September 18th 2005 PT1
Hermione was pacing in her living room while Arty was sitting at her dining table, surrounded by crayons and crumpled paper when Ginny stepped out of the floo and put James down, who quickly toddled over to join Arty. Hermione smiled when her son stopped colouring immediately to help his cousin onto a chair and gave him some of his paper and crayons. She had done well with him, she knew, and had managed to raise a wonderful, caring little boy.
"How are you feeling?" Ginny asked once Hermione had turned back to her and her friend shrugged.
"I don't even know," she frowned, "nervous, scared, anxious, excited, the list is endless."
"It's going to be ok, you know that, don't you?" Ginny asked and she shrugged, "Charlie was full of questions about him last night, he really wants to be in his life."
"But what about when he goes back to Romania?" Hermione asked, noticing that Ginny smiled amusedly at her question.
"You need to talk to him about that, but it's not going to be a problem," Ginny smiled, "Right, it's almost 11. Go to Grimmauld and wait in the kitchen, I told Charlie to come a few minutes after 11."
"Ok," Hermione said, taking a deep breath, "Arty had dinner i-"
"In the fridge and yoghurt afterwards," Ginny laughed, "it's not like I've never looked after him before Hermione. Now, go!"
Hermione felt Ginny push her in the back towards the floo and glared over her shoulder. She called out her goodbye to Arty, who shouted back that he loved her and smiled as she stepped into the floo. It was going to be a long and emotional afternoon.
She stepped out of the floo at Grimmauld and found the house empty and quiet, quite the alien sound in the large house. She held her hand in front of her to check her level of nerves and found that she was shaking almost violently, so she clenched her fists and folded her arms as she walked through to the basement kitchen. She sat down in the chair closest to the door, allowing her a view of the hallway and jiggled her knee to try and focus her nerves into some kind of movement. It was ten minutes later when the floo roared and Hermione's whipped around to look into the hallway, seeing a nervous Charlie appear, freezing in place when he saw her looking at him.
She watched as his hands came up and dragged roughly down his face before he started to move forward and as he pulled out the chair next to her, she pulled the duplicate letter from her pocket and put it in front of him with shaky hands. He picked it up, his own hands shaking equally and his hand covered his mouth as he read, before turning to her with wet eyes.
"Hermione…" he croaked before clearing his throat, "I honestly… I didn't know."
She watched as he spoke, trying to find even the tiniest hint of dishonesty, but all she saw was hurt and guilt. His eyes were bloodshot and the bags under his eyes told her that he hadn't slept very well, if at all, the night before. He looked broken, and Hermione found herself slumping into the chair, a heavy weight settled over her chest, her own guilt weighing her down.
"When I never heard from you," Charlie said, leaning forward on the table, "I thought that after we had sex you didn't want to talk to me, I honestly never thought..."
"Charlie, what happened?" She asked with a frown, "why didn't you get the letter?"
"I wasn't even in Romania when it got there!" He told her, slamming his palm on the table top in anger, making Hermione jump, "sorry. I was in Japan, on a field expedition and I was gone for two weeks."
"You didn't get it when it got back?" She asked and he shook his head.
"Any letters that come to the reserve and aren't opened within a week are sent back to where they came from," he informed her and Hermione's eyes widened, "where did you send it from?"
"I sent it from here," Hermione muttered, before lifting her head and raising her voice, "KREACHER!"
There was a loud pop and the now extremely elderly elf appeared at the side of the table, bowing before he stood as tall as he could. Hermione picked up the letter and held it in front of her, glaring at the creature.
"Kreature, just after new year 2000, did a letter identical to this arrive at Grimmauld Place?" She asked, her voice wobbling slightly.
"Yes Miss Hermione, on January 4th. Kreature put it with all the other returned mails in the box when it comes back unopened." He nodded, bowing again.
Hermione felt all the air leave her body and she turned with wide eyes to Charlie, who himself was pale and shocked. She gasped in a breath and it caught in her throat as she let loose a harsh, loud sob and covered her face with her hands, realising that her son had been without his dad because she had only sent one letter. Just one more letter, further in her pregnancy or when he was born… Things might have been so much different. She uncovered her face and turned her anger and confusion directly on the elf.
"Kreature, you bloody…. Urgh! That letter was incredibly important! Did you not think to let me know it had come back unopened?!" She raged and the elf took a shaky step backwards in shock.
"Thank you, Kreature." Charlie muttered, shaking his head and reaching out to put a hand on Hermione's arm as she broke down again, "Hermione, look at me, please…"
"I'm so sorry!" She wailed, wiping her face and dropping her hands, "I should have sent another letter, but I honestly thought…"
"I would have been here, Hermione, I wouldnt have let you do this alone," Charlie said heavily, "I wouldn't have left my son without a father."
Hermione nodded as she looked into his eyes and his shoulders drooped. This entire situation could have been avoided if both of them had communicated more or even just a little better. She felt horribly guilty for all of the bad feelings she had felt towards him when he had been entirely clueless all along. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Hermione took a deep breath.
"I wasn't alone," she sighed, "the Weasleys are his family, regardless of his surname."
"They don't know he's mine?" He asked and she shrugged guiltily.
"I didn't want to put any pressure on you or damage your relationship with your mum," she muttered, "they're going to be so angry with me…"
"What's he like? Arthur?" He asked and she smiled softly as she pictured her boy.
"He's amazing," she shrugged, "he's the most loving child I've ever met, loyal and charming. He's absolutely obsessed with dragons."
"Really?" He grinned and she nodded, "does he know… about me?"
"He has asked before why he didn't have a daddy like the other children," Charlie winced and she nodded sadly, "It tore me up inside when he asked that… I told him that he does have a daddy, but the dragons would be all alone so daddy left him with me because he knew I would take great care of him. He said it was good, because the dragons wouldn't be sad."
"Oh gods," Charlie moaned, sniffing as he scrubbed at his eyes, "I'm so sorry that you had to go through this, Hermione. You have to believe me when I say I would have been here."
"I believe you, Charlie," she nodded, resting her hand on his arm, "but I'm worried."
"About?" He pushed and she sighed, shaking her head.
"What will happen when you go back to Romania? Is there a step mum for him over there?" She asked and he chuckled, "I have so many questions."
"I can answer both of those for you?" He asked and she nodded, "there is no step mum, I haven't had a relationship in… well it's been a long time, and as for your other question, didn't Ginny tell you?"
"Tell me what?" Hermione frowned and Charlie grinned at her, putting his hand on top of hers.
"They're opening a new Dragon reserve in Wales," He smiled and Hermione gasped, "that's why I'm here, I'm overseeing the development."
"And after?" She whispered with wide eyes and Charlie shrugged, grinning.
"I'll be the head keeper," he said, chuckling, "I'm not going back to Romania."
"You mean… you're here to stay?" Hermione asked in shock and he nodded, "Would you… Would you like to meet your son?"
"Oh gods, yes please!"