Fire in the Storm by WeasleyForMe

This story is for my darling friend Kara! Happy Birthday, KaraSays!

Hermione and Charlie find themselves stranded together, and boredom quickly turns into heat! Thanks Mistymist for beta reading and ruling the world.

"I thought that was breakfast." Charlie's look of innocence made Hermione chuckle.

"Well, if that was breakfast," she said with a wink, "I want the same thing for lunch and dinner."

Charlie eyed her in amazement, really enjoying her brazen comments that gave a boost to his ego. He grunted when she propped herself up in his bed and straddled his abdomen before climbing the rest of the way over him and off the bed.

"I really am hungry now, after that… workout," she commented as she sashayed across his room. Charlie's attention was focused completely on her rear end as she searched for her purple knickers. Once they were found, she slid them slowly up her smooth legs, enjoying the look in his eyes as she moved. "Oh, my shirt is still down in the bathroom," she said, adjusting the lace and elastic around her hips.

"You could just do without it," Charlie suggested. Hermione picked up a sock and threw it at him. "I have an idea," he said, rising to stand next to her. He met her eyes and held her longing gaze as he reached past her, into his closet. He pulled out a crisp, white dress shirt and held it behind Hermione; she slipped her arms into the long sleeves which fell far past her fingertips. Charlie slowly buttoned the shirt, starting from the bottom, never breaking eye contact. When his fingers brushed along her sensitive flesh, she shivered slightly and began to blush.

Hermione mentally chastised herself. "You just had sexual intercourse with the man! Why are you blushing?" But she knew why. She had never had a man do something quite this intimate with her. Charlie's fingers fumbled at bit as he reached the top, deciding to leave the top two buttons undone.

Hermione's throat felt dry as she dropped her gaze and muttered, "I don't think it fits too well." She half expected him to shrink the shirt with a spell and was surprised when he ran his hands down her arm and began to roll up the sleeves.

Once the sleeves were rolled to Hermione's elbows, Charlie stood back to admire his work. He grinned and shook his head as he grabbed a pair of clean boxer shorts.

"What? Do I look that ridiculous?" she asked, slightly annoyed that he was shaking his head.

Charlie climbed into his underwear before he stopped to look at her again. "Nope. Actually, I think that right now, you are the cutest thing I've ever seen."

Hermione's eyebrows shot up. "Oh," she managed before she started to blush more and fidget around.

Charlie leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Come on, I'll make you some food."

While Hermione helped him mix batter for pancakes, Charlie couldn't take his eyes off of her. He couldn't seem to believe what they had just done in his bedroom was anything more than a very pleasant dream. Hermione was reaching up into the cabinet for some dishes, and Charlie was watching his shirt rise up as it revealed her lacey knickers. He cleared his throat loudly, before he could speak. "Can you check to see if there is something to drink?"

She set the plates down and went to dig around the refrigerator. Charlie was beginning to think he'd sentenced himself to death as he watched her bent and curvy form reaching for some juice. The sigh of her wearing his shirt was way too tempting.

Charlie did his best to control himself as he sat across from her, eating his share of the blueberry pancakes and syrup. When they were cleaning up together, he was surprised by Hermione.

Once she had passed him the last plate to dry, she stared at him, biting her lip. "Charlie," she began as he dried the plate and set it down. "It's not exactly fair that you're flouncing around the kitchen, making breakfast and looking sexy without a shirt on. I mean, a girl can only take so much."

Charlie grinned before he spoke. "Really? Do you honesty think I look- Hey! I don't flounce!"

Hermione nearly cackled as she bounced out of the kitchen and into the den. Charlie bounded after her, ready to protest further, when they both noticed the floo network activate and flood the room with brilliant green light. With a squeak, Hermione hid halfway behind Charlie who in turn crossed his arms over his broad, bare chest. Hermione's eyes went wide, as did Percy's when he emerged from the fireplace. Charlie was frozen in place with her behind him; he really didn't know what to say in response to their lack of clothing.

Percy looked from Charlie down to what he could see of Hermione and then back up to his brother. He opened his mouth to speak as realization dawned on his bespectacled face, and a grin began to spread across his features until most of his teeth were showing. He shook his head a bit and pushed his glasses further up on his nose. "The others still have scrofungulus," he said quickly before turning back to the fireplace and activating the floo. Hermione and Charlie watched as he jumped into the grate and returned to Penelope's apartment.

Hermione appeared in front of Charlie. "Do you think he knows that we…?"

Charlie nodded. "I'm certain of it." Hermione sucked in a breath and covered her mouth. "Why? Are you ashamed?" he asked in a light tone, although he really wanted to know.

"No! Gods, no!" she quickly replied. "I just don't want him to tell your Mum, because then she'll keep flooing us, and we'll never get a chance to 'have lunch and dinner'."

Charlie's laughter boomed throughout the room as he scooped up Hermione and sat down in a squishy recliner with her on his lap. "Percy won't say anything. And as appealing as 'lunch' sounds, I need to get some things done for work, because once the snow melts, I'll have to go back. Maybe we can have a 'late lunch'?"

