JK Rowling herself said that she thought Charlie never married because he liked dragons more than women. I took this as possible asexual and built their romantic story from there.

Through Harry's Looking Glass

Harry flopped onto his bed, one arm under his head as he gazed at the ceiling, thinking deeply.

Sirius stopped at Harry's doorway.

"Harry?" He saw that he was deep in thought. Harry started and looked at Sirius.

"Oh, hi Sirius."

"Hey, pup. Is something wrong?" Sirius went into the room and sat the edge on his bed, rubbing his leg comfortingly.

"No..." He trailed off. "No." He said firmly, rising up on his elbows and looking at his godfather.

"No?" Sirius prompted. Harry sighed and flopped back onto his back.

"It's just...Hermione and Neville have such a clear direction where they are going since we finished school." Harry sighed as he finished his petulant explanation.

"And you don't have a clear direction, yet." Sirius stated.

"I mean, I'm the Boy-Who-Lived, I obviously have a ton of offers." He waved a hand and a stack of parchment came floating over.

Sirius was always surprised at the wandless magic that came so easily to Harry being demonstrated without any thought at all.

Sirius grabbed the parchment. He flipped through them.

"Daily Prophet, Quibbler, Auror Office, Misuse of Objects, Half Blood Council, Hogwarts?" He looked up at the last one.

"Yeah, Professor McGonagall offered me the Defense position." He sat up and swung his legs over to the edge.

"It has potential." Sirius told him.

"I guess..." He rolled his eyes. "I'm sick of Dark Arts and school to be quite honest, I want to do something that I can help someone or something. Not that teaching isn't a great profession but I always thought that Hermione would be the one to go that route." Sirius inclined his head agreeing with it and flipped through more parchment.

"Firebolt Tester, Seeker for..." He flipped through the parchments, going through about twelve. "Every single professional Quidditch team out there." He shook his head in disbelief.

"It's bonkers, isn't it?" Harry laughed bitterly. "All because I'm the bloody Boy-Who-Lived."

"Look, Harry." He gestured to the parchment. "These offers don't matter. The world is huge and you could literally do anything in any city in the world. Do some soul searching and do something that makes your life worthwhile." Sirius patted his shoulder consolingly and left the room, closing the door softly with a click.

Harry sighed.

Back to where he started. Which was nowhere.

He thought back to the graduation, where they took boats back over the Black Lake, the professors lined up at the entrance of the castle, waving goodbye to the last wave of students. He remembered suffering through his exams, struggling with the theory of everything, except defense. He obviously knew that back to front.

Then he remembered how low he felt when Neville and Hermione kept talking about how excited they were for their plans.

Neville was starting to finalize a potion to attempt to heal his parents – with the help of Sebastian and after his confidence had gained by leaps and bounds. He stood up to his grandmother, flounced off to America every break with Sebastian and stood up for anyone he felt was being stepped on. It was a completely different Neville than the one that tried to stop them that first year from going after the philosopher's stone.

He became quite the ladies man (after experimenting with both genders), including Draco's older brother, much to Draco's horror.

"Orion?" He squeaked, horrified.

"Oh, yes. He's fantastic." Neville relished in Draco's agonized face. "But he had to go to America for training so we broke it off." He frowned.

Harry thought that Neville really did love Orion but what did he know? He had never even dated anyone.

Hermione was going into the Ministry, which, great for her, but it was never something that was on his radar as somewhere he wanted to go into. Even if Dumbledore offered him a place on the Half-Blood Council – he didn't want it.

Hermione, though, she wanted it really badly and she was stressing out that she wouldn't have good enough grades to get in. Which, Hermione, not having high enough grades? Yeah, Harry didn't think so either. And what did grades matter to a law regulation council? It didn't make much sense to him. But Hermione did have standing offers in every department in the Ministry so maybe the grades did help. The one she ended up accepting wasn't a surprise to anyone who knew her.

Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

Clearly, no surprise to Harry that was what she chose. She always wanted to help the beings looked down upon, just like she was looked down upon. It was an admirable goal.

