Hey guys, even though I should be finishing up my multi-chapter Rose/Scorpius chapter I had a nagging plot bunny that wouldn't let me free until I wrote this. So here it is. This is totally new territory to me since I've never written anything with Charlie but I actually kind of like this, the way it turned out and everything so I hope you feel the same. I have chapter two already written and will post it after chapter one. I know that Hermione is somewhat OOC in this, but I don't think it's too bad.
P.S. I do not own Harry Potter.
P.P.S. Please read and review. I really like to know what my readers think. :D
Chapter One: Nighttime Escapades
Hermione Granger couldn't sleep. Actually she hadn't slept much in the last few nights. She had taken to walking around the yard surrounding the Burrow until she wore herself out.
On this particular night, when she crept out of the room she shared with Ginny and down the stairs, she noticed someone sitting on the couch in the living room. She stood at the bottom of the stairs, letting her eyes adjust and taking in the figure before her. She gasped when she realized that the figure in front of her was actually a shirtless, and apparently awake, Charlie Weasley, for when she gasped he jumped slightly and looked up.
He squinted in the darkness, not quite able to make out who was standing on the stairs, "Hermione?" he whispered, after seeing who it was, "What are you doing up? I thought you went to bed hours ago."
"Yeah, I did go to bed hours ago," Hermione started, stepping off the last stair and crossing the room to sit next to him on the couch, "however, I've become quite the insomniac the last few nights. Wait, what are you still doing up."
"Oh. I can't sleep either" Charlie replied. Hermione nodded understandingly.
They sat in silence for a moment before Hermione asked, "I was going to go for a walk to see if I could wear myself out. Would you like to accompany me? It gets a little quiet walking by myself."
Charlie looked at her and shrugged, "Sure, maybe it will help me get to sleep too." He stood up and turned to face her, holding out his hand to help her stand.
Hermione smiled at him in thanks, then let her eyes wander to his shirtless body. She squinted in the darkness, seeing something move on his right side and lower abdomen.
"Charlie Weasley, is that a tattoo?" she asked, amused, pointing to his side.
"Yeah. It is," he replied with a smile, "Would you like a closer look?" he asked illuminating his wand and shining it on his side. Hermione looked at the dragon that was lazily swishing it's tail back and forth across the lower part of Charlie's abdomen.
She smiled knowingly and said, "Your mother doesn't know about it does she?"
Charlie shook his head, raising a finger to his lips, "And she won't know, right?"
"It'll be our little secret," Hermione replied, raising her finger to her lips, mimicking him.
"Good," he said, "So how about that walk. That is if you're done checking out my body."
Hermione's felt her face get hot as it flushed with color and she nodded, "Yeah, let's go on that walk," she muttered, embarrassed.
Charlie offered her his arm and she took it. Charlie grabbed the blanket off the couch, "In case it gets cold," he explained when she looked at him curiously. She nodded.
The walked quickly and quietly through the living room and kitchen and then out the kitchen door. Turning and walking towards the gardens they walked in silence, breathing in the cool night air. They walked around the house and up to the pasture where Charlie and his brothers (and Harry) played Quidditch.
"You want to stop here for a while before walking back?" Charlie asked her. Hermione nodded and removed her arm from Charlie's. Charlie took the blanket and laid it down on the dew-moistened grass then sat down.
Hermione noticed that the way Charlie had sat on the blanket had left her two sitting options: either sit halfway on the wet grass, or sit halfway on Charlie's lap. She stood still for a moment, contemplating her options, when an impatient Charlie grabbed her hand a pulled her down on his lap.
Hermione gasped, realizing where she was sitting, and scooted off his lap and onto the blanket beside him blushing deeply when he smiled at her. A cool breeze blew through, causing Hermione to shiver slightly. Charlie noticed and put his arm around her shoulder to warm her. Despite being shirtless, Charlie's body emitted enough heat to keep Hermione warm.
"So how do you like Hogwarts?" Charlie asked her, breaking the silence, "You're a fourth year this year right?"
