Hi guys ;)
Here is chapter 2 ;D I hope you'll enjoy!
Chapter 2
"Charlie? Did you see the present for Victoire? I put it in the guest bed room, but I can't find it!" Hermione asked.
"It's in the living room, I wrapped it this morning." Charlie answered over the newspaper.
"You wrapped it?" she asked, surprised.
"Yes, I had time, so I thought I would do it for you. You can look, it doesn't look too bad."
Hermione laughed and gave him a quick kiss "I bet it looks great. Thank you honey. I'm going to shower now and then we can floo to Shell Cottage."
"Okay, take your time, we have plenty of time."
"Oh thank Merlin, you are here!" Fleur exclaimed, her accent gone after so many years in England.
"We are early, Fleur." Charlie chuckled and gave his sister-in-law a kiss on the cheek. Hermione hugged her before Fleur answered "Yes, but Molly decided to come early and apparently she thinks that I can't even host a birthday party for my own daughter."
"She just isn't used to doing nothing. I'll go and try to distract her after I wished Victoire a happy Birthday, okay?" Hermione said.
Fleur gave her a thankful look and nodded eagerly.
Hermione entered the living room, Charlie not far behind her.
"Happy Birthday, Victoire!" they exclaimed as they saw the now nine year old.
"Thank you aunt Hermione, uncle Charlie!" she said, grinning.
They hugged their niece and gave her the present Charlie wrapped earlier. They said hi to Bill, the kids and Mr. Weasley, before Hermione excused herself to go save Fleur in the kitchen.
"Hi Molly!" Hermione greeted her mother-in-law, who just started to tell Fleur how to decorate the cake.
"Hermione, dear. How are you?"
"I'm fine. What do you think Molly, a little break from helping Fleur? I'll help her instead." Hermione tried.
"I couldn't…." Mrs. Weasley began.
"Oh, yes of course. I bet, Victoire would love to show you what she got from Charlie and me. And Arthur looked awfully lonely out there." Hermione smiled.
Mrs. Weasley looked between her two daughter's in law and the door and finally nodded "Okay, if you don't mind, Fleur?"
"Of course not, Molly. Thank you so much for your help, but you deserve a break!"
Mrs. Weasley beamed at them and left the kitchen. Fleur waited a few seconds before hugging Hermione.
"Thank you!" she whispered. Hermione laughed.
"Nothing to thank me for. Can I stay here for a while? After all, I'm helping you now. But please tell me if I can do anything." Hermione grinned.
"Actually, I did everything already. The cake will stay like I planned it and the rest is done too, so time for us to talk and relax."
Hermione laughed and sat down on the small table that was in the kitchen. Fleur did the same.
"I can't believe she is already nine. I'm glad that Dominique and Louis are still little, they just grow too fast. Bill wants another baby, but I'm just not so sure about it." Fleur sighed.
Hermione didn't know what to say about it. She was the wrong person to give advice about that topic. A knock on the door saved her from answering.
"Ladies, everyone is here." Charlie announced.
"Great! I'm going to say hello to them before I bring the cake out. Thank you again, Hermione!" Fleur said and went to greet the rest of the family.
"Hey beautiful." Charlie said, smiling.
"Hey handsome." She replied and raised herself on her tiptoes to kiss him.
"Ready for the turmoil that will surely await us?" he asked against her lips.
"Charlie, that's your family!" Hermione giggled.
"Our family. And it's true."
"Come on, let's go."
"The cake is great, Fleur!" Hermione complimented her sister-in-law. Everyone agreed.
"Thank you, but you hardly touched it, Hermione."
"I wish I could eat it all, but I can't eat much at the moment without getting sick."
Mrs. Weasley's attention was immediately with Hermione.
"You are getting sick?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
Hermione's eyes widened in horror as she realized what Mrs. Weasley and probably the other's around the table thought. She quickly looked at Charlie, who realized the same thing as Hermione by the look on his face and then back at her mother-in-law.
"Yes, but Molly, I'm not pregnant if that is what you're thinking."
"Well, how do you know that? Did you take a test?"
"I don't think that this is a good time or place to discuss this, Molly. I'm sorry, but I'm not pregnant, I am just taking a new potion that doesn't sit well with my stomach, that's all."
"What potion?" George asked.
"Hermione is right. Now isn't the time nor the place for this." Charlie said and the conversation was over.
"Are you okay?" Charlie asked Hermione as she stepped out of the bathroom at Fleur and Bill's home. He waited for her, so he could speak to her alone.
Hermione nodded "Yes. I learned a long time ago what it means to be in this family. Don't get me wrong, I love them all, but you have absolutely no privacy. But this time I should blame myself, because I didn't think and brought it up. Maybe I should just tell them that I can't have children, so your mother would just stop getting excited over nothing."
"Hermione, the Healer said there is still a good chance." Charlie reminded her with a pained expression on his face. Hermione didn't reply, she just shrugged and left him standing alone in the hallway.
Charlie watched her go, helplessly. He didn't know what to do anymore. He took a deep breath before following her. She stood in a corner of the living room, just starting a conversation with his sister.
"Hey Ginny, would you excuse us for a moment?" Charlie asked.
