* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *

PART FOUR

Brave New World

Chapter 75: Breaking's What the Heart is For

A/N: The chapter title is from the song:

Breakin' by All-American Rejects

Bill had never felt as nervous as he did that morning, sitting behind a table in the DMLE, tapping his fingers against the surface tunelessly.

"She will show up," Astoria promised Bill gently, "If she doesn't, and she takes Victoire out of the country, she will be breaking the law."

Bill nodded, but until Fleur walked through that door, he would never be entirely sure.

When the door opened, and she swept in, her long blonde hair flipping behind her in its ponytail, his heart began to beat faster, and the palms of his hands began to sweat. She sat down across from him and eyed Astoria with intuitive blue eyes, "When I was summoned here, I thought zis was ze end."

"I'm sorry, Fleur," Bill said, surprising himself when his voice cracked.

Fleur cleared her throat and looked him in the eye, "We are not happy, William."

Bill shook his head, "No, and I'm scared about the effect that will have on Victoire in the long-term."

"Yes," Fleur said, sighing softly, "I agree."

"So Astoria has helped me draw up a divorce settlement which I think is very fair to both of us," Bill said, glancing nervously at Astoria.

The younger woman slid the paper over the table to Fleur.

Fleur flipped it open and scanned the first page with the summary of terms, "You will give me ze house?" she asked in surprise.

"Of course I will," Bill replied, "It's the only home our daughter has ever known, and you love it. It reminds you of France."

Fleur smiled a little tearfully, "Thank you. I cannot tell you what zis means, to not have to fight you for it."

"Or for Victoire," Bill said, "I think the agreement is fair on that front?"

Fleur turned the page and read the arrangements for custody of their child in more detail. Her brow furrowed, and Bill began to panic, "You have her every weekend?"

"If you read more closely Fleur," Bill said, pointing to a particular paragraph, "The sum I plan to pay you is such that you would be able to reduce your hours at the bank, enabling you to spend more time with Victoire during the week."

Fleur opened her mouth to object, but Bill cut in, "And I know that you are ambitious and that you want to further your career, so I asked around, and there is a promotion up for grabs under Gareth, it's a good department to work in, and he's looking for someone on around 20 hours."

Fleur pursed her lips and reread the section, thinking on his offer. It had to be the longest five minutes of Bill's life. He was sure that she could hear his heart beating.

Eventually, she sighed and nodded, "Yes. I also agree about special occasions such as Christmas. One year she is with me, and you may visit, and ze next year, she is with you, and I visit."

Bill nodded, trying to contain his sigh of relief.

"It is a very amicable divorce settlement Bill," Fleur said, looking up at him, "Despite how awful things have been, you have been very considerate."

"I'm sorry that we can't seem to love each other anymore, Fleur," Bill said honestly, "But you are still the mother of my child, and I have the utmost respect for you where that is concerned. I want you both to be happy."

He decided not to add the part about how he was desperate to ensure that he got to see his daughter regularly.

Fleur nodded and reached across the table to take his hand, "I am happy to sign this, and although you have not asked, I can sense ze question within you, so I shall give you ze answer. Of course, for the sake of Victoire and her relationship with her father, I shall stay in England."

Bill really did sigh with relief at that. He got up and walked around the table so that he could pull Fleur into a hug.

"Thank you," He said, unashamed of the tears flowing down his cheeks, "And I really am so sorry."

Fleur hugged him back, shutting her eyes tightly, "I am sorry too," she whispered.

When Astoria walked into her apartment that night, she sighed when she saw Charlie sitting on the sofa.

Charlie raised an eyebrow at her, "I know we've been arguing a bit lately, but I expected a warmer welcome than that."

"Well, I'm not in the mood for it tonight," Astoria said glumly, "I watched a couple who had obviously once been in love and who still had so much respect for each other sign divorce papers today, and it got me thinking, what the hell is the point in pretending that this is going to work? You're from a completely different world from me, Charlie, and you're so much older, you want marriage and babies, and I want to focus on my career. It's never going to work, so why let ourselves fall in love? Why not just cut it off now and save all of that hurt?"

"Maybe because I have more faith," Charlie said stubbornly, "I won't give up on us that easily."

