New chapter
I want to wish you all a happy new year. The year that just finished had not been good for most of us so I hope, and wish, that this new one will be better with a job, a good health and many happy moments.
Camrao Knight welcome :)
and mooliberry welcome :)
xx
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About a week after Harry's birthday, Fred crossed the door of his apartment with a huge smile on his face. He was holding a tiny little red velvet box as if his life depended on it.
George and Charlie were in the living room. They were packing for their short trip to Paris, for the Quidditch World Cup, Bulgaria against the United States for the final game. Departure by portkey had been set on the following day, at 6am.
They raised their gaze to look at Fred. They knew what Fred's happy face meant : the ring that he had chosen for Hermione must be in that little box. He wanted to have it before their road trip, to Scotland, to propose during their holidays.
Fred had been looking for the perfect engagement ring, in vain, for weeks. He wanted something simple, special and magical. Magical engagement rings were hard to find as they were really hard to make but Fred was stubborn, he wanted a magical ring and he would get one.
Finally after weeks of complaints, he had come back home, a couple of days before Harry's birthday, saying that he had found the perfect jewel. George had gone with his twin, on multiple occasions, but not that day and it did annoy him, a bit, that Fred had found what he was looking for, precisely, the day that he had gone ring hunting alone.
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George sat on the couch and excited, he asked Fred to show him the ring. His opinion had not changed but he had stopped telling Fred that they were too young to get married. As long as Fred was happy, he was happy.
Fred jumped on the couch to sit next to his twin. Pompously, he gave the little box to his twin. George had been telling him that he would never find a magical ring and Fred was happy to show him that he had been wrong.
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The ring or better said rings, were lovely. Fred had chosen three thin rose gold rings that formed a regular engagement ring when they were tied up together. The middle one was shaped with an oval diamond. The two others were shared prong settings. Fred had chosen different gemstones so when put all together it looked like the diamond was surrounded by a rainbow.
It was a very precious ring yet George was not sure if Hermione would like the rainbow thing. Fred chuckled, that was the Fred's touch, Hermione would understand and love it.
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Charlie, who was sat on the yellow armchair of the couch, asked what was the spell that Fred had chosen. He was not sure if asking such question had been wise but he wanted to know. He could not understand Fred's needs of buying a magical ring. The two lovers were already bonded by an unbreakable vow and that old spell that Hermione had used...
Charlie was still looking at his little brother. Fred had not even bothered to look at him but Charlie had seen Fred's jaws clenched. He bit his tongue, he should not have opened his mouth.
Since Harry's birthday and the news that came with it, they had fought endlessly. Fred, and George, had been harsh with him. The twins had accused him of being selfish and pitiless. He had accused them of being more narrow minded than their mother. It had not been sardonic, he had meant every word.
It had been a lot more difficult for him to deal with the twins than with the rest of his family. Ginny and Ron could care less about Alicia's pregnancy, Bill and Fleur had already enough on their plate and Percy was busy trying to be in Audrey's good graces. They were not uninterested, after all a mini Weasley was growing inside of Alicia and that was exciting but they did not want to bother Charlie with that. Even their mother was being more compassionate than Fred and George.
The twins had gave him a week to speak with Alicia. It was a miracle that they had not kicked him out of their apartment as a week had passed and he had not spoken yet with the auror.
...
Uncomfortable, Charlie stood up and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
« Bring me one too, please. » said Fred
Surprised, Charlie obeyed. He came back to the living room with the glasses and held one to Fred.
George was observing his brothers. The atmosphere was tensed.
« The spell that I have chosen is a simple one. I am going to give to Hermione two of the three rings but I am not going to formally propose yet. I will with the third ring. » explained Fred calmly. He was far too content to start a fight.
« There are two enchantments. The first one will be sealed if Hermione accept my pre proposal. We won't be able to get engaged to anyone else unless one of us die. The second enchantment will be sealed after my real proposal. Once the rings are tied up, we are bonded for life but as with the first enchantment, if one of us die then the enchantment will be lifted.» finished Fred with sparkling eyes
George was impressed, Fred had really thought about every details. It was generous of Fred to have thought about their freedom, in case one of them die. George did not want to think about Fred's death but since Fred had told him what Percy had discovered about the spell, he had started to fear, again, for his twin's life.
