Moment of Weakness

She met him at his brother's wedding. The newlyweds had just finished their first dance as husband and wife, and now other couples joined them on the dance floor. She sat at an empty table in the back, listening to the soft music, and clutching onto her third glass of wine.

"Mind if I sit here?" A burly, red-haired man interrupted her thoughts. He gestured to the chair to the left of her.

"No, go ahead," She smiled, before turning back to the couples dancing. The groom, also a ginger, had just spontaneously dipped his bride, causing her to let out a squeal. The silence at the table got to her.

"I take it you're a Weasely then?" He had been searching quite avidly for something behind his shoulder, and had to ask her to repeat what she said. His eyes brightened and he laughed.

"Yes, I'm Charlie Weasely, brother to the groom. I take it your not a Weasely?" Charlie grinned and held out his hand.

"Yes, I'm Lavender Brown," Taking his hand, she couldn't help but notice how it completely dwarfed her own. And how his eyes didn't widen at all her scars.

"Well, Lavender Brown, it's very nice to meet you," He said distractedly, jerking his head to look behind him once again.

"Likewise. Are you looking for anyone?" She asked hesitantly, not wanting to appear overly curious.

"My Great-Aunt actually," He pulled a face, " I've been trying to dodge her all evening. Every time she sees me she lectures me on my profession, how it's not appropriate for someone my age...," Charlie trailed off, waving his hand vaguely. Lavender studied him as he spoke, barely listening to his words. If he hadn't told her that he was Ron's brother, she might have thought he was a cousin. He lacked the gangly height and fine features his brothers shared. In place of their rounded chins, he had a rather square jaw line. While they had high cheekbones, his were wide. The only similarity she could find, besides the red hair, was the deep blue color of his eyes, the exact shade of Ron's.

No, she wouldn't call him handsome.

"So, have you enjoyed the wedding?" He asked after Lavender offered little besides a nod in reply, too involved in her thoughts.

"Yes, very much so," She paused, taking another sip and flicking her gaze back over to the bride as the groom twirled her perhaps too enthusiastically, making her stumble over her train. "They seem very happy together,"

"They do. Their whole thing has been like some sort of fairytale, you know? Falling in love with your best friend," Charlie smiled, shaking his head slightly, not noticing how Lavender's mouth suddenly tightened and began winding a blonde curl around her finger.

"Yeah," Desperate laughter suddenly burst from her, making Charlie jump, and unsure of what to do, he patted her awkwardly on her back with too much gusto, making her wine slosh a little on the table cloth.

"Alright there?" He asked, as her laughter dwindled down to the occasional chuckle, his hand still resting on her back.

"Yes, it's just that, well, if their whole story could be counted as a fairytale," She broke into another peal of laughter, "Then I must be the villain!" Gasping she looked back up at his face, suddenly wishing that she didn't just say that. To the groom's brother. Whose warm hand on her back was making her feel all giddy. But the utter relief she felt in having finally articulated what had been weighing on her mind all night, greatly beat out any feeling of embarrassment.

"Really? Do explain," He raised his left eyebrow, and leaned closer to her.

"Well...," She drawled, "I was the slag who stole Ron away from Hermione, nearly destroying their entire friendship," There was a pregnant pause, as a strange smile crept up on Charlie's face, making Lavender fidget. His grin did, in fact, have a rather dazzling effect to it, but that could be the effects of the wine. "That was a really long time ago though, back when I was..." She drifted off.

"Young?" He offered, propping his head up on his hand.

"I was going to say, pretty. Before all of this happened," Lavender stated bluntly, gesturing to a raised, jagged scar, which ran along the right side of her face. It took her a long time to get to this point. To accept the fact that she wasn't that pretty, innocent girl anymore, and that it was okay. In place of her flawless complexion, she had a testament to her courage, her determination, her strength. When she looked in the mirror, the ugly scars stood as proof that she had changed. That now she was more.

So when Charlie rolled his eyes and pulled a face, Lavender calmly sat down her goblet on the table, and proceeded to slap him. Hard.

He caught her hand as she went to do it again, closed his very blue eyes, and held it to his now very red cheek.

