PhoenixSong.net :: A Harry/Ginny Fanfic and Fanart Archive

Author: Sassenach

Story: Dragon Riders

Part: 7. A New Challenge

Rating: Teens

Setting: AU

Status: WIP

Reviews: 6

Words: 3,422

Updated: October 7, 2005, 9:14am

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7. A New Challenge

From his position against the cave wall, Charlie pointed his wand at the fire and cast a spell on it to keep it lit. He dropped his gaze down to his lap to study Jade. She hadn’t woken up at all the entire day. Her fever had definitely risen and her dreams were getting worse. Halfway through the night, Charlie woke to the sound of her tearful crying. He’d done the best he could to soothe her, rubbing her hair and whispering to her that everything was alright. She hadn’t woken then either.

There were dark circles underneath her eyes and her brow was moist from sweat. Her face was still pale. Charlie pulled the water canteen over and poured a few drops onto his fingers. He pressed his fingertips to her lips to moisten them.

Holding his fingers pressed there for a moment, he wondered just how her lips would feel against his. He blushed then, realizing where his mind was drifting to. Jade was terribly sick and he was busy daydreaming of things he shouldn’t.

Charlie promised himself that if they made it off the mountain and Jade survived, he was going to explore what his feelings for her were. Maybe circumstances were pushing them toward each other, but Charlie couldn’t help but feel that it was something more. Jade was slowly becoming a part of his life and taking a spot in his heart.

She stirred then, startling Charlie.

She murmured incoherently for a moment before her eyes slowly opened. They were fogged and unclear. She babbled for another minute before falling silent.

“What is it, Jade?” Charlie asked.

She coughed violently before shakily saying, “Charlie?”

“Yeah, I’m right here,” Charlie replied taking her hand in his and giving it a confirming squeeze.

Her eyes seemed to focus on his features and she weakly lifted a hand to his face running her fingertips against his cheek. The sensation of it made Charlie’s heart flutter.

“Sweet….caring, Charlie,” she whispered locking eyes with him.

Charlie pressed her hand against his cheek and smiled, while his stomach twisted into a knot.

“Charlie, if I…if I…don’t make it, promise me…promise me you’ll bury me near an Elder tree…” she murmured before drifting off.

“Jade, you’re going to make it,” Charlie insisted, not wanting to think otherwise.

“Promise,” she repeated weakly.

“I promise,” he said through gritted teeth.

She sighed and frowned. “It’s so cold…I’m so cold.” She shivered.

Charlie pulled her into him and cradled her against his body. He rocked back and forth and tried to ignore the deep pain forming in his chest.

“I’m scared, Charlie,” she whispered in a small voice.

He tightened his hold around her. “I’m right here with you. It’s going to be okay. I won’t leave you, Jade. I…Merlin, you’re going to be okay.” He broke off swearing and muttered, “You have to be okay.”

Jade pressed a cold hand to his neck and sighed. “I’m sorry for being such a witch to you at times…I wanted to tell you, Charlie, that I’m…that I’m grateful for what you’ve given me at the dragon reserve.”

“What is that?” he asked running a hand over her back.

“A chance,” she murmured before her eyes slid closed and she drooped in his arms.

~@~

When Charlie woke the next morning, he noticed the absence of howling wind in the cave. He ran to the opening and discovered that the storm had moved on, leaving the skies clear. Without hesitation, he sent out sparks of red with his wand. He wanted to make sure that if the search party was out there, they would be able to find him.

He went back into the cave and found Jade laying exactly the way he had left her. She was curled up on her side with her back facing the fire. He bent down and ran a hand over her face, still feeling extreme warmth emanating from her. Propping her head into his lap he leaned against the cave wall and dozed off.

Minutes later, Charlie felt himself being shaken awake. “Oi, Charlie, wake up!” Mac grumbled.

Charlie’s eyes flew open and he smiled. “What took you so long?”

“The storm kept us away from the mountains,” Mac answered. “What’s wrong with Jade? She hasn’t woken up.”

“She’s sick,” Charlie replied. “We have to get her to the Healers immediately.”

“Hand her over then,” Mac said reaching an arm toward her.

Charlie blushed, realizing the compromising position he was in with Jade lying across him. Charlie helped to right her and Mac lifted her into his arm.

“I’ll take her on my dragon and you can ride with Brendan,” Mac stated. “He’s just outside with the dragons.”

Charlie watched as Mac took off on his dragon with Jade. He was glad she was going to get medical attention and hopefully be alright.

“All set, Charlie?” Brendan asked him.