Fred had been granted of seven wishes. Only the ones that concerned Hermione would be granted. After those seven wishes Fred would be back to a start position. If Hermione's gesture had really been written then Fred would live his life peacefully but if it had not, he would be condemned to live like Sirius. Besides, if Fred was supposed to die on the battlefield then he would not live for more than a couple of years after his last wish.
George had seen Fred's wishes but none of them had given to him enough strengths to live in peace. Yet, George put on his best smile and congratulate his twin for such a genious idea. Like George, Charlie congratulated his little brother. He even made a joke about the twins being fat cats thanks to their prosperous shop.
« And fat cats, we will be. If everything goes well with the shop in Hogsmeade, we are thinking of retiring before we turn fifty. » giggled George
« You should tell the parents about your NEWTS. I know that you had your issues with them but they are proud of you. »
« Yes and thanks to you, we are now at the top of the scale. Speaking of parents, your week is over Daddy. Have you talked to Alicia?» asked Fred
« No. I will once I will be back from Romania. »
« Romania?» asked the twins at the same time
Charlie nodded, yes Romania. He had to see Vasyl. When he had left Romania, Vasyl had told him that he would wait for him. Charlie had forbade Vasyl to send him letters, he had not written to him either. Vasyl could have move on with his life. It did not matter as Charlie did not know what he was feeling for the young man anymore.
Vasyl was his boyfriend, they had been together for about a year. They met at the reserve. After his graduation from Durmstrang, Vasyl had joined the reserve. He was the twins and Alicia's age and a skilled wizard.
« No doubt the man must be skilled with his wand if you have stayed with him for one year. Too bad your old one nightstand habits had to come back. » said Fred with irony
« Fred, would it kill you to try to be a bit more comprehensive. I have always supported you and you too George. You two go on and on about being updated wizards, modern wizards but you have a long way to go to get there. Inventing toys doesn't mean being open minded. »
Offended the twins told him that if living with toy makers was so unbearable, he should leave their apartment.
Charlie had been waiting for that line, for days. He would have no choice but to stay at the burrow after his trip to Romania.
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They finished to pack in silence then Fred left to Grimmauld Place. George was not very happy about the prospect of spending the evening alone with Charlie so he took his bag and left to Lee's. Lee was living across the Leaky Cauldron and he had an empty room where George was usually crashing when Fred was bringing Hermione to their apartment for the night.
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Charlie stood still for a moment. Finally, he took his things and left the twins' apartment. It was time for him to have a talk with Alicia. Hermione had been encouraging him to do it for days. She was the only one who was being kind to him. Fred was really a lucky bloke.
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Alicia was living in Muggles London. Her studio was not far from Diagon Alley, it was about a fifteen minutes walk.
Before to ring the bell, Charlie took a deep breath. He did not know what to expect. Alicia had not talked to him since the announcement of her pregnancy. She had not even come to Bill and Fleur's party.
There was a still slight chance that she was unaware of the fact that he knew about her pregnancy though Charlie highly doubted that he would be that lucky.
He sighed and pressed the button.
« Who is it. »
« It's me, Charlie. »
Alicia did not answer. Charlie first thought that she would not open the door but then he heard a little click from the door.
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He was standing in the middle of Alicia's studio. The young woman was probably sleeping before his arrival. She was wearing her pajama and her bed was undone. He had not looked at her properly for days, she looked tired and sad.
« Can we talk? » he asked gently
Alicia nodded. She invited him to seat on a chair. She did not have a sofa, her apartment was too small for that.
She told him that she had been waiting for him to talk to her, for days. After dropping the bomb in front of Mrs Weasley, she had known that it was a question of hours before he found out about the baby. She was annoyed that it had taken him a week to come though.
Charlie gulped and scratched the back of his head and neck.
« I am sorry. I should have come sooner but I did not know if you wanted me to. Why did not you tell me that I am going to be a father, because the baby is mine right? »
« Glad to see that you are questioning that. » she said sarcastically
She added, nervously, that she could ask for a paternity test. She did not know if it was possible to get one before the baby was born but she could ask. Charlie stopped her, he was being a jerk. He had not meant to hurt her.
Moreover, he did not need a paternity test. He believed Alicia. He knew that he was the father. He had misspelled the incantation, his brothers had confirmed that. It was his fault if Alicia was pregnant.