Then they asked what Harry wanted to do and he honestly didn't know how to answer them. He had no idea.

What was he good at?

He was good at flying on a broom, catching snitches, hoarding food (thanks to his lovely relatives for that one) and defense.

But what did he want to do for his life?

He just didn't know.

OoOoOoOo

Julian Ellington roved over the documents laying on his desk. Being the Director of the Romanian Dragon Reserve wasn't the easiest job but he did love it. It was about half paperwork and half dragon handling. Thankfully the bureaucracy of the position didn't take over what he loved to do and that was being outside and being with the dragons.

Of course, he wasn't as obsessed with being with the dragons as his most dedicated worker, Charlie Weasley. Charlie would probably sleep outside the dragon pens if he let him.

He chuckled under his breath at the thought.

His reserve has been abuzz with rumors since the Triwizard Tournament when Harry Potter – the Boy-Who-Lived – was discovered to be a dragonspeaker. It was incredibly rare and was often hand-in-hand with a Parselmouth, which the rumours were that he was one of those as well.

He furrowed his brow and looked at the date and looked at the ceiling and thought how old that Potter boy would be.

A smirk came across his lips as he realized that he would be graduating a few days from now.

Perfect.

OoOoOoOo

Harry stumbled down to breakfast a few days later, having succeeded in letting himself have a good sulk over his life.

He wouldn't say he was feeling depressed – except, yep, that was where he was.

He honestly felt like he wasn't normal at all. He didn't have any romantic feelings for anyone – no matter the gender and every time he struggled to get past some person touching his arm to Merlin forbid – kissing, he wanted to either run or throw up, or both.

He never talked about it with anyone but he felt like he was a freak about a hundred percent of his life.

And now he didn't even know where to start with how to spend his time outside of school.

What a great start to the rest of his life.

A foreign owl swooped down and dropped an envelope on the dining table and darted out the window with a flick of the wing.

Hedwig swooped in and settled on the back of Harry's chair, pecking at his hair.

He rubbed his fingers over her head, affectionately.

"Good morning to you too, Hedwig." He smiled, despite feeling so low about himself. Sirius and Remus slid in to the room, looking away from each other. Harry rolled his eyes. It was quite obvious that Sirius and Remus were in love but didn't want him to know. Whatever, he didn't have the time to worry about their relationship when he was trying to figure out his life.

"Who's the letter for?" Sirius asked as he loaded food on his plate.

Harry forgot about the letter, quite frankly, consumed in his own thoughts.

"Let's see." He used his wand to cast a spell to see if there were any curses or anything of the sort on the letter. He had become quite adept at using the spell for any mail he received, the wards were very good at not allowing any letters with love potions, compulsions, curses or Howlers but one can never be too careful.

Seeing none, Harry looked at the front of the envelope. It was for him!

"It's for me." He said, surprised. Harry turned the envelope around and looked at the seal on the back. The Romanian Dragon Reserve.

His heart thumped in his throat. He swallowed.

"What is it?" Sirius asked. Harry dared not breathe. He knew that Charlie said to talk to the Director when he graduated but he thought that it was a long shot, a dream that he would get to work with dragons. Ever since the tournament, he read everything he could get his hands on regarding dragons and he, like Charlie before him, was obsessed with them. He couldn't believe that he helped the dragons – that he could speak to them and helped them, even a little bit.

"It's the Romanian Dragon Reserve." Harry broke the seal of the letter. Unseen by Harry, Sirius exchanged a look with Remus, not saying anything further.

Dear Lord Harry Potter,

During the Triwizard Tournament, it was brought to our attention that you have the unique skill of dragonspeak. We would like for you to visit our facility and see if you would fit well in our dragon handler family. Please reply with your availability.

Thank you,

Julian Ellington

Director of the Romanian Dragon Reserve

"Oh, my god." Harry gasped. He couldn't help it – both Hermione and Harry struggled with using the magical curses when they were truly surprised. And he was definitely surprised.

