Chapter 5

Charlie did end up giving Holly a tour of the manor. She seemed to be particularly interested in his descriptions of all the pests and dark trinkets they had to get rid off to make the house liveable. Charlie also made a mental note to tell Tonks and Bill that they should stick to the story of Holly having been in Ravenclaw. He had been worried about Fred and George seeing right through them but Ginny and Hermione had turned out to be the bigger threat. When they were away from everyone else Holly seemed much more relaxed. She wasn't quite the smiley person she pretended to be around his parents and siblings but also not as cold as he had seen her when she had been talking to Sirius. They spend quite a bit of time in yet another sitting room upstairs reminiscing about Hogwarts. At one point she actually laughed and Charlie felt quite pleased with himself that it was him who'd made her laugh. Charlie also told her everything about his job in Rumania. She wasn't really interested all that much in his work with the dragons there but more in the task Dumbledore had set him. He spoke to her honestly but refrained from asking her any more questions about her task. He still was not sure what to make of it and how it made him feel. When his mum called them down for dinner they seemed much more comfortable with each other. And Charlie thought that Holly seemed to pretend less but maybe that was just in his head. She had after all said that she was really good at it. Dinner was also a much more relaxed occasion. Nobody was staring at them any longer and Charlie found himself taking Holly's hand at some point and not letting go of it until they'd finished their dessert. Bill grinned at him a couple of times but Charlie chose to ignore it. His younger siblings and Hermione were told to go to bed by his mum and after they all had a glass of firewhiskey Charlie noticed Holly getting tired next to him. His mum seemed to notice too.

"Charlie, go and take Holly up to your room before she falls asleep at the table. Holly, you must rest, or you'll never get better." She chided the two of them.

Charlie grabbed Holly's arm and the pair said their goodnights. Once they were in their room Holly seemed to perk up a bit. "I like your mother. It's nice to have someone look out for you like that."

Charlie did not always appreciate his mother worrying about everyone and everything but he still nodded in agreement. "Yeah. And she really likes you too. I can tell."

Holly looked slightly uncomfortable at his statement. "Well, I better get ready for bed." She said, grabbed her bag and disappeared into the ensuite.

Charlie quickly got changed into his pyjamas and picked up his copy of dragons of the Americas again. Just as he sat down on his bed Holly reappeared from the bathroom. She was wearing long dark blue pyjama bottoms and a long-sleeved white top this time. Charlie hoped it was not because he'd been staring at her rather skimpy clothes the night before. Her hair was still up in a bun.

"What are you reading?" Holly asked and to his surprise climbed into bed to sit down beside him, both their backs resting against the headboard of the stately bed.

Charlie closed the book so she could read the title. "It's quite good. There are some inaccuracies when it comes to the dragons in the Amazon rain forest but apart from that, it makes for an interesting read."

Holly did not look convinced. "Inaccuracies?" She asked.

"Well, it says here that the largest dragons there are about the size of a small cow but there are actually much larger dragons. Well or longer ones anyway. And you wouldn't believe the size of the dragon that lives in the Amazonian river." Charlie looked back up from the book and Holly was regarding him with a strange expression on her face. He cleared his throat. "But nevermind about that. I better cast the alerting spell on you before you go to bed."

He grabbed his wand from the bedside table and waved it over Holly, uttering the words Remus had taught him.

"All done." He said, but Holly did not show any intent to move.

Charlie put his book and wand back on the bedside table. Holly was still in the bed next to him. Maybe he should offer to sleep on the couch? It can't be very comfortable. And her not moving might be a subtle way of telling him to suggest the swap. But before he could ask her, Holly had moved closer and then she pressed her lips against his. Charlie was too shocked to react. And by the time he had actually processed what was happening she had moved back again.