“Yeah,” Charlie answered before climbing up onto Brendan’s dragon.

As they took off, Charlie watched the mouth of the cave disappear in the distance. He was sad to leave it, because it had brought him one step closer to Jade. They had finally bonded within the confines of the cold cave and Charlie was thankful for that. However, he was even more thankful to be heading home.

~@~

When Charlie approached the medical tent the next day he was stopped by the Healer.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

“Yes, actually, I’m here to see Jade. How is her recovery going?” he responded.

The Healer smiled at him as she led him into the tent. “She asked for you when she finally revived. She’s doing much better now that she’s in my hands. I’ll be able to release her in a few days time with a full report to you.”

“That’s great,” Charlie murmured as his mind remained on the idea of Jade asking for him.

“You can go right in and see her,” the Healer said after showing him to a curtained portion of the medical tent.

Charlie pushed the curtains aside to see Jade lying in bed. She looked up at him and beamed. “Hey, trouper, how are you feeling?” Charlie asked amiably.

“Not bad,” she answered as he took a seat next to her bed. “How are you doing?”

“Pretty good,” Charlie replied. “I only had slight malnutrition.”

“That’s good,” Jade said.

Charlie didn’t know what else to say, so the conversation fell awkwardly silent.

After a moment’s hesitation, Jade mumbled, “Charlie, I just wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me?” Charlie questioned.

“Yeah, for saving my life,” Jade clarified.

“I didn’t do that,” Charlie stated.

Jade shrugged saying, “Well, according to the Healer if I hadn’t been under your care I would have died on the mountain.”

Charlie flushed and shifted in his chair. “I don’t know what to say, really.”

She laughed and grinned over at him. “Some hero you are.”

Charlie chuckled before replying, “I was taught to be humble. Don’t feel like you owe me anything. Anyone would have done the same.”

Jade shook her head reaching for his hand and clasping it between hers. “You starved yourself for me, Charlie, which means a lot to me. I won’t ever forget it,” she said solemnly.

Charlie felt his stomach tighten as he met her eyes. “I wasn’t going to let you die out there, Jade. Not if I could help it.”

“Thank you,” she murmured.

Charlie shifted in his seat leaning toward her, his eyes drifting down to her lips. Just as he moved closer, the curtains whipped open. Charlie popped back in his seat feeling completely scandalized.

“Well, well, what do we have here?” Brendan asked through a snigger. “I hope you’re not making indecent advances upon this terribly sick patient, Charlie.”

Mac bumped Brendan forward saying, “Oi, move over mate so I can get a look at her.”

“Hey, boys,” Jade greeted cheerfully, easing the tension Charlie felt. Either she had no idea what he was about to do or she was ignoring it to save Charlie’s pride.

“We come with presents,” Brendan informed her revealing poorly wrapped packages of food. “I’m not much of a present wrapper though.”

“Brilliant, that Healer has been stuffing me with nasty potions and foods,” Jade said clapping her hands together in excitement. She pulled the parcels toward her on the bed and began to inspect their contents.

“You know lass, if you do something like this again I’ll have to kill you myself,” Mac scolded her with a grin.

“You got it,” Jade laughed.

Brendan situated himself on the corner of her bed and grinned at her. “You just couldn’t resist getting some of the action. I tell you, next time I’ll tie you to the ground if I have to.”

“You’ll die trying,” Jade replied with a hard look. “Just ask, Charlie, he tried to keep me from going.”

Both men looked over to Charlie. Brendan asked, “Is that true?”

“Pretty much,” Charlie answered.

“You know, Charlie, we’re awfully grateful that you took care of our little lady. We don’t know what we’d do without her,” Mac commented.

“It’s all a part of the job. Speaking of which, I have things to do. I’ll see you two at the paddocks and you…,” he said turning to Jade. “I better not see you for a couple of days. When you’re released I expect your medical report on my desk first thing or I won’t approve your return to work.”

“Okay, boss,” Jade replied, giving him a mock salute.

Charlie made a quick exit out of the medical tent and returned to his cabin. As he sat down and began to go through the paperwork he was behind on, he thought about Jade. She hadn’t shown a sign of reciprocating and she didn’t acknowledge what he’d attempted to do when Brendan teased them. Charlie scolded himself saying, “She’s not interested, so move on and do your job.”

~@~

When Jade found she was able to leave the medical tent, she realized how much she’d missed working. She’d had enough of lying on her backside being completely useless. In the time she’d spent out, she learned that a new dragon rider had been hired at the camp. He’d been transferred from another dragon camp in order to help lighten the load on everyone else.