« We both had too much to drink that night, it is our fault. Charlie, I don't even know what you feel about the night that we had spent together, seven weeks ago. You have been avoiding me for weeks and Hermione had told me that you had not mentioned me, at all. Are you ashamed?»
He shook his head. He was confused but not ashamed. Alicia frowned and asked what he meant by confused.
He blushed and told her that she was sexually attracting him. He confessed that he did think that she had become nice to look at when he had seen her four years ago, at the Quidditch World Cup. Had Alicia been older when he was still at Hogwarts, they could have spent an afternoon or two in a cupboard. His desire had come back when they had been forced to work together. His problem was that he was still attracted to men.
« So you are just attracted to me. You don't feel anything else for me, right? » she asked with a quivering voice
« I don't know. I do obviously feel something but I don't know what it is. Though, I don't want you to think that I am saying this because you are pregnant and I want you to know that I wish to be a part of the baby's life. »
He really liked children, he had just assumed that given his condition, he would never have one. If adopting was hard for Muggles, it was simply impossible for wizards, homosexuality was not accepted,at all, in their world.
He told Alicia about Vasyl and his trip to Romania. He shared a bit more of what his life in Romania used to be, like the fact that with Vasyl, they had wanted to move in together before the war.
« I guess one would say that we were in love but as people say, out of sight out of mind. I just want to see him one last time. »
Alicia had been taken aback by his confessions yet listening to the guy, that she had been fancing for years, opening his heart about his boyfriend had not really been pleasant. Irritated, she told him that she did not need to know all this.
« Alicia, I am not going to lie to you. I know that this is not what you want to hear but I do have a past. I had, still have, a life waiting for me in Romania, I just don't want it anymore»
« So basically, you are telling me that if there was no baby, you would have gone back to your life to Romania as if nothing had happened between us. I did not ask you to stay, you are free to go. » she said angrily
« This is not what I said. Baby or not, I am still confused. I don't know how to deal with whatever I am feeling for you and I can't confirm that I would have gone back to Romania, permanently. »
She asked what he was planning to do with his life.
« I have sent a letter to McGonagall, she is in needs of teachers. She has offered me to teach care of magical creatures. She loves Hagrid but well, you know parents don't see him as the perfect teacher besides Hagrid is too busy and he no longer wishes to teach. I haven't accepted the offer yet but I am thinking about it. I could rent an apartment in Hogsmeade, I would be just a shot of floo powder away from you or you could move in with me. I don't have a lot of money and neither do you but Hogsmeade is less expensive than Diagon Alley and we could afford a three bedrooms apartment there. »
Alicia was astounded, he had really been thinking about it, their lives together yet surprised did not mean happy. Alicia was in love with him and the prospect of sharing a life with the man that she loved without being together was unappealing to the young witch.
« I am sorry Charlie but I don't think I could live with you. It would be too confusing. I think that's great that you want to be in our baby's life, beyond great actually but I don't think that you should be in my life, if you can not offer me more than friendship. I don't want to be your friend or your roommate. I am twenty years old, if I move in with you now, I will spend my life waiting for you and I might die after living a loveless life. Besides, I don't want us to hook up occasionally and then things being awkward as hell for days or weeks, neither do I want to see you loving someone else. I don't think I could accept to see you coming home with someone, men, women, I can't do that. »
« I understand. I knew you would say that but if you ever change your mind, my proposal is always going to be on the table. »
« Charlie, there is another thing that is on the table and I would like you to think about it before the baby arrives. » she said almost in a whisper
« What is it. »
« Make up your mind. You have said that I am confusing you, that you do feel something for me so I beg you to make up your mind about what you want from me, with me. You have seven months, approximately, to do it. I can wait until then but as soon as we will welcome our baby, I will have to know what we are. I don't want to raise our baby in that fog. »
Charlie promised to give her answer, soon. He looked at his watch, it was getting late. He said that he should go if he wanted to arrive at the burrow before 10pm.
A part of him wanted to stay with Alicia. He wished that she had asked him to stay.
He made his farewells and left. He would be gone for only two weeks but if felt to be an eternity, he would miss her, a lot.
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I am sorry for the mistakes, the final chapters had not been betaed and I know that with every chapter, I am writting that we are getting close to the end and we are, it is just that I do not want to post chapters that are too long, no more than 3000 words by chapter. Yet, I will try to wrap the story in two more chapter, epilogue included.
