I hope you're all keeping safe. I've managed to get another chapter out for you - it's a little bit shorter but hopefully you'll enjoy it! Let me know your thoughts in a review! Hopefully the next one won't be too long, I finish my uni year in about 10 days so will have plenty of time to crack it out!
- HermionesPolyjuice xo
Chapter 23
The rest of the day passed quickly and before he knew it Charlie was eyeing a glowing toothbrush ready to get the portkey back to Romania.
"Do you really have to go? You've only been here 24 hours," Mrs. Weasley pleaded as she pulled her son into a hug.
"Yes, I do. I told you mum, it was just going to be a brief visit to celebrate with you all. But I'll be back for Christmas and New Year – I've got nearly 3 weeks off," Charlie said with a grin as he said goodbye to the rest of his family. Everyone except Ron, who hadn't appeared all day, not that Charlie had really minded. Out of all his brothers, Ron had been the one he always struggled to get along with when they were younger. Not that that meant he loved him any less, well maybe a little bit now after what he had said, but he just found him…difficult.
"OK, well please keep in touch, a weekly owl would be nice." Charlie smiled at his family before touching the toothbrush and vanishing with a jerk. He landed just outside the reserve and he battled with himself to just go and see Hermione. But it was late, and he knew she started before dawn the following morning. What he needed to talk to her about could wait until the next day, it's not as if he wouldn't see her. With that decided, he trudged through the reserve to his hut before hunkering down to bed with a book ready for the next week and what was potentially going to be quite a difficult conversation the following day.
[-||-]
Charlie reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her flat towards his chest. Hermione turned around in his arms and smiled up at him.
"How'd it go?" she asked.
"It was…OK, I guess. I ended up telling everyone," he responded as he reached out and tucked a curl behind her ear.
"And everyone took it OK?" Hermione asked, her eyes filled with an intensity Charlie had never seen before. He hesitated for a fraction of a second as he made up his mind.
"Yeah, it was fine. A relief actually," he muttered. Hermione grinned.
"I knew it would be fine. I'm so proud of you," she said wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing the side of her head to his chest. He held her like that for a few moments.
"We need to talk," he finally said quietly. Hermione pulled away and looked into his eyes, confusion etched across her face.
"About what?" she asked somewhat tentatively.
"Something, but we can't do it now. How does dinner sound tonight? Come around to mine and I'll cook you some traditional Romanian meatballs." Hermione considered him for a while before nodding her head slowly.
"Suits me," she said before reaching up on her toes and planting a quick kiss on his cheek. She extracted herself from his arms and quickly hurried into the hatching tent. Charlie watched her for a few seconds before she disappeared from sight. She was not going to like what he had to say. The burning question was though, did he tell her about Ron? He had been struggling with it ever since Ron had acted the prat. He was worried that if he told her that would completely put her off coming back to the Weasleys, but if he acted like nothing happened and Ron behaved like an even bigger prick, which he probably would because at least Charlie hadn't disappeared off the face of the planet for however many months it had been, Hermione would not only be angry but she'd be upset. She'd likely feel that Charlie had betrayed her just to get her back. But she needed to go back, and he was concerned that if she knew about Ron she wouldn't. His brain was a bit of a mess but then he figured out exactly who to talk to and he left the reserve at a run before disapparating and arriving in an alleyway off the high street of Tibertan.
Charlie ignored the 'Do not enter' sign taped to the door and pushed it open.
"Can you not read?" a snarling voice came from behind a cauldron. "I am busy, Lucinda. It's very important I get this – Weasley?" Draco looked up and was surprised to see not his co-worker but his, what should he say, the guy his roommate was hooking up with? The guy who had stolen his girl? OK, maybe not stolen, but he'd most certainly got in the way.
"I know I said we should get a drink, but can we get a coffee?" Charlie asked, ignoring the first question.
"I'm a bit busy right now Weasley, or can you not read?" Draco said with a huff turning back to the weighing scales and the bicorn horn he was currently crushing.
"I can wait," Charlie said, pulling out a stool from under the desk and sitting down. Draco glowered at him but didn't say anything, just getting on with the potion until finally, about 20 minutes later, he stood up and wiped his hands down the front of his apron.
"This needs to simmer for 22 minutes, you can take that or leave it," he announced shrugging off the apron and leading the way out of the potions lab.
"I'll take it," Charlie murmured following the blonde out of the shop and to the little café on the corner where they both ordered a coffee and found a table at the far end of the room.
"Right, you're down to 17 minutes and 21 seconds, spill," Draco said glancing at his watch before looking at Charlie intensely.
"In short, I went home at the weekend and ended up telling everyone about me. They all took it well, apart from Ron that is, he was quite the arse. But they are still all so down and broken about her. They don't know anything. She needs to go back but…but I don't know what to do about Ron," Charlie explained. Draco examined him over the top of his cappuccino.
