We began to head towards the medical facility. Walking alone with Draco Malfoy today was nothing like it had been back in school. In fact, after he was cleared of all charged from the war, he wrote me a letter to apologize and we had since had lunch a few times. I found outside his father's shadow, Draco was really quite charming and nice to be around. It was a shame it took nearly eight years to find that out.

We arrived at our destination and I started showing him around. He had an office along with a private exam room, four beds, and a small potions lab. His living quarters were also attached in the event he had overnight patients to look after.

"I hope it's to your specifications. We ordered and stocked all the supplies you requested but you're free to rearrange as you like."

Draco eyed me suspiciously. "I really do appreciate this Granger."

"Nope, if I'm calling you Draco, you're calling me Hermione."

"Fine, I really appreciate this, Hermione." He over emphasized my name. "I don't know how to thank you for the opportunity. Things were pretty tense at the hospital. I was barely allowed to see patients because so few wanted to be associated with me."

The old prejudices were clearly still alive and well. "Well, that's just disgusting. People need to grow up and leave the past where it belongs. And no need to thank me. We had very certain criteria for this position and you were the top candidate. You got here because you worked hard and you're the right person for the job."

I nearly saw a faint blush on the blonde's pale skin. "Well, thank you just the same." He hesitated. "Sorry I interrupted earlier."

"What? Oh that? Nothing to interrupt!" My voice was an octave higher than usual and I cleared it. "Just getting a jump start on training."

His eyebrow rose and I could tell he wasn't buying it.

"Please, I could cut the sexual tension with a knife. Are you two an item?"

"That would be irresponsible. He's my partner and getting into a romantic relationship would be a huge distraction and inadvisable." Or so I kept telling myself.

"Whatever makes you feel better." He paused seeming to really think over his next words. "I know it's my first day and we haven't been friends that long so I hope I'm not over stepping here, but there is something for you to consider. The wizarding population is very small. It's not at all uncommon for coworkers to date or marry, same with school mates. I have heard that Lovegood is coming, her situation is a bit of an anomaly where she met her spouse through travel. In fact, arranged marriages are still alive and well in the pureblood circle. Dodged that one myself." That last bit was mumbled to himself. "Listen, I'm not saying there couldn't be someone else out there for you. I'm just saying don't discount it because he's a family friend and you're working with him. You're both adults and if it didn't work out, I'm sure you would do just fine in returning to your former arrangement. But from what I just saw there, the spark was clear. There is more to life than just work. Love is an amazing thing and if you have the chance at it, it seems a pity to throw it away because you're scared."

My mouth hung open in shock. His words were a bit of a slap in the face. Perhaps they were something I needed to hear. "I'll take your words into consideration. Shall I leave you to get settled?"

He nodded and I began walking towards home, Draco's words echoing in my head the whole way. I found the house empty when I arrived. With a million thoughts running through my brain and my skin feeling grimy from the moving and slight workout, I decided a shower would be a great idea to help me think.

By the time I was done, I felt slightly better, but still unsure about what I wanted to do. Draco was right, there was something there that I had been trying to suppress to stay professional. Beyond that there were other things to consider. We had a decent age gap that could potentially cause issues and then who knew how Ron would act if I started something with his brother. Did it matter though? This was my life. Should I be worrying about pleasing others or what they would think when I was making decisions about what would make me happy?

There was still another person in this equation though and I had no idea what his thoughts were on the matter. He had been awfully flirty, but that could just be his natural personality.

Grabbing my towel, I started to dry my body and realized I had left my clothes in my bedroom. Securing my towel around my body, I exited the bathroom with the intent to bolt to my room. Charlie had apparently just got home and was headed towards the kitchen when he saw me. I froze.

Charlie's eyes roamed up and down my exposed skin and I could see the heat in his gaze from across the room. He stalked towards me and I continued to hold my position. When he was directly in front of me, he pushed me up against the wall, his hands on either side of my face.

My mind was racing as I tried to anticipate his next move. He searched my face for an answer and must have found what he was looking for because he slowly lowered his lips to mine.

