*Disclaimer: I own only my character Allison and her shop, everything else belongs to J.K.R. Thanks!
A/N: I would like to thank all of you for reading my story, I appreciate it very much! I hope that you'll review also? So, without further ado, I present to you my Charlie Weasley fanfic.
"Dear, your clothes are atrocious and full of holes! You need to get them fixed or get some new ones…" mum said holding up a pair of pants with huge holes in them, I shrugged, and it wasn't as if I had control over when the dragons had a bad day. My mother cleared her throat and started tapping her foot, clearly irritated,
"I can just get these ones fixed" I shrugged and my mum smiled but her expression turned soft as she placed a hand on my shoulder,
"You need to find yourself again, Charlie… I know that girl broke your heart, but you need to move on"
"Mum, I don't want to get over it… I just don't think I can right now" I looked around awkwardly and then smiled again, "So where is the best shop to get these fixed at?" I changed the subject back to my ripped and worn clothes; I knew this would take her mind off my recent break-up. I shook my head when she stopped plucking through my clothes and picked out almost everything that I owned, shoving them into my arm.
"There's a shop in Diagon Alley called Allison's Closet, go there, she's a wonderful seamstress and gets things done for cheap" mum said before turning around and exiting the room, I sighed and apparated to Diagon Alley, clothes in hand.
I sighed as I walked into my shop and lit the chandelier that illuminated the whole place with pretty, flickering light, I had just opened the shop a few weeks ago and business had been booming but I wished I could have a break from it all. I never knew owning my own shop would be so strenuous and demanding, I was supposed to have Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays off but for the last three weeks, I had been working continuously for hours on end. My mother always said that I shouldn't take on something this big and I was beginning to think she was right, I mean, how much can a twenty-four year old take?
I was bustling around; making sure everything was in its place and my clothing racks were in the right place and stocked with the appropriate items when I heard the bell go off. I turned around to see a young man with reddish orange hair and about my age, standing at the counter with a huge pile of clothes in his hands.
"Oh! I'm sorry, you can just put those down on the counter!" I exclaimed and rushed up to his pile of clothes, I examined a pair of pants and met his eyes, raising my eyebrow
"They're in a right mess," he admitted before setting them down and blushing slightly, I chuckled as I held up a shirt that was considerably burnt.
"You aren't lying about that one, sir" I commented picking up the pile and dumping them into the garbage, he looked appalled and I just shook my head. "I'm making you new ones, free of charge… and I wont take no for an answer," I said pointedly and the man just looked blankly at me. I rolled my eyes, grabbed him by the forearm, and dragged him over to the three-way mirror.
I took out my tape measure and then smiled, as he looked apprehensive;
"Oh, I won't bite or poke," I laughed and set the packet of pins down as his face broke into a boyish smiled. I blushed and looped the tape measure around his waist, writing the inches down on a sheet of paper and tacking it to the board next to the mirror.
"So, you work in Romania, huh? I bet you're a Dragon Keeper… I've always admired your line of work, sir" I said while I walked into the back room and browsed the material, trying to find the right type of dragon hide, out of the corner of my eye I could see him lower himself into one of the powder blue, puffy chairs by the mirrors.
"How'd you know?" he asked getting right back up and examining my colorful selection of dress robes, stopping to closely examine a pink sparkly robe with an amused look, I shrugged and pulled out three yards of scaly dragon hide material,
"Lucky guess?" I laughed and walked out of the back room, "Nah, my uncle used to work there until… well, he died, obviously"
"What was his name?" he asked, frowning slightly in thought.
"Jared Ostman"
"He was a good guy, hard worker and everything, unfortunately I didn't get to know him very well because the Hungarian got to him first" the man shook his head and watched me closely while I compared his old pants with the material I had picked out. They seemed to match so I started marking down the appropriate lengths to fit his body.
"I'm sorry, what's your name again? I don't think caught it…" I smiled and looked up at him, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.
"Charlie Weasley, you're Allison, I assume?" I nodded and then looked him in the eyes,
"Allison Easton" I said, offering my hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Weasley"
I turned back to my work, marking each measurement with care and making sure the cuts were spot on, I wanted everything to be perfect. As I was cutting out the last of the material, Charlie was slowly making his way around the racks of clothes, smiling as he made it to the more… eccentric pieces that I had made, well, what could I say? I had to make clothes to fit everyone's needs… and I mean everyone, there were some weird people out there.