"Why not?" Astoria asked irritably, "You were quick enough to give up on every other girlfriend or boyfriend that you had before me!"

"Because none of them were anything like you," Charlie said calmly, "You are something entirely different, Astoria. You give me faith that I can be truly happy one day. I don't care about class or any of that."

"But you do," Astoria cut in, "I care about class because I'm vain. That's because I grew up surrounded by luxury, and there's a big part of me that doesn't know if I can give that up. I don't know if I'm cut out for a life in the countryside with a bunch of pet dragons for kids."

Charlie opened his mouth, but Astoria raised a hand to silence him, "And you care too, but in a different way. Just like I don't know if I can give up my world to live in yours, you don't know if you can give up your world to live in mine. You don't know if you're cut out for moving into a big posh house with more rooms than you know what to do with. You don't know if you're cut out to be the son-in-law of a business tycoon like my Dad. You don't know if you're cut out for the country club, socialite life."

"I know I'm not cut out for it," Charlie snapped, "Because I hate everything about that world. I hate the dress robes, the entitlement of the people you probably call friends. I hate it all, but I thought, maybe wrongly, that you weren't like the rest of them. I thought you were different."

Astoria crossed her arms sternly, "So how the hell is it fair for me to give up my world and step into yours when you freely admit that you wouldn't do the same for me?" she challenged.

Charlie scoffed and shook his head, "We're not doing this tonight. If you want to break up with me, then that's fine, but we're not doing it through an argument when you've had a bad day. So take some time to work out what you want, and we'll talk soon."

He didn't wait for Astoria to say anything further on the issue. He just stepped out of the flat and apparated home.

He stood outside his front door for a good few minutes, debating whether he should go and talk to the person who was on his mind, and eventually, he made the decision and apparated away again with another crack.

"Master Harry!"

Harry jumped, "Uh, yes?"

Daphne smirked, "Don't mind him, Kreacher," she said, "He was just dozing in his chair like an old man."

Harry shot her an amused look, "I've had a long day. How many duels did you have today?"

"That is not the point," Daphne chuckled, "There's someone at the door."

"Is Mister Charlie Weasley," Kreacher said, "He insists on talking to Master and not nobody else."

"Alright," Harry said, getting to his feet and frowning at Daphne, "Reckon he and Tori have broken up?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if they had," Daphne shrugged.

Harry sighed and slipped out of the lounge into the hall. He met Charlie at the door and smiled as he let him in, "Hey Charlie, what's up?"

"I need to talk to you about…compromising," Charlie said, frowning all the while, "Does this huge bloody place have a man cave with whiskey?"

"There's the room of requirement with a bar, but I've got someplace I think you'll like more," Harry admitted, leading Charlie out of the back door into the darkened garden. As they walked, Charlie surveyed the beautiful gardens; they were typical of this type of elegant pureblood manor, which was everything that he hated.

"Here we go," Harry said when they reached a small wooden cabin, "This is probably more your scene."

Charlie frowned as he looked at the sizeable caged enclosure outside, "Is there anything in that?"

"Nah, Dave will be inside probably. He doesn't like the cold in winter, comes from a warmer climate, you know?" Harry said, leading Charlie into the cabin.

Charlie was instantly blown away by the blast of heat. That and the greenery, there were tropical plants everywhere. He felt like he had stepped onto another continent.

"Sorry," Harry said, "He's from South America, he likes it hot-"

There was a loud hiss then Dave snapped at Charlie. Harry rolled his eyes and spoke to the snake in parseltongue. Charlie watched in amazement as the snake shook its head then spoke back.

"Did you just tell him I was a friend?" Charlie frowned.

Harry nodded, "How good is your parseltongue?"

"It's okay, I think," Charlie answered. He said, "Hey, Dave. Probably stink me so bad, huh? Pygmy dragons I do have."

Dave hissed distastefully.

"Why would one keep a pygmy dragon as a pet when they make such good snacks? Master, tell the red one to speak English. His parseltongue hurts my ears."

Harry snorted, "Did you catch that?"

Charlie laughed and nodded, "Well, Dave, if I had it my way, I'd have a welsh green in my back garden, but that's kind of frowned upon."

"A far better companion, red one."