Hermione nodded and perched on his lap as a pang of sadness rushed through her chest. Charlie was only home for a long weekend, and soon he'd have to return to Romania. As he picked up his copy of Dauntless Dragons Quarterly and wrapped his arm around her, she couldn't help but feel jealous of the dragons. With a frown, she situated herself so that they could both read the articles. She was leaning back against Charlie's perfect chest and playing with the hem of his dress shirt as he made an occasional note in the margins.

She pointed to a paragraph, asking, "Do the Welsh Greens really hibernate longer than any other breed?"

Charlie unconsciously kissed her cheek before he answered. "They do. In fact, it's a right pain in the arse to try to tag them in the wild during most of the year, because they are hiding in caves and caverns, peacefully sleeping. They are really hard to find."

Hermione's heart fluttered from the kiss and the feel of his chest rumbling as he spoke. She needed to feel more, so she asked another question. "Which breed is the most dangerous?"

"In my opinion, I'd say that all breed are equally dangerous as long as you are dealing with a new mother. Dragons usually respond well to trained keepers, but nursing mums are quite scary."

Hermione nodded against his chest and continued to read with him for awhile before she picked up the Weasley Family Photo Album from the table next to her. She skimmed through the pictures as Charlie made some notes. Hermione turned a page and started to laugh. Charlie set down the journal and wrapped his arms more firmly around her. He looked at the picture she was chuckling at. "Don't tell me you're going to make fun of me," he whined.

"How could I make fun of that? You were too cute!" She was looking at a picture of him waiting on the magical side of Platform nine and three quarters with his parents. It must have been from his first trip to Hogwarts. They all waved up from the page.

"I was so cute?"

She rolled her eyes. "You still are, I suppose." What an understatement that was.

Charlie laughed as she turned the page to a shot of all seven children at a birthday party. She watched the moving image in which Percy blew out his candles and the twins tossed a rubber chicken at him. All of the children laughed while the much younger Percy started to cry. "I don't even know why Mum and Dad put that one in the album; Percy hates it."

"I can imagine why. But it captures the twins perfectly," she remarked. She closed the book and twisted around so she was almost facing Charlie. "What's it like having such a big family?"

Charlie looked into the low flames in the fireplace before answering. "Wonderful and utterly annoying at the same time. There was never any privacy growing up; everyone always knew all of your business, and they all thought they knew the best way to take care of problems. Mum would fuss over us all something terrible, and Dad was always working so hard. Bill and I used to hide in the attic when we got frustrated with Ron and the twins. Then Ginny was born, and suddenly I was looking after her all the time. But you know what?" he asked, looking into Hermione's eager eyes. "I can't imagine life without all of them. Your family is small, right?"

Hermione smiled sadly. "Yes, and my parents were workaholics. That's where I got my love of reading; I was usually alone as a child. But I really do love my parents. And your family was always very accepting of me at holidays after I started at Hogwarts. Of course, I don't see my family much, now that I live here while I work at Gringotts and save up for my own place."

Charlie nodded. "Don't tell Mum or anything, but they greatly influenced my move to Romania. I just needed to get away from the clan, you know? Try things on my own for once." He pulled the photo album out of her hands and opened it to an image of him with a baby dragon in a pen.

"Wow," she gasped as she watched the image move. Charlie knelt down and ran his hand along the baby's scales over and over again. She turned the pages and looked at more, similar images, and soon she understood how much his job meant to him. She flipped the page to the last photo of Charlie and frowned. "Who is she?"

Charlie looked at the photo of himself next to a gorgeous blonde girl and laughed heartily. "That's my roommate."

Hermione's eyes narrowed as she looked up at him. "Your mother allows you to room with her?" She suddenly felt very inadequate.

"Let me tell you, she threw a fit when I told her I was assigned to live with a former model," he said, recalling the conversation. Hermione scowled as she looked back at the photo, wishing the girl didn't exist. "But I explained that I'd have my own tiny bedroom and would only have to share a kitchen and bathroom with Anya."

Hermione sighed and crossed her arms.

"Are you… jealous?" Charlie asked.

"No!" she answered too quickly. "Don't be absurd." But of course she was jealous of the blonde model, even though she herself had no real claim on Charlie.

He laughed gently. "Well, if you were jealous, I'd tell you that Anya is from Sweden and hardly speaks any English. She's also a slob, and I constantly have to clean up after her. Oh, and I think she likes women."

Hermione barely managed to hide her smile as she turned back to face him. "That's good to know."

Charlie grinned at her and tentatively leaned down to kiss her lips. Hermione's eyes fluttered closed as she accepted his kisses. She wrapped her arms around his neck to try to steady herself, but there was no way to calm her pounding heart as Charlie's fingers wound through her hair and tickled her flesh. "Is it time for lunch yet?" he finally asked.

I hope you like this chapter! I know I took awhile to update, so I made it extra long! And thanks again Vette for all your help and input :)

Please Review!