"Ouch. That hurt," She felt the vibrations of his voice on her fingertips, his hot breath on her wrist, the rough calluses of his palms, on the back of her hands, and her stomach lurched. Grateful his eyes were closed, so that he couldn't see her flushing, she took a deep breath before replying.

"You deserved it,"

"For thinking that you are pretty, beautiful even?" His eyes opened, meeting hers with an equally steely glare. Perhaps he wasn't handsome, but he had a rugged, animalistic beauty, she decided then. His hand dropped from holding hers, and Lavender missed his warmth.

"You are so-" He cut off suddenly, breaking eye contact as something behind her caught his attention. "Lovely. My Great-Aunt finally spotted me," He grimaced. Lavender tried to subtly look over her shoulder to see the infamous old woman, and instantly picked her out.

"She's the one with the, ah, interesting hat?" The blonde questioned, smiling.

"If by interesting, you mean utterly ridiculous and feathery, then yes, that's her, hobbling toward us now," She let out a giggle, which drew a brief smile from him.

"Come on, let's go dance, before she gets any closer," Charlie stood up, offering her his hand, still watching his aunt. Straightening her dress, so that it came to a respectable length right above her knees, she took his hand and he led her to the opposite side of the dance floor, carefully edging around other couples. He twirled her suddenly, causing her to stumble, and then pulled her closer to him, and placed his free hand on her waist. Lavender, more than slightly dizzy and disoriented, put her hand on his shoulder in an effort to steady herself.

"You know, I don't appreciate being man-handled," Lavender said sternly, as she gained some sense of balance.

"I think we lost her," Charlie peered over her shoulder, intertwined his free hand with hers, and began to slowly rock back and forth to the music. She frowned.

"Are you even listening?" She raised her voice and tried to wiggle out of his grasp. He looked back down at her and smiled at her futile efforts.

"You said you didn't like being man-handled," He ignored her wiggling and pulled her closer to him, tightening his hold on her waist. Her stomach lurched again.

"If my mind and reflexes weren't a little bit screwy because of the wine, you'd be in so much trouble now," She stopped struggling and sighed.

"I'm a dragon keeper, dear. I'm fairly certain I could deal with an angry woman," He smirked. She rolled her eyes. "Anything else I should know?" Lavender opened her mouth to say No, but instead a rather unpleasant thought came to her. She cleared her throat and thought how to word it. Her thoughts really were quite fuzzy.

"I," She paused taking a breath, "I truly am...reformed," Lavender looked at him helplessly, hoping that he'd understand. They stopped swaying for a moment.

"Reformed?" A certain light appeared in his eyes. It unnerved her.

"Quite," Now he grinned, and unexpectedly twirled her again.

"So this means that you won't be seducing me, and having your wicked way with me after all?" He pulled her even closer to him, so much so that she could feel his warm breath on her right ear. Her spine tingled.

"Exactly," She stepped back slightly, in an effort to retain some coherency.

"Damn, I was really looking forward to that," He leaned down, so that their lips were practically touching as he spoke. She noticed that he had flecks of green in his eyes, something that was missing in Ron's. Her hand slowly moved up to the nape of his neck, and she threaded her fingers through his coarse red hair. He closed his eyes at her touch, and Lavender felt his chest rise as he took a deep breath. That did it. She tilted her head up and pressed her mouth hard against his, and after a moment, his mouth began to move against hers, and he untangled their intertwined hands to cup her face.

Logically she knew it was all wrong. That kissing the brother of her Ex, who was also the groom, at his wedding reception, broke some rule. She should be paying penance for trying to separate the newlyweds by sitting at her table and observing how happy they look.

Not snogging his brother in a dark corner of the room.

But, even reformed villains have their moments of weakness.

A/N: So this has been sitting half-written on my computer for a while. When I sat down today, I promised myself that I'd actually work on Chapter 10 of A Matter of Pride, but somehow this came out instead. I once read a fic with Charlie and Lavender together, and I kind of fell in love with the paring. This was my first attempt at writing a kissing scene, and so please let me know how it went!

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