Written for the Hogwarts forum: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments). This was written for Assignment #7 Subject: Gardening, for the Second Task - "Include a character that is LGBT+." So, of course, I had an entire cast of LGBT+ characters.

"You're going to love her," Bill promises.

Charlie laughs, not bothering to try and detangle his brother's hand from his shirt. It's not like the collar of his shirt hasn't been stretched to hell already, and it's rare enough he gets to see his brother—even if Bill is a little bit sloshed.

"I'm sure," he says, shouting loud enough to be heard of the pounding bass. He doubts that Bill catches the amusement in his voice—doubts that Bill is sober enough to pick up on it.

Honestly, Charlie isn't sure why Bill has been so insistent about Charlie meeting—what's her face—Fleur. Sure, perhaps he's met all of Bill's other dates over the years, and he's pretty certain that he was the first one Bill came out to about being bisexual. There's something weird about how persistent Bill's been about this, but also how he refuses to tell Charlie much more about her name. All he really knows is that she's French and Bill met her while curse breaking.

"Merlin," Bill curses as they stagger out onto the street. Rolling his eyes, Charlie encourages his brother to lean on him so together they can walk in a somewhat-straight line. "It's bloody freezing out here."

Rolling his eyes, he responds. "Yeah, because it's like three in the morning. Hey, where are you taking us?"

"We're going to meet Fleur!" Bill says, completely ignoring Charlie's point about how early it is. He doesn't really want to meet his maybe future-in-law and then watch her break up with his brother because his brother's an idiot who is overly eager at introducing the people in his life to one another.

"Perhaps when it's the morning. Like proper, actual morning," Charlie says, stopping and causing Bill to stop with him. Bill tugs ineffectually at him, but he's not about to move. Charlie stands still against dragons—Bill is much, much easier to endure. Especially a drunk Bill.

Bill- Bill whines. There's no other word for it. "Charlieeee," he says, dragging the word out. "You gotta meet her! C'mon."

Sighing, Charlie stares at his older brother. Bill sticks out his lip and pouts like he's four rather than the twenty-eight-year-old he knows is. "Well," Charlie decides, "if Fleur hasn't killed you yet, she hopefully won't do so for barging in on her at some ungodly hour of the morning. If she does murder you though, it's your own bloody fault."

"You're going to love her," Bill says, proving that he's paying zero attention to his brother. Charlie sighs and follows Bill as his older brother continues down the street. He's just hopeful that Bill doesn't lead them to the wrong house or something awful like that. It'd be just Charlie's luck. First, the only Portkey he could get to come over to Egypt was one am local time. Second, his brother tries to introduce him to his girlfriend only to wind up at the wrong house.

Yeah, Charlie's regretting his agreement more and more as time passes. He really should've said no and directed Bill to the hotel Charlie's staying at instead. That would've been the smarter option.

Then again, he made a career out of working with dragons so Charlie can't really claim to be the smartest wizard around.

Bill leads Charlie through small alleys that could probably be dangerous if they weren't well on the way to sober now, and Charlie trips of stones that seem to shift just to mess with him. Bill laughs, tugs on his hand like they're still children back running through the orchards out the back of the Burrow. And Charlie, who sometimes still feels like he's seven, follows and laughs and remembers a happy childhood.

Eventually, they come to a stop in front of an apartment block that's clearly magical—even if Charlie had missed the moving painted murals on the side, then he'd be hard pressed to ignore the owls sitting on the railings near the roof.

"This is it," Bill says, gesturing to the whole apartment like he owns the block itself. Charlie snorts a laugh, and Bill sticks out his tongue. "Shush you."

Raising an eyebrow, Charlie does his best to express his thoughts on his face. Only, he can't hold the expression and ends up giving into his laughter. "You don't even live here—do you? I seem to remember something about a rather small apartment near some market space."

"This is where Fleur lives," Bill says. "Remember? I mentioned that. We're seeing Fleur not my apartment. Which- It's definitely clean! If mum asks, it's spotless."

Charlie snorts. "Sure it is," he says because, despite everything Bill is, good at cleaning is definitely not one of his skills. Like him, Bill knows all the spells, their mum would hardly let them leave the house otherwise, but Bill has a habit of getting distracted and never quite finishing off the cleaning. These things stack up—Charlie would know, considering all the years he's lived with and beside Bill both at the Burrow and at Hogwarts too.

Bill elbows him and Charlie wheezes, kicking out and hitting Bill's shin. He laughs as Bill hops sideways, cursing.

Overhead, a door opens. There's a flurry of words that Charlie can't quite make out, but the tone is angry enough that he has to muffle his laughter with one hand, leaning against Bill. "We're the worst," Bill whispers. "C'mon, let's go before someone calls the police or something."

"Imagine that getting back to mum," Charlie whispers as Bill unlocks the door to the apartment building. "We'd never live it down."

As Bill holds the door open, he adopts an expression of horror. "Or worse, imagine it getting back to the twins. We'd never be able to pretend we were anything less than perfect children then."

Entering, Charlie bites his lip to keep himself from laughing. When he's sure he's not going to, he says, "I think they already know that considering the prank wars we had against them in the Burrow."

Bill winces, clearly remembering the time that Ginny got caught in the crossfire and consequently schooled over them. There's never been a prank war in the Burrow since—which is probably for the best really.

"It's just two flights up," Bill says. "Hopefully she won't be too mad about us coming so late."

Raising an eyebrow—even though his brother isn't looking at him—Charlie asks, "Do you normally go to her house so late?"

Without even looking, Bill reaches back and slaps at his arm. "I can hear your dirty thoughts from here and no, that's not what happens. Fleur's like you."

At that, Charlie pauses on the landing, squinting up at Bill's back. "She's your brother? I'm fairly certain we don't have any more siblings."

Bill groans. "You're so dumb. Just hurry up."

More confused than he was previously, Charlie hurries up the rest of the stairs to join his brother at a rather plain looking door. The only sign of Fleur, as far as he can tell, are the runes sprinkled around the door and carved into the doorframe. They glow with ambient magic. Wards of some kind, he imagines.

Bill knocks on the door, not bothering in the slightest to be quiet. Then again, Charlie thinks with more fondness than he knows what to do with, Bill's always been brave like that.

After a few moments, there's the sound of movement from inside the apartment. And if movement could sound grumpy, this did. It's enough to bring a smile to Charlie's face, because, well, he remembers stomping grumpily after Bill on one adventure or another—though he certainly dragged Bill on his own adventures too, so perhaps they were equal in that matter.

The door is yanked open and Charlie finds himself staring at a blonde witch whose hair is more knots than anything else. However, what Charlie pays the most amount of attention to is the top that Fleur's wearing.

"I have that top!" He says, unable to keep the excitement from his voice. Only now does he realise what Bill meant when he said that Fleur was like Charlie. "You're aromantic too?"

Fleur blinks, confused, before her expression clears up. "Oh," she says, nothing but delight in her voice, "you're Charlie!"

Beside Charlie, Bill beams, bright and brilliant, and Charlie can't help but be thankful for him. He's so grateful, in fact, that he elbows Bill in the ribs. "I can't believe you kept Fleur from me!" He grins at the witch. "It's lovely to meet you, though I'm so sorry about the late hour. I'm sure you know what this lazy lump is like."

Fleur laughs. "Yeah," she says with a crooked grin. "I do. Come on in, both of you."

Ignoring his brother's wheezing, Charlie steps in. This, he thinks to himself, is the start of a very nice friendship.