Woo another update, I would apologise for it being so long but I feel I say that every time! Any way now that we're in lockdown maybe I'll be able to update sooner. I'm anticipating about 4 or 5 more chapters :(( but in the meantime, review and let me know what you think and maybe I'll update quicker with more reviews!

-HermionesPolyjuice xo

Chapter 22

Hermione walked through the gates into the reserve Friday morning, a smile spreading wide across her face as she saw the distinctive flaming red hair nearing her.

"Morning," Charlie said with a smile. "I brought you a coffee." He handed her a mug of a steaming drink.

"Thanks Charlie," Hermione responded, wrapping her hands around the warming mug. It was a bitterly cold morning, definitely the start of winter, and she appreciated the warmth that spread from the drink.

"Get up to much yesterday?" Charlie asked as the fell in step, heading towards the main tent.

"Not much, walked up to the ruins and had a look around," Hermione responded through sips of her coffee. Charlie laughed

"Of course you did." Hermione decided to ignore him.

"What about you? Please say you stayed away from the dragons," she asked hopefully.

"I was in the hatching clinic for about five hours yesterday. I hope you're proud, the fewest number of hours I've done after a full moon," Charlie responded.

"I'm glad to hear it." They continued walking in silence for a bit longer, sipping at their coffees and just enjoying each other's company.

"Have you thought about accompanying me next weekend to the Burrow?" Charlie finally asked after checking that no one was around. Hermione stopped immediately leaving Charlie to continue walking for a few paces before noticing he was alone. He turned around and approached the brunette, looking into her deep chocolate eyes.

"I have. But I'm sorry Charlie, I just don't think I can," she finally said, and Charlie could tell that she was genuinely sorry.

"Hey, that's fine. Don't worry about it. I'll just head back and see how they're all doing," Charlie responded pulling the witch into a hug as he wrapped his arms around her body. He heard her sniff as he gently stroked her back.

"I'm sorry, Charlie. I really thought I could. Draco thinks I should too but I just…just not yet I don't think," Hermione said sadly as she leant away from him and looked up at his face, her eyes swimming with tears. Charlie reached up and tucked a stray curl behind her ear.

"Don't cry about it Hermione. You'll be ready. One day you'll be ready to go back. It doesn't matter if it's not for a while, but we'll get there, I promise," Charlie said. He lent down and gently pressed his lips against her. It worked instantly as he felt her melt into the kiss as they blocked out the rest of the world around them.

They suddenly jumped apart, both blushing dark red, as a wolf-whistle came from behind them. Without even looking over her shoulder, Hermione gave Charlie a watery smile before hurrying off towards the tent.

"Took you look enough," the tamer said as he strode towards Charlie and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Jake, sod off," Charlie said, but not maliciously as he turned around and followed Hermione towards the main tent. Jake leant his head back and let out a bark of laughter before catching up with his friend.

"So, care to enlighten me how this finally happened?"

"I…ummm…no," Charlie said bluntly, making Jake let out another bark of laughter. He let it go for now, he'd never seen his best mate like this before – besotted with a girl, and he didn't want to ruin his chances.

[-||-]

The next eight days passed in a whirlwind of coffees, dragons and the odd stray kiss and before he knew it Charlie was due to catch his portkey back home.

"Are you sure I can't persuade you to join me?" Charlie asked for the hundredth time that week.

"No, you can't so don't even try," Hermione responded, the exact same response she'd given the entire week.

"Ok, well I'd best be off to the ministry, don't want to miss the portkey." Charlie took the few steps over to Hermione and pulled her into a hug, planting a kiss on top of her bushy hair.

"I'll see you on Monday, Charlie," Hermione said with a laugh as his grip tightened around her. Charlie didn't respond but rather bent down and captured her lips with his own. He ran one hand up her back and tangled his hand in her loose hair, the other tightening his hold around her waist. Hermione let out a sigh as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Charlie took the opportunity to run his tongue across her own, deepening the kiss and making it more desperate. They stood there for what felt like minutes, at peace with each other, passionately snogging. They finally parted, both gasping for air, their eyes filled with lust. Hermione reached up and cupped his cheek in her hand.

