Disclaimer: I'm not making anything from this story. I don't own anything except for the original character.

Summary: Out for fun in Vegas a Muggle girl finds she has gained more than a hangover.

The Vegas Bride

I woke up with hang-over from hell. That wasn't the bad thing...I was on vacation. I was here to party...and it was Vegas...I kind of expected it. The bad thing was that I wasn't alone in the bed. Next to me was a very naked, scarred, but still quite handsome redhead. It would have to be a red head…they were a weakness of mine. I groaned and put my head in my hands, and accidentally smacked myself in the face with a sizable rock on my left hand, ring finger and a nice golden band to set around it. My mind raced through what I remembered, and could come up with just meeting up with him at a club and dancing and having a good time.

He was snoring loudly so I poked him, but he didn't stir. He just moved a bit and I cringed when I saw the matching ring on his left hand. Definitely not good, my mind supplied. I would definitely need to talk to him, but since he wasn't waking up, there wasn't any reason that I couldn't freshen up. I tripped over his boots getting to the bathroom. When I landed, my face close to what I assumed to be his pants. Oddly enough there was a piece of wood sticking was out the back pocket. I couldn't help it, and I pulled it out and looked at it.

It definitely looked more than a regular stick one would find off of the ground…it was polished and had some wear marks. Nothing that I could figure out, but maybe he was a magician. Not terribly interested in the wand of a street magician I returned it and got to my feet. Looking back at the redhead in the bed, my might-be-husband, studying him a little more carefully I noted that he was absolutely covered in freckles almost so that he looked tan. The places that had scars were the only visible places that I could see without looking under the blanket that weren't covered in freckles. Also interestingly, the scars reminded me of healed over burns marks. His face was broad, he had a firm stocky body that didn't have an ounce of fat anywhere I could see.

Suddenly, I sort of felt guilty about perving on this man who graced my hotel bed. I turned on my heels and then continued on into the bathroom, and continued on into the shower. Once I was under the stream, I went into auto drive as I went through my cleaning ritual, and allowed myself to think. I tried to come up with anything and everything of relevance, but all that kept coming back was, "Mom's going to get a kick out of this. Maybe I can get an annulment or something. God, what if I get pregnant, or catch a disease. That would be positively awful. I don't even know his name."

I came back out and noticed that he was starting to rouse, not that it was exceptionally early or anything, as it was somewhat close to four in the afternoon. Bet the maids got a show... I stood there with my hair combed with a white fluffy towel wrapped around my middle. He groaned and I smiled and said, "Well, at least you're alive. I don't suppose you remember last night at all?"

He rolled over and looked at me groggily and in a foreign accent, "No. Should I? Where the bloody hell am I?"

I mentally scoffed, "Foreign!" Well that explained a lot more. I had misfortune of turning to mush hearing a foreign accent. I suppose that if you add alcohol and anything was possible.

Grabbing his ring hand, I put my own next to it, "Well, I don't know about you, but I certainly didn't get married before coming to Vegas. As to where you are, you're in my room, in the Gold Dust Hotel."

Seeing his shocked look as he put two and two together. I sighed…perhaps my own stress was making this a bit much, softer and a bit easier, "Well, I have a fairly good idea that we had sex, but as to the specifics...I haven't a clue. Perhaps we should start small. Hi, my name is Candace Davidson, but I prefer Candy. I'm twenty-one years old. I'm an American. I'm in between jobs at the moment, but I train and breed horses when I'm not going to school. I've never had a one-night stand before....and apparently...I'm fairly lousy at it. Maybe we can get an annulment and pretend that this didn't happen."

He sat up and then said, "Okay, where to start.... Oh, my name is Charlie Weasley. I'm twenty-four years old. I'm a wizard. I grew up in Britain, and work in Romania. I work as a dragon keeper. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a Wizarding divorce, so I'm sorry...apparently we're really married...with no way of getting out of this."

I nodded, "So....you're a wizard...you work with dragons...and we have to stay married because there's no such thing as divorce for wizards..."

Charlie, "Right."

Shaking my head, "Great!…mom will be thrilled that I not only married a magician, but one with a wild imagination."