Hermione nodded, "Yes, I'm going to be a fourth year," she replied, "and I love Hogwarts."
Charlie chuckled, "You'd have to be crazy not to love Hogwarts. I miss it. The castle with all it's secret places and the grounds. And the animals. Sometimes I wish I could go back," he said, trailing off on his own train of thought.
"So how's Romania? Working with dragons must be... fun?" Hermione questioned him.
Charlie's face lit up with excitement when Hermione mentioned dragons, "Working with the dragons is fun. But also dangerous. Didn't you see all my scars and burns?"
"I saw a few. Like the one on your arm, and all the calluses on your hands," Hermione replied.
"I have way more scars than the one on my arm," Charlie said, taking out his wand and muttering, "Lumos." He held the wand so it illuminated his chest and Hermione saw three raised-up, long scars traveling from his shoulder to his navel. Charlie pointed at it with his other hand, "I got scratched by a baby there. Vicious little things, they are. Thank goodness it wasn't very deep, or it could have been much worse. And thank goodness for the Healers we have working at the reserve." Hermione nodded.
Charlie pointed to a spot on his lower left side of his abdomen. Hermione saw part of another scar (the rest disappeared underneath his pajama pants), a shiny one, that looked like it came from a burn, "That one came from a sneeze. Literally, a different baby sneezed fire on me. Hurt like no other, too, especially further down." Hermione's eyes wandered to where she imagined the scar might end, then noticing where she was looking, she blushed and looked up again. "Would you like to see where it ends?" Charlie asked, which made her shake her head frantically and blush even more, "I'm just teasing. I wouldn't show you where it ends anyway. It's ends too close to a very improper place for me to be showing a fourteen-year-old."
Hermione laughed nervously, looked away from him, and pretended to be very interested in the frayed edge of the blanket beneath her.
"I have one more interesting scar, if you want to see it," Charlie said, "But you'll have to take the wand to see it."
Hermione nodded slowly and looked back over at him. He handed her his illuminated wand and turned his back to her, "You should be able to see it," he told her, leaning forwards a little bit.
"Wow, what happened with this one?" Hermione asked, reaching out and tenderly running her fingers on the elevated skin of the scar. The scar, which was actually two parallel scars, went from his left shoulder blade down his back, ending just above the waist of his pants. The scar was surrounded by a shiny pink scar, meaning he had been burnt too.
"I got too close to a Chinese Fireball's baby. She didn't like that too much, it could have been much worse if I hadn't had someone with me. It was deeper than the ones on my chest though since it came from a full grown dragon, rather than a baby. When she realized I was out of her reach she decided she wanted to scorch me to death instead. I was in the infirmary at the reserve for a week healing," Charlie explained, "Worst week of my life." Hermione laughed slightly at his last sentence.
"You don't have much luck when baby dragons are involved do you?" she joked, running her fingers on the scar again.
"No, I don't, the reserve has noticed that too. They don't let me around babies anymore unless I have at least three extra people for back up," Charlie laughed.
"That might be for the best," she smiled. She glanced at his right side, where she could see the rest of the dragon tattoo. Feeling brave, she moved her hand from the scar to the tattoo, and touched it lightly. "What kind of dragon is this?" Hermione asked him, interestedly.
"It's a Hungarian Horntail. Vicious dragons they are, particularly nesting females, but they're my favorite," Charlie answered, then asked, "Could I have my wand back?"
"Oh! Yeah, sorry," Hermione answered, handing it to him over his shoulder.
"Are you tired yet?" Charlie asked, suddenly remember the reason for their nighttime escapades.
Hermione shook her head, "No. Talking about the dragons and how you got your scars just woke me up more. Why? Are you getting tired?"
"No. I love talking about dragons, especially to someone who actually listens like you are. I'm more awake now than I was sitting in the house," he replied. He turned back to face her, which startled her because she still had her hand on his tattoo. When he turned her hand had run across his perfectly sculpted abs, and she gulped as she removed her hand from his abdomen.
"I do like sitting out here," he told her, "It's peaceful, which you don't get much when you live with Fred and George. Even when they're sleeping they make noise."
