A/N: Val's POV

Charlie and I had routines. We had breakfast together. We went about our work days. We had lunch together unless one of us had a work lunch, then back to work. Then we had dinner together and one of our flats, chatted about life over a cup of tea, showered together, and fell asleep in each other's arms at whoever's flat we happened to be at.

That was on weekdays.

Weekends had much the same, except Sundays were date days where we took turns, still, deciding what amazing or low-key dates we were going to tackle together (everything from him dragging me up to see reindeer in northern Finland to my making him explore the Greek islands). Saturdays, we did whatever Dumbledore's coded messages from the Order informed us we were to do, which often meant trips to Estonia to deal with his 'contact'.

The 'contact', mind you, was a vampire. Yes, we were trying to court the vampires, as a way of speaking. Charlie wasn't particularly comfortable around Mikko, the Finnish vampire we met with most Saturdays, said he didn't like the way Mikko looked at me or my neck, but I wasn't about to leave him alone in a room with a vampire.

So much for overcoming prejudice.

It was a Saturday, and as always, Charlie was making sure everything was packed for our weekend away and I was panicking that we would miss our portkey.

"Relax, love," he sighed, tossing in his favorite of my bras when he thought I wasn't looking. "Everything's going to be fine, just like it always is. Now, have you seen my knife?"

"In the drawer by your socks, right where you left it," I sighed, tossing my hair up in a quick, messy bun.

"Put your hair down," he said in a strained voice. "Please, Valley."

Right, my neck. He'd grown preoccupied with my covering my neck in Estonia.

"Did you pack my scarf?" I said dryly, taking my hair down again.

"Why didn't I think of that," he muttered, searching for my chunky, loose-knit scarf that didn't match anything else I'd packed. I didn't sigh too heavily because I was also reminding myself that he was only being so ridiculous because he loved me enough to try to keep a vampire from thinking of biting me.

Which was rather nice of him, really.

So he finished stuffing my scarf in just in time for us to catch our portkey and we were in the alleyway behind our hotel in Tallinn.

"Let's check in, then," Charlie said, dropping the portkey and taking my hand in his.

Once we were settled in our hotel room, we had three hours until we had to meet Mikko at his manor just outside the city proper. He claimed to have important news. In those three hours we had to eat, rest, and plan. Charlie, on the other hand, seemed to think it was a good time to snog. I had to admit, it was a hard offer to turn down, even though we had so little time.

"I'll bet Bill and Emma are snogging right now," Charlie countered when I told him we had stuff to do. I snorted.

"They're probably either shagging or sleeping," I sighed.

"Hey, there's an idea," Charlie whispered against my ear, wrapping his arms around me.

"What has gotten into you?" I demanded, trying not to let him see that I was a bit unsteadied by his words and behaviors.

"I love you," he said calmly, kissing my jaw. "Isn't that enough?"

But I knew he was nervous about seeing the vampire. I was too, but I didn't want Charlie knowing it.

"Tell you what," I sighed, "if you finish up what we have to do, then we can snog a bit before we go, all right?"

"Mmm," he moaned, "yes, ma'am."

We had food brought up to us and we discussed our strategy over dinner, and Charlie seemed anxious to be multi-tasking. I laughed at him, which he didn't take too well, but when we finished plans and dinner, Charlie practically jumped across the table and tackled me to the floor. I giggled, wanting to both smack myself for giggling and snog Charlie's face off.

"Promise me," Charlie muttered between kisses, "that you won't ever leave me?"

"Of course," I muttered, laying back and letting him explore my neck and jaw with kisses. Why would I ever leave him?

"I don't want to lose you, Valley," he murmured, running his hands up under my shirt. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I'm not leaving," I reminded him, tilting my head back as far as I could to give him better access to my neck. "Charlie," I whimpered. "Charlie, we're going to have to leave sooner than you'd think and I need to change."

"Are you really going to wear that dress?" Charlie moaned.

"You love that dress," I reminded him.

"Not... Not with him there," Charlie snarled.

"Don't get into a fight with a vampire, please," I moaned. "I don't want you getting hurt."

"You think I can't take him?" he said indignantly.

"Did I say that?" I said diplomatically, getting up, peeling off my sundress to distract him. It worked. He sat up eagerly, watching me walk across to our bags. "What I'm saying is that I don't want you getting hurt. Take that as you will."

Charlie crawled toward me, pressing his lips to the ticklish spot behind my knee as I pulled on the dress for our meeting. I fought back another giggle as he moved from there, placing kisses up my thigh.

"I'll keep that in mind," he muttered grumpily as his face met with the falling hem of my dress. "I suppose I'd better get changed, too, then."