“Here’s my report, now I’m ready to ride,” Jade said cheerfully as she slapped the papers into Charlie Weasley’s hands and turned to go.

“Not so fast,” he replied. “I have to review these before you can ride.”

Jade turned to him with a frown. “If you think I’m going to spend another minute doing absolutely nothing, then you’re wrong.”

“Hold on a minute,” Charlie said impatiently as he unfolded her records and began to peruse them. He made small noises in thought as he skimmed the lines. “Alright, you can ride today but your shifts have been cut in half. The Healer requests that you work less for a while.”

Jade wrinkled her nose in protest. “That’s nonsense.”

“That’s the rules,” Charlie stated. “Enjoy your ride, Jade.” He turned then and walked away.

“Prat,” she muttered to herself as she stormed away completely unsatisfied. Jade made her way over to Costel, still murmuring to herself and paying very little attention to what she was doing. As she rounded Costel, she walked into someone’s backside. Stumbling back, she cried out, “Bloody hell, what’s the meaning of this?”

“Terribly sorry about that,” the man said as he turned to face her.

Jade felt her breath catch in her throat as a pair of crystal blue eyes searched hers. He gave her an easy smile that made her forget her anger. “What are you doing, this is my dragon?” she asked slowly.

“Is it?” he questioned. Then he nodded his head in thought saying, “I’m Alex Mason, the new rider. I was assigned to this dragon, but perhaps I’ve been mistaken.”

“You’re the new bloke,” Jade said in recognition. “I’m Jade and this is Costel, my dragon. Jared must have mixed up the schedules.”

“Ah, I see,” Alex murmured. “Would you like a lift into the saddle?”

Jade shook her head smiling. “I can manage it.”

“Well, then I’ll be off to settle the matter with Jared. See you around then?” Alex asked with a smile, dimples winked at the corners of his mouth.

“Yes, you will,” Jade replied before hoisting herself onto Costel’s saddle. With one last glance down at Alex, she made Costel take off into the sky.

When Jade settled down by the fire that night she found herself in Alex’s company. Mac and Brendan joined them at the fire as they all discussed Alex’s former dragon reserve.

“The reserve in Whales isn’t nearly as large as this one. We mainly keep Common Welsh Greens. I’ve only once seen a Norwegian Ridgeback. It’s a scary sight at that, black as night with venomous fangs.” Alex shifted and leaned back against a large boulder. He smiled and stared off into the flames. “I miss the beauty of the land, not that it’s ugly here.”

Jade laughed. “We all would prefer the green grass to the snow.”

“Aye,” he murmured in pleasure. “The beauty of that colour is not far from your eyes.”

Jade cursed herself for blushing, especially in front of Mac and Brendan who snickered. “Have you always been a dragon rider?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

“No, for quite some time I was happily playing professional Quidditch for the Wimbourne Wasps,” he answered.

“You played as well?” she questioned. “I played for Ballycastle Bats for a year or two.”

He grinned at her. “I think I’d remember you if we had played. What position were you?”

“Chaser mainly, but I was a reserve for Seeker,” Jade answered.

“Maybe one day you’d like to go out on our brooms.”

“Sounds nice,” Jade said evenly, disguising the thrill in her voice. She didn’t want to give Brendan or Mac any reasons to tease her.

“Well, I’d best be off to bed,” Alex said with a yawn. “Goodnight, everyone.”

As soon as Alex had disappeared into his cabin, Mac and Brendan began to torture Jade. “Have a thing for the new bloke, eh?” Brendan snickered.

“I do not,” Jade simpered.

In a teasing tone, Mac repeated Alex’s invitation to go flying. “Would you like to ride on my broom?”

“He did not say it like that,” Jade snapped in irritation.

“Well, he might as well have,” Brendan laughed. “You practically swooned.” He batted his eyes in an overly flirtatious manner and squeaked, “I would love to go flying with you, Alex.”

Jade smacked him across the arm demanding, “Shut it!”

“Oi, she’s got it bad,” Mac said interrupting Jade’s attempt to strangle Brendan.

She turned to him with fiery eyes. “I don’t have anything bad.”

Mac simply grinned at her. “And we thought we’d have to worry about Charlie, but it seems like you’ve got your eyes set on Alex. He has no idea what he’s in for.”

“Worry about Charlie?” Jade echoed in question. “Why would you have to worry about Charlie?”

“Never mind,” Brendan stated. He eyed Mac with a look of warning.

