A/N: Umm. here's chapter 4. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, yeah. one of these days I'll be the proud owner of my own characters. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Charlie found himself back in his miniscule living room, having just apparated from Kilburn. He tore off his sweater and threw it onto the chair, simultaneously throwing himself onto the sofa. He allowed himself a few minutes of basking in the warm glow of post-date happiness. After grinning like an idiot for several minutes for no apparent reason, he began to concentrate and "get down to business."
He had to figure out how to keep up this Muggle charade. It wasn't going to be easy; he had little to no contact with Muggles seeing as he grew up as a wizard. With the exception of his father's strange obsession, he had no clue as to how Muggles survived. First, he reasoned, he'd have to buy more Muggle clothes. It didn't have to be right away, of course, because he already owned a couple of pairs of blue jeans and t-shirts. He had at least enough to get through Tuesday's lunch date. Next, he had to figure out how they lived: how they traveled, cooked, communicated, what they did in their spare time, sports. The list went on. He made a mental note to himself to look up psychology.
The only way to really find out was to write to Hermione again. Apparently neither Ron nor Harry was good with words or instructions, so Charlie decided to communicate directly with their more studious friend.
Dear Hermione, I know it seems strange to hear from me, as I don't know you very well. But I was hoping we could talk some more about Muggles. I know that you are Muggle born, and I am therefore assuming that you know all about them. I'd rather not go into my reasons for wanting this knowledge, but if you could help me out, I'd truly appreciate it. Thanks, Charlie. P.S. What's a good British soccer team?
Thor had apparently only returned from Hogwarts a couple of hours earlier, from the deep sleep that Charlie found him in. He decided that the letter didn't need to be sent until morning, and Charlie would let him sleep before the long flight back to Britain. Realizing that sleep would probably be the best idea, Charlie stripped down to his boxer shorts and fell onto his bed. His dreams floated off into fantasies of no longer being a bachelor, and having a wife who could love him, and he could love in return.
Charlie, as most young men did, enjoyed his bachelor status, but was beginning to get weary of always being alone. After moving to Romania, his choices in women were often limited, especially since the women he worked with were usually scarred from burns or cuts. They were nice enough, sure, but one dragon scarred person in the family was enough; almost all of his coworkers felt the same way. He didn't want a woman who would just sit around the house all day and pick up after himself and his children, but a woman who had her own career, and could pull her own. He wanted a woman who he could come home to, and they could share their stories about their days together. Most of all, he wanted that woman to be Ariane.
Charlie chastised himself for already thinking about her as a wife. I've only known her for a total of two days, he thought. She doesn't even know I'm a wizard! Whenever that thought entered his head, he always found himself back in a slight stupor. Figures that of all women to fall for, I had to fall for a Muggle, he said to himself. But as a Muggle was how he liked her. If she was a witch, she'd probably be completely different. Charlie was a firm believer in past experiences shaping the present person.
Charlie fell asleep with his mind buzzing with thoughts of Ariane, Muggles, and memories of the past four hours. By the time he awoke on Sunday, he felt refreshed, as though his dreams had relived his previous night again and again and again. It was still the weekend, and Charlie decided to venture once again out into the world of Muggles. He couldn't continue using pay phones, and eventually she'd probably ask for his number. But the question remained whether or not his house even had a phone jack (not that he knew what those were at the time). Before leaving his house, he sent Thor off with his letter to Hermione, praying the girl would be as prompt with this answer as she was with her prior one.
* * *
"Hey, Ron, look. Isn't that Charlie's owl again?" asked Harry, as Thor dropped a letter in front of Hermione.
"Wonder what he wants now? And why did he write you, Hermione?" asked Ron. Hermione had already opened the letter and read it through quickly.
"He wants to know more about Muggles," she said. "He's asked me to provide him with more information on them, but he won't say why." Harry and Ron shared a puzzled look.
"It's official. He's turning into Dad," proclaimed Ron. At that moment, with impeccable timing, the twins sat down next to the trio.
"Who's turning into Dad? Don't tell me Charlie wrote you again," injected Fred. Hermione waved the letter at him to show him that his guess was indeed fact. George groaned.
"Jeez; isn't one of them enough? What does he want to know this time?" he asked. Hermione shrugged.
"He wasn't really specific about anything. He just said he wanted to know more about Muggles and he'd rather not go into the reasons why."
"So what are you going to tell him?" asked Harry.
