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16Chapter 9: Apart - Chapter 9

Author's Note

Thank you everyone for reading but especially thank you to Mia (guest), who has given me my first review! Thank you Mia and yes, I agree Ashlynn does need to open her eyes about her feelings soon...

I'm so sorry it took me more than 2 days to update but I have 2 chapters for you today instead of one as an apology, I hope you enjoy and please fave/follow and review!

Wishin' Girl x x x

...

The next morning Ashlynn woke up with a face full of purple hair and she groaned at the memories of last night that began flooding back.

Ashlynn looked towards the door as she heard what she thought was a sob. She watched her best friend Charlie dart out into the street and disappear.

Looking back down into the hopeful eyes of her very sweet boyfriend and at the large princess cut, platinum engagement ring in his hand, she knew she couldn't answer his question how he wanted her to. Tears welled in her eyes and she felt her other best friend, Tonks, move to the edge of the bar she was standing on, ready to be there for her. Tonks already knew what Ashlynn's answer would be.

"I'm so sorry Scott." Ashlynn choked out, she didn't want to hurt the kindest boyfriend she had ever had and especially in front of so many people but she couldn't lie to him either that would be even more cruel. "I'm sorry but no."

The sparkle vanished from Scott's eyes and the light faded from his smile.

"That's okay princess," he said forlornly as his eyes filled with unshed tears "I love you anyway and besides, you're way too good for a Slytherin like me."

"No Scott, you're perfect." Ashlynn replied before whispering so only he could hear her "I love someone else and I'm sorry it took me so long to work it out."

Ashlynn fell into Tonks' waiting arms and left the still kneeling boy behind. Tears streamed down her face so fast that everything was a blur as Tonks apparated them both back to Bird Farm.

Tonks woke with a start as Ashlynn started to cry again. The two girls untangled themselves from the heap they had fallen asleep in on Ashlynn's bed, still in their dresses from graduation the day before, and the two made their way down to breakfast. Mr and Mrs Bird were sat at the kitchen table and the twins were on the kitchen counter, all four looked up eagerly as the girls entered.

Their faces fell at the tear stained face of their daughter and sorrowful eyes of her best friend.

"What happened?" Mr Bird demanded, worry etched across his face.

"Scott proposed last night," Tonks began.

"And I said no." Ashlynn finished softly.

Without a word her family swarmed around the pair and the six of them stood in a large group hug for what felt like hours, but had really only been thirty minutes, while Ashlynn cried on Tonks' shoulder in the centre.

"Can I ask why?" Mrs Bird asked later in the morning when they were all sat around the table with hot cups of tea. She had an inkling but didn't want to assume.

"I don't love him," Ashlynn's tears dripped into her mug of green tea and honey "I love Charlie."

"Have you told him this?" Her father asked kindly from his seat next to her.

She shook her head and Tonks scoffed.

"Neither of them will admit it" she burst out unable to watch her friends hurting any longer.

"What do you mean 'neither of us'?" Ashlynn's face turned sharply at Tonks' words.

"He loves you too." She replied slowly, as if explaining something to a small child.

"He really does," Harry added.

"He told us so the day after Boxing day." Ben completed his twin's statement.

"He does my darling" Mrs Bird joined in, holding Ashlynn's hand in hers and squeezing it as she nodded.

"It's true. You can see it in his eyes when he looks at you, and the way he smiles simply at the mention of your name." Mr Bird finished off. "Reminds me of me when I first fell in love with your mother."

Ashlynn took a moment to piece together all the evidence she could think of that might mean they were right. The way he held her hand any chance he got and rubbed her knuckles softly with the rough pad on his thumb. The way he always seemed to be making her favourite version of a treat when she visited the Burrow. The way he carried her to bed every night last summer before going home himself because he knew she wouldn't fall asleep alone after her Grandmother died. The way he had denied every girl since their night together on New Years Eve. The way his face fell and his breathing stopped whenever he saw her with another guy. The way his face shone and a smile lit up his eyes every time he looked at her. The way he looked at her like she was the most wonderful thing even when she was at her worst.

The way he had run away, broken, last night when Scott proposed.

"When does he leave?" Ashlynn's tears had stopped and her face snapped from forlorn to determined in an instant.

"Leave?" Her family asked in worry and confusion.

