Chapter 36: As Simple as a Kiss

When Alicia woke again, it was with some confusion. She could feel someone's arms around her. Whose? She tilted her head up slightly and caught sight of Charlie's peaceful face just above her.

He looked so beautiful when he was sleeping. There was no pain or grief on his face; not a care in the world. She slowly and carefully untangled herself from his body and stood up, stretching her stiff limbs.

She looked around her, wondering where she was and what had happened. And then everything came flooding back, like a bad dream. The party, the Death Eaters, everything Charlie had told her about her uncle. She shook her head, wishing she could just expel all those thoughts, forget they'd ever happened. But she couldn't.

She glanced back over at Charlie who was still sleeping peacefully. Slipping off his jacket that she was wearing, she gently placed it over him and set off over the hills.

She wandered over the dark moonlit hill, careful not to lose her way, breathing in the fresh night air. Everything felt sort of surreal.

She sat down on the grass which was now wet with the night dew and hugged her knees to her chest, trying to take in everything that had happened over the past few hours.

Suddenly something moving to her left caught her eye. Her heart leapt, immediately assuming it was someone who had followed them, but as she looked closer she saw it was some kind of animal.

It did not come close at first, almost as though it were shy, testing to see if she was a friend or a foe. Then it came closer and as it came out into the faint moonlight she could see that it was a strange silver colour. Realisation quickly dawned on her.

It was a small silver weasel. The Patronus.

As she watched it breathlessly, it turned its bright little head towards her, opened its small mouth and spoke to her in the friendly familiar voice of Arthur Weasley.

"It's safe to come back. Everyone is fine. No one is hurt."

She smiled and leapt to her feet, tearing over the hill.

"Charlie! Charlie!"

At the sound of her voice, Charlie jerked awake and looked up to see her careering towards him.

"The Patronus is here! We can go home!"

Charlie yawned and got up slowly, rubbing his eyes. "Where are we?" he asked in confusion.

"I asked you that exact same question not three hours ago," Alicia laughed. "We're in the Chiltern Hills. And now we're going back to the Burrow."

Charlie shook his head in bewilderment, clearly still half asleep. She rolled her eyes, put an arm round his waist and turned on the spot.

An outbreak of voices hit them as soon as they appeared in the backyard of the Burrow.

"Thank goodness you're safe!" Molly's voice cried and she flung her arms around the pair of them. She ushered them inside, beating away the people who tried to ask them questions.

"Stop asking questions! Give them some space. They need sleep," she declared determinedly, taking them both by the shoulder and sitting them down firmly at the kitchen table.

The rest of the Weasleys and Hermione gathered around the kitchen table, all eager to hear news. But Molly wouldn't let them.

"No one is asking any questions tonight. They need some space and they need to sleep. It's one in the morning. Come on you lot, all of you, back to bed."

She chivvied them upstairs and they reluctantly obeyed. She turned to Alicia with a kindly smile.

"Alicia, dear, why don't you go up to bed and get a little rest? You've had quite a night. Charlie, be a gentleman, take her upstairs."

Charlie rolled his eyes but took Alicia's hand. Alicia suppressed a snigger.

"Goodnight, Molly," she said with a grateful smile.

"Goodnight dear. You're alright, aren't you? I expect Charlie's told you everything hasn't he?"

"Yes," Alicia admitted.

Molly heaved a great sigh. "Well, I suppose it's for the best. Sleep well."

The two of them walked slowly up the stairs, somewhat reluctant to leave each other. When they finally reached the second floor landing, Alicia turned to Charlie with a smile.

"Goodnight Charlie," she said softly before turning away towards her room.

"Wait, there's something I want to do," Charlie whispered, with a secretive smile, catching her hand and pulling her back. "But I want to do this right this time," Charlie said.

Alicia smiled as she understood the meaning in his words.

And as he leant down to kiss her, all the tension and confusion between them disappeared, like it had never even existed.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her close to him as he kissed her. She kissed him back with all the pent-up frustrated feelings she'd been hiding for months.

And as they kissed, Alicia felt her senses suddenly heightened; she felt so alive, so awake, she suddenly noticed everything; the feel of his lips soft and warm against hers, the delicious smell of his aftershave, the feel of his soft hair between her fingers, his warm embrace around her safe and reassuring.

