Indulge in Romance
Yet another Charlie/Hermione one shot. Have fun reading it! I hope!! Oh and this is AU Deathly Hallows. Fred is alive and kicking and so are many of the others even though they aren't mentioned. s
Hermione Granger was known for many things. Her vast amount of knowledge, her amazing ability to read non stop, her bookworm status and the fact that she was best friends with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were just a few of those things. However being at a loss for words or a witty, scathing comeback was not one of them. Yet at that very moment there she was, speechless.
He was the cause of this. His mere touch sent her through a whirlwind of emotions. She felt happy, calm, excited and a bundle of nerves all at once. She felt his lips on her neck and moaned in pleasure and titled her head to give him better access. His lips traveled across her neck to her jaw, her ears before they slanted over her lips. She snaked her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her as she kissed him back matching his fervor with her passion.
She moaned as she felt his hand move down to her waist, her thigh before hitching it up to his waist. She felt him push her back against the wall as he repeated the same action with her other leg. All the time their tongues danced their hot, passionate salsa. Her hands ran through his short hair, making it stand on its ends, before placing them on his chest.
Only one man made her feel this way, so wanted, so blissful, so in love. That's what she was; she was in love. She loved Charlie Weasley.
Surprised? She wasn't. She knew the first time she met him, in her fourth year at the Burrow, that he was different. Oh, he was without a doubt still a Weasley, inside and out. But there was something about him that made him stand out from all his siblings. First of course was his very dangerous work with Dragons, even today she couldn't find a single person would give up a lucrative deal to play Quidditch professionally in order to work with one the most dangerous creatures known to man.
And then there was this…this seriousness to him. It was as though he took into account everybody's feelings and sensitivity before even speaking or answering any questions. Of course he was like the others when it came to teasing and pranking but when there were serious matters at hand he was the most stable. He didn't let any thing disrupt him impartial reasoning. It was this quality of his that made Hermione fall for him in the first place.
After the Quidditch World Cup she didn't see him for another 5 years, after Harry defeated Voldemort. He had come back to England to be closer to his family and to help out those who had been affected by the war. At that time she had officially moved into the Burrow, into Ginny's room when she and Harry moved into their own house after getting married. At that time Hermione was nothing more than an eager intern at the Ministry and a fresh Hogwarts graduate. Charlie had taken up residence in his old room when he moved back. This meant that with the exception of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley the two of them were the only ones in the house.
Fred and George had their own apartment above their shop, Ron and his wife Luna lived in the city, Bill and Fleur had moved to Egypt and Percy had his own place closer to the Ministry.
Things between the two of them had been awkward in the beginning. After all she was nothing more than his little brother's best friend to him and he her best friend's brother to her. Plus the age different made it even more awkward. But with prodding from Molly Weasley and the fact that most of the time the only company they would have was each other the two tried to become friends.
It was weird for her to talk to someone who was 8 years her senior as a friend and she could tell it was the same for him too. But then she thought to herself if she could be friends so easily with Bill, who was older than Charlie, then she could do the same with Charlie.
Soon she started warming up to the idea and started striking up conversations with him more often. Luckily for her he must have felt the same way too because he responded with similar enthusiasm. Before long the two were close friends. Of course no one could replace Harry and Ron as her best friends but Charlie came pretty close. She knew almost everything about him and he knew almost everything about her.
He knew that her favorite season was winter, that when she dated Viktor Krum she'd been hounded by hate mail from all over the world that she hated being seen as one of the boys instead of just Hermione Granger and that while she absolutely loved reading about things, places and people she occasionally indulged in a romance. She knew that he hated the idea of conforming, which was why he left for Romania in the first place, that he was the one who taught Fred and George all that they knew, that he had a tattoo of a Chinese Fireball on his right arm that had been magically concealed from his mother and that the scar on his neck was not from a scratch as he told his family but from the teeth of a Pennsylvanian Black Snout dragon and that he had very nearly died in that accident.
As more time passed the more things changed. Charlie had officially resigned from his job at the Dragon Reserve and was now working at St. Mungo's and Hermione was one of the ministries top Aurors. Hermione and Charlie were closer than ever and one night when the two of them were alone at home just doing nothing, simply watching Charlie as he pattered around the kitchen in his Pajama bottoms and a sleeveless shirt and admiring how good he looked, something struck her. She was crushing hard on him. Not the school girl kind of crush that last for a minute and then disappears at the sight of another guy but the kind of crush that you remember at the age of eighty when you're recounting your adventures to your grandchildren.
If she could she would have kicked herself. How could she have done something so unbelievably stupid! This was Charlie for crying out loud! He was her friend, her confidante; he was part of the family that took her in! So for a week after her "discovery", she took all sorts of measures to avoid Charlie hoping she could at least contain her feelings. But Charlie was sharp as he was smart and he realized that something was up with her and confronted her at the end of the week. It was a conversation that changed her life.
It was close to midnight before Hermione apparated outside the Burrow's front door. She tiredly took out the key Molly had given her and opened the door, hoping everyone was asleep already. She stepped in the house, closed the door and removed her work robes. She headed straight for the kitchen, hoping to make a cup of hot chocolate before heading to bed.
She stopped short however, when she entered to kitchen and saw Charlie sitting on a stool with two cups of steaming hot chocolate in front of him.
"Um…Hey Charlie, what're you doing up so late?" she stammered.
He simply raised his eyebrows at her, indicated to the cup of hot chocolate and another stool. Nodding she put her bag and robes on the counter and took a seat. She sipped her drink, "This is good," she said to Charlie who was still remaining silent.
He nodded. Hermione sighed and mentally threw her hands up in the air with exasperation. "Ok, Charlie what's wrong?"
He raised an eyebrow at her, "I could ask you the same thing…"
She narrowed her eyes at him, "What do you mean?"
