Trying

Charlie rubbed his temples. His mother was really trying his patience. Twenty-eight was far from being "old", despite what his mother would have him believe.

"You're not getting any younger, Charlie," she said one day during lunch. Charlie and Hermione had gone to the Burrow in anticipation of Ginny and Harry's wedding, which had mysteriously been pushed up from the summer to Valentine's day. Charlie suspected that Ginny might be up the duff, but wasn't about to voice his suspicions out loud. "I can understand that you're still wanting to get your feel for the world, but you're well past the point where you should be thinking of getting serious with your life. Why, when I was your age--"

Charlie tried to tune her out, as he wasn't really in the mood to hear it. Instead, he snuck a glance to Hermione, who was trying to ignore the conversation as well, staring resolutely at her plate. She knew, just as he did, exactly what his mother was getting at.

The Burrow was getting rather full as the wedding drew nearer. Bill and Fleur had arrived just a few days before Charlie and Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley kept cooing over their nine-month-old daughter Victoire. It didn't help that Harry was staying with his godson Teddy, who would be turning three in April. Ever since Charlie and Hermione arrived, Mrs. Weasley kept dropping anvil-sized hints that she wanted more grandchildren.

"--Not that Victoire isn't absolutely adorable, but I'm sure that she would love to have a cousin to go to Hogwarts with--"

Charlie was sure his annoyance was quite plain on his face. He had to bite his lip to prevent himself from saying something he knew he would regret. It had been bad enough that most of his siblings knew that he and Hermione had been shagging since June. It became even worse when his father figured it out in October. But ever since his mother caught them breaking in the floor of their flat while sending them a housewarming basket… Charlie was more than a bit annoyed that practically every conversation with his mother since then involved some derivative of the word 'grandbabies'.

He was half-tempted to give some sob story about how he been horribly injured years ago in a way that left him unable to produce any offspring. Of course, lying to his mother in such a way probably wouldn't be a good idea, especially since George had joined Ron on the 'lying to avoid mum's matchmaking attempts' bandwagon. Charlie wondered how in the world George expected their mother to seriously believe that he had become a monk and took a religious vow of celibacy. Especially since Charlie had it on good authority that George was shagging one of the witches working for him at his joke shop.

"--A summer wedding would be absolutely lovely as well, but if you think she'll be showing by then, I'm sure we can arrange one to take place sooner--"

Charlie closed his eyes and sighed at his mother's meddling. He didn't regret proposing to Hermione, but he did regret letting his mother find out about their engagement. He supposed that they should have just eloped or something. Maybe then he wouldn't have to deal with his mother's talk of weddings and babies. Well, the wedding part at least.

"I'm not pregnant," Hermione interrupted, looking rather annoyed.

Mrs. Weasley glanced over to her, looking slightly surprised at being interrupted. "Well, maybe not now, but--"

Just as Charlie was seriously considering lying to his mother about his ability to have offspring, Hermione burst into melodramatic crocodile tears. Charlie bit back a laugh.

"Not ever," Hermione said, hiding her face behind her hands. "During the war--" She stopped, as if to sob. Charlie could see that she was struggling not to laugh. After composing herself, she continued, "There was… a curse."

Mrs. Weasley's expression softened. "I'm so sorry for bringing up such painful memories," she said. She turned to Percy, whose eyes widened in alarm as she looked to him. "Percy?"

"I'm gay," he said quickly.

Ron frowned. "No, you're not! I'm gay! I already called it!"

Percy looked over to him. "Oh, yeah? Well, I'm gayer!"

Charlie tried not to laugh as his brothers argued over who could claim to be gay. At least his mother wasn't going on about having grandchildren at the moment.

"Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley said, turning to her husband.

Mr. Weasley looked up quickly, as if he was trying to avoid attention up until that point. "Er, you've already gone through menopause, right Molly?"

"What?" Mrs. Weasley blinked. "No, Arthur, talk some sense into your sons!"

Charlie chuckled, grateful that his mother's focus was no longer on Hermione and himself.

--- --- ---

"You do realize that once my mum figures out you're lying about the curse thing, she'll become even worse about giving her grandchildren," Charlie said to Hermione as they took a walk through the garden after lunch.

Hermione made a thoughtful face. "I suppose I should apologize to her for lying…" She shrugged.

Charlie chuckled. "I'd say wait a bit. Until she figures it out, she'll probably leave us alone. It'll give us time to figure out some other excuse."

She glanced over at him. "You don't want kids?"

He shrugged. "I've never really thought about it," he admitted. "I just don't want my mum harping about it." He glanced to her. "Why?"

"No reason," Hermione said after remaining silent for a few moments. "Just curious. And where are we going?"

Charlie smirked as he led her to the pond. "Wanna go for a swim?"

She shot him an incredulous look. "It's the middle of winter."

"The water's warm," Charlie said as he stripped off his shirt.

