Charlie had barely gotten a wink of sleep that night. As he lay awake, watching the sunrise over the rocky seashore through the small window in his room, he thought back to the events of the evening prior…

'What else? Dragons.'

Charlie's mind went strangely foggy as Rei bid her final goodbye and left – he couldn't believe what he had just heard... He stared, unmoving, at the fireplace for what felt like an eternity before the sound of Bill's voice brought him back to reality.

"Well, I'll be damned," Bill said, breaking the silence as he looked excitedly from his sister to his brother. "You and Hermione have known this girl for HOW long and you never thought to introduce her to us until now?

"Yeah, Gin - what was it you said she did?"

"Where is she from?"

"She is single, right?"

"How much have you told her about us?"

"OI!"

Everyone became silent as they heard Charlie snap.

"Don't you think I should be figuring out the answers to these questions for myself?"

"That's what we're trying to help you with!" George exclaimed, waving his arms wildly. "So let the girls bloody talk-"

"I meant, figuring out from her," Charlie sighed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"So you ARE interested!" Ginny's eyes lit up happily.

"I don't know," Charlie shrugged, timidly. "Maybe."

"Maybe!?" Bill repeated incredulously, moving to sit on the edge of his chair. "Did you not hear what she just said?"

"This is too perfect!" Hermione cheered as she swept across the room to hold Ginny's hand. "How did we not see it sooner?"

"Because apparently we're morons-"

"Okay, wait," Harry interrupted, looking around. "As excited as everyone may be, Charlie and Rei just met each other. I KNOW, Gin, I know, that we all adore her – she's a great girl – but Charlie doesn't know anything about her. Not to mention, Rei knows hardly anything about him. It's only fair that they figure things out for themselves."

"Exactly."

"But if he would just let us help-"

"I agree with Harry," Draco spoke up, much to Charlie's surprise. "Ginny, you and Harry didn't tell Hermione anything about me before we first reconnected. Sure, she knew the most general things – like the fact that Harry and I worked together, and that I wasn't a total arse anymore – but everything else, you two wanted to let her find out on her own, because, that way, she would know for sure that, if something happened, it was because she was truly interested in me from HER own opinions, and not because of what her friends had been telling her."

There was a silence over the room as they mulled over Draco's words.

"They're right, Gin," Hermione said after a moment. "This should be between the two of them. Besides, we don't even know what Rei's thoughts are on all this."

"…Fine," Ginny finally conceded, turning towards Charlie. "We won't say anything..."

"Thanks, Gin. I appreciat-"

"BUT!" she cut in, holding up a finger. "That doesn't stop us from encouraging the conversation to… lean… a certain way tomorrow evening."

Everyone but Charlie chuckled quietly to themselves – tomorrow was going to be fun.

Taking a deep breath, Charlie pushed himself out of bed and pulled on his trainers to go for a run – if he was going to make it through the evening, he was going to need a clear head.

Hermione and Draco were seated on the floor of his flat.

He had spent the entire morning organising a lovely picnic for them, packing everything in a small wicker basket and folding up a chequered blanket, when nature decided to turn against him and it began pouring down rain.

"This isn't exactly the romantic afternoon I had planned," Draco apologised as they unboxed the food on the tartan linen. "It's at times like these when I wonder why we, as a race, have yet to master weather manipulation."

"Mother Nature bends to no one's will," Hermione joked as she laid out the plates. "But really, whether we're outside or inside, I couldn't be happier," she said, eyes twinkling when he gave her a dazzling smile.

The pair tucked into a meal of ham sandwiches and fresh berries, delighting in each other's company as they discussed Hermione and Rei's progress on the exhibition, and, eventually, the upcoming dinner.

"So, what do you think Harry and Ginny need to talk to us about?" Draco asked as he played with Hermione's hair.

"I'm not sure," Hermione confessed, leaning back in his lap to rest her head against his shoulder. "It must be pretty important, though, for them to want us all there."

"Maybe they changed their minds and they're not going to have a wedding," Draco offered offhandedly.

"What!" Hermione scoffed as she looked up at him. "If you had seen the look on Ginny's face when we finally found her dress, you would not have just said such a ridiculous thing!"

Draco laughed heartily while Hermione returned to her place snuggled against his chest - he loved how fierce she could be. As he gazed down at her relaxed form, he smiled softly to himself and bent down to kiss her lightly on the cheek. Looking up, Hermione returned the smile; a happy, yet amused, expression on her face.

"You're staring."

"Am not."

Grinning, she reached up to kiss him, sighing contently when she felt the warmth of his lips on hers.

"Alright. I can't help it," he admitted when they parted.

"That's okay, I quite like it when you look at me like that; it makes me feel like the only woman in the world."