As she breathed in his scent, she felt almost intoxicated, as though she was drunk on the very scent of him, the very sensation of being so close.

When they finally broke apart, they both stood still for a moment, both breathless and lost for words.

"You're going to be the death of me," Charlie breathed, unable to suppress the brilliantly dazzling smile that was spreading across his face.

Alicia grinned back at him then, her face simply lit up with the joy of being near him. It astounded her how something as simple as a kiss could leave her feeling like this. Light-headed, breathless, almost giddy with happiness.

Charlie pulled back slightly and took her face gently in his hands, locking his eyes onto her face, memorising every detail.

Alicia hesitated, suddenly speechless for once under the intensity of his gaze. Overwhelmed for a moment, she reached up and kissed him again.

Then, standing on her tiptoes, she whispered back. "At least you'll die happy."

"I can't believe we have to go back to school tomorrow," Katie complained as they all sat in the kitchen at the Burrow, enjoying their last dinner together.

"Come on, you know you're excited to start N.E.W.T work," smirked Fred from across the table.

Katie narrowed her eyes and flicked a piece of carrot at him in irritation.

They had all spent the day in Diagon Alley, buying all their books and ingredients. It had felt rather surreal to Alicia, after the crazy summer she'd had. She half expected a Death Eater to jump out from behind a bookcase at any minute and snatch her away.

But the day passed just as normally as ever and the comforting feel of Charlie's hand in hers had made her feel safer.

She was almost sad to return to Hogwarts this year, not wanting to leave Charlie. It would take some getting used to not seeing him every day, but all the same she was excited for her last year at Hogwarts.

After the disaster of Ginny's birthday party, everything had been explained to her: all about her uncle, about the Order and its members, about Grimmauld Place. She didn't like the idea of Charlie being part of such a dangerous organisation but she knew there was nothing she could say that would change his mind. Besides, she had already decided that she wanted to join as soon as she left Hogwarts.

Her parents were almost fully recovered now and were staying at Grimmauld Place to ensure their safety. But she still worried about them. Yet another reason she didn't want to go back to Hogwarts.

"Cheer up, love," whispered Charlie in her ear. His voice brought her back to the present and out of her thoughts.

She gave him as convincing a smile as she could muster, and made an effort to push the worries from her mind and enjoy her last night of the summer.

"I'm going to send you an owl every day you know," Charlie said firmly, grinning as she rolled her eyes. "And if you don't reply within a day, I'm going to come and find you myself."

She snorted. "Come off it, Charlie. I'm going to be at Hogwarts. What can possibly happen to me there?"

"You'd be surprised; especially when it comes to you," Charlie said seriously.

She laughed and kissed him. "Letters take a long time to get to Romania, you know," she reminded him.

"I'm…not actually going to be in Romania this year," Charlie said.

"You're not?"

"No, I've decided to stay here to help with..er," he trailed off. "…you know, things," he finished lamely.

Alicia raised an eyebrow. "Things?" she repeated. "I'm guessing by your reluctance to tell me, that these are Order things you're talking about."

"Well, yes," he admitted. "Nothing dangerous of course," he hastened to add.

"Yes yes, of course. Because you never do anything dangerous," Alicia said sardonically but her face betrayed her anxiety.

"Don't worry about me…I'll be just fine," Charlie said soothingly.

"I don't think I have any other choice," Alicia said unhappily.

"I'm sorry, love, but someone needs to help fight You-Know-Who and help your uncle. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I wasn't taking the chance to do my bit."

"Alright, alright. Stop making me feel guilty for not wanting you to be a part of it," Alicia whined. "Just be careful."

"Same back to you," he grinned, kissing her. "I love you."

"Same back to you," she smiled, kissing him once more, before picking up her bags and following Katie onto the train.

"Stay safe!" Charlie called, as she leant out of the window one last time.

She smiled almost sadly and blew him a kiss. He watched her as the train pulled out of the station and she watched him until they had both lost each other from view. Alicia sighed heavily. They were facing dark times ahead. She could feel it.

A/N. Sorry this chapter took a long time to post! Took me ages to try and get it right. Hope I succeeded! Do tell me what you thought! : )