Harry chuckled, "He likes you. Do you want to meet the others?"

"You have more?" Charlie asked in surprise.

"Yep," Harry replied, "Dave is the most dangerous. He's an exception because he was my first, and I rescued him. He also reminded me of the first time I talked to snakes; it's kind of a long story. But either way, I don't take in any dangerous snakes apart from him because I do have a toddler, you know?"

Charlie nodded in amusement, "I get it, and yeah, I'd love to meet the others."

"Come this way," Harry said, "I keep them separate from Dave, he has a bit of a temper, and I wouldn't put it past him to eat them if they pissed him off."

Charlie snorted at that thought, "I had a dragon like that, you know her actually, Norberta."

Harry grinned, "Yeah, Norberta! How is she doing?"

"Oh, she's great," Charlie said cheerfully, "She was always my favourite, you know? Fiery but caring underneath it, she would only let a handful of trainers anywhere near her when she needed treatment, and it was the ones who rescued her as a baby. Dragons have long memories."

"Like elephants," Harry mused.

Charlie nodded, "I delivered her babies, nearly got myself killed in the process, but it was a great experience."

"I don't really have the same risks with snakes," Harry chuckled, "Dave threatens to kill me once a week, but he never actually means it. There was one time, mind you, when I thought he might do it. He said if I fed him another Niffler, he'd choke me to death then slowly digest me. Poor guy was throwing up metal for weeks."

Charlie snorted, "Did you actually feed him that Niffler that Astoria got Teddy?"

"Not intentionally," Harry admitted sheepishly, "It escaped from the greenhouse and got too close to the enclosure, so Dave ate it. I wasn't exactly bothered, mind you, and neither was Daphne, but it's probably best that you don't tell Tori about that one."

"Astoria and I are kind of on the rocks right now," Charlie admitted.

"I kind of figured," Harry admitted, he opened a door, and they stepped into a vast room. It felt like suddenly, they were in the depths of a jungle.

"Wow," Charlie breathed.

Harry grinned and sat down on the mossy ground. A long green snake instantly began to coil its way around his shoulders. He greeted it in parseltongue then told Charlie, "This is Venom; he's a Rough Green. He calls himself venom because he thinks it makes him sound intimidating even though he's not actually venomous."

The snake squeezed Harry's neck a little tighter. Harry chastised it in parseltongue then ran his hand along the back of another snake that was creeping towards him. This one was larger, and it was a mixture of yellow and brown, "Oh, and this is Stanley, he's a Bullsnake. That one over there is Betsy; she's a Milk Snake. They are fascinating because they look very similar to Coral Snakes, which are poisonous, but Milk Snakes aren't. It helps protect them from predators. You'll get that working with dragons, won't you?"

"Oh yeah, there are lots of dragons that have evolved cleverly like that," Charlie said, sitting down across from him on the ground, "There is a breed of Ridgeback that has developed the venomous stinging looking tail, without the actual venom for example. Nature and evolution are fascinating. Will they let me touch them?" he added as a snake began to move towards him.

"Most of them will, but avoid Betsy," Harry advised, "She's just buried her eggs, so she's antsy right now."

"Do you crossbreed them?" Charlie asked curiously.

"Not intentionally, it has happened once, but I let them do their own thing," Harry replied, "Most of the time they are pretty picky, the females in particular, so they tend to stick to their own type. That's Garry, the snake who mated with Betsy," he said, nodding his head in the direction of the snake that was currently slithering towards Charlie.

Harry hissed a warning at the snake and Garry, turned his head towards Harry, nodded slowly, then began to slither up Charlie.

"I just told him not to hurt you because you were a friend of mine," Harry informed Charlie, "But anyway, you said you wanted to talk about a compromise?"

"Yeah…" Charlie mused, "But did you do all of this yourself? The charms and all?"

"No," Harry replied, "It was my idea, Lil did all the tricky little charms for me. She's brilliant, as brilliant as Hermione but don't ever tell her that I said that."

Charlie laughed.

"Daphne thinks I feed Dave out here. She has no idea about what's really in the cabin," Harry admitted, "It's not that I'm lying to her, it's just that I know the truth would stress her out, and it doesn't need to know, so I don't see why I should bother her with it."

