Of Dogs and Dragons

"Emilia." Charlie focused his eyes on Emilia, not Talia, the second that he found the two. Emilia keenly noted the brief eye exchanged and though of it as a slight victory in her eyes.

But could she really focus on the fact that she liked Charlie? Talia did too, and she couldn't hurt her best friend. No, she couldn't pursue her feelings when Talia liked Charlie. Emilia was too good of friends with Talia to let a boy ruin their friendship.

"Hi Charlie," Emilia answered, trying to hide her eyes from him. Because of her sudden realization, she had to focus intensely to keep herself from giving into Charlie's handsome charm. She did not have much experience with men, and she had never tried to avoid a crush before, but she had to now. She had to for Talia.

"Talia," Charlie said, as he finally stood in front of the two women, who both tried to hide their obvious infatuation with him. "How are you doing?"

"I'm great," Talia answered, brushing her hand through her blond locks as she did so. Talia was prepared to fight for Charlie because she finally realized that the thing that was different about him intrigued her even more. She wanted to know more about the mysterious stranger and she would do everything to get him to notice her again.

"Good." Charlie smiled not focusing much attention to Talia, even when she was trying to appeal to him. He then turned to Emilia and said, "I could use your assistance, Emilia."

"I can help," Talia quickly interjected. She was not used to the attention of a man being directed to Emilia instead of herself. She didn't think Emilia was intentionally trying to win his attention, but Emilia was who he was noticing at the moment. She would have to stop that from happening. "I'm the Vet Tech. Emilia has more important work to do."

"It's okay," Emilia answered. She knew that Charlie would be doing something that Talia could not see, since Talia did not know about magic. It was Emilia that Charlie needed and Emilia felt gracious for that. She wouldn't feel as guilty taking Charlie away from Talia that way. "You told me you have a lot of work to do. I can take a minute with him."

"Well, thanks." Talia faked a smile. Emilia recognized the fakeness, but she carried on without giving any indication that she noticed. It was an important thing to keep Talia out of the loop about what they were doing.

Charlie and Emilia started walking together towards the HR together. Emilia took a quick glance at Charlie and noticed that he was dressed in a dark green sweater that illuminated his intense blue eyes. The dark circles under his eyes were somewhat troubling to her. He looked rather tired, yet Emilia couldn't help but admire the tiresome look. It was a look of determination - a look of hard work. She knew that she carried that look many days of the year, though she did her best to hide it with her assortment of makeup that she used only on the most treacherous of days. And Charlie actually did not look terrible with the dark circles under his eyes because he was so enchanting anyways.

Charlie's hair was somewhat crazy looking as well since it was sticking up in all directions, obviously not brushed recently. Emilia imagined through his defined looks that he probably had not gotten too much sleep recently, though she decided not to question him about that. Instead, she found a more suitable statement pop out of her mouth: "Your hair looks quite stunning this morning."

Charlie stopped walking the moment that Emilia spoke, quite astonished by shy Emilia's words. He did not quite know Emilia well enough to know if she was being sarcastic or if she was serious. If she was serious, he didn't know quite how to react, so he went with the sarcasm. "Shut up," he teased, as he put his hand through his hair. "I didn't have a chance to mess with it this morning. I've just been dealing with so much."

"Oh," Emilia answered, as the two started walking once again after the brief pause. Emilia wanted to let him know that she was not teasing him, but she knew the statement that came out of her mouth had been quite awkward. Instead, she decided to pry more into his situation because she believed that she could help, even just a bit. "What have you been dealing with?"

Charlie sighed deeply because he didn't want to explain everything that was sorting through his mind. His one task of the day was to help the dogs, and that was supposed to be a distraction from everything else that was going on in his work. But now Emilia knew too much, and she was bringing up topics that he just wanted to divert his attention away from. "Just some magic stuff," he explained not expanding on anything.

At first, Charlie thought that revealing the magic world to Emilia would help him out and in some ways it did. It meant that he had someone that could help him heal the dogs and someone who could distract the other Muggles from catching onto any wizarding thing.

But it also meant that Emilia wanted to know more about the Wizarding World and his troubles with his world. He was starting to get used to being able to go into work for the day and not having to talk about any of the troubles of the world in which was so unlike the Muggle society. It was refreshing and different, and he enjoyed it much like his father did. But since Emilia knew about his world, it became much more complicated, and he wasn't sure that he liked it that way.