"I'm sorry." Holly whispered. "I don't know what-"

Charlie did not intent to let her finish that sentence. He pulled her closer to him and kissed her. Properly kissed her. After a moment she was reciprocating his kiss and he could feel her melt towards his body. He tentatively moved his left hand up her pyjama top and she pressed herself even more closely against him. They parted for a moment to catch their breaths and Holly opened her mouth, quite obviously to say something that would make sense and therefore make this stop, so Charlie pulled her close again and kissed her once more. He gently moved on top of her, careful not to put too much of his weight on her. Holly was pulling on his top so they parted again, this time just long enough for him to get rid off his t-shirt. Their kiss deepened even more and Charlie reached under her top again. When his hand reached her breast she moaned against his lips. Suddenly he felt a pinging sound in his head. Irritated he stopped the kiss. Holly was looking up to him her eyes glazed over. The pinging sound rang again in his head and then Holly screamed. Charlie quickly shuffled to get off of her thinking he'd done something but then he saw the blood running down her forehead. He jumped up and could now see that her pyjama bottoms and top were red where they had soaked up the blood that was again running from Holly's cuts. Holly screamed again, it was a bloodcurdling sound. And then his door bust open and Remus and Bill rushed into his room. Remus took one look at Charlie, standing by the side of the bed only wearing his pyjama bottoms and Holly, now drenched in her own blood.

"Go fetch your mother, Bill." Remus snapped at his older brother who left without hesitation.

Remus rushed up to the bed and waved his wand over Holly whilst muttering something. The blood seemed to slow down. With another flicker of his wand, Remus conjured extra bedding on top of the sofa.

"Charlie, you better put your shirt on."

Charlie felt himself turn bright red and he grabbed his t-shirt from where it had fallen on the floor. Just as he had pulled it over his head his mother came rushing in followed by Snape. The latter gave Charlie a look filled with utter disgust.

"What happened, Charlie? I could hear Holly scream all the way down to the kitchen. I was already on my way when Bill came storming towards me." His mother asked while conjuring some bandages to wrap Holly's wounds in.

"I think I didn't cast the alerting spell correctly. We went to sleep and next thing I knew, she was screaming." Charlie said, looking anywhere but at his mother's face. His gaze landed on Snape and it was obvious to Charlie that the potions teacher did not believe a single word that was coming out of his mouth.

Remus was casting some more spells on Holly, who had finally stopped screaming. Tears were running down her face and mixing with the blood that had been dripping down her forehead just moments ago.

"Oh Remus, this is just no good. I need to clear the blood off of her before I wrap her up again. Please help me get her into the shower." His mother said, the bandages in her hands dripping with blood. Remus gently picked Holly up from the bed and carried her into the ensuite, his mother following after him.

"Maybe we need to rethink Miss Burr's sleeping arrangements if you are not able to cast a simple alerting spell." Snape hissed at him from his position next to the sofa from which he had not moved whilst Remus and his mother had helped Holly.

Charlie just glared at him angrily. He could hear his mum and Remus talking quietly in the bathroom and then the shower being turned on.

"And I wonder how deeply you were asleep in this freshly made bed. Or did you decided to tidy up before calling for help?" Snape's voice was dripping with contempt.

Charlie was now blushing furiously. Before he could say anything to defend himself, Bill came back into the room closing the door again behind him.

"Is she alright? I told the others that a doxy attacked Holly when she opened a drawer that we'd overlooked whilst clearing out this room." Bill said, slightly out of breath.

"Mum and Remus are in the bathroom with her now. I think she'll be alright."

Charlie felt awful. What if he had somehow set the curse off again? His mum and Remus appeared again, Remus carrying a now wrapped up Holly in his arms. He put her down on the bed.

"She'll be fine. The cuts on her body were not bleeding as badly as it looked at first. She just needs to sleep now." Remus said, emphasising the word sleep whilst looking at Charlie.

Charlie thought he was just about ready for the ground to swallow him whole. His mum lightly brushed Holly's forehead before bidding them all goodnight and leaving with Bill.

Snape cleared his throat. "Maybe Miss Burr would be safer with someone else looking over her." He said, not looking at anyone directly.

Charlie regarded Holly. She was deadly pale and had her eyes closed. Maybe Snape was right.

