Hermione's Monday morning turned out much better once she had come to terms with the idea that she needed to take a day off and accept some help. True to his word, Charlie jumped into action to serve as her assistant. As soon as she had gathered what she needed from her office and given Fred a long kiss goodbye, she had allowed Charlie to usher her up to the flat and install her on the sofa. His very next action was to squat down beside her and make a few kissing noises of his own. Hermione was slightly confused until Crookshanks came running towards him, excited to see the dragon keeper who always knew exactly where to rub him.

"Your mistress needs some love, mate," Charlie told the orange cat, who he then lifted carefully up onto the sofa. Hermione smiled to see the look of slight surprise on Crookshanks' squashed face. Her cat turned around a couple of times and then settled down to continue his nap against Hermione's hip.

Minutes later, Charlie was in an apron, finishing the kitchen clean up and doing some laundry. As Hermione made her list, Charlie would visit periodically to see what he could take off it, and by late morning, he had also popped out to a local store and come back with the ingredients to make a huge batch of chicken soup. Seeing that Hermione had dozed off with her arm around Crookshanks while writing her lists, he had carefully placed her notebooks on the table, tucked a quilt around them both, cast a silencing charm and mirror phone called Molly while stirring the pot.

"I told her on their wedding day to let me know how I could help." Molly scolded Charlie from the back seat of Lauren's car as if he were Hermione herself, once he explained his reason for calling. "Right," she said, all efficiency, making Arthur smile at Lauren, who looked a bit worried. "Do you have a quill? Well, get one then!"

Lauren whispered her concern to Arthur as they drove along the 'A' road that led to her village. "It's not a busy road; but it's not normal to talk to mirrors in the muggle world," she said. "I'm a bit worried that someone might see." She refrained from speaking her next thought out loud, which was that perhaps people in passing cars might just think that Molly was a bit batty. She smiled to herself at that thought as Arthur patted her arm. He told her not to worry and then, holding his wand below the level of the window so that he wouldn't add to the problem, cast a charm on his wife that would prevent her from being seen by anyone outside the car.

Once the soup was done, Charlie popped to check on Hermione, who was still snoozing. Charlie smiled, petted the now half-awake Crookshanks and placed a note and a mug of the soup on the table beside the sofa, under a warming charm. He didn't want Hermione to worry if she woke and realised that he was gone. Then, armed with the list that Molly had dictated, he flooed to The Burrow and filled a box with ready-made meals. Molly was in the habit of portioning out leftovers and placing them under a long-term preservation charm, and her stocks were higher than usual thanks to the busyness of the past few weeks and the additional family gatherings.

Back at Fred and Hermione's flat, Charlie ensured that he had situated everything on Molly's dictated list in the kitchen and renewed the preservation charm before going back to see Hermione, who was by that point awake and happily tucking into the soup.

"This is marvellous, Charlie," she said. "Just what I needed, thank you."

"It's my pleasure, love," he said. "I did pop down and offer some to Fred for his lunch, but he seemed happy with one of those big doorstop sandwiches that Lee likes to get!"

"They love those monstrosities," Hermione wrinkled her nose a bit at the thought of eating all that bread. "He and George and I have slightly different ideas on what constitutes a nourishing meal!"

"Well you won't need to worry about that too much for the next few weeks," he said, passing her the parchment containing the list of meals that Molly had sent him over to The Burrow for. Hermione smiled to see the ticks beside them which illustrated how Charlie had followed his mother's directions to the letter. Even the unconventional dragon keeper wanted to stay on Molly's good side. "Mum sent you these. I know Freddie does most of the cooking, but this will give the two of you more time just to be together. She says she'll be sending you home with a few dinners each Sunday until you've got things straight, and you're not to argue. She loves it," he added, when he saw that Hermione wanted to protest. "Your Mum works as a teeth healer, right?" he asked, and Hermione nodded.

"She does. Well, she did," she added. Hermione didn't know what her Mum was doing now. She just hoped that she was safe, and happy.

"Well my Mum had a full-time job taking care of eight other people," Charlie said. "It was her life's purpose and, as we've moved away, she's had less purpose. Let her help you," he urged. "It makes her feel good too."

Hermione nodded. That made sense, and something clicked in her mind. It was okay to let other people gain the same kind of satisfaction helping her as she gained from helping them. And maybe even a good thing. She swayed a bit as that thought washed over her, a little stunned by the realisation.

"Thanks, Charlie," she said, her fingers busy stroking Crookshanks' thick orange fur. "For everything. I don't know what I'd have done without you today."

