AN: Written for aaliona's The Choice Pairing Competition. Round 2. Hope you like it!
Pairing: Charlie/Katie. It seems I have fallen in love with these two, even though Cormac/Katie came first.
I had to use two idioms. Italics are flashbacks.
Charlie looked around. This was the only building for miles. He eyed the fancy, pompous manor and his gaze went back to the letter that he had received a few days ago. Maybe he had Apparated to the wrong place – after all, he'd needed to repeat the Apparition test twice. And he was nervous. Maybe that was why he had Apparated to the little town a few miles away and why he'd then had to get directions from an old lady.
He felt so confused; this would be the last place that she would live. Katie was a down to earth kind of girl. Charlie remembered that she had told him various times that she would never live in a huge, fancy, old manor.
Looking at the building before him, he saw it was just that.
A fancy, huge, old manor.
Maybe he was at the wrong place. But the golden cursive words on the black iron gates confirmed his fears.
McLaggen Manor
This was it. This was the place where his ex-girlfriend lived now. Sighing, he again looked down at the letter she had sent him. It said that she wanted to see him, that it had been years since they'd last seen each other.
Four years to be exact.
Why was he here anyway? Did he really want to see Katie, the only girl he had ever been serious with, kissing and laughing with another bloke? What if Katie wasn't happy? And still in love with him? What if she had sent him the letter because she wanted to run away with him?
Charlie sighed. He needed to get to sleep earlier. Falling into bed late at night did no favors for him. Taking a deep breath, he squared his shoulders. He could do this. He was a Gryffindor after all. He had encountered many deadly dragons and he had fought in the Final Battle. Yes, he could do this! But the memory of Katie when they had last seen each other was still fresh in his mind.
"I'm not stopping you. Go! You wanted to play for Puddlemere, well go, Katie. I'm not holding you back."
SLAP!
He let the breath out and turned around, ready to Apparate back to his apartment in Romania. A loud POP! stopped him and a small voice called for him. "You must be Mr. Charles Weasley! Lady Katelyn is waiting for you."
Charlie turned around and looked at the house elf. Katie hated being called by her full name because it sounded too frivolous.
Charlie didn't even have time to realize that the black iron gates were open before the tiny elf pulled his hand and Dissaparated. This McLaggen bloke had to have some money to own this big fancy manor, he mused. Looking around the place, he saw that it was much bigger than it looked on the outside and it had antique decorations that would cost more than his yearly salary. That brought a smile to his face; at least Katie was being taken care of. She would never suffer from not having new clothes or not being taken out to dinner. But Katie never cared for those things.
He didn't have to scrimp and save – actually, he got paid really well. Charlie had a good life for a single man of thirty-three. If he wanted to have a family, they would live in the middle upper class. His family wouldn't suffer like his had. That was a fear he had kept to himself, even from Katie.
"Charlie!"
He turned around and was met by a stranger – well, a stranger who looked familiar, but very different from what he remembered. Blinking, he took in her appearance. His eyes widened at he took in her blonde wavy hair that passed her breasts. It wasn't short like it had been – he remembered that it had stopped at her jaw and had been brown. A shiver ran through her body, a tremor. Katie had suffered them ever since the incident with the cursed necklace. She looked so elegant, so feminine, so happy, so alive. So very different.
"Katie," he said softly, not knowing if he was allowed to hug her, kiss her cheek or shake her hand. She was married. She wasn't his anymore.
"Maybe it'll be best if I leave Romania. Hear there's tryouts for Puddlemere United. Maybe they'll say yes."
"I hope I'm not stopping you."
Fortunately she decided on what to do and went forth and hugged him. He was taken by surprise and it took a few seconds for him to react, but he hugged her back. She was still warm and soft, but skinnier than he remembered, and she smelled of some fancy perfume, not of what he remembered. Katie used to smell like strawberries. Charlie loved strawberries. Her tremors were still present, but now they were less noticeable. Hugging her, he could feel them – like before.
"I'm so happy that you could come," she whispered in his ear, squeezing him a bit and separating herself from him, her hands holding his muscled arms. "Still look the same, Charlie. Haven't aged a bit." She smiled.
He smiled back. "You look beautiful." Which she did. Different, he thought, but beautiful all the same.
She blushed. "You're too nice, Charlie. I look awful. Once you have kids everything changes."
His smile wanted to disappear. Katie was now married and a mother.
Taking his hand, she pulled him to a room. "Come, are you hungry? I can tell the elves to fix you something." Her brown eyes looked back at him, waiting for an answer.
He shook his head; he felt if he ate anything he would throw it up.
"You sure?" she asked again, showing him to a red Victorian chair. He shook his head again and sat down, relieved that he was now sitting.
Katie sat in front of him with a warm kind smile on her face. She still had the same smile, which relieved him even more than the chair. "So tell me, Charlie, what have you been up to? It's like your dragons have eaten you for the past four years."
"Well if you prefer your bloody dragons to me, then you can be with them! I won't keep you away from them anymore."
"At least they're not urging me to marry them! To prove I actually love them."
"I've been busy."
Katie looked a bit uncomfortable. "Of course."
"How about we go out?"
"Can't. Busy."
Katie smiled and reached for a goblet and drank from it. The tremors diminished, but still continued. "I thought you wouldn't come. After all, you didn't come to the wedding…" she whispered.
Charlie looked around; of course he hadn't come to the wedding. Why would have he gone? To see the girl that he still loved to be married off to someone else, someone more deserving? No, he still had some pride in himself. "Like I said. I've been busy."