"Nonsense. Charlie is perfectly capable of looking after her." Remus said with more confidence in him than Charlie thought he deserved.

The two older wizards glared at each other and eventually Snape left without another word.

"The alerting spell worked?" Remus asked Charlie who nodded yes.

"I erm I just didn't realise quickly enough what it was."

Remus regarded him for a moment. He then took another look at Holly who now seemed to be fast asleep. "Listen, Charlie. I think I have a very good idea what was going on just before the curse was set off again." Charlie blushed. "I am not judging you for it. You and Holly are both young and have been put in a very tempting situation. But you have to be careful. Once Holly is well again, she will leave and continue with what she's been doing before she got hurt. And you will have to make sure that you are ready for her to leave. Because she will be." Remus looked at him intently. "I suggest you spend the remainder of the night on the sofa." He said and left Charlie to think on his words.

When Charlie woke up the next morning, Holly was gone. He got up, his back aching from the weird sleeping position he'd been forced into because of the small size of the sofa. Charlie had a quick shower and got dressed. He did his best not to look at the bed. Charlie still felt guilty about what had happened the night before. And he was confused about his feelings towards Holly. He was quite obviously attracted to her but Remus' words had left him wondering whether it'd be smart to pursuit this further. And that was without taking the whole implications of what Holly was doing into account. Charlie sighed and headed downstairs, hoping a full stomach would help the decision making process. The house seemed eerily quiet and only Bill was sitting at the large table in the kitchen.

"Where is everyone?" Charlie asked whilst helping himself to some bacon and eggs that had been left in a pan on the now cold oven.

"Mum has taken everyone back to the burrow for some, what she called outside time. I reckon she's making them degnome the garden. Remus is out on order business and Sirius is sulking in his bedroom. He's not taking being stuck here well." Bill said and took a sip of the coffee in front of him.

Charlie sat down across from him and chewed on his breakfast. "And Holly?" He asked eventually, trying to make his voice sound as even as possible.

Bill grinned at him. "She talked Snape into taking her back to her flat for some things. Mum and Remus had left by then so there was nobody trying to stop her. And I don't think Snape wants her staying here anymore anyway."

Charlie blushed. Obviously Bill had worked out as well what had happened in his room just before Holly had suffered from the effects of the curse once more.

"That was stupid, wasn't it?" Charlie said eventually, not quite sure whether he wanted his older brother to agree or disagree with him.

"Well. It depends. If you were horny, no. If you like her, yes." Bill said matter of factly.

Charlie put down his fork and waved his wand. A mug and the teapot started to float towards him. When they plopped down on the table, Charlie filled up the cup and had a sip before answering.

"That's the thing. I'm don't really know. I mean, I was definitely horny.", he blushed, "but we've had a really nice afternoon. Just talking." He emptied his cup and filled it up again.

"Charlie, how much do you know about Holly? I mean, not from when you both were at Hogwarts or the work she does for Dumbledore." Bill suddenly sounded very serious.

"I know that she loves her family. And that her dad used to play Quidditch." Charlie said, unsure where Bill was trying to go with this.

"Tonks and I were talking a bit earlier this morning. I don't really know much about what is going on at the ministry at the moment because you've been abroad for so long. But her dad is the Burr in Flint and Burr im- and exports. Her uncle, Marcus Flint's dad, is the head of international trading regulations. And Tonks told me this morning that they've been raided quite a few times because of rumours about them trading mainly in objects related to the dark arts. Nobody was ever able to prove anything but her family is very well connected." Bill took another sip of his coffee.

"Well, it was obvious that she would be. How else would she be able to get into you-know-who's inner circles. Her family must be providing them with dark artefacts." Charlie didn't think Bill was telling him anything that he hadn't figured out himself.

"Yes. So do you think she'll be inviting you round for Sunday night dinner any time soon?"

"What?"