"I know!" Hermione giggled, "I don't think I've ever heard anyone snore as loudly as they do." Charlie nodded and chuckled.
Hermione shivered again, and instantly Charlie's arm was around her shoulder, holding her close and keeping her warm. On instinct, Hermione nuzzled closer to him, realizing how cold she really was. He wrapped his other arm around her, protecting her from the light breeze that was blowing through the trees.
Suddenly, Charlie unwrapped his arms from Hermione's shoulders, causing her to shudder again. He picked his wand up from the blanket beside him and pointed it at the blanket, "Engorgio," he muttered and the blanket instantly increased to triple it's original size. He grabbed the left end of the blanket and scooted all the way to the right end, motioning for Hermione to do the same, which she did.
He laid down on the blanket, patting the space beside him. Hermione looked at him curiously then decided it was probably safe to lay down beside him. Once situated, he pulled the other end of the blanket over the two of them and warmth immediately washed over them. Charlie laid on his back and wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist. She snuggled into him, laid her head on his chest, and wondered to herself when she developed all this confidence with boys.
She draped her left arm over his body, her hand resting on his right side, just above the dragon. She stroked her fingers over the dragon's back, causing Charlie to shudder and goosebumps to rise on his skin. Hermione smiled slightly, finding it amusing that she, a fourteen year old girl, could cause a twenty-one year old grown man to shiver.
Charlie noticed her smiling at him, so with his hand that was around her waist he traced circles on her lower back. Hermione tried to keep the goosebumps from forming on her skin and tried to keep the blush from creeping up on her cheeks both of which she failed miserably at. Charlie smiled and continued to draw designs on her back.
"Hey Charlie?" Hermione whispered after a few minutes.
"Yeah?" Charlie mumbled.
"Are you tired yet?" she asked quietly, smiling slightly.
"A little. You?" he replied.
"A little," she mumbled.
"You want to walk back up to the house and go to bed?" he questioned, stifling a yawn.
Hermione shook her head, "No. I'm too comfortable. And it's much more comfortable out here than it would be lying on my cot in Ginny's room." Hermione stifled a yawn, too, "Did you want to go back to the house?"
"No. It's nice out here, in the fresh air," he answered, and added almost inaudibly, "with you." Hermione blushed at this quiet confession.
"I agree," Hermione replied, hoping he would get her hint. She scooted closer to him, as close as she could without actually laying on him. He wrapped his other arm around her, holding her close, never wanting to let her go.
"Hermione?" he murmured, just as his eyes were starting to droop closed.
"Hmm?" she replied, looking up at his face.
And before he could think about what he was doing, he leaned his face to hers and kissed her lightly on the mouth. A short, simple kiss, that didn't even show off the skill that Charlie had when it came to kissing, but it was enough for both of them. Charlie let his eyes close and he fell asleep. Hermione touched her hand to her lips and looked at Charlie, the man who had just given her (or taken, depending on your view) her first kiss. It was something she would never get back and, even though she was saving it for someone special, was okay that it was with Charlie.
The next morning, when Bill came downstairs asking where Charlie was and Ginny came downstairs asking where Hermione was, people began to worry. Neither of them had been seen since the night before so Mrs. Weasley sent the kids out to look for them. They looked all over the yard when Bill announced that he was going to go up to the field where they played Quidditch.
As Bill approached the field he saw something in the middle of the clearing. Worried something may have happened to Charlie and Hermione, he sprinted closer until he realized what the thing he saw was.
In the middle of the field, lay Charlie Weasley and Hermione Granger, in the same position that they had fallen asleep in. Bill wished he had a way to take a picture of the two of them (for blackmail purposes of course) but he didn't. And now, since he was the one to find them, Bill had to wake them up and help them make up a story for why they were together and not at the house, so his mom didn't blow a gasket.
"Charlie. Hermione. Wake up, we've been looking for you everywhere," Bill said, loudly, prodding Charlie in the side with his wand.
"What time is it?" Hermione mumbled groggily.