"You are the only woman in my world," he replied, a husky tone to his voice as he kissed her again.

Hermione felt her heart beating firmly against her chest as she melted deeper into his embrace… if this was just their beginning, she couldn't wait to see what was coming next.

As the time neared 5:30, people started arriving at Godric's Hollow.

Bill was the first to get there, a box of French pastries in hand and heavy bags under his eyes.

"Fleur and her extended family send their regards. Also… Would you mind if Charlie and I stayed here tonight?"

The twins arrived next with two bottles of wine.

"Ginny, you look lovely-"

"Harry, you look pale and weary as ever!"

Draco and Hermione made it soon after, carrying a small potted orchid.

"Draco chose it, as a congratulations for yesterday!"

"Sod off, George – I picked a beautiful fucking flower."

At around 6:00, Charlie finally apparated into the living room, levitating two small trunks behind him.

"Oi, Bill, where should I put these?"

"Just set them through there somewhere," he replied, gesturing towards the hallway.

As Charlie made his way across the room, the fireplace roared to life and Rei stepped through into the lounge.

"Hi, everybody!"

Catching sight of her, Charlie temporarily lost his concentration and the trunks went crashing to the floor with a loud BANG.

Rei jumped as her gaze shot towards the noise and, upon seeing the burly redhead standing before her, she broke into a smile and moved to hug him. "You okay?"

"Yeah!" Charlie said, a little too loudly, as he mentally cursed himself - the feel of her skin against his and the intoxicating smell of raspberry was causing his mind to go hazy. Grunting, he grabbed each trunk by the hand and quickly flung them into the other room. "Sorry 'bout that."

"Don't worry," she chuckled, eyes glittering, before she turned towards the rest of her friends and saw them grinning in their direction.

"…Did I miss something?"

"No!" Ginny chirped, trying to conceal her laughter as she saw Charlie facepalm in the background. "We're just happy to see you. How is your family?"

"They're good!" Rei replied, giving her a hug. "Jin Lei, one of our Chinese Fireballs, incinerated a paddock last week and our Silverbrushes wound up running rampant for a while-"

"It doesn't sound like they're good…" Draco muttered, a perplexed look on his face.

"No, it's fine," Rei laughed lightly. "I put the finishing touches on my new aqua-defence spell to cast on the Fireball enclosure, so everything should be secure!"

"As always, Rei swoops in to save the day – this witch, my friends, is why our exhibition is going to be amazing," Hermione beamed, squeezing Rei in a tight embrace. "Now, come - let's all sit down, shall we?"

As the food was brought to the table, everyone piled their plates and filled their glasses, eager for some of Ginny's homemade cooking.

"So, Rei," Fred started, a mischievous look on his face. "I realised, we never actually got the chance to introduce everyone properly yesterday - do tell us about yourself!"

"Oh!" Rei exclaimed, a bit surprised at the direction the conversation was taking. "Um, okay, well, as I'm sure you all know, I work with Hermione at the museum-"

"Yes," George interrupted. "Are you a curator as well?"

"No, no," she waved. "I'm not cut out for that kind of work. I'm actually in research and development – more of a design-it-yourself type of person."

"I see," Bill interjected, genuinely interested. "So, what brought you over to Britain?"

"Well, my parents sent me to live with my relatives when I was very young. Moving from Japan to America, I was always kind of an outsider - especially in the wizarding community. Still, I'd always been fascinated by other cultures, and, once I got older, I figured that living in Europe would make for a nice change of scenery."

"Ah! Well, what do you know, Charlie happens to know a little something about travel - don't you Char?"

Choking slightly on his food, Charlie felt his ears turn red as Rei's attention was directed at him.

"Really? Where were you living before?"

Clearing his throat, he attempted to calm his nerves before he spoke.

"I was, er, in Romania."

"Wow, that sounds exciting! What line of work are you in?"

Clearing his throat once again, he tried to push his nervousness aside as he felt his brothers staring.

"Actually, I-"

DING-dong…

"Are we expecting anybody?" Ginny asked Harry, a confused look on her face.

"Not that I'm aware of," he replied as he walked towards the door. Opening it, he was surprised to see who was on the other side.

"Wood?"

"Evening, Potter… May I come in?"

The table fell silent as Oliver Wood stepped through the door.

"Hello, everyone," he nodded, doing a subtle double take when he noticed Rei in her seat next to Hermione. "I hope I haven't interrupted anything important."

Fred's gaze flicked momentarily towards Charlie, noting the slight irritation in his brother's eyes. "What d'you want, Wood?"

Oliver cleared his throat as he looked around the table. Realising that no one was going to leave, he gave a nervous chuckle before he turned towards Ginny.

