Disclaimer: I would love to say that I did own Harry Potter, but unfortunately, only the plot, Cooper MacCarren, Olette Petemen, and Nancee Folwoods are mine.
Author's Note: Yes, I know. You guys kept on asking about him, and I figured since he was always like a brother figure to Hermione that he should have at least some action in here. Hopefully you like it. (Yes, I do know that I misspelled Quidditch in some of the early chapters, but I've never really been a sports fan and I was too lazy to look it up in a book. And apparently, I misspelled Ginny's first name, for some reason Ginerva made more sense to me than Ginevra.)
Chapter Thirteen- Harry PotterHermione smiled and launched herself at the young wizard. Once they separated from their hug, Hermione asked, "Harry, what are you doing here? I thought you were off training."
"I still am. They just thought it might be best if I returned home for a bit to remember what I was fighting for. So, what's the news?"
"The news?"
"Yes, the information you wanted to share with your parents. I want to hear it as well. I want to hear about everything that's happened since I've been gone. How are you and Ron?"
Hermione grimaced and Charlie looked like he might be sick, though Harry had yet to notice the older Weasley or his companion. Hermione answered, "Actually, Harry, Ron and I broke up. He's going out with Luna Lovegood now. Fred's dating a girl named Olette Petemen and George is with Nancee Folwoods."
"And who are you with? I can't imagine that you're alone," Harry replied.
Hermione swallowed and said, "That's why we're here. I have some wonderful news. Are my parents here?"
Harry nodded, though his attention was now one the men standing behind her. He questioned, "And who are you?"
The pair moved forth to stand directly in front of the famous boy wizard. Charlie shook his hand and stated, "I'm Charlie, Ron's older brother. We met while you were in fourth year, during the Quidditch World Cup. This is my friend, Cooper MacCarren."
Harry smiled at this and returned, "It's good to see you again, Charlie. Why are you here though?" Then looking between Charlie and Hermione, he asked, "Are you dating my best mate?"
Charlie was saved from having to answer that by Hermione, who suddenly grabbed Harry's arm and started to pull him away, saying, "Come on, let's find my parents. I have some big news."
It turns out that Mrs. and Mr. Granger were only in the next room so Hermione's distraction didn't last long. Harry sat Hermione at the breakfast table next to her mother while he took a place next to her father, leaving Charlie next to Hermione and Cooper next to Harry. As soon as her daughter was comfortable, Emma Granger asked, "Hermione, dear, how are you?"
"Fine, Mum. What have you and Dad been up to?"
"Nothing really. Are you going to introduce us to your friends?" she asked with kind smile as she motioned toward Charlie and Cooper.
This time Cooper took the initiative and stood, saying, "'Ello, ma'am. Me name's Cooper MacCarren."
Charlie then stood as well and added, "And I'm Charlie Weasley, Ron's older brother."
After everyone had shaken hands and exchanged pleasantries, the companions sat down once again only to have Harry ask, "So what's this big news of yours, Mione?"
Robert Granger smiled and asked, "You have news? Am I to guess which one of these boys you are dating?"
Hermione took Charlie's hand under the table as she shook her head and replied, "Actually, it goes a bit farther than that, Dad. You see, Charlie and I are married."
Both Harry and Mr. Granger stood at the same time, causing their chairs to topple over. They bellowed, "What?"
Hermione shrunk back a bit from the table, and her mother, seeing this, took her other hand and asked weakly, "Did you just say that you're married, dear?"
"Yes, Mum. I married Charlie, my name's Hermione Weasley now."
"You get married to this boy and you don't even tell us? I didn't even know that you were dating," Mr. Granger supplied.
"Actually, we didn't date. You see, they put this new law into affect. It's called the Marriage Act and states that any child born into a non-wizarding family must marry a pureblood wizard," Hermione answered. "Charlie came to my rescue, he saved me when I could have gone to someone much worse. Besides, I love him."
Mr. Granger's face was still a beet red, and Harry didn't look much happier. The younger lad turned to Charlie and asked, "Well, what about you? Do you love her?"
