Author's Note: Enjoy!

The sun had already set once the family finally began to trickle out of the Burrow where they had celebrated Ginny's birthday dinner. Charlie finally found time to slip out into the warm August night for a smoke, a habit that he knew would bring a long lecture from his Mum. He was very surprised that he was able to keep this secret from her since his mid-teens, then again, never being home much since then helped with this. It was something he picked up from his friends at school, and he never did it that much until he moved to Romania, where Charlie could only think of about two or three dragon trainers that didn't smoke.

In the distance, the backdoor opened and shut, so Charlie quickly stubbed his cigarette out on the ground. It was only Teddy that rounded the corner of the house, so relief swept over Charlie before he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a cigarette. The turquoise haired boy stood beside Charlie before leaning up against the side of the house, matching the stance Charlie was in.

"What are you doing out here," Charlie asked the boy while he lit the cigarette that sat between his lips.

"Victoire left, so I was bored," explained Teddy. "What are you doing out here?"

"Relaxing," Charlie said plainly, "It was really noisy in there, so I came out here for some quiet."

"And a cigarette," added Teddy.

"Well, yes, and a cigarette." Charlie had always been pretty good with kids as he and Bill spent a lot of their summer holidays keeping their younger siblings occupied while Molly got some housework done. That along with spending time with his may nieces and nephews made Charlie very knowledgeable on how to have a conversation with children, but he always found it very difficult to talk to Teddy. He was too much like Tonks, which really should have made it easy, but knowing that she wasn't there still cut deep into Charlie. He would always answer Teddy's questions or tell him some stories, but it never really went any further than that.

"Can I have one," asked Teddy expectantly.

Charlie looked at him dumbfounded, "no."

"Why?"

"Because they're bad for you."

"Then why do you smoke them?"

"I saw a lot of my friends in school do it, so I started to," explained left out the part about Romania, and the part of how his weekly intake nearly tripled since the war ended. "Understand that we were all born in the seventies and a lot of my friends watched their parents smoke everyday for their entire childhoods. They were just products of their environments, and this is a long winded way of saying don't smoke."

"Did your parents smoke?"

"No, and this is the part where I ask for you to keep this between us."

Teddy nodded. Charlie took a long drag from his cigarette before speaking again. "So...are you ready for Hogwarts?" There it was, Charlie was officially the adult he never wanted to become. One that didn't know what to say to a kid, so they just resort to talking about school.

"Yeah," replied Teddy. "Gran took me to Diagon Alley last weekend and I got all of my school books and new robes. I got my wand to! Do you want to see it? I snuck it out of my room without Gran seeing!" He reached into his pocket before producing a long Applewood wand. "It has a Phoenix core like Uncle Harry's wand does!"

"That's very cool," said Charlie. "You know, they don't make very many Applewood wands, you're very lucky to have had it choose you."

"Really," the boy asked with his eyes wide and a large smile. "This was the sixth wand I tried!"

"Really? This wand was definitely made for you then, huh?"

"Yeah!"

Charlie glanced over the wand again, taking in the shape of it, "you know, your Mum's wand looked a lot like yours."

"Gran said that too," Teddy responded quietly.

"I may have a picture where she's holding it. I'll check when I get back to Romania, and if I find it I'll send it to you," Charlie promised. "But yeah, the bottom of her wand curved in the same pattern as yours, it's a pretty cool shape. I've always thought so."

"It is," Teddy agreed. "It's kind of awkward to hold though, how did she do it."

Teddy held the wand out to Charlie in his open palm, so Charlie moved the boy's fingers so that his pink rested in the small loop on the bottom while the rest of them gripped the man length of the wand.

"Like that," said Charlie. "You're already going to be a great wizard just as she was an excellent witch."

"Do you think she would be proud of me?"

Charlie sighed, "I saw your Mum only once and very briefly after you were born, but you were the first, and really the only thing, I had time to ask about. The way her eyes sparkled while she told me about you was...incredible. I think she will always be proud of you no matter what you do in life."

Teddy smiled sadly, "I miss her, which is weird because I barely even knew her."

Charlie placed his hand on Teddy's shoulder.

"I think there's a box or two of old photos I never took with me to Romania if you would like to take a look at them," suggested Charlie. "You can have whatever photos you want of her."

"Really?"

"Really. Let's go." He stubbed his cigarette on the ground before leading Teddy inside.

wc: 970