"Hmmm…what did Weasel say?" he finally asked.
"Various things about me being a monster, how could anyone trust me, I've betrayed them. You get the gist." Draco nodded his head slightly.
"You're worried that if you tell her about what Weasel said she won't go back to them, but if you don't she's going to feel you betrayed her when Weasel's a dick to her?" Charlie nodded.
"Well…you do have quite the predicament on your hands," Malfoy mused.
"Gee, thanks, Malfoy. I hadn't figured that one out myself," Charlie said rolling his eyes. They sat there for a while in silence before Draco finally broke it.
"You have to tell her," he said simply. Charlie opened his mouth to counter him, but Draco cut across him. "If you don't, the consequences will be a lot worse when she does go back. At least if you tell her she can prepare herself. She can adapt how she goes back, you know maybe just seeing Remus, Scarhead and Weaslette to begin with. Slowly work her way in. But if she goes fully back tells everything and Weasel is a prick as he most definitely will be, it'll just set her back. She'll never go back then. He was one of her best friends for 7 years of her life. What he says will have a massive impact on what happens in the future." Charlie pondered. He knew Draco was talking a lot of sense and he knew deep down he had already made his decision; he was just delaying the inevitable. It wouldn't have been right to her to lie. He had to tell her the truth. It would just mean they altered their plans on when and how she went back. Like Draco said, taking it slow would be the way forward.
"You're right," Charlie finally said.
"I know. I tend to be. And I know her pretty damn well. Being caved up in a shed with her in the middle of the Black Forest, you tend to get to know your companions pretty well," Draco smirked, a hint of distaste in his voice.
"Yes, I get it. You don't need to spell it out for me."
"Spell what out for you?" Draco asked innocently, raising an eyebrow.
"That you're pissed at me for entering Hermione's life and…well…getting in the way of you two," Charlie said quietly. "But right now we're the closest she has to a family. We're the only ones that know what she is, where she is and how to protect her. We need to put our differences aside and get along. She's never going to leave you, Draco. She loves you, you're her brother. She's closer to you than she is to Harry. But she's scared. She's scared of going back. She doesn't want to be alone and she doesn't want to lose you. You might not be able to be together, but you'll always have her. You're in her pack." Draco sat there, almost stunned.
"I…I guess you're right. It doesn't mean I like it, and it certainly doesn't mean I like you. But I'll help. Of course, I will. As with you I want to see her properly happy and free, and that can't happen until she's back with her friends. So yeah, for now I'll put everything aside and try and get through it. But Weasley, if you hurt here in any way, shape or form, I promise I will find you and I will make your life a living hell," Draco added, his eyes turning a dark grey and filled with intensity. Charlie nodded.
"Trust me, I won't. But if I do, you have every right to throw me off a cliff." Draco nodded in agreement.
"Right, well if that's all you wanted to talk about I'd better head back before this potion goes caput. I guess I'll see you around Weasley." And without another word, Draco was on his feet and Charlie was left sitting at the table to mull over his thoughts.
[-||-]
Charlie opened the door with a large smile, gesturing for his guest to enter his humble abode.
"Good day?" he asked taking her jacket and hanging it up before giving her a peck on the cheek.
"Yeah, not too bad actually. Pretty tired but I'm constantly kept on my toes so I don't think about it too much," she answered following Charlie towards the kitchen, where he'd laid the table with a white tablecloth and some candles.
"Just you wait until you get onto your feeding rotation, you'll never have experienced something like it."
"I think I've got a first aid rotation first and then it's feeding," Hermione responded leaning against the counter watching as Charlie stirred the remaining ingredients into the sauce for the meatballs.
"Right, they're almost done, just need to reduce the sauce for a few more minutes. Can I get you a drink while we wait?"
"A butterbeer would be fine, thanks Charlie."
"One butterbeer coming right up."
It wasn't long until they were sat across from each other tucking into the food, Hermione was surprised at how good a cook Charlie was. He almost rivalled his mother. After the meatballs they had a dessert of papanaşi, a traditional Romanian pudding of sweet dough like doughnuts topped with jam and cream that quite literally melted in Hermione's mouth. The conversation flowed easily as they laughed about some of the predicaments their fellow dragon tamers had found themselves in and before they knew it they found themselves on the couch, Hermione drinking a jasmine tea and Charlie a mint tea.
"As much as this was delightful, I'm pretty sure you said you had something to talk about," Hermione said after a prolonged period of silence.
"Yeah there's something I need to say. I don't think you'll like it and you may get angry or upset but please just look at it from the outside in," Charlie said, putting his mug down and turning to face her. Worry flittered across Hermione's face. There was something about what he said that meant she had a good idea about what he was going to say.