"I dunno. Maybe stuff about electricity, or how they travel. That kind of thing. The stuff that's common knowledge to them, but wizards wouldn't know a thing about. I wonder if he'd want to know about the money exchange and political standpoints," she mused. The other four had no doubt that she could write books on any of the topics she had mentioned, despite going to a wizarding school for the past five years. "It's something I'll have to think about," she finished.
That night in her dorm, Hermione began her reply to Charlie. She began by explaining the theory of electricity, how it worked, and why Muggles used it. She decided against adding the history of its evolution as starting out as candles and moving to candelabras, etc. She gave him the basic outline of their clothing, and what was common for them to wear this day in age, the finer points of finance, the Prime Minister's name, and the most common ways of traveling (car, train, bus, and airplane). She had to make a quick trip over to Harry and Ron's room to get Dean and ask about the soccer question.
Five feet of parchment later, she went up to the owlery and decided to use Hedwig. Harry had already given her permission to use his snowy owl, as he had few letters to send himself; unless it was to Sirius, and even then, they had to use the more common school barn owls. Hedwig hooted gratefully as Hermione tied the large letter to the owl's foot. She took flight and Hermione watched her as she floated off into the distance.
Charlie heard a rapping at his window on Monday night, right before he was about to go to sleep. He was apprehensive about his second date with Ariane, as he hadn't yet received a reply from Hermione yet. The day before, he had gone out and bought three more pairs of slacks and a couple of polo shirts. His t-shirt collection seemed to be growing by the minute. More than anything, Charlie wanted to call up an electrician and get his brand new phone installed, but he had to figure out how to hide all of his magical belongings first.
Charlie opened the window and let Hedwig fly in. He took the letter from her leg and opened it. It was much longer than he expected. He began reading it feverishly, quickly figuring out to skip most of the paragraphs as they only contained the theories as to how each of the Muggle inventions worked. He didn't care how they worked; only what they did. After reading Hermione's letter through twice, Charlie felt much more prepared for his date the next day. He went to bed confident, and ready to face anything.
Charlie spent his morning behind a desk again, working out the finer details of the Chinese Fireball's progress. The Eucerin had been doing its job, all right, but the dragon seemed to want to eat anyone that smelled like the lotion, and they were running out of people that could approach it. It was quite the anomaly, and it intrigued Charlie. The morning flew by, amazingly enough, and soon it was a quarter to noon. Charlie pulled out a bag containing some of his brand new clothes and changed quickly. He then apparated to Diagon Alley, and took the same route through the Leaky Cauldron. He was stopped this time, however, by the innkeeper, Tom.
"Hey, Charlie! Charlie Weasley!"
"Hey, Tom," said Charlie, trying to make it clear in his body language that he was in a hurry.
"I keep seeing you around here, but you keep taking off into the Muggle world! I'm curious; and why are you wearing those clothes?"
"Uh, I'm in a bit of a rush, Tom, so I'll tell you later, all right?"
"Yeah, sure thing, Charlie. Just let me in on one thing - you're not taking after your old man and getting obsessed with all those Muggle inventions, are you?"
"I don't think so, Tom!" With that, Charlie pushed the door open to the outside and rushed to meet Ariane. He only had a couple of minutes, and he didn't want to be late.
He turned the corner quickly and located the drug store. He took off on a jog and in his haste, almost ran into the woman again. Panting, he smiled at her, and said the first thing that popped into his head.
"You are so beautiful." Ariane beamed at the compliment.
"Thank you." She looped her arm through his and they headed off towards the diner. "So did you run from Romania? You're awfully out of breath."
"Something like that. So how are you?"
"I'm fine. And yourself?"
"Perfect," he answered with a smile. They reached the diner, and continued to talk through lunch, their conversation as exuberant as the one three nights ago. By the end of lunch, Charlie found himself with another date that weekend. Ariane wanted to show him her favorite bit of Hyde Park.
By the time Charlie got back to the office, he was grinning like a fool and could hardly concentrate on his work. Not having yet applied the Eucerin to the Chinese Fireball, he decided to go out and work with it. Once out in the field and in his robes again, Charlie found himself talking to the dragon. It was amazing how docile the creature was around him and yet not nearly as peaceful around the other workers.
"So this woman is probably the most beautiful, smart, and amazing woman in the world. Do you think it's wrong for me to love a Muggle? I find it almost intriguing, but I feel like I'm leading her on. Everything I tell her is a lie of some sort because she doesn't know about us, I mean wizards, of course." He went on and on and the dragon simply let him apply the lotion and talk as his heart was content. Thankfully, none of his coworkers could approach the dragon, as they had already been the lotioners once and now risked losing limbs. It wasn't common practice to talk to dragons about one's love life. The task done, Charlie headed back to his office, and then home, ready to prepare for Saturday, despite the date being four days away.
