eggs in again, so I had to go around and clear them and any that had hatched out.” Charlie sighed. This work was more exhausting than working in Romania was. At least out there he had open fields and forests. Back home he was always crammed into tiny apartments or alleyways trying to snare a dragon.

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Okay, okay, so she let him get a word in while kissing him in greeting. That was amazing in itself, but he was well used to it by now, of course. He answered her question about how work was and she gave a sympathetic pout, nodding as he spoke. "Bloody dealers. They have no respect for those dragons," she said. "Plus, you know, all the people that could get hurt if a bunch of baby dragons got loose," she giggled. Typical Natalie, worrying about the dragons first and the people second. She felt like Charlie may agree with her on that one, though. He loved dragons too, otherwise how could he possibly do his job!?

She gave him another kiss. Okay, okay, three more kissing before finally nodding back toward the sitting room. "I' can start some tea if you want some? Or we could just sit on the couch and... talk," she winked and then laughed, "but really, I'm not getting down until you make me," she said firmly, as if this was an obvious fact... but also a challenge.

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@natalie

“The ones that get me are repeat offenders too. Wish the Ministry would just lock the lot up.” Frustrated was an understatement when it came to the black market dealers. It seemed like he was always going to the same exact places, finding the same dealers, and having them arrested again and again. There was never any deviation. “If one can manage to get loose in George’s store when I’m handling it, there’s no telling what would happen with the dealers.” The Ministry was lucky he was staying home right now. As far as he knew, there were very few dragonologists that stuck to London on a regular basis. Lots of foot traffic by them, coming from the Americas and heading to Romania, but never really one planted right here. Charlie seemed to be that person now.

Natalie still hadn’t let go, and he really hadn’t expected her to. A few more kisses later, and Charlie was starting to feel the strain on his neck, opting not to say anything though. Chasing that one dragon earlier had gotten him into a little scramble, and it was safe to say he wasn’t exactly young anymore. “Tea sounds good to me.” He looked at her arms, still wrapped around his neck. There were burn marks on them. He was sure he had noticed them upon coming home, but it always took a while for him to get out of work mode and realize that burn marks on a regular person wasn’t exactly a normal thing. “What happened?” Charlie said, examining the burns but making sure not to touch them. They still looked new.

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Natalie shook her head at the mention of 'repeat offenders', her pout firmly in place "I'm sure Victoire would like to hear more about it to do something," she suggested. Their niece was quite a vicious woman when it came to her job and Nat was sure that she would be willing to crack down on black market scum. "Granted, Vic does have a lot on her hands..." Nat added solemnly. Nat chuckled, though, at his mention of a dragon getting loose in George's store. "Well, I'm sure George doesn't mind a little commotion now and then," she chimed. However, she knew that wasn't his point. His point was if his trained hands couldn't handle it then how could the dealers who didn't know what they were doing handle it?

He agreed on tea and she grinned happily, but before she could move on he was noticing her arms and asking what had happening. "Oh pssh, nothing," she said, shaking her head, "I'm just doing a little charms experiment and it wasn't going well," she pouted again, "I just haven't put the burn salve potion on them yet. Thought it'd be a waste of time til I was done for the day," she explained. "I suppose I'll get down so I can make that tea," she grumbled, kissing him quickly on his scruffy cheek before unwrapping her legs from around him first, then her arms.

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@natalie

The mention of bringing these issues up to Victoire made Charlie raise his remaining non-crispy eyebrow. And maybe a little bit of the one that was somewhat there still. “You’re right, she is pretty busy.” Unfortunately there were national security issues that were a little more important than a bunch of dragon dealers. It wasn’t like he couldn’t deal with the baby dragons, it was just an annoyance that he had to keep doing it. There was no way to stop them. To top it all off, this was just a tiny section of the black market racket that went on. If only the Ministry knew what other contraband he happened to come across while capturing dragons. That wasn’t under his jurisdiction though, so he’d have to tell the right departments about it, and they hated being told what to do by him. He was pretty sure it was because Victoire was his niece.

Charlie chuckled at the comment about George. “He loved it. Planned on making a business proposition to keep the little fella too. Too bad they grow up so fast, I was ready to make that deal.” Luckily his brother could turn anything into a joke or positive situation. Percy or Bill would have strangled him for carrying a dragon around in a cardboard box in the middle of Diagon Alley. What else was he supposed to put it in though? Dragons were pretty easy to spot, and there was no way he was going to drag it around in a cage.

