To Win the Heart of a Dragon

Chapter 1: Rhea James Black

     The bright, early Sunday morning light slipped through the curtains at Grimmauld Place onto a scarlet haired girl, slowly stirring and persuading the young adult to wake. The noise of the birds outside her window seemed to grow louder and louder, telling the girl she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. With this realization she stretched in bed, feeling the weight of her pet kneazles on the bed, and finding the soft fur of her crup curled up on the pillow next to her head.

She was suddenly startled by a loud knock at the door, she yelped and with a thud landed loudly on the floor. She heard the door fly open, followed by a loud bark of laughter. Groaning and cursing her luck she slowly stood up and faced her fathers at the door.

Seeing Sirius' inability to control his laughter, his husband Remus rolled his eyes and began to speak.

"Are you okay Rhea?" Concern was evident in his voice but you'd never know looking at the smirk on his face. Their daughter's clumsiness was nothing new to the two of them. She wasn't clumsy in a 'oh that's so cute!' way but rather in a 'she's a danger to herself' kind of way. It may have been due to her height, at 5'11, she had rather long limbs and was lean from her years of playing chaser on the Gryffindor's quidditch team. Her clumsiness was legendary in her Hogwarts days, only to be rivaled by her cousin Nymphadora Tonks, who was now an Auror. Clumsiness wasn't the only trait the two cousins shared, like Tonks, she too was a metamorphmagus. 

She waved her hand in front of her and responded, "Oh yeah! Of course! The floor just seemed like it needed a hug! And who am I to deny it affection?" Rhea reasoned to her fathers, putting her hands over her heart to fain innocents.

This sent Sirius into another round of hysterical laughter only to be brought out of it by a smack to the back of his head from his husband.

"OW! What was that for?" Sirius putted, rubbing the back of his head.

His daughter rolling her eyes at her fathers theatrics. Thinking of theatrics made the girl cringe knowing what was to come in the next 24 hours. Rhea had worked hard to become a healer and had started studying magizoology. Her dream had always been to help people and animals and she thought this would be the best way to achieve her dreams; to not only become a doctor, but a veterinarian, as well. 

With her extensive and accelerated training complete she would be given her new assignment and would most likely be leaving the UK. She would find out tomorrow where she was going and head on her new adventure immediately.

With this information, it was easy to assume today would be her last day in the UK and as expected Sirius and Remus Black wouldn't let her leave without some sort of theatrics. Mostly from Sirius, but she would put money on her Uncle Prongs being right there with him. And seeing as it was Sunday that meant lunch and dinner at the Burrow with the Weasley, Potter, and Black families. It was sure to be an exhausting day.

Rhea didn't realize just how deep in thought she had been till her dad snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Huh? Yea you were saying?" Rhea replied, shaking her head, and coming back to reality.

Chuckling softly Remus repeated himself " Molly wants us to come earlier today, since your leaving tomorrow."

At this a small sob was heard from behind Remus (or as she called him Papa). Both of them turned to see Sirius with tears in his eyes. Sirius choked out a quiet "sorry" and Remus continued, "I also believe Bill and Charlie are going to be there."

This revelation of new information brought a bright light to the girl's stormy grey eyes and a large grin to her face. Despite being younger than the two, they were her best friends, but don't tell that to Tonks or the twins. She'd never admit it out loud, especially knowing she would never hear the end of it from them. The thought of them finding out exhausted her.

Moving quickly to her wardrobe, that was almost empty, having been packed up for moving, with only the objective to get dressed quickly, she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings and tripped over one of the many boxes currently littering her bedroom floor.

Jumping back up and throwing her hands up she shouted "I'm okay! I'm okay!'

This time both her fathers couldn't control their laughter. Embarrassment flushed her face. She began pushing her fathers out of her room and closing the door behind them.

Leaning with her back pressed against the door she released a sigh. Normally she wouldn't worry about trivial things, but she couldn't help but worry about what to wear. It had been months since she had last seen Charlie. Sure they write all the time, but seeing your crush was way different than just writing letters.

It didn't seem right to call what she felt a crush. It was so much more than that. What started as a simple friendship, bonding over their shared love of magical creatures, turned to best friends, turned to crush. But in truth she was in love with him; totally and completely head over heels. He had her wrapped around his little finger and yet he somehow remained oblivious to her feelings for him. But she knew she wouldn't act on it. Charlie had made it clear to her over the years they were friends, best friends, but nothing more.

She had been friendzoned long before she realized her feelings, but it was too late now for regrets. She had long ago decided to suffer in silence, longing and pining for him because it was better to have him in her life than to not at all.

With a huff she pushed herself off the door and navigated to her wardrobe once more. After her thoughts on her depressing love life, she lost her desire to look nice and decided to put on one of her reliable summer outfits of dark jean shorts, an old Led Zeppelin shirt that once belonged to Sirius, that she had cropped and black converse.

After dressing she stopped in front of the mirror, to check she looked okay. Rhea's favorite part of her outfit was her tattoos being on display; though it drove Molly and her Papa batty!

She smiled looking down at her tattoo of a Chinese Fireball. It was Charlies' nickname for her, Fireball, and so naturally it was her first and perhaps favorite of her tattoos. Bringing her eyes back up she looked at her waist length scarlet locks, and decided to pull the top half into a bun. And to finish off she put on mascara and was then ready to go to the Burrow.