"What is it?" Sirius leaned forward.

"They want me." He breathed. He never thought this would happen. That he'd get to see Opal again, Onyx, Jade, Amber, Azure.

Sirius snatched the letter and read the short missive.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" He demanded.

"I can't believe it." Harry murmured to himself.

"What's so hard to believe, pup?" Sirius had grabbed a spare piece of parchment from the air when he summoned it.

"That someone wants me because of my ability to speak to dragons, not because I defeated Voldemort." Harry met Sirius' eyes.

Sometimes, he forgot how much shit his godson had put up with. How many trials he was put under. How he had to scan all his mail because he couldn't trust the public, how the public assumed they had a right to know what was going on in his godson's life, who he was dating, who his friends were, what his sexual orientation was. He marveled at the strong man that he had a small hand in raising. He hoped that Prongs was proud of how he shaped Harry's later years, when he had influence. He knew he was as proud as a peacock over his godson's accomplishments and he knew James and Lily would be too. His throat tightened and he struggled to say what he needed.

"Your…" He felt the tears stinging his eyes and Remus looked at Sirius, hearing the emotion in his voice. Remus reached under the table and squeezed his thigh, letting him know that he was there for him. "Your parents would be so proud of you, Harry." He got up and wrapped his godson in a hug, Harry squirming under his strong arms.

Harry didn't like to be touched much. He never heard of his godson speak of anyone in more than friends sense and he noticed that even with Hermione, he hugged her and put his arm around her in a friendly manner, but he never seemed to have an interest in anyone. But he didn't care. His godson was who he was and he just hoped he would find someone to share his life with, to be passionate about something with.

That's all he wanted.

Harry squirmed out of his embrace.

"Padfoot." He whined as he straightened his shirt.

"I can't help it, pup. I just love you that much." He smacked a kiss on his hair. "I always will."

Harry looked like he was annoyed but he was secretly loving the familial affection. He grew up being told that he was a burden, feeling that no one would love him. That no one would want to hug him, that he would have no friends, that he wouldn't have the life he had now. And to look at his life and spend time with his godfather who loved him no matter what he did, where he went with his life, he knew that Sirius would always have his back and fight tooth and nail for him.

And honestly, that feeling that so many people took for granted, the feeling of being loved – he would never take it for granted.

Never.

OoOoOoOo

Julian had gathered the dragon handlers at the office, calling a meeting.

"Hello." He greeted everyone as they filed in.

"So, what's going on?" Charlie spoke for everyone in saying that he was confused why all the handlers were here.

"Well, I have an exciting visitor today. I want to see if this person is a good fit for our Reserve. Please treat him kindly and welcome. He's an asset I think could be beneficial." Julian levelled a stare on all the handlers, who nodded quickly.

They learned very soon that Julian wasn't someone people wanted to mess with, he was a generally kind man but turned into a different person when he got angry.

The Floo flared and a young man toppled out, rising to his feet, feeling proud he didn't fall into the floor.

He stood, flipping his shoulder length, curly, black hair back, revealing vibrant green eyes behind modern glasses.

Merlin's Beard. It was Harry Potter.

"Harry." All the handlers whipped their head to Charlie – they all thought he had nerves of steel for dealing with the dragons as well as he did. Going straight up to them and the dragons tolerated Charlie a lot more than they did for any other handler.

And Charlie sounded fond and familiar.

"Charlie." Harry's voice was warm. He strode forward and extended his hand in a handshake, which Charlie used to pull him close into a hug, which Harry allowed and even held on for a second or two longer than he would tolerate from anyone else. He released him, beaming at him. "It's so good to see you." Harry's eyes roved his face and saw something satisfactory, nodding once.

"Um, Charlie?" A handler spoke behind him.

"Yes?" He spun to face the handler.

"How do you know, um, Mr Potter." He asked timidly.

"I was at his brother's wedding." Harry bent around Charlie's massive bicep to peer at the handler.

