OK, for the first time in several months, I'm not going to be able to update this next week. I have to sort out some health stuff which will keep me away from my laptop for a few days. Please don't let me come back to a load of complaints lol! Normal Tuesday update service will resume from May 21st and, if you need something to read in the meantime, you might like to check out Romanian Summer (the prequel of Charlie and Lauren's summer together, which is now 4 chapters in) or one of my other Fred/Hermione fics. Thanks for understanding :-)

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Half an hour later, all the dessert had been eaten, the table had been cleared and Molly had shooed everyone except Percy and Penelope down the garden to relax and amuse themselves. The young couple had insisted on helping with the clean-up and, once Percy had whispered to his mother that Penelope needed a break from all the ruckus, Molly had swiftly agreed. It would give them a chance to start discussing wedding plans as well. Arthur had attempted to help, but one look from Molly sent him scurrying off to his shed for an after-lunch nap.

He didn't get to enjoy the company of his eldest son this time, though. Bill strode off into the orchard with Hermione, Ron and Harry, talking to them as he went. He had spoken briefly with Fred and George before they left the garden, letting the twins know to expect to feel some changes in their bond and reassuring Fred that nothing they were doing would affect its nature.

"It's good for each of you to be able to turn it off to focus," he told his younger brother, "but in reality it only damps it down. If you wanted to reach Hermione, you could do that with a single thought, as you probably already do with each other."

The twins nodded in unison. "We know how to do that," they told Bill.

"OK good, well do me a favour and don't try playing with it yet … need to give Hermione a chance to learn the basics."

He had grinned at the salute they gave him before they went to offer to take Elliot so that Charlie and Lauren could have some time to chat. Charlie was feeling much better about his role in Elliot's life since his heart-to-heart with Bill and he happily encouraged the little boy to go and have fun with Fred and George.

A little further away, Ginny, Luna and Angelina were chatting amongst themselves, with Angelina trying to establish what kind of pizzas everybody liked (and instead discovering that very few of the Weasleys had even tried muggle pizza before) and Ginny trying to establish what was going on between Luna and Ron.

"I suspect it'll have to be me that makes a move," the blonde witch told her friends.

"And is that something you're planning to do?" asked Ginny.

"Not really planning," said Luna, "but we'll see. I like things to unfold in their own time, unless the time becomes right and then I don't really see the point in waiting…"

Ginny frowned a little, trying to work that out, while Angelina decided to try to keep the conversation more practical. "Well you're invited to pizza night on Friday, with or without Ron, so we'll see you anytime you like after six. Feel free to floo to the flat or apparate to Diagon Alley and come through the shop; we'll keep the doors unlocked for family and friends til everybody's there."

After a nice long nap, Arthur emerged from his shed and walked over to Molly, who had settled herself into a garden chair from where she was watching Bill and his students. They were huddled together in deep conversation; Harry and Ron giggling at something Hermione was saying while Bill looked on and offered a suggestion here and there. Fred, George and Elliot were oblivious, playing a toy quidditch game in which Fred and George were trying to teach Elliot to aim coloured balls through hoops. Lauren was right, they realised, about his intellect being far superior to his motor skills; the little boy struggled to get the balls anywhere near their target, even when standing still, so they and Charlie had a lot of coaching to do if their nephew was to have a chance of making his house team.

"What are they cooking up?" Arthur asked, nodding at the so-called golden trio as he came to stand behind Molly and put his hands on her shoulders. She took one of Arthur's hands in hers and squeezed it gently as they looked at the group in the orchard.

"I'm not sure," she said, "but it's lovely to see the three of them in cahoots again. That's the only thing I was a bit worried about when Fred and Hermione got together; whether it would affect her friendship with the others."

"It looks good to me," Arthur said, and Molly nodded in agreement. "Look at them giggling together; it's been a long time since they did that."

"Things seem to be going well with our new family members too," Arthur observed, and the two of them turned their heads to look at Charlie and Lauren, who were snuggled up on a beanbag.

"Are you sure, love?" Charlie was saying, as he stroked Lauren's face gently with his thumb. "About you and me, I mean?"

"You sound worried, Charlie. I'm positive … I promise. I just needed time to get my head around it. It wasn't even the magic that was the trigger. Your mum had already pretty much confirmed that."