Saturday came and went, and three weeks quickly flew by. Charlie was now making almost daily trips to Britain, usually during lunch or after work, but one thing was bothering him. He hadn't officially asked Ariane to be his girlfriend, and it had been brought up only yesterday. She had asked him about his prior girlfriends and how he had been with them.
"So do you get down on one knee and ask them to go with you or do you just assume they worship the ground you stand on?" she had asked. Never really having had much experience with girls other than the few flings at Hogwarts, Charlie didn't have an answer. But now he decided that Ariane deserved to know that SHE was the one he worshipped, and it shouldn't be the other way around. He wanted to ask her to be his official girlfriend, and make it known to the world how he felt about her. He wanted it to be extraordinary. So that Saturday they were going for a walk around Hyde Park again; it had become sort of a tradition for their Saturday afternoons.
Charlie was wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt with a light jacket. Inside of his jacket was his concealed wand, and he carried eleven real roses and one fake rose. He waited impatiently until she showed up, and she smiled delightedly when she saw the bundle of flowers. He leaned down to kiss her and then told her to wait for a second. He led her over to the bottom of a hill, and took a deep breath.
"Ariane," he started. She looked at him with interest. "I've come to really care about you. A lot. And I'd like you to be my girlfriend - officially. I want to make it known to the world how I feel about you. I'm giving you these roses, and I want you to know that I want you to be with me until that last rose fades." Ariane looked at him curiously and then noticed that one of the roses was fake, and would never wilt. She looked at him with huge eyes and flung her arms around his neck
"Is that a yes?" he asked in between kisses.
"Of course it's a yes!" she shouted. He hugged her even harder, and murmured a charm soft enough that she couldn't hear it. Suddenly, the trees from above them started shedding in a circle around the two, like a shower of blossoms and leaves. "Oh wow," she breathed. "It's like magic!" Charlie grinned at her, and flung her around once more, taking in her scent, the way she felt in his arms, and swore that he was the happiest man in the entire world.
*Okay. so that's the installment of the day. I'm going to try and update daily (I work way too early in the morning, so I have lots of time to think about what's going to happen!) Please keep reviewing so I know whether or not the story's headed in the right direction! Once again, thank you sooooo much to the people who have already reviewed and read thus far!
Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, yeah. one of these days I'll be the proud owner of my own characters. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Charlie found himself back in his miniscule living room, having just apparated from Kilburn. He tore off his sweater and threw it onto the chair, simultaneously throwing himself onto the sofa. He allowed himself a few minutes of basking in the warm glow of post-date happiness. After grinning like an idiot for several minutes for no apparent reason, he began to concentrate and "get down to business."
He had to figure out how to keep up this Muggle charade. It wasn't going to be easy; he had little to no contact with Muggles seeing as he grew up as a wizard. With the exception of his father's strange obsession, he had no clue as to how Muggles survived. First, he reasoned, he'd have to buy more Muggle clothes. It didn't have to be right away, of course, because he already owned a couple of pairs of blue jeans and t-shirts. He had at least enough to get through Tuesday's lunch date. Next, he had to figure out how they lived: how they traveled, cooked, communicated, what they did in their spare time, sports. The list went on. He made a mental note to himself to look up psychology.
The only way to really find out was to write to Hermione again. Apparently neither Ron nor Harry was good with words or instructions, so Charlie decided to communicate directly with their more studious friend.
Dear Hermione, I know it seems strange to hear from me, as I don't know you very well. But I was hoping we could talk some more about Muggles. I know that you are Muggle born, and I am therefore assuming that you know all about them. I'd rather not go into my reasons for wanting this knowledge, but if you could help me out, I'd truly appreciate it. Thanks, Charlie. P.S. What's a good British soccer team?
Thor had apparently only returned from Hogwarts a couple of hours earlier, from the deep sleep that Charlie found him in. He decided that the letter didn't need to be sent until morning, and Charlie would let him sleep before the long flight back to Britain. Realizing that sleep would probably be the best idea, Charlie stripped down to his boxer shorts and fell onto his bed. His dreams floated off into fantasies of no longer being a bachelor, and having a wife who could love him, and he could love in return.
Charlie, as most young men did, enjoyed his bachelor status, but was beginning to get weary of always being alone. After moving to Romania, his choices in women were often limited, especially since the women he worked with were usually scarred from burns or cuts. They were nice enough, sure, but one dragon scarred person in the family was enough; almost all of his coworkers felt the same way. He didn't want a woman who would just sit around the house all day and pick up after himself and his children, but a woman who had her own career, and could pull her own. He wanted a woman who he could come home to, and they could share their stories about their days together. Most of all, he wanted that woman to be Ariane.
