It was moments like this when Leah wished wizards used phones. She thought frantically to herself where Charlie would be right now. He said he was going to Bill's, but was he still there? And if he was, how was she to get there? She had never been to Bill and Fleur's cottage before so she couldn't Apparate there. She groaned, ready to Apparate to WWW, wishing, yet again, that she was connected to the Floo.
"George? Fred?" She yelled as walked in the door, "How do I get to Bill and Fleur's?"
"Why?" One of them yelled from the back room.
She refrained from yelling, bursting through the door, "Just bloody tell me please I need to see Charlie."
George looked up from his desk, cocking an eyebrow, visibly concerned, "Um, you do remember we're having lunch at the Burrow in like half an hour, right?"
Leah nodded, trying to seem calm and collected, "Oh, right, yes, yes, of course, I need to go get changed, um, I'll see you two later than yea?"
Leah walked out of the store, rubbing her forehead and muttering to herself. Fred turned to his twin, "What the bloody hell was that?"
George shrugged, "I don't want to get involved."
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Leah ran into her flat, throwing her bag down and ripping her shoes off before stumbling into her room to change her clothes. How could she have forgotten the Weasley luncheon? Cursing quietly to herself, she threw on a pair of skinny black jeans, slipping on flats and throwing on a shirt and cardigan. Crunched for time, she used her wand to put her make-up on with magic, something she rarely did. Grabbing some things out of her bag and shoving them into her clutch, she grabbed her peacoat and scarf, and Apparated to the lane outside the Burrow.
She walked slowly up the lane, hoping she wasn't late, and hoping she'd get a chance to talk to Charlie before the lunch. Leah looked up; the sky was grey, not a very good omen for the afternoon.
"Oh, Charlie, could you get the door? I need to take this casserole out of the oven-"
Charlie opened the front door, turned towards the kitchen to answer his mother when a soft voice said, "Hullo, Charlie." He turned, silent towards Leah.
"Hullo," he said quiet and awkwardly.
"Oh, Charlie, who is it?"
"Just Leah, Mum." Leah frowned at his response and stepped over the threshold, "Can I talk to you for a minute, Charlie, please?"
Charlie nodded, "'Bout what?"
She followed him into the kitchen and glanced at Mrs. Weasley who was busying herself with the food, "Charlie," she said quietly, loosening her scarf, "could we talk somewhere private?"
Charlie shrugged and walked into the living room. "What did you want to talk about?"
Leah sighed, shrugging off her coat, "Well this, for instance, yea? That guy, Reed? He was just my mentor when I was first starting out at St. Mungo's. He worked in the Plants and Magical Creatures Departments, and he was nice to me, wasn't stiff and old like the other Healers, you know?"
Charlie nodded, "And you hadn't seen him in a while, I understand."
Leah frowned and stepped closer to him to say softly, "Than why are you still upset? Don't you believe me?"
Charlie glanced at her face, at her eyes, before looking away again, "There's no reason I shouldn't."
Leah sighed, "And yet you don't." She reached out to touch his arm, "Charlie, Merlin, he was a mentor, he left years ago, he was the only one who was my mentor and my friend during that first year of training, do you understand?" She stepped to the side so that he couldn't help but look at her. "Charlie, I need you to believe me. It was in the past, we caught up, he's only here a few weeks, and than he's going back to Brazil," she paused as something dawned on her. "And you're only here a few weeks…"
"I need to go see if Mum needs help." He walked into the kitchen before Leah could stop him. She followed him into the kitchen and frowned when she saw that everyone else had arrived. Mrs. Weasley had everyone sit down, and Mira gave her friend a concerned look when she saw how indifferent Charlie was being towards her.
Leah barely heard the toast Mr. Weasley was giving to his daughter and his future son-in-law, she watched Charlie out of the corner of her eye, wanting to shake him, to make him understand how she really felt about him, what she didn't feel for Reed. She and Charlie ate in silence as everyone else talked about the upcoming nuptials and all that needed to still be done. Mira tried to get Leah's attention, to no avail.
When everyone was almost done eating, and Mira was still unable to grab Leah's attention, she cleared her throat and stared at Leah, "Oi, Leah, are you all right? You and Charlie haven't made a peep all afternoon."
