Burn // Charlie Weasley

15. Speak of the Dragon

Charlie extended his hand towards Gabi, offering to help her off the cold cement floor that she decided to lay down on after a strenuous workout. It was cool against her bare arms and she wasn't sure she even had the strength to keep herself standing anyway.

"I'm tired," she groaned, reluctantly putting her hand in his grasp. Charlie pulled her up and helped steady her. He looked her once over and Gabi noticed he barely even broke a sweat whereas every single muscle in her body was on fire. "I might opt out of tomorrow's training and take a break."

"We've only been at it for four days," he reminded her with a faint chuckle, picking up some of the equipment to clean up the floor. Charlie glanced over his shoulder at her, "Thought you said you'd be in here five times a week? "

Gabi paused while reaching for her water bottle, trying to call when she ever said that to him. She pushed a few loose strands of hair out of her face as she took a sip, her face plastered with confusion.

"When did I say that?" she decided to ask, still slightly out of breath.

Charlie hesitated. She could see the muscles in his arm tense as he tossed a few of the pads in the corner. When he turned around, however, any uncertainty in his expression vanished. "On Monday."

She racked her mind, or tried to. How had this conversation completely disappeared from her memory?

He grabbed a towel that had been laying on the bench and lightly hit her arm with it as he passed her, paying no attention to how this blank space was affecting her, "Don't hurt yourself Drakos."

"I just-" she let out a breath of exasperation, pivoting on her heels to look at him. "I don't remember ever saying that, is all."

"Well you did," he tossed the towel in a nearby basket before approaching her slowly, the corner of his mouth lifting. "If you really don't want to train tomorrow that's fine. I just thought you had higher stamina than this."

Gabi wrinkled her nose and held her chin high, not about to let Charlie Weasley get the best of her. "No, it's fine. Same time as today? Four 'O' clock?"

"Sounds good," Charlie dipped his head and retreated backwards. Not to leave like she expected him to, instead grabbing his wand that had been left on the bench. "There's something I want to start incorporating into your sessions."

"Dueling?" She guessed. That might be a nice change of pace. Her arms were getting sore from hitting punching bags repeatedly. She didn't realize how much effort went into training reflexes.

"Sort of," Charlie twirled his wand through his fingers before holding out to the side and away from her, but Gabi still jumped when a stream of fire protruded from the end of it.

"What was that?" Gabi was familiar with the fire-making charm, but this one seemed different. The flame that came from his wand wasn't a quick blast of fire used to light a candle or warm up a coffee that had gone cold. This was different. The hint of blue streaks that sprouted from the end of the wand was rare for Incendio, there was no reason for it to be that strong.

Charlie seemed impressed, or shocked, that she didn't automatically assume it was Incendio.

"Draco Ignisio," Charlie answered.

"Dragon fire?" Gabi recognized the Latin influence. "There's a spell that mimics dragon fire?"

"There sure is," Charlie flicked his wand and produced the same fire again. Gabi backed away, feeling too much heat for her own good.