1.
CHARLIE.
The First Kiss

'The day Charlie Weasley notices anything other than the way a Snitch gleams in the sunlight, is the day that I'll eat my graduating hat.'

At the time the above declaration was made, the almost-seventh year witch who had – rightly – made the remark, had no fear of ever have to ingest her black graduating hat, but that was before the untimely arrival of one Nymphadora Tonks on the Weasley's front door step two weeks before Charlie's seventh year began.

'Charlie! Could you get the door, dear? Someone's here!'

Groaning, Charlie muttered grumpily at being disturbed from his playbook and trumped downstairs to open the front door. As he pulled open the rickety wooden door, he felt an intake of breath sharply hit him in the chest as the solitary figure tapping her foot impatiently on the front stoop came into view.

In his opinion, she was the most extraordinary creature he'd ever seen.

'Who is it Charlie?' asked Bill from the next room, looking up from his perusal of career booklets and sticking his head around the doorframe to investigate.

'Uh, um, well, I – erm.' Charlie stammered in reply, his cheeks flushing red as the girl chuckled merrily.

'The name's Tonks,' she said with a smile, holding out a hand, 'well, actually it's Nymphadora, but I prefer just Tonks.'

'Uh, well, erm, hi?' Charlie shook her hand weakly, cringing as he heard an amused snort emit from the living room and knew that Bill was listening in on the awkward conversation – or lack thereof.

'So, am I allowed in or do your parents have a problem with letting in strangers?' she enquired sunnily with a wink.

'Oh, um, so sorry.. come on in.' Charlie ushered her in the door and led her into the kitchen, where Mrs. Weasley was busy at work darning a basketful of socks as she kept a careful eye on a self-stirring stew.

'Why, hello dear, I didn't know you'd be here so soon!' she exclaimed, leaping from her chair and scattering the socks everywhere, 'Oh goodness, how clumsy of me.'

'I'm sorry.. they had to send me early,' Tonks explained with a pained expression, 'they've run into some trouble in explaining just how Lucius Malfoy managed to sustain a head injury in a muggle elevator with no one in sight.'

'Never mind dear, I put on extra stew just in case.' said Mrs. Weasley kindly, shooting a sharp look at Charlie, who'd just opened his mouth to ask what on earth they were talking about.

'Why hallo there Tonks.' greeted a male voice from behind him and he turned to see Bill striding into the room, all long hair and charming smile.

For some reason unknown to Charlie, he had a sudden, very strong urge to hit his brother. Hard.

'Bill!' she cried happily, launching at him in a huge sisterly hug, 'It's good to see a familiar face.'

'You two… you two know each other?' Charlie asked hoarsely, clenching his fists against the unusual urge to cause his elder brother drastic bodily harm.

'We were at Hogwarts together, a couple of years ago.' Bill explained, 'Tonks was a chaser on the Gryffindor team.'

'Ah.' Charlie replied with a nod.

'We also dated for a while, but keep that one hushed, won't cha?' Tonks added with a wink, frowning when Charlie choked on his own saliva, 'What? We were sixteen!'

'You know how horny teenagers are when they're sixteen… well, you are sixteen, little bro, so of course you know!' Bill supported the lavender haired nineteen year-old with a grin.

Charlie could feel his face glowing a vibrant scarlet that seemed to grow worse with every word his brother said. Croaking a lame excuse about needing the bathroom, he dashed upstairs and shut himself into the room he shared with Bill. Sitting down heavily on the bed, his breathing laboured as if he'd just run a marathon, he glared darkly at the moving photograph of himself and his brother playing Quidditch.

'That'd be bloody right, wouldn't it? First girl I even manage to notice and she's had it on with my brother!'


Two weeks later, Tonks still hadn't been found a place to stay remote enough for her to be safe from the angry wrath of Lucius Malfoy and his gang of remnant Death Eaters, and so, until further notice, it seemed like she would be staying with the Weasleys.

