CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
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April 23rd 2006
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After yet another a long, torturous and tedious shift at Flourish and Blotts, Hermione yawned as she staggered out of the fireplace in their flat, exceedingly happy to be home. If she had been paying attention, or simply not exhausted, she would have noticed that there were no noises of a nearly six year old running riot, that there were candles laid out on the table, which held two place sittings. What she did notice, though, was the smell of onion and garlic that finally broke through and reached her tired mind as she slipped her shoes off. Frowning, she put them on the shoe rack and turned, yelping as she saw that Charlie had managed to sneak up behind her and was now less than two feet away.
"For the love of bloody fuck, Charlie!" She hissed, clutching her chest as he shook his head and laughed, "didn't your mum ever teach you not to sneak up on people!"
"Of course she did," he smiled, reaching for her and pulling her towards him with his hands on her hips, "but then Bill reminded me how much fun it could be."
"Of course he did," she snorted, resting her hands on his chest and frowning as she looked around, "where's Arty?"
"Ginny has him for the night," he shrugged, squeezing her hip and lifting his hand up to cup her cheek as she smiled, "I figured you could use a break from everything, hmm?"
"Never from Arty," she shrugged, stifling a yawn, "perhaps from everything else."
"Which is why, my lovely, the bath is all run and set up for you to have a long soak while I finish dinner," he said, nodding when she raised her eyebrows at him, "which we will eat and then I intend to give you a long and well deserved massage."
"What are you up to?" She asked disbelievingly and Charlie merely shook his head with a soft smile, pulling her toward the bathroom and ushering her inside.
"I don't have to be up to anything to show you how much I appreciate you," he smiled, before a timer went off in the kitchen and he frowned towards the noise, "now relax, please and I'll be back with a cold glass of wine."
Hermione frowned as he disappeared from view and turned to look in the mirror, trying to discern if she looked ill or particularly exhausted, as that was the only realistic reason she could think of for Charlie to be so… Absolutely perfect. It just wasn't normal. Deciding that she actually looked as she usually did, she sighed as she once again rationalized that he was definitely up to something, or he wanted something. She just couldn't wrap her mind around the idea that he would want to do all of this for her and get nothing in return, it didn't add up and it really didn't help her to relax. Slowly, she pulled off her working clothes and threw them into the laundry hamper beside the shower, turning to climb into the bath just as Charlie appeared with two glasses of white wine.
"Here you go," he said, grinning as he held up her glass and she sighed as slipped into the water before taking it, "long day?"
"You could say that," she grumbled, rolling her eyes, "I've been put on probation for walking out the other day and if nothing interesting happens soon, I might die of boredom! I thought my job at the Ministry was mind numbing but this? This takes it to a whole new level of brain cell destroying."
"It can't be that bad," he mused, frowning as he kneeled down next to the bath and pushed her stray hair from her face, "at least you get to read, right?"
"That's just it," she sighed, taking a sip of wine and frowning up at him, "the only things I've read since I started managing the place are order forms and Arty's bedtime stories! I just don't have the time for reading for pleasure any more."
"In an ideal world, what would you want to do more than anything?" He asked softly and Hermione hummed, thinking about it.
"Honestly? Promise not to judge me for it?" She asked and Charlie frowned as he nodded, "I'd love to take Arty out of school, stay at home with him and home school him."
"Do you honestly think that I would judge you for that?" He scoffed, shaking his head, "why on earth would I?"
"A lot of people would," she grumbled, snorting and sneering as she continued, "I'm Hermione Granger, brightest witch of her age, high flyer and high achiever. I should be out in the working world-"
"Stop," Charlie snapped loudly, over her tirade and Hermione looked over at him wide eyed, "firstly, I think it's a bloody brilliant idea and you should absolutely do it if that's what will make you happy. Secondly, the people who think that way about you aren't worth a damn anyway, so what does it matter?"
"You think it's a good idea?" She asked timidly as she frowned and Charlie sighed, leaning heavily on the edge of the bath with one eyebrow raised, "I mean, it's not like we can afford it anyway, so-"
"Wait," Charlie chuckled, shocked, "what are you even talking about?"
"Well, I mean, I know we've never really discussed it, but I just assume that we both need to be working." She shrugged sadly and Charlie laughed outright as she frowned.
"You're so silly sometimes, you know?" He grinned, reaching out and smoothing his hand over her hair, "my salary is easily enough to cover us all, Hermione. And believe me, I do mean easily. We've never discussed it, mainly because it's kind of a weird thing to bring up, you know? But you really don't have to be worrying about money."
"It feels rude to ask, but how much do you actually make?" Hermione frowned and Charlie snorted.
"With bonuses during laying season and for each export, I earn approaching eighty thousand galleons a year." He shrugged.
Hermione, who it just so happened had, at the very moment that he spoke, taken a sip of wine, spirted it out into the bath as she began to choke, looking wide eyed at him. That was almost double the salary of the head goblins at Gringotts, a third more than Harry made as head Auror and almost as much as the minister! With an annual salary that generous, they could afford to live as they were three times over. She gawped at him as he just stared blankly back, shrugging again when she shook her head.
"That's... Well, that's ridiculous," she gasped, almost lost for words, "why?"
"I'm of the belief that it is very obviously danger money," he shrugged, looking sheepish as he reached for her hand and lifted it onto the edge of the bath, "seriously, Hermione, if you want to stay at home and teach Arty, please do it. I only want you to be happy, you know that."
"But..."
"Listen to me," he sighed and Hermione nodded, frowning uncertainly as Charlie smiled at her, "you told me that you gave up doing what you wanted to make sure that Arty had the best life he could, right?"
"Yeah, but-"
"You wouldn't have had to do that, if I had been here all along," he sighed sadly, shaking his head, "I wasn't here to look after you both for all that time, but I'm here now. Please, Hermione, let me look after you. Do what's right for you, whatever will make you happy, you have my full support."
"Charlie," she whimpered and he frowned as he looked up, seeing tears in her eyes and she laughed wetly as she swiped away an escaped tear, "when did you get so wonderful?"
"You'll do it, then?" He smiled and she nodded, sighing happily.
"Of course I'll do it," she snorted, shaking her head and sitting up in the bath, turning sideways and crossing her legs so that they were face to face, "I love you, so so much."
"I love you too," he smiled, leaning forward and pressing a lingering kiss before pulling away and moving to stand up, "dinner should be ready in about ten minutes, if that's alright?"
Hermione nodded, smiling as he backed out of the room with a goofy grin on his face and disappeared. Once she was sure he wouldn't hear her, she let out a quiet squeal and kicked her legs like a child, excitement and relief flooding her veins as she mentally composed her resignation letter, looking forward to actually writing it and sending it first thing in the morning.