"I just wanted to come and apologise to you for my recent behaviour – yesterday, and each time before that. Sometimes, I can get a bit carried away with my competitiveness, and it's something I've been trying to work on. Still, my actions of late have been inexcusable, and it was very unprofessional for me to act so poorly, especially to someone who I would consider a friend. I offer you my sincerest congratulations – you all played incredibly and you deserved the win."

Ginny's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked him over. "What are you doing… Why are you here? Why didn't you just send me a letter?"

"I didn't want to risk you burning it before reading it," he replied. "I figured that it would be more genuine if done in person - considering the egregious levels of pride we Gryffindors possess - and a large part of me suspected that you might enjoy seeing me humble and dejected… it doesn't happen often."

As everyone remained silent, anticipating Ginny's reaction, she could see Oliver becoming more and more uncomfortable. His, at first, strong, outward demeanour was becoming more hesitant, and she could tell that he was beginning to realise how awkward he had been to acknowledge his faults in front of an audience.

Still, despite all that, he refused to leave, stubbornly awaiting Ginny's response to his apology, and, luckily for him, that was enough for her to give him at least a bit of break – this time round…

"Well then. Thank you for that, I appreciate it," she finally said, rising to give him a friendly handshake. "Even though you're a pain in my arse, I look forward to when our teams play again - it's never a dull game between the two of us."

"And it never will be," he responded, a look of relief on his face. As he turned back to the rest of the room, he let his gaze linger once more on Rei, much to Charlie's chagrin – was this prat ever going to leave?

"I'm terribly sorry for interrupting your dinner. I hope to see you all around… very soon," he finished, giving the dark-haired beauty a small smile before he nodded towards Harry and swept out the front door.

"That was… odd."

"To be fair, Wood hasn't always been a git," Harry shrugged, taking a sip of wine. "Deep down, we all know he isn't a bad bloke. Maybe losing this match was the final push he needed to get his head out of his arse."

As the dinner pressed on, Ginny carefully set down her knife and fork before she looked around the room. "If I'm not mistaken, I believe we were in the middle of formal introductions..?"

"Right!" Rei chirped, jumping slightly in her seat. "So, what do the rest of you do?"

"Fred and I own Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley," George started, spearing a meatball with his fork. "I'm sure you've passed by it before."

"Yes! God, I love that place – why have I never seen you two in there? I sent five cases of your bruise removal paste back home. It's been a lifesaver!"

"You're the one who bought us out?! We thought Verity just lied because she lost the product!"

Everyone shared a laugh as the twins raised their glasses to Rei.

"Well, Rei, thank you for keeping us in business!"

Rei bowed mockingly and laughed once more before she turned her attention to Bill.

"So, Bill, what about you?"

"I'm a curse breaker for Gringotts Bank," he said, swirling his wine around its glass.

"Sounds intense."

"It can be," he admitted. "But it's well worth it. My wife, Fleur, wants me to retire - now that we have a daughter and all - but I just can't see myself doing anything else. Besides, it's nothing compared to what Charlie does for a living!"

"Oh! That's right - we never finished your story!" Rei exclaimed, as she spun towards Charlie. "What is it you do in Romania?"

"I work at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary," he said hurriedly, not wanting to get cut off again.

"Shut. Up," Rei whispered, eyes growing wide. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, of course," he replied, smiling slightly as he watched her expression change from one of shock, to one of excitement.

"Well, what kind of dragons do you keep there? Any Ukrainian Ironbellies? You have to tell me all about it!"

As the pair broke off into enthusiastic conversation, the rest of the group looked at each other with wide smiles – everything was going according to plan.

When they finally finished eating, the girls brought the dishes to the kitchen and cleaned them quickly before returning with a tray of tea.

"So," Ginny started as she passed out the mugs. "This has been a rather eventful evening-"

"And we haven't even gotten to your news, yet!" Hermione exclaimed as she helped pass around small silver spoons.

Nodding, Ginny added a squeeze of lemon to her tea before she sat back, took Harry's hand, and looked around at everybody.

"Well. We have something rather important to tell you all."

"It will come as a bit of a surprise, but we hope that you will be supportive, because…"

"Although we planned for a spring wedding, we're going to have to make it a summer one."

"Why?" Hermione asked, a concerned expression on her face.

Taking a deep breath, Ginny smiled nervously. "I'm pregnant!"

Eyes wide, everyone let out loud gasps as they ran to crowd around the couple, showering them with hugs and kisses.

"Ginny!"

"Congratulations!"

"That's brilliant!"

"We'll just skip over the fact that this means you've definitely shagged our little sister…"

"How long have you known?"

"Not long," Ginny replied, cheeks glowing. "But I'm almost 5 weeks along!"