He knew being stern about the burns wasn’t going to get him anywhere, especially when it came to her work. Burns weren’t trivial matters though. They could scar quick, and under the right circumstances, untreatable. Magical burns had a tendency to stay a little longer than a normal fire burn. He knew all about those. “Don’t wait too long to put the potion on them. Can’t have people mistaking you for me.” Charlie attempted to return the last kiss but was too slow, as Nat was already off of him. That could wait until later. He didn’t want to get stuck in an endless smother right now.

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Natalie loved that one eyebrow. "Perhaps you'll just have to continue dealing with it for now," she suggested. There were bigger fish to fry on Victoires plate right now and the girl was taking in all of it while only being twenty three years old. Natalie didn't know how she could possibly have that much focus. Granted, when Nat was twenty three she had a two year old Harper running around. But that was all good fun... and stressful, but fun.

"Ah! Yes, I'm afraid you can't just go around selling mini dragons," then she made an 'awwwwee' sound and bit her lip, "that would be so cute, though! Can you imagine? We'd do great with one of those," she giggled. She was very grateful for Charlies brother George and his sense of humor. It was good for Charlie to have that in his life, for it brought out the best in him, too. The Weasley boys, save Percy, were all rather youthful and that was something Nat loved about them. They were all wonderful parents, too, which she looked up to. But George and Charlie were the biggest culprits of that youthful behavior.

At his comment about not waiting too long to salve the burns and not wanting to be mistaken for him she narrowed her as at him. She stuck her tongue out at him as she backed toward the kitchen, "I know all about burns Charlie Weasley. Try being married to you," she said before turning on her heel and rushing off. She quickly put the water kettle on the stove and grabbed the burn salve before heading back to the sitting room, "If I put this on now then it'll have to sit for a moment, meaning you'll have to finish the tea," she said, holding the little container up by her face.

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@natalie

Dealing was all he could do for now. Being understaffed helped with that. Dragons simply weren’t that interesting to anyone these days. They reached peak interest in the 90s, probably thanks to the tournament, but then everything became about those pygmy puff things and whatnot. He didn’t understand how his brother could make them legally and get away with it. Surely they were pushing laws a little too much. Speaking of little creatures, Nat’s reaction to the thought of tiny dragons was hilarious. “Would be interesting…could just get a normal lizard though. They don’t fly or breathe fire…actually, a tiny dragon would be fun.” Charlie scratched his face as he thought about that. With the way things were with tight control on dragon breeding, there was no way they could possibly risk that. They didn’t have nearly enough space to attempt it, even in Romania, let alone the money to do so. Was there even a customer base for tiny dragons? They could be a novelty at first, but he didn’t see them panning out that well in the long run. “We’d be finger food, if that’s fine with you.”

He let out a hearty chuckle as she stuck her tongue out at him. “Being married to myself would be fun. Twice the beard. I could get used to that.” He stroked his beard passionately for a few seconds. There was an easy solution to that, aptly called a Polyjuice Potion, but he wasn’t going to plant that idea in her head. She’d probably actually go out and try it. Charlie barely had a second to sit down before Natalie was back in the sitting room, burn salve and all. Charlie made a playful groan as he stood back up to head into the kitchen. He stopped and turned back, squinting his eyes at her. “Are you even able to sit still for that long?”

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"Lizard!" Nat squealed, nodding vigorously, "that would be fine, too! But the fire is the fun part," she chuckled. Clearly they were both no stranger to fire. Then he mentioned the finger food scenario and she laughed again, shaking her head, "I don't want my fingers to be food," she teased, tossing him another one of her famous winks. She was sure people would love it at first and then realize how foolish they were being. Tiny dragons, it was just as silly, if not more so, than those muggles who adopted large game cats like tigers and pretended it was a totally normal thing to have as a pet. That seemed pretty stupid to Natalie. Though, she didn't mind stupid.

Natalie glared at him even more as he spoke about how having 'twice the beard' would be fun. "Well, I'm not growing a beard, so deal with it!" she called back as she made her way into the kitchen and whatnot. Upon her return and her instructions about sitting still, Charlie stood to go to the kitchen and made his little snarky comment about her being able to sit for that long. "I can, Charlie. If you're here to keep me company," she smirked, squinting her eyes at him now, "but go ahead and finish that tea up first love," she said, waving him off with one hand and turning back to the salve to open it. It didn't smell incredibly unpleasant, but it wasn't roses either.