Charlie chastised himself for already thinking about her as a wife. I've only known her for a total of two days, he thought. She doesn't even know I'm a wizard! Whenever that thought entered his head, he always found himself back in a slight stupor. Figures that of all women to fall for, I had to fall for a Muggle, he said to himself. But as a Muggle was how he liked her. If she was a witch, she'd probably be completely different. Charlie was a firm believer in past experiences shaping the present person.
Charlie fell asleep with his mind buzzing with thoughts of Ariane, Muggles, and memories of the past four hours. By the time he awoke on Sunday, he felt refreshed, as though his dreams had relived his previous night again and again and again. It was still the weekend, and Charlie decided to venture once again out into the world of Muggles. He couldn't continue using pay phones, and eventually she'd probably ask for his number. But the question remained whether or not his house even had a phone jack (not that he knew what those were at the time). Before leaving his house, he sent Thor off with his letter to Hermione, praying the girl would be as prompt with this answer as she was with her prior one.
* * *
"Hey, Ron, look. Isn't that Charlie's owl again?" asked Harry, as Thor dropped a letter in front of Hermione.
"Wonder what he wants now? And why did he write you, Hermione?" asked Ron. Hermione had already opened the letter and read it through quickly.
"He wants to know more about Muggles," she said. "He's asked me to provide him with more information on them, but he won't say why." Harry and Ron shared a puzzled look.
"It's official. He's turning into Dad," proclaimed Ron. At that moment, with impeccable timing, the twins sat down next to the trio.
"Who's turning into Dad? Don't tell me Charlie wrote you again," injected Fred. Hermione waved the letter at him to show him that his guess was indeed fact. George groaned.
"Jeez; isn't one of them enough? What does he want to know this time?" he asked. Hermione shrugged.
"He wasn't really specific about anything. He just said he wanted to know more about Muggles and he'd rather not go into the reasons why."
"So what are you going to tell him?" asked Harry.
"I dunno. Maybe stuff about electricity, or how they travel. That kind of thing. The stuff that's common knowledge to them, but wizards wouldn't know a thing about. I wonder if he'd want to know about the money exchange and political standpoints," she mused. The other four had no doubt that she could write books on any of the topics she had mentioned, despite going to a wizarding school for the past five years. "It's something I'll have to think about," she finished.
That night in her dorm, Hermione began her reply to Charlie. She began by explaining the theory of electricity, how it worked, and why Muggles used it. She decided against adding the history of its evolution as starting out as candles and moving to candelabras, etc. She gave him the basic outline of their clothing, and what was common for them to wear this day in age, the finer points of finance, the Prime Minister's name, and the most common ways of traveling (car, train, bus, and airplane). She had to make a quick trip over to Harry and Ron's room to get Dean and ask about the soccer question.
Five feet of parchment later, she went up to the owlery and decided to use Hedwig. Harry had already given her permission to use his snowy owl, as he had few letters to send himself; unless it was to Sirius, and even then, they had to use the more common school barn owls. Hedwig hooted gratefully as Hermione tied the large letter to the owl's foot. She took flight and Hermione watched her as she floated off into the distance.
Charlie heard a rapping at his window on Monday night, right before he was about to go to sleep. He was apprehensive about his second date with Ariane, as he hadn't yet received a reply from Hermione yet. The day before, he had gone out and bought three more pairs of slacks and a couple of polo shirts. His t-shirt collection seemed to be growing by the minute. More than anything, Charlie wanted to call up an electrician and get his brand new phone installed, but he had to figure out how to hide all of his magical belongings first.
Charlie opened the window and let Hedwig fly in. He took the letter from her leg and opened it. It was much longer than he expected. He began reading it feverishly, quickly figuring out to skip most of the paragraphs as they only contained the theories as to how each of the Muggle inventions worked. He didn't care how they worked; only what they did. After reading Hermione's letter through twice, Charlie felt much more prepared for his date the next day. He went to bed confident, and ready to face anything.
Charlie spent his morning behind a desk again, working out the finer details of the Chinese Fireball's progress. The Eucerin had been doing its job, all right, but the dragon seemed to want to eat anyone that smelled like the lotion, and they were running out of people that could approach it. It was quite the anomaly, and it intrigued Charlie. The morning flew by, amazingly enough, and soon it was a quarter to noon. Charlie pulled out a bag containing some of his brand new clothes and changed quickly. He then apparated to Diagon Alley, and took the same route through the Leaky Cauldron. He was stopped this time, however, by the innkeeper, Tom.