Charlie hummed thoughtfully as Garry settled on his shoulders, "Well, the thing is, I don't know if I can compromise enough to slot into the kind of life that Astoria wants, and I figured that you might be the person to talk to about that because you had to slot into this whole pureblood life when you and Daphne left school."

"I did," Harry agreed, "And there were compromises that had to be made there too. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love this house, and I like being on the Wizengamot because I can make a difference in the world. But being Marquiss Potter? Having to put on a smile and an act for the parties and the formal dinners? The posh teas with Narcissa and Andromeda? By Godric, I hate that side of it."

"I hate all of it," Charlie admitted, "The thought of being dragged to all of her events, black suit and tie, husband of the powerful CEO Astoria Greengrass, you know? I don't know if I can hack that life. I don't want the big house, the posh dinners, I don't want any of that. I just want a house in the country with enough space for my dragons."

"I wanted a London townhouse," Harry pointed out with a slight smile, "But when I realised there was a Potter Manor, my perspective changed. For me, it was because of the fact it was my family home. But the fact that it pleased Daphne helped too. This was the life that she was used to, and I know that it would have been hard for her to adapt to something else."

"I don't think Astoria could either," Charlie said, "Which is why we're on the verge of breaking up unless we both compromise, but I just don't know how to do that."

"Well," Harry began slowly, "Sorry…Betsy is having a little spat with Vivian."

Charlie watched in amusement as he had a short conversation with the Milk Snake and another Rough Green snake in parseltongue. When he was done, Vivian hissed in outrage and slunk away into the bushes, then Betsy settled down happily on the patch of earth where her eggs were buried.

Harry turned back to Charlie and rolled his eyes, "It's like having kids sometimes, honestly. But anyway, as I was about to say, I think you could compromise on a couple of things. I get that you don't want the big, posh house, but you could always buy a manor in the countryside. That way, Astoria gets the house that she wants, and you get loads of land in a secluded area so you can maybe have something bigger than a pygmy dragon, assuming you and Astoria aren't planning on having kids, obviously because they are definitely more dangerous than snakes."

"I think I'll settle for dragons," Charlie admitted, "I did want kids, and a part of me still does, but I appreciate the fact that I'm a lot older than her, so by the time she wants kids, I might not be able to give her that."

"Look, Charlie, I'm not getting into this awkward conversation with you, but there are…facilities…at St. Mungo's where you can put stuff on ice for when you need it."

"Ahem," Charlie coughed, "Garry, that's a bit tight there, pal."

The snake eased off, and Charlie tried to hide the colour that had risen in his cheeks, "Yup, uh, thanks for that, Harry."

Harry smiled sheepishly, "Right, so like I was saying, you could compromise with the house in that respect. As for the parties? I don't know if you'll be able to get out of going to them, but Slytherins do love to bargain. I reckon if you play the part and go to her parties, make small talk like a pro, she'll let you have as many dragons as you want. Heck, you could start your own dragon reserve, mate."

Charlie scoffed, "Damn, why didn't I think of that?"

"You're too much of a Gryffindor," Harry chuckled, "It's something I learned after the war. The best team is a mixed team because everyone has different perspectives and different ways of thinking. Sometimes it pays to think like a Slytherin."

"Still, you're pretty good at it," Charlie pointed out, "Is that because of your relationship with Daphne?"

"That, and my friendship with Draco and Theo," Harry answered, "But to be honest, it's always been there. I mean, I can talk to bloody snakes Charlie, and I was very nearly in Slytherin."

"Seriously?" Charlie asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Harry replied, "The sorting hat really wanted to put me there, but I asked it not to because, at the time, I thought Draco was a prick."

Charlie snorted, "And look how that turned out for you."

Harry laughed, "I know, but if the hat hadn't put me in Gryffindor, then I would never have become friends with Ron or Hermione, and I wouldn't have all you Weasley's as an adopted family, so I'm pretty happy that it played out the way that it did."

"I guess so," Charlie said thoughtfully.

Harry nodded, "So I guess you just need to take a step back and decide what you want to do. If you don't want to compromise, then you're going to have to call it quits, but to be honest, Charlie, with your interests and career choice, I feel like you'll always have to compromise in a relationship. Granted, this one has more compromises than most because of Astoria's background, but the concept is the same, and she does love dragons."