“What is going on?” Jade demanded. “I hope you’re not insinuating-”

“We haven’t said a thing, Jade,” Brendan cut her off. “You misunderstand.”

“I misunderstand nothing,” she declared angrily. “Furthermore, I don’t have eyes for Alex. He’s nice and we have things in common. Why does that immediately make me out to be some dame swooning at his feet? Honestly, the two of you need some action in your lives. Maybe then you’d stop being so concerned with mine.”

“Oi, you’d better watch it Quinlan,” Mac grumbled irritably.

“Don’t let her get a rise out of you, Mac,” Brendan cut in as Mac rose from his seat. “She’s just angry that we read her so well.”

Jade growled in frustration. “I’ve had enough!” she barked before turning on her heels and heading to her cabin.

“Stupid men,” she snarled as she threw herself into her cot.

~@~

The following morning, Jade strolled into the dragon paddock with a grimace on her face. She’d barely gotten any sleep the night before and she was still angry with Brendan and Mac. After her shift was over, she secluded herself in her cabin. She wanted no one to disturb her peace.

Five minutes after lying face down on her cot there was a tentative knock at the door. “Who is it?” Jade called out from her pillow.

“It’s me, Alex.”

She sighed and rolled off the cot. “Come in,” she answered after glancing at herself in a hand mirror.

“Sorry to bother you, Jade. I was wondering if you might like to fly tonight. The sky is quite beautiful and the wind isn’t too strong.”

Jade smiled over at him and answered, “That sounds wonderful. I need to clear my mind and it’s too stuffy in here.”

“Splendid,” Alex said with a grin. “Do you need a minute before we go?”

Jade shook her head as she pulled her broom from where she had stowed it in her trunk. “We wouldn’t want to waste the sunlight,” she insisted as she strolled out the door.

A half hour later, Jade was basking in the last rays of the sun. The sky was deep shades of amber, rouge, and gold. Stretched over the handle, she laid her head on the knob and smiled simply enjoying the setting sun. She hadn’t been on her broom since she’d come to the dragon reserve and she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it. Flying on a broom gave her so much more freedom than flying a dragon.

“Enjoying yourself?” Alex asked as he flew beside her.

“Very much so,” she answered.

Alex sighed as he leaned forward on his broom. “We’d better fly in before the sun goes down.”

“Alright,” Jade conceded reluctantly.

Once they landed, Alex asked, “Would you like to go flying tomorrow as well? That is, if you’re not too tired.”

“I’d love to,” Jade answered. She hadn’t felt so relaxed the entire time living in the dragon reserve. She wasn’t sure if it was the effects of flying on her broom or simply Alex’s company. He seemed to understand her need to fly quietly and just enjoy the wind against her face.

~@~

Charlie was surprised at how fast the fall season approached. It seemed that summer simply flew by. It was hard to discern the seasons living in the mountains where snow capped their peaks all year round. He’d barely been able to scrape the surface of his feelings for Jade, because she’d chosen to spend every free moment with the new rider Alex.

As Charlie drifted through the camp, stopping to share a few words with various people, he noted Jade and Alex sitting near a fire alone. He stood and observed them for a moment. She was laughing over something Alex had said and her hand rested comfortably on his knee.

Charlie felt a stab of jealousy. Alex had barely been there a month and already he had Jade’s attentions. He felt a grimace pass over his face as he watched Alex pull a guitar toward him and begin to play. Jade was completely smitten.

“Sickening, isn’t it?” Brendan asked jolting Charlie from his thoughts. He laid a hand on Charlie’s shoulder shaking his head. “They are inseparable.”

“It’s none of my business,” Charlie groused, irritably shaking Brendan’s hand from his shoulder.

“Isn’t it?” Brendan asked as Charlie began to stalk off.

Whipping around, Charlie glared at Brendan. “Don’t meddle, Brendan.”

“Look, Charlie, I’m not too fond of this bloke. He seems real charming, but I don’t know him.” Brendan rocked back on his heels. “I know you…and I know her, Charlie. He’s not right for her.”

“Brendan,” Charlie sighed running a hand through his hair. “You’ve got it all wrong. Besides, Jade seems happy.”

“If you say so,” Brendan said with a shrug before turning and going.

Charlie dug his heel into the ground bitterly. He must read like a signboard to everyone. He had to change that- fix how he was feeling. His sentiments were misplaced anyway. Jade didn’t return his affections and it was useless to pursue her any farther. What took place on the mountain was going to stay on the mountain. He had more important issues to attend to than listening to his heart which was slowly breaking.

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