"Today, I don't know what time. You go get changed and I'll apparate to the Burrow and find out." Tonks instructed, before adding for the benefit of her family "He's moving to Romania, he got a place to fulfil his dream and train as a Dragon Keeper."

Ashlynn ran up the stairs throwing off her fancy dress and pulling on clean underwear, her favourite polka dot skinny jeans and a black and cream embroidered top she knew Charlie liked, all at top speed.

She flew down the stairs and Tonks reappeared with a pop, her family still surprised at the blatant use of magic.

"He's already at the Ministry. His portkey leaves in ten minutes." Tonks said as she grabbed Ashlynn's hand and apparated them to the Burrow.

They legged it up the path to the Burrow door where Molly was waiting with a pot of floo powder and a giddy smile on her face. Tonks had briefly explained what happened when she asked about Charlie's leaving time. Jumping into the flames together the best friends held hands and called out.

"The Ministry of Magic, London."

In a whirl of green flames the girls jumped out of the fireplace into the Ministry's Atrium and began looking around for a helpful sign of where to go, Tonks had visited for her auror interviews but neither had been her much before. They joined the very short queue waiting to get through security and once they had their wands back and directions on where to go they had five minutes left.

Leaping out of the lifts on the correct floor they slid around the corner into the portkey office just as Arthur Wealey stepped out of a side door.

"Tonks, Ashlynn. I didn't know you were coming to say goodbye. His portkey just left." Arthur greeted them subdued after the events of his morning.

"He's gone," Ashlynn whispered "I'm too late?"

"I'm sorry" Arthur replied gently.

A small thud echoed around the room as Ashlynn fell to her knees and the noise was joined by wracking sobs. Her heart broke at missing her chance. She had loved Charlie from the very first day they met, she had just never allowed herself to admit it because she never thought someone so extraordinary as he was could ever love someone as bland and ordinary as her.

For the second time that morning Arthur pulled a sobbing young adult up from the floor and held them as their heart shattered into a million pieces. Silently he begged the forces of life and magic to give the pair another chance at happiness.

…

After a sickening swirling journey from London Charlie landed in a large hall. The walls were decked in dark red jacquard paper and the hardwood floor was covered in huge chalk circles. Charlie looked around confused and trying to work out what they were for until he saw a group of people appear in the middle of the circle next to his, the floppy magazine they had been holding falling to the floor between the new arrivals. Following their lead he made his way over to the welcome desk, being careful not to walk through any chalk circles on his way as he didn't want to start his life in Romania by being landed on, and joined the queue for 'New Visitors'. Once he was registered as living at the reserve he would be able to pass through the 'Residents and Citizens' gate which currently had no queue waiting for the tall, dark man leaning back in his chair and toying with a battered old snitch.

"Visa and wand please sir" a greying gentleman asked, when Charlie reached the desk, in a husky accent. Hi name badge simply read 'Jacob'.

Charlie handed over the paperwork his older brother had helped him complete via floo call and his new dragon heartstring wand. 'Ashlynn would call this man a silver fox' he thought as he recalled the muggle romantic comedies they had watched together last summer on her parents' TV. His heart broke a little at the thought of Ashlynn, his mind automatically showing images of her proposal the night before but he wanted her to be happy and if marrying Scott made her happy then he would just stay away.

"Welcome to Romania Mr Weasley" the gentleman said warmly, pulling Charlie from his thoughts and directing him through the main doors.

As soon as Charlie stepped out the doors into the arrivals courtyard at the Romanian Ministerial Offices he was hit by a dry heat and the earthy smell of dense forest. Looking around he noticed small groups of families and friends leaning against the courtyard pillars and hiding from the summer sun in the shaded areas around the edge.

"Mr Weasley?" A man as large as Hagrid asked in the most soothing voice he had ever heard.

"That's me" Charlie grinned up at the half-giant and stuck out his hand in greeting.

"Welcome to Romania lad! You'll love it here, I'm Marius Stoica, head of the reserve." Marius shook Charlie's hand firmly, the soothing tones of his voice removing the last of the nerves Charlie had had on arrival. "Let's get you back to the reserve and show you round, eh? The others will want to show you the town when the sun's lost her heat for the day."

Picking up Charlie's trunk in one hand and throwing his bag easily over his shoulder, Marius offered his hand again to Charlie.