The kiss was tentative, but I felt it through every inch of my body. I had been battling with what my next move would be and how I would handle the situation, but now that he was here and this was happening, I didn't care about any of it. I just wanted this moment to last forever.

His confidence grew as I responded and the kiss became more passionate. I had never experienced anything like kissing Charlie Weasley. A simple kiss had never brought such a feeling of rightness before. It was like my body knew what I needed better than I did and was trying to get my mind to catch up.

Charlie finally pulled away and I took a second before opening my eyes to catch my breath. I wanted this moment to last and I was afraid the spell would be broken when I looked at his face.

Knowing I couldn't put it off any longer, I allowed my lids to flutter open. Charlie was staring at me intently trying to read my expression.

A bashful grin spread across his face. "I'm really sorry about that. That was horribly rude and ungentlemanly of me to do."

He began to back up, but I grabbed his shirt and pulled him close for another kiss. This one didn't last as long, but I wanted to show him that he wasn't the only one finding it hard to keep our hands to ourselves.

"It's ok." My voice was breathless.

His forehead rested against mine and when he spoke his voice was rough. "We really should discuss this. But first I should really grab a shower if you don't mind."

I laughed lightly. "Don't mind at all. I should probably be clothed as well."

"Yes, that would probably help the situation." He chuckled, "Meet in the kitchen in fifteen? I'll make dinner while we talk."

Agreeing, I headed to my room and changed into some black pajama shorts and a light grey tank top. We had skipped lunch and the sun was already beginning to set so I didn't see anything wrong with attending dinner in my pajamas.

I had taken my time combing out my hair and by the time I got to the kitchen Charlie was already there heating up some leftover curry. He too was in some lounge pants and had chosen to forgo a shirt. It was rather hot outside and the house didn't cool well so I couldn't blame him.

It wasn't the first time I had seen him shirtless, he actually did it quite often, but it was the first time I really allowed myself to look. He said he spent an hour or two working out each day and it definitely showed in the deep definition of muscle that rippled across his torso. I noticed his dragon tattoo gliding across his shoulder blade and I had to stop myself from reaching out to touch it.

I cleared my throat to make my presence known and he turned around smiling. "Just finishing up. Go ahead and take a seat."

I did as I was told and began fiddling with the napkin I had placed on my lap. Charlie was there a minute later setting down our plates and taking his seat across from me. I began to push my food around. It was my favorite meal but there seemed to be a dragon flapping around in my stomach tonight.

Charlie broke the silence. "As a team, we really need to keep stuff out in the open and be honest with each other. Secrets will only hurt us when we least want it to." He took a deep breath. "Hermione, I have feelings for you. I've always found you to be physically appealing, but it was pretty instantaneous from that first night here after really sitting down and having conversations with you. I tried to push it back, but I don't think that's what I want anymore."

"Seems we were both thinking the same thing. I was trying really hard to stay professional, but the attraction was there from the start with me as well."

I could see the relief evident on his face. Now that we both had it out there, some of the tension because to ease and I began to eat slowly.

"So where do we go from here?"

I chewed slowly as I thought how to answer that. "I want it to be as simple as going on a date, but I'm afraid it's more complicated than that. Isn't it?" He nodded. "I want to be professional in front of the team. How Draco caught us this afternoon was not a position I'd like to be caught in again."

"I agree completely, but I'd still like to pursue something with you."

"Yes, I do, too. There's more to think about though. How will this affect us working together? How will we separate work from personal life? Are you in this for the long term? Just to be clear, I don't do casual."

He laughed at my questions. "Don't worry 'Mione, I don't share well so casual has never worked for me either. And I agree that there are some logistics to work out, but we'll get there. It doesn't have to all be figured out tonight. Relationships are an evolving thing and through trial and error we will decide what works best for us."

I eyed him skeptically. "How did you get so wise and mature?"

His laugh rumbled deep in his chest. "Comes with age, love."

His words caused me to still. Not just his casual use of the word love, but he brought up another thing to consider. "Charlie, do you think our age difference will bother people? What about your family? I can only imagine what your mum will say at me dating two of her sons. She went off her rocker when she thought I was dating Harry and broke up with him and he isn't even her son!"

