Chapter 3
Charlie Weasley was looking uncomfortable in his parents' house, and Zinnia couldn't help but feel that this was partly her fault.
She opened her mouth to explain her presence, but Molly Weasley got in first. "This is Zinnia Derwent, she has just moved into her great aunt's place over on the hill, remember Mrs Fawcett?"
Zinnia's wince became external. "'Moving in' is a bit of a strong term for it," she corrected Molly. "I haven't yet decided how long I'm staying, it depends on how long it takes for me to clean the place up. It also depends on when Mum decides if she wants to come back here before she sells it, or if she's going to let me handle matters."
"Oh," said Molly, looking a little crestfallen.
Charlie tilted his head to one side. "Your accent… Papua New Guinean?"
Zinnia tilted her head right back. Well she'd genuinely never heard that one before. "Closeish geographically speaking, but it's Australian actually."
"Oh," said Charlie nodding. "I've never met anyone from Australia, but we had this one recent transfer into the reserve from Papua New Guinea, and his accent sounds very similar to yours."
"Huh," said Zinnia. Well that sort of made sense, she supposed. It was always strange for her, realising that even though she had been listening to UK accents for most of her life due to a combination of exposure to BBC programming and Monty Python, the Australian cultural exchange back was relatively minimal. At least, she thought to herself, he wasn't badly quoting Crocodile Dundee at her.
"Well then," said Molly, drawing attention back to herself, "now that we're all here, come sit at the table so we can eat."
Zinnia was quickly ushered into a seat that was across from Charlie, with Molly and Arthur sitting on either side of them at the square table.
Funny, thought Zinnia, she would have thought that such a large family would require a larger table, but perhaps Molly and Arthur had downsized somewhat to make their dining room feel less empty since all the kids had graduated high school and left home.
"So," said Charlie after a while, "did you know Old Lady Fawcett all that well?"
Zinnia shook her head. "You probably knew her better than me. She used to send a lot of letters, but I only met her once, and it was just briefly for tea when I came up one weekend." She shrugged. "She was a funny old thing, but she was the only one on Mum's side of the family that encouraged her when she moved to Australia with Dad and Pip, so there was that."
"So you were born in Australia?" Arthur commented.
"Yeah," Zinnia nodded. "But because Mum and Dad were both from over here I've always had dual citizenship, even though I waited until last year to exercise it."
"Interesting timing there," Charlie said in an odd tone.
Zinnia frowned. "Bad luck you mean, what with all the terrorist attacks. Mum was beside herself all last year, especially when apparently Aunty Rose wrote her a pretty angry letter about not telling her in advance that I was coming. Considering that even I didn't know I was coming until a few weeks in advance I wish she hadn't taken that out on Mum, no matter how much Aunty Rose was scared of London."
Arthur chewed thoughtfully on his mouthful of beans, and dabbed a little at his lips before asking, "Why the short notice?"
Zinnia shrugged. "I had recently finished my nursing degree, and a friend of mine suggested I apply for a job over in London, because they had always wanted to go, but didn't want to do it alone. I did it for a lark, and joke's on me, because I got the job but my friend didn't." She grimaced. "But goddess knows I've never been one to back down to a challenge, so I decided, why not, I'd always wanted to travel, might as well come over." She shook her head at her past self. "And then here I am working at a small medical office in East End, mostly working with people in need, which would have been fine had the boss not been…" she cut herself off. "Sorry, I'll just make myself upset if I keep talking about that. Suffice to say I quit for a reason, and I haven't decided yet what my next step is."
Some time during her speech, the three Weasleys had relaxed for some reason. Zinnia wondered what on earth that was about, but decided to dig into the excellent mashed potatoes rather than ask.
"Maybe you should consider applying for St Mungo's," Arthur suggested. "I hear they've found themselves a little short staffed recently."
"The same St Mungo's that my maybe ancestor worked at?" Zinnia asked rhetorically. "Well if I decide to stay in the UK I'll think about it I suppose," she said politely, although privately she thought it sounded like Arthur might be a little confused. Whoever heard of a St Mungo? Maybe it was a nickname for the place? No matter. She still wasn't sure about whether she would stay in the UK.
There was a brief silence as everyone recognised that the subject was not going to go any further. Arthur checked his watch. "Molly, if we want to get to the concert on time, then we had best be going in five minutes."
Charlie blinked. "Concert?"
"Oh yes," said Molly, instantly brightening. "Harry dear got given a few tickets to see Celestina Warbeck in concert, and he said he and Ginny immediately thought of me, wasn't that nice of him! It's been so long since your father and I had the opportunity to go and do something nice."