"About eight. Mom's been having a fit since she found out you guys weren't in your rooms. She sent us out looking for you. You're lucky I'm the one that found you," Bill answered, prodding Charlie again, "C'mon, Charlie, get up, before Mom sends someone else up here after me."
Hermione, whose hand was still under the blanket and on Charlie's side, began running her fingers over his tattoo again. Charlie shook himself awake, grabbing Hermione's hand under the blanket.
"Alright, I'm awake. What's going on?" Charlie said, squinting at his brother in the bright sunshine.
"Mom's been looking for you both since she realized neither of you were in your beds. If you guys don't hurry up, she'll probably send someone else up here to see what's taking me so long to get back, or come up herself," Bill repeated looking at the pair of them and wondered how they ended up in this situation.
"It's not what you think, Bill," Hermione said quietly - as if she were reading his mind - and rubbed her eyes. She sat up, letting the blanket fall off her torso.
"Good," Bill thought, "At least they're still clothed, that means nothing went down last night."
"Really?" Bill said out loud. Hermione nodded.
"We couldn't sleep," Charlie interjected, yawning, "We went for a walk, came out here, sat down, started talking, and just sort of fell asleep."
"Okay," Bill said, not quite sure if he believed his brother, "Charlie, get up, we need to think of a story as to why you guys are out here, together, so early, and still in your pajamas."
Charlie sat up, allowing the blanket to fall off of his torso too, which was shirtless. Bill looked at his brother, rolling his eyes, then noticed something moving slightly, on his brother's side.
Bill reach down, moved the blanket, and saw the dragon tattoo. "Charlie!" he exclaimed, "A tattoo? You got a tattoo? Ooh, Mom's gonna kill you when she finds out!"
"Bill, shut up!" Charlie replied, "Why do you think I haven't told her?"
"Well now she's going to find out about it because you're shirtless and have to walk back through the house, where mom is," Bill pointed out.
Charlie swore loudly, "What am I going to do?"
"I don't know, but that's the least of your worries right now. You still need a story as to why you guys are out here," Bill said, "Because you sure can't tell Mom the truth, she'll blow a gasket."
"Why don't we tell her that I came for a walk early this morning. She knows I haven't been sleeping well so it won't be too hard to convince her of," Hermione said.
"But what about Charlie?" Bill asked, "And how do we explain the blanket?"
"Charlie woke up just as I was leaving, looked out the window, and saw me walking in my pajamas. He grabbed the blanket and followed me, because he's a gentleman, incase I needed it?" Hermione said, unsure if it was a good enough plan, "Maybe if I tell it she'll believe it?"
Bill nodded and looked at his brother, "Think it will work?" Bill asked.
Charlie shrugged, "Only one way to find out. Now what are we going to do about the tattoo problem?"
Hermione stood up and motioned for him to follow her actions, which he did. She picked up the blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders and down his torso, "There, problem solved."
"But I brought the blanket out for you remember? What if Mom asks why I have the blanket instead of you?" Charlie asked.
"I'll tell her I wasn't cold, but you were since you didn't put a shirt on before you came outside," Hermione answered, smiling.
"Okay. Got the story straight? Tattoo covered? Wait, guys smooth your hair, you've both got bed head," Bill said. Hermione ran her hands through her hair trying to flatten it as best she could.
"It don't matter if I have bed head, remember? I woke up and followed her out here. I didn't do anything else, I probably would have bed head," Charlie replied.
Hermione looked at them, "Good?" she asked, motioning to her hair.
Bill nodded as Charlie reached out and tried to flatten it, but it didn't do much good.
"Okay, I think we're good," Hermione said, "Let's go face your mother."
Molly Weasley had bought their story hook, line, and sinker, or so they thought. Molly herself was a pretty good liar and she knew that Hermione was lying when she told the story. Molly didn't call her out on it though, but let them think that she bought the story. Sometimes it was easier on everyone that way.
So there you are, there's chapter one. I hope you enjoyed it. Please hit that button that says review and let me know what you think. :D
