A/N: I am sooooooooo sorry for the wait you've all had to live through! Here's chapter 10!

Chapter 10: I Was Serious!

"WHAT IN MARLIN'S NAME ARE YOU ALL DOING?!" Molly Weasley yelled. The four teens winced visibly. "HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER, DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU COULD HAVE BEEN SEEN AND KIDNAPPED?! YOU COULD BE DEAD AND WE WOULD NOT HAVE KNOWN THE DIFFERENCE!"

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so troublesome." Hermione's eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"Well, what are you here for, not that I mind you being here, but does Charlie know you're gone?" Hermione paled.

Pop.

"CHARLIE!" Ginny cried as she ran towards me. My sister threw her arms around me and hugged, it was then that Ginny noticed I had forgotten a shirt.

"Charlie," she whispered trying to warn me. "You haven't got a shirt on."

"Shit!" I whispered finally feeling her clammy hands. Ginny scrambled to cover my shoulder by throwing her arms around my neck. Too late.

"Charles Weasley, what is that on your shoulder?!" Mum yelled.

"With all this yelling I think you're going to have a sore throat tomorrow mum." I joked; Harry and Ron chocked back their laugh.

"Stop avoiding the question and answer me!" Sighing, I turned around, Ginny still holding onto my shoulder for dear life, exposing the dragon tattoo. "When did you get this?" mum seethed.

"Do you remember the day Fred popped into Ginny's room and handed me that tube I left in their flat?" she nodded her head. "I got up early that morning and went to see Anne Walsh, my old school friend, and she did it for me." The grip around my neck tightened.

"And why did you get it?" Mum wouldn't stop unless I gave her all of the answers.

"Because I'm going to be 25 soon and I wanted it." I prepared for the yelling my mother was going to give me. Instead she looked at me teary-eyed.

"I'm sorry Charlie; you're just a more free-spirited person than Bill. Sometimes I don't think I can cope with all the things you lot pull on me." I walked over a hugged her. "But I think maybe you should put a shirt on, after all Hermione is present."

"Mum, I don't think she minds looking at my dragon-wrangling muscles." I winked at the girl in question causing her to glare back at me. That's right, I'm mad at her for going on a date with Dan, but why is she mad at me?

Molly picked up a tea cozy and transfigured it into a plain white tee shirt for me to wear. "Charlie, you and Hermione will have to stay here tonight; it's far too late to go back. But I'm afraid we've only got one available room left. You two will just have to share it."

"You can't let them share a room!" Ron bellowed pointing to me.

"Well it's not my first choice either Ronald, but I'm afraid Ginny's room is far too small for another bed, and you and Harry are bunking together already." Mum said, pointing at him.

"There are plenty other rooms around here!" he retorted.

"They're all filled with dangerous things; I refuse to put either of them in those rooms."

"What about making Charlie sleep on the couch?" He finally asked hopefully, he really was desperate.

"Ronald just let it go. Charlie and I aren't going to end up in the same bed or anything." Hermione rolled her eyes, her small hands resting on her hips.

"I trust you 'Mione, it's him around you I don't trust." He pointed at me again.

"Come off it Ron, do you really think in the middle of the night I'm going to just come onto Hermione?" Ron getting defensive for someone who doesn't care for him romantically was pissing me off.

"I wouldn't doubt you to, Charlie." He said glaring.

"What ever," I mumbled and went upstairs to the only empty bedroom, a tiny pair of feet following me the entire way.

Downstairs, Ron was still fighting with mum; I could hear them all the way in our now shared room. I was serious when I told him I wasn't going to do anything to her, and I'm not that kind of person.

"I'm sorry about Ron," I said as we climbed into bed. The room was on the smaller side, so our beds were closer than expected.

"What ever," she said, turning her back on me.

"Why are you so angry at me? Shouldn't I be the one who's angry for you going off premises with Dan tonight?" I hissed. Oops.

"What do you mean 'off the premises' Charlie Weasley?" she sat up and glared at me again. The kind that burrows it's way into your very soul, the kind that can make the most grown-up man quiver.

"I, uhm, followed you out to the restaurant…" my back was already pressed against the wall, I didn't have any escape routes, no windows and the door was across her bed.

"You WHAT?! Why on earth would you follow me on my DATE Charlie?"

"Something didn't feel right-" I got cut off.

"You're right, the fact that I went out with someone other that a Weasley wasn't right, it's not safe for me to have a life at all. I should just be prim and proper Hermione-book-worm-Granger and not have fun!"

"I never said that!" I pointed.

"Do NOT point at me," her face was flushed with anger. "The fact is that you followed me out on a date with another guy, and then you follow me here!"

"Well I was appointed to make sure you stayed safe if we were ever attacked, if I had just let you walk out of the kitchen ad not at least tried to find you my head would be mounted on the wall with all of Kreachers dead relatives!"

We sat there, staring the other down, until finally I shook my head. I wasn't going to play a childish staring game when I could be sleeping. I laid down and turned towards the wall, a moment later I heard her do the same.

"I'm sorry dears, but you're going to have to go back to the reserve in the morning." Mum whispered opening our door just enough to stick her head in. "We can't have Ron going off like this again." She looked at Hermione. "Nothing against you dear, I just don't want him to do anything irrational." We nodded and she left the room.

A few hours later Hermione got up and mumbled something about tea.

"If you're down there for too long I'm going to send out a search party…" I warned her, already half asleep. Little did I know who was downstairs, I probably would have gone with her.

In the Kitchen

Hermione placed one foot onto the cold basement floor and quickly drew it back. Just because it was October did NOT mean the floor could be that cold. She continued on with making her tea, not realizing there was someone sitting at the table already.

"Oh," she said, turning around. The mug full of hot water that she had been holding was now broken into a million little pieces on the floor. "I'm sorry, I'll just leave." She said hurriedly.

"Hermione wait," the figure stood up, it was Ron. "I'm sorry alright? I didn't mean to freak out about you and Charlie sharing a bedroom, it just made me jealous. And I guess me overreacting is my way of showing you that I care."

"Ron, I know you care, and I care too, just not in the same way. You've become my best friend these past 6 years and almost like a brother, so why would I want to throw all that away?" she stood there. "You're practically asking me for forever, and right now I can't even begin to think about tomorrow."

"I know, and I'm sorry for being a git. You are my best mate after all." The two smiled and sat at the table, getting mug after mug of tea.

A/N: So there it is, hope you liked it! I'm so sorry you had to wait for this, but the next chapter will come sooner than you think!