There had been great celebration and mourning after the war with Voldemort had ended. The Wizarding World had heaved a huge sigh of relief before they started the process of mourning all those they had lost and gradually moving on as they healed. It was now a year after the Battle of Hogwarts and there was a gathering of the Weasley clan to reaffirm they were all still alive and well and getting on with their lives.
The Burrow was full to bursting with all the children, minus Fred who was still sorely missed, and their partners. Laughter could be heard as the family caught up with each other, the tables were being set up outside as they were once again forced to participate in Table Wars, crashing against each other as they struggled.
Molly and Arthur watched their brood of children happily, finally there was peace in the world. Molly was watching one son and his partner particularly closely as she tried to figure what exactly they meant to each other. Charlie was attacking his partner's, Vanyel, floating chairs with his own chairs and they were both laughing exuberantly.
Her son laughing was not an uncommon sight nowadays but it was not that that confused her, it was that though the two seemed like the best of friends, there was never really anything to signify a relationship. And yet Charlie had clearly stated that Vanyel was his boyfriend when he had introduced the tall silver and black haired youth to his parents.
She had never even seen them kiss each other whereas Ron and Hermione were always placing small kisses on each other. It was a sign of affection that she had gotten used to seeing, a small peck on the lips or cheek as they parted or reunited was normal and yet never had she seen Charlie and Vanyel do anything that might signify more than friendship.
It was time for an intervention she decided, if Charlie had brought Vanyel here because he felt he needed a partner by his side to convince her he was fine then he had another thing coming. Molly did not approve of deceit and forcing one of your friends to play your boyfriend for a family gathering was not, in her opinion, a very nice thing to do.
That very night a family meeting was called and they all sat down in the living room waiting for Molly to tell them the purpose for the meeting. "Well, now that we're all here, I would like to ask Charlie what in Merlin's name do you think you're doing? Bringing that boy here when he's clearly uncomfortable playing the role you've made him play and lying to us all about it to boot!"
Charlie stared at her in some confusion and then an expression of disbelief and devastation crossed his face as he saw the anger and disgust on her face. Slowly and shakily, he stood up from his seat, "I was thinking that maybe it was time to introduce Vanyel to you and hope that you could be happy for me and accept me."
With that he left the room swiftly, racing upstairs to his old room and furiously started packing. Vanyel looked up from his book in alarm at the sudden whirlwind that had entered before seeing the expression on his boyfriend's face and jumping up to sooth the frantic movement.
"Hey, Charlie, what's wrong? What happened?" he asked, enclosing Charlie in a hug. "Did they do something to you? Are you okay?"
Charlie sobbed into Vanyel's shoulder and simply shook his head before clutching Vanyel even tighter against him. He couldn't understand why his family had reacted that way, why they seemed to think that he had coerced Vanyel into doing something he didn't want to do, a feat that was impossible even for him. If anything, it had been Vanyel who had convinced Charlie that they should let his family know about them, not the other way around.
Vanyel, the beautiful man that he was, simply held Charlie until his sobs had subsided whispering comfort as he rocked them back and forth, stroking Charlie's hair as he plotted how to get revenge on the person who had reduced the man he loved into tears.
Eventually Charlie calmed enough to explain, "They think I forced you here, that you don't want to be with me, they don't accept me, they don't accept us!"
"Hey, it's okay, we can go back to Romania if you want. You don't have to stay here if they make you feel like rubbish. If they can't see beyond their bigoted ways, then they are not worthy of you. You are my treasure and there is no way that I am letting them tarnish you."
Charlie let out a weak laugh and wiped his nose, "Thanks Van but I should probably talk to them."
"No, what you should do is continue packing and I will go talk to them. Then we'll go back to Romania, I'm sure Yfandes has been missing us."
Sniffing, Charlie nodded, "Don't kill them, they're still my family."
"I make no promises, treasure." Vanyel laughed, booping Charlie on the nose before going downstairs to give the Weasley's a piece of his mind.
There had been silence for a few moments after Charlie had left, eventually broken by George, "You're an idiot Mum, anyone could see that Vanyel was happy here with Charlie, he didn't look like he'd been forced against his will at all."
"Then why haven't they kissed! Why haven't been more like Ron and Hermione? I haven't had to use any silencing charms or wash their sheets, Charlie is obviously lying about something!"
"He wasn't lying, Mum, he just hadn't gotten around to telling you what he was probably going to tell you tonight if you hadn't accused him of forcing his boyfriend to play pretend boyfriend for your benefit!"
"And how would you know Bill? You're off in Egypt going into pyramids all the time, how would you know anything about Charlie?"
"Because I was the one that let Charlie know it was okay!" Bill burst out, sick of his mother's close minded views. "I was the one he came to when he was scared and confused, I was the only he trusted because he was the only one I trusted. How dare you belittle him like that, you're going to lose him forever unless you change your attitude and accept who he is."
"I must say, I agree," came a cool, carefully controlled voice from the doorway. Vanyel was there, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed, a fire burning in his eyes as he glared at Molly Weasley.
"Vany-" Molly started but Vanyel cut her off.
"Don't. Do you know how long it took to convince him to let me come here? Even with Bill's help it took months of wearing him down until he finally agreed. He was so afraid of what you would think of him, another child that didn't turn out quite like you planned. He was going to tell you tonight, we prepared for this, I spent an hour going over it with him and calming him down and then you throw it in his face before he can even say a word.
"I am disgusted in you, Molly Weasley. Charlie is an adult now, you hold no control over him and you do not have the right to judge how he lives his life and who he lives it with. And just so you know, I am his boyfriend, not just a friend that he asked to play a part. I love him just as much as he loves me, even if that doesn't fit into your nice little conventional world."
With that, he nodded to Bill and George before turning around and heading back upstairs leaving Molly staring at him in shock. She didn't understand, if they loved each other why didn't they act like it? Why hadn't she seen them sneak off with each other for a quick snog or accidently opened the door to their room to find them in a compromising position?
Bill sighed before taking pity on his mother, he had Van's permission now and it seemed as if she couldn't quite understand what was going on. "The term is asexual, Mum, there's nothing sexual about their relationship because they don't want anything sexual. Just like I'll go for anything that moves, they won't do anything. Accept them just like you eventually accepted me."
He left the room with George following while the rest of the family tried to absorb what had just happened. Molly collapsed into her chair and stared into space, another child that wasn't exactly normal, that she would have to get used to. She could do that, so long as it made Charlie happy, she could deal with it.
Meanwhile Charlie was laughing with Bill, George and Vanyel as together they left the Burrow to go to George's place. The four of them had decided that they would stay together for a bit longer before Charlie, Vanyel and Bill went back home, George was eagerly planning pranks he could pull and create with his brothers and his almost brother.
They stayed for week, wherein Molly had floo called and apologised for her behaviour, promising she wouldn't judge Charlie again. It would take a while until he could forgive her completely but that would come with time. For now, he had his brothers and his boyfriend and he knew Yfandes the dragon would be more than happy to curl up with him every once in a while when he returned home.
Life was not perfect but it was good, at last he didn't have to worry that his family would reject him completely when he told them he was ace, they were okay with it. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders and he could relax.
Charlie snuggled closer to Vanyel and smiled as he felt the hand stroking his hair, they were sitting together on the couch reading separate books. Bill and George had barricaded themselves in the inventing room sniggering to each other a while ago and Charlie was enjoying the peace and quiet while it lasted.