Verity hadn't been working at the shop long before she met Charlie Weasley.
Actually, scratch that. She had seen him plenty of times at school - he'd been several years above her at Hogwarts, a prefect, and then Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. Hell, she was pretty certain he'd dished out a few detentions to her back in the day but this was the first time she'd properly met him. And, judging by the way her body reacted as he came through the shop door, she very much hoped it wouldn't be the last.
It had been relatively quiet that morning. Fred and George had been working out back on some new product whilst she dealt with front of house by herself. At eleven, as was the routine, her two bosses appeared with provisions for the three of them. George was as fond of his elevenses as Verity was, and Fred wasn't the kind to turn down Chocolate Fudge Cake unless he absolutely had to.
"There you go, V..." George grinned, placing a steaming mug down on the counter in front of her. He carefully set down the rest of the drinks as Fred followed suit rather more precariously with three plates of sumptuous-looking cake.
"Bet you're glad you work for us," Fred added, waggling his eyebrows as he scooped up a fingerful of chocolate frosting and unceremoniously shoved it in his mouth. "By rights we should get you to make the tea!"
"Hmmm," Verity replied non-commitally, eyeing them both warily as she pulled out her wand and cast a revealing charm on her tea and cake. "Just making sure there's no nasty surprises," she explained to their mutual looks of mock indignation, although in reality, no explanation was needed. They both had form for spiking her drinks, and although the hexing she'd given them after the last bout of 'product testing' was probably enough to put the fear of Merlin into George, she wasn't so sure about Fred. Oftentimes, it just seemed to spur him on to more inventive ways to piss her off.
"Honestly, it's enough to offend a man," George teased, raising his tea for a slurp as he winked at her over the rim of the mug.
"Honestly," she bit back with affection rather than malice, "if you two goons make all my pubes fall off again, I'm gonna make your bollocks into earrings and send them to your mum for Christmas!"
"Don't know what all the fuss was about." Fred leaned casually on an elbow, eyes gleaming at the memory of the verbal bollocking they'd received after that little prank. "S'cheaper than waxing. We did you a favour!"
George's laughter and her subsequent retort were interrupted by the bell above the shop door ringing to signify a customer's arrival. Verity took a sip of tea before she turned towards it and then very nearly spat it straight out again. "Who the fuck is that!" she muttered rather too loudly for her liking. To her left, Fred snorted and leaned in to reply conspiratorially in her ear. "That, my dear Verity, is our big brother Charlie. Bit of a looker, isn't he?"
Understatement. Calling Charlie 'a bit of a looker' was like calling the Taj Mahal a quaint little building. He was fine with a capital F, and considering how dry her mouth had suddenly become, Verity certainly thought so too.
He was tall - not as tall as Bill, or Ron even, despite the age gap. Taller than her certainly, although most people were. Not as pretty as Bill, but just as handsome, with trademark Weasley red hair and light skin, although his was more of a dark auburn than ginger, and he had more of a tan than his siblings. All that time working outdoors with dragons had definitely done Charlie some favours because as well as the tan, he was built. He was rugged, manly, and all kinds of sexy. His long sleeved shirt was tight enough in all the right places to show off a frankly mouthwatering array of muscles, the open neck displaying a tantalising glimpse of dark red chest hair and his jeans seemed to flow over his toned legs like water. As he approached the counter with a disarming smile, Verity swore her knees almost gave way.
"Alright, Charlie?" Fred and George were both surrounding him for a round of brotherly hugs and back-slapping, giving Verity some much-needed time to mentally slap herself in the face. So he was gorgeous. So what? She'd been around plenty and certainly wasn't shy when it came to the opposite sex. She needed to get a grip, and fast.
"Fred, George, how's tricks?" By now, the three redheads were back at the counter, forcing Verity to stop drooling and attempt some semblance of having her shit together. "And who do we have here?" Charlie pondered aloud, giving her an unabashed once-over and the sort of look that said he knew exactly what sort of effect he was having on her, and that such a response was perfectly welcome. She opened her mouth to reply but frustratingly, nothing came out except a small, dry cough.
"Why, that's our glamorous assistant," Fred answered with a dramatic sweep of his hand. "Charlie, meet Verity. Verity, put your tongue back in."
"Fuck off!" The curse was out of her mouth before she knew it and she could feel her cheeks going pink. The twins delighted in taking the piss out of her at every turn and although she could handle that fine, she couldn't quite handle the fact that a bloke had made her blush. A Weasley bloke at that. Still, if anyone was going to make her blush, it might as well be him, and he didn't look like he minded either. Quite the opposite, in fact, which made Verity's blood thump a little harder through her veins.
"Charmed, I'm sure," Charlie winked, holding out his palm for her hand then kissing it softly once she offered it to him. On anyone else, it would have been a ridiculously cheesy gesture. On him though, the fact that he was thoroughly aware how cheesy it was and still doing it anyway made it somehow seem cool as fuck. His eyes didn't leave hers once, and the glint in them made her nipples harden instantly. She'd seen that look before countless times, had used it herself plenty too. Charlie Weasley was Up For It, and in that way that kindred spirits sometimes seem to recognise each other instantly, she could tell he knew she was Up For It too. Well, fuck. The day had suddenly got a million times more interesting. All she had to do was not blow it by acting like a gushing schoolgirl, which was easier said than done, given the way her insides were behaving.
