Their lips lingered on each other's for a long moment then Charlie threw himself onto the bed, dragging Harry with him. They ended up in a tangled mess, Harry lying half on top of the other man and kissing him with considered intent.
When Charlie finally pulled away from the kiss, he was laughing.
"Are you sure about this?" Harry asked, suddenly nervous.
"What do you mean, am I sure?"
"I just forced you to propose to me," Harry said. He tried to roll away, but Charlie held on tight to his waist.
"Oh," Charlie growled with frustration, then shuffled off the bed. "Stay there, you."
"Yeah, I'm just going to run after you," Harry muttered sarcastically.
Charlie ignored him and crossed the room to his closet. He had to stretch to find the small metal tin that was half hidden in a dusty back corner, his fingers first finding a hairy spider, which he left there.
"You could have just Summoned it," Harry said as Charlie sat back down on the bed, crossing his legs underneath himself.
"Yeah, but some of the stuff in here is delicate," Charlie said. "I don't want to break it."
The tin was old, that much was clear as Charlie prised off the lid to sort through its contents. Results from both OWLs and NEWTs were cast aside - Harry picked up the latter to have a sneaky look at what Charlie had achieved.
"Aha."
Charlie held out his hand. Two silver rings sat in his palm.
"What's this?"
"Look."
Tentatively, Harry selected one of the rings. On the inside two sets of initials were carved, facing each other.
"HJP... CTW. Fuck, Charlie, when did you buy these?"
"Oh, I don't know. A while back. When I realised that the only person I would ever marry would be you."
"In real time?"
He hesitated for a moment. "About six years ago."
"Fuck."
"Yeah."
"Wait - what's your middle name? No," Harry said, holding up his hand. "Fuck this. I cant marry you if I don't even know your middle name. I'm a terrible person."
He flung himself dramatically into a pillow, the ring still grasped tightly in his hand.
"Harry," Charlie said and put his hand on Harry's shoulder.
"No!" Harry exclaimed, his voice muffled from where it was pressed into the pillow, holding up his hand to give back the ring.
"Harry, look at me."
In the end, Charlie had to physically roll his partner over. Harry was pouting.
"Why should you know-"
"Because I should!" Harry exploded. "They don't say, do you, Harry James Potter, take that bloke over there to be your husband, do they? It's your fucking name, Charlie. And I don't even know it."
"It's Thomas."
"That's a nice name."
It was Charlie's turn to bury his face in a pillow and groan. "You're impossible."
"And yet, you still love me."
"God help me, so I do."
"Would you rub my feet for me? I'm losing the feeling in my toes."
Charlie thought that by now, he should have a better grasp of Harry's changes in mood. But he didn't, and when he picked up a delicately boned foot it was warm right through. Cheeky bastard just wanted a foot rub. Not that Charlie minded, not in the slightest.
"So. How do you want to do this?" Harry asked. "Big Weasley wedding?"
Charlie cringed.
"No? Really?"
"Ugh. I don't know. It just doesn't feel very... us, you know?"
"What is us, then?" Harry asked. Charlie pushed his thumbs up into the arch of Harry's foot, causing him to moan deeply. "We've hidden away most of our relationship."
"Nearly all of it," Charlie agreed. "But I like that. This is ours, not anyone else's. I don't give a fuck about what happens on the outside."
Harry's smile was small, tentative. "Make love to me."
A kiss was planted on the pad of his big toe. "You know I will."
As Charlie moved back up Harry's body, littering it with kisses, the silver ring rolled off the edge of the bed, clattering softly as it landed on the smooth wooden floor. When Harry woke the next morning it was gone.
A/N: Happy New Year! So, so much more of this story to come in 2012.
Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed and supported me this year. Hope you have a good one. - HFS xx