"You'll be fine, Charlie. They're not going to love you any less, trust me. You're ready for this, you know it and I know it. Just take the plunge and tell them, start with Bill and Remus and go from there. I'll be proud of you whatever happens. And I'll see you on Monday morning," Hermione whispered quietly, her thumb tracing a faint scar that ran down his cheek. Charlie gave her a watery smile before planting one more kiss on her lips and disappearing with a pop from within her arms.

Charlie landed with a stumble, relieved that no one was around to see him trip onto his knees. He stood up, brushed himself down and hurried towards the front door, the rain drenching him in the minute it took him to reach the porch. He quickly cast a drying and warming spell over himself before pushing open the door. He barely had time to register who was sat in the living room before he was ambushed by his mother.

"Oh, Charlie dear, so lovely to have you home. Come on, we were just about to sit down for some dinner," Mrs. Weasley said in a hurry as she unwrapped her arms from his waist. He was then greeted by each of his family members and it wasn't long before he was sat in his usual seat in the kitchen. His heart dropped when he noticed the empty seat diagonally opposite him. The seat he knew Hermione would occupy had she been here. His stomach lurched as he realised that whilst everyone here was no doubt still searching up and down the country, he knew that she was perfectly safe just a few miles from the reserve back in Romania.

"So, Charlie how are the lizards?" Bill asked from down the end of the table.

"They're doing well, actually. Nothing out of sorts, just getting on with their lives. It's nearly mating season though so we'll get busy preparing for that in a couple of weeks," Charlie explained as he shovelled mashed potatoes onto his plate.

"And no sign of Hermione at the reserve? I know you mentioned she was keen on dragons," Mrs. Weasley asked. Charlie must have hesitated a fraction too long before answering because as he did he received suspicious looks from Harry, Ron and his sister.

"No, nothing unfortunately. But I'm sure she won't be gone much longer, surely she'd be back for Christmas," he suggested trying to get everyone off his backs.

"You would have thought so, but we don't really know what to think about her anymore," Mr. Weasley sighed.

"And none of you have heard anything? No leads on the investigation?"

"They had to cut off the investigation a while ago because they had no leads, so it's just relying on us and people we know to find her," Harry piped up sadly. Charlie looked over the boy. He could tell that he was greatly missing his best friend. It was taking a toll on him, on everyone. And Charlie was really beginning to notice it and realising how selfish she was currently being. He was going to have to speak to her after this weekend. It was unfair for them all to not go back to them.

The rest of the meal continued as normal, with conversations flowing between them all and it wasn't long until Charlie found himself playing wizards chess with Bill next to a roaring fire.

"How's Fleur?" Charlie asked as he watched his knight take down one of Bill's castles.

"She's grumpy, hormonal and a pain if I'm honest so quite relieved that she was in France this week. It'll be nice to have her back though, the house is awfully quiet when it's just me."

"How much longer until the little one arrives?"

"About four more months. Beginning to get rather nervous about it all. Not sure how to be a father if I'm honest." Charlie looked up from the board at his brother, and just by making eye contact knew it was time. He pulled out his wand and subtly cast a muffliato around them so no one could hear.

"Charlie?" Bill questioned, his eyebrows raised at the spell.

"I need to tell you something and I'm just not ready for everyone else to hear," Charlie explained. Bill's eyebrow raised even higher, but he didn't say anything. Charlie took a deep breath.

"About five years ago I had a bad accident. I didn't want to tell anyone because I was ashamed of what happened. I was worried about what other people would think and scared of how you'd all react." He paused momentarily, but again Bill remained silent, waiting for Charlie to continue the story on his own.

"I…um…had a bit of a run in with a werewolf." Bill didn't know what he was expecting, but he was not expecting that. His eyes widened and his mouth opened a little in shock.

"In human or wolf form?" Bill asked quietly.

"Wolf." Charlie rolled up his trousers, pushed down his sock and carefully showed Bill his puncture wounds. Bill didn't say anything. He stared at the dots on Charlie's ankle, trying to process it all.

"I noticed something different about you after I was attacked last summer. Something similar to what I noticed around Remus, but I didn't think anything of it, maybe I should have. So, you're a werewolf then?" Bill finally said, his voiced laced with shock. Charlie nodded.

"For five years?" Charlie nodded again and Bill let out a low whistle.

"Bloody hell, Char. Why didn't you say anything?"

