February – Valentine's Day

I looked over the parchment in my hands again. I had just got off work a few hours ago and I was getting ready to go to another holiday celebration at Harry and Ginny's. They were getting to be quite the social butterflies and enjoyed hosting events at their place now that it was finally finished with all the renovations.

The events were always laid back and a great excuse to get together, but I sometimes skipped them just because I was the only one showing up solo. This one especially. Harry and Ginny have thrown Valentine's parties the last three years and they have all been filled with couples sitting on each other's laps and sometimes doing things that may be better left for a private setting.

This year was a little different. Technically I would still be attending solo, but a little less so. A few days after my quick departure from the New Year's Eve party, I received a letter from Charlie.

In it, he wrote an apology for not making a greater effort to extract himself from his siblings to talk with me more after midnight. He went on to admit that he enjoyed our conversation immensely and hadn't been ready for it to end.

I couldn't agree more and we began writing back and forth to each other. Just over six weeks later and it hadn't been more than a day or two without a letter. I learned more than I ever thought I would about Charlie, and with every word I found myself liking him more and more.

It was an interesting concept for me. I really didn't have any interest in dating before that night, let alone my ex-boyfriend's brother who happens to be seven years older than me, but something just clicked. Not that we were dating. I mean, logistically a relationship just wasn't possible with Charlie. He is married to his dragons; I saw it in his eyes when he talked about them. There was so much love and respect that I can't imagine he would ever give that up.

On my side, I love helping people. Being able to heal complicated injuries from magical animals and creatures is a unique skillset and I don't want to waste that to chase after a guy. So where did that leave us? I'm not quite sure. Still trying not to overthink that part. For now, we acknowledged the spark between us and agreed that we would make the most of his time when he is home.

For this trip, he got in today and will be headed back to the reserve tomorrow. That didn't leave much time to get together, so we agreed to the same terms as the last party. We would be each other's date for the night and help avoid any awkward personal questions from the rest of the group.

With this in mind, I took a little extra care in getting ready. When my hair was falling just so and my makeup was how I liked it, I rifled through my closet for a dress. Ginny offered to go shopping with me, but I wanted to do this on my own. The last time I saw Charlie I didn't look very me. I desperately wanted him to know who I really was and get to know that person instead of the heavily made-up barbie Ginny wanted me to be.

I had gone shopping on my lunch break earlier in the week and found the cutest, vintage, A-line dress. It's a beautiful deep red. The underlayer was a silky material and cut slightly different from the outer layer of lace in the matching color. It was strapless and came a little lower than mid-thigh for the skirt. The lace over lay though added cute Queen Anne sleeves and a little more length. Thes silk belt that tied in a bow at the waist really pulled the look together in a flattering shape for me.

I managed to find some matching heels and was feeling pretty proud of my selection when I arrived. I tried to focus on Ginny as I stepped through the floor, but my eyes met Charlie's over her shoulder and hippogriffs started stampeding through my insides.

"Ok, I can't believe I doubted you. That dress looks fabulous!" Ginny gushed as she held me at arm's length.

"Thanks Gin. Everything looks great, as always."

She blushed a bit as she tried to wave away the comment, but I knew she loved it. Ginny Weasley seemed to have picked up a few things from her mother, because despite being an up-and-coming quidditch star and the fiancé of The Boy Who Lived, she was a wonderful entertainer.

More people began to arrive and I allowed her to get back to her duties. It may have been that I had an ulterior motive as well as I began to make my way towards Charlie's side of the room. I stopped as I did so, saying hello to Harry, Dean and Seamus.

Though he was one of the hosts, I found myself not interacting with Harry much as his parties. Perhaps it was because we got lunch together so frequently that I didn't feel the need to steal his time from the friends he sees less often.

Charlie kicked off the wall and met me half way. "Hey there stranger."

I quirked a brow. "Stranger, huh? I feel I know you a bit better now than I did at our last encounter."

That got a smile out of him. "I'd agree with that. Happy Valentine's Day Ms. Granger." He leaned down to kiss my cheek and when he pulled back, I noticed he was holding a single red rose and a bar of Honeyduke's finest chocolate.

"Oh, Charlie, you didn't have to do that!"

"I know, but I wanted to."

I blushed heavily as I accepted the gift. I very carefully put a protection and preserving charm on them both before putting them in my bag.

That caught his attention. "Undetectable extension charm?" I nodded. "Impressive."

From there, Charlie and I spent the entire night talking. We sat next to each other at the dinner Ginny had prepared and I barely remembered other people were present. One would have thought that after communicating with each other non-stop we wouldn't have much to say, but that couldn't have been further from the truth.

Charlie told me all kinds of stories of growing up at The Burrow and I shared what it was like living as a muggle. Turns out, we still have a lot more to learn about each other.

When the evening was over, I found myself sad at the prospect of not seeing Charlie again for another month. We hadn't labeled what was blooming between us and I hadn't mentioned it to anyone else. I still wasn't entirely sure if there was anything between us. Maybe I was just a convenient option to keep him company while he was in town. Perhaps there was a girlfriend waiting for him back in Romania that I had no idea about.

That thought made me frown. When I was back home for the night I thought through our conversation. He had only kissed my cheek tonight, but perhaps it's because he didn't want to be presumptuous. New Year's Eve was different because it was expected to be kissed at midnight, but Valentine's Day was different territory entirely. While I wanted to think our interactions this evening meant that he felt something for me too, I couldn't rule out that I was just a friendly face to help pass his work forced time off.

Trying not to think about it, I emptied my purse of the items I had received. I placed the rose on display on top of my dresser, and opened the box of chocolate. The sweet snack melted perfectly on my tongue and I had to stop myself from devouring the whole bar, but rather savoring just one square.

Realizing I wasn't going to solve the riddle of what was going on between Charlie and me tonight, I headed to bed hoping I would hear from him soon.