For thefirstservant who is always wonderful :D
Charlie sat at his desk and stared blankly at the paperwork he was supposed to be filling out. Boxes and numbers and names swam before his eyes. The clock ticked loudly behind him and he knew he was only a few minutes away from the end of his shift. The only thing standing between him and his weekend off was the short stack of reports in front of him.
This was the reason he despised working on Fridays. Dragon taming still had its irksome tasks that he liked to pretend didn't exist every other day of the week. But today he had to finish his work or else he'd hear about it on Monday. Again.
He hurried through it, checking off the appropriate boxes, pausing once in a while to consider how the Hungarian Horntail's eating habits could be described before scribbling something vague and signing his name at the bottom. And then he would write the date. May 2nd.
May 2nd.
It seemed to mock him with every report he filled out, reminding him that he shouldn't even be at work at all. He should be home or at the joke shop with George. He should be with his family.
But he'd used the Portkey money he'd been saving to go home for Ron and Hermione's wedding and he simply couldn't afford to go home this May. His parents had been understanding, and he knew he really ought to think of it as just another day, but he couldn't. It didn't seem right.
Charlie sighed and got up to turn in the paperwork to the office next door, passing Markus on the way out the door. He almost escaped without having to say anything but the other man pulled him back by his shirtsleeve.
"You all right, mate?"
Charlie shrugged. "Well enough."
Markus gave him a knowing look but didn't press him. "A bunch of us are heading down to the pub later if you want some company."
"Yeah…" Charlie mumbled. "Thanks."
He made it out of the reserve and decided to walk home to clear his head. He hated Apparating anyway and normally he'd take the train, but he definitely wasn't in a hurry to get to his empty flat. It wasn't very often that living alone bothered him; after growing up with so many siblings, having time to himself had always been his favorite thing about living in Romania. But on days like today, he had to admit that he missed having someone else around. However, he also didn't think going out to the pub would make him feel much better either.
As he breathed in the fresh air, he figured maybe he'd wander the streets for a while for lack of a better idea. But without thinking, he found himself walking toward his building. It was habit, he supposed, but as he grew closer, he was surprised to see someone familiar sitting on the steps. She was leaning back with a magazine in one hand while absentmindedly playing with her scarf with the other. Her wavy black hair was pulled out of her face and he noticed that there was none of her usual Quidditch gear in sight. There was only a very full duffle bag beside her.
"Katie?"
She set her magazine down and stood up to greet him. The mischievous glint in her eye did not go unnoticed and just for a minute he completely forgot about his shitty day. She threw her arms around his neck as soon as he came to stand in front of her. "Hey."
"Don't you have practice today?" he asked suspiciously.
She rolled her eyes. "I took a mental health day. You should try it some time."
"So I've been told."
She looked pointedly down at the duffle bag at her feet. "It's actually a mental health weekend. You know… if that's okay."
He tightened his hold around her waist and kissed her soundly and was reminded all over again how much he'd missed her. "Definitely okay. More than okay."
He grabbed her bag and led her up the stairs. When he reached his flat it occurred to him that he didn't have much in the way of food to offer her. He opened the cupboard and studied the contents which consisted of a few cans of soup, and a loaf of bread. "Er…"
Katie just grinned and opened her bag to reveal a package that filled the room with the smell of his mother's cooking. "Your mum worries about you, you know. She sent this with me." She pulled out an itchy looking red sweater. "And this. You must be special if you got two sweaters this year, eh?"
Charlie grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I suppose so." He could feel her studying him as he put on a pot of coffee for the sake of giving his hands something to do.
"Rough day?" she asked quietly.
"You could say that." He swallowed thickly then turned to lean against the counter. She left the packages on the table and held out her arms to him. And for a moment he tried to resist, but it didn't take long for him to realize that would be foolish and gave up the pretense that he was okay. She knew better and they both knew it.
He buried his face in her neck and breathed in her familiar scent, taking comfort in the way she rubbed little circles on his back. "I miss him, Kate. I miss all of them."
"I miss him, too," she said. "And they all miss you. They wanted me to tell you."
"You are absolute angel for coming today, love. Really."
"I try," she said, pulling away, frowning a little at the tired look in his eye. "You work too hard. I'd say you really do need a mental health weekend."
"And what do people do on mental health weekends?" he asked. "You'll have to educate me, see."
"Anything you want or nothing at all," Katie said unloading the care package Molly had sent with her. "Sounds nice, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, actually it does. As long as you're here, I don't care what we do. When do you leave?"
"Tuesday."
Charlie looked at her apologetically. "I have work late on Monday."
She immediately waved this idea aside. "No, you don't. Mental health weekends are long weekends. You're taking a much needed day off."
"Oh, am I?"
"Yes," she said pointedly. "You are. In fact, go write to your boss right now and I'll finish getting dinner ready. Go on."
Charlie didn't argue; he'd learned by now that he wouldn't win. It was something he'd had to get used to with her, but he'd also learned that it was usually worth it. He leaned over and kissed her cheek before getting up to write his letter. "I'm really glad you're here, Kate."
She smiled back at him. "Me too."