Six of the seven Weasley children took to this idea immediately, Tonks was fun, she made numbers even for four-a-side quidditch, and she was a girl, which was significantly more important to Ginny than it was to the others… But Charlie wasn't so ecstatic.

'C'mon Charlie, we're going out to play Four-a-side in the dark!' rallied George as the six of them and Tonks tore past him, each with a broom in hand.

'No thanks.' He called sourly, wrapping his arms around his knees and rocking himself slowly as he watched them set up the various goals and find suitable round-shaped objects to charm as Quidditch balls.

For two weeks now, he'd had to watch his elder brother flirt and laugh his days away with the attractive, but dead clumsy witch and Charlie had had enough of it. He'd known right away that she was someone he could've seen himself dating, even if it were just for a little while, and then Bill – bloody marvellous at bloody everything Bill – had stolen her from right under his nose. And to put it frankly, he was pissed off as all hell.

'Charlie, stop moping and come and play!' Fred yelled, beckoning wildly for his brother to join them.

Shaking his head, Charlie stood up and went to go inside, but was stopped from doing so – well, stopped from doing so in the usual fashion – when something rammed into his back and he was sent sprawling through the door and skidding across the parquetry floor to land with a large thump against the kitchen wall.

'Ohmigosh, I am so sorry!' squeaked a familiar voice from underneath him and he rolled over to realise that he was lying on top of Tonks.

'How in Merlin's name did you end up there?' he asked in amazement, clambering to his feet and groaning in pain as he inspected his various bumps and bruises.

'Well, I meant to fly up to talk to you, but I didn't brake in time and ended up colliding with you.' She explained sheepishly, her pale cheeks lighting up with a vibrant blush.

'Oh.' he said quietly, extending a hand to help her to her feet.

'Charlie, why don't you like me?' she enquired, still holding onto his hand and looking him deep in the eyes.

'I- I never said I didn't!' he replied hoarsely, pulling his hand away and wiping the sweat off it onto his faded jeans.

'Then why won't you talk to me?' she countered, with a sad look at her now empty hand.

'I…' he sighed deeply, 'it's complicated.'

'You're jealous of Bill, aren't you?' she probed for an answer, seemingly unaware of just how on-the-mark she was.

'Yes.' He exhaled in a rush, as if it were intensely relieving to be out in the open, 'He just does everything so much better than me… and when you showed up here and he knew you and everything, it was like… like he'd beaten me in yet another aspect of life.'

'But he didn't Charlie,' she corrected him softly, quieter and more serious than he'd ever seen her in the two weeks he'd known her, 'because it's not Bill I like.'

Charlie frowned slightly before responding to this statement.

'What d'y-' he started, but was interrupted by the soft clash of her lips against his own.

His madly thumping heart began to calm down, though only Merlin knew why, and he kissed her back, gently at first and then more passionately as his hormones took over.

'Took you long enough.' remarked an amused Bill as he and the rest of the Weasley siblings trumped back into the kitchen, suspiciously free of dirt and grass, as if they'd been listening the whole time.

'Yeah, you're right,' Fred replied with a grin, 'I was beginning to think he was strange, not being kissed even after he was sixteen.'

'I meant him and Tonks, you dolt!' Bill yelped hurriedly as Charlie tore his lips away from Tonks with a glint of fury in his eyes.

'If you don't mind, I'm rather busy at the moment!' he roared, startling them all into scattering like a flock of flame-haired doves to different corners of the house, giggling madly.

'Am I really your first kiss?' asked Tonks interestedly with a little laugh.

'Yeah.' said Charlie with a shrug, 'I wouldn't have it any other way.'

'You do realise we're going to have to make a song up about this don't you!?' called Fred from the living room.

'Yeah, it's going to be titled "He Kisses Like A Dead Fish"!' George added in for good measure.

'Ignore them.' Tonks said soothingly before grinning, 'You're a much better kisser than they give you credit for.'

She leant in and Charlie instantly forgot his plans to murder his brothers… after all, they weren't so bad, really…

'HE KISSES LIKE A DEAD FISH!'