Charlie answered quickly, "Of course I do."
"I got to agree wit 'im. All he ever talks 'bout is 'ermione this and 'ermione that. Startin' to get real tirin'," Cooper added.
"Cooper, you're not helping," Charlie commented.
"Harry, is there actually such a law?" Mrs. Granger questioned.
Harry nodded though his eyes never left Charlie. "Yes, there is. Tell me, Charlie, did you fulfill the law completely so far?"
"Yes, we've got three out of four," Charlie replied, breaking eye contact with Harry just long enough to gaze at Hermione.
Hermione saw Harry pause long enough to think about the law, and then she noticed the way Harry became less angry though more serious and deadly looking. Slowly, he asked, "Did you hurt her, Charlie?"
"No, I'd kill myself before I allowed anything to happen to her. Especially after the attack," Charlie answered without thinking.
"What law? And what attack? Harry, what is he talking about?" Mr. Granger shouted.
"The Marriage Act was created because there's been an increase in Muggleborn children, or children born into non-magical families. There is also the fact that many pureblood family have been mating within themselves, something that is causing in increase in Squibs, insanity, and deformed children. The Ministry hoped that by creating the law, they could bring down these numbers, along with help control some of the rowdier purebloods. You see, most pureblood wizarding families hate Muggleborns and half-bloods, and they're attacking anyone they don't think is good enough. The Marriage Act is supposed to keep them in check, and hopefully help them to change their minds. Of course, that isn't going to work, but if they want to live in their own little worlds, let them.
"The law has four requirements. The first requirement was that the couple had to marry within six months of the law's creation or else they would be paired with someone of the ministry's choosing. Second, they had to be together before or on the wedding night," Harry explained while Hermione winced; she had really not wanted to share that little bit of information with her parents. Without even acknowledging her, Harry continued, "The third was that they had to produce a child within two years of the marriage. Finally, the couple had to remain married for a period of at least ten years."
Everyone was quiet a moment, before Mr. Granger finally asked Charlie, "Are you trying to tell me that my little girl is pregnant? Is that what you meant by three out of four?"
Charlie only nodded and Mr. Granger stormed off into another room of the house. After he had left, Mrs. Granger hugged her daughter and said, "Honey, I'm so happy for you. You finally found yourself someone who loves you. You spent so much time in your books that I was worried that you were going to end up all by yourself. I wish you would have told me though, I wanted to be there to help plan the wedding"
"Thank you, Mum. There was no reason to worry though, we would have ended up together sooner or later. There was no real wedding either, just me and Charlie in a church with a priest, his brother, Bill, was our only witness. And, Mum, there's not going to be just one baby, I'm carrying twins, one boy and one girl," Hermione stated.
Harry maneuvered his way around the table to stand next to Charlie. "I think you and I need to have a little chat, Mr. Weasley."
Charlie let go of Hermione, stood, and then kissed her on the cheek. He followed Harry as he led the way towards the front door, only stopping briefly to tell Cooper to look out for Hermione in case he was killed today. Once they were outside again, Charlie said, "It's good to see you again, Harry. Are you planning on stopping by at the Burrow? I'm sure everyone would be pleased to see you, especially Ginny. Maybe then she would leave me alone."
"What was the attack that you mentioned, Charlie?" Harry asked, brushing aside all of Charlie's attempts at polite conversation.
Charlie out a sigh and related, "A while ago, Hermione was attacked by a bunch of Deatheaters. Originally, they were looking for Ginny but mistook Hermione for her since she had red hair at the time. They tried to rape her but Hermione fought back, it ended in Mione getting a bad beating and being found in an alley by a group of wizards."
"Why did Hermione have red hair?"
"She and Bill were joking around and Bill made her look like him. Apparently, she liked it enough to go out with the glamour still in place."
"How badly was she hurt?"
"They took her to Saint Mungo's; they were able to heal her after I filled out the paperwork, though they kept her for a night to run some tests. It was right after she left the hospital that we were married."