"Good idea," I teased, making to put my hair up before I remembered how upset Charlie had been when I'd gone to put it up earlier. Instead I arranged it so that it covered my neck as best as it could.

As soon as we were ready to go, we walked the path to Mikko's manor, which was coming to be quite familiar. Charlie was clearly anxious and he gripped my hand tighter than he had to, but I pretended not to notice. It would have only made things worse.

The manor was located at the end of a long, rose-bush lined gravel drive, just thick enough for the thin European cars, not that anyone ever drove a car up it, but apparently it was the fashion. Charlie and I neared the gate toward the end of the drive, with its intricate, delicate wrought-iron design. I started nibbling on my lip self-consciously and Charlie leaned down to whisper in my ear, "Relax, Valley. You look beautiful and we know what we have to do. Everything's fine."

Easy for him to say.

One of the servants greeted us at the gate, leading us to the sitting room on the second floor. Mikko had three sitting rooms, but the second floor one, apparently, was his favorite for greeting us. I'd made the mistake of ogling at the paintings when he gave us the house tour and he took us to that same room every time after.

Charlie settled down, moving his chair as close to mine as he could manage, but they were awkward chairs for sitting beside someone else, which I was sure Mikko had done on purpose. He loved riling up Charlie almost as much as he loved watching my neck.

Mikko greeted us warmly, or as warmly as could be expected from a rich, vampire aristocrat. He didn't sit, of course. For some reason, he much preferred to stand.

"I see you got my message," he said, gesturing the servant to offer us wine. I accepted the wine, but Charlie waved it away. He wanted to keep his wits about him, which I thought was a very good idea. Mikko, of course, was not drinking wine, but I didn't really want to think about that.

"Of course," Charlie said as I took a sip of the sweet red wine. It was quite good wine, and growing up on my mother's liquor cabinet, I was well-versed in good wine.

Mikko waved the servant away and locked the door.

"There's been a representative visiting me from the Death Eaters," he said smoothly. "Someone named Malfoy, looked like he didn't have a drop of blood in him."

Charlie's fists clenched at the mention of Lucius Malfoy, and I very nearly shivered. The man practically owned England, what with his own enormous wealth, the wealth of his wife's family, and the influence he was able to garner both from his wealth and the ease with which he maneuvered everyone into his will, including the Minister of Magic.

"He's very persuasive," I said softly, a statement of fact more than a question, but I knew Mikko would take it as a question and it was meant as such. A prompt, at the very least.

"Not persuasive enough, my dear," Mikko said proudly in his strong Finnish accent. "But I'm afraid we're not getting in the middle of your war. The vampires have no interest in wizarding affairs beyond what benefits us, and we see no clear benefit in it for us."

Charlie frowned.

"So you're just going to let Dumbledore go out without your help?" Charlie hissed. "Some friend you are."

"I understand the concerns better than my comrades, I assure you, Mr. Weasley," Mikko said coldly. "Do not mistake me as the unsympathetic one. But I cannot commit my kind without their approval. That is not to say I cannot help you."

Charlie furrowed his eyebrows.

"Your Lord Voldemort," Mikko said casually, "has great interest in the werewolves in the Black Forest. He already has a solid hold on the werewolves in England, through Fenrir Greyback, but it will be more difficult, he will find, to gather together the larger werewolf camp in Europe than he would have expected. Even Greyback won't be able to sway them."

I raised my eyebrows.

"So, do you mean you have some measure of control over the Black Forest werewolves?"

"Valerie, darling," he said with a predatory grin that bared his teeth enough to showcase his fangs, "to say that the werewolves are capable of governing themselves would be like saying that goblins don't fight dirty. The trick is in making them think they're independent, as with all governing, really. It's all about subtlety, my dear." I nearly shivered at the way he looked at me, but then he turned to Charlie and said, "Mr. Weasley, I ask that you look over some maps with me. They're down the hall. Valerie needn't trouble herself with them. I think you're the one familiar with the area."

Charlie stiffened. He had a dilemma, and I could see just as clearly as he what it was. He didn't want to offend Mikko or mess up something for the Order, but he also didn't want to leave me alone in that room. He must have decided that it would be worth the risk as long as Mikko was with him, and he nodded, following the vampire out of the room.

I had to admit, without Mikko in the room it seemed warm and pleasant, something I wanted to explore. I held my wine, sipping it as I went up to a painting of a winter landscape on the wall opposite of me. The brushstrokes were lovely, and I found myself wanting to write an article on Mikko's art collection.

"It's a very nice painting, isn't it?"

I jumped at Mikko's voice, much closer to me than I would have thought. He moved so silently, it was terrifying. I whirled around, not wanting my back to him, and saw that he was alone.

"Yes," I managed to say without stuttering. "Where is Charlie?"