Leah shook her head and tried to smile at her friend, "I'm fine, yea, it was just, a long day at the hospital, that's all."
"And I ran into Steve and Erin."
"Who?" Mira and Hermione asked at the same time.
Bill laughed, apparently unaware of the tension between Leah and Charlie. "Erin was one of Charlie's ex-girlfriends, she was a year younger than him in Gryffindor, and she married Steve, one of Charlie's Housemates a few years ago, right?"
Charlie nodded, "They have a kid."
"And you're okay with that, Charlie?" Hermione asked.
"Yea, course," he shrugged, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.
Leah put her fork down and laughed softly, causing Mira and George to stare at her: Mira looked concerned, but George looked frightened. Leah turned to Charlie, clearly annoyed, her mouth open and her eyes wide, "So you're okay with getting lunch and catching up with an ex-girlfriend who's currently married to and fathered your friend's baby, but you're not okay with me catching up with my old mentor, who lives in Brazil, and who has a girlfriend?" She laughed again and took a sip of her own pumpkin juice.
"Maybe you guys should -" Mira started, but Charlie interrupted her.
"What are you trying to say, Leah?"
"You're jealous of a man who is eight years older than you, was my mentor when I was first at St. Mungo's, when I was by myself, with no one else who understood why I had to work so hard and so much, why I wanted my job so badly, why I wanted to do well," she paused, and stared at Charlie, who was staring at his plate. Neither noticed that everyone else was completely silent, feeling terribly awkward to be savvy to such information. "He was my mentor Charlie, and yes, he was my friend, because he was different from the other Healers, just like me. He was younger, he was smart, he knew what it was like to give up your social life, to be completely devoted to your job. He was the only Healer who really took me under their wing, who wasn't confused by my dedication, who respected me, even though I was young, a woman, and a Muggle. But he left Charlie, and I respected his decision. He was my friend, my mentor, but that was all. He had his own life to lead, he had his own dream to chase, just as I did mine. Was I mad at him for leaving one day without so much as a goodbye? No, Charlie because I didn't love him. And he knew that. He knew that I wouldn't leave St. Mungo's to follow him to South America."
Charlie turned to face her, still ignoring the rest of his family. "Leah, what are you saying?"
Leah looked into his eyes, and smiled slightly, "Charlie, I love you. And even though my career is important to me, you're more important," she laughed slightly, tucking her hair behind her ear, "but I guess I really didn't realize it until just now. I mean -" she stopped when she saw that Charlie wasn't smiling too.
"Leah, I love you too, but I don't want you to follow me to Romania, you're career is too important to you-"
Leah put a finger to his lips, "Charlie? Can we worry about that later?" She smiled, "I love you."
Charlie grinned, putting his hands on her face, "I love you." He kissed her fiercely, still unaware of his entire family sitting around the table, watching. Leah finally noticed the clapping, pulled away and whispered to Charlie, "Maybe we should go?"
Charlie nodded, "Sorry, does everybody mind?"
Mrs. Weasley wiped her eyes, "No, no, go, go! We'll see you soon enough!"
Leah laughed and pulled Charlie from his chair, grabbing their coats from the hall and racing outside. Charlie pulled her into his arms, wrapping his coat around her shoulders, kissing her fiercely again. Leah smiled against his lips, "I love you."
"I love you," he opened his eyes and stroked her cheek with her thumb, "it feels wonderful to say it."
"And mean it," she laughed and pulled him down the lane to the Apparation point," and don't worry, we'll talk about it later, okay?"
Charlie frowned and pulled her back to him, "I don't want you to leave St. Mungo's."
"And I don't want you to leave the Reserve," she paused, still grinning, "but I'm sure I can manage to get some vacation" she paused, standing on her toes to kiss him again, "or I can ask for that Sabbatical sooner."
"For your Board?"
She shrugged, staring to walk down the lane again, "No, not yet, Mira could be left in charge of that, but no, some of the Healers were thinking about letting me take any of my research, any of my distinctive cases to hospitals around Europe," she paused, grinning and grabbed Charlie's coat collar, pulling his face closer to hers. "Can we go back to my place now, Charlie?"
Charlie grinned, "I love you too, Leah."
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