She didn't know what to expect from the moment they broke apart. Part of her expected a return to the way things had been just moments before, as if nothing had happened. But the rational part of her knew that that was impossible now, that kiss had meant something to both of them and they both knew it. She had never felt as terrified and elated at the same time in her entire life.

Charlie was still staring straight into her eyes, smiling gently trying to read the expression on her face.

"Shall we go outside and talk?"

She nodded and took the hand he offered, following him out into the dusky garden without a backward glance.

"Are you alright?" he asked, once the door had closed behind them

She nodded, frowning slightly "everything's going to change now isn't it?" she whispered

His smile dimmed slightly and he leaned away "is that a bad thing?"

Her brow creased as her frown deepened "I don't know" she rubbed her forehead and sat down on the bench next to the kitchen door. He sat next to her. "I mean, I really like you, Charlie you're gorgeous but I'm scared"

Charlie filed the compliment away in the back of his head to mention at a later date and focussed on the more pressing issue "what are you sacred of?" he took hold of both of her hands.

"What if we go along with this and it's great for a while but then everything goes wrong? What if we decide we don't feel this way anymore in a few months? We'll still have to have a baby and we'll have to stay married for the next few years. We've come such a long way since we got married and your friendship means so much to me, I couldn't bare it if I lost it."

"Hermione, listen to me, you can't know that that's going to happen"

"But you never know that you weren't meant to be with someone until you break up"

"Hermione?"

"Yes?"

"Just be quiet for a moment" he took a deep breath "I can't guarantee that we will be together forever. But I will say that I don't think I've ever met anyone who understands me quite so well or who I get along with so easily. I really think we should give this a try but just take it slowly and keep it quiet. We'll just see how it goes, how does that sound?"

She nodded and hugged him tightly "just promise me one thing"

"What?"

"If you decide that you don't want this anymore, please tell me honestly. I don't want either of us to be miserable"

"Only if you promise me the same"

She nodded mutely and he tilted her chin up to kiss her, they were a hair's breadth apart when one of the twins burst through the back door.

"So that's where you two love birds got to" grinned Fred, not noticing the way that Hermione and Charlie had leaped to opposite ends of the bench. "Mum wants everyone back inside for a picture"

They both stood up to follow him back inside but as he rounded the corner, Charlie grabbed her and pulled her back to steal a brief kiss. When they broke apart she smiled shyly up at him and he rested his forehead against hers and sighed.

"Ready to go back in?" he whispered

She nodded "I think so"

He let go of her hands and they both shuffled back inside as though nothing had happened. Nobody really looked at them too closely, too wrapped up in their own lives, so they didn't notice that Charlie's hand didn't leave the small of her back for the whole evening.

When they posed for the photo, Susan, Ginny, Fleur and the twin's wives squashed up on the sofa, the children sat on their laps. Hermione stood at the back between Harry and Charlie. Harry casually slung his arm around her shoulders and she wrapped an arm around his waist. Nobody saw that she was holding Charlie's hand with her free one.

For the first few days, it wasn't difficult to keep their relationship a secret. Charlie didn't mind that Hermione spent more time with Harry and Ron during the day than she did with him. When everyone went up to bed he had her all to himself. Not that they ever did anything more than kiss. Hermione had made it very plain that she wasn't the sort of girl who slept with someone right at the beginning of the relationship and he wasn't the type of man that would ask her to do anything she wasn't ready for. To begin with, at least, she didn't mind that they had to pretend that nothing had happened; it was nice that there was one thing about her that the entire Weasley family wasn't privy to.

Their secret did mean that she was more self-conscious than ever in front of the Weasley family. She was suddenly aware of everything she did, she was scared to spend too much time with him or look at him too often in case someone cottoned on.

Charlie was struggling with this too, Bill had often teased him that since he had married Hermione, Charlie had been able to look at nothing else. He had always ignored it but now he noticed just how much time he really spent watching her. To begin with it was just so he could try to understand her but he realised that over the last few weeks it had been because he had developed feelings for her and realised just how genuinely beautiful she was.

One evening, they were gathered in the sitting room, Charlie was playing Bill at chess and Hermione was curled up in an armchair talking to Harry and Ron who were both sat on the floor in front of her. Ginny and Susan had squashed into the chair next to hers. Ginny showed her a picture of something in a catalogue and Hermione leant forward over the arm of the chair to get a better view. As she leant forward, her blouse gaped slightly and Charlie caught a fleeting view of something deep pink and lacy underneath. She hadn't even noticed he was looking and slid back into her chair, slipping easily into an animated conversation with Harry. His mouth had gone completely dry.

"Charlie? Your eyes are watering, try blinking" Bill was smirking at him.

He scowled at Bill and continued with the game. He made a mental note of the pink lace though, he was certain, from the brief glance he caught that she was wearing one of the many lacy bras that she had been so mortified that Ginny had hidden in her case.

Later that evening, just before dinner she ran upstairs to find a book that she had left in their room. As she exited the room, somebody grabbed her and pulled her against the wall. She let out a frightened squeak but then she saw that it was Charlie

"What are you-?" she started to ask but stopped when he kissed her forcefully, making her knees feel weak. He pushed her top just far enough off of her shoulder to reveal the bright pink lacy strap which he stroked thoughtfully.

"I like this" he said finally "you should wear it more often, it makes you look even sexier than you already do" and with that he flashed her a wicked grin and bounded down the stairs. He left her there feeling speechless, frustrated and desperate for revenge.

A/N: ok it's been slightly longer than intended since my last update but I've been grappling with where to take this story and I'm working on another one which will be HermionexGeorge which I'll start uploading soon. I should warn you though that I'm going on holiday tomorrow for two weeks so it will be at least that long until my next update. Anyway...I have loved reading all you reviews, they mean so much to me, and thanks to those of you who pointed out the error I made with Oliver's quidditch team in the previous chapter, I've corrected that now :) please review again!