Charlie, "I'm not a magician…they're just good at slight of hand…I can do real magic."

I yawned, "Well then maybe you can conjure up some food or something then…I'm starving."

Charlie then said, "Well, to be honest…I've never been really good about all that, but I'd be happy to take my new wife to breakfast."

She just spoke, "Okay, but let me get some clothes and we can go out and discuss this."

She walked over to her suitcase and then grabbing the first roll of clothes, walked back into the bathroom and then locked the door again. She changed and then called, "I'm done."

There was a fumble sound and then a, "I'm done."

She opened the door, and not only had he clothed himself, but the room was neatly made up, it smelled like fresh cut flowers. I looked around amazed, and said, "You did all this in ten minutes?"

He smiled and said, "Like I said, before…I'm a wizard. Um, now for something to eat….(he looked at his watch) Okay, you'll need to trust me. (He had his wand in hand, put his arms around me, and then softly spoke in my ear) "Close your eyes...it's easier...trust me."

I don't know why I did, but I did, and I soon felt a rush of wind and then when I opened my eyes, I was somewhere completely different.

We stood in front of a terribly crooked looking house, and I just raised an eyebrow asking, "How the…where are we?"

He smiled and said, "Home."

I raised an eyebrow and asked, "You live here?"

He shook his head and said, "Sometimes, it's my parent's home, but I figured that it would be a sight better to start off with than the tent. (looking mildly embarrassed) Most of the year, I live in a lodge with several other keepers. Until now, I just haven't had the need to get something more. Um, well, listen, until I break the news, let me just disillusion our rings, okay?"

He pulled out his wand, whispered a spell aiming at our rings, and amazingly enough they both disappeared from view, but I could still feel it there. I looked back to the old crooked house thinking how bizarre it all was, but as I took in house wondering about what all I had gotten myself into an older redhead armed with a similar looking stick, wand my mind corrected, asked, "Charlie?"

Charlie let go of my hand and said, "Hello, father."

Mr. Weasley frowned and asked, "What are you doing here? I thought you were working. Who do you have with you?"

Charlie stepped from foot to foot and said, "Seems that I've managed to get myself into a bit of a jam, Dad, may I introduce to you, Candy. I'll explain more inside."

Mr. Weasley just looked around focused on me for a bit with a questioning look on his face before giving a nod, "Your mother should just be putting food out on the table. The rest of them will be glad to see you. Why don't we head to the kitchen and we can try to sort things out."

Despite what I was feeling, and the clear apprehension that Mr. Weasley was showing towards me, the atmosphere was quite relaxed and I had to fight a smile as both men just walked up the steps and stepped right over the lazy pig lounging in the way. The entrance to the house was quite odd…Mr. Weasley lifted a window, and then opened a half door that rested below it and in we went.

Looking around the house, I finally decided that the house was kind of cute, but very odd. It wasn't two moments before a robust redhead woman, a redhead teenage girl, and a brunette with fluffy hair that seemed almost like a perm gone very wrong came heading down the stairs.

The woman smiled and rushed over and said, "Charlie! I didn't know you were coming by. I need to put on more food. Oh…and you brought a friend."

Charlie supplied, "Mom, meet Candy."

I tried to smile as the red-headed woman started to fuss over me and said, "Call me Molly, dear. It's a wonderful surprise to have you here. Charlie never brings anyone home. My you are much too skinny, you poor thing."

I had to wonder if the Molly had would be giving me such a warm welcome if she knew what I hoped would be told in just a few moments. I didn't really get a chance to think about more before Molly released me and yelled out the kitchen doors, "Boys. Breakfast's ready."

The two girls took their seats like it was the most normal thing in the world. I watched amazed as glasses were flying out of cupboards, and filling themselves. Everything seemed magical now that I thought about it, and I frowned, wondering how on earth I would ever begin to fit in. Would they even want me there in the first place? If real Magic was such hush hush stuff, they why would these people want to flaunt it...that is, unless they didn't know that I wasn't like them.

