He considered them to be friends, a fact he was proud of, since he was one of the very few men she trusted. Friends... friends who talked a lot, friends who laughed at stupid jokes, friends who wrote each other during the long periods of separation, when he was at work in Romania and she enjoyed the sun of Florence. Yes, Charlie Weasly was one of the few men in whose company Lucia Tedeschi did not feel uncomfortable. On the contrary, the night he saved her out of the hands of the Death Eaters, she gained trust in him and he became, despite the ten years of age that were between them, her best friend. He had accepted that she was ruined for men after what Voldemorts followers had done to her. He himself had carried her out of the dungeon of Malfoy Manor, frail as a bird, eleven years old, the light in her eyes fading after the days of torture and rape. From this day on, the company of men was unbearable to her, crowed rooms seemed to suffocate her and groups of people containing more than three frightened her to no end. She had to finish education at home, tutored by her elder sisters. So the blossoming friendship between her and him had been a surprise to everyone, although a most welcome.
The past six years he had seen her as his second little sister, or so he thought. In fact, he had never thought about his feelings towards her. Until the day, when his mother asked him why he did not find himself a woman, like all of his siblings had done by now. Even his little sister was in a relationship, and the Weasly ´s kitchentable expanded steadily. He was now 27 and still he attended family dinners alone. He had dated several girls in the past, of course, but it had always felt wrong. It was not until this day, until this conversation with his mother that he realized that it had always felt like a betrayal towards her. It hit him like a thunderbolt. The days when he had loved her like a little sister had long passed by. He had to admit it. He loved her. He loved her the way a man loves a woman.
So he doomed himself into a lonely life, for to him it was clear that she would never be with a man, that she could not be with a man. And so he loved her in secret, waited for her letters excitedly, enjoying long walks in her company. He watched her growing into a beauty, admired her blue eyes, an inheritance of her English mother, noticed joyfully how they sometimes sparkled again. But all this time his heart felt heavy. When his brother Bill announced that he was going to be a father, he imagined her sitting next to him, congratulating the beaming soon to be parents. But he knew it could not be. Couldn´t it? His sister-in - law gazed at him intently an suddenly whispered into his ear "It is her, isn´t it?". "Yes" he said with a heavy sigh. "Tell her." Fleur said and smiled. Could he just tell her? Wouldn´t he ruin everything they had. His gnawing doubts wore him out. But he had to tell her for it became unbearable to him.
So he took her for a walk the other day, they laughed and joked around like children, as always and there was this sparkle in her eyes again. A glimmer of hope for him. And so it came that when he started to say "I love..." she only smiled and said "I know." and she leaned forward and kissed him. Never in his 27 years had he felt so right.