Hermione just stared at him for a few seconds before scoffing and shaking her head. "You'll catch pneumonia if you go for a swim."

Charlie chuckled, bending down to untie his boots. "But you'd take care of me. I know how you'd like to play the part of the naughty nurse." He kicked off one of his boots.

Hermione blushed. "That's completely beside the point."

Charlie turned to her after pulling off his other boot. With a mischievous smirk, he slowly unzipped his jeans, swaying his hips as he performed an exaggerated striptease for her. "You might want to get undressed," he said in a low voice as he leisurely pushed his jeans down. "I don't think you want to go swimming in your clothes."

Hermione smiled as she unbuttoned the cardigan she wore over her shirt. "Why do I let you talk me into things like this?"

Charlie's smile widened as he tossed his pants aside. "Because deep down you're a very naughty girl, and you love doing naughty things with me." He took a few steps closer to the pond. Before jumping in, he turned to her with a devilish glint in his eyes. He quickly stripped off his boxers and jumped in.

Just like he told her, the water was warm. It was approximately the same temperature as a nice relaxing bath. He wasn't sure what charm had been placed on it, but there was some sort of spell cast on the pond to make the water warm year-round, as well as to keep debris out of the pond. It was nice and relaxing, although he knew he'd be rather cold once he got out of the water.

He looked to where Hermione was standing on the shore. He smiled at her. "Come on in, the water's great."

Hermione sighed as she undressed. "I must be crazy for agreeing to this."

Charlie raised an eyebrow as she took off her shirt, revealing that she wasn't wearing a bra. When she took off her skirt, he could see she wasn't wearing any knickers, either. "You've been going around all day without any underwear on?"

Hermione quickly got into the pond. "You do realize it's broad daylight, don't you?"

"And you didn't tell me you weren't wearing any underwear?"

"Your entire family is inside the house, too," Hermione said, refusing to answer his questions about her lack of underwear. "Could we be seen from one of the windows?"

Charlie smirked as he swam over to her, wrapping his arms around her. "You are a naughty little vixen, aren't you? Wandering about without any underwear, and talking about having people watch as I take you here."

"Is that so?" Hermione teased before holding onto him and kissing the side of his neck.

Charlie closed his eyes, pulling her closer to him. "I think you planned this," he murmured. "Maybe I should just take you in the sitting room one of these days." He slid a hand down between her legs, teasing her by stroking a finger along the edge of her opening. "You'd be wearing a skirt but no knickers, and would sit on my lap in such a way that I could penetrate you without it being too obvious."

Hermione closed her eyes as she wrapped her legs around his waist. "Charlie…"

He slid a finger inside her, smiling at the sounds of pleasure she made. "I would go slow, taking my time so it wasn't immediately apparent what we were doing." He added a second finger, slowly moving them inside her. "But you like screaming my name as I send you over the edge. It might be interesting to see how you'd explain that. I think that knowing everyone was watching would make you even louder, don't you?"

Hermione bucked against his hand, and brought down a hand to grasp his length. "Want you…"

Charlie chuckled. "I think you wanted me to take you in there. Why else would you have gone without your knickers today?" He kissed her, muffling any protests she might have made when he pulled his fingers out of her. He supposed that he could have replaced his fingers with what she really wanted, but he wasn't done teasing her. She had also gone without her bra.

Hermione moaned as he lightly pinched and teased her nipples. She bucked her hips against him, trying to align herself with his erection.

He deliberately moved so that she wouldn't be able to have him penetrate her too easily. He moaned as she took his length into her hand, stroking him and trying to coax him to enter her. He pulled back from their kiss slightly to murmur, "You are impatient, aren't you?"

"They have us sleeping in separate rooms," Hermione replied as she continued to stroke him. She kissed the side of his neck again, darting her tongue out to tickle him in one of his few ticklish spots.

Charlie shivered at her touch. "We slept in separate rooms until just this last Christmas," he pointed out.

"Don't care," Hermione breathed against him. "I want to feel you in me."

Charlie closed his eyes. Wrapping his hands under her thighs, he pulled her closer to him, teasing her opening with the tip of his cock. "Insatiable, aren't you?"

Hermione tried to pull him into her. "Charlie…" she pleaded. "It's been three days…"

"You're so impatient," Charlie chuckled as he slowly entered her. He supposed it would be just plain cruel to keep her waiting much longer, especially as she never had been particularly interested in foreplay. Hermione moaned as he slowly began to move inside her. He moved one of his hands to start playing with her nipples again, reveling in the sounds she made as she rocked with him.

He closed his eyes as she began kissing and sucking at the side of his neck. "You want to leave a mark, don't you?" he asked as he thrust inside her. "You want everyone to see that you've been a naughty girl doing naughty things."