"What a nightmare." Charlie muttered.

Harry laughed deeply.

"Just one brother was a nightmare." He pointed out.

And of course it was Ron. Fleur Delacour had applied for a job at Gringotts after her graduation, hoping to improve on her English, which it did. But she also fell in love. Bill was transferred to the London branch upon completion of his latest quest, and he ended up working with Draco on his new business that he wanted to start – Bill was doing the start-up work while Draco was still in school. Bill met Fleur and she was utterly charmed by someone that wasn't influenced by her Veela heritage and Bill thought that Fleur was a lovely woman and fell in love quite quickly.

His mother wasn't as pleased as he was. She thought he should be dating an English witch, not some French one. But Bill hadn't cared what his mother thought of his decisions since it was his fifth year when she was trying to tell him what career he should take. He didn't take that well, ended up applying to Gringotts to get away from his overbearing mother, Charlie taking his lead and moving to Romania to escape her as well.

But Bill didn't care – he saved up money and bought a ring and made a down payment on a house. And he proposed to Fleur and she happily said yes.

His mother wasn't as happy.

But she helped him with the wedding and they were married.

However, Charlie and Harry had to wrestle Ron into not destroying Fleur and Bill's wedding. Ron had gotten shit-faced drunk and spouting some nonsense about his brother marrying a creature and Harry tried to assure Charlie that he didn't mean it but Charlie wasn't convinced. Charlie and Harry wrestled him into the house so he didn't ruin Bill and Fleur's special night. They were relatively successful.

Good times.

"Which one?" One handler joked, breaking the ice, at which Harry laughed heartily.

"Bill, Charlie's older brother." Harry smiled at the handler that made the joke. "Charles, here is the baby brother to him." Harry peered up at Charlie, smirking.

"Charles…" The handler cooed.

"Shut up." Charlie playfully.

"Anyways…" Julian interrupted. "Why don't you, Charlie, take Harry around and show him what's what and then we can have a meeting." Charlie nodded and the other handlers dispersed, moving through the reserve to their usual spots.

Harry followed dutifully behind Charlie as he led them through the reserve, the dragons not greeting the new person, but soon the dragons were alerted to the new presence when Opal and Onyx started making a ruckus.

"Speaker!" Opal cried out, the dragons standing to attention, looking to glimpse at the dragon speaker.

"They aren't usually this excitable…" Charlie tried.

"That's because Opal let them know there was a speaker here." Harry offered. Charlie stared at Harry.

"I always forget that you can do that." Charlie murmured to himself.

"I can speak to snakes too." Harry offered, dimpling at him.

"You have the craziest life." Charlie commented.

"Tell me about it." Harry stepped up to the barrier holding the Hungarian Horntail's dragons. "Hello Opal…" He greeted.

Charlie watched as the young wizard started communicating in dragon speech, which sounded like hissing and growling to him but Harry seemed to be understanding what he was saying.

Harry was an extremely strong individual – he had heard from his twin brothers that Harry was definitely abused as a child but came out of it extremely strong and on top. He didn't let it defeat him.

All too soon, Harry wrapped up his conversation with the dragons and left some feedback for the handlers on the needs of the dragons. Then, Charlie and Harry made their way back to the main building, where Julian was holed up, having a boisterous conversation with someone in the office.

Charlie shrugged at Harry's questioning look and gestured to the door and left Harry alone at the door. He gently knocked on the door and it opened to a disgruntled look on Julian's face and his look softened and he gestured for him to come in.

"Harry, I'll be with you in one second. I'm just wrapping up with the French Minister." Julian smiled reassuringly at him. He turned back to the French Minister who had his back to Harry and was looking over the documents in front of him.

"I must protest, Julian, these prices are obviously inflated…" He spun and caught the eye of Harry, recognizing him immediately. "Mister Potter."

"Yes?" Harry sheepishly asked.

"Why is Mister Potter here?" He asked Julian.

"Well, I was hoping he would be one of my dragon tamers, he has the dragonspeak you see. I feel we could really make some strides in our understanding of our dragons."