"Oh." Emilia realized that she was prying too far into his life and his position. She had grown quite comfortable in his presence in the last couple of days and she soon realized that she was probably growing too comfortable around him. He likely did not want to hear what she had to say. The only thing that she was useful for was her work. Not many people wanted her as a friend or as a shoulder to lean on.

The two soon made it to the HR and Emilia smiled at the empty cage that had previously been occupied by an injured dog. Charlie would only be able to help the dogs one at a time because it would be suspicious if too many would start healing at once. But Emilia was fine with that. She would have loved to have healed all of the dogs at the same time, so they did not have to suffer for as long, but with Charlie there at least they would all be saved eventually. Most of them could wait a few days before anything terrible happened to them.

"Do you have a preference for who we heal today?" Charlie asked, staring at the three dogs, all of which were still sick. One was a pure white dog, a Canadian Eskimo dog named Yuri, who had the sweetest expression. Then there was a German shepherd named Hund, who was a brindle color and who was lying down, breathing heavily. Finally there was a beagle mix named Seppie, who was sitting up, but not paying any attention to the two.

"Why don't you pick?" Emilia smiled. They were all at about the same level, health-wise, and she thought it would be beneficial for Charlie to pick out the dog he wanted to help save for the day.

"How about that one?" Charlie pointed to Hund, the five year old German shepherd.

"Sounds perfect," Emilia answered.

The two then walked over to Hund, who was lying down in his crate, head down and eyes closed. He seemed quite sick, and Emilia felt a brush of anxiety and fear pass through her body, but she instantly perked up as Charlie started to perform his magic.

Within seconds Charlie healed Hund so that he could stand up. His dark muzzle immediately pressed against Emilia's arm wanting a pat. Emilia easily gave in, but soon stepped aside, as she realized that she should call Hund's owner to tell him of the news.

As Emilia walked over to the phone, she noticed Charlie leaning down to Hund's level. He immediately placed his hand on Hund's head and gave him a scratch. Emilia noticed Hund's tail, wagging with evident thrill of the attention that he was receiving. While Emilia talked to Hund's owner, she smiled at Charlie, the non-dog person's demeanor. He was giving attention to the dog, and he seemed to be happy about it. He did care... at least a bit.

Emilia finished the rare joyful call and Hund's owner planned on coming later to pick him up. She walked over to Charlie, who was still patting Hund. "He's a sweetie," Emilia said, as she leaned down to her knees as well to stroke Hund's soft fur.

"He is quite sweet," Charlie confirmed.

"Really?" Emilia asked, nervous about Charlie's statement. He was actually being reasonable about the whole dog thing. He had always been somewhat disinterested in dogs, and that was the first time that he actually seemed to care.

"Yeah, I guess so," Charlie started to explain. "I mean I guess I can see why you care so much. I s'pose if I were a Muggle, I'd be a veterinarian as well. I might be more interested in wolves or something, but dogs are pretty cool."

Emilia's eyes lit up. She imagined her mouth to be wide open in shock, but luckily she refrained from actually doing that. She was in disbelief. Charlie was... well... amazing.

Emilia had already been starting to fall for the enigmatic stranger. The first time she met him she had a terrible feeling about him. He was just a stubborn, inconsiderate prat. He didn't seem to care about the dogs and he seemed to be putting off work. But as Emilia learned more about him, she was able to tolerate him more.

He really was not putting off work like Emilia had assumed. He was difficult to communicate with, but that was only because he had to conceal his cover. He had to work alone and he had to come up with lies to feed her. She could understand that the magical world needed to be hidden, though she liked being in on the knowledge of the world, even if she couldn't participate herself.

But Charlie still was not a fan of dogs. Even though their relationship grew stronger, she knew that she could not truly like a person if they did not get dogs like she did. Emilia knew that she was stubborn and probably being somewhat ridiculous for that, but she couldn't help it. Animals, especially dogs were her life. Everything else came after that.

So the fact that Charlie said that dogs were pretty cool made Emilia's mind swivel off in a million directions. She had already started to give in to Charlie's charm, but that fact changed everything. She could definitively say that she liked Charlie. But what about Talia?