I tried to rein in my emotions, took a seat next to Charlie at the enormous kitchen table, and tried to pretend that all of this was normal every day stuff. It didn't take long for the table to fill up, seeming to stretch to accommodate a person here and there, when at first it just looked like a nice table for four. Soon seated at the long table was Molly, Mr. Weasley, the two girls from before, a set of twin boys, another red headed boy, and a boy with dark hair and glasses, with Charlie and myself sitting opposite the twins. It was a very large family...and being an only child it was almost overwhelming.

One of the twin boys just smiled, "Charlie!," seeing him, and the other chorused, "Who's the bird?," before being admonished by a spoon welding Molly.

She shot me a small smile and said, "Tuck in, Candy, dear."

As I filled my plate with things, conversation was zooming around the table, and I could instantly feel that it was a very close family. I felt even guiltier at the thought of the situation that Charlie and myself were in.

After a few moments, Mr. Weasley then said, "Not that I'm not thrilled that you are here, and that you brought Candice along, but what exactly is the problem that you two found yourselves in?"

Charlie opened his mouth a couple of times, and then closed it again, and I noticed that the whole table was watching us carefully. Everyone was waiting on baited breath for the answer that would most likely doom us.

Charlie sighed, "Well, Candy's my wife."

With those four words, the whole table broke out into conversation.

"Are you pregnant?"

"I didn't even know that you were even dating someone!"

"How did this happen?"

"You were scouting for recruits not a wife!"

"I thought you were into dragons."

The questions just fired off left and right until I had had enough and spoke loudly, "Everybody look at my nose!"

The conversation stopped for a moment, and they all looked at me oddly, and I smiled, "Well, glad to see that works across the pond as well. Look, this wasn't planned, I'm not opposed to letting him live life as he wishes or taking up married life. The choice really is up to Charlie. It was a poor decision that we can't just turn our backs on. While pregnancy is possible, but it's not probable."

Molly spoke, "Arthur, did you know?"

Mr. Weasley gave a small nod and said, "I saw Charlie doing some disillusioning before I approached them, and suspected as much."

Molly frowned and turned back to the two of us, and said, "Have you thought about your futures? Where you are going to live? How you're going to get by? No offense, but have you thought anything through?"

Charlie stared at his plate and I gave a half sigh and said, "Mrs. Weasley, just an hour ago, I was still oblivious to the fact that I was married. We really haven't had a chance to talk about it all. I have a double degree in Farm Management and Horse Production and am working towards my doctorate. I could work anywhere...and with the last sale I made...well, unless Charlie's had debt racked up around his ears, we shouldn't be in any financial strain for a while."

Arthur then asked, "What exactly is it that you do for work?" I smiled and said, "I breed, sell, and train horses...it's a shifts a little in responsibilities depending on the time of year and how much extra I'm taking on."

He gave me a nod and then asked, "And how much do you make doing these things?"

I leaned back and thinking out loud, "It really depends on what I'm doing, but the cheapest thing I do costs my clients around $100 for less than an hour's work. I just sold a horse for around $20,000 in profit."

The figures alone were astounding to most of the people around the table.

Molly took over and asked, "And what will you be doing when you're too pregnant to be messing with such large animals."

I just gave a half sigh as I ran a hand though my still damp hair and admitted, "The moment that I knew that I was pregnant it would change everything. I've enough tucked away to live off of incase of an injury or illness. I'd likely have to hire out to get basic horse care done for my lot when I was too far along to do it myself, but the truth of the matter is that I'd only stop when the doctor made me, and then I'd probably have to get back in the saddle the moment that my doctor allowed it once the baby was delivered. Animals are one of my passions."

She gave me a nod and then asked, "If you can get that much out of each of them, why don't you just sell them all?"

I grimaced and said, "The prospect of doing such an act would be more than I ever want to think about. I would sooner cut off my arm than think about that. Yes, I could easily die working with them during a slip up, but my life would be rather empty without them in it."

She gave me a look that clearly said that I had my head on wrong, and then the younger red head boy just smirked and said, "Funny...that's how Charlie feels about Dragons. Maybe you two will get along just fine after all."

I just gave him a small smile and looked over at Charlie. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad if he could understand the passion that I held for animals. I would at least give it a shot. Maybe Vegas really did have a certain magic to it beyond the glitz and glamour.