Charlie raised an eyebrow.

"Well, she told me earlier that the odds of Elliot not being a wizard were thousands to one."

"Oh." He hadn't known that.

"I told you from the off that I'm still massively attracted to you," and he could see the confirmation of that in the sultry look she was giving him, "and I had always hoped you would turn up on my doorstep one day and want to parent Elliot with me. It was just all a shock when it actually happened out of the blue AND came with the news that this whole new world existed, and I needed a bit of time to adjust."

"And you have?"

Lauren cupped his face more firmly and leaned forward to kiss him softly. "Yeah. I had a wonderful chat with Hermione and Angie and your mum this morning." She bit her lip, thinking. "It helped me see things a bit differently. I avoided commitment for so long, because I was afraid of getting hurt again. And then," she poked his chest gently with two fingers, "into my life you marched, leaning on the wall with your beer, being nice to lizards, and that was me gone. Just took me a while to realise it… And accept it, I guess..."

Charlie wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. "I couldn't be happier."

"Me either. And you have a wonderful family," she said. "I'm falling in love with them already."

"I think they're pretty fond of you too." Charlie chuckled. "So now we just need to wait an appropriate amount of time before we can slink away and I can show you how much I appreciate your decision…" His hand cupped her hip and she moaned softly.

"I'm so turned on already," she told him as she leaned forward and kissed him again, teasing his bottom lip with her tongue and making him groan in anticipation. "And not that we can't play unless we're alone, but I'm so excited at the thought of having a night with you without any chance of interruption … especially after all this time…"

Before Charlie could return her kiss, a shadow fell over them. "I'm so sorry to interrupt…" Having returned from his session with Hermione, Harry and Ron, Bill's voice was soft, and he and Fleur, who was with him, both sported apologetic smiles. "It's just that we weren't planning to stay all afternoon, but Dad asked us to help key Lauren and Elliot into the wards, and we need as many people here as possible to key Lauren in."

Lauren looked at Charlie and then back at Bill. "I don't know what that means, except that Charlie used the same word when I felt horrid on the journey here."

The two curse-breakers sat down on the grass and explained the concept of wards to Lauren. "The process of keying you in is different for you and Elliot," Fleur explained. "As he has a magical core, we can key him in like any other magical family member. It's very simple. The most straightforward way of doing that is if Elliot will let Bill take him for a walk around the perimeter wards and Bill can key him in as they go. He won't feel a thing, except he'll have a sense of feeling safe and at home here."

When Bill saw her smile, he interjected. "If you've got a sling or a carrier or something, that would leave my wand arm free to key him in, but I can soon put him on my shoulders if you don't."

"I've got both in the car," she said.

Charlie looked at Lauren. "Are you OK with this; shall I get it?"

"It definitely won't hurt him?" she looked a bit concerned.

"Love," said Charlie, taking her hand in his. "We'll never ask you to agree to anything that will hurt either of you, in any way."

Lauren grinned. "Does that mean we don't have to apparate again?!"

Bill chuckled at that. "Not a fan?" he asked, and Lauren shook her head.

"It does get easier after the first couple of times," Fleur smiled.

"So everyone keeps saying," Lauren smiled. "I am yet to be convinced, but I'm trying to keep an open mind."

"Elliot will think I'm just taking him for a walk," Bill continued.

Lauren nodded. "Go on then. I trust you."

Bill got a funny look in his eyes at that. He reached towards Lauren's hand, but hesitated to touch it. He seemed to want to say something, but clearly wasn't sure how to.

"What is it?" Lauren asked softly. Then a smile crossed her face. "Are you going to give me a big brother talk about being nice to Charlie or else you'll set Fleur on me?"

Bill shook his head. "I just wanted to say a proper welcome, really. I'm so…" he paused, feeling an emotion he couldn't name, "well I'm so bloody glad Hermione found you. I don't really know what it is I want to say, but I can't believe Charlie's coming home, and we can all bring up our kids together. I was afraid he was going to stay in Romania and miss it all."

Charlie was looking down at the grass, poking at daisies with his fingers and not really trusting himself to speak.

"And," Bill continued, "when you've got time, Fleur and I would love to invite you both over and get to know you better."

