Y'all, I forget I post on , not just aO3, I'm sorry about that. You're about to get a chapter dump, sorry!
May 2nd, 1999, 3:13am
Sleep was not coming easy. Maggie had fallen asleep for all of an hour, during which Charlie had woken up. When she sprang up from a nightmare, Charlie simply held her close, speaking softly to her until he fell asleep. She fell asleep for a short bit, and now here she was.
Charlie's arms were still wrapped around her. He was snoring. She smiled a bit. She'd come to realize most of the Weasley family snored, except Fred and Percy. Feeling the slight nudges in her stomach, she wondered if their child would snore as well. Maggie turned just enough and stared at his face. His arms around her had definitely helped the sleep issue, but the weight of the day was hanging over her. The last time she'd been in his arms like this, a time in which she did sleep soundly, in this very bed, was so long ago yet so recent.
17 weeks and 3 days ago. That's exactly how far along she was.
The first and only time she'd ever been with a man.
Her cheeks reddened as she closed her eyes and thought back.
December 31st, 1998, 10:34pm
Straddling his lap, she felt his rough and calloused hands run along her skin, tracing her, committing her body to memory. Charlie's hand lingered on a small scar her shoulder blade when he went to slide her bra strap down.
"What's this one from?" He murmured, lips hovering in front of hers as he ran his fingers over the raised skin.
Maggie's own calloused yet soft hands that had been resting on his bare chest instinctually clenched. He covered her hands with his, holding them gently to relax her, protect her.
"The Lestrange brothers," She admitted, voice taut with emotion.
He nodded and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, "Thank you, for telling me."
She nodded back, lacing her fingers with his for a moment.
He let out a shaky breath, leaning back and staring at her. She bit her lip and allowed him to pull her bra off. Her face was bright red and she looked down, crossing her arms to cover her breasts.
He nudged her face up by her chin and cupped her cheek.
"You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," He whispered, staring into her eyes, "Don't you dare be embarrassed."
"I've just thought about this for so long," Maggie sighed, "I don't want to let you down."
"Trust me, Magnolia, there's no way that you, especially you, could ever let me down," Charlie assured, "I've thought about this for a while too, Darling."
Maggie's eyes went wide at that admission, "Really?"
"Since you were 16," He flushed and looked away, "Merlin, sorry, that makes me sound creepy."
"Well I'm not 16 anymore, am I? Besides, you were never creepy," Maggie smiled, "Worst part about you is how long it's taking you to get my pants off."
Charlie grinned at her, "I can fix that. But first, let's get to an actual bed."
She giggled and kissed him as he picked her up and held her close to him. Her legs wrapped around his waist, with his hands on her arse. It took a few minutes to successfully navigate up the stairs, with Charlie stopping to press her against the wall every chance he had to kiss her hard.
He laid her on her bed and began to unbutton her jeans and slid them down her legs.
"Wait, Charlie," She sat up, her wits coming about her when she had glanced to her wall and saw the large Weasley family picture that she and Hermione had been pulled into several years back.
He froze and moved away from her, kneeling at the end of the bed, "Do you want to stop?"
"No, no," She replied quickly, "I just wanted to make sure we're on the same page before we go farther."
"Oh," He got up and sat on the bed next to her, "What page is it for you?"
"We can't tell anyone. This had to be a one-night thing, our one night." She was staring at the family picture, watching as picture-Charlie picked both picture-her and picture-Ginny up in it. His face fell without her noticing, but then saw what her gaze was directed at.
"One night. Then we can be back to that," He said, "I can pretend to be like your brother again."
She smiled at him gratefully, "If anyone asks where we went-"
"Darling, everyone was already plastered. No one noticed," He chuckled before leaning in to kiss her neck.
"I just… oh," She breathed out as he nipped at her neck and slipped his hand down towards her-
Charlie rolled in his sleep, pulling Maggie mostly on top of him and completely jarring her from the memory. In the new position, she knew there was no way of freeing herself from his arms without disturbing him. So she simply closed her eyes and allowed his snores to lull her back to sleep.
When she woke only 20 minutes later, her eyes flew open at the creaking of her bedroom door. She tore herself from the waking Charlie, reaching for her wand when she saw who was there.
Hermione, in her pajamas, looking guilty at having woke the pair up.
"Sorry, Ron and I let ourselves in… we brought along Luna and the Twins. Ginny was already here," Hermione said sheepishly, "Ron and I wanted to see you. We're all having trouble sleeping."
Maggie smiled softly at Hermione and looked at Charlie who was sitting up now. He cracked a bit of a grin.
"We're having a rough night too," Charlie said, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, "Having a bad time staying asleep."
"Let's make pancakes," Maggie stood up after a very slight second of struggle due to her belly.
Hermione raised a brow, "Pancakes?"
"And anything with beef," Maggie added and slid her slippers on. She gave Hermione a tight hug and kissed the older girl's cheek before slipping past her and heading down the stairs.
"You need something green to eat, Maggie. Balanced foods, that's what the books say," Charlie called after her quietly, as to not wake Teddy. He followed her after giving Hermione a quick hug. Hermione simply rolled her eyes.
Maggie stepped down the stairs and into the sitting room, amused. Fred, George, and Ginny were talking while Ron and Luna played a game of chess. Charlie placed a hand on her shoulder, his own amusement evident.
"Why is it our house seems like the place to be?" Charlie asked.