"I want to!" Harry interjected. Julian spun.

"Really? We haven't discussed salary or anything…" Julian pointed out. Harry shrugged.

"I have enough money from my family." He had a point. The Potter and Black wealth was well-known.

"Well, if you have the sense to hire Mister Potter, perhaps your prices are adequate." The French Minister suddenly turned and signed off on the contract. "It is wonderful to see you again, Mister Potter."

"I hope Fleur is adjusting to her new life well, it was lovely to see you all at the wedding. Fleur looked beautiful." Harry commented to the Minister.

"Yes, yes. I think she is excited for her new life." Minister Delacour puffed up proudly. "It's always hard to see your children married but I think Bill is the right choice for her. Her mother is over the moon at the match, even if he is English, no offense meant." He added quickly.

"None taken. Let Fleur know to just ignore Molly. She's too pushy for her own good. If she wants to work and have a family and feels comfortable with that, it's Fleur's choice." Harry advised.

"You have experience?" Minister Delacour sat down near Harry and Julian worked on some paperwork, unable to believe that he scored Harry Potter as an employee.

"Yes." Harry settled in to talk about the Weasleys. "Molly has her heart in the right place but has a bit of an abrasive way of coming across. The twins, her middle children, they have a joke shop and she's always cutting them down. I invested in them early, they're geniuses but she doesn't think it involves any sort of cunning or intelligence, doing what they are doing. It's frustrating. I've learned to just do what you want and Molly will always have something to complain about, so why not do it your way anyways?" He shrugged.

"I see. I know that Fleur was having some issues with Molly. I will speak to her about it."

"Good. I like Fleur." Harry smiled at the Minister.

"She is fond of you as well." He inclined his head as he got to his feet. "Well, Julian, I am glad we sorted this out." He stretched out his hand.

"Of course. Harry and Charlie will be leading the team rescuing the dragon in the French Alps, Charlie is my best handler and Harry can help with understanding the immediate needs of the young dragon." Julian informed him.

"Sounds lovely. Thank you again." He said goodbye to Harry and flooed back to his office.

"Well, Harry, aren't you a surprise." Julian smirked at him. Harry stared at him.

"A surprise?" Harry questioned.

"I've been fighting with the French government to give us the contract for extracting the young dragon and yet you were able to get it done so easily."

"Oh, I rescued his daughter from the Black Lake during the tournament." Harry demurred.

"No small feat, having the French government in your pocket." Julian laughed as Harry flushed. "Anyways, here is an employment contract. Standard stuff, you can't say where the reserve is located, you can floo in or live here, your choice. We reimburse for clothing destroyed. Why don't you read it over and let me know if you have any questions." Julian handed over a piece of parchment. Harry read it carefully and he had no questions and signed with the quill.

"When do I start?" Harry asked.

Julian grinned.

"Right now."

The French extraction was successful, as was the one after that and the five after that and Harry was regarded as one of the top handlers, despite being there the least amount of time. The other handlers often came to Harry and Charlie for advice on how to handle their dragons and provide the ultimate comfort so that the dragon population would increase. As that was their ultimate job, that the dragon population would increase due to the severe poaching and killing of these huge animals for their skin and organs for potions.

Harry finished doing his rounds and made his way to Opal's enclosure, wanting to see her before he retired for the night. They talked for a short time before he made his way back to his cottage.

He didn't think that he would love this reserve as much as he did. He never really had a place of his own. He lived with the Dursley's and then with Sirius and as much as he loved living with Sirius, he didn't organize the New York house exactly to his specifications but this little cottage did that exactly. He had a glass tank for Delilah and a perch for Hedwig. He had a huge fireplace covered in bricks, for those cold winter nights and a soft comfy couch in front of the fireplace, a squishy rug in front of the couch. He had a couple bookshelves covered in books on snakes and dragons alike, one resting on his side table to the side of the couch and a sprawling kitchen.