"That would be lovely, Bill, thank you." Lauren reached over, insisting on pulling him into a hug, catching Fleur's eyes as she did. Fleur smiled. Both women could see that this was borne of Bill and Charlie's deep brotherly love for each other, although neither man quite had the words to say it themselves. Fleur moved towards Charlie and put her arms around him.

"I am so happy for you too," she said, and he kissed her cheek before plucking one of the daisies from the ground and putting it behind her ear with a grin. Then his grin suddenly got wider.

"You know this means I'll be initiating regular family quidditch games though, right? That's one of the few things I can beat Bill at!"

Bill laughed heartily at that.

"What's quidditch?" Lauren asked Fleur. "Is it wizarding football or something?"

Fleur looked at Charlie, who shook his head slightly. "I am going to let Charlie tell you later; it's his thing more than mine," she smiled, and gave Charlie one last squeeze before she let him go.

"Alright," said Lauren. "I'm going to need to make a list!"

Bill laughed, letting Lauren go and getting to his feet. "Come on then, mate," he said to Charlie. "Enough of this sappiness. Let's key your boy in…"

Charlie jumped to his feet as well and he and Bill strode off together towards Lauren's car, veering off to catch Elliot on the way. He seemed keen to have a new adventure and took Bill's hand happily.

"He's doing well," said Fleur, watching Elliot chat to his father and uncle, waving another twig that he had appropriated as a pretend wand.

"He's going to crash soon," Lauren replied. "It's only the sugar that everyone keeps putting in him that's keeping him awake!"

Fleur smiled, and there was a pause while she decided how to explain ward keying to Lauren. "So," she said slowly, "the process with you is a little different, because you do not have a magical core. There are two types of wards and we need to tune them both to recognise your energy. It would be good if we could put the outer wards back up to prevent other non-magical people coming to the house, although of course we can make exceptions for any of your family that you might want to bring sometime…"

"Not really an issue," Lauren said quickly.

"OK, well those are the ones that made you feel bad and, after we have done the spell, you will feel happy and be easily able to pass them. And then there are the inner wards. At the moment, any of us can bring you in past the inner wards, like Charlie did, but Molly wants you to be able to come by yourself, as well. In your…" she broke off, not knowing the word she wanted to say.

"Voiture?" suggested Lauren.

"Oui," Fleur said, a little surprised. "Tu parle Français?"

"Un peu," Lauren replied. "Just school level. The English word is car."

"Thank you. It is not a word we use so much in our world. Molly wishes that you are able to come in the car without Charlie if you want that, so we will do a short piece of magic which brings you into the protection of our family magic and it will allow you the freedom to pass through all our wards. You will be able to drive to mine and Bill's house too, if you like, as they are connected, and we will make it that our wards will recognise you too. It is not far from here."

"Oh," said Lauren. "That would be lovely." She hadn't really thought about where everybody else lived.

But Fleur was set on explaining the magic rather than giving directions. "It is not many families that can do this type of spell," she continued, "as it needs a minimum of nine family members who are magically connected to the wards of the house and garden by blood or marriage. So that is also why we need to do this now, while we are all here. They will make a circle around you and I will be with you to help with the spell. All you will notice is a feeling of love and protection. I promise it is not like apparition at all. You will be very comfortable and you can stand or sit, as you prefer."

Lauren chose to sit and, once Charlie returned, he levitated one of the sofas from the campfire circle for her and Fleur to occupy. Fleur quietly gathered those who were eligible to cast the spell, and Charlie, Molly, Arthur, Percy, Fred, Hermione, George, Ron and Ginny arranged themselves into a circle, linking their hands together with everybody's wands held in their right hands.

"We have nine even without Bill and I, so we can let him keep going, and I can stay here with you." Fleur tipped her head towards the quidditch pitch, around which Bill was striding with his nephew safely bound to his back with a rainbow sling that Elliot had chosen and Molly had helped tie. Lauren was interested that Molly was clearly familiar with this way of carrying babies and also relieved to see Elliot nestled against Bill's back, stroking Bill's ponytail and, she thought, hopefully nodding off. He was way overdue for a nap.