"Charlie. Even without everything else that is going on, you must realise that you are not the son-in-law her family would want her to have. Tonks knows quite a bit about all that from her mother. With Holly being their only daughter, she won't be able to have much say in who she's going to eventually marry."

"Nobody said anything about marrying." Charlie did definitely not appreciate the way this conversation was going.

"Not yet. But you're not the type for loose arrangements. I know I've been pissing about with the whole situation but you have to know where you stand."

Charlie chewed on a piece of bacon whilst thinking about what to say next. "Nobody knows what's going to happen in the future. The situation may be completely different to now in a couple of years."

"Sure. But don't forget that Holly was sorted into Slytherin for a reason. They're an ambitious lot. And she won't want to disappoint her family." Bill held is hands up. "So keep snogging her by all means, but don't ignore the bigger picture."

Charlie rummaged through some boxes in the cellar whilst thinking back on his conversation with Bill. He had zero arguments against the points his older brother had made. Charlie opened another box and stupefied a doxy that was clinging to an old wooden jewellery box.

"Bill said you were down here."

Charlie jumped but relaxed when he recognised the voice. Holly was standing by the cellar door. She was wearing dark skirt and a dark green blouse made of silk. Her hair was pulled back from her face in a severe looking plait. Charlie thought she had looked nicer in jeans and one of his jumpers.

"Yeah. Mum left us a list of things to work through and apparently there is a boggart somewhere down here. So far I've only found doxies." He pointed at the paralysed doxy at his feet.

"Right." It seemed to Charlie that Holly did not want to look him in the eyes. "Well, I just wanted to say that Snape has found a potion that I can take to fend off the effects of the exsanguine spell. So I probably won't have to stay for much longer."

"Oh. That's good." Charlie opened the wooden box to give his hands something to do. It was filled to the brim with jewellery that was probably worth more than his family's home. Thinking about money made him think about what Bill had said about Holly's family at breakfast.

"I wouldn't touch any of that. It's probably cursed." Holly said and Charlie closed the lid again. Did Holly think he was so desperate for money that he would steal cursed jewellery from Sirius?

"You'd know. Do you want to take it back to your dad?" He said, offering the wooden box to her. Holly looked taken aback. Charlie tried not to care.

"No." She finally looked at his face. "We need to talk about last night."

Charlie hoped the darkness of the cellar would hide him blushing somewhat. "I'm sorry for not reacting to the alerting spell quicker."

Holly shook her head. "That's not what I meant. I was talking about what happened before that."

Charlie did not say anything. He didn't even know what to say anyway. But he really wanted to hear her take on it.

"Look, I am not going to pretend that I did not enjoy it. Or that I am not attracted to you." Holly paused, waiting for him to say something. He didn't. She sighed. "But I think we both know that it was a stupid thing to do. So it's probably best that I am going to leave soon. And you can just tell your siblings that we broke up or something."

Charlie smiled. If he ignored the last bit, it wasn't all that bad. She had enjoyed it. And she fancied him. Everything else they could work out later. Holly seemed confused by his smile.

"I might be able to leave tonight. Snape is brewing the potion now." She added, clearly trying to get him to say something.

"I don't think it was stupid." He said eventually, watching her carefully.

"Charlie, it was! You know what I am doing, it would not work with, well whatever this is." Holly said agitatedly.

"But you don't know." He replied stubbornly.

And before she could get into more the detail as to why it wouldn't work, Charlie decided to kiss her again. He walked up to her, wrapped her into his arms and kissed her. He could feel her say something against his lips but he just kissed her more deeply until she started reciprocating the kiss. Charlie lifted her gently and pressed her against a wall. Holly wrapped his legs around his waist and Charlie carelessly ripped her blouse open. She moaned when Charlie kissed down her neck towards her breasts. He stopped for a moment to pull his trousers down and when he looked up, Holly had just finished taking her panties off. Charlie heard her swear quietly under her breath but then she was kissing him hungrily. He pulled his underwear down and lifted Holly up against the wall. When he entered her, all he could focus on was her moaning. Every other coherent thought had left his head.