"I told you, I was worried about you all shunning me for what I had become," Charlie whispered, looking down at the chess board, his eyes watering.

"Even after how you knew we had welcomed Remus with open arms?" Bill questioned.

"I didn't know about Remus at first, not for the first three years or so. And then, well…I'd hidden it from everyone for that long, why couldn't I hide it for longer?" Bill rolled his eyes.

"Char, this isn't something you hide from your family. You know we wouldn't have shunned you or anything. We would have looked after you. Protected you. We're family, Charlie. We wouldn't have rejected you at all. And now that everyone finds out its been five bloody years, well good luck with mum's shouting," Bill added with a chortle.

"So, you don't care?" Charlie asked hopefully.

"Charlie, I'm pretty much half a werewolf myself, of course I don't care. But what I want to know, why the sudden desire to tell me?" Charlie muttered something almost incoherent. Not for the first time that evening, Bill raised an eyebrow.

"I met someone who knocked some sense into me," Charlie muttered, the tips of his ears growing red.

"Oh really, and this someone, is a female?" Bill smirked. Charlie's growing blush answered his question.

"And you're smitten with her," Bill added with a knowing look. "Who is it?"

"She works at the reserve, started a few weeks ago. Clever, funny, beautiful, kind, honest, pretty damn perfect," Charlie answered.

"And when are we gonna meet this lass?"

"I'm not sure she's ever going to be ready to meet this brood," Charlie laughed.

"And, Bill, if I hear anything from mum about a wedding, I will hunt you down and I will hurt you," Charlie added deadly serious. Bill snorted with laughter but nodded. Charlie was just about to remove the muffliato spell before bill raised his hand and stopped him.

"You're not just going to tell me though, are you? You're going to tell everyone else right?" he asked. Charlie hesitated.

"Yeah, at some point. I was going to speak to Remus tomorrow because I have a few questions. And the others…well, I was going to wait a bit longer. Not sure I could handle blurting it out and then disappearing back to Romania the next day," Charlie admitted. Bill surveyed his brother carefully.

"You're hiding something else," he said seriously. Charlie frowned.

"I'm not, there's nothing else," Charlie replied.

"You are, but I'm not going to push you. You'll say whatever you need to when you're ready. You've proven already you take a while to tell people important information. This will come. In the meantime, speak to Remus and tell whoever you need. You've stayed silent for five years a few more months or whatever isn't going to hurt anyone, well maybe mum," Bill shrugged before indicating for Charlie to remove the spell and therefore be unable to retaliate.

An hour later and Charlie was lying on top of his covers in his old bedroom, his mind working and denying him sleep. He was glad to have finally told Bill and so relieved to know he didn't think any differently of him. But now that he had told Bill he wanted to just tell everyone, to get it all off his chest. Nothing was going to change, it was who he was now, and they were all family. They loved him, they still would. So what if he turned into a furry monster once a month. Not that he was really a monster with the wolfsbane. He let out a loud groan. Why had he been such an idiot? Why had he been so afraid? He should have told them, he knew that now. He should have told them straight away. And if not when he knew they all accepted Remus with open arms. But there was no point in stressing about it now. He would right it. He would right it tomorrow and he would go back to Romania and give Hermione a solid talking to. She needed some sense knocked into her. And he felt he was the only one who was going to be able to do that. With those final thoughts, he rolled over and fell into an uneasy sleep, filled with anger, tears and misunderstandings.

[-||-]

Charlie woke the following morning to the sound of the rain pummelling down on the roof, not feeling rested at all. After showering and changing he headed down for some breakfast and was surprised to find his entire family sitting at the table, almost as if they were waiting for him.

"Morning all," he greeted before sitting in his usual place and helping himself to pancakes. They all responded in varying degrees of enthusiasm. He heard a loud, distinctive cough and looked up. He caught eye contact with Bill who nodded curtly. Charlie gulped. It was time. Bill must have somehow known Charlie had figured it out last night that he was going to tell everyone. Charlie cleared his throat and a silence fell around the table.

"I…um…have something to say," he started but was interrupted by and onslaught of different suggestions.

"You've met a girl."

"You're moving home."

"You're engaged."

"You've quit your job."

"You're gay." Everyone stared at Ron when he said this.

"What? Is it impossible?"

