Charlie's Starr
All growed up.
Charlie removed his reading glasses and thrust them aside in disgust. A sign of getting old he thought. Looking up he saw his daughter framed in the doorway of the kitchen, another sign he was getting old.
"Dad" Millie said in her most wheedling voice.
"How much?" he asked reaching to his back pocket for his wallet.
"It's not money" she said quickly "But if you are offering…"
"I'm not" he said "What is it? I need to get this report finished before Monday and get dinner done before your mother gets home"
Millie was used to her dad being preoccupied when he was working on an important report about his beloved dragons. She usually left him to it, but today she really needed him.
"Dad I erm…" she faltered, looking at him.
"Millie, spit it out" he said.
"What time is mum home?" she asked
"About nine" he said turning back to the sheaf of paperwork before him "Why?"
"Can I go to Grandma's?" she wheedled again.
"Nope" he said "You have chores, just because it's the summer holidays doesn't mean you get to sit on your backside all day"
He was once again immersed and Millie shifted from foot to foot, her twelve year old mind searching for a way to broach the subject.
"Dad?" she ventured.
"What!" he almost shouted in his frustration at being disturbed again.
"Where does mum keep her thingy's?" Charlie noticed that she coloured as she spoke to the floor.
"Thingy's?" he asked "Care to elaborate?"
"You know her woman's thingy's" Millie was mortified, and Charlie was mystified.
"What in Merlin's name are you talking about?" he demanded, looking shocked as Millie adopted a pose that reminded him scarily of a cross between his wife and his mother, arms folded she glared at him.
"You are so thick sometimes dad!" she shouted on the verge of tears "I've started my periods and I need some of mum's tampax!"
Charlie just stared at his daughter "You've what?" he managed to choke out.
"Oh sod it!" she said exasperation in every line of her face "How long have you been married? And you look like I've just committed a murder! It's normal you know!"
"I know its normal!" he countered "And don't swear"
"Dad!"
"What!"
"Where are they?" she demanded
"Oh, erm, I don't know really" he stuttered, his brain still trying to get round the revelation that his daughter was growing up, and fast "Have you looked in her top drawer?"
"I've looked through all the drawers in your room" she raised an eyebrow, inherited from him "Nice undies by the way father, and I've looked in the bathroom, can't find them anywhere"
He rose from his seat, heading upstairs he stood in the bedroom he shared with his wife "Accio, er, tampax" he said.
"Tried it" came a smug voice from the door "She must have put an extra charm on them to stop dork breath getting to them"
"Don't talk about your brother like that, and you know you shouldn't be doing magic outside school" he scolded.
"But this is an emergency!" Millie rolled her eyes dramatically and he suppressed a smile "If you let me go to Grandma's or Auntie Hermione and Uncle Ron's then…" she started to cry noisily.
Charlie suppressed another smile as he heard her use the exact same tactics her mother did when she wanted something, a whiney voice and open ended sentences. To make him think the decision was his idea Starr had once teased him
"Come here" he enveloped her in a hug "its ok you know, you'll be alright"
"But daddy" she looked at him with an expression that melted his heart "I'm scared!"
He looked absurdly pleased at being called 'daddy', something she hadn't done for a long time "It's ok baby" he soothed "I know it's scary but you're going to be ok, we'll go to auntie Hermione's, she'll have some"
His sister in law was organised to the nth degree and he was sure that she'd be suitably calm in the situation. He didn't want to go to his mothers, he still remembered feeling sick when his mother had explained that Ginny had started her 'monthlies' and that rough and tumble play fights from an older brother were no longer appropriate.
"WE?" she said shocked
"Yes, we, we'll go by floo" he marched her to the fireplace in the kitchen.
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Starr appeared from the fire place looking tired, she walked over to where Charlie was serving dinner and put her arms around his waist.
"'Lo" she said into his shirt "You ok?"
"Hi" he said "Sit down, dinners ready"
"You'll make someone a good wife one day" she teased kicking her shoes off and sinking gratefully into a chair.
"Thanks" he said with a twist of his lips as he placed a plateful of food in front of her "Good day?"
"Busy" she replied "Weekend, and the name Weasley doesn't win me any favours, we spend most Saturdays putting right the jokes your brothers sell" she laughed "Where's the kids?"
"Matt's in his room" he said swallowing a mouthful of food.
"Where else?" Starr rolled her eyes "Were you this miserable as a teenager?"
"Not really" he replied "But then I am a little ray of sunshine"
She laughed again "Millie?"
"Hermione and Ron's" he said, his expression guarded.
"Charlie!" she was cross "I told you that she wasn't going anywhere this weekend, not after that tantrum yesterday, what did she do, flutter her eyelids and cry?"
"Wonder where she gets that from?" he asked smiling.
"I'm better at it" she snapped "Honestly, you are too soft with her, she walks all over you"
"I refer you to my previous statement" he said sarcastically.
"Oh shush!" she said starting to laugh "I don't walk all over you do I?" it was a declaration not a question.
"No dear" he said still smiling "Whatever you say my love" he said in a beaten down, put on voice, as he cleared the table, dropping back into his chair.
Starr walked around and sat in his lap, kissing him "Ok, I may have you wrapped around my little finger" she conceded "But I'm sure it's worth it"
"Oh definitely" he said nuzzling her neck.
"Uh oh!" she said pulling away "Explain why you let our renegade of a daughter sleep out when I had said no, then maybe I'll let you have your wicked way with me"
"She started her period" he said blandly "We couldn't find any of your things, so I had to do something didn't I?"
"Oh" she said in a small voice.
"Finally!" he crowed "After twenty years I've found a way to shut you up!"
"Ha!" she said slyly "Jokes on you sweetheart, she's done it again"
"What?" he looked confused.
"She has some in her room, I gave her some a few months ago when she said she was getting stomach aches, the little cow" she scowled.
"The little minx!" he said "I'll kill her, 'daddy I'm scared' indeed!"
Starr laughed "She knows exactly how to play you" she kissed him.
"She's her mother's daughter alright" he said kissing her back.
"Ugh!" came from the doorway "You two are disgusting!"
"Hello Matt" said Starr, pulling away from Charlie "Alright?"
"Was 'till I saw that" he complained
"Oh don't be so grumpy, mummy and daddy are just having a cuddle" she teased her son.
"Yak!" Matt exclaimed imitating putting his fingers down his throat "Shurrup!" he collected various food items from the kitchen, piling them onto a tray.
"You got enough there?" Charlie asked
"I'm hungry" Matt shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly as he left the kitchen.
"And he's definitely his father's son!" Starr told Charlie.
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