Charlie woke up first. He knew that because Hermione had yet to get up and make coffee and tea. He grabbed his phone and saw that she had texted him early in the morning.
Good morning, Doc. I don't want to climb out of bed, want to join me? He was slightly stunned at her forwardness.
Hermione, you are a funny woman.
He was running a hand over his face and sighed. "What am I doing?"
"Charlie?" He heard her calling from the room.
The man climbed off the couch and grabbed his cane before walking into the bedroom. "Tech girl, are you alright?"
Hermione had sleepy eyes and patted the bed, "Come snuggle? Just that, nothing else." She made it clear and he smiled.
Charlie crawled into bed next to her and she cuddled up against his bare chest. It was soft and gentle. It was that vulnerability he loved about her. It was Hermione. She ran her fingers through his chest hair and exhaled lightly.
"You are always so warm, Charles," she murmured and he nodded against her hair.
"Comes with the territory of being cold-hearted." She glared up at him and he chuckled, "I was kidding, Hermione."
Hermione shoved him, "Stop that."
Charlie waggled his eyebrows and grabbed her bum, "This, right here, that is a nice thing to get behind."
Her blush gave her away and rolled her eyes, "Now you are grabbing my ass but won't shag me?"
"Precisely. You have been flaunting it, I thought I would give it a test drive."
She giggled and gave him a challenging stare, "Just remember, if you touch certain places on my body, I am going to touch you there as well."
His hand removed her bum and laughed, "Alright, tech girl. That is fair."
Fingertips were gliding on her back and she gave a sound of approval as he rubbed her. It was beautiful for him and he had not known anything quite so lovely... and he had seen some pretty things. Soft frilly women. Rough armored women who were bossy but kittens in bed. Anything in between, but never so lovely as she.
"Charles, what would you like to wear for my party?" She asked and he chuckled.
"Absolutely nothing," he responded with a big toothy grin.
"We have to match if you are going with me. We would be a spectacle," she told him and his reaction was puzzling. Hermione smiled at him and shrugged, "be my date?"
Now his frown increased and his lips thinned, "why?"
"Because I want you to?"
His eyes searched hers and he had so many questions, but only one came forth. "You could do so much better than a crippled man as your date. Why have me?"
She patted his chest and shrugged, "Why not? You are Dr. Charles Weasley. My favorite reptile man."
Charlie chuckled and shook his head, "Fine. But I am not wearing some frilly suit."
She reached for his arm and shook his hand, "Deal."
"How about you get on something cute, we get up and meet Gin for breakfast and go shopping?" Charlie offered and Hermione gave him an agreeing motion.
"Alright, Charles," she leaned up and kissed his lips before climbing out of bed. "I am going to the restroom."
When she disappeared from the room her phone went off and Charlie frowned. He wondered it and snatched the phone off the nightstand. The man saw that she received a text message from Ginny, but refused to go through her phone and set it back down. He scratched his chest in thought and got up to go through the drawers on the dresser.
Pulling out a shirt and some jeans with a pair blue boxers, he tossed it on the bed and huffed. "I hope this becomes easier."
He hobbled over and collapsed in a sitting position on his bed. Hermione knocked and came inside. "I am just going to grab my things, Charles."
The man smiled and waved her off, "You do what you need to, love."
She disappeared with her bag and phone quickly, leaving the Weasley alone in the room. Her phone rang and she frowned and answered. "What's up, Gin?"
"Hermione, when are we supposed to meet? I am starved."
"Charlie wants to meet for breakfast. Want to go have breakfast at the Leaky Cookpot?" She offered and Ginny made a sound of agreement.
"Yes, absolutely! Shall we meet there in twenty minutes?" Ginny offered and Hermione sighed.
"Twenty minutes and if you get there before us, order a tea for me and coffee with cream for Charlie."
Ginny was silent for a moment, "Alright, Mione."
"Love you, Gin. See you soon."
"Love you too, Mione." The phone disconnected and Hermione sighed.
Hermione went into the bathroom and started to change as she got a text from Doc. What is your favorite color?
Purple. A bright violet.
The woman sighed as she slid on her sundress which was lavender and slid on the flats she had in her bag. Hermione brushed her hair and conditioned her curls quickly before walking back into the living room. Charlie was standing there with his hair in a messy bun and a band shirt. Hermione smiled as his eyes ran over her form.
"Tech girl! You clean up so nicely!" He exclaimed and she put her bag down on the couch before grabbing her purse.
"You look... handsome," she teased and he chuckled.
"Shall we go meet my sister now?" He held out his hand and she nodded.
Taking his hand, he kissed her knuckles and released her so they could go.
0o0o
They were sitting there and Charlie had taken a break from his breakfast to hold the fussy baby for Ginny. He was softly humming as the girls ate and talked about life. Ginny had just caught Hermione up on the latest happenings of some of their old classmates she kept in touch with. The brown-haired girl was eying Charlie every so often as he tended to the child.
"Mione, Luna emailed me about some zoo Halloween Party coming up. She did not have your email so she invited us all through me." Ginny declared and Hermione beamed.
"When is it, next weekend?"
Ginny nodded and smiled, "So you want to go?"
Hermione finished swallowing her food and gave her a nod. "Of course, I love her masquerade parties."
"I sent her my resume yesterday, under the recommendation of my former supervisor." Charlie declared simply.
Hermione frowned over at him and Ginny gasped, "You are going to go work at the zoo?"
Charlie nodded and smiled, "I have a feeling her husband told her to take care of me after what happened. I got a large settlement from the company I was working for that Newt owns. I tried to decline it but Rolf argued it was important that I am alright and well suited."
Hermione smiled at him and tilted her head, "Maybe we should find you a nice flat?"