"Oh don't play dumb with me Hermione, you've been avoiding me for the last week and I want to know why!" he exclaimed.
Hermione remained silent. 'Crap' she thought to herself. What was she supposed to tell him?! That she's been avoiding him because she hopelessly fancied him!
Seeing Hermione remain silent Charlie continued talking, "Was it something I did or said?! Did I do something wrong?!" He asked quietly.
"No!" she said loudly, "No…it not you Charlie."
Charlie ran a hand through his hair in frustration," Then what Hermione?! What is going on?"
Hermione sighed and rubbed her face in frustration. "It's just…its personal."
Charlie narrowed his eyes at her now, "Personal?" he repeated. She nodded in confirmation. "Are you in some kind of trouble?"
Hermione nearly groaned, he was not giving up. "No, I'm not in trouble. It's personal girl problems" she said, hoping he's take the hint and drop the subject.
He continued staring at her with narrowed eyes, "Girl problems? Does it have to do with some guy?"
Hermione's eyes widened, that guess was too close for comfort. "Charlie!" she squeaked. He took that as the confirmation he needed.
He glared at her, "So it's about a guy. So who is he huh? Is he from work? Well he must be from work that's where you've been spending all your time lately!" he was now pacing and talking very angrily. Hermione didn't know why he was so mad but she wasn't going to ask him and face the full front of his anger.
Then he rounded on her, "Who is it? Is it that puny assistant of yours? What's his name…ah Fremont?! Or is it that Thomas guy you knew from school?" He paused and looked at her weirdly, "Good god Hermione its not Malfoy or Zabini is it? Because if it is I am going to pull their lungs out from their mouth and choke them to death!!"
"Charlie stop!!" Hermione exclaimed. "You will not be killing Malfoy or Zabini or even Dean or my assistant because none of it is true! For crying out loud how could you even suggest Malfoy! I punched that slimy git in the face and wish I could do it every single day!"
Charlie stopped pacing and stood directly in front of her, "Then who is it Hermione?! Who is this guy that you won't tell me about?! That you're hiding from not only me but everyone else and-"
"It's you!!" Hermione all but yelled, squeezing her eyes shut and covering her ears with her hands, waiting for the explosion that would surely follow. But it never came. Hermione waited for two minutes before she slowly opened her eyes. She looked around the kitchen, Charlie was gone.
She felt her eyes fill with tears. He's just left, without a word. Not even an "I'm sorry but it can't happen." She sighed, she's just screwed up her friendship big time and there was nothing she could do about it. She waved her wand and cleaned the two cups of hot chocolate before grabbing her bag and robes and headed to her room.
She quietly closed the door behind her and threw her robes on to the back of her chair and shimmied out of her work pants and her blouse and slipped into a pair of shorts and tank top. She was looking for a book to read before bed when she heard a knock on the door. She kept silent hoping that whoever it was would think she was sleeping and go away.
"I know you're not asleep yet Hermione, you always read before you sleep," Charlie's voice came muffled from the other side of the door. She nearly groaned. Hadn't she been humiliated enough for one night?
She walked up to the door and leaned against it, but didn't open it. Instead she asked tiredly, "What do you want Charlie?"
"We need to talk…"
She sighed, "Tomorrow please?"
"No, for all I know you might move into your office just to avoid it." Came the reply.
Resigning herself to her fate, she opened the door and walked to her bed and sat crossed legged and waited for him. She heard the door close and felt the him sit next to her but didn't look at him.
"Here," he said handing her something. She looked down and saw a small box. She looked at him questioningly, "Just take it and open it."
She did as he asked and opened the box. Inside she saw letters, lots of them. She took the one right on top and realized it was from her. She took out a few more and realized the same thing.
"These are all the letters you sent me over the course of the last year. When we were both at work, when you were visiting Harry and Ginny, when I was in Romania packing up. All of them. I saved each and every one."
She forced herself to look him in the eye, "Why?" she asked.
He shrugged, "I dunno. It started off as nothing much but then I realized these letter meant something to me. It was as though I had a part of you with me even when you weren't around"
Hermione stared at him in surprise and confusion. What did he mean?
Charlie took the box from her and put it aside and pulled her closer to him. He reached up and stroked her face, "When we first met, after the war, I didn't expect that we would be such good friends, I didn't expect that I'd come to depend on you for so many things, that you'd be like my pillar of strength but most of all I didn't expect to fall for you. Not one bit."
Hermione's eyes widened. "You…you fell for me?" she echoed uncertainly.
He nodded, "And then tonight when you said it was me, I knew. I knew that now was the time to tell you. So here I am now,"
Hermione looked into his eyes and saw them fill with hope and a glimmer or nervousness. God, if he was nervous what the hell was she?
"Hermione, would you please say something?!" he pleaded.
Hermione smiled at him, "I didn't expect to fall for you to…"
Charlie breathed a sigh of relief and grinned at her and pulled her even closer, "Well, then I guess there's only one thing left to do…" He stood up and pulled her with him. "Merlin, I've wanted to do this for a long time already!" he said before he lowered his head to her and covered her lips with his.
Hermione moaned as Charlie carried her over to her bed. Charlie covered the length of her body with his. He looked down into her brown eyes, his blue ones staring unblinkingly, "This is going to be good…" he whispered.
She played with his hair for a bit before saying, "No, it's going to be perfect."
She was glad she could finally indulge in a little romance of her own.
The End.
What do you think? It's definitely better than Never Letting You Go but still I don't think its up to par as And This Time It Stuck. Tell me what you think! Oh and that dragon that bit Charlie, the Black Snout one, yeah I made it up. Oh and I changed the plot half way through the flash back to if there's any errors in beginning please tell me!
READ AND REVIEW!!!