At Jean Luc's

"Here we are," Charlie said as the spinning stopped and they were standing in an alley in front of a small, rustic restaurant.

As soon as they were still and Hermione regained her senses she wrenched herself from Charlie's grip and crossed her arms defiantly.

"Jean Luc?" Hermione read dubiously.

"Best Italian place I know of," Charlie announced with a wide grin.

"Italian?" Hermione asked and raised an eyebrow in question. "But the name's French."

"Wonderful!" Charlie exclaimed cheerfully. "The girl knows her languages."

Hermione hit Charlie's arm. He winced from the pain. She really didn't spare any of her strength. He rubbed his arm as he went over to open the door for her.

"You coming or not?" he said and looked back at her. Her stance was guarded, her legs spread and her arms still crossed over her chest. Her stubborn chin was tilted stuck out in obstinately.

"I don't think I want to anymore."

Charlie frowned and then sighed deeply.

"You never used to be this difficult," he said and shook his head. One glance at Hermione told him that those words were definitely the wrong ones. Her eyes instantly narrowed and a tick started working in her jaw.

"You don't know the first thing about me, Charlie Weasley!" she hissed angrily and turned her back to leave.

He shook his head again before he ran after her. He walked next to her without saying a word. He just walked besides her, matching her long, angry stride. After half a street she suddenly stopped and spun around to face him.

"Why are you following me?!" she yelled. "Why won't you just leave me alone?!"

Calmly Charlie answered, "Because I feel like you might need a friend right now."

"What I need is to be left alone!" she yelled. "I don't need you sympathy, your friendship or any kind of help from you. Especially not after avoiding me for three years!"

"You know, you say that I don't know you," he said, starting to get slightly irritated with her pigheadedness, "but you really don't know me either. You don't know how it was for me all those years alone."

"You chose to be alone!"

"No, I didn't choose that. I just wasn't strong enough to change it."

At that some of Hermione's anger evaporated.

"What are you saying?" she asked, still very mistrusting.

"I'm saying that I was weak, Hermione. You don't know how many times I meant to write, how many letters I've started. But in the end I always chickened out. I never had the gut to do it."

"I don't understand…"

"That's because you've always been stronger than anyone else. I wasn't. I hadn't the strength to face anyone. I was afraid of being reminded of Fred, of Tonks and all the others. The pain was too much for me to bear. So I hid behind my dragons."

For the first time Hermione looked at him like she actually understood a part of him.

"I think I've been doing the same thing these last months," she confessed after a moment of silence. "Of course, without the dragons that is."

Charlie sent her a weak smile before getting serious again. He took a deep breath before saying what he longed most to say.

"Hermione, I meant to write," he said with remorse. "I meant to write so many times to tell you I was thinking about you. But I just couldn't…"

He trailed of and bowed his head in embarrassment.

"Why in Merlin's beard would you want to write to me?"

Charlie felt himself blush as he said, "Because I missed you."

But still Hermione wasn't content.

"How can you miss someone you don't even know?" she inquired.

"I don't have an explanation, Hermione. Just the fact that I missed you and have been thinking about you every single day for the last three years."

He fell silent and watched Hermione's face, waiting for a reply, any sort of reply. Anything but the silence he was facing.

"Hermione, say something," he pleaded.

She opened her mouth, closed it and opened it again before answering, "What do you want me to say?"

He groaned annoyed and crossed his arms.

"I don't know," he said slightly irritated. "That you're glad I didn't forget about you. That you've thought about me too, just once in a while. That you've missed me as well."

Instead of saying any of those things Hermione stepped close to him, angled her chin to look up at him and then did the very last thing he'd expected. He reached up and put her arms around his neck, drawing him in for a tight, heartfelt hug. After a second of numb surprise he wrapped his arms around her slim waist and held on to her, burying his face in her chocolate hair.

"I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear.

"Whatever for?" Hermione asked, slightly surprised and drew back to search his face with concerned eyes.

"For being too weak to write you. For what happened to you while I was away. For only having the strength to return after learning about you misfortune."

She huffed and wiggled out of his embrace.

"Well, you should be sorry for those things, Mr. Weasley," she said sternly. Suddenly her face softened and she took a hold of his hand. "But I forgive you."

Instantly Charlie's mood turned from murky to cheerful.

"I knew you would," he confessed brightly with a lopsided, impish grin. He was rewarded with a genuine laugh from Hermione as she squeezed his hand. He squeezed back and pulled her close enough for her chest to touch his.

As he looked down at her, her eyes turned slightly misty and her lips parted. Charlie felt his heard speed and his mind go foggy and he leaned down to touch her kissable lips with his own. When their lips met Charlie noticed how Hermione instantly melted against him. Her stance became soft and she leaned against his chest as their lips moulded against each other. His free arm, the one whose hand wasn't holding hers tightly, went around her back and pressed her even closer, which spurred a soft moan to erupt from Hermione's throat. Charlie felt himself grow hard from that sound alone and he intensified the kiss by letting his tongue join in on the fun. Without a second thought Hermione opened her mouth and allowed him in.

They drew apart, panting heavily, heavy eyes meeting each other.

"Okay, wow," Charlie breathed and reach out to stroke her flaming red cheek.

She was watching him like he was some sort of riddle, like she was trying to figure him out but he didn't care. At least she was finally looking at him.

I am so sorry for the slow update but I've been away on vacation. But, now I'm back and had the time to write a long overdue update. Hope you like it.

Feel free to review and tell me what you're thinking.