Charlie wasn't stupid. He wasn't an especially talkative person but he was a lot more observant than people often gave him credit for. Something was definitely wrong.

He wasn't going to lie, the past few weeks with Hermione had been absolutely amazing. It was frustrating that she wasn't ready to tell anyone at home that their relationship had stepped up a level but since he wasn't especially sure where it was going either her was perfectly happy to wait. They were spending more and more time together though, it was like having a new best friend whom you found incredibly attractive and just happened to have regular sex with.

It was more than that though; Charlie had had enough 'no strings' relationships to know that this wasn't like that. He actually cared about her, how much he wasn't yet sure but he did know that it was more than he'd cared for any relationship before. And now she was upset or angry. He wasn't entirely sure.

About a week ago, he'd come home from work to find her deep in thought curled up on the sofa. She had been strangely quiet all week and whenever she thought he wasn't looking that frown slipped back onto her face and her shoulders would slump. He knew by now how to cheer her up and normally he could give her a hug or tell a joke and she would brighten up. At the moment though, he knew that the second he was gone she would stop smiling.

The worst part was that she outright denied that anything was wrong. Even when she pointed out that she was acting differently, she brushed him off with "I'm fine"

Felix had noticed how distracted by all of this he was. It was hard not to, whenever Charlie saw his wife a confused expression would spread across his face.

"She won't tell Poppy either" he confided one lunch time "She keeps telling Poppy nothing's wrong too"

Charlie sighed "Maybe there really isn't anything wrong" he didn't sound convinced

"Trust me" said Felix "I don't know Hermione as well as you do but I'm sure she's not the kind of girl to suddenly act weird for no reason. Isn't there anybody else she might have confided in?"

"Only my sister"

"Well, write to her then, she'll probably know something"

Charlie had done just that the following morning, knowing Hermione would be working late. As he was sitting down for lunch Ginny's owl swooped into the dining hall and dropped a note in his lap.

'Dear Charlie,

Sorry to hear that Hermione has been a bit off lately (I'm fine by the way, in case you were wondering, you know pregnant and all but don't worry about me). I was talking to her last Friday and she went really quiet then. Maybe she's just homesick or something. It was just after I told her about Susan and Angelina finding out they were pregnant too (you're going to have about a billion nephews and nieces before the year is out.) Anyway, she was really excited for everyone but then she looked really down. She wouldn't tell me what was wrong though so your guess is as good as mine.

Anyway, I hope she feels better son.

Lots of Love from your favourite sister'

He put down the letter frowning.

"Everything alright?" asked one of the tamers, mouth full of food.

Charlie frowned, and shook his head "I'm not sure" he said vaguely, crumpling the note up and shoving it into his pocket. He didn't mention it again until he returned home later that day to find that Hermione was once again lost in thought, this time staring out of one of the back windows and playing with one of the charms on her bracelet. She jumped when Charlie came into the room.

"What's going on?" he asked bluntly and then winced; he had meant to work into the subject gradually.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm f-"

"Don't say you're fine!" he interrupted "you're obviously not, you've been really odd recently" a thought suddenly entered his mind and without room for a pause came straight out of his mouth "You're not pregnant are you?"

She looked startled "No of course not, I'd have told you by now"

"Well you're obviously not fine" he continued trying to keep the relief from his voice "Ginny said that…" he stopped as her face turned a deathly pale

"Go on" she said quietly, certain that Ginny had not kept her promise "what did she say?"

"She said that you started acting all funny after she told you Susan was pregnant" he mistook Hermione's intake of breath as a wince and his frown deepened.

"Is that what this is about? Are you jealous of them?" he asked incredulously, there was a pause while she appeared to try to find words to form an answer, "Do you still have feelings for Ron?" he said more quietly.

She snorted with laughter; his face flushed in sudden anger "Well it would explain a lot wouldn't it? It would explain why you've been acting all odd and why you didn't want anyone to know about us."

"What about us?" she retorted indignantly, "if we weren't married we'd be nothing but friends with benefits would we? I'm sorry I didn't want to have to tell your mother that, but to me it made sense not to mention it to anyone until there was something worth mentioning"

"Are you deliberately avoiding answering the question?" he asked, getting increasingly flustered

"No" she answered, the volume of her voice rising "I'm not because I'd hoped that by now you'd have known me well enough to know that I haven't had feelings for him in years. I couldn't be happier for them, honestly. I'll admit I was a little jealous that everybody else seems to have just fallen into the perfect marriage but I'm actually ok with where we are now. I really like you Charlie, surely you've realised that by now."

"Where are you going?" he asked as she reached for her coat.

"I'm going to spend the night at Poppy's" she said shortly "I was going to tell you earlier but I must have forgotten, it must have been somewhere between you accusing me of being pregnant and of being in love with someone else"

"I didn't accuse you of anything!" He shouted indignantly

"you might as well have" she slammed out of the house.

A/N: Wahey! two updates in less than a week. I'm definitely improving! This is a little angsty though, possibly a reflection of the amount of extra hours I've been doing in work recently but the next one will get a lot better I promise but unfortunately won't be up until after christmas because I will be working christmas eve and obviously will be enjoyign the festivities as much as possible on the actual day. I hope I haven't made everybody miserable with this update and I hope you all have a wonderful christmas full of joy and good cheer (but not enough to cause a hangover) and I'll post again asap :)