Tough As Dragon Skin

At two-thirty the next afternoon Nat was a wreck. She couldn't believe she'd thrown down that gauntlet to Charlie's brother. That had to be the biggest bonehead move she'd ever made, after dating Sam Hill for all those years. Seeing Charlie, hearing Charlie's voice, and knowing that she'd never be with him again would be the ultimate agony. Nat decided she was a masochist; she deserved whatever pain was inflicted on her that afternoon.

Promptly at three o'clock the door bell chimed pleasantly and, taking a deep calming breath, Nat opened the door to reveal Charles Weasley. He was dressed in neat attire, not too flashy or overly elegant. 'Casual and uncaring of my opinion,' thought Nat morosely.

"Here's your damned phone!" Charlie shoved the phone into her hands and then stood in the doorway, his hands shoved into his pockets, staring at her with a strange expression on his face that Nat could only describe as hungry.

"Um, thanks. Where's the battery charger?" 'STUPID NATALIE!' she screamed at herself.

Charlie looked confused. "The what?"

"Never mind. I can buy another. They aren't that expensive." Nat looked down at the carpeted floor and swallowed.

"I just wanted to say-" they both began at the same time and then stopped, staring at each other in shock.

"No, you first." Again in unison.

Charlie blew a stray strand of red hair out of his face in irritation. "Nat," he began as Nat said, "Charlie." They stopped again.

"Ah screw it," Charlie muttered and grabbed her hand. He jerked her forward and their lips met. The kiss was long and involved and when their lips parted, both were breathing hard. "I kinda hoped you'd have that reaction."

"Oh?" asked Nat in a breathy tone. Her mind wasn't concerned with complete sentences at the moment.

"I just want to ask one question and we'll go from there, okay?" Charlie's green eyes darkened a bit.

Natalie nodded. "Okay."

"Are you still in love with me?"

She chewed her bottom lip a moment, wondering if she should lay bare her heart for him to trample on. Deciding to go for broke, as Melissa would have charmingly put it, Nat took a deep breath and answered, "Yes, I do, Charlie."

His face split into a huge smile and he suddenly seemed to relax. He shoved her backwards and followed her into the flat, slamming the door behind him. "Good, because, y'know, before I take you home to meet the family, we're going to have a discussion."

Nat blinked owlishly at him. "Discussion?"

Charlie grinned. "Yeah. Y'know." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "A discussion."

Nat colored slightly but smiled herself. "Oh! That discussion."

Charlie laughed. "Show me that paradise you call the bedroom, Nat." He leaned over and whispered in her ear. She blushed again, but led the way anyway.

"So this is the woman you've been foaming at the mouth about?" Nat wasn't sure which one spoke but it was definitely one of the twins. She hoped she wasn't required to remember names, because it just wasn't going to happen.

"Shut up, George," Charlie said good-naturedly, punching his younger brother in the chest lightly.

"Did you see that, Mum?" complained George. "Charlie just hit me!"

"I didn't!" protested Charlie, winking at Nat.

"Don't have children, my dear," Mrs. Weasley told Natalie, ignoring her squabbling sons. "Or if you do, avoid sons. They aren't worth the effort half the time."

All five of her sons who were present at the dinner table gave their mother open-mouthed and horrified looks. Ginny, the sister with the name that Nat could remember without much trouble, only speared a pork chop from one of her brother's plates and began cutting it up. Apparently, this was something that Ginny heard often, or had figured out for herself.

Nat wasn't sure what the whole dinner was about. She was a bit fuzzy on the details. The Weasley family was staying in London at a concealed wizard house that wasn't theirs for some secret purpose. One son, Percy if she recalled the name correctly, was not staying with them though he was living in London. Charlie had only said not to talk about Percy. Apparently Percy was the blacksheep of the family or something. There were other wizards and witches at the table as well but again names were eluding her.

One witch was Hermione, a name that Natalie had always thought was charmingly old-fashioned. She was friends with the youngest son...named...Ryan, or Ron or something like that. The other witch, besides Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, went by her last name only but Nat would be damned if she could remember what it was.