Hermione moaned as he plunged into her harder. Her muscles began to contract around him, and he knew she was close. He thrust into her with greater intensity, quickly moving his arm around her to keep her close as she climaxed around him. They probably heard her back at the house, but it wasn't likely anyone would come to investigate. His siblings were far too used to overhearing them, and would likely prevent his parents from coming out to see why Hermione was screaming his name.

Charlie closed his eyes as she sucked harder at his neck. Yes, it would most likely leave a mark. He had hoped it would. "Meet me downstairs tonight," he muttered as he thrust into her hard and deep. He was getting close as well. "Bring the blindfold."

Hermione cried out his name again as he brought her over the edge again. Unable to hold on much longer, Charlie quickly followed, shooting his hot seed into her. He chanted her name as he came, pumping his juices into her. As their climaxes ended, he continued to hold on to her as they floated in the water.

"I'll never be able to view this pond the same way again," Charlie muttered.

Hermione just smiled contentedly as she held on to him.

--- --- ---

Charlie moaned as Hermione took the thermometer out of his mouth. He was bundled up under a pile of blankets while sitting in a chair close to the fire in the sitting room, but still felt rather chilled.

"You're running a fever alright," she said as she studied the thermometer.

Charlie said nothing as he sniffled. It wasn't fair that he was the only one to get sick. It was only adding insult to injury, really. After they'd gotten out of the water, he'd found that all of his clothes had mysteriously vanished from the shore. Hermione's clothes had all been there, but Charlie had to wait for her to get dressed and get him some clothes. Running back into the house naked was not something he wanted to try explaining.

Bill laughed from across the room. "Serves you right there, Chuck. I'm hoping you didn't honestly expect that everyone would be staying inside on a nice February afternoon."

Charlie glared at his brother and made a rude hand gesture.

Hermione blushed, her eyes widening. "Did you…?"

Bill waved her off. "Fleur and I were going out for a walk after settling Victoire down for a nap. By the way, Charlie, I left your clothes on the roof. I think there's still a few people in the village who haven't heard you two." He was silent for a few moments, and they could hear Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen yelling at Ron, George, and Percy for lying. Bill smirked. "You know, Charlie, I'd actually had the same idea myself once. But then dad sat me down for the whole 'before you get married' talk and told me that apparently you were conceived in that very same pond."

Charlie sat up straight and made a disgusted face. "What?!" He coughed at the sudden movement.

Bill snickered. "Well, it does have many mysterious enchantments on it. Maybe it's some pond of fertility." He looked over at Hermione, who looked equally disgusted at the idea of having had sex in the same pond that Charlie was possibly conceived in. "You know mum doesn't believe the whole curse thing, but isn't going to call you on it just yet."

Hermione blushed and resolutely turned away, pouring a cup of tea. "I'll think of something," she muttered under her breath.

Bill laughed, and shrugged exaggeratedly. "Personally, I'd find it a bit funny if it was some kind of pond of fertility, and someone who was conceived in that very same pond ended up conceiving a child of their own there. Mum would be ecstatic."

Before Charlie could start yelling at his brother, he started coughing. He hated being sick. At least Hermione hadn't said anything along the lines of 'I told you so'. Yet.

"That's impossible," Hermione said quietly as she brought the cup of tea over to Charlie.

Bill glanced to her. "What makes you think that? Even the best birth controls fail sometimes, and everyone knows you were lying to mum about the curse thing."

Hermione shook her head, saying nothing as she handed Charlie the cup of tea.

"Beel," Fleur said, cutting him off from saying anything else. "Zere ees anozzer reason why eet might be impossible for her to conceive in ze pond."

Bill glanced to her. "What? She wasn't lying about the curse after all?"

Fleur shook her head. "Not zat. If she ees already pregnant, she could not conceive again."

Charlie rolled his eyes as he took a sip of his tea. It would probably be better to just ignore his brother and sister-in-law for the time being. He glanced over at Hermione, who was deliberately avoiding his gaze. He tilted his head. "Hermione?"

She bit her lip and wrung her hands nervously. She glanced to him briefly, and then looked back down.

Silence reigned over the sitting room for a minute. Not even the sounds of Mrs. Weasley's shouting could be heard any more.

Fleur stood up and looked over to Bill. "We shall check on Victoire. Her nap should be over soon."

Charlie nodded mutely as they left the sitting room. He was sure that it was just an excuse, but now that such a thing was brought up, he had to know. "Are you pregnant?" he asked once they'd left the room.

Hermione glanced up at him again, and then looked back down. She nodded almost imperceptively. "I found out a few days ago. I wasn't sure how to tell you."

Charlie just looked at her, stunned. Before he could even gather his thoughts together, his mother screeched from the doorway.

"Grandbabies!" Mrs. Weasley shouted.

Charlie glanced to his mother, and then back to Hermione. He still had no idea how to react to the revelation that Hermione was pregnant with his child, so he just said the first thing that popped into his mind. "Is your department still hiring?"