"Yeah," Charlie agreed, "Thank you, Harry, that was surprisingly insightful."

Harry just smiled in return.

"Do you mind if I hang out here for a bit longer?" Charlie asked, "I really like this place, although Dave is kinda intense."

"Yeah, Dave and I have a special bond. Nobody else comes close to being in Dave's good books apart from Teddy," Harry admitted, "And Daphne only lets Teddy see him very occasionally. He'd never hurt him, though. He loves him to bits."

"It just makes me miss the dragons in Romania," Charlie sighed.

"I get it," Harry said honestly, "But as hard as it is, you can start again, and you'll form bonds just as strong with your new dragons as the ones you had in Romania."

"I know, but starting over is always hard," Charlie mused, "It felt like leaving my kids when I left Romania after all of that time over there."

"I guess the question is, do you love Astoria enough to give up the dragons and the solitary Romanian life for suits and dinner parties?" Harry quipped.

"That depends. Are you going to be there to keep me from losing my mind when they all start talking economics?" Charlie asked.

"I'll definitely be at the dinner parties because most of them are in my bloody house and are hosted by my wife," Harry said with a roll of his eyes, "But you're going to have to go to the posh balls and fundraisers alone, sorry."

"Damn," Charlie cursed.

After that, Harry and Charlie fell relatively silent for a while as Charlie enjoyed the slightly surreal experience of being in a room filled with snakes from all across the world. Charlie asked the occasional question about a particular breed of snake or a particular spell on the room. Still, apart from that, they both just unwound and enjoyed the experience, which Charlie came to understand, was just as relaxing as Harry had said it was.

When Harry eventually walked into the bedroom late that night, he was not expecting Daphne to still be awake.

"Hey," He said in surprise when she looked up from her book. Even when she was in bed, in her nightclothes, with no glamour charms and her hair pulled up into a bun, she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

"Hey," She said softly, "Have they broken up?"

"Not yet," Harry replied, stripping down to his boxers and climbing into bed with her.

"Are they going to break up?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted, "Charlie hasn't quite made his mind up yet. Sorry that I was out there for so long."

"It's okay, I understand," Daphne said honestly, "Did Charlie enjoy meeting your snakes?"

Harry frowned, "Snakes? It's just the one snake, actually."

Daphne smiled at him in a slightly mischievous way, "Harry, when are we going to stop pretending that I don't know about your cabin full of snakes and that you don't know about my thousand galleon shopping trips to Paris?"

Harry turned to her in surprise, "You know?"

"Of course I know, you idiot," Daphne laughed, "Why do you think there's always human food out there? I get the house elves to put it in the cabin for you because you always go in there armed with enough rats and spiders to feed an army of snakes but nothing for yourself."

"Is that how you worked it out?" Harry asked with interest.

"Well, that was part of it, as big as Dave is, he doesn't need that much food," Daphne said, "And I could feel the magic on the place, I could tell there was a big expansion charm on it, so I knew that you were hiding something. Also, I mean, there was no way you could spend five hours out there talking to Dave, was there?"

"I could actually," Harry mused, "He's really interesting. He has some amazing stories to tell and a wicked sense of humour. He also really gets politics which makes for some interesting conversations."

"Harry, what are you going to do when Dave dies?" Daphne asked, raising an eyebrow at him, "You're really attached."

"Hey!" Harry objected, "Don't talk about Dave like that. He's a young snake; they can live to over 40. He's got at least another 30 years left in him."

"Alright," Daphne conceded with a vaguely amused smile.

"How long have you known about the cabin anyway?" Harry asked.

"How long have you known about my shopping trips?" Daphne countered.

"Ages," Harry chuckled.

"Exactly," Daphne said, smiling at him fondly, "Did it help Charlie?"

"I think so," Harry said hopefully, "I hope so."

"So do I," Daphne mused, "For Astoria's sake, but also for Bill's. He and Fleur signed their divorce papers today, if he's going to go off the deep end, he's going to do it soon, and we need Charlie to be in a good headspace if he's going to help Bill through that."

Harry sighed and settled down in bed, "Weasley's are doing my head in right now. Can we not just have a peaceful life?"

