This was written for the 2012 Mew & Mor's Weird Pairings Competition so therefore it is a M&MWP. Thank you JKR for giving us great characters to play with.
New Year, New Love
Charlie walked quietly down Diagon Alley. The alley was decorated extremely festively and there were plenty of people about on this December afternoon. He had just arrived home in England to celebrate Christmas – the first one after the end of the war. In some ways he was looking forward to being with his family again, but it was going to be difficult with Fred missing. He knew that his family were still grieving and everyone was trying to cope in their own ways. He had stayed at the Burrow for a month after the war, but in early June he had decided to return to Romania and his beloved dragons. The hard work involved in dragon handling had done what spending time at his childhood home hadn't – he came to terms with his brother's death. As he walked down Diagon Alley, he hoped that the rest of his family were coping as well as he was.
He walked into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and came to a standstill. The shop was heaving with customers, but that was not what had made him stop. He felt like he was inside a wild and wacky Muggle snow globe. Snow was falling from the ceiling, but he could not feel it on his face. There were no less than a dozen beautifully decorated Christmas trees around the store, and garlands of holly on various walls. Brightly coloured paper chains were strung across the ceiling and he was sure he could see a Stupified garden gnome in a tutu hanging above the counter. Even with all of the customers and decorations, the shop still appeared spacious.
After taking in the festivity, Charlie walked over to the counter where a young witch was serving a group of teenagers. As he waited, he thought about what presents he still needed to buy in the next few days. Shopping in London was definitely better than Romania.
A large man moved away from the counter allowing him to move forward. He looked at the blonde witch who was serving and time seemed to stop. Up close he discovered that there was something about her that just made him want to stop and stare.
"Are you actually here to buy something, sir?" she asked sounding annoyed. "If you're not then please move. You're in the way and I need to get out of here on time tonight."
"Big date tonight, Verity?" Ron asked as he walked behind the counter with his arms laden with boxes.
The sight of his youngest brother managed to rouse Charlie from his stupor.
"Oi, Ron," he said loudly.
Ron stopped, turned, and then dumped the boxes on the counter, right in front of Verity. He then leaped across the counter and engulfed Charlie in a hug that rivalled one from their mother.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" Verity exclaimed as she tried to find the small package she needed amongst Ron's cast-offs.
Ron and Charlie looked at Verity.
"Another Weasley brother," she muttered looking at them. "Just what I need," she added her voice laced with sarcasm.
Charlie looked at Ron curiously. Ron just shrugged his shoulders.
Meanwhile, Verity had Summoned the package she needed and had Banished Ron's boxes to the wall behind the counter.
Hey, Verity, I needed those," Ron said loudly. "They're for that big order."
"Well don't put them on top of me," Verity said.
"Why are you being narky with me? It's not my fault George asked you to work late. I'm sure you'll have enough time to get ready for your big date," Ron said.
"Oh, Good Godric! You are so dense. I don't have a big date tonight or tomorrow night, or even next week, for that matter," she said.
"What's got your wand in a knot then?" Ron asked.
Charlie groaned and threw his head back. Ron hadn't changed at all – still lacking one ounce of tact.
Verity picked up the large roll of Spellotape and threw it at the youngest Weasley brother. "I just need to get away from Weasley males," she said quietly through gritted teeth, before storming off.
"Nice work, Ron," Charlie said.
"What did I do?" Ron asked.
"Tell me, Ron. Are you and Hermione still together?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah."
"I have no idea how she puts up with you," Charlie said.
"Ginny says that all the time," Ron said, looking bewildered.
Charlie shook his head.
"Oi, Ron. Where's Verity?" George yelled from the office door. "Hey, Charlie."
Ron shrugged and Charlie waved to George.
George walked over, slapped Charlie on the back, and turned to Ron. "What did you do to Verity?"
Ron shrugged.
"He asked what had her wand in a knot after she mentioned not having a date," Charlie said.
"Good work, Ron. Go find her and apologise," George said.
Ron sighed and walked away.
Charlie watched Ron move away and then turned to George. "You look okay."
George gave him a sad smile before speaking. "I am okay."
"Good."
"Hey, do you like the store. Ginny was in here yesterday and went wild," George said.
"Harry was working, I guess," Charlie said. "Are you heading to the Burrow tonight?"
"Yeah."
"Good, I'll see you there."
Charlie bid his brother goodbye and headed back out into the alley. He walked down towards Gringotts and on the way noticed a girl leaning against a wall. After a closer look, he realised it was Verity. Taking a deep breath, he headed towards her.
