Entry tags:

*fic, charlie, luna

Special Delivery For: gryffindorj
Title: The Dragon Whisperer
Author: eeyore9990
Recipient's IJ/LJ name: gryffindorj
Rating: R
Pairing(s): Charlie/Luna
Word Count: ~3000
Warnings: None
Summary: Charlie's dragon is being more temperamental than usual; against his wishes, his boss calls in The Dragon Whisperer.
Author's notes: When I saw your sign-up, this pairing intrigued me... just before I was coshed senseless by the following bunny. I hope you enjoy!




Charlie leaned across his boss' desk, anger barely held in check. "This is a complete sham, and you know it. The Dragon Whisperer? You've got to be fucking having me on with this. How could you bring someone into the reserve that is so obviously as big a danger to themselves as they are to others?"

Liam Albrecht stared at Charlie for a long moment before he reached into a drawer and withdrew a stack of magazines, tossing them lightly onto his desk. Charlie glanced quickly at them—The Dragon's Keeper, 'the' trade journal for those who worked with dragons—before returning his attention to Liam, the Head Keeper at the reserve. Normally he wouldn't second-guess Liam since the man's status gave him the power to turn Charlie out on his arse. But this situation enraged Charlie, and he'd rather update his CV than hold his tongue.

Glory-seeking civilians should never be allowed within a ten-kilometre range of the dragons they kept on the reserve. Fuck, neither should half the Keeper-hopefuls they interviewed each winter. Dragons were dangerous magical creatures; to treat them as anything else was to invite death and possible legal repercussions for the reserve and the Romanian Ministry.

"You have a problem, Weasley," Liam said, leaning forward in his chair and staring hard at Charlie until he backed down. Throwing himself into the comfortable seat arranged in front of the desk, Charlie crossed his arms over his chest and simply waited. "Your dragon is having fits and being destructive and you can't gain control of it. I had two options: replace you or call in reinforcements. Which would you rather I have chosen?"

Charlie expelled a sharp breath through his nose, unfolding his arms as he brought his right foot up to prop it on his knee. Digging at the sole of his work-boot with one finger, he shrugged and said, "I'd rather you have called in someone legitimate."

"Those journals? Every single one of them has an article in it about this woman—"

"A woman?! Fucking hell, Liam, you know how adult Ridgeback's react to the scent of women!"

"She's signed a waiver. It's done, Weasley. Deal with it or pack your bags."

Charlie stared at Liam, hoping that some reason would work its way into his boss' thick skull. When Liam simply tilted his head at the closed door, Charlie shook his head and stood up. "I hope you know what you're doing, mate."

"You questioning my judgment?"

"On this? Yeah. It's wrong, and you know it."

"One week. If I'm right, you pull the stick out of your ass and admit it. If I'm wrong..."

Charlie tilted his head. "If you're wrong, what?"

"Ah, well, see. There's the catch. I'm never wrong."

"You're such a fucking Yank," Charlie said with a snort, but he left Liam's office feeling at least marginally better than he'd done when he entered it.

---

"Hello, Charlie."

The lightly spoken greeting pulled Charlie from his dark thoughts, and he looked up, frowning as he saw an unfamiliar woman sitting cross-legged in the middle of his bed. "Do I know you?" he asked before his brain could catch up. Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he recognised her. The Lovegood girl. Her family lived in Ottery St Catchpole and she'd been an attendant at Ginny's wedding. "Wait. Laura? Is that right?"

She smiled, her eyes flicking to a spot somewhere over his left shoulder for a moment before she focused on him again. "Luna," she said, extending her hand. He hesitated before stepping forward and grasping it. He wasn't accustomed to this turn of events. Usually women didn't start out the night in his bed, after all.

"Is there something wrong at home?" he asked, worry rising within him as he tried to suss out the reason for her appearance in Romania.

"I don't know," she said equably. "Is there?"

"What? That's what I asked—" Oh yes, he remembered her now. Smiling tightly, he rocked back on his heels and said, "What brings you to Romania, Luna Lovegood?"

She tilted her head at him, one finger coming up to tap rhythmically at a rather ugly red earring before she said, "I'm not certain. I'll have to talk to the other one first, but I think it might be you."

As he tried to work that out, she unfolded her legs and stood, stretching languidly before brushing past him. "Goodnight, Charlie. Do try to sleep. This sort of work goes best in the morning, when everyone is refreshed."

Charlie's mouth dropped open and he spun toward the door, only to see that it was empty. Fucking hell. He could almost hear the click of his mental gears sliding into place.

Luna Lovegood was the Dragon Whisperer.

---

Charlie yawned, slumping against the wall of the dragon enclosure as he watched Luna through heavy-lidded eyes. Generally speaking, he was only acquainted with five-thirty as it occurred in the evening hours. Even dragons were reasonable enough to sleep 'til the sun crested the mountains.