Within moments the pair landed with a pop on a cobblestone path winding in between towering trees and Charlie was grateful that the path was dappled in shade so the sun had lost some of her sweltering heat by the time she filtered through to them. In one direction the cobblestones appeared to have a deep red hue while in the other they were tinted blue. In the red direction he could see an enormous wrought iron gate with a pair of iron dragons prowling back and forth along the top and he recognised their features immediately, Romanian Longhorns. In the other direction the path turned sharply to the left so all he could see were the dark greens and rich muddy browns of the forest, golden rays flecked between the trees as the sun beat down on the tall treetops relentlessly.

"Dragons first lad." Marius stated and strode towards the gates following the red cobblestones.

The gates were flanked by enormously tall stone walls as far as Charlie could see. He knew a dragon could easily pass over the top but any humans or woodland creature would struggle.

"These dragons guard the gates, only us keepers can come through here freely, the dragons know us by sight, sound and smell. If any one of these three features is off they won't let you past easily." Marius explained. "Caused quite a few problems when the reserve was hit with a bad case of Laryngitis a few years back." Marius' chuckle was deep and comforting, like a roll of thunder heard from underneath a thick winter duvet. "Visitors and newbies, like yourself, have to check in though until they know you."

Marius reached out and pulled Charlie to the middle of the gate.

"See this metalwork depicting a tree, put your wand in that gap, it'll check the wand's intentions and previous use to see if it trusts you or not. While it's in there you need to pop your hand on the metal dragon's snout between the two halves of the gate, that's to check that you are the wand's true partner." Marius continued, after a minute or so the pair of dragons gave out a happy snort and the gate swung open just far enough for the pair to pass through once Charlie retrieved his wand. "The reserve trusts you and the longhorns'll learn your markers the more you come and go, eventually you won't have to dock in like that to enter the dragons' home."

Inside the gates Charlie stood stock still in wonder, desperately willing his eyes to take in all the amazing sights surrounding him.

"On your left that large brick building is the hospital," Marius entered full tour guide mode and began to show Charlie around, revelling in the stunned silence from the young lad and chuckling as they walked around "if anything's the matter, big or small you get it checked out there. Even a little itch can make you twitch and you don't want to risk twitching in front of some of our more playful dragons. On your right is the hatchery, that blue steel barn, it's actually really toasty inside. That type of metal reacts to the heat better than most others but don't lean against it, you will get burnt and end up over in the hospital."

They walked forward and Marius led the way up a couple of steps into a small brick building next to the hospital.

"These are my offices," he dumped Charlie's bag and trunk in the corner and offered him a seat by the large mahogany desk "Aila is my wife and the reserve's chief secretary, without her this place wouldn't run at all"

"It's lovely to meet you Charlie Weasley" the tall, pale lady in front of him said in a Norwegian accent.

"Let's just get these contracts signed shall we lad?" Marius chuckled at the continued speechlessness of his new arrival.

Once the paperwork was all complete and Charlie was fully registered as a worker and resident of the dragon reserve they re-entered the heat and continued the tour of the reserve.

"The dragons in this area are vulnerable or in need of extra care, their enchanted zones are charmed to simulate their natural habitat as much as possible. This is an orphaned Swedish Short-Snout" Marius pointed to a dull yellow and blue dragon sat up a tree in an enormous pen that replicated a fjord, with heavy snow falling between the straight trees and into the shallow water at the edge of the fjord "she'll be sent to a reserve further north when she's ready. We're the extra care reserve you see, particularly skilled with the hatchlings, so we get sent many dragons from around the world for a while. It's hard to let go but you can visit any hatchlings you've worked with at any of the partner reserves when you're fully trained."

Marius continued to show Charlie the various other 'extra care' dragons as they turned to the right and walked perpendicular to the path they had entered on. A Chinese Fireball in a cave half way down a steep rocky cliff, an injured welsh green nursing their bandaged wing on rolling grassy hills and a young Peruvian Vipertooth who was teething curled up in a ball of grumpiness on the side of a red and gold sand dune.

"The only breeds we keep here year round without these habitat enchantment pens are Romian Longhorns, Hungarian Horntails, Ukrainian Ironbellies, Welsh Greens, Hebridean Blacks and Antipodean Opaleyes. All the others would live but they wouldn't thrive here outside their enchantments."

Marius paused as they passed the last enchanted pen and watched as Charlie's jaw dropped at the sight before him.