"He is examining some maps," Mikko said with another smile that bared his fangs. "He shouldn't be long, but I couldn't stand the thought of you in here alone, unentertained."

"I assure you," I said softly, thinking about how little space I had to back up before I hit the wall, "that I am certainly more than capable of entertaining myself."

"Of course, forgive me," he said, taking a step closer, prompting me to take a step back. "It's just that I was raised that it is impolite to force a lady such as yourself to entertain herself."

Another step forward, another step back.

"A lady such as myself?"

Another step forward and I backed myself clean up against the wall. That smile was certainly predatory.

"Beautiful, charming," Mikko said as though he was discussing the weather, "cultured, brave."

I wasn't brave. I knew that about myself. It was why I was the only person in the whole family who was a Hufflepuff. I took after my mother that way, willing to keep my mouth shut when I could get away with it. I wondered what Joss would do in my place, a vampire backing her against a wall and coming ever closer. She would probably pull out some of her fabulous Defense skills and put him in his place. I didn't have that sort of skill, and it didn't help that I didn't know where Charlie was.

"I'm afraid you don't know me very well," I began softly, trying to think of a way out.

"No, he's got you down perfectly," Charlie said, coming in with a snarl on his face. "You're all of those things, but you forgot one little thing, Mikko."

"What is that?" Mikko said, obviously unhappy that Charlie had returned sooner than he thought.

"She's mine," Charlie snapped rushing across the room and putting his arm around my waist. "And we're leaving now, thank you."

Mikko's eyes flashed dangerously, but he just watched as Charlie led me away from Mikko, out of the manor, and down the gravel drive.

"That lying scum," Charlie snarled. "He said he was grabbing a map he'd left in another room and I believed him until he didn't come back. I don't know what Dumbledore sees in that man."

"He sees someone with enough power to get things done," I sighed. "And that's what we need. Sometimes you have to associate with less than tasteful people to accomplish what you need done."

"I know that," Charlie sighed. "Still, do you think Dumbledore would be too put out if I did away with him?"

I rolled my eyes. Getting mad at Felix was one thing, but going up against a vampire was another matter altogether. He would likely get himself killed, and I certainly wouldn't take well to that. I didn't think Dumbledore would either.

"I wouldn't advise it," I said dryly. "As long as we don't have to go back there again I'll be happy."

"Oh, don't worry about that," he assured me darkly. "We're not coming back here again. The sooner I get you out of Mikko's grasp the better, and I'm not about to bring you anywhere near him again."

I couldn't argue that. I wanted out of there as much as he did. To show him that I appreciated it, I curled up against him as best I could as we walked, knowing that Charlie was too tense to really think straight.

When we got back to the hotel room, I pressed my lips to his, feeling his surprise as he stiffened first, then relaxed and pulled me closer, working into the kiss with the usual passion.

"What was that for?" he said breathlessly as we pulled away for air.

"For protecting me," I said, nuzzling my nose against his neck. "I was really scared."

Without warning, Charlie actually scooped me up and carried me over to the bed. He climbed on top of me, placing open-mouthed kisses along my jaw. His fingertips began gently grazing my neck and he whispered, "I'm the only person allowed to touch this, Valley. Your neck is mine," he said, kissing my neck. "Your lips are mine," he muttered, kissing my lips. "You're mine."

"Yes I am," I assured him. "And by some strange miracle, you're mine."

Charlie grinned.

We were both surprisingly tired, so we didn't even fool around, not wanting to accidentally sleep through our portkey back to Romania. Charlie took the time to write up a report for Dumbledore and send it off and then he tucked us both in for bed, holding me closer, tighter than usual, probably subconsciously afraid that I'd disappear if he let go. It wasn't the most comfortable way to sleep, but I was so thrilled at the subconscious sentiment that I didn't complain. Instead I gently kissed his chest and snuggled even closer to him, doing my best to relax enough to sleep.

When the morning came, we actually woke with plenty of time, taking a shower, sharing a quick breakfast, and gathering up our things before the portkey was ready to take us from the alley. As we were leaving the room, Charlie kissed my cheek.

"What was that for?" I asked, confused as I laced my fingers in his and let him lead me down the hall to the elevator.

"For letting me hold you, even though I knew you were uncomfortable," he said, turning a bit pink. "I needed that."

"I know," I said with a smile, kissing him gently as the elevator doors closed.

We checked out, hurried to the alleyway, found our portkey, and waited patiently for our trip away from the city of Tallinn, never to return if Charlie had anything to say about it. Before the tug behind my navel, I looked up at him and smiled, glad to find him a bit more relaxed and especially glad that I was the first thing on his mind, more important than the war, more important than his own safety, even.

Maybe I could keep him alive after all.