"I take it sparkles and animal print are your favorite?" Charlie asked pulling an especially poufy dress from the rack marked 'Formal Wear - Women'. I laughed and nodded, setting down my scissors; I walked over to him and pulled out one from behind. The dress was multicolored and sparkled like crazy on the top; there was a deep purple sash separating the top from the bottom. The bottom was adorned with zebra and cheetah print mesh material that was equally as sparkly as the top.
"I wore something similar to this for a dance when I was in school, let's just say I started a trend" I winked and tucked the dress back into the rack with the other ones. Charlie was chuckling silently; he sighed and then nodded,
"Strangely enough, I could see you in something like that" I burst out laughing and blush crept across my face,
"Well, Mr. Weasley, I would say you should come back tomorrow to get your stuff… It'll take me a while to make everything," I said as we walked away from the dresses and back up to the main counter, he smiled and leaned casually against the granite.
"How much?" he asked eyeing the dragon hide, I rolled my eyes and wrote him up a receipt.
"Well, here ya go, if you can't afford that just tell me and I can lower the price" I winked as he walked out, stuffing the paper into his pocket. Before he opened the door, he looked over his shoulder at me and smiled,
"See you tomorrow, Allison" he nodded and disaparated out of Diagon Alley.
I landed in the kitchen of the Burrow to see everyone was sitting down, eating my favorite meal, marinated chicken. I rubbed my hands together in anticipation,
"Charlie! How was it? I don't see any fixed clothes… Was she not there?" my mum interrogated me as I took a seat next to Ron, who was stuffing his face obnoxiously with potatoes. As I filled up my plate, I answered my mum,
"Yeah she was there, she's making me all new ones, and I have the bill here somewhere…" I said digging through my pockets and pulling out the tiny blue receipt;
Six Dragon hide pants 49 Galleons
Twelve Suede and Dragon hide shirts 87 Galleons
One: Dragon hide boots, fireproof int. 16 Galleons
Total: 0 Galleons
I laughed and shook my head as I held out the slip to my mother, she took it and then sighed happily, looking up at me,
"You better thank her very much, Charles Weasley… This was a very nice thing of her to do because it looks like Dragon Hide isn't the cheapest thing out there," she said handing the slip back to me. I just nodded and started to eat my food, thinking about Allison Easton. Allison seemed like a nice girl, her shop was like a miniature palace so I had expected her to be some stuck up woman with no sense of humor. However, what I really seen was a young girl, humor lingering in her bright blue eyes, a small smile playing on her lips, golden hair pulled back into a carefree bun, and a personality radiating confidence and comfort.
Allison also had a huge heart to go with her carefree attitude, she could have charged me for making my clothes, not that it would have mattered, I was paid handsomely for being a Dragon Keeper, but it was the point that she made with her gesture. Her point was that everyone deserved a break sometime, even if it's something as meaningless as money. My mind flashed back to Alexandria, Alexandria was nothing like Allison; she was cold, firm, and heartless, really. She had broken up with me because my life didn't revolve around her schedule, didn't revolve around the world of Alexandria; thinking of Allison actually made the pain of losing Alexandria go away, even if it was slightly.
"Right, Charlie?" I heard Ginny exclaim as everyone laughed about a story she had been droning on about,
"Erm… What, Gin?" I asked making sure I had my wand poised so I could deflect any Bat Bogey Hexes that came flying my way at any moment, she just frowned,
"I was just telling them the story about the Quiddich match I played against you… and about how you flew right into the Keeper's rings" she was struggling to keep a straight face as the whole rest of the family roared with laughter.
"Ha ha, very funny, Ginny, you must have left out the part were I beat you so badly it wouldn't have mattered if you caught the snitch or not" I shrugged and sent my plate flying into the sink. Defeated, Ginny changed the subject to Harry and his new job at the Aurors office at the Ministry,
"So, how do you like being an Auror so far, Harry?" she asked and he just sighed, running a hand through his hair,
"I get to be behind the desk for the first month for training so it's not looking so good as of right now, but I'm sure it'll be awesome once I'm in the field" he nodded and sent his plate flying into the kitchen too, landing neatly on top of mine. I nodded along with him and then cracked a smile,
"You sure you want to be an Auror, Potter? We could really use another Dragon Keeper at the reserve over in Romania, you'd love it there!" I laughed as three women's voices spoke up at once, sounding threatening:
"Nuh-uh"
"Not a chance"
"Don't you dare, Charles Weasley"
They all warned and I looked from my mothers reddening angry face, to Ginny's horrified one, and over to Hermione's concerned look and then I burst out laughing. They all relaxed a bit but then immediately chewed me out for joking about it; I just shrugged but apologized, leaving the table to sit down in the living room.