Mr. Weasley was still at work at the Ministry of Magic. There were two other wizards at the table as well. One seemed to own the rather creepy residence, was dark-haired and used to be fairly handsome before time and something else made him a bit morose-looking. The other wizard was brown eyed and haired with rather non-descript and exhausted features. The two appeared to be long-time friends, Sirius and Remus. Their names were easy enough to remember for someone deeply involved in history, even if it was prehistory.

Nat had been spirited secretly into this strange house, blindfolded until she was inside. Once there she'd been introduced to Charlie's family and the added hanger-ons. What exactly they were all doing in London seemed to be hush-hush and frankly, Nat was sure she didn't want to know. She was brought from her reverie by a question from the man called Remus.

"So Charlie, did you get the position in the Department of Magical Creatures?"

Charlie shook his head as he finished his bite of bread. "No, but after speaking with Dumbledore, I think I should stay abroad. He wants more international supporters for the Order. I'll be a good liaison." Mrs. Weasley looked fretfull but said nothing. "Don't worry, Mum, I can take care of myself."

"Yes, dear," she said noncommitally. Charlie rolled his eyes in Nat's direction.

"So you're heading back to Romania then?" clarified Bill, giving Natalie a significant look. He didn't need to give her the prompting; she'd interpreted Charlie's comment well enough on her own. She didn't know what all of the words Charlie said meant but she did know that he'd be leaving London, and her, again.

"Yes," Charlie nodded. He glanced casually at Natalie as he added, "Y'know, we've actually found quite a few dinosaur bones here and there around the dragon reservations. We never paid them much mind, merely reported their existence to the Department of Prehistoric Animals, but you know how they are; if it isn't a magical animal, they aren't all that interested."

He had Nat's undivided attention. "Dinosaur bones? Do you know what kind?"

Charlie shook his head. "No. They all look the same to me." Nat ground her teeth. "Too bad there's no field paleontologists around that can direct field research, privately of course, in that direction. With the cooperation that Minister Fudge has started with the Muggle Prime Minister when you escaped, Sirius, it should be easy enough to get a Muggle and Wizard field team together."

Nat's eyes shone. "Yes it would and I know just the, um, Muggles who'd be interested."

Charlie gave her a speaking look. "Oh? Who?"

"Well, naturally, I could head the field team. I have a resume that would make your Minister stammer and that's just my field work. And Bethany is probably one of the best seismographers I've ever worked with."

"Whose Bethany?" Charlie didn't recall a Bethany but Nat spoke as if he knew her. "I haven't met her."

"Sure you have," Nat told him. "My student secretary?"

"The girl with the stiletto knife fingernails?" Charlie was incredulous. Everyone at the table laughed, including Natalie.

"Yes, but she always gets rid of the fake nails for field work. She can pinpoint a dig site with unerring accuracy using her sonar equipment and..." Those at the table began to get glazed expressions as Natalie launched into a lecture on the methods of field research and dig procedures. "So, if you just get a few wizards that are willing to learn non-magical methods to suit whatever red tape paperwork is required by the Ministry of Magic, cooperation will be achieved."

"Um, great!" Remus attempted to excite the atmosphere from its torbid stupor of her lecture. "Sounds like you've got a plan."

Nat gave a satisfied and confident nod. "I've always got a plan."

Everyone noted Charlie's twitch but Natalie ignored it.

"So its a done deal?"

Both Charlie and Nat heard these words the following week but from different sources. Charlie heard it from his father and elder brother and Nat heard it from her brother and sister-in-law.

"Yes," was their reply. "We head for Romania in a week's time. The team is assembled and the plan is set in motion."

Snuggled in their shared tent, Nat and Charlie were basking in the afterglow of lovemaking. "So, Nat," Charlie asked her, caressing her arm lovingly. "You can make a decent plan."

"When it comes to prehistoric animals," she informed him loftily in her best scholarly tone, "my plans are the best."

"Well, I won't argue with this one," he told her and they began to snuggle once again.