A slow grin spread across Charlie's face. "My Lady Mione," he said, taking her hand. "I am forever going to be in your debt. No," he urged, seeing her about to protest, "don't argue. Without you, I might not have found the woman I love. I might never have known about my son. I could have ended up as the cheery uncle who was secretly sad and lonely because he never reconnected with his own true love. I'm always going to be here for you, and I know Lauren feels the same."

"Next to marrying Fred," Hermione smiled, "sending that email to Lauren was the best thing I've done all summer."

"I've got something to tell you," Charlie said, and Hermione looked at him with a sudden and wide smile on her face.

"Are you going to propose?" Hermione asked. "Are we going out to buy a ring?" She looked excited, and then another thought crossed her face, making the smile fall a little. "Do you think Lauren will be OK with that?" Hermione spoke hesitantly, knowing that Lauren's view of marriage was not likely to be a conventional one. And, given how much Hermione loved Charlie, she would rather risk having him be upset with her than seeing him sad if Lauren didn't take a marriage proposal well.

Much to Hermione's surprise, Charlie responded to her concern with a wink and a laugh. "No, yes and it's irrelevant," he said, leaning forward and smiling as she took a minute to match his answers to her questions. "Because she already proposed to me, but yes, I'd like to buy her a ring." As he spoke, he cast a finite on his left hand and showed Hermione the twist of multi-coloured thread that Lauren had fashioned into rings for them both.

"Charlie!" Hermione's soup mug hit the carpet as she sprang forward to hug him. "That's beautiful," she said, and Charlie nodded.

"I know." He covered his makeshift ring up again, knowing that Lauren wasn't ready to share their news more widely yet. "So do you think we can find something that she would like? It's not just your muggle money expertise I'm after," he grinned. "But Lauren's taste is, well, not exactly middle of the road, so I'm hoping we can find something that would suit her?"

"I'm sure we can," Hermione had said, gathering her notes. "Let's go now. I really do feel like I'm getting on top of my lists, and I'm full of pain potion. I'm ready to stretch my legs a bit. I'm so excited for you both. Oh!" she exclaimed, feeling Fred's enthusiasm too. "Do I need to close the bond? I'm making Fred excited too, and he's trying to work out why! What should I tell him?"

"Tell him the truth, love. You don't have to keep this from Freddie," Charlie said, much to Hermione's relief. "Although we're not public yet. Lauren wanted to tell you herself, last night, but she said she couldn't get you alone."

Hermione smiled, a hit of blush coming to her cheeks. "We were a bit affected by the bonding magic," she said. She paused for a moment, looked around and then leaned in. This was Charlie and, other than Fred, he was the Weasley sibling she felt most comfortable talking to about sex. Even more so than Ginny, she had come to realise lately. Ginny was a dear friend, but she was prone to encourage Hermione to explore beyond her comfort zone. Charlie always sought to work out where Hermione was comfortable and then meet her there, which Hermione really appreciated at this point in her relationship with Fred. "Four times between when they got married and when we got to sleep," she whispered, "AND I had my period! Thank goodness for Fleur and her vast knowledge of secret witches' spells! No wonder I'm exhausted and needing a day of rest! I'm sore though," she confided with a bit of a grimace.

"Oh," he said, "well I know Lauren has some stuff for tiredness and aches. It's a muggle thing that she puts in the bath. Called epp sum salts or something. I'm sure she would give you some."

"Epsom salts? Of course," Hermione exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that!" Then her eyes filled with tears again. "My mum used to put them in my bath when I didn't feel well. She said it made everything better, and it really did seem to." She attempted a smile through her tears. "I can get some while we're out."

"Are you sure you're OK to go out?" Charlie asked.

"Yes," she said, and then sighed. "Some fresh air will do me good, now that the rain has stopped." She looked out of the window to check, and smiled to see the sun shining again. "I've been thinking. I don't think it's my lack of organisation that's the problem here."

Charlie frowned. "You're one of the most organised people I know!"

"Exactly," she said. "It's not me; it's all the things going on around me. Too many things happening in a short space of time, and I'm not keeping up." She sighed, looking at Charlie and having an internal debate with herself before she spoke again. "I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew with the shop," she said, her voice becoming quieter as she nodded towards the lists, "though I feel disloyal by telling you that before I tell Fred."

"Love," Charlie said, reaching for her hand. "Not that I have any experience, but being married doesn't mean you only need to talk to Freddie," he reassured her. "It's OK to talk to other people when you need to."

Her gaze was questioning.

"It really is," he continued. "I know it might be complicated, with Freddie being able to sense your emotions through the bond. It's going to have disadvantages as well as benefits," he said quietly, watching Hermione's face as she listened intently. "You probably should talk to him about it. Both the shop thing and about how you'll both need to talk to other people." He paused for a moment before adding, "he has George, you know."

