Soot & Healing Salve
Charlie Weasley x Reader
ao3
words: 2120
summary: anon request- I was the anon aking if you write for Harry Potter. Do you think you could do something with Charlie or Bill? They don’t get enough recognition
author’s note: okay, but whoever you are, i want to kiss you. I love, love, LOVE the Weasley family and had so much fun with this! enjoy!
It was the opportunity of a lifetime. How could you have said no? It was like everything in your life had led up to this moment. Not many mediwizards got this chance, and especially not American mediwizards. But here you were, about to start your first day on the job as a mediwizard in Dragon territory Romania.
This is what you were made for. Growing up in Boston to a muggle father and witch mother. Your father was a captain of the Boston FD and your mother was a healer in a private Bostonian wizarding hospital. Your life was full of emergency services. You wanted to be like your father, a fireman. Upholding the family tradition of firefighting. But then your Ilvermorny letter arrived, as your mother knew it would, and your only focus was to be the wizarding equivalent to a paramedic, a mediwizard.
Working under pressure came easy for you. Almost as easy as preparing potions while people in pain were screaming at you. You had an uncanny ability to prepare doses and make immediate diagnoses at the drop of a hat. Fresh in the field you gained attention from the higher ups and long time veterans of the field. And your heart was bursting when your commander told you he had put your name in for a job opening as a mediwizard in Romania. But getting the owl to tell you that you had been selected almost made your heart stop. How could you be so lucky?
And now you stood near the medical tent, going through routine wand check and a basic rundown of your skills. You took the shiny badge from your new commander and pinned it proudly on your uniform. A warmth glowing inside of you that surely shone through your eyes.
“Aye, everything seems to be in order. Your partner will escort you to your first station and get you settled in. Welcome aboard, (Y/N).” The commander said, giving you a wan smile.
You fixed your uniform robes and walked out of the tent, eyes scanning the vast land before you. You couldn’t wait to take some pictures to send back home. You were just making mental note of what you would take pictures of first when a voice came from behind you.
You turned at the voice and noticed a redhaired young man roughly your age. He was covered in black soot, which made his smile dazzling against the sun. “You’re (Y/N) then? I’m Charlie. Your partner asked if I would come show you the way. He’s a bit tied up at the moment helping one of the other dragon wranglers who got in a spot of trouble.”
You eyed Charlie up and down and raised a brow, “A spot of trouble, huh?”
Charlie gave a broad smile and a shrug, “The job gets boring sometimes, and well, you can’t just turn down a dare. Word of the wise, pepper makes a dragon sneeze just as well as a person.”
You gave a small laugh, “No wonder you lot are in need of more mediwizards.”
Charlie gave another innocent shrug and pointed his thumb over his shoulder, “If you’ll follow me then.”
You fit right in with the crowd you worked with. There was really never a moments peace. Sometimes lunch and healing salve went almost hand in hand. Dragon wranglers were wild, and that’s all there was to it. They seemed to have no sense of self preservation. ‘Live in the moment’, Charlie would tell you every time you tended to his burns. You almost came to the conclusion that he was stained in dragon fire soot.
“You smell like a house fire.” You said, tending to the seventeenth burn on Charlie in two weeks.
You were beat. Working around the clock. There were shifts, but even in your few hours off, it wasn’t enough to actually rest. The mediwizard force was really outnumbered and overworked. However, the job was so high stress, not many could make the cut. And now you understood why. You were running on dragon fumes. Quite literally. The constant brimstone smell made your head a bit light from time to time.
“Uh, (Y/N)...” Charlie said, wincing in pain and jerking his arm away from you. “That’s peanut butter.”
“Peanut butter...” You mumbled, dipping the butter knife back into the peanut butter jar. Then the weight of the words hit you and you snapped awake, “Peanut butter!”
You looked down, and sure enough, you had slathered peanut butter on Charlie’s burn, but only after you had made a healing salve and jelly sandwich for lunch. You gave a frustrated sigh and shook your head. “So sorry, Charlie.” You said, pulling your wand from your robe and giving it a small wave.
Charlie reached in his pocket and held out a flask, “You could do with a pick me up.”
You looked from flask to Charlie and raised your brow as you often did with him. He was a trouble maker. He gave a crooked grin and shook the flask at you.
“Go on. A shot of firewhiskey will do you some good.” He urged.
You took the flask and a small swig. the heat in your throat waking you at once. You gave a small cough, feeling like you could breathe fire as well as any of the dragons in the field. A small shake of your head, handing the flask back.
“Is it always this busy?” You asked, hearing a dragon roar, shouting, and feeling the heat of the dragon fire, even if it was a ways off. You moved the peanut butter away and pulled the salve toward you.
Charlie gave a huff, “Not usually. It’s breeding season. And there are more males than there are females that are ready to breed. It’s a nightmare out there. Males will try to eat everything in sight that even moves. Thinks it will try and make a move on his lady. Watched one rip a tree from the ground and chew it up into splinters because the wind made the branches move too much.”
You applied the ointment and tutted. “Males.”
Charlie laughed, a small sigh of relief leaving him as you applied more of the ointment. “Your salve is the best. It soothes immediately and takes the burn out.”
