Over the next few weeks while Lyla was out on assignment Charlie came to stay with her wherever she was whenever he was off, which wasn't often. They got maybe two days together every two weeks and it never fell on a weekend so Lyla was still working. If he came to her late at night he fell asleep next to her and woke her up in the morning with his tongue between her legs. He never would've imagined her allowing him being with her to be so easy. Ever since he knew her, even when they were just friends, Lyla made things difficult for those around her - he thought it was for them to prove their loyalty to her due to her, wholly understandable, fear of abandonment. This uncatchable quality in her made her exponentially more desirable to the boys around her but, when it came to them, she was just happy to have someone dote on her and have a good time with.

With Charlie it was different. Her constant anxiety when in an exposed relationship was quelled when he was around and every time she felt his arms around her they told her he wasn't going anywhere. She kept parts of her closed off because, no matter how safe Charlie made her feel, her father had made her feel the same way and he hadn't been seen in ten years.

Despite how in tune their bodies were with one another and how much fun they had when their bodies were locked together Charlie loved when he was able to come in the morning or the afternoon when she was out on a job. He bought flowers and put them in a vase on the little table in her hotel room kitchenette and made dinner for her to come home to. She never knew when he would be there so when she walked in and he was already there and her room smelt of flowers and savory aromas of food her face transformed from haggard and tired to bright and excited.

It was six weeks after their time together at Hogwarts that the nausea started. One night, Jack was over her apartment and she had popped open a bottle of red wine. She was pouring it into a glass when she gagged and knocked it over, the wine pouring down her counter and onto the floor. Setting the bottle down on the counter, she turned around to the sink and emptied the contents of her stomach.

"Holy Mairee, Lyla!" Jack screamed, standing up from her couch and running over to her. He grabbed her hair out of her face as she heaved into the sink. "Whasa matta? Yew ate a bad fish o sumfing?"

"Ohhh I dunno, I dunno, I dunno." she said quickly, wiping the tears from her eyes and spitting the bile stuck in her esophagus into the sink. Jack grabbed the faucet and turned it on to wash her chunks down the drain as best he could. "The wine it bad I think. It just pushed me over the edge...I've been feeling nauseous for a couple of days now."

Jack crossed to her counter, picked up the bottle of wine and sniffed it. "It's fine Lyla." he said, putting it back down, "Whachu mea you been feelin dis way for a couple o days?"

"My stomach has been hurting and I haven't really felt like eating." she shrugged, wiping her face with a paper towel.

"Oo you been avin sex wit that knocked you up den?"

"What?" she said abrasively, backing away from him.

"Yew oveeusly pregnunt, Lye" he said, rolling his eyes, "Doan av to keep it from me."

Lyla began to hyperventilate and sunk the the ground, shaking her head over and over again as the pieces started to fall together and her was overwhelmed with emotions. When tears started streaming down her face, Jack knelt down to her and wrapped his arms around her.

He rocked her side to side, "O hunny, eye din know yew din know." he pet her head. When her breathing slowed he let go of her and sat down next to her, grasping her hand. "Wutchu gon do?"

"I don't know." she said, staring off into space. "I guess I should tell him"

"Oo is it den?"

"Charlie"

"Oh Lye!" he said excitedly, squeezing her tightly "Eye din no yew guys wuh serious!"

"Yeah...I mean no! I don't know...definitely not this serious. This is, this is definitely a surprise."

"Ow do ya feew about ih?"

Lyla was quiet for a long time as she filtered through emotions in her head. She thought about her career and how it would be over once she moved to Romania. She thought about how disappointed her father would be in her but she had thought that many times in her life. She thought about her sister and Jerry and how beautifully aglow Vanessa was. She saw her mother demanding a wedding and her uncle trying to calm her down. She thought about what Charlie had said about the dragons refusing to breed and the many faces of different ghosts screaming at her, 'He's back, he's back!' and was scared. Then, she imagined Charlie holding a dragon stuffed animal over a bassinet and making snorting noises.

"I don't want to feel anything" she said finally, "Not until I know how Charlie feels."

"Yew doan let a man duffine yew, Lye, yew nevva ave."

"I'm not." she said, "I just don't want...to get my hopes up"

"Ahhhh!" Jack squealed, covering his mouth and nose with his hands. "Unkka Jack!" he shook her gently until she broke into a smile. "Ahrright" Jack said, standing up officially, "We neeta gehchu on the Night Bus to Rummania. No, mebbie St. Mungo's first. No, uhkay, dey ave hospitals in Rummania, definitely go tuh Rummania and tell Chahlee!"

He grabbed her by the hand, dragged her down the stairs to the street and held out his wand hand. When the Night Bus squealed to a stop next to them he squeezed Lylas face, kissed her on the mouth and said to the driver. "Pressus cahgo ere, pressus cahgo!"

She fell asleep on the Night Bus and didn't get to the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary until dawn. It was a little bit down the road to the main office of the sanctuary where records were kept and calls for retrievals were taken. When she knocked on the door she was gruffly welcomed by a stocky woman, "Can I help you?" she asked.

"I'm a friend of Charlie Weasley's, I'm here to visit him but it's the first time I've been to the sanctuary."