"Because you don't live with our parents and you have the most room," Ginny quipped, sitting up from where she laid sideways in Charlie's armchair. Maggie laughed as she went over to kiss her cheek.
"That's my chair," Charlie grumbled. Maggie turned and raised a brow at the man.
"And it's Maggie's house," Ginny retorted.
"It's Charlie's too," Maggie interrupted, sensing Charlie's huffy reply coming. She shot the man a confused look at his deep frown. Ginny and Hermione looked just as confused, while the twins, Ron, and Luna thought nothing of it. Charlie sat himself next to the twins, who had been bickering about the next firework type they should add to the lineup at the shop.
"Gin, 'Mione, come help me cook, yeah?" Maggie asked, rubbing her stomach out of habit.
It turned out, having Ginny help involved her just sitting on the counter, occasionally grabbing the things that had been put away too high. Hermione sat at the kitchen table, amusement on her face.
"You know, I prepare food on that counter," Maggie remarked as she poured several rounds of batter onto the griddle.
"I would bet a few galleons you've done worse on here," Ginny remarked, tying her hair up into a bun.
"Well, I'll take that bet," Maggie looked up at her as the batter began to cook.
Ginny looked flummoxed, "You and Charlie…"
Maggie huffed, "He and I just friends."
"I'd believe that if you weren't hiding that baby bump under one of his shirts," She gestured at Maggie's stomach.
"First, friends can have sex. Second, I've had this shirt for almost five years, it's mine now," Maggie shrugged.
"Yeah, didn't you start wearing that thing when we were in fifth year?" Hermione asked, changing the subject.
"Just before. Stole it from his trunk just after the World Cup," Maggie smiled proudly.
"You're literally the only person who has ever gotten away with taking his clothes," Ginny snickered.
"If his face with you in his chair was any indication, Charlie doesn't like any of his stuff getting taken," Hermione remarked.
"Merlin, his tune changed quick right then," Maggie pursed her lips.
"Bloody Hell, that really was weird," Ginny agreed.
Then it hit Hermione.
"Oh my God, you two used to date," Hermione gasped before she started to giggle.
"Maggie and I went on two dates," Ginny corrected before she realized what Hermione was getting at. She began to laugh.
"What? Why is that funny?" Maggie looked between them after flipping the pancakes, bemused.
"Maggie, sweetie, my dear brother, your baby daddy, is jealous," Ginny explained, a humored smile on her face.
"I'm sorry?" Maggie's brows shot up.
"Maggie, Charlie is possessive of what's his… like a dragon," Hermione pointed out, trying to hold back her laughter.
"You're… you- his Maggie. And he's a dragon," Ginny nodded.
Maggie's face burned red, "You mean to tell me he's jealous that I kissed your cheek?"
"Yes," Ginny said.
"Bloody hell," Maggie groaned as she piled the plate with pancakes, "Oi, can one of you take over? If you want to have this conversation, one of you can cook. I'm too tired for both."
"Maggie, you know what my cooking is like," Hermione raised her hands and shook her head.
Ginny hopped off the counter, smiling mischievously, "I think this a case where you can get Charlie to do the work."
"Ginny, I do-"
Maggie was cut off by Ginny calling, "Charlie, we need help!"
"There is a baby sleeping upstairs!" Maggie hissed out, "And you're stressing him unnecessarily!"
Before Ginny could reply, Charlie burst into the kitchen.
"Maggie?" Charlie asked, panic on his face. Then he saw Maggie's hand on her hips as she glared at Ginny.
"Sorry," Ginny shrugged.
"No, you're not," Hermione remarked and stood, a teasing smile on her face.
"You're right, I'm not," She agreed and shuffled past Charlie into the living room with Hermione close behind.
"What just happened?" Charlie asked.
"I asked one of them to take over because I was too tired," Maggie rolled her eyes. Charlie frowned and pulled out a chair for her.
"Sit, I'll finish up," He instructed, tone firm to leave no room for argument.
"I can do it, you know," She said weakly, sitting down anyway.
"Even though you just said you were too tired? I think not," He smiled a bit and turned to the stove.
"Only if you're sure," She finished her sentence with a yawn.
"Oh, I'm sure," He sent her a teasing grin.
Maggie closed her eyes, smiling as she listened to him cook and curse a little under his breath every time he burned himself. Her heart fluttered happily as she heard her family in the sitting room, Hermione and Ron bickering like old times, Luna and George in a conversation about Pygmy Puffs and their relatives in the animal kingdom, and Ginny and Fred… cooing? Dammit, they were cooing at Teddy, who was babbling away. That's where Ginny had run off to. Oh well, Maggie thought, this was her home, her family. Finally. Her own family. She'd made it out of the war. Her family had made it, most of them. And here she was, adding to the family with the man who'd always been there for her and tried to protect her. It could be worse, she decided. She loved her life, she loved her found family, and she loved her children. And of course, she loved Charlie, regardless of their situation.
How had she ended up so, so, so very lucky?
August 26th, 1999
Maggie screamed out in pain as she felt the skin of her shoulder being ripped, followed by the gushing of her own blood.
Despite that, all she could do was clutch at her stomach protectively. She'd be dammed before someone had a chance to hurt her baby. In that moment, she thanked Merlin that Teddy was nowhere near here.
She opened her eyes to see a flash of familiar green, followed by Charlie's protective yelling to her. She couldn't see him, but she knew he was nearby, fighting for not just his life, but her life and their child's.
"Go now, Magnolia!"
She heard him scream in pain immediately after.
How had she ended up here?