Not the Dragon Whisperer. Oh, no. Claimed she wanted to read his Ridgeback's dreams.



Charlie snorted at that. It wasn't that he didn't believe Norberta dreamt; however, the claim that anyone could read a dragon's dreams was just ridiculous.



When Luna stepped within the chain-length of Norberta's pen, Charlie straightened, tensing as he automatically reached for his wand. Much as he'd love to prove Liam wrong, he didn't want to do it over a young woman's toasty corpse. Especially a young woman with close ties to his family.



He shook his head, swearing under his breath as she walked nimbly through the muddy pen, not showing a hint of fear as she walked directly to the sleeping dragon and climbed onto Norberta's front leg. He was whispering a fire-proofing charm even as Luna snuggled down into the scale-y folds near Norberta's ear-holes. Luna's hair tangled around an exposed fang, the dragon's even breathing blowing it gently to and fro. He watched, dumbfounded as she stroked one hand gently over the thick scales protecting Norberta's throat, humming softly in the dark pre-dawn.


Charlie slid to the ground, stretching his legs out in front of him as he allowed his head to loll against the wall behind him. Luna's humming surrounded him, soothing him, and he found himself relaxing fully, his eyes closing as he dropped off to sleep. He had no idea how long it was before he woke with a start, someone's hand holding his shoulder in a firm grip and shaking gently, but when he opened his eyes, the sky was pink around the edges.


"Luna?" he asked, blinking groggily as he peered up at her. The coming morning caused a greyish nimbus to surround her as she leaned over him and he reached out automatically.


As his hands gripped her forearms, she whispered, "We should leave now. Your dragon needs some peace."


Charlie's mouth twisted. "I'm not the one who was climbing all over her at disgustingly early o'clock."


Luna tilted her head and he felt the weight of her oddly penetrating stare. "Does it bother you that I shared the morning with your dragon?"


Charlie rolled his eyes, dropping his hands from her as he pushed himself to his feet. "That depends, I suppose."


"On what?"


"Am I going to have to wake up this early tomorrow?"


"Oh, no. Humans have a need to share the night."


Charlie squinted at her, wondering if it was even worth attempting to understand her. While he was considering the question, she wandered from the pen, leaving the gate open behind her. Charlie cursed quietly and darted forward before Norberta could wake and cause mass chaos and destruction.

---

Charlie spent the day catching short naps whenever he could spare a moment from his other duties around the compound. By the time the dragons were nested down for the night, he was riding the fine high that only came from being pushed beyond the edge of exhaustion. The other dragon handlers were all avoiding him—if he were honest, they'd been doing so for the past fortnight—as his temper was on a very short leash.


While Charlie was shovelling food into his mouth, his tired brain focused on nothing but thoughts of his soft pillow, Liam sat down beside him, his tray landing on the table a bit louder than necessary. Charlie grunted at him, tearing off a piece of bread and dunking it in the juice of his stew before stuffing the dripping mass into his mouth.


"Your mother would have a heart attack," Liam noted mildly.


"Mmmph."


"Just because we work with dragons doesn't mean you're required to take on their more charming personality traits."


"When I start breathing fire, you can lecture me then."


"From what I heard of your confrontation with Robert today, you're not far off."


Charlie shook his head, staring blearily at his plate as he cleaned the last traces of juice from it with the crust of his bread. "He was being careless; he could have been badly injured."


"Explaining that to him in a calm and logical fashion would help him deal with the situation far better in the future than leaving the boy a shaking wreck that pisses himself every time you look at him crosswise. You used to be one of my most reliable handlers when it came to bringing up the recruits. Now you're running them off faster than I can sign them in."


"What do you want me to do? Coddle him? Offer him a hand job? Because that's not my domain; Pieter's more suited to that task."


"Fuck off, Weasley." Liam's face turned ruddy with the beginnings of anger. "Go sleep or wank or whatever it takes to get rid of this mood you're in. Don't bother going near the dragons again until you can do it with a clear, sensible head."


"Sounds good." Charlie set his jaw as he climbed to his feet, gathering his tray of dirty dishes. "It's been too long since I had a holiday."


As he left the dining hall, he didn't bother apologising—not to Liam, nor to Luna, who he nearly bowled over on his way out the door.

---

A soft body pressed against his and Charlie mumbled in his sleep, rolling reluctantly to the side to make room for... He struggled toward consciousness as a sense of wrongness permeated his dreams. Cracking his eyes open blearily, he peered around his darkened room, wondering what had woken him. Someone snuggling up against him made him start, then jump from the bed, wand in hand. Spelling the lights on, he pointed his wand at the bed only to see Luna Lovegood reclining on her elbows, watching him with a faintly puzzled look on her face.