Although it was something that wasn't really done in the wizarding world, or at least slightly frowned upon, he still enjoyed cooking his own meals. He wasn't about to let the Dursley's take that away from him, his love of cooking. He had Dobby around to help clean his cottage and stock up on groceries if he was too busy, but he still cooked his own meals. The reserve employees had him hold a dinner once a week, where they all piled in his small cottage and he cooked them all dinner, in a warm night full of laughs, drinks and happiness.

He was happy. Genuinely happy. He loved his job and he loved his friendships and he was just happy. It was a different feeling.

He made his way to his bedroom to change into lounging clothes. He had a large bed, taking up most of the room, a walk in closet and colorful posters taking up the walls. He changed into a pair of snitch pajama pants and an old Quidditch teeshirt.

As he was putting his feet in his slippers, he heard a knock on the door. He wasn't expecting anyone, he thought to himself.

He made his way to the door and opened it and saw Charlie standing there.

"Charlie?" He queried, tilting his head.

"I haven't been able to stop thinking about you and I never thought I would feel like this about anyone. Can I kiss you?" Charlie rushed through his words, leaving Harry's mind whirling.

"Yes." He said simply, Charlie surged forward and embraced him.

All too soon, he pulled back, his calloused hands framing Harry's face, his eyes tracing Harry's face, memorizing it. Harry placed a hand over his that was laying on his face, squeezing gently.

"Have you eaten?" Harry asked softly, feeling shy that he was in his snitch pants while Charlie was standing there, effortlessly attractive as always.

"No, love." His chest warmed at the pet name.

"I was going to make shrimp scampi." He offered.

"Sounds amazing." Charlie stepped in further and closed the door that he had absentmindedly forgot about.

The romantic tension had been building for a while between the two of them, they were really good friends and got along really well and had long deep talks when they were on overnight watch together.

They just vibed and it wasn't in a sexual way. They both were averse to being touched and they were realizing that there were other people like that, that understood them. And they were lucky to have a friend that understood.

And now to have a boyfriend to understand.

It was an amazing feeling.

Sirius was completely unsurprised when Harry told him that he was seeing Charlie.

Someone who was surprised was Molly Weasley. She was completely shocked.

"But…but…A wife, Charlie!" She cried out, aghast.

"Harry and I have only started dating, Mum. If we decide that marriage is a viable option, then we will be husbands, but no. No wife for me." Charlie tried being patient but his mother was so irritating sometimes.

"But Harry was supposed to be with Ginny." Molly tried again. Ginny paused in painting her nails, bored of this conversation.

"Ew, gross. I'm dating Blaise." She scoffed. "I don't want Scarhead." She bit her lip as she concentrated on painting her non-dominant hand, feeling accomplished when she finished and spelled them dry. "Don't bring me into your little spat. I'm happy for you and Harry. Bye!" She chirped as she darted off to her room, red hair flying behind her.

"That girl." She scoffed.

Charlie rolled his eyes at the ceiling.

And this is why he stayed in Romania.

He returned home and home had changed for him. His home was moving in with Harry and sharing his cottage, his belongings, sparse as they were, fit in perfectly.

They spent time in, reading, cooking and falling in love.

Who could ask for more?

The fellow handlers were completely unsurprised when they started dating. They were, however, surprised when a year after they started dating that Harry came in with an engagement ring on.

"Are you engaged, Potter?" A handler asked curiously.

Harry grinned and looked at the black ring with an emerald in it.

"Yes. Charlie proposed last night, I said yes." He grinned happily.

Charlie entered the room and went to Harry and hugged him tightly and pressed a kiss to his head before heading off to talk to another handler.

Life may have dealt Harry a troubling card for his childhood and school years but Charlie made up for it in spades.

He was completely, incandescently happy.

Hi! Thanks for reading! I painted Harry and Charlie's relationship as a homo-romantic asexual relationship. Nothing explicitly stated but I enjoyed writing this. I like reading asexual relationship fics, it is a valid sexual identity and I hope I represented it well in this story.