"Why weren't you with her when she was attacked?" Harry demanded.
Charlie shook his head. "Because I was too busy getting drunk at Cooper's. The day before the attack, Hermione and I had had a row. Hermione had gone through my things and I started to act like a child, of course, Ginny didn't help any."
"Blame your own mistakes on your little sister."
"Harry, you don't understand. Ginny was jealous that I was taking a desk job for Hermione and told her about it, making Mione angry. And it didn't help that earlier that day Ginny had convinced Hermione to go through my things, which was when they found that box with all of Hermione's pictures in it."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "You have a box full of pictures of Hermione?"
"Harry, don't look at me like that, I didn't ask for them. Ron and Mum sent them to me while I was in Romania."
"You love her?"
"I'm taking a desk job for her," Charlie joked.
Harry was all but laughing though. "I'm serious, Charlie. Do you love Hermione? Did you only marry her because of the law? Are you going to stay married to her after the ten years are up? Tell me the truth."
Charlie rubbed his temple as he asked, "Yes, I do love her, Harry. I love her more than anything else in the world, more than my job, more than my bloody family, more than my own life. No, I didn't marry her because of the law, I wouldn't have gone through with it if I hadn't felt something. And yes, I do want to remain married to Hermione after the ten years are over. I want her to be my wife until the day I die."
Harry nodded but added, "Charlie, I am warning you right now. If I ever hear of you physically, mentally, or emotionally hurting Hermione or her children, I will hunt you down, torture you, and then kill you. Do you understand me?"
"Of course, Harry. Like I said before, I'd kill myself before I allowed anything to happen to her," Charlie retorted. The men then shook hands and went inside. The good mood didn't last long though, for just then Mr. Granger came down the flight of stairs with a revolver. It wasn't pointed at Harry either.
Cooper, Mrs. Granger, and Hermione came rushing in, Mrs. Granger taking her place next to her husband, trying her best to calm him. "Bobby, dear. Don't hurt the boy, he's done nothing wrong. He just wants to protect our little girl."
"Right, and he's doing a fine job of protecting her," Mr. Granger scoffed. "My only daughter married and pregnant at seventeen. I bet it didn't even go in that order."
"Dad! Leave, Charlie alone. He didn't even touch me until we were married," Hermione exclaimed.
"Honey, I know I may be a bit slow, but I'm not stupid. This fellow probably talked you up to it, he's a handsome one, but then again, he's probably a leaver too. I don't want you hurt."
Carefully, so that Mr. Granger couldn't see him, Charlie removed his wand from his back pocket and whispered, "Accio revolver." Within an instant, the gun was in Charlie's hand instead of with Hermione's father.
"Why, you little devil," Mr. Granger growled.
Charlie did something that no one would have expected though; he dropped his wand and put the gun to his head. Addressing Mr. Granger, Charlie said, "You want me to shoot myself, Dad? I will. I love Hermione, but if you really think that's it's the best for her, I'll kill myself. After all, we were married within the time limit, we were together, and Hermione is actually expecting twins, so the law is three-quarters of the way done. The ministry would probably back off on the last one seeing as her husband had died, so Hermione wouldn't have another problem in the world if I was gone. Wouldn't have to worry about being lonely either, even with children, Mione's pretty enough to find herself someone else."
Hermione was slowly approaching Charlie as he talked. She begged, "Charlie, please, don't do this. I really don't care what my parents think, I love you. Please, I want my children to have a father."
No one seemed to notice Cooper, who had picked up a small statue and was now creeping closer and closer to Mr. Granger. When he was close enough, he hit Hermione's father with the object, not hard enough to kill, just enough to knock him out and make him fall to the ground. Then Charlie laughed and threw the gun down.
"Gotta love that act," Cooper commented as he placed the statue back in its original place.
Hermione let out the breath that she had been holding. "You mean you were joking? You weren't going to kill yourself?"
Charlie pulled his wife into a tight hug and grinned, "Why would I want to kill myself when you're still here. Now, if you were to die, I couldn't guarantee anything."