"Luna?" He shook his head, wondering if somehow he was still dreaming. "What are you doing here?"


"I told you it goes better with humans at night."


"What?" His reasoning skills were obviously not awake yet because she wasn't making any sense. Oh, wait... She never made any sense, did she? "You really don't have any concept of personal space, do you?" he asked, feeling grumpy.

She shrugged at him before patting the bed. "Why don't you lie back down? It's going to be difficult for me to help you if you're standing across the room."

"Help me? What are you talking about? You're here to help my dragon."

"There's nothing wrong with Norberta. Well, nothing that helping you won't cure, anyway."

Charlie crossed his arms over his chest, anger beginning to slowly thrum through him. "Oh really? And just what do you think is wrong with me?"

Obviously not recognising the danger, Luna slipped from the bed and padded toward him on bare feet. "You're red and yellow, of course."

"Red and yellow?" What?! "Does this have something to do with Hogwarts?"

She stared at him blankly before a look of extreme pity softened her features. "Oh, dear. You're really not very bright are you? Hmmm." Speaking softly and carefully, as if to a very slow child, she said, "You're red and yellow. Anger and frustration. Here, see?" From the neckline of her shirt, she pulled out a chain with a crystal pendant suspended from it. "Look into the crystal. It's all there."

Charlie glanced at the crystal before looking back at her. He wasn't sure if he should back slowly away or run for his life. She was clearly insane.

"You need sexual release. And your dragon needs a mate to focus on, rather than you. Once you've released some of the sexual tension you're under, she'll be fine. And so will you."

Charlie paused with one foot hovering in the air. "Sexual release?" he asked, attention caught despite himself.

"Oh yes. I wouldn't recommend allowing yourself to go so long without. It's very detrimental to your mental and physical health, you know." She smiled up at him. "If you'll just lie down, I'll help you. You'll need to find someone else for this in the future, though. I don't know that I'll be available the next time you require release. I'll be hunting bandersnatch this fall."

"Bander... but those don't exist."

"Of course they do." Obviously impatient with him, Luna stepped forward and grasped his cock through his sleep pants, causing him to gasp and drop his wand. The room plunged into darkness around them just before he felt her tongue flick over his nipple. "There we are. Much better," she murmured, sliding her hand over his slowly hardening cock.

Some part of him raged at the wrongness of taking advantage of a crazy woman while the rest of him argued that really, she was taking advantage of him. So that was okay, then.

"Lie down," she said softly, her lips brushing against the middle of his chest. A twist of her wrist, and he was putty in her hands.

"Yeah, okay," he groaned, stumbling toward the bed.

As he tried to think of a list of rationalisations for this—defense for when either Liam tried to fire him or Ginny kill him—Luna climbed on top of him, straddling his thighs as she unceremoniously yanked his sleep pants down. Taking his bare cock into her hand once more, she sighed and said, "Oh, how lovely."

He couldn't agree more, though he was reduced to merely whimpering his pleasure. She kissed and nipped her way down his chest and he stopped breathing when her lips brushed over his navel, her movements making it more than clear that she was about to—

He shouted, hips bucking off the bed as she took his cock into her mouth, the head of it bumping against the back of her throat. His mind swirled in a haze of extreme pleasure as she sucked him, her tongue drawing patterns on the underside as she pulled off only to delve under the folds of his foreskin before she took him back down again, swallowing. The constriction of her throat, added to his many months with nothing but his right hand, combined to make his balls draw up as the fastest orgasm he'd ever experienced rolled over him. He had time only to tighten his hands in her hair before his come was spurting down her throat.

When he was capable of movement, he reached for her, pulling her up his chest. Rolling them both, he pinned her to the bed with his body, his hands sliding under her shirt to tweak at her nipples as he kissed her deeply. He kicked his legs, untangling his sleep pants from where they'd ended up around his ankles.

"What are you doing?" Luna asked when he finally broke the kiss to lick a line down her throat. "I've provided you with your release. This really isn't necessary."

Charlie rolled his eyes. "It's an odd compulsion of mine. I can't receive sexual gratification from someone without granting it in return." He sucked on the fine ridge of bone at her shoulder, rather delighted when his actions caused her to shiver.

"Oh, thank you. That's very kind of you," she said, her voice low and throaty as she clutched eagerly at his back, her thighs parting to cradle his hips.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a saint," he whispered before covering her lips with his own, his cock making a valiant effort at recovery. As he moved over her body, finding every spot that made her breath catch, he idly wondered how long he'd be able to claim sick leave. As long as he kept her too busy de-frustrating him to confuse him with her odd conversation, Charlie wouldn't mind spending the rest of the week with her.

Or longer.

As he lay panting on his bed over an hour later, Luna twined around him, her body relaxing into satiated slumber, Charlie grinned and started mentally composing his own recommendation for the Dragon Whisperer.