Charlie looked as though all of this was news to him.
Zinnia barely resisted the urge to facepalm. So it really was an ambush. How mortifying.
Molly briskly stood up from the table. "But oh dear, I made an apple and blackberry pie, and it just won't be as good as it is fresh from the oven by the time that your father and I come back… the two of you will have to finish it for me so it doesn't go to waste!"
Arthur also stood up, shrugging on his coat. "Come on Molly, we really have to leave if we want to get there on time. Charlie will take care of the dishes, won't you Charlie."
And with that the two elder Weasleys were out the front door, shutting it firmly behind them.
There was an awkward pause.
"Hands up if you feel like you've been ambushed," said Zinnia, raising one hand.
Charlie groaned, bowed his head to rest on the table, and raised both hands.
Zinnia tried not to laugh. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm not really looking for a relationship at the moment, especially since I don't really know where I'll be living in three months."
Charlie looked up, and chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Yeah, because I'm such a catch anyway. Did you see the look on my Mum's face though when you told her you weren't permanently moving into your great aunt's place? I bet she thought she was very clever, trying to set me up with one of her neighbours."
Zinnia shrugged. "My parents weren't exactly overjoyed about me moving to the other side of the world either, so I recognised what she was about." She cocked her head and frowned. "And hold up, what do you mean you're not a catch? You look like you could bench press an ox, and you seem nice enough, albeit a bit terrified at the prospect of being left alone with little old me, which believe it or not is not what I look for in a man."
Charlie snorted. "If you had met the last three women Mum thought 'would be just my type', you'd understand," he said.
Zinnia raised her eyebrows. "That sounds like a number of stories. Want to tell me about them over pie? Because if the rest of your Mum's cooking is anything to go by, then I suspect it's going to be amazing."
Charlie grinned ruefully. "It will be at that. And it's my favourite. She was really pulling out all stops to ensure I don't just disapparate the second she turns her back."
Zinnia snickered. "Oh please, don't evaporate on my account," she said in response.
Charlie gave her a slightly funny look at that, but moved into the kitchen without comment. Zinnia heard a few words in what sounded like dog Latin, and then he came back carrying a lightly steaming pie.
"Though I have to admit, 'you're a catch but I'm not looking for a relationship' was honestly about the last line I was expecting," he said as he dished out the pre-sliced pie. "What, you don't want to attach yourself to the famous Weasley family?"
Zinnia blinked. Was that a joke? "I have literally no idea what you're talking about," she admitted. "The only things I know about your family I learned from Aunty Rose's letters and meeting you, your Mum and your Dad just in the last few days."
Charlie stared at her, like her London colleagues had stared at her when she didn't recognise Blur on the radio (Song No. 2 had been pretty big in the Australian Charts, but nothing else had so how was she supposed to know?)
Zinnia stared right back. "What?" she wanted to know. "What am I missing?"
Charlie stared some more, as though she was about to start laughing and tell him it had all been a trick.
She sighed and shook her head, standing up from the table. "Look, don't even worry about it. I'm just going to get going. Ichabod will start missing me, and he always gets grumpier when I come in late."
"Wait a second," Charlie said, stepping between her and the door. "Sorry, I'm being a complete and utter dunderhead. You don't get the Prophet, do you?"
Zinnia folded her arms in front of her. "I don't even know what that is," she said.
"It's a newspaper." Charlie shook his head in amazement. "Merlin's saggy pants. So you don't even know?"
Zinnia glared up at him. "Know what?!" she demanded, wondering why it was that the Weasleys kept swearing by Merlin of all things. "I don't get all your British cultural references, okay! I was working really long hours with plenty of night shifts, and keeping on top of the who's who of the news wasn't really a priority!"
"Huh," said Charlie, taking a step back, suddenly registering that Zinnia was getting annoyed. "Look, I'm sorry, I was just surprised."
Zinnia suddenly had a thought. Oh. Oh! She took a step back herself, and uncrossed her arms. Molly had said that her son Fred had died recently. Maybe it had been a big deal in the papers. Maybe… Oh! Oh wow, she felt so stupid. The Weasleys must have had a bad time with ghouls wanting to know more details or something. She had seen that sort of thing before, working in Emergency. Rubberneckers who just wanted to be able to say they'd been nearby and somehow affected when something horrible happened to someone else for the backwashed infamy.
