Love Burns (Charlie Weasley X Reader)

Chapter 20: The Den of A Predator

Chapter 20: The Den of a Predator

"Shit," I mumbled and stumbled back, bumping into the door of Danny's bedroom. I gasped at the loud thud of my clumsiness and rushed to the spare bedroom, grabbing my bag.

Danny, a death eater?

There was no time to process. If he was a death eater, I was not safe. I grabbed my wand to illuminate the hallway and made my way toward the door, noticing a piece of paper on the counter. A note.

At work. Help yourself to anything.

I looked at the clock on the oven and saw the time. Three-thirty a.m.

He didn't know. And he didn't have to. With trembling hands, I grabbed a pen and did what I would normally do in this situation.

I drew a penis.

And then I ran. I had to get home, but then I had to make sure to keep my cool around Danny. I couldn't let him know that I had found a death eater mask in his cabin. That would paint a target on my back. And yet to be normal with him was just as dangerous because he was dangerous. Being normal meant being around him, someone whose purpose was to hate people like me. There was no way I would be able to hide that I knew what he was.

When I got to my cabin, I tried the door, finding it unlocked. I went inside, making sure to lock the door behind me.

"Charlie!" I called and pushed through the cabin to our bedroom. "Charlie!"

I barged into the bedroom, finding Charlie looking dazed, blinking up at me in confusion as I switched the lights on.

"Stupid ass, you didn't lock the fucking door," I said immediately and glared at him, crossing my arms over my chest. He closed his eyes, covering them with his hand to shield them from the light.

"Well, it's a good fucking thing," he responded, his voice gravelly from sleep.

"You know that that's really dumb, right?"

"Well, what if you had to get in?" he asked and uncovered his eyes, squinting at me. "And if someone really wants to get in, a locked door won't do shit."

"Fuck off."

"You're still mad?"

"Yeah," I said.

"So..." he said, rubbing at his eyes.

"I'm here because I found a death eater mask in Danny's cabin. Which, by the way, is way nicer than ours. I'm going to ask Cristian about that the next time-"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, he's got a huge ass kitchen and all he does is cooks all day while we-"

"No, no. You found a death eater mask?"

"Oh, yeah. In his bedroom," I said.

"You're sure?"

"You're sure," I mocked. "Yes, I'm sure!"

"Alright, stop being childish for a moment," he said.

"You're not the boss of me," I said (childishly).

"You can be so insufferable."

"I know that," I sneered. "So what do we do? We should tell someone, right?"

"No," Charlie immediately said and ran his hands over his face. "Definitely not. That's an awful idea."

"Why?"

"Because we don't know who to trust and, in the case that you do find someone trustworthy to do something about Dan, that's just going to create more tension on the sanctuary. Other death eaters will find out what happened and target you."

"You don't know that," I said and shook my head. "If we don't do anything, he could hurt people."

"Do you think he's the one who's been orchestrating these attacks?"

"I don't know... no, I don't think so. He was at the cafeteria before I was attacked. Even if he did follow me, it wouldn't make sense that he would have stopped the attack. He knew who I was and where I was. It just wouldn't make sense."

"Do you think he's a good guy?"

"No, no." Charlie raised his eyebrows at my words. "Not at all. Nobody who aligns themselves with death eaters is good. They preach genocide... I guess you're right though. We should keep this quiet?"

"For now."

"Okay... I'm sorry I called you a stupid ass."

"It's okay."

"It's not okay. It was really rude and it's not true."

"Well, I'm sorry for everything I said yesterday. I don't think you have no skill," Charlie said and shrugged. "You're obviously good at your job and I think you should take the job if you want it."

"Something about it obviously made you upset and I'd like to know why."

"When you do work here at the sanctuary, it's always the same things and it's always the same times and the same... the same everything. It's predictable. I didn't want you giving up our routines for some random job that would have changed everything. You couldn't live here and we wouldn't have the same schedules that we're adjusted to."

"I told you that I would still be working here."

"Yeah, I know. But if you do both, when will we ever see each other? We already have limited time together. We only have one day off together. We sometimes go almost thirty-six consecutive hours without seeing each other. And that's while you work one job and we live in the same place. I'm afraid of what having a second job would do."

"I wouldn't do it if I thought that it would be such a big change," I said and sat down beside Charlie on the bed. "The thing about the private work is that nobody can make me do anything. I choose what I want to do. There aren't medical emergencies that keep me overnight on my day off."

"Well, now I feel like an ass," Charlie said and reached out to trace his finger over my necklace.

"I want you to be on board."

"Okay. I am."

"And I want you to ask me questions instead of assuming what you don't know and practically forcing me into the den of a predator," I teased.

"Okay, that was your own judgment. I figured you had gone to Alcott or Dmitri," Charlie said. "But I'm sorry."

"We could apologize to each other all night," I said and sighed. "But it doesn't matter if we're just going to be at each other's throats again the next minute."

"I won't be a jerk anymore for at least two weeks," Charlie said and extended his hand for a handshake.

"A week and a half," I promised and grabbed his hand, firmly shaking it.

Charlie smiled and pulled my hand to his lips to press a chaste kiss on my palm.

"I'm glad you're here," he said and pressed my hand to cup his cheek. His stubble prickled against the soft skin of my palm. His eyes were soft as he tilted his head into my hand, slowly closing his eyes.

Suddenly, he pushed his weight into me so that I was lying down, burying his face in my neck, inhaling deeply.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Relaxing," he mumbled into my skin. I let my hands fall to his head and combed them through his hair, twisting the curls around my fingers. His breathing was deep and slow, warm where it met my skin.

"Should we talk more about what happened?" I asked quietly.

"No. Tomorrow."

well, there. they made up. and in the next chapter, they might make out. :D