"No, it's not impossible Ronnikins, but that's not it," Charlie responded with an eyeroll. Charlie took a deep breath before blurting it out. "I'm a werewolf." There was silence. Everyone stared at him, unblinkingly. It was somewhat intimidating.

"You're…what?" Fred finally whispered after a few minutes of nothing.

"I'm a werewolf. I got bitten a while ago and yeah everyone month I turn into a werewolf," Charlie repeated.

"When you say a while ago?" Ginny questioned from his left. Charlie muttered an answer but so quietly no one could hear.

"Five years," he repeated not much louder, but loud enough for everyone to hear. That's when his mother lost it.

"FIVE YEARS?" she screeched. It took less than a minute for everyone to push back their chairs and practically sprint from the kitchen, leaving Charlie to face his mother's wrath. "CHARLES SEPTIMUS WEASLEY. YOU'RE TELLING ME NOW THAT YOU HAVE BEEN A WEREWOLF FOR FIVE YEARS. FIVE YEARS YOU HAVE LIED TO ME. TO YOUR FAMILY. I AM DISAPPOINTED IN YOU. I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU WOULD DO THAT."

It felt like hours that she shouted at him. It wasn't long into the rant that tears had started to fall down her cheeks. Once she had shouted herself hoarse she collapsed into her chair, looking at him with a softness that Charlie would never have expected.

"Why?" she asked so sadly that Charlie choked on his next words.

"I was scared what you would think. I thought I would be thrown out. Disowned. Have my wand snapped or something like that. I didn't want that to happen. I…I didn't want you to love me any less," Charlie responded, his own tears falling down his cheeks.

"Oh, Charlie," his mother said. She stood up and pulled him into a hug. A hug so tight he was barely able to breathe. "You know that will never happen. You'll always be my Charlie bear."

A few minutes later and Charlie appeared in the silent living room. To no one's surprise the twins let out a howl each as he entered, which made Charlie grin. He had been an idiot. He knew that now. But there was nothing he could do about it but move on. Charlie walked over to sit down on the sofa next to Ron, who immediately jumped up out of the way. Once again, a silence fell as everyone watched Charlie for a reaction.

"You stay away from here. You're a disgrace to the family. How could you possibly come back? Get out," Ron said, his voice quivering.

"Ron," Mr. Weasley said sharply. "That is no way to talk to your brother. Apologise now and stop behaving like that."

"I'll not apologise to that monster," Ron snarled. "How can you take his side? He lied to us. He betrayed us. He's a blood werewolf and you're all acting like nothing has happened."

"Ronald Weasley. That is enough. You say another word and you will be the one thrown out onto the streets. Charlie has done nothing to you. Nothing to anyone. He is just like Remus, no different and we will treat him no differently than we did before. Now apologise to your brother and if I hear you say another word I will snap your wand," Mrs. Weasley said, her voice quiet but filled with anger. Charlie had never seen her like that, in fact no one had ever heard her speak like that, not even Mr. Weasley.

"He's a monster, and I will never treat him the same," Ron sneered. And before anyone could react he stomped off up the stairs, giving Charlie a hearty punch in the stomach as he passed. Mrs. Weasley made to follow him but Charlie put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't, you'll only make it worse," he said softly.

"He's just being a prick," Fred supplied

"He'll get over himself," George added.

"One day or another."

"Forget about him."

"It's not as if we don't."

"You'll see, he'll be back."

"One day."

"Maybe."

"Or not."

"We'll see."

"Boys," Mr. Weasley warned at the twins, but Charlie smiled at them. They were always able to lighten the mood. He collapsed into the sofa. He knew it had been too good to be true to have everyone in his family to accept it. There was bound to be one of them. And it didn't surprise him that it was Ron. It was going to be him or Percy. But Percy had been trying so hard to be a member of the family again he wouldn't dare pull a stunt like that. Charlie let out a sigh as he rested his head against the back of the sofa, his eyes fluttering closed and his thoughts turning to a smiling witch 2000 miles away, who just so happened to be lying on her bed, her own thoughts on Charlie and how he was doing at the Burrow.

(A/N: how d'ya like it? Glad to finally have got over that hump - I've been thinking about this moment since I first started righting so pretty glad to have finally got it out there. Hope you enjoyed it! And once again please please gimme a follow/favourite/review - it'll make me very happy!)