"Emilia!" Charlie yelled. "Dr. Reynolds, what's wrong?"

Emilia's face turned towards Charlie as she ended her daze. "What?" she asked. "Oh, sorry."

"I should probably get going," Charlie soon announced. "I'm waiting to hear back from my boss."

"Oh." Emilia was interested. "What are you going to be doing with the..."

"Don't say anything here," Charlie interrupted. "I'm sure it would be fine, but I'd be more comfortable talking in private about this."

"Sorry." Emilia was disappointed. She was fascinated about the dragon. Even though the dragon had almost killed her, Emilia knew under Charlie's protection she would be safe observing the fiery beast. She was an animal lover of all kinds, and she had quite an urge to actually observe the beast, even from afar.

"M-maybe you can come over later," Charlie said somewhat stuttering on his words. He was nervous about mentioning it to Emilia. He couldn't read her like he was able to read other people. He wasn't sure if she would be interested in what he was doing or if she was terrified like most Muggles would be, but having her around could be beneficial.

"Really?" Emilia asked, somewhat too eager for her own liking. "I mean, that would be great." She had to relax in Charlie's presence. When she was around him she tended to talk a bit too much and show more emotion than she did when she was around other relative strangers.

"Sure, just come by whenever you're done with work." Charlie smiled. He was pleased that he had actually gone through with making the offer. The two then walked towards the exit of the HR.

The HR was a room that was not entirely secretive or stealthily hidden for those who worked at the Animal Hospital. In addiction, there was a large window where one could look inside at the animals and there was a window at the top of the door. It made it easier to see if any of the animals were in immediate danger.

Peeking inside of the large HR window was Talia, eyes wide and mouth wide open in interest. She had surely seen something that had interested her. "Damn," Charlie muttered. "Do you think she saw what we did?"

"I don't know," Emilia answered, somewhat worried, yet somewhat entertained. She knew that Charlie did not want to reveal his wizardry background, but if Talia found out for herself, maybe that would be fine. At least that would make Emilia and Talia's relationship a whole lot simpler.

"Just act casual," Charlie demanded. "We're just going to dissuade her, so just act ignorant about the situation. I can't let another person know about this."

Charlie was the one to open the door while Emilia walked slowly behind him. Talia instantly met up with the pair and she still showed a shocked expression. "What just happened in there?" she immediately asked.

"Charlie healed a dog," Emilia answered nonchalantly.

"But no," Talia muttered. "He... he had a stick in his hand, and colors came out of the stick? And Hund... Hund is better."

"Yeah," Emilia calmly answered. "Hund is better. I'm not sure what else you're talking about though."

"You okay, Talia?" Charlie asked with a smirk apparent on his face. Emilia carried the same expression. "Did you get enough sleep last night?"

"Well I..." Talia was still confused. She didn't like being confused like this. "I didn't sleep too well, I guess. Are you sure you don't have a stick in your pocket?"

"Why would I have a stick in my pocket?" Charlie asked amused.

"I don't know. Never mind." Talia walked as far as she could from the two.

Even though Emilia hated to lie, she had to admit that it was quite funny. And from that demonstration she realized how well magic could be hidden from the world. It did not take much for Talia to be convinced that she was seeing things.

Charlie and Emilia continued to walk to the front of the Animal Hospital, Charlie to leave for the day, and Emilia to grab another chart. They snickered to themselves about the incident, though Emilia did feel cruel for lying to her friend and laughing about it.

As they were walking towards the front, Emilia noticed something unusual - an owl had just flown into the lobby. "Charlie, do owls have any significance in your world?" Emilia immediately asked, pointing to a tawny owl that had disrupted the flow of the hospital.

Charlie followed the direction of Emilia's hand, and he soon placed his eyes upon the creature that had caused a rather interesting debacle at the hospital. "Crap!" he exclaimed, as he ran off towards the bird.

Emilia followed slowly behind, joyfully smiling. She was curious to find out what the owl had to do with magic and why he had come.

Charlie approached the owl as patients' owners, Dr. Baker, and Emilia watched in wonder, curious as to what Charlie was going to do. Charlie did not notice the array of spectators at first, so he slowly took the note from the owl, without thinking to do it in private.