"Are you okay?" he asked her.
Verity looked up and groaned. "Go away."
Charlie took a step away from her. "Okay, I will. I just wanted to check that my tactless oaf of a brother hadn't upset you."
Verity stared at him for a moment and sighed. "So I guess you must be the sensitive one."
"What?"
"Ron's the tactless one, George is the unhappy joker, Percy is the prat, and Bill is the mysterious one. Are you the sensitive one?" she asked.
Charlie burst out laughing.
"No?"
"I'm the adventurous one," Charlie said. "How in the name of Merlin is Bill mysterious?"
"He's a curse breaker and married to a Veela. That's pretty mysterious," Verity replied. "So how are you adventurous?"
"As soon as I finished Hogwarts I moved to Romania to work with dragons," he replied.
"Ah, I see," she said smiling.
Charlie was extremely pleased to see her smile. Her whole face changed when she smiled. "I'm sorry about Ron. I thought he might change; that Hermione would rub off on him – alas, no."
Verity nodded.
"If I were you I'd head home and let George deal with Ron," Charlie said.
"Sounds good," she replied.
"Have a good night," he said.
"I will. My best friend is coming over," Verity said. "Much better than a horrible date."
"You obviously haven't been dating the right men," Charlie stated.
"Really?" Verity said, raising her eyebrows. "Are you offering?"
"Maybe," he said grinning. "It'll have to wait, though. I have shopping to do."
"I might just hold you to that."
[:[:[:[:
Charlie had thoroughly enjoyed spending Christmas with his family. Even with Fred missing from the festivities, everyone had been fairly happy and cheerful. He had another week left before he had to head back to Romania and he had decided that it was time to see if Verity would go on a date with him, or at the very least talk to him.
He waited outside Weasley's Wizard Wheezes at the end of the day and eventually Verity walked out alone. He pushed himself off the wall and walked over to meet her.
She gave him an odd smile. "Well, well, it's Mr. Adventurous, or is it Mr. Sensitive?"
Charlie grinned and shook his head at her. "It's Charlie, and I was wondering if you wanted to get a drink."
She looked at her watch and then at him. "I suppose you could buy me one drink."
"That sounds good to me," he replied, offering her his elbow.
They made their way to the Leaky Cauldron and sat in a booth at the back. One drink became two and then dinner was ordered. The whole time they talked to each other – about families, school, work, and everything in-between. Charlie soon learned that she wasn't planning on working for George for a long time. She was saving up to travel; to explore the world – magical and Muggle. Charlie shared his stories of travelling around Europe and to China while looking for dragons. She seemed to be extremely interested in what he had to say and he was extremely interested in her.
They eventually parted as the pub was closing for the evening. Just before she Apparated away, Charlie gently grabbed her arm, and she looked at him curiously.
"Verity, tomorrow night is New Year's Eve. Have you got any plans?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Nothing definite. I can go to a party with my friend if I want, but she's going with her boyfriend. I'd be a third wheel."
"Would you spend it with me?" he asked.
She looked at him and nodded.
Charlie felt his heart race and his smile spread across his face. "Brilliant."
[:[:[:[:
Charlie was extremely nervous. He was just about to go and meet Verity so that they could go and celebrate New Year's Eve together. He did not know why he was so anxious or why the thought of spending time with Verity was so important to him. Something about her just connected with him and he knew that she was someone he could spend some time with and be happy with.
They met in Diagon Alley and made their way to a flat nearby that an old school friend of Charlie's owned. As Charlie walked in, he was greeted by quite a few of his old friends and he made sure to introduce Verity to everyone. Charlie would have been happy with just spending time with the beautiful witch at his side, but he had been looking forward to this gathering for a couple of months, since it was originally organised. He eventually decided to find a place on one side of the room and let his friends come to him to catch up. Verity seemed quite happy and comfortable talking to his friends which only made him like her and enjoy her company even more.
After spending a few hours catching up with his friends he decided that it was definitely time to spend some time alone with Verity – if she was happy to, that is. He turned to her and gently rubbed his hand down her arm to get her attention. She turned and smiled at him. The sight of her sparkling blue eyes, along with her lovely smile, made his heart beat double time.
"Charlie?" she said. "Is everything okay?"
"What…oh, yeah," he replied. "I was just going to ask if you wanted to get out of here and maybe go for a walk or something."
Verity looked at him intently and then nodded. "Where were you thinking of going?"
"Well there are some great Muggle parks and gardens around here. We could go to one of those," he suggested.
"That could be good," she said.
"Excellent."