Charlie scratched his beard with his free handed and shrugged, "Quite possibly. I would want it to be local. I was looking into possibly getting a motorcycle as well."
She rolled her eyes and Ginny groaned, "Really, Charlie?"
He grinned boyishly at them and winked at Hermione, "Yes, most definitely."
Hermione stifled a curved smile, "Always need to be reckless."
Hands went to Hermione's shoulder and she jumped. "Good morning, cutie." She turned to see Eddie Carmichael.
Hermione stood up and hugged him, "Eddie! Oh, what are you doing here?" She asked him and he grinned at her.
"Well, you are not the only one Kingsley sent on leave for work exhaustion. Seems a top developer needs time off too." He responded and held her out in front of him. He teased her and she blushed, "Absolutely incredible, Hermione. My god, if I didn't know any better you were trying to impress me enough to ask you out."
"Feel like sitting with us?" She offered and he smirked and nodded.
Charlie did not like this young, good-looking man sitting next to her so friendly. Eddie had his arm over Hermione like they were lovers and it was distracting. "So, I take it you are the only Weasley I don't know. I am Eddie, I work with Hermione. I am her top grunt worker." He told Charlie and shook his hand.
Charlie made the handshake firm and gave him a steady expression, "Charmed I am sure. Dr. Charles Weasley, Wildlife Biologist."
Hermione smiled over at Eddie and raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing in my neck of the woods? Usually, you are out at your lake house on your time off."
The dark-haired man gave her a playful expression, "I was hoping to run into you before I got so new threads for your party."
Hermione giggled and Charlie was inwardly growing furious. "That is just like you. Oh! Charles gave me the greatest idea for a new expansive addition. Dragons, Eddie. A whole new area to explore and discover them. I am writing out the details."
Eddie chuckled and sighed, "That would be just like you to always make my job harder," he jested and Hermione sipped her tea.
"Flying on dragons does sound incredible," Ginny murmured and went to go grab her son from Charlie.
Eddie turned to Ginny as he ran fingers over Hermione's shoulder furthest from him, "Are you enjoying the new expansion, Gin? Did Harry like the banter between Romulus and Canis that Hermione wrote?"
Ginny giggled and nodded, "Most definitely. I think it got him a bit choked up though when Terry showed up and they got paternal with the boy."
"That's our girl, always about the bigger picture," Eddie murmured and smiled at Hermione. "Hey, if you are going to be available tomorrow, would you like to do lunch? I have something I want to talk to you about." Eddie spoke to Hermione who tilted her head.
"Not like Draco with his wanting to have a physical working relationship, right?" She asked and Eddie bellowed out a stream of laughter.
"Hardly. That tool... he is so dense. It is something game related. If I wanted just a physical relationship... I would have already made that apparent."
Hermione gave him a nod and he gave her a single armed hug, "Most definitely then."
"I won't keep you from your day, I just saw you and decided to come say hello. It was nice to meet you Charles. See you on the game sometime, Gin, tell Harry and the twins I said hello." Eddie declared as he stood up.
The woman waved at him and voiced, "I will text you. See you tomorrow, Eddie." The man left for the front of the restaurant and Charlie dropped his defensive posture.
Ginny had a puzzled expression as she spoke, "Mione, when did Eddie... get hot?"
Hermione blushed lightly and shrugged her shoulders, "About a year ago after he broke up with Cho. It was his 'get fit and not looking back' mantra that made us go more natural in the cafeteria. He is quite the looker now."
Charlie cleared his throat and raised an eyebrow, "He fancies you a bit?"
Hermione waved him off, "He likes his women like you do, Charlie. Quick and loud."
Ginny was a bit shocked at her dismissal of both of the men, "Well, people change, Mione."
Hermione exhaled and said, "Well, they do, don't they? Hm, I suppose he did seem a bit flirtier today than usual. Then again, I don't usually wear anything but power suits at work. Who knows, maybe Eddie is the doctor..." She wiped her hands on her napkin. "I will be right back, I am going to run to the restroom."
Charlie glowered when she disappeared and Ginny shook her head, "Charlie. You need to tell her. If you don't then she is going to just assume and lose interest. Eddie was definitely staking a claim today."
Hermione's phone was on the table and buzzed. Ginny never thought twice about checking Hermione's messages, they were pretty open about things. She unlocked it and saw a text from Eddie. You looked awfully cute, Mione. Let me know when you want to meet up tomorrow. Wear that dress or similar... It actually makes me jealous of this "Doc" character you told me about.
Ginny was stunned, especially after Hermione had suggested Eddie might have been the doctor. "What the fuck..." She murmured and left the message to see something completely shocking.
"What's wrong? Did he send her a bloody dick picture?" Charlie growled and Ginny shook her head.
"No... that isn't what- Jesus, what the fuck." Ginny couldn't wrap her head around it.
"I am going to run to the bathroom while you decide if you are going to tell me," Charlie spat and rolled his eyes as he left the table.
Ginny put her phone down and was chewing on her lips. She wasn't sure if she should say anything. What was Hermione playing at? "Ginny, what's wrong?" Hermione's voice sounded.
The woman sat back down and Ginny glared at her, "I went to check your phone and you got a message from Eddie. That drew my curiosity and I found something. Hermione, is there something you want to fess up to?" Ginny asked pointedly and Hermione blushed brightly.
"Well, I suppose there might be one little tinny thing..." She trailed off and Ginny snorted.
"Oh, just a little thing? When did you start this?"
Hermione sighed heavily and looked around before leaning in, "Not long... I will tell you in the fitting room later, alright?"
Ginny nodded as she saw her brother approach, "You promise?"
"I promise, Ginny. I will tell you everything."