Hermione punched Charlie's chest. "Charlie—" Her protest was broken off when Charlie bent down and kissed her though.
"One thing off the agenda," Charlie commented when they had pulled apart.
"You wanted to knock my father unconscious?"
"He'll be fine, Hermione. Besides, he was coming at me with a gun, and I don't think he was kidding like me."
Hermione turned around in Charlie's embrace, so now her back was to his chest and his arms were around her stomach. Carefully, she asked her mother, "So, Mum, what do you think?"
"I think that Bobby is going to have quite a headache when he wakes up," Mrs. Granger laughed. Then she added, "But in all seriousness, I'm very happy for you, dear. It may not have been the way your father and I planned it, but then again, you can't plan love. I wish you the best of luck. Does this mean that you'll be living at the Burrow?"
Hermione shook her head, messing up her hair against Charlie's face. "Actually, Mum, next week, we're going to try at get me settled with Charlie at his work."
"You mean you live at your work?" Mrs. Granger questioned her newly found son-in-law.
"Yes, the man I work for provides homes to all of his employees. They're all grouped together, so Hermione will be with all the other keepers' wives. We'll have to get a bigger home though, I don't think my singles flat would be very comfortable to a mother and twins."
"Keepers? What is it that you do, Charles?"
Charlie coughed, he never liked it when any one called him Charles, mainly because it usually meant that he was in trouble. "I help tame dragons in Romania."
"I'm sorry. You do what where?"
"I help tame dragons in Romania," Charlie repeated.
"Dragons? You mean huge scaly things that breathe fire? And my daughter is going to be living there? I don't think so."
"No, no, you misunderstood, Mum. The dragon keepers' homes are off-site, they're a very nice distance away from the dragons. Besides, unless they're in the training area, the dragons are usually kept in strong cages."
"Charlie's right there, Mrs. Granger. It was Charlie's group that brought the dragons for the first task during the TriWizard Tournament and he did seem to know what he was doing. I'm sure that as long as Charlie's there, Hermione and their children will be perfectly fine," Harry concurred.
Mrs. Granger seemed eased by this, and Charlie was extremely happy. He had taken notice of the way Harry had defended him and how he had said 'their children' instead of the 'her children' from when he was threatening the older man. He took this as a sign that the powerful wizard approved, if somewhat reluctantly.
Hermione sighed and said, "Well, now that we have seen my parents and told them, I think it would be best if we returned to your family."
"But I don't want to," came his reply.
"Charlie, you're going to have face your family sometime."
"I like your family better though," Charlie whined.
"Charlie, how on Earth can you say that with a straight face?"
"Easy. I like your family better than mine," Charlie repeated. "All right, so father is a bit over-protective. I love your mum though."
"Thank you, Charlie," Mrs. Granger said.
Hermione shook her head. "Charlie, you can't just run from them."
"I can sure as hell try. Love, do you have any idea how much trouble we are in? We were married without my mum knowing, we're expecting twins, in which they'll probably end up like Fred and George, and I threatened my little sister. I don't think I'm her favourite son right now."
"Yer right, Charl. Yer gonna die, but yer mum's gonna do it, not 'arry," Cooper quipped.
"Cooper…"
"Right, not 'elpin'. Got it."
Harry took a roll of parchment out from underneath his cloak, tapped it, and then handed it to Charlie. "Here, take this to Ginny for me, Charlie. And Hermione's right, you can't run forever, so you best be getting back now while she's only angry and not bloodthirsty."
"You've decided not to come with us then?" Charlie asked.
"Yes, I have a feeling things might get a little too hectic if both of us show up there. Don't worry though, I'll come and visit again. Got to make sure you taking care of my sister." Harry kissed Hermione on the forehead and then shook Charlie's hand. "Goodbye and good luck the two of you."
Taking this as their cue to leave, Hermione and Charlie said their farewells to the group and left. Fortunately, they remembered to come back for Cooper or else they would have had one more person angry with them.