'BEWARE GIRLS, BEWARE!'

'HE KISSES LIKE A DEAD FISH!'

'AND WEARS PINK UNDERWEAR!'

…until they're old enough to write song lyrics.


Well, first off, Happy Valentines Day!
I hope you all had a great day and that you got to spend it with someone special. And that means a lot, considering that I generally oppose V Day in all its consumer-driven ploy-ness.. so yeah, haha.

I suppose you're wondering what this fic is going to be about, so um, here goes..
It's a seven-part fic detailing seven "firsts" for each of the Weasley kids (who are, in case you've forgotten: Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny). And each of these "firsts" is in some way to do with love, ie. first kiss, first date, first "time", all that kinda thing... so yeah, I hope you enjoy it. It was a little idea I've had sitting in my brain for ages, and it suddenly came back to me yesterday and I decided that V Day would be perfect to start it off.

If you're wondering why I started with Charlie, it's coz he's Giddy's fav Weasley kid, and this is dedicated to her, as it's her Valentine's present from me.. so, Happy Valentines Day dear! xxx

In fact, each chapter has been dedicated to a person on this site that I pretty much love..

1. Charlie - Just-Giddy
I love this girl to absolute pieces, honestly I do. She's hilarious, she reviews pretty much every story I post, no matter if it's good, bad or just average, and she always has something good to say. She is talented and sometimes the most random person ever, but she's a good mate and I say it's a damn shame she's so far away in NY.. Happy V Day darlin'! xx

2. Fred - Lady Catriona-Arre
This girl? Oh yeah, pretty much A-MAZING. Her stories were what got me inspired to write my own and she has been such an amazing influence on my writing. Honestly, she has no idea just how much. She's been going through a bit of a rough time lately, but she is so amazingly strong and brave, and I only wish there was more I could do for her. Happy V Day Kate! xx

3. George - Kailey Hamilton
D'you know what this girl gave me for V Day? Oh, only a translated (ie. Spanish) version of 'Romantic Cynicism'! Haha, I was like jumping up and down with excitement. coz not only did she translate it for me, she posted it on V Day like I wanted to post the original all that time ago! So yeah, thanks so much Kayi, you're such a legend! Happy V Day! xx

4. Bill - Formerlyknownasone
So, this girl has A LOT of talent. I beta for her, and I enjoy every minute of it, coz her stories are just so damn good. She just did beyond amazing on her big exams (I can't remember what you call them, haha! sorry!) and she deserves such a huge congratulations. She's really nice and can put up with the time difference to talk on msn, which is a credit to her, and I pretty much love her.. so, Happy V Day! xx

5. Ron - NickyFox13
Y'know, I don't think there's a story I've written this girl hasn't reviewed. You have no idea how much that means to me... She even took the time to review my FictionPress stuff too, which I have so much gratitude for. She leaves constructive comments that always make me smile, and even though I'm shocking lazy with replying, she just keeps on reviewing. So thank you so much! Happy V Day! xx

6. Ginny - I Want To Give Neville A Hug
Okay, so this girl is pretty amazing too. She reviews most of my stories, even when they suck, and knows just how to pick me up when I feel bad about them. When she first joined she reviewed something like four or five of my stories in the one night and although she doesn't know it, I was having the worst day ever, so it made me smile so much when I got this little stream of gorgeous reviews.. so thanks for making my day a little brighter! Happy V Day! xx

7. Percy - to anyone whose name wasn't in this list.
So chapter seven? Yeah, it's dedicated to you. It's dedicated to all those wonderful people who keep on reviewing even though I don't reply... your reviews make me smile and they keep me going when I feel like giving up on a story. You guys are amazing, you have no idea just how much, and so, this is my Valentine's present to you, my readers.. I hope you have an amazing day. xxx

Thanks and Happy Valentines Day,
Ash xx

PS. haha, this Author's Note could pass as an extra story! xx