"Molly and Arthur will lead the magic, as they are the heads of the family; they don't need me," Fleur said. "So why don't the rest of you join Lauren and I in the circle and feel the love that everyone has for you too?" With an elegant wave of her arm, she invited Penelope, Harry, Luna and Angelina into the circle. None of them could participate in casting the spell, because they didn't yet have a blood or marriage tie to The Burrow, but she suspected that Lauren might feel more comfortable if everyone was involved, rather than spectating from outside.

Luna sat cross-legged on the grass near Lauren's feet and touched her arm. "It's all very odd, isn't it?" she whispered. "I expect you'll need time to think about it later." Lauren smiled in agreement, and then Luna leaned in closely. "Although you'll probably be too busy with Charlie tonight to have time to think about anything else for a while."

Lauren managed to stop herself snorting and she looked around quickly, hoping that the others hadn't heard. Penelope's eyes were dancing but she didn't seem to know what to say and, next to Luna, Harry was choosing to pretend that he hadn't heard what Luna had said. Ginny caught Lauren's eyes from Harry's other side and they shared a smile together. Lauren was pleased; she hadn't really had a chance to talk much with Charlie's only sister, just because there was so much going on, and she was happy to feel that they did have a connection and maybe a shared sense of humour.

"I'm going to ask Angelina to sit on your other side, if you will, Angie?"

"Of course." Angelina quietly reached for Lauren's hand and squeezed it. Lauren was touched by the gesture from the younger woman and gave her a grateful smile.

"And that way," Fleur continued, "you're surrounded by people you know. We really do want you to feel comfortable and safe. OK," she said, looking around to ensure that everything was as it should be. "Molly and Arthur, over to you."

Lauren tried to listen to the incantation, which began in Latin. She really did. But within moments of it beginning, those in the circle started to walk around the group gathered in the middle and Lauren felt such an enormous wave of happiness and love that she was unable to do anything except tip her head back, hold onto Fleur and Angelina's hands and enjoy it. She had no idea how long it lasted, but it left a residual sense of wellbeing in her body that never left, and that would heighten every time she neared or was at The Burrow.

Lauren wasn't even conscious of the spell having been completed until she slowly became aware that Charlie was kneeling on the ground in front of the sofa, the most enormous smile on his face, as she heard Molly telling Arthur not to be an elf in the background, that she would get anything that was needed. She must be dreaming, Lauren thought; the spell had clearly made her fall asleep. Of course Charlie's dad couldn't be an elf; what a ridiculous idea. Lauren giggled slightly at the thought, though. She gazed in awe at the trees around her, which were a kaleidoscope of colours and patterns, and then tipped her face upwards to better enjoy the sparkles of light that she could see dancing in the sunlight.

Fleur and Angelina both stood, gently tugging her hands to encourage Lauren towards Charlie, who was kneeling on the grass in front of the sofa. He reached for her waist, pulling her forward until she was straddling him. Once she was settled, his arms went around her and he cupped the back of her head with one hand, ensuring she was snuggled into him. Lauren vaguely heard Fleur's voice agreeing with Molly that a cup of tea would be very grounding, and she saw Molly walking towards the house. Next, Lauren thought she heard Fred tell Charlie about the chocolate truffles he had brought her earlier in the day. At a nod from Charlie, Fred gently told Lauren what he was going to do and then took the chocolates from Lauren's dress pocket, holding them open for his brother. Charlie, just as he had done with the rhubarb and custard car sweet early that morning, took one out and carefully popped it between Lauren's lips. A few minutes later, Molly did a similar thing, holding a cup of tea to Lauren's lips and encouraging her to sip it. Lauren was vaguely aware of Molly shooing everyone else away and pointing out that Lauren probably didn't need an audience.

Slowly, while holding onto Charlie and nuzzling her face into his neck as if she were a kitten, Lauren came back to reality. "That was amazing," she told him and Molly after a few minutes. "I feel like a first-year getting stoned for the first time at Fresher's Week."

Charlie had no idea what that meant, and was reminded of the lengths he had had to go to in Romania to keep up with Lauren's muggle references. "Are you OK, sweets?" he asked softly, as Molly put the tea cup on the grass next to Lauren and moved away herself, wanting to give the two of them time to be together.

"I'm wonderful," she slurred. "I feel so loved, so happy. Like I belong here now."

Charlie looked into Lauren's eyes and smiled softly. "Welcome to the Weasley family, lovely."