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@natalie

Fire fun? He had to remember that there were only a few times where she had been lucky enough to see a dragon shoot a stream of fire out. Too often that meant Charlie was on the other side of that, and blocking dragon fire was not fun. He could live with a tiny one though, but it would get rather annoying to deal with a tiny one after messing around with the real ones. He was unnecessarily rough with his dragons. They needed discipline when it came to being around humans. The last thing he needed was losing another coworker.

“You with a beard would be something else. Careful, might slip one of those beard-growing elixirs on you while you sleep.” He was sure George had a couple dozen in his shop still. Meant to be used by the unfortunate beardless souls out there, his brothers had figured out better ways to implement them into prank items.

Turning back to head into the kitchen again, Nat rebounded with another comment about being able to sit still only when he was there. He snorted as he walked into the kitchen as the tea kettle went off. “I’d like to see that happen.” Charlie yelled back through the house. Preparing the tea, he got everything set up on a tray and brought it back into the sitting room. “Five-star service right here. The things I do for you.” He grinned before sitting back down.

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Natalie laughed loudly at the thought of the 'beard growing elixir'. "You better not or I will make you pay," she challenged. But, really, her making him pay would just mean her ignoring him for like... five minutes. That was a pretty long time in Natalies book. She could only manage to ignore her dear husband for so long. It eventually would just become more torture for her than for him, really.

He called from the kitchen, doubting her ability to sit still and she stood but then sat back down. Now she had to prove him wrong... maybe. She started putting the salve on as he returned, trying to act as casual as possible. She looked over to him when he sat down, her face feigning a serene disinterest. "Eh, I'd give it a three," she teased, turning back toward putting the salve on her arms. Then, after a moment, she ever so slowly turned back to him again with that same pout on her face as before. "Help meeeee?" she pleaded, elongating the word and leaning toward him, holding her arms and the salve out toward him.

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@natalie

That sounded like a challenge. He wasn’t like George or some of his nieces and nephews where he’d actually go out and follow through with a prank like that, but it was so enticing. If he were to go through with it, he’d make sure the beard didn’t last too long, just enough to snap a couple of photographs for Christmas cards. Maybe she could even become the new poster model for George’s supply. Charlie would definitely buy the elixir if Nat was all over the signs, and he didn’t even need it. The one bonus of being naturally gifted with a luscious, almost fire-proof beard. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t charm it to make it fire-proof. It was too much of a risk not to do that.

Setting the tray down on the coffee table, Charlie leaned back with his tea, just in time to hear the comment about the service being three, at best. He cocked his head to the side, shrugging his shoulders. “Guess that means I won’t get a tip.” Charlie took a sip, but the tea was still too hot. Funny how a thought like that could even cross his mind. Hot should have been his middle name, because his whole life was centered on it. Dragons. Fire. His personality. Natalie. Pretty much everything. He had come to accept that hot described his entire existence. But really hot tea? That was too much for him.

Charlie set his cup down and stared at Nat for a few seconds as she begged for his help with the salve. He knew that she knew that they both knew she was completely capable of doing that on her own, but that wasn’t the point. Charlie leaned forward to act like he was getting up, but feigned it and leaned back into his seat. “You’ll have to come over here if you want help. I’m not getting up again.” He motioned with his hand.

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Natalie smirked at his comment about not getting a tip, "depends how the rest of the evening goes," she chimed. He took a sip of his clearly hot tea, it was still steaming a lot, and she chuckled again. He was always getting involved in things that were too hot for any human being to be getting involved in. Granted, he was a wizard with a lovely beard, so that probably helped. Natalie was the same way, just without the beard.

He simply stared at her for few seconds and she kept her pout going with those big eyes of hers, waiting for him to agree to assist her. Finally, he leaned forward like he was going to leave and her pout intensified. Awe, but he was faking her out! He said she would have to come closer if she wanted help because he wasn't moving again and she scoffed, then giggled. "Okay, okay," she said, standing up just enough to scoot over to him. She lifted her feet onto the couch, bending her legs so her knees were resting on his lap. Then she rested her arms on top of them, "is this close enough?" she asked, leaning forward and batting her eyelashes like a school girl. Nat, always the charmer.

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