"What are you doing, Charlie?" Dr. Baker finally questioned him. He turned his head to the direction of the woman's voice. Before long he realized that he had an audience that did not just include Emilia.

Charlie lowered the letter and he slowly placed it behind his back. His eyes glanced around the room as he saw several eyes stare at him in disbelief. He had just taken a letter from an owl. And he was expecting it. That was not normal in the everyday world, and he knew it, even if he did not know too much about Muggle affairs.

"Charlie, we've all seen the note," Dr. Baker announced, since Charlie so adamantly decided to hide it behind his back. "What are you up to?"

"I-uh..." Charlie muttered, trying to figure out a plausible explanation for his activities. "Well-uh, my friend and I," Charlie said slowly, so he had enough time to think of a reasonable excuse. "We-uh decided to train owls." Charlie was starting to come up with his fib. "And we got the idea from the carrier pigeons. We wanted to see if we could teach the owls to deliver messages." The only thing Charlie could do at that moment was wait to see if the excuse was accepted.

"You did that with an owl?" Baker seemed impressed. "I've never known them to be very intelligent."

"This one is." Charlie was more confident, evidenced by the way that he spoke faster and with more assurance. "He's the only one we've been able to train so far. He seems a lot different from the others though. I don't think any of them could do what he does."

"I've heard of something like that before." Emilia stepped forward to help Charlie out. "Someone was able to train an owl to do simple tasks. Not quite letter delivery, but simple tasks such as pressing a button for food like Skinner did with pigeons. Charlie must know a lot about operant conditioning."

"So what does the letter say?" Baker was more interested in the letter than in the explanation. However, Charlie did not enjoy her prying eyes.

Charlie took the letter that he was sure that he would get in trouble with if he actually showed it to the Muggle population. He was curious to see what it said, but it was more important for him to make up something that he could tell to the curious doctor.

"It was just a test," Charlie finally answered, after faking to skim over the letter. "That's all it really says."

"Can I see it?" Baker asked still curious.

"I think that's a little private," Emilia interjected. "And don't you have work to do?" Baker was being a bit too bossy and Emilia wanted Charlie to have his privacy.

Charlie whispered a thank you to Emilia as Baker declared that she did have work that needed to be done.

---

Emilia's day shift dragged on. She waited impatiently to leave so that she would be able to confront the man that she had fallen for. It wasn't that she was particularly bored at work, rather she enjoyed and loved her job, but she just wanted to learn more about him and his world. He was an interesting character and a lovely man. The animals seemed to do fine on their own as long as Charlie came to help out every once in awhile.

The day finally ended and Emilia found herself at her locker, gathering all of her possessions, ready to leave. She wanted to leave as quickly as possible, so that there wasn't a chance of her getting stopped by a co-worker who needed her for some reason or the other.

She proceeded out the door, her mind filled with several scattered thoughts. She started to search for her car, but as she did, she heard her name being called, which instantly reminded her of the last time that Talia caught her leaving. It was that night that Talia forced her to go to the pub, which was also that night that she first met Charlie.

Emilia rather grudgingly stopped as she heard Talia's voice. She wanted to ignore it, but after several years of friendship, she knew that would be inappropriate. "Hi Talia," Emilia answered with fake cheer.

"Do you want to do something tonight?" Talia asked as she caught up with Emilia.

A slight breeze under the darkened sky sent a brief chill in Emilia's body. She jumped slightly as she rubbed her arms, warming herself. "I don't think so," Emilia answered, hoping that Talia wouldn't insist too much on spending time with her. She just needed to see Charlie and that unfortunately kept her from making any plans with her best friend. "I need to just go back and sleep."

"Come on." Talia's voice was filled with cheer. "We haven't been to Teddy's in awhile, not since..."

"No thanks," Emilia cut off. She remembered that last time, and she remembered how Talia coaxed her into going to the pub. She didn't want to be forced again. She just needed to see Charlie.

"You're no fun." Talia's voice gloomed. "You used to be fun." The blonde left the doctor's side with a shrug and a sigh, bemoaned by her friend's recent static behavior.

Emilia reacted without a care. She grabbed her keys, found her car, and headed home to change so that she would not look too dreadful in front of Charlie's pretty blue eyes.