"We just started talking, Charlie!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Ginny…" he warned, his expression told her he wasn't in the mood to discuss this with her. Ginny looked worried between his brother and Hermione, but then nodded and excused herself.
"What the hell, Charlie?!" Hermione exclaimed as Ginny was out of earshot.
"You can't do this to yourself, Hermione. You need to start believing that we'll succeed someday or else it will kill you inside…" Charlie wanted to say more, but Hermione grabbed his arm and dragged him outside. She cast a silencing charm before she began to talk again.
"Do you think this is the right place to start this kind of conversation, Charlie? Thanks to you, Ginny already knows something is up."
"Maybe it would be good for you to talk to someone about it…you won't talk to me about it, so maybe Ginny or Angie could help you."
"How could they help me? They wouldn't understand what it feels like. Nobody in this family does. And this is nobody's business but mine!"
"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? IT'S MINE TOO!" Charlie shouted "I want to be there for you, I want you to realize that you aren't alone in this, but you push me away every bloody time I try. I don't know what to do anymore. Hermione, I love you. Tell me what I can do." he continued softer.
Hermione couldn't hold it any longer. She began to cry. Charlie wrapped his arms around her and just let her cry. Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone watching them. He turned his head slightly and saw Bill standing there with a concerned expression on his face. Charlie knew that he didn't hear a word they were saying.
They made eye contact, Bill nodded and Charlie apparated Hermione and himself home. His arms were still around his wife, as he lowered them on the couch in their living room. Suddenly Hermione jumped up and wiped away her tears furiously.
"I don't think, I can do this anymore." Hermione whispered.
"Can't do what anymore?"
"Trying and trying for a baby. All of this hoping and praying. It destroys me and it destroys our marriage or it already did. I don't know. M-maybe we should get a d-divorce, I don't want to take something like a family away from you, but I just can't do it anymore."
"Hey, hey, hey, stop it. We won't get divorced, Hermione, because we love each other. I understand that you don't want to try anymore. It's okay, we can live without kids. Or we could look at other options like adoption, but if you don't want that, that's okay too. We are in this together, no divorce!" He stated and stood up too.
"Charlie, maybe you should think about it…" Hermione said.
"NO! I won't think about something like that and I don't want to talk about this any longer." he almost shouted before he walked out of the living room into their bedroom, shutting the door behind him with a loud bang. Hermione winced. She sat down again and groaned quietly.
Of course, she understood the reaction, but she just wanted the best for Charlie. She was afraid that he would hate her someday.
She closed her eyes and massaged her temples for a moment…
Flashback:
Hermione stood in the corner of the Leaky, watching her friends dancing and laughing. She had to laugh too, as she saw Ron spinning his fiancé Luna around the room. They were the reason they were all here, they celebrated the engagement of Luna and Ron.
Hermione was dancing too, only minutes ago, but she needed a break and decided to take a drink and watch her friends for a while. Ginny and Harry welcomed their first child, James, only a month ago and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley watched him for them. Even though, they had a great time, you could see them, checking the clock every five minutes.
"Why aren't you dancing?" a voice asked. It was Charlie.
"Charlie, hi. When did you arrive? Oh, I just needed a break." she answered.
"Just now. We had an emergency at work, but now have a month's holiday."
"That's great, Charlie." Hermione said, smiling at him.
"You want to dance?" he asked her.
"I would love to." she told him, blushing just a tiny bit. He took the glass, she was holding, out of her hand and put it on the table beside them, then he took her hand and pulled her in the middle of the room. He pulled her very close, closer than it was probably appropriate for friends and began to move to the music.
Hermione wasn't sure that this was a great idea. She had feelings for the tall read head for a while now and dancing this close wasn't helping.
"You look great, by the way." Charlie whispered near her ear. She could feel his breath on her ear.
Hermione blushed "Oh, I-…thank you!"
"You want to go out some time?" he asked.
"On a date?" Hermione asked perplexed.
"Yes, if you want to…"
"I…" she began, but Harry and Ginny chose that moment to interrupt them.
"Hey guys. We're going home now." Harry said.
"Missing James already?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah…" Ginny answered, but looking at Hermione with raised eyebrows.
"I would miss him too…he is just so cute." Hermione said, avoiding Ginny's gaze.
As Ginny and Harry were gone after they said good bye, Charlie took Hermione into his arms again and continued dancing.
"So…you want to go out?"
"I would love to!" Hermione said, smiling.
Present:
That was how it started. Hermione smiled to herself. Her time with Charlie was wonderful so far. They were going through a rough patch at the moment, but she was sure that they would make it, she just didn't want to stand in the way of his dreams.
She stood up from the couch and followed him into their bedroom, where he already lay in bed, facing the opposite site. She quickly changed into comfortable clothes and crawled into bed behind her husband. She lay her hand between his shoulder blades and kissed his shoulder.
"I'm sorry." she apologized quietly.
He sighed and turned around, wrapping his arms around her "I'm sorry too."
"You have nothing to apologize for. I'm really sorry, I just want what's best for you."
"You are what's best for me, honey. I love you and I can't live without you, do you understand? Of course, I want children, but not without you. I can live without them, I don't need them to be happy. What I need to be happy is you, only you, okay?!"
"Okay. I love you too." She whispered.