"The press are vultures," Zinnia said flatly, "and anyone else intruding on your grieving period for whatever mawkish reason is just as bad." She smiled ruefully. "I should probably be offended that you suspected I'm the same, but I imagine you've had a pretty shitty couple of months, so just this once Charlie Weasley, I'm going to give you a pass."
Charlie lowered his head. "Sorry. It's been pretty wild, and even though it's all over, part of me just can't relax. It's like I can't quite believe that we're all safe now, even though the worst has already happened." He laughed bitterly. "I got out relatively unscathed, and I wasn't even here for the worst of it, and yet…"
Zinnia stepped forward and lightly rested a hand on his shoulder. Whatever incident had killed his brother must have been horrific, but she wasn't going to ask details. It was none of her business really, and she doubted it would help with anything other than satisfying her curiosity.
She could tell that he was hurting though, and wanted to give what aid she could. "It's pretty normal to take time to figure out how to exist after trauma," she offered. "Be kind to yourself."
Charlie let out a long, shuddering sigh, then looked Zinnia in the eye.
Zinnia gazed steadily back, noting that his eyes were a really pretty shade of blue. She had a suspicion that they'd be gorgeous if he smiled.
"Thank you," he said after a while. "I think I needed to hear that." He cleared his throat and stepped to one side, letting her hand slide away from his arm.
He gestured towards the pie on the table. "Did you um, did you still want a slice?"
Zinnia looked at the still lightly steaming slice of pie sitting at her place at the table, and noted the strong scent of cinnamon and cloves coming from it.
"Ugh," she said. "I'm going to really regret it if I don't at least try it, aren't I?"
Charlie laughed. "Not as much as I miss it when I'm in Romania, I guarantee it," he joked.
They both moved to sit down, and near-simultaneously took a bite from their desserts.
"Oh my goddess, this is so good!" Zinnia moaned. "What's your mother's secret, some kind of magic ingredient?" she wanted to know.
Charlie laughed. "Whatever it is, she's always refused to tell me. I think it's a tactic to get me home more often."
Zinnia nearly inhaled her slice. "She should open a bakery, I would be her most loyal customer and never leave the UK just so I could keep eating this outrageously awesome pie."
Charlie guffawed. "Oh Merlin, don't tell her that, it might give her hope that she could convince you to stick around so her matchmaking scheme wouldn't be doomed from the outset."
Zinnia rolled her eyes, and served herself up another slice of pie. "I wouldn't say doomed per se, it's just that I think it would be ridiculously unfair to get involved with someone when I don't know what I want right now," she admitted. "Besides, I didn't want to say this in front of your parents, but I only recently broke up with my girlfriend, and I'm not quite ready for something new right now."
"Huh," said Charlie, staring at her thoughtfully.
"What?" Zinnia demanded, hoping he wasn't about to make this weird.
"Well I was just thinking that was another thing we had in common," he admitted.
Zinnia tilted her head. "Recent break-ups or equal opportunity approach to gender?"
"Both, as it happens," Charlie clarified. "Though the last long-term one was a girlfriend. Eulalie finished her internship at the Reserve though and had to go back home to France, and apparently her parents would disown her if she brought back an English boy so," he shrugged. "C'est la vie."
Zinnia took a bite of her pie. "Hmm," she hummed. "Okay, so we've both established that we're single free loving adults, you think I'm not as horrifying as your mother's usual attempts at matchmaking, I think you're pretty fit, and neither of us is looking for anything serious, but we're both just about primed for a rebound. That sound about right?" she clarified.
Charlie's brows disappeared behind his fringe.
"Are you saying…?"
Zinnia finished the last bite of her second slice of pie and stood up, wiping her lips with a corner of her sleeve. She looked Charlie straight in the eye and grinned.
"If you're up for it, then we could go have some fun over at my place, no strings? But if you're not up for it, no hard feelings yeah?"
For a moment, Charlie looked seriously tempted, but as the moment stretched, Zinnia could see that that was all – temptation. She watched as his expression transitioned slowly from lust to conflicted and then to apology.
Ah well. A little disappointing, but then again it had been a long shot. Should have picked him as an old-fashioned boy.
Zinnia shrugged, and forestalled whatever was about to come out of Charlie's mouth. "Don't even worry about it Charlie. You get some rest. Come over for a cuppa or something though if you decide you just want some casual conversation – I don't really know anyone around here and I'm going to be probably working on fixing up Aunty Rose's place for the next couple of weeks, and I could use the company." She smiled a little self-deprecatingly. "I'll see myself out, alright?"
Charlie didn't say a word, and Zinnia shook her head and walked out the door.
...