Katie nodded. "I've been busy too, you know." Charlie's eyebrow went up in interest. "Being a mother is a full time job, and I don't want elves to take care of the twins, so it's twice the work."
He gulped. "You're still playing for Puddlemere United?" he asked.
Katie smiled and shook her head. "Oh no, I'm officially retired from Quidditch. Last year was my last season."
Shock overcame his features. Retired? But Katie loved Quidditch and she had always wanted to play for Puddlemere United. He remembered that she had told him that she tried out after graduating, but they had told her no – because of the tremors. But the Romanian Quidditch team, the Hunedoara's Dragons, wanted her. Charlie always thought she was a big fish in a small pond. She was so much better than anyone there.
Seeing his face, she said quickly, "I know, everyone had the same reaction as you. But once you marry and have children, people change, you know. Your priorities become other things. The only person who actually agreed with me was Cormac." Her husband and the father of her children. Cormac. The name rang a bell.
"He's the Keeper for the Appleby Arrows isn't he?" Charlie asked.
Katie nodded. "Chaser and Captain. He's in practice right now, doesn't come back 'til just before dinner."
The image appeared in his mind – McLaggen used to be known more for his sexual adventures than his ability on the pitch. Charlie shifted in the chair, unsure of what to say.
"Are you seeing anyone?" she asked him.
Charlie looked at her and shook his head. "No."
Katie sighed. "You know, I know you much better than you know yourself. Even after all these years."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded, frustration getting into his system.
"Well, you will never change. You're still in love with what you do," she stated.
"I've been thinking, we've been together for some years, and I think it'd be nice if we started to consider marriage."
"Marriage? Katie, I love you. I don't need a piece of parchment saying that I love you. And besides, I thought we both agreed that we wouldn't even consider marriage – we're good as it is."
"It's my job and I love what I do. Wasn't it the same for you, playing Quiddich?" Charlie asked, looking her straight in the eye.
Katie's smile stayed, though it looked like it took a lot of effort. "Of course, but I wasn't consumed by it. I've always wanted a family."
His arms crossed in front of his chest. This conversation was going somewhere he didn't want it to. He and Katie hadn't been like normal couples that were stuck at the hip. They'd had their own lives to live and had coincidently cared for one another. Nothing more and nothing less. They had liked spending time together, but they'd always had their own lives. Both were so independent. It had been perfect.
Until Katie had wanted to mix their lives together.
"Sorry, Charlie. Come, I want to show you the twins." She smiled and as she stood she reached for his hand. That's when he noticed the big diamond ring on her skinny finger.
"I don't understand, Katie. Why are you asking this of me? Our relationship is fine as it is. You never cared for those kinds of things. A ring, a wedding, living together."
"I don't understand you! Charlie, normal couples do those things. I want those things, don't you?"
They went up and walked in a corridor full of portraits. "Cormac's uncle Tiberius gave him the Manor. He didn't have any children and Cormac was his only nephew," Katie told him, pointing at a portrait of an old sneering man.
Then the bloke didn't work for this, Charlie thought. He just inherited it.
"Here we are. The twins' room," she whispered, opening the door.
They went in. It was filled with every object you could think a baby would need and more. Still holding her warm hand, and walking into the room, Charlie couldn't help but imagine that he was Katie's husband, going into their babies' room. Biting his tongue, he made himself erase those thoughts. She wasn't his, and these babies would never be his. He had made his decision when he had let her return to Britain.
The cooing of a baby brought him back to the present. Katie dropped his hand and went forth to pick up the baby boy.
"This is Maximillian," she whispered, kissing the baby's forehead, causing the baby to open his eyes. Maximillian had the same wide brown eyes as his mother. "Between you and I, Max is my favorite. I love Natalie. But Max is just an angel."
"Don't you want to have babies?"
"Katie, it's too soon…"
"We've been together for four years!"
"Are you happy?" Charlie asked. The question seemed to come of nowhere. But seeing her so changed, he had to know.
Katie, still holding Max, smiled. "Of course I am, Charlie." She walked close to him. "I love Cormac and my children. My life is complete now."
"You don't love me enough. If you did, you'd at least agree to having a baby."
Charlie took a deep breath, his hand going to the letter inside his pants pocket. "Then I have no reason to be here."
Katie frowned, not understanding. He couldn't tell her that he still loved her, that he'd always loved her. He couldn't quite tell her that he had been afraid to marry her because he didn't have enough money to give her things – like the things she had now. Charlie couldn't tell Katie that he was a coward. And he was still a coward. And she was happy, in love, and not the Katie he had fallen in love with.
She was so different.
It was like she was someone else, in a different body.
"Sorry, I just remembered that I have to be in Romania. They're going to bring us a new baby dragon…" He didn't know what to do so just kissed her cheek.
"Won't you stay for lunch?" she asked him, frowning.
Charlie shook his head. "Maybe next time."
Katie's face registered understanding. She knew what he was thinking and why he was leaving. Quickly, Charlie went for the door and hurried down the stairs, ignoring the fancy decorations and portraits. And when he was outside the gates he let out a breath. Taking his wand out, he noticed he was shaking.
"I will not spend my whole time until I die trying to figure you out, Charlie Weasley. I'm tired!"
Closing his eyes, he felt the pull as he Disapparated away back to Romania. Back to his apartment. Back to his dragons. Back to his loneliness. Back to his life.
AN: So how did I do? Please review on your thoughts!