You gave a small shrug, “Spearmint and lavender.”
“When do you get off?” He asked, catching you off guard.
Your voice seemed to stick and you stared stupidly at Charlie.
“Next crew should be in in about three hours.” Adam, your partner, spoke up as he walked into the tent to set up the cauldron and start another batch of Draught of Peace.
“Well then, how about an actual lunch?” Charlie said looking from Adam back to you.
“What?” You said stupidly.
“She’d be delighted.” Adam answered for you, prodding the bottom of the cauldron with his wand to light the fire underneath.
“I’ll see you in three, then.” Charlie said brightly, leaving your table and slipping out of the tent.
“You’re kinda slow on the uptake aren’t you?” Adam chuckled, ducking under your table to grab the potions kit.
“I am not!” You said defensively, feeling your cheeks warm.
“He’s been hinting for like two weeks.” Adam continued casually, taking out a set of brass scales and giving his wand complicated little waves.
“Tuh.” You hissed in indignation, pulling out your patient report, and pausing slightly when you wrote down Charlie Weasley. Had you really been so obvious at becoming dumbfounded about being asked out? Though, you couldn’t remember the last time you had even made time for a date, or even an event out with friends. You were always too busy with school work you’d say. You’d always take extra shifts.
You shook your head at yourself, consulting your watch to guesstimate the time in which Charlie had walked into the tent for medical attention. “I’m headed to the station.” You said, gathering up your items to move from tent to the station, fifty meters away. Adam simply grunted, biting his tongue as he carefully added potion ingredients to the cauldron.
“Well look at that.” You said, throwing your quill down and standing from your seat three hours later as the next crew came in. “I actually got all my reports done today.”
Adam looked over your shoulder, “And in legible writing even. Go you.”
“Oh hush. My writing is so much better than yours.” you quipped, placing the thick stack of papers in a file folder. “Good luck guys! See you in thirty six!” You tittered, waving at the new crew as you hung up your uniform robe to leave. Alice gave a dismissive wave and her partner Chris gave you a rather rude hand gesture. he looked as tired as you felt. You giggled, stepping back outside of the building, waiting on Adam.
“Chris seems real enthused today doesn’t he?” You said, falling into step with your partner until you reached the apparating point on the edge of the field.
“Commander denied him vacation until breeding season is over because we are so short handed.” Adam said with a small yawn. “I’m sure Charlie will be here momentarily. I’m headed to take a loooooong nap.”
“Enjoy! See you tomorrow-ish.” You said with a small smile, giving Adam a small wave as he turned on his heel and disappeared with a faint ‘pop!’.
“Hey! (Y/N)!” Charlie called loudly, waving at you. You turned and smiled at him. “So, late lunch. Early dinner. Whatever it is. I owe you for the great care you’ve given.”
“Hows your arm?” You asked.
Charlie held up his arm, there was a very large, shiny scar forming.
You frowned at the scar, “I should have been quicker.” You said, taking his arm and running a finger along the pink skin.
“I think it adds a bit of flavor.” Charlie chuckled. “There’s a pub in the nearest little town. They make amazing sandwiches. Their beer selection is pretty great too. What do you say?”
“Lead the way.” You beamed, taking him in. He was soot free for once. You weren’t even sure that was possible. He smelled nice too. Not like brimstone or healing salve.
He was right. So very right. This tiny pub was exactly what you needed. You felt like some starved animal as you ate two sandwiches and... how many glasses of beer was it now?
Charlie told you all about his time at Hogwarts and his love for magical creatures. He pressed you endlessly for information on Ilvermorny. He then continued the conversation by talking about his family. Very large family. his four youngest siblings still at Hogwarts. His youngest brother being best friends with Harry Potter, and how a couple years ago they had written to him asking if he would pick up an illegal dragon from the school.
“She’s a real beauty. We call her Norberta. As beautiful as a Norwegian Ridgeback as there ever was. I’ll have to introduce you sometime.” He said fondly before telling you about his older brother Bill, who was in Egypt breaking curses for Gringotts.
You told him about your family, and how your father was a muggle. This made Charlie laugh and tell you all about how fascinated his father was with muggles, and plug and batteries. That made you laugh loudly.
“You know, they’re working out all the kinks... but they’re going to reinstate the Triwizard Tournament. Going to be hosted at Hogwarts. They want us to supply some dragons for one of the three tasks. I’ve been put on that detail. We’ll need a couple Mediwizards on hand, to make sure nothing too horrible happens. You and Adam should put in. I’d love to show you Hogwarts.”
You gave a small grin, elbows on the edge of the table as you held another pint in your fingertips. You took a sip and gave your lips a small smack. “It almost sounds as if you plan on getting hurt.” You quirked your brow again. “I was going through my reports. You have some pretty novice mistakes going on for a top dragon wrangler...”
“Would you believe me if I said that maybe the dragons and I have an agreement that they only slightly maim me so that I can see you? I wasn’t lying when I said your healing salve is the best.”
“Oh, so you only like me for my medicines?” You asked in a mock scandalized tone.
“That, and your soft hands.” Charlie said giving a shrug as he often did when he was called out on something.
“No shame in you is there? You are very charming, Charlie Weasley.”
