It was one of those perfect summer mornings. It was light and sunny, but it was early enough for the grass to still be dewy and the air to feel fresh. That was their favourite time of day, before lessons started and the castle began to awake, to lounge around outside on the lawn and be together.
"I'm sick of all these career talks," Tonks moaned, picking at some grass. "They're so boring. I don't find them helpful at all, do you?"
It was a rhetorical question, but Charlie answered. "I actually have found them quite helpful," he told her. "I've decided what I want to do. I never knew before."
"Really? What's that, then?" she asked, surprised. "I always thought you wanted to play Quidditch professionally. I thought that was certain."
Charlie shook his head. "You know I love Quidditch," he said, "but I think doing it all the time, doing it as work, would just take the magic away. No, I want to work with dragons."
"That's so cool!" she gushed. "Where would you do that? They have dragons in Wales, don't they? Welsh Greens or something? And then in the mountainous areas? Or am I mixing that up with giants... how could you even do that, seriously -"
"I want to go to Romania," Charlie blurted out, cutting across her.
Tonks blinked. "Romania? Where even is that?"
"Eastern Europe," he said, grinning just at the thought - it was definitely the right path for him. "It's an amazing place, I've seen pictures of it - you'll love it!" A flicker of confusion went across Tonks's face, and Charlie realised that he had been assuming that she would follow him there. "You... you will come with me, won't you, Tonks?" he asked uncertainly.
"Of course I will," she said, after a moment's pause. Seeing that he didn't look reassured, she kissed him gently. But Charlie couldn't help noticing that it seemed hesitant, half-hearted. They had promised to stick together; but what if they ended up apart?
A/N: Aww, poor Charlie. What did you think? :)