"Hey, Charlie! Charlie Weasley!"
"Hey, Tom," said Charlie, trying to make it clear in his body language that he was in a hurry.
"I keep seeing you around here, but you keep taking off into the Muggle world! I'm curious; and why are you wearing those clothes?"
"Uh, I'm in a bit of a rush, Tom, so I'll tell you later, all right?"
"Yeah, sure thing, Charlie. Just let me in on one thing - you're not taking after your old man and getting obsessed with all those Muggle inventions, are you?"
"I don't think so, Tom!" With that, Charlie pushed the door open to the outside and rushed to meet Ariane. He only had a couple of minutes, and he didn't want to be late.
He turned the corner quickly and located the drug store. He took off on a jog and in his haste, almost ran into the woman again. Panting, he smiled at her, and said the first thing that popped into his head.
"You are so beautiful." Ariane beamed at the compliment.
"Thank you." She looped her arm through his and they headed off towards the diner. "So did you run from Romania? You're awfully out of breath."
"Something like that. So how are you?"
"I'm fine. And yourself?"
"Perfect," he answered with a smile. They reached the diner, and continued to talk through lunch, their conversation as exuberant as the one three nights ago. By the end of lunch, Charlie found himself with another date that weekend. Ariane wanted to show him her favorite bit of Hyde Park.
By the time Charlie got back to the office, he was grinning like a fool and could hardly concentrate on his work. Not having yet applied the Eucerin to the Chinese Fireball, he decided to go out and work with it. Once out in the field and in his robes again, Charlie found himself talking to the dragon. It was amazing how docile the creature was around him and yet not nearly as peaceful around the other workers.
"So this woman is probably the most beautiful, smart, and amazing woman in the world. Do you think it's wrong for me to love a Muggle? I find it almost intriguing, but I feel like I'm leading her on. Everything I tell her is a lie of some sort because she doesn't know about us, I mean wizards, of course." He went on and on and the dragon simply let him apply the lotion and talk as his heart was content. Thankfully, none of his coworkers could approach the dragon, as they had already been the lotioners once and now risked losing limbs. It wasn't common practice to talk to dragons about one's love life. The task done, Charlie headed back to his office, and then home, ready to prepare for Saturday, despite the date being four days away.
Saturday came and went, and three weeks quickly flew by. Charlie was now making almost daily trips to Britain, usually during lunch or after work, but one thing was bothering him. He hadn't officially asked Ariane to be his girlfriend, and it had been brought up only yesterday. She had asked him about his prior girlfriends and how he had been with them.
"So do you get down on one knee and ask them to go with you or do you just assume they worship the ground you stand on?" she had asked. Never really having had much experience with girls other than the few flings at Hogwarts, Charlie didn't have an answer. But now he decided that Ariane deserved to know that SHE was the one he worshipped, and it shouldn't be the other way around. He wanted to ask her to be his official girlfriend, and make it known to the world how he felt about her. He wanted it to be extraordinary. So that Saturday they were going for a walk around Hyde Park again; it had become sort of a tradition for their Saturday afternoons.
Charlie was wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt with a light jacket. Inside of his jacket was his concealed wand, and he carried eleven real roses and one fake rose. He waited impatiently until she showed up, and she smiled delightedly when she saw the bundle of flowers. He leaned down to kiss her and then told her to wait for a second. He led her over to the bottom of a hill, and took a deep breath.
"Ariane," he started. She looked at him with interest. "I've come to really care about you. A lot. And I'd like you to be my girlfriend - officially. I want to make it known to the world how I feel about you. I'm giving you these roses, and I want you to know that I want you to be with me until that last rose fades." Ariane looked at him curiously and then noticed that one of the roses was fake, and would never wilt. She looked at him with huge eyes and flung her arms around his neck
"Is that a yes?" he asked in between kisses.
"Of course it's a yes!" she shouted. He hugged her even harder, and murmured a charm soft enough that she couldn't hear it. Suddenly, the trees from above them started shedding in a circle around the two, like a shower of blossoms and leaves. "Oh wow," she breathed. "It's like magic!" Charlie grinned at her, and flung her around once more, taking in her scent, the way she felt in his arms, and swore that he was the happiest man in the entire world.
*Okay. so that's the installment of the day. I'm going to try and update daily (I work way too early in the morning, so I have lots of time to think about what's going to happen!) Please keep reviewing so I know whether or not the story's headed in the right direction! Once again, thank you sooooo much to the people who have already reviewed and read thus far!