My heart began to race in nerves as I thought about the way our relationship could already be derailed. Charlie, sensing my distress, got up from his chair and kneeled beside me.

"'Mione, I don't care an ounce what anyone else things. We are two consenting adults and if we want to start a romantic relationship, something as miniscule as few years age difference isn't going to stop us. It's really not that much anyways. Everyone knows it takes men a bit longer to grow up and you've always been years ahead of your peers."

I had never given much thought to exactly how much older than me Charlie was and quickly did the math. "Seven years Charlie! That's not a few."

He placed his finger over my mouth to quiet me and it sent shivers down my spine. "It's still all relative. And as for mum, I think she will be happy for both of us. She would love to have you as part of the family some day and she will be happy that I am no longer alone. Even if it's a bit of a shock at first, she will come around."

"You're acting like you already know this is forever." My voice was quiet.

Charlie continued to kneel in front of me and gazed seriously at me. "I can't see the future, 'Mione. All I know is that there have been plenty of opportunities with other women, and no one has captured my attention the way that you have. I've always been able to brush them away easily. With you, I can't get you out of my head. It's like something is pulling me towards you. However, we won't know where this goes until we give it a shot."

I valued his honesty. He was right and I knew it. "I'm still a little nervous."

"That's to be expected. Any new relationship is scary and exciting. We have a lot of other big things happening too and no one can say our situation is common. There will be a lot to work through, but I have this steadfast feeling that you're worth it. Besides, I'm quite tired of fighting my attraction to you."

I bit my lip in hesitation. When he put it that way, it all sounded easy. Maybe it was my lack of experience in dating that made me more hesitant. All that aside, Charlie was absolutely right about at least one thing. Being with him was as easy as breathing and the pull was impossible to ignore.

"Ok."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure. But to keep our professional image I would really like to keep as much of our relationship out of the teams view as possible. At least for now. At some point maybe they can infer what they like, but I am really excited to be starting this reserve with you. I'm already a bit nervous that my lack of dragon experience will make it difficult for the team to trust me. I don't want them thinking I got this position just because I'm your girlfriend."

Charlie smiled wide at the last word. "I like that I can call you my girlfriend now. All that other stuff though, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I'm fine keeping it under wraps for now, but your experience in creature law and welfare and as a Junior Head make you perfectly qualified for this. And I'll whip you into shape pretty quick. By the time the others get here in a few weeks they will have no idea you had never trained dragons before."

"I'll hold you to that! Let's finish dinner before it gets cold. I still have to balance the finances tonight too."

Charlie finally got up from the floor and made his way back to his seat.

It was an interesting start to our meal, but the rest of it flowed like normal. I realized our living and working arrangements had given us quite the opportunity to get to know each other. Perhaps this relationship was inevitable simply from proximity.

After dinner, I brought the budget books to the sitting room. I took up one end of the couch and Charlie sat beside me working on the schedule.

We sat like that in companionable silence for nearly two hours with soft music playing in the background before Charlie put his papers down and stretched.

He held his hand out to me.

"What?"

"We've been working all day. Dance with me."

I put my papers down and took his outstretched hand. "I'm not much of a dancer."

"You don't have to be."

Charlie pulled me close as a slow song began to play. It took me a second to relax as my cheek pressed to his bare chest. It had been years since I had been close with someone like this. And really, it had never been like this. Ron was the furthest thing from romantic and he would never ask me to dance.

Charlie was sweet and kind with an adventurous streak. I didn't doubt our relationship would reflect that.

A few more songs and lots of twirling and laughs later, I decided it was time for bed. Charlie gave me a brief kiss on the cheek.

"I meant what I said earlier. That was really forward of me and we don't need to rush this."

"I'd be ok rushing it a little bit if it meant I get to kiss you again." Now it was me being forward.

He laughed and tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear. "I want to do this right. Please let me."

And I couldn't argue with that logic. So, I went to bed without a proper goodnight kiss.