"Alright Charlie," she managed, regaining about a tenth of her composure. "If I'd known you were going to turn out this buff, I'd have gone to more Quidditch matches." No point being coy, after all. There were muffled snorts from the direction of her bosses, but she didn't want to stop looking at him for long enough to deal with the pair of them. Charlie ignored them too, cocking his head a little and squinting as he tried to place her. "Hogwarts girl then?" He was intrigued now, one eyebrow raised as he waited for confirmation. Verity was suddenly very aware that he hadn't dropped her hand yet. "I'm sure I'd remember a girl like you." There was that cheese again but his easy charm made sure it came off as effortlessly sexy, rather than creepy or insincere.
"Year above those two ingrates," she said, giving a sideways nod to the twins, who by now, were miming violins and humming romantic ditties to themselves. For once, Verity didn't care.
"Ah, that explains it," Charlie nodded, reluctantly releasing her hand in order to flick his brothers a middle finger. Verity chuckled and found herself liking him more and more with every passing second.
It was no surprise he didn't recognise her. She quickly worked out that she must have been around fourteen during his last year of school, far too young and underdeveloped to be anything other than the annoying kid that sometimes got points docked from Gryffindor. She had avoided the quidditch crowd too, house rivalries never having quite interested her, setting her a place apart from her fellow lions. Mostly, she had just ended up hanging out on her own those first few years.
Anyway, that was in the past, and more importantly, her immediate future would hopefully involve the gorgeous hunk of man currently giving her the sort of look that stripped paint. "I won't be forgetting you again though Verity, I can promise you that," he told her, giving her the sexiest wink she'd ever seen. He made her name sound like velvet, and the unspoken part of the promise made her certain that her knickers must already be growing damp. Damn, but he was good!
"When you two have quite finished giving each other the come-on, we'd like our brother back. Final preparations for our sister's party to make and all that!" George interjected cheerfully, breaking the spell instantly.
"Yeah, well," Verity snipped, mentally shaking herself and straightening her work robes a touch, "you can fuck off and all! We're just being friendly, isn't that right, Charlie?"
"You know me," Charlie replied, straightening himself up too, causing him to tower pleasingly over her from his side of the counter. Verity had a sudden urge to vault over it and throw herself at him. "I pride myself on being friendly." He smirked at her, the implication clear even without the added bonus of the twinkle in his eyes.
"We know, Charlie, we know." George chuckled, raising his mug in mock salute. "Lost count of the times Dad caught you being 'friendly' behind the broom shed with that girl from the village." The comment earned George another middle finger, and in that moment Verity thought it might actually be possible for her to fall in love with this rough-hewn Greek god in front of her, providing his bedroom skills lived up to all the hype, of course.
"All a long time ago," Charlie assured her good-naturedly as the twins made retching noises in the background. "I prefer cute, blonde shop assistants these days."
"Let's hope you're not out of practice then," Verity retorted, her composure now back to a decent 60 per cent. His keeness helped quell the Russian kossack dancers that were now performing in her belly.
"Oh there's no need to worry about that," Charlie murmured alluringly, flashing her a smile that made her want to burn every pair of knickers she owned.
"Nah, he gets plenty of practice" Fred quipped, brandishing the last mouthful of his cake jauntily before popping it into his mouth.
"Anyway, I'm sure Verity will be more than happy to help you brush up your technique, won't you V?" George joined in, eyebrows waggling suggestively.
"I'm here to help," she agreed - all pretence that she didn't find the man in front of her drop dead gorgeous gone. It seemed pointless playing it cool when they both seemed to be aware of exactly where this was heading.
"So I'll be seeing you tomorrow at Ginny's party then?" It wasn't a question so much as an expectation. Something in his tone made Verity feel like she wouldn't have been able to refuse him, even if she'd wanted to.
"Try and stop me," she purred, batting her lashes up at him and giving him a final, lingering appraisal. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll finish my tea break out back and leave you gentlemen to it." Always leave them wanting more, she thought to herself as she picked up her mug and plate and sashayed towards the door behind the counter marked 'STAFF ONLY'. That, plus she needed to get away from the bloke before she made a fool of herself by trying to lick him.
"Yeah right," she heard Fred snort. "We all know you're off to the bogs for a wank so don't try and pretend otherwise."
"Fuck off," she threw back at him, not even bothering to pause her journey for a second. She really must come up with some better retorts but for some reason, her brain had turned to mush. Funny that. Still, despite her lack of eloquence, she could feel Charlie's eyes burning into her arse as she swayed it just so with every step. Unable to resist, she glanced over her shoulder as she reached the door. Fred was already wittering on about last minute preparations for the party whilst George drained the last of his tea. Charlie was still looking directly at her arse, his gaze flicking up to meet hers as she paused. Fuck, but his eyes were amazing - all kinds of smouldering that had her stomach flipping and her lady bits tingling. As she smirked back at him and nudged the door open with her shoulder, he looked very much like he wanted to follow her through it. Perhaps if Fred and George weren't there, he would have? For now, the promise of seeing him tomorrow was enough to keep her entertained for the rest of the day. That, and maybe that wank in the bogs Fred had mentioned. Her bosses really did know her far too well.