People eventually filtered out of the room, leaving only Bill, Fleur, and I awake. Although they didn't last much longer, Fleur's yawning had become more and more frequent and so had Bill's, I just shook my head,
"You don't have to stay awake Bill, for Merlin's sake, Fleur is pregnant, get her to sleep!" I exclaimed as I eyed Fleur, who was now trying desperately to stay awake by shifting positions on the couch every few seconds. Bill nodded in almost a comatose state and led Fleur upstairs to bed, leaving only me… The blazing fire as my company.
I felt myself become nervous as I looked at the time, I would be going to get my new work clothes in a little over twelve hours and I would get to see Allison again. I wasn't sure I was thinking this way about her because I had feelings for her or because it was great to have someone so, for lack of a better word, cool, to be around. Either way, I had found myself truly nervous for the first time in four months and it felt good to have some feeling inside of me other than sadness or anger and the most annoying, ever-present emotion of them all, frustration.
I woke up in the morning feeling dazed, I had been up until late last night, working on Charlie Weasley's order, oh no, I didn't mind, but I would have liked the extra hours of sleep that it prevented me from getting. So, I swung my legs over the edge of my bed and made my way to the kitchen, where I poured myself a cup of hot coffee with French Vanilla creamer. Sipping lazily on the sweet drink, I let my owl in and took the daily paper from her leg, I skimmed over it; there really was nothing going on since the war had ended and I was happy to see it that way.
Once I was done drinking my coffee and reading the paper, I slipped into the shower and washed up. Afterwards, I carefully applied make-up, a small amount of black eyeliner and mascara and I dabbled on blush. I made my way to my closet where I stood for a good twenty minutes choosing an outfit that would match my mood today, in the end; I picked out a pastel pink, halter-topped sundress that made me look unusually tan and made my hair look two toned and summery. On a last minute decision, I applied a coat of deep red lip stick and walked out of my flat and down into my shop, lighting the chandelier as I pulled out the rack of Charlie's clothes from the back room.
I had been working for about two hours when I heard the familiar chime of a bell, I looked up and seen that it was, in fact, the man I had been waiting for, standing there in a white oxford shirt and khaki shorts. I got out of my chair and rushed over to get his rack of clothing,
"Do you want them wrapped or…?" I asked and he shrugged,
"They're nothing special, just put them in a bag" he said and looked around, his eyes lingering on my lips, I tried hard not to smile but he caught me. "What're you smiling at?" he asked eyes twinkling mischievously in the light of the chandelier; I shrugged and let out a small laugh.
"Oh, I just am" I laughed again and continued carefully folding his shirts and pants into the brown paper bag. He watched me in silence for a moment and then he took a breath;
"Since these are free of charge and I would feel terribly guilty if I didn't pay you anything… I was wondering if you would go out to lunch with me?" he asked and ruffled his hair a little, looking nervous. I blushed and looked up at him,
"Mr. Weasley, are you asking me out on a date?" I asked politely, smile playing at my lips, he looked taken aback but then relaxed and shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess that's exactly what I'm doing," he confirmed, smiling a bright smile that I hadn't seen before, I sighed, looked at the clock and then nodded.
"My lunch break starts in an hour," I said, fighting a smile, I slid the bag full of his clothes across the counter to him and winked.
It was funny how slow an hour passed when you were looking forward to something, normally, my days were fast paced because of all the work I had, everything seemed to go by so fast. However, that was when I had nothing to look forward to besides the end of the day and I liked my job so that wasn't exactly a revered time. Now I was looking forward to having lunch with Charlie and it seemed like the clock could move fast enough, the minutes seemed to pass by in reverse instead of fast forward. Looking up at the clock again, I sighed deeply and pushed out my chair, this was ridiculous. I had never been one to waist time pacing the floors thinking deeply about life, so I decided to do something that was slightly related to it and close up shop for lunch a little earlier than usual and walked up to my flat.
Once I stepped in front of my mirror, a tad of anxiety started to set in. Charlie was very attractive, funny, and charming man, add that to the fact that I could count the number of dates I've been on with one hand and that creates a jumble of nerves and excitement. Dates had never been my specialty; I was more of a flirt and liked to go on unofficial dates rather than actually sit-down-and-talk dates, real dates. I couldn't lie, the date, even though it was only lunch, was scaring the shit out of me.
"Allison," I said firmly, looking at myself in the mirror, "Get a grip, you're a pretty, confident girl, what isn't there to like? Right…?" I looked into my uncertain eyes and then relaxed; it was just a date for Merlin's sake, not the end of the world! I was being silly, just like I always was. That was Allison for you…