"This is the main part of the reserve" he continued "the dragons are free to roam these valleys and mountains. We watch over them and make sure they're fed and healthy. All eggs go through the hatchery, all the mothers here understand it's the safest way. We tried to keep them with the mothers out here but couldn't protect the young properly, we lost many hatchlings." a darkness of grief swam in the depths of Marius' eyes as he spoke these words, he clearly thought of the dragons as his family and grieved the loss of each one personally "We bring the mothers to visit their eggs and young any time they like though."

After around twenty minutes of Charlie watching the swooping of dragons down the valley and intently staring at any patch of trees that he thought had moved, in case there were a dragon there, Marius guided him back to the hatchery to complete the tour of the dragons' home.

Inside the hatchery were a series of blue steel stables, each packed full of a different material. Some full of soft hay, some with sand, a couple had large piles of rocks, some with long waves of tall grasses and ferns. The eggs were all along one wall in incubators set with varying intensities of heat and all wrapped up in soft knitted blankets.

"The elderly women of the village knit blankets for our eggs every year. If the dragon moves to another reserve it goes with them to help them settle in at their new home. You'll be working in here for your first few weeks while you settle in, then you'll work here in the mornings and on the main reserve in the afternoons until the end of your first year. Next year you'll learn about extra care dragons and start shift work in here and on the main reserve. For your third year you'll work shifts on all three, at the end of which you'll be a fully trained keeper." Marius knew Charlie had read all this in his pre-welcome pack but new keepers tended to be was so overwhelmed on their first day that it was good to remind Charlie of what he would be doing.

They headed back out the gates once Marius had picked Charlie's bag and trunk back up from his office and collected a heavy bronze key with a wooden number 7 hanging from it. Something was different Charlie noticed as they passed back onto the cobblestone path and the gates swung shut behind them.

"The path was half red earlier" he mused out loud.

"It's red towards the dragons' home and blue towards the keepers'," Marius explained striding down the path at a swift pace such that Charlie had to jog to keep up "helps newbies find their way and sleepy keepers not to waste time if there's an emergency in the night."

Following the path through the dense forest and around the left turn Charlie saw houses and huts up in the distance. After around five minutes of Marius' fast pace they arrived at the edge of the keepers' area where Marius restarted his tour by explaining that the wood the buildings were made from was completely fireproof so there was no need to worry about forest fires or dragon breath.

"This first area is where our newest recruits and trainees live. There are communal living areas and shared kitchens up on your right and your rooms are down on the left. The rest of the keepers homes are further along the path. The next area is made of small one or two bedroom houses which open with a silver key, these are for our fully qualified keepers and you'll move there when you finish your third year successfully. Further on you'll find the larger homes, these are for our reserve directors, for these you'll get a gold key. Some of our keepers who have families choose to exchange some of their salary for an upgraded house, but this and promotion are the ways you move along the path… Now, you're number 7 so let's get you settled in!"

After a couple more minutes of walking Charlie saw his new home, it was nestled among small trees and thick undergrowth with a few stone steps down to the wooden door adorned with a painted number 7. Taking the key from Marius' outstretched hand he opened the door and eagerly stepped inside.

He entered a large room with two vertical walls (the side with the door and the wall opposite) and a slanted triangular roof that continued all the way to the floor on the left and to a bit above head height on the right. There were two doors to his right, one led to a tiled en-suite bathroom with a large walk in shower, the other to a wardrobe already kitted out with his protective clothing, dragon hide boots and gloves, first aid kit and a few books on dragon keeping. To his left was a low double bed, barely raised from the heated floorboards and nestled between a small bedside table and a desk, all backed up against the vertical wall.

The best part about his new home though was the view. The vertical wall opposite his bed was made entirely of windows.

His heavy feet felt drawn to the window and he was soon standing awed with his face pressed against the glass. When he realised that Charlie would probably be there for a while, Marius left him to unpack his things and told him that the other keepers were making dinner for all the trainees that night in the kitchens on the other side of the path. Charlie nodded but didn't remove his gaze from the window as he gazed out at the sheer drop beneath him. At the bottom of the drop Charlie could just make out the wall of the reserve, Charlie's eyes moved up the view to a wide fast flowing river splashing over boulders even larger than the Knight bus, his eyes continued raking over the open pastures at the base of the valley and the thick forest that blanketed the steep sides of the monstrous mountains.

He felt like he was home.