"We're Potters," Daphne pointed out with a smile, "So, in short, no."

Harry just chuckled and wrapped his arms around her lazily, "Good point, night, Daph."

"Night, Harry."

When Daphne walked into work that morning, one minute before she was due to start, and found the office empty, she began to worry. Bill was always here before her, every single day. She was never late, but she cut it fine every day, which he liked to remind her of, and which she regularly blamed on Teddy when it had really just been due to her taking too long to get her glamour charms right.

All the same, there was a first time for everything, and with everything going on in Bill's life, she could hardly blame him for being late. So, she sat down at her desk and flicked through the letters sitting there, wondering what case was urgent enough to be tackled that day.

When the clock hit half past 9, and Bill still hadn't arrived, she decided to floo Charlie.

"Hey Daphne," Charlie said when he finally answered the firecall, "What's up?"

"Bill hasn't shown up to work," Daphne frowned, "He hasn't called in or anything. He's just AWOL, and I'm kind of worried, what with him and Fleur signing the divorce papers yesterday-"

"That was yesterday?" Charlie interjected, "Oh shit. Don't worry, I'll find him. I think I have a pretty good idea of where he is anyway."

"Alright, thanks, Charlie."

As it so happened, Charlie found Bill in a muggle pub that they used to drink in when they were younger. It was open all night and started serving breakfast at 5 am so it had quickly become their favourite place for a catch up when they both happened to be in the same country.

"Oh, for the love of Godric," He muttered when he saw Bill sitting at the bar with his head down.

"Sorry mate, he got divorced yesterday," Charlie said to the man behind the bar who was making coffees.

"I know, he's told every member of staff at least twice," The man replied, "And he hasn't paid yet."

"How much is his tab?"

The man slipped a receipt over the desk, "Bloody hell Bill," he muttered when he saw the number of figures. All the same, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of Muggle cash that he had converted before he came here because he had a feeling that Bill was in a self-destructive mood.

"That should cover it," He said, putting it down on the bar and shaking his brother, "Bill, you got to wake up, man."

Bill opened his eyes groggily and muttered something incoherent.

"Bill, it's 10 am," Charlie said irritably, "You're supposed to be at work."

"Who cares about work, anyway?" Bill slurred, "What's the point in living without love?"

"Oh sweet Salazar, you're still bloody drunk," Charlie muttered under his breath, glancing around to make sure the man behind the bar was out of earshot.

"No, I'm not," Bill slurred, "Perfectly sober."

"I hate to break it to you, Bill, but you've always been a lightweight, and right now, you're well and truly hammered," Charlie said matter of factly, "Now Daphne floo-ed me because she was worried about you when you didn't show up for work today, and by the looks of it, she had good reason to be. Is this all because you divorced Fleur yesterday?"

"I was a shit husband," Bill lamented. He looked genuinely awful with heavily lidded eyes and an unsettling yellow-ish pallor which had Charlie hoping he wasn't going to get vomited on.

"Falling out of love doesn't make you a shit husband," Charlie said calmly.

"No, but cheating does, doesn't it?"

Charlie frowned, "You cheated on Fleur? When?"

"Last night, in the bathroom with this girl with huge-"

"Yeah, I get the point," Charlie cut him off, "And shagging someone while you're blind drunk after signing the divorce papers doesn't really constitute as cheating Bill."

"Stop using big words," Bill complained childishly.

Charlie snorted, "Look, you spent last night drinking your sorrows away, and I spent it surrounded by snakes with Harry, so all in, we've both had a weird couple of days. So why don't we go back to my place, you can sleep this off, and when you wake up feeling like a plonker tonight, I'll do you a fry up. Sound like a plan?"

"Yeah," Bill said, yawning through the word and getting to his feet shakily, "D'you say something about Harry spending the night with a snake?"

Charlie chuckled under his breath, "Not quite. I'll fill you in when you've sobered up."

"M'kay."

"Come on, let's get you to bed," Charlie said, taking Bill's weight as he dragged him out of the bar.

Bill was asleep the minute his head hit the pillow, so Charlie left the room and headed back to the lounge. He threw some floo powder in the fire and directed it to "Gringotts Bank; the office of William Weasley."