It took them about twenty minutes to say goodbye to his friends and they received quite a bit of teasing about leaving so early, but Charlie just decided to ignore it, especially as it didn't seem to worry Verity at all.
Once outside, Charlie Apparated with Verity to Hyde Park. There were plenty of people, mostly Muggles, celebrating there, but there were also plenty of areas which weren't overly crowded. They started walking along a path that was lined by trees that were lit by tiny fairy lights. As they started to walk, Charlie reached over and clasped Verity's glove covered hand with his. She gave him another heart-warming smile and he spent the next minute or so staring at her, admiring her blue, blue eyes and liking the way her blonde hair peeked out from under her woollen hat. His staring didn't seem to concern her as she just returned his stare with interest.
"I'm so glad you decided to come with me tonight," he said eventually.
"I have to admit I wasn't really looking forward to it. I thought you may have been taking me to a family party," she said.
"Oh, Merlin, no. I mean, I love my family but I do need time away from them," he replied.
"It was definitely a nice surprise not to be surrounded by redheads," she said.
"You don't like redheads?" he asked, a little confused. Why was she with him tonight if she didn't like redheads?
"No, it's not that at all," she said with a wry smile. "No, I like redheads. I really do."
Charlie looked at her for a moment and watched a strange look cross her face – almost a guilty one. "You like redheads, you say, but you didn't want to be around my brothers. Hang on, do you fancy my brothers?"
Verity groaned.
"You do, don't you?"
"I wouldn't say I fancy them all. They intrigue me, definitely. And I certainly find redheads attractive," she said.
"Really? Redheads are attractive?"
"Oh, they are to me," she said with a cheeky grin.
"Right?" Charlie said feeling a little bewildered.
"But I'm not attracted to any of your brothers," she said. She shuffled her feet, looked down and then back at him. "Well to be honest I was a little taken with Fred and George when I first met them."
"What? Really?" Charlie was feeling very confused now. Was Verity trying to use him to fulfil her fantasy of being with one, or both, of the twins?
"Yeah, but then I started working for them and I realised that even though I liked the way they looked, I wasn't attracted to them. I liked them, don't get me wrong, but not as anything romantic," she said. She stopped walking and faced him and looked a little worried. "I know you didn't want to hear that and I'm sure you're a little worried…"
"Yeah. You could say that," he said, rubbing his hands through his slightly too long hair.
"That's why I wasn't particularly happy when you came into the shop," she said. "You're quite like them."
"Technically, they're quite like me," Charlie said.
Verity chuckled and gave him another one of those smiles. "But you're different too – to all your brothers. You came and apologised to me. Harry's the only other one in your family who would do that."
"So you like Harry?"
"I'm not into thin men with black hair. I like strong redheaded men," she said.
He grinned and felt very happy with that comment.
"And I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to talk to you last night, and tonight at the party," she said, taking a step towards him. "I liked meeting your friends."
"They liked you, too," he said, grasping her hands in his. "And I really enjoyed talking with you last night. It was a great night. Tonight is, as well."
He gently pulled her closer and lowered his mouth to hers. Her lips were soft and cold against his and all too soon she pulled away. Charlie ran his hands up her arms to her shoulders and one hand found its way to cup the nape of her neck. He lowered his mouth again and she met him half way in a much longer and more passionate kiss. A long time later they broke apart and Charlie rested his forehead against hers and grinned.
"Wow!" he said.
She laughed but didn't move away from him. Charlie could feel hers arms wrapped around him and would have been happy to stay that way for the rest of the night.
"It's midnight," Verity said a little later.
"What?"
"Look!" she exclaimed pointing across the park. "Fireworks."
Charlie turned to see golden fireworks pouring upwards from the ground.
"Happy New Year," he said, brushing a kiss on her cheek.
"Happy New Year to you, too," she replied.
Charlie tipped his head to the side. "Do you think that this New Year could see us getting together again?"
"I'd like that," she replied, squeezing his arm.
"I live in Romania though."
"I've always wanted to visit Romania," she replied, linking her arm with his and leading him further along the beautifully lit path.
He smiled. "That'd be great. I don't get many visitors."
"Do you come back here often?"
"It depends," he replied.
"On?"
"If there's someone I really want to see," he said with a cheeky smile.
"And is there someone here that could induce you to visit often?" she asked, bumping his arm with her shoulder.
"Oh, I think there could be," he said.
"Good," she said.
"Oh, I think so," he replied.
He led her along the path, already thinking of places they could explore together when she visited and of time spent together when he could enjoy more of those wonderful kisses.