Unexpectedly, Hermione's eyes filled with tears. "Bloody hormones," she joked, wiping them away before swallowing to try to remove the lump in her throat. "I know," she said. "And I have Ron and Harry. And Ginny," she added. "And you, of course."

"Lots of Georges…"

Hermione smiled at that. "Thing have changed so much in the last few weeks," she told him. "One Saturday I woke up and my only plan for the day was to do some reading and some sewing and maybe sit in the garden and chat with Ginny. Molly … Mum had been doing all the cooking and planning in my life since war and all I had to do was to enjoy being a teenager for a change and try to recover a bit from everything that had happened."

She paused to collect her thoughts. Charlie waited patiently, knowing that this might be one of the most important conversations Hermione had had in recent weeks. "And then the next day," she continued, still stroking her cat, "literally the next day, I was getting married to Fred and then I was on my honeymoon and then Kingsley was wanting our help and then I was living in the flat and working in the shop and trying to get it all organised and adjusting to everything and then I helped find Lauren and then Ange proposed to George and then the school stuff came out and now we've got the Ball and all the plans for that and then the different options for doing NEWTS and I still don't know if we're going to find my parents and as much as I love your family, I still think about them all the time…" She hiked in a deep breath, her voice catching.

Charlie nodded, his eyes never leaving hers. "Go on, when you're ready," he whispered, after a few moments. "It's just you and me, love; you can say anything you want and it won't go any further."

"There are some days when I wish that, just for a day, I could be back in the garden at The Burrow and just take a day off from it all. Not," she said, her eyes wide and pleading for Charlie to understand, "that I'm not happy with Fred. I adore Fred, and I couldn't be happier. I just sometimes find it hard to cope with the speed of it all."

Charlie's hand engulfed hers. "I understand, lovely," he assured her. "This is all completely normal and understandable. You've had a lot to cope with and you're tired and overwhelmed. If Tonks was here," his own eyes filled with tears at that thought, "she'd go on about what your hormones are doing this week. Maybe Lauren could tell you about that too, I don't know, because we're still getting to know each other, but the point is that this is really, really OK. Do you hear me?" His voice was gentle. "Really OK, and really normal, and there's nothing wrong with you except that you need more time and space and fewer responsibilities than you've got right now. We need to make a care plan to get you through the week, get the Ministry stuff done and dusted, and then take some of these things off you so you can go back to recovering."

"A care plan?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Charlie nodded. "That's what we make for dragons, when they need extra love and care and nourishment to get them through a crisis"

The level of kindness in that one line broke the dam and the tears began to flow down Hermione's face in earnest. Five seconds later, the door to the flat burst open and a redheaded man hurled himself towards the sofa and pulled Hermione into his arms.

"I'm so sorry," Fred breathed into her hair. "I had a difficult customer and I couldn't get up here any quicker." He had run up the stairs as soon as he could and his heart was beating more quickly than usual from worrying about what was happening for Hermione, having sensed her feelings as she talked with his brother.

"No, I'm sorry," Hermione replied. "I talked to Charlie and I should have talked to you."

"Love," Fred tipped her face towards him, giving his brother a grateful glance as he took Hermione's soup mug to the kitchen, giving them a moment of privacy. It made her smile when he went on to repeat Charlie's exact sentiment. "I have Georgie. It's only fair that you talk to Charlie, or Ginny, or Ron and Harry, or whoever you need to. Marriage isn't about exclusive conversation, you know."

She nodded. "I might need to get a book on marriage," she said. "It's all happened so quickly that I don't know if I've really had a chance to think through what it is about."

Fred's eyes widened. "You don't…"

"No!" Her words were almost shouted, having picked up his concern that she might be having regrets. Fresh tears flowed at the thought that she might have hurt him. "No, I don't regret it for a moment," she said. "I love you, Fred, more than anything. But I'm not coping with everything, and I think I've bitten off more than I can chew with offering to take on such a big role in the shop as well, and I feel terrible for letting you down, but I need to let some things go, and I need to prioritise you and our marriage," she sobbed.

"And your own health," Charlie added, resuming his earlier position as the other half of a Weasley sandwich.

"And my own health," Hermione said more quietly, before looking into Fred's eyes and adding, with a small smile, "I'm going to have a care plan, like baby dragons get."

"Brilliant," he laughed. "That sounds good. What does that involve?" he asked Charlie.