"Okay" she said waving Lyla to follow in behind her. "I'll have one of our surveying carriages take you down to the cottages."

A thin man helped her up into the carriage and climbed into the front to guide the two pygmy dragons pulling the cart down towards the sanctuary's quarters. She held on to the back of the carriage as it rocketed down a dirt road, through some trees and out into a clearing where a wide field stretched like a carpet beneath a mountainous horizon. There was a neighborhood of cottages peppered through the field with white clouds pouring out their smokestacks into the early morning sky. The thin man pulled the reins around pygmy dragons having them halt in front of a curved block of cottages.

"Charlie Weasley, Charlie Weasley" the man muttered, looking at a map on the front of the cart. "Okay then, his house is down the line fourth of fifth house. Should say his name on the mailbox"

"Thank you so much" she said, climbing down off the carriage and watched as it sped away. She strode down the row, reading the names on the mailboxes as she went. She was so focused on finding the right house that she didn't see a drove of people come through the trees across from her.

"Lyla?!" Charlie screamed when he spied her in the distance. "LYLA!" he called again, getting her attention, and quickening his pace towards her.

"Hi!" she called back, waving and smiling. She felt her stomach churn nervously.

Charlie was completely black from head to toe, covered in soot but that didn't stop him from picking Lyla up, holding her close to his body and spinning her around.

"Ohhh no, no" she groaned, the spinning worsening her nausea

"Oh I'm sorry." he said, planting her back on the floor and smiling at her, he white teeth glowing through his soot stained face. "This is such a surprise! What are you doing here?" He swung his arm around her and lead her towards his house.

She was completely dusted from head to toe from the soot that had transferred onto her from his touch. "I just...needed to see you." she said, smiling. He squeezed her and kissed her on the head, overwhelmed with joy.

"Ah I see someone got all dirty" Ronin chuckled, patting Lyla on the back. "How would you two like to come over to my place and we'll all have a drink together?"

"Sure!"

"Raincheck" Charlie looked down at Lyla when their words overlapped and she refused Ronin's offer.

"Um, yeah Ronin. Lyla just got here I'm sure she's tired..."

"We'd definitely be able to get together later!" Lyla said enthusiastically

"Oh, alright then" he smile jovially, "See you both later on!"

Charlie picked Lyla up again, one arm under her back and the other in the crook of her knees crossing the threshold into his cottage, kissing her temple. He lowered her onto his couch and laid on top of her, kissing her gently. She was completely lost in him, kissing him back hungrily praying for this moment to last forever so that she didn't have to confront him.

"I'm so dirty" he said getting off of her and heading towards his bathroom; leaving his dirty clothes in a trail behind him. She sat up on the couch and then got up, picked up his clothes and threw them in the sink to wash them for him. She left the brushes scrubbing his clothes of their own accord and followed behind Charlie into the bathroom. "Coming in?" he said, he body cleared of soot.

When she entered the shower behind him she saw that, along with the wet trails of dirt falling down the drain she saw drops of red sliding down his body from a gash on his ribs. He cupped her face in his hands and pulled her face up to him to kiss her deeply, his tongue rolling around in her mouth. Grasping her back with both hands he dragged his fingers down her back leaving faint, red marks and Lyla moaned.

"Wait" she said, pulling away from him. "Just...get cleaned up and I'll meet you in the bedroom." He shrugged and ran a bar of soap over his body watching Lyla climb out of the tub and dry off.

She strode into his bedroom and pulled open one of the drawers in his dresser. She found a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt with some holes in the armpit. She held the pants up to her body and chuckled at how large they would be on her. She tapped her wand against the fabric to shrink the pants until the elastic fit snuggly around her waist and weren't covering her feet. As the t-shirt slid down over her head she breathed in Charlie's smell from it. The tee shrunk as well, stretched over her bosom and loose around her midriff. Charlie came in the room with a towel wrapped around his waist and looked at her sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Got dressed again." he stated, rather disappointed. "Those look like Lyla sized versions of my clothes" he laughed

"Why they are in fact!" she said pulling at the bottom of the shirt and lifting her arm to display the holes. She laughed too then sobered. "Hey, come sit with me." she pat the bed next to her.

He instantly obliged her and stroked her hair, looking at her intently. "I can't believe you surprised me like this." He nudged his damp face against hers and kissed her briefly.

She criss-crossed her legs on the bed and turned to face Charlie. "I just needed to see you...talk to you" she smiled weakly. "I loooove being with you." she took a deep breath and watched painfully as Charlie's face became worried. "And I love you too. And I mean people who believe in fate would probably say that's what we are...we're fated to be together. I really want to stay together-"

"So do I!" he said frantically, grabbing her hands.

"Are you sure?" she asked, imploring him with her eyes.

"Of course I am. Please don't do this, don't try and push me away because you're sc-"

"No, that's not what this is." she kneeled in front of him and kissed him all over his face, transferring some of the tears leaking from her eyes. He pulled away from her and stared at her as tears flowed from her eyes. It was an eternity before she was finally able to speak but he gave her the time she needed. "I think I'm pregnant, Charlie."