The floo connected, and Daphne's face appeared in the flames, "Hey, did you find him?"

"Yeah, I found him," Charlie said, "But he's definitely not fit for work, mainly because he's still drunk."

"Oh, for Salazar's sake," Daphne cursed.

"I know," Charlie agreed, "He's sleeping it off here, I'll have a word with him tonight when he sees sense, and I'll make sure he's at work tomorrow."

"Don't worry so much about that side of it," Daphne said, "Despite what he thinks, I can manage just fine without him."

"Of course you can. You're brilliant," Charlie said with a smile, "That's why you're his protégé. He knows it too, and I think he worries that if you get stuck and he's not there, you could get into trouble."

"I'm not stupid. I'll stay away from fieldwork until he's back," Daphne promised, "And you can pass that on to him when he's sober. Just look after him, Charlie."

"I will," Charlie promised, "And can you fill Astoria in? We sort of ended on a big fight, and with this stuff going on with Bill, I won't have the chance to talk to her straight away. Can you tell her that I've been working through some things and that I think I've found a way to make it work?"

"Of course I will," Daphne promised, smiling at the fact that he wasn't planning on breaking her sister's heart, "Thanks, Charlie. Speak soon."

"Will do," Charlie said before he cut the connection and ended the call.

"Hey Astoria," Daphne said cheerfully when she stepped into her sister's office at lunchtime later that day.

Astoria raised an eyebrow at her sister, "What brings you to Greengrass Industries? I thought you hated it here."

"Oh, I do," Daphne admitted, looking out of the window at the small bay behind the building, full of wizarding ships, "This is my least favourite part of London, and this building brings back memories of Father bringing me here and leaving me to read for hours while he sat through an important business meeting."

She drew herself out of her thoughts and added, "But it's your domain now, and I do like to see my sister on a lunch break, on occasion."

"What do you want?" Astoria asked, smiling slightly at her sister's transparency.

"Just to pass on a message from Charlie," Daphne replied, unsure how that would go down.

Astoria scoffed, "Really? He's getting you involved now?"

"Look, I don't know what's going on with you two," Daphne said honestly, "But I do know he spent hours, literally hours, out in Harry's snake sanctuary last night, so they were obviously talking about something in that time."

"Something other than snakes?"

"Yes, something other than snakes Astoria," Daphne said with a roll of her eyes, "And then Bill was AWOL this morning, so I had to send Charlie to find him, which he did thankfully. But all the same, when Charlie floo-ed to tell me that Bill was okay, apart from still being drunk from last night, he also asked me to pass on a message."

"Which was?" Astoria asked, reluctant about the fact she wanted to hear it.

"That you shouldn't give up hope on him just yet because he's been working through some things, and he thinks he knows how to make it work," Daphne relayed.

Astoria's expression softened, "That means he's willing to make compromises for me…I didn't see that coming."

"Fancy filling me in on what the issue was in the first place?" Daphne nosed.

Astoria sighed, "I told Charlie I couldn't give up my high-class life to be with him, and I said I didn't think he could give up his life to step into my world. He initially agreed but then said we needed some time apart to think about things."

"I see," Daphne mused, "No quaint little cottages for you, then?"

Astoria fixed her with an amused look, "Daphne, I'm the youngest CEO of a wizarding company since Regias Nott over 100 years ago. Can you really see me living in a quaint bloody cottage?"

"No," Daphne smiled, "I can see you living in a lovely large country house, hosting dinner parties and fundraisers, being forever glamorous."

"You just described yourself," Astoria said, her lips quirking up in amusement.

"Well, of course, I did. Why would you want to be anything else when you have such a good role model before you?" Daphne grinned.

"You're impossible," Astoria chuckled.

Daphne laughed too, "I hope you and Charlie can work it out, you know? He's a nice guy, I've got a lot of respect for him, and I reckon Dad will come around quickly enough now that this place is starting to take off again."

"We're almost ready for the launch," Astoria agreed, "I just need to arrange a big opening party, with lots of press because we need as much coverage as possible."

"We'll get there," Daphne promised, "And this place will be just like it was in its heyday."

Astoria smiled warmly, "That's my hope," she admitted.

* ~ TBC ~ *