"A lot of chicken soup and hugging," Charlie said. "And maybe a bit more delegation is in order…"

"Well actually," said Fred, "I've been owling with George and Ange." He stroked Hermione's hands. "Angie's out of a job now, and she already has NEWTS, so she won't want to go back to school. I know you might want to," he said, patting her leg. "And that's OK," he assured her, looking between her and Charlie again. "You don't need to resign, love," he said. "But you and George and Angie and I need to sit down, and all work with you, love, to figure out how to get your timetable and plan implemented." He leaned in closer. "Without running you into the ground while we do it!" He pressed a kiss to Hermione's cheek, making her smile.

Charlie looked between the two of them for a moment before he spoke. "I don't mind helping you out a bit as well. I've promised to take Elliot out during the day so Lauren can work. We go to the park and stuff," he said. "Sometimes to Mum's, and of course sometimes Mum keeps him." They all laughed. "But I was thinking this morning that he and I could easily do things while we're out and about; we could help. Even if we're just Hermione's errand boys!"

That made Hermione laugh, and the brothers exchanged a happy look themselves. "I'd like that," she said. "Although Ron and Harry will probably make fun of me for being bossy."

"You leave Ron and Harry to me," Charlie grinned.

"In a weird way," Fred said, looking thoughtful. "Ron and Harry are part of the problem."

"How do you mean?" Hermione asked, and Fred smiled and touched her when he felt her getting a bit defensive towards her friends.

"I don't mean it unkindly," he assured her. "But, at school, you used to make them all sorts of timetables and planners, didn't you?"

Hermione nodded uncertainly, not sure where Fred was going with this.

"To help them," Fred continued. "But, as far as George and I could see, you still had to prod and poke them to do it anyway."

Hermione pulled a face. "I just wanted to make sure they didn't get behind," she said.

"And given that they're both alive, well and training to be Aurors, I'd say you did a damn fine job." Hermione laughed when Charlie put on a fake American accent to emphasise his point.

"You did," Fred agreed. "But Georgie and I don't need poking, love." He paused, to let that thought settle. "We're really self-motivated, especially in comparison to those two," he chuckled, "and what you've done for us already with the year planner is amazing enough. Even if you just lent us your planning skills to us for a day here and there, we can put it into action. That's what we've been doing all along."

Hermione shook her head as the penny dropped. She remembered how much of their own time and energy the twins had put into creating and selling their products at school, and realised the wisdom of Fred's words. "I hadn't thought," she said, but when she opened her mouth again to apologise, Fred instead covered it with a kiss. He had sensed her feeling and wanted her to know there was nothing to apologise for. Hermione sensed Fred's emotion in return and their kiss turned into a shared smile.

When the two parted, Charlie turned to his brother. "I hope you two know how amazing you are," he said to Fred. "We're all so bloody proud of what you and George have achieved already. It's because you've achieved so much so quickly that it's growing this way."

Fred wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he just nodded and said a quiet 'cheers', causing Charlie to give him a slap on the back, which made Hermione smile. They might both be well above average at self-awareness and at sharing their feelings in some ways, but neither were that good at accepting heartfelt compliments.

"I don't think there's any doubt that we need a bigger team, love," Fred said to Hermione. "The product day showed us that. But you don't have to take on more than you have time for."

"I love the idea of having more of the family involved in the shop," Hermione said. "But you've already got Elliot to look after, though," she told Charlie. "I thought you wanted to be a full-time dad?"

"I do" Charlie agreed cheerfully. "And if I get my way, I'll have another tiny Bennett-Weasley or three coming into my care within the next few years, so I'm not offering myself full-time or permanently either. Just saying I'd be happy to help you here and there, when I can."

"That's the best bit, though," Fred said. "This is what Georgie and I have been discussing since the war. We can make this a true family business. We can involve the kids, or they can hang out in the play area, and we can make sure that any of the family who want to can have a role. We're not the Ministry," he said, "or some other faceless bureaucratic organisation." He laughed. "That was one of the reasons that Georgie and I did this, to work in a different kind of way! We'll create a way of offering flexible work to anyone in the family who wants it, which is family friendly." He turned back to his brother. "I'm so glad you're into this too," he said.

"I am," Charlie smiled. "I have another offer too. When George and Angie get back and all the Ministry stuff is settled, have a look at your diaries and see if you can take a few days off. I could get you and my Lady Mione permission to visit the reserve and stay in my cabin, if you like. You can have a holiday, with no responsibilities. A proper honeymoon!"

"No owl arriving halfway through to pull us into a new plan to save the wizarding world?" Hermione asked.

Charlie grinned. "We won't even tell anyone where you are," he promised.

Well, he thought to himself, other than whoever has my cabin on their sex bingo card, as long as they're willing to make a deal…