"Are you ready to tell us why you've spent the past two days asking if everyone will all be here for dinner tonight?" Molly looked to Charlie as she set pudding out on the table.
"Yeah mate, it isn't as if we would miss a chance to see you," Ron said as he leaned forward to grab a serving of the Treacle Tart before anyone else.
Hermione, holding a sleeping Rose in her arms, smiled at Ron when he put the tart in front of her. Ginny bounced Albus on her knee while Harry attempted to clean up James and the area around his booster seat a bit. Arthur had shooed the older six grandchildren outside as dusk came on, telling them he'd seen glow worms the previous evening in the meadow. Once they'd been assured dessert would be waiting when they came back in, the kids were quick to run off. James threw a small tantrum when Harry told him he needed to be bit older to be outside in the dark without an adult.
Charlie leaned his elbows on the table and inhaled sharply. "I'm gay," he blurted without preamble.
Molly, who had turned to get more pumpkin juice from the chilled cupboard, stopped mid-stride. Arthur leaned back in his chair, looking at his second-eldest appraisingly.
Percy began to choke on the food in his mouth. Audrey gave him a solid thump on the back.
George sat with a single eyebrow raised and a small confused grin, for once seemingly speechless. Angelina had her head cocked to the side, staring at Charlie without blinking.
Harry's eyes darted nervously back and forth between Charlie and Ginny, the latter of whom sat with wide eyes and a hand covering her mouth.
Hermione carefully set her fork down next to her plate, curiosity written across her face. Ron continued eating his tart.
Fleur inadvertently broke the silence when she turned to Bill and whispered a little too loudly not to be overheard, "What, did he think no one knew?" Bill shrugged at her in reply, genuinely looking confused.
Charlie was halfway out of his chair before she spoke, looking as if he planned to walk out the back door. Her words gave him pause. He chose to perch on the edge of his seat, failing to pull his chair under the table; leaving himself an easy getaway if he changed his mind about fleeing.
Percy finally managed to overcome his coughing and instead was now laughing. In fact, the one wizard at the table whom many thought to have little-to-no sense of humor was literally snorting while his entire body shook with the force of his amusement.
"What? Think something is funny about my confession, Perce?" Charlie demanded angrily.
Percy shook his head in a negative fashion as he gasped, trying to get his mirth under control. He pulled in a shuddering gulp of air and wiped tears from the corners of his eyes with one hand, while holding up his other at Charlie, silently entreating his older brother to allow him a moment.
"You may have forgotten my roommate for seven years was Oliver Wood. I know exactly how the bloke lost his virginity," Percy said, with his face now set back in its usual pompous way, not even a smile showing through. He picked up his goblet and took a long drink of juice. Audrey gave Charlie a wink.
Charlie's face quickly morphed from an angry flush to an embarrassed flush.
"For our part, we always just assumed 'riding dragons' was a cute euphemism, didn't we Ange?" George said, turning to his wife. She nodded her agreement and offered Charlie an apologetic smile.
"Thought we were in on the joke together," Angelina added.
"Mum? Dad? Did you know too?" Charlie looked at his parents. Molly had moved behind Arthur and stood with her hands on his shoulders, kneading in a long-practiced way.
Molly sighed and gave her son a gentle smile. "Who do you think Dora came to in tears, asking for advice when you ignored her obvious advances?"
Arthur reached up across his chest with his right hand to pat Molly's left hand comfortingly. "Your mum and I like to think we know our children fairly well," was all he said.
Charlie relaxed for the first time in days. His shoulders slumped and he ran a hand through his hair, before turning to Ron.
For his part, Ron had never quit eating when everyone else stopped. He was scraping the final bits from his plate, refusing to leave any of his mum's best dessert behind, when he realized all eyes were on him.
"What?" he asked around the fork in his mouth as he sucked off the final morsels. "I married a bloody genius and she can't help but tell me every new thing she figures out."
Hermione's ears turned pink as she bowed her head to give the still sleeping Rose a kiss on the forehead. She allowed her hair to fall as a curtain around her face while avoiding eye contact with everybody, Charlie in particular.
"Did anyone not know?" Charlie whined.
The final couple in the room now both looked like they were trying to hold back laughter, their eyes alight, and their lips firmly pressed together, as if they could keep it inside as long as they didn't open their mouths. Harry and Ginny just silently shook their heads from side to side.
"You're all a bunch of fu…" Charlie started to grumble before his mother cut him off.
"Language!" Molly snapped out the reprimand, more out of habit than true ire.
The back door opened violently, banging against the wall with the force of six youngsters trying to crowd through at the same time. A cacophony of voices filled the kitchen, each child wanting to be the first to tell the tales of their adventures, or show off what they'd found. Chairs scraped against the wood floor as little bodies once again filled the table, eager to enjoy dessert.
Molly moved from behind Arthur, remembering she'd been heading to get more pumpkin juice before the confession. She took the long way around the table, pausing to place a kiss atop Charlie's head.