"Oh my god, you're going to be a mommy!" Rei cried, as she hugged Ginny and Hermione tightly.

"Bloody hell, that's right… You're going to be a father," Draco said, joyful disbelief in his voice as he looked at his best friend.

"I know," Harry replied happily. "I can't believe it either."

A/N:

Hello again! :D Firstly, I must say that your reviews for chapter 20 were so wonderful - I'm so happy that you all enjoyed it! Secondly, I hope this chapter continues to please you - it may not be as exciting as a quidditch match, but the news is still pretty big!

We officially have every character on board the Rei/Charlie train, and they are all very eager to make sure they stay together!

Draco and Hermione continue their streak of bliss, and, although these past chapters (and, admittedly, the next few) will be centered more on other issues, something pretty important will be coming for our beloved pairing very soon! I'm planning this fic to be around 45-50 chapters long, so rest assured that you will be getting your fill of Dramione before we are done :)

I wanted to use the dinner to help flesh out some of Rei's back story, as that will be fairly significant for future chapters, so I hope you all enjoyed learning a little more about her!

For those of you who did read the author's notes for the previous chapter, I did warn you that Oliver Wood would be making another appearance… ;) I hope no one hates me for rocking the boat, because there's about to be a hurricane!

Last but not least, many of you have been guessing for a while now that Ginny is pregnant and YES, she IS! With a little baby Potter on the way, you and I both know that Ginny is going to be a much more fiery, hormonal version of herself! (Which should prove interesting ;D )

Once again, thank you so much for your continued support - I will admit, over the past few days, I've been feeling a little off, suffering from minor writer's block, so it really means so much to see your thoughtful words. Encourages me to power through! Sending much love your way xxx

Shaymars: Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it! Their chemistry is supposed to be almost instantaneous - and I think the added dragon connection makes their bond that much stronger! Things will be getting a little shaky over the next few chapters, but don't worry, everything will work out in the end ;) I think I will be dedicating a chapter to Draco and Blaise's history later on, so stay tuned for that! As for a Blaise love interest, I'm torn between making another original character or using a pre-existing one from the books… What do you think?

Apriljunemay: Hehehe! I loved reading your review! As for your hypothesis, you are not far off… He's not exactly the most debonair wizard ;) As for the apple tart plant, I'm so glad you liked it haha! I could picture him doing that in my head and it seemed too good not to use ;D I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well and continue to review - your words make my day!

Dncetilyadrop: YAY! You read the author's notes! :D He'll be making a much more pronounced return in the next few chapters… I hope you won't hate me too much, because I promise, he won't be ruining EVERYthing… Just causing a little ripple in the water! I'm so happy that you liked what I did with Charlie and Rei - they're pretty much perfect for each other, in my opinion ;P As for a Draco/Blaise flashback chapter, thank you for your input! I will definitely do one - even if others may not be too keen, I know that you and at least a few other readers want one, so that is officially going to happen :) Thank you so much again for your wonderful words, and I hope you enjoy this chapter too! x

Dab055: I'm so glad you liked it! As for Rei's parents, I just had to ;) There is a lot about her they still don't know, and she's full of surprises! Blaise won't be too much of a problem for our pair, but I would be lying if I told you that he wasn't going to try and make a comeback. He will be returning with more of a focus soon, so definitely stay tuned for that :) Thank you so much for your kind words, I am so grateful for your support - it's really what keeps me going! x

Gryphengirl: She really is, isn't she? :D That's why we love her! x

Btterflykiss69: Yes! Like I mentioned above, there will be a little bumpiness for a few chapters, but please don't lose heart - as you said, she's perfect for him ;)

Cat130: Thank you so much! I'm so happy you liked it :)

Crazychick-1027: Aww I'm sure you'll have plenty of great ideas as we journey through this story together! You'll be seeing a little hint of your idea in one of the next chapters, so keep an eye out ;D As for Ginny's pregnancy, you were right! And Blaise will be returning a little later on - I promise!

Turbulenthandholding: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it :) And it really means a lot to hear you say that - I was so nervous that the quidditch match wouldn't come off as genuine, but it's nice to know that you liked it! Looking forward to your thoughts on this chapter :)

NevermoreRavenclaw: Thank you for your lovely words! I hope you are continuing to enjoy the story :)

Hermionehp135: HI BACK! :D Thank you so much for your amazing review! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the others (Dramione is my OTP too hehe!) and I can't wait to hear what you think :)

Dramione101: K-I-S-S-I-N-G! :D

Irmorena: I'm so glad you love it! :D Thank you for your uplifting review!

Grovek26: Thank you so much - I really appreciate you saying that! I hope you're continuing to enjoy the story :)