CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

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July 24th 2006

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After seeing the house, so perfectly beautiful and overlooking the place that meant so much for them both, Hermione had insisted upon moving in as soon as physically possible, which meant that the move took place the weekend before Charlie began his new job at the Ministry. On Saturday morning, they woke up for the last time in their flat. Though it wasn't as much of a sad occasion as Hermione had anticipated, due to their collective excitement at moving into the cottage, it still felt very strange to think that they would never be coming back to the only place Arty had ever lived.

"Are you ready, mummy?" Arty asked as she levitated the last box into the floo, sending it off and moving to stand beside him and Charlie as they took one last look around the now very empty flat.

"I think so," Hermione nodded, smiling sadly, "are you?"

"Are you sure we haven't forgotten anything?" He asked and Charlie snorted, shaking his head.

"You've made me check every square inch of this place at least 10 times, buddy," he laughed, ruffling his hair, "I am one hundred percent certain that there is absolutely nothing left."

"Can I just check?" He asked and Charlie rolled his eyes as Hermione sighed.

"Fine," she huffed, shouting after him as he ran off, "you've got five minutes!"

"Hey," Charlie said, turning her to face him as she sighed, "are you ok?"

"I am," she nodded, smiling, "it's just strange, you know? This is the only home he's ever known, the place that holds all of my memories of him. It's where we've spent his life and now we're leaving it behind."

"Only physically," Charlie said gently, cupping her cheek with his hand, "all of those memories are going with us and now we've got a new place to make so many more memories."

"I know," she smiled, more happily now, as he moved his hand from his face to her now obviously pregnant stomach, "I can't believe that you did all of this for us."

"It's the least I could do," he shrugged, pressing a kiss to her forehead, "I love this flat as much as you, but the cottage is going to see us right through until the end of our lives and long past it. It's a place to settle, you know?"

"I know," she nodded as Arty came running back in and stopped in front of them, his hands on his hips and a frown in his face, "uh… are you ok there, sweetheart?"

"You said we hadn't forgotten anything," he exclaimed angrily and Hermione gasped as he held up a photo, "but I found this behind a radiator in your bedroom, mummy!"

Hermione felt tears spring to her eyes as she took the photo with a shaky hand, her other covering her mouth. It was a photo, now faded from the heat of the radiator, that had sat on her bedside table from the night Arty was conceived until the night that she had needed to lie to her son about the reason his dad wasn't around. Tsken at Ginny and Harry's wedding, the wizarding photo showed her and Charlie, holding one another as they moved around the dance floor. The smile on Charlie's face could light the room and the glow of her cheeks was clearly visible.

"Oh my," Charlie gasped as he looked over her shoulder, "I didn't even know about this."

"I had this on my bedside table for years," Hermione whimpered, handing it to him and crouching down, pulling Arty into a hug and sniffing, "I'm so glad that you found this photo."

"Why was it behind the radiator, mummy?" Arty asked and Hermione sighed as she pulled away, clearing her throat.

"I got very mad at daddy one night, do you remember? The night that you asked me why he wasn't here with us and I told you that the dragons needed him?" She asked and Arty frowned, though he nodded after a moment, "well, I got upset and I didn't want to look at the photo any more, but I am so, so glad that you found it. Thank you."

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As they stepped through the floo and into their new cottage, Charlie sent Hermione off to unpack her books and put them away in the forth bedroom which was, for now, made to be a library for her. After sending Arty off to help and making sure they were occupied, he quietly left the house and ran straight to the Burrow, not bothering to knock as he pushed open the door that led into the kitchen and walking through the room. He found his parents in the living room and pulled the photo from his pocket, handing it to his mum as he began to pace.

"This is a lovely photo, Charlie," Molly smiled, though she frowned when she looked up and saw him, "is everything ok?"

"Sit down, son," Arthur said, pointing to the armchair and Charlie groaned as he collapsed into chair, "what's bothering you?"

"I need to marry her," he blurted, his eyes wide as he looked up at them, "I mean, I was obviously thinking about it in the future, but I want to ask her now."

"What's brought this on?" Molly asked, confused and Charlie shrugged.

"She's everything," he sighed, shaking his head, "I should have followed my instincts and never gone back to Romania, I should have stayed and been with her for all this time."

"Charlie, you can't change what's already been…" Molly sighed and Charlie nodded.

"I know," he said, standing up and pacing again, "but I can make up for it. I can do what I should have done years ago and prove to her how much I love her."

"Ok," Arthur nodded, standing up and grabbing Charlie by the shoulder, "why are you here saying all of this to us?"

"Because I wanted to give her grandma's ring," he said, turning to Molly when she gasped, "I mean, if that's alright, Mum."

"Oh Charlie!" She exclaimed tearfully, jumping up and pulling him into a crushing hug, "of course it's ok! I'll need to get it from the vault, but I can think of no-one who deserves it more!"

"When were you planning on asking her, son?" Arthur asked and Charlie shrugged as his mum let go.

"If it's not asking too much, could you watch Arty next weekend so I can take Hermione away for a couple of days?" He asked and Arthur nodded.

"Of course," he smiled, patting Charlie on the back, "anything you need."

"I'll get the ring on Monday and take it to the jewellers to be cleaned," Molly grinned, wiping her eyes and sniffling as she pulled Charlie into another hug, "Oh I'm so proud of you, Charlie."

Charlie grinned as he pulled away and said goodbye to his parents, leaving the Burrow to return to the cottage at a much more relaxed pace than he had left it. As he walked, he tried to figure out what he could do next weekend that would make it all the more special for Hermione, but he drew a blank. He knew that he wanted to do something that she loved, could think of many, but he couldn't narrow it down to that one thing that would blow her away. As the cottage came into view and he reminded himself that he needed to cut a safer path through the woods, he decided that he would corner Harry during his lunch break on Monday for his advice.