Home Again
A yawn escaped from Hugo Weasley's lips as he squeezed his brown eyes shut, his body trembling with exhaustion. Twelve hours. He couldn't believe it; he'd been in a meeting for twelve hours. As he stepped out of the marble lecture hall and into the cool night air, Hugo shook his head. Wizarding Berlin was a lovely city, but he certainly didn't want to spend twelve hours trapped in a meeting there.
Around him, a slew of stodgy old wizards and witches filed from the hall and out into the city. They walked briskly, hurrying to their homes or hotels with a sense of urgency that made Hugo smirk to himself. It was four o'clock in the morning; what could these career-driven people possibly have to do at four in the morning? Yet Hugo's colleagues continued to rush off, leaving the young twenty-three year old alone with just his wand and the night breeze.
He was alone, save for one redhead girl three years his senior, that is. "Enjoying Berlin?"
Hugo turned, his eyes catching sight of the smirking girl behind him. "Patty," he acknowledged with a grin. "To be honest, I'm quite sick of Berlin. I can't wait to be headed home."
"I take it you're not staying the night, then," she said, raising an eyebrow.
He made a face. "Away from my family? Absolutely not! I'd much rather be in my own flat then here in Germany talking about further precautions to protect dragons from muggle smog. Smog! As though we have any control over that!"
Patty snorted as she looped her arm through Hugo's and began to pull him down the street. "I don't even see why I had to be there. I work in Ireland, after all, containing the dragon population there. My numbers are already so small that a little extra smog isn't going to do any harm."
Hugo let out a small laugh. "Well, ever since that new dragon reservation was commissioned ten years ago near the back edge of the Forbidden Forest, I've had to deal with no smog. None! My Scottish dragons are smog-free, and yet I still have to be pulled into a twelve hour meeting in bloody Berlin."
"That lasted until the wee hours of the morning," Patty grumbled.
"Exactly!"
She shook her head softly as they rounded a corner and approached the apparition point within the magical community. "It truly was a waste of time."
"Indeed." He shrugged slightly, before pulling his arm back and sending her a broad grin. "Enough of that, though. Tell me: how's your husband?"
Patty rolled her eyes. "Your cousin is as irritating as ever. He keeps telling me I work too hard."
"You do."
"Well, that's for me to decide!" Patty said as they came to a stop. She cocked her head to the side, studying him. "But what about you? How's your husband?"
A faint tinge of pink appeared at the tips of his ears, and Hugo quickly found himself looking away from his friend. "Fine."
"What about the adoption? Any luck finding a baby?"
"Patty-"
"I'm just asking!" the redhead exclaimed, throwing up both of her hands with a small laugh. "No need to glare at me like that."
"We're working on it," Hugo said with a sigh. "Now if you don't mind, I'd love to go home now."
"Of course you would," Patty said, shaking her head. "Your husband would probably love to be awoken by your return. I foresee some nice 'welcome home' sex in your future. He'll probably be waiting for you when you at the door."
"Good-bye, Patty!" Hugo said forcefully. "Say hello to Louis for me."
"Of course. Tell Frank I said hi."
As it turned out, Patty was half-right. Frank Weasley, née Longbottom, had been waiting for Hugo's return; unfortunately, it appeared that he'd fallen asleep at the kitchen table, an open book acting as his only pillow.
Hugo couldn't help but smile as he reached over, wiping at the young man's sandy brown locks of hair. "Frank," he whispered. "Frank. Come on, wake up." The man whimpered, but did not stir. "Frank."
It was no use; Frank was quite clearly exhausted. Perhaps Frank had been up all night waiting for him, and his body had finally demanded that he sleep. All Hugo knew was that he wouldn't disturb his husband's rest; he couldn't. With a sigh, Hugo pulled out his wand and magically lifted his husband, levitating him to the bedroom.
He couldn't resist chuckling as he put Frank down on the bed. It figured that all of this movement wouldn't wake him up; Frank was the type who could sleep through anything, even a muggle airplane crash-landing onto their flat.
Stretching his arms up over his head, Hugo ignored the fact that he was still wearing his work clothes and simply climbed into bed. He could worry about looking presentable tomorrow, along with worrying about the new dragon shipment he was supposed to receive, the coniferous trees that kept combusting, and - of all things - smog. But for the time being, he was just going to curl up in bed next to his husband and relax.
After all, there was nothing like being home with the man who owned his heart to make a twelve hour meeting seem completely unimportant.
This oneshot was written for the 2012 Hogwarts Games: Men's Boxing 500-1000. That being said, I this still falls into my head canon version of the NextGen characters as I see them. I hope you like this! Please review to tell me what you think, and it you like my NextGen tales, check out some of the other ones I've posted to take a look at the canon I have created.
Cheers!
-Selene