Sorry about the long delay. I was kind of stuck at a point, which occurred because I hadn't really planned it out. No this is not the end.

Hotter Than Most

part 12

I woke up feeling like every one of my nerves was buzzing. Before I could stop myself or even realize what had caused it, a moaning sigh escaped my mouth. I did mention I'm not the most coherent right after waking up, right? But I knew Charlie was holding me tightly against him and his mouth was planting light kisses one my neck and shoulder, and his hand….blush was somewhere else. I rolled over in his arms and over him until I ended up above him.

"Good morning," he said with wicked glint I had never quite seen before. I raised an eyebrow and smiled at him.

"Is that how you plan on waking me up from now on?" I had to close my eyes as the onslaught of his hands continued in the form of one tracing up my side.

"Every morning, if possible," he answered. His other hand pulled my head down so he could kiss me. It wasn't a typical half sleepy good morning kiss, it and… um cough something else proved to me he was wide-awake. Quickly, our positions were reversed and I somehow found myself below him and completely wrapped around him. Despite this, there was something else, something I had to tell him and the little cookie loving voices in my head wouldn't let me enjoy the moment until I did.

"Char-mmm," it didn't really work the first time. "Charlie, wait." 'Wait,' one word I suppose I guy never wants to hear from the girl he obviously has plans of doing something very naughty with. He froze mid kiss to the neck and looked at me sheepishly. I had to giggle.

"Look, there's something I want to tell you…preferable at a time when your hand wasn't under my shirt." Obediently, his hand reappeared and he propped himself up slightly, to look down at me. "I just wanted you to know that, well…" I looked off to the side to gather my courage. But no, this was something you had to say while looking some one in the eye or it didn't quite count. So I looked him in the eye and took a deep breath and blurted out, "I think I'm in love with you!" I winced and muttered, "I imagined saying that a little more quietly." My words were just stalls, I had already looked away from him and I was terrified. Fear or not though I never had any regrets about saying it. I've always believe that how you feel about someone is important and playing games of 'don't say you love someone until they say it first' or until such and such time is plain ridiculous. I loved him. I couldn't imagine wanting to wake up any other way. In fact I couldn't imagine waking up any other way and not being heart wrenchingly sad.

"Thank God," interrupted my mind rambling.

"What?" I said, looking up at him confused. 'Thank God' wasn't really a typical response to something like that. He was beaming down at me and I could have sworn his eyes looked slightly misty. My mouth gapped, I wanted to say something, anything, in that moment but nothing was adequate.

He embraced me tightly and rolled onto his side, pulling me with him. I was confused but still the strength of him reassured me.

"I've been wanting to say that to you since I picked you up," he told me. I knew what he meant but I wanted to hear it.

"What? Thank God?" He laughed against my neck and pulled back. He looked me at me directly and without any 'I thinks' or stuttering or hesitation said, "I love you". Okay, it was my time to get misty.

It was a while before we left the room, none of those thoughts now! Truthfully, that was more in line with what he was thinking though. Despite the fact he assured me we had the house to ourselves, I couldn't really see a bunk bed as being very romantic and we were still in Mrs. Weasley's house even if she wasn't. In the end I distracted him and fled. I'm pretty sure I would not have been in Gryffindor had I gone to Hogwarts.

Now I'm going to skip forward because while I like reminiscing on the days to follow they were relatively uneventful, slightly mushy, and…well mine to tell you the truth. I feel like being a bit of a spoiled child about it and not sharing. I did go to his friend's house before the whole troop of teenagers arrived and of course got many embarrassing stories from her as promised.

Is this the end of the story? No, not at all. But to me it feels like the end of the first act. The second beginning the night of the Quidditch World Cup, or more precisely when I caught Charlie's friend trying to hide the newspaper the morning after.