"When I was at home there was something that was made so obvious to me; just how much everyone misses you. Hermione, they have no idea where you are, the last time they heard anything from you was months ago so they have no idea if you're still OK. They don't know what's happened you, why you just disappeared after the battle. They don't know anything, and it was so clear that it terrified them. I have never seen Harry so quiet and morose. You can't just let them be. You can't keep living your life happily and carefree whilst they practically mourn you every day, living in hope that one day they'll hear something from you, about you or just anything. You're killing them, Hermione, and it's not fair. It's not fair to them, it's not fair to you. You have to go back, even just to say hello, that you're well and living here and you'll keep in touch. Something, anything just go back. Think of them as you live your life. Think of them each time you make a decision that delays them knowing anything." Hermione sat there for a few seconds, taking in everything he had just said.
"You don't get it –"
"What don't I get Hermione? What is it that is stopping you? Because right now I wouldn't say you're a Gryffindor, you're not being brave, you're not taking risks, you're not being loyal to your friends or your family. You're…you're being a coward."
"A…a coward?" Hermione choked, her eyes now swimming with tears. "That is so hypocritical of you, Charlie Weasley and you know it. Who was it who kept a secret, a pretty big one at that, from their family for five, yes five, years?"
"I have my reasons –"
"And I have mine," Hermione said loudly, her temper rising.
"Well what? What is so important to you that you can't look after your friends? You're thinking about you and only you and it's not fair. You're hurting the people who practically adopted you into their family. You're hurting my family, surely that would mean something to you?" Charlie argued, his voice also raising and his anger bubbling.
"Of course, it means something to me. You don't surely think that I'm not thinking about everything I'm doing, that I'm not regretting my choices? Charlie, I regretted leaving the second I did. I've never regretted something more but there was nothing I could do about it."
"Of course, there was something you could do about it. You could have gone back, not stayed in the middle of nowhere putting undue stress on my family."
"No, I couldn't, because like you said I was a coward. A stupid coward that thought more about themselves than they did about other people. By leaving, it meant that I couldn't go back. I had to get my life together so that when I did go back at least I wouldn't be treated like someone who just gave up. I needed to get my life on track before I could face anyone again. And once I finally felt steady, once I actually felt safe, confident and believed I could get through it all it had been what, four months. I then bumped into you and my thoughts and head was all over the place once again so soon after. What was an extra few months after four to get everything back together?" The tears were flowing more freely down Hermione's cheeks as she spoke but she didn't do anything to get rid of them. Charlie wanted to feel bad, he wanted to pull her into a hug and tell her he was sorry and that it would all be OK. But she hadn't seen his family at the weekend. She hadn't seen what she had done to them. And in there, deep down he felt betrayed. He felt betrayed for his family. Yes, what he had done had been bad. And he had acknowledged that, but he hadn't just disappeared. He hadn't left this family grieving for someone they didn't know whether they were alive or dead.
"An eternity. That's what an extra few months is, Hermione. Just think about how the others are feeling. Think about Harry, and Ron and Ginny and everyone else. Think about them, for once."
"You honestly think that I don't think about them? That I don't cry myself to sleep missing my best friends. That I don't wish I was back in England. That I don't over analyse every decision I make."
"But you're not doing anything about it," Charlie countered. He was angry, she was angry. This conversation hadn't exactly gone to plan.
"You don't get it. It's not your family that I don't want to go back to. It's everyone else. It will get out. Everyone will know and it will be so much worse. I'm not just a werewolf, Charlie, I'm a mudblood. I always have been, I always will be and it will be so much worse for me. If it gets out about you, it won't be a problem so much but for me, I already have so many haters and it's just going to add fuel to the fire."
"It doesn't have to get out. It can stay a secret," Charlie said. He was trying to grasp at straws right now. He had been wrong. He thought Hermione was being selfish, but she truly wasn't. She was thinking about herself, but not for the wrong reasons. She was scared and frightened and he was meant to be protecting her. But he wasn't, he was failing her and he was starting to feel very bad about it.
"Of course it doesn't. But it will. It's me, it will come out and that'll be the end of it. So sorry about wanting to try and live normally for a while. Sorry about trying to sort my head out and work out how the next few years are going to go." She stood up, her eyes streaming with tears. "I thought I could trust you. I thought you were going to help me. But Merlin was I wrong." And without so much as a glance back she turned on her heel and left his hut. The door slamming loudly behind her. Charlie slumped back against the sofa, completely deflated. That hadn't gone well.
(A/N: hope you enjoyed it - are you team Charlie or team Hermione? I've been waiting to write that 'conversation' in for a while now and I'm glad I've got it down, I quite enjoyed writing it! Don't forget to leave a review with your thoughts and hopefully it will spur me on to complete the next chapter soon!)
