Goodbye, My Almost Lover by Luvscharlie
Warnings: Angst, Sex, Canon character deaths
A/N: Originally written for hp_humpdrabbles on Live Journal where the prompt was the lyrics to Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy and there was a maximum word count of 500 and there was a minimum rating of PG-13.
Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, my hopeless dream
I'm trying not to think about you
Can't you just let me be?
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
I should've known you'd bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do
—Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy
Bare skin on bare skin, sweat, dim light from a bare bulb in the back room of a Muggle pub, the groans of a female as she pulled and tugged at his short, spiky hair, the sound of bodies slapping together in rhythmic cadence; it was the stress relief that Charlie most needed.
The day had been long, brutal, filled with too much bloodshed and too much loss. But it was the pink-haired Auror that often tripped over her own feet whose dead body had most affected him. He had loved her; he'd loved her a lifetime, and broken her heart when he'd gone off to chase dragons and left her behind at school, a hope-filled young girl with love in her eyes and dreams of babies and romance and Charlie to love her—
"Fuck," the girl beneath him moaned, but it was the cold chill running down his back that brought Charlie up sharp with shock.
"A day, Charlie! I'm not even dead a day and you're burying that tiny prick of yours into some poor girl with—oh Merlin, those are a sorry pair of tits on that skinny little bint, aren't they? Didn't even pick you a girl with a good pair? Probably got a bony little bum, too. Scooch over, won't you, and let me see."
The shock changed to anger at her words. How dare she come back as a ghost and criticise who he chose to fuck?"You're married!" Charlie shouted at the shimmering image of the girl he loved that floated before him.
The girl beneath him's face screwed up in confusion. "Don't think you're not paying, mister. Married or not's got nothing to do with it. And how'd you even know that anyway? You're not some creeper, are you?" She seemed to ponder those words. "You know, a bigger creeper than my normal clientele, I mean."
Tonks gave him a sympathetic smile. "A girl can't wait for all the dragons in the world to go extinct, and then hope you'll come home so she can be your second choice, now can she? Be fair, eh, Chuck?"
"I do love dragons," Charlie conceded.
"Got enough of them decorating that fine body of yours," the Muggle girl agreed. "Strange pillow talk, Mister."
"But I loved you more, and my name's Charlie, you bint."
"Oh, God, you're one of those. Why do I always get those? Lettie never gets those." The Muggle girl shook her head in frustration. "Yes, yes, I love you too, er—Harley, you said? This doesn't change the price. I said thirty pounds, and not a penny less. Throw in a couple of pounds, and I'll even call you daddy; the men sure seem to love that, Mist—Harley."
"I have to go now," Tonks whispered. "Just needed to see you one more time. Take care of yourself, yeah?" Her lips turned up in a smile that Charlie had once loved… almost as much as dragons… and then she was gone.