Charlie hated Number 12 Grimmuald Place, in fact he was pretty sure no one in the Order actually liked it, but it did the job, and that was what they needed. Luckily he only had to visit the grim house very rarely, unlike most of the others who attended every meeting. He sat at the long table next to Bill. Dumbledore was busy at Hogwarts and in his absence Alastor Moody had stood in and was running the meeting. Charlie was present only to update the Order on his progress recruiting members; unfortunately there wasn't much to report.
Next to him, Bill asked a question about Hagrid and the giants, but Charlie was not listening. He had spent the summer avoiding Grimmuald Place, knowing Charley was staying there with his family. But now that he was actually in the house, knowing that he had had the chance to see her all summer, he wished he had just dropped in once. He missed her, he longed to see her and he had missed his chance.
"Weasley!" Moody barked, causing Charlie to jump.
Bill had jabbed Charlie in the side with his elbow as Moody shouted. He regarded Charlie with a look of confusion. Charlie waved him off with a shake of his head.
"Sorry, Mad-Eye, what was your question?" Charlie asked looking up. The entire table was staring at him.
"I was asking for your report boy. Have you been successful in any new recruits?" Moody asked again sharply.
"Oh, right," Charlie nodded, "Well, I haven't made very much progress to be honest. It's difficult trying to recruit while keeping discretion," he explained.
"Lot of good you are," Moody muttered under his breath.
"I have managed to convince my good mate Owen Price to join us," Charlie pressed on ignoring Moody. "We were at Hogwarts together, he's been reading the Prophet and knew my family was closely associated with the Ministry as well as Dumbledore, he actually approached me. Figured if anyone knew anything, I would."
"And what good is he to us?" Mad-Eye asked.
"Oh, c'mon Mad-Eye," Tonks interjected, "The more the merrier I say."
"Well, he does come with assets," Charlie said looking from Tonks back to Moody, "He works as one of the top healers on my dragon reservation. He's studied all over Europe and he has a lot of connections."
"Well, it's better than nothing I suppose," Moody grumbled, "Moving on, who's going to relieve Hestia tonight?"
Charlie breathed a sigh of relief as Kinglsey offered his services for the night. He was grateful that the attention had shifted off of him. The meeting ended shortly after and Charlie said his goodbyes, kissed his mum on the cheek and left the house as quick as he could.
"Oy, Charlie, wait up!"
Charlie turned, Bill had followed him out. He ran down the street to catch up with his brother.
"You seemed a little…distracted in there, everything alright?" Bill asked Charlie.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Charlie lied. Bill raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Alright then, if you must know I was thinking about Chuck. I avoided that house all summer because I didn't think we could handle seeing each other and now I'd give anything to see her," he sighed.
"Oh, I see," Bill said looking at his brother intently. "You know what, I haven't got any place to be for the rest of the day, let's go to the Leaky Cauldron," Bill said clasping a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Yeah, I could use a butterbeer," Charlie replied after a moment.
Bill faked a smile. Apparently Charlie was still in the dark about Fred and Chuck, and just his luck, Bill would have to be the one to tell him. They were both going to need something stronger than butterbeer to get through that conversation.
Charlie sipped his butterbeer, eyeing his brother curiously. They had been brothers long enough for Charlie to know when Bill was hiding something, it helped that Bill wasn't very good at hiding things. For one, Bill had ordered a firewhiskey. For another, he kept giving Charlie long sideways glances like he wanted to say something but didn't know how.
"What is it Bill?" Charlie asked after the fifth glance from his brother.
"What's what?" Bill asked trying to sound casual.
"You have something to tell me, I can tell," Charlie said setting down his butterbeer. "Have you proposed to the French girl?" he added excitedly.
"What? No, we just…it's not…" he sighed heavily, glaring at his brother, "I haven't proposed, we've hardly begun dating, Mum would be furious."
"But you're going to marry her, you know she's the one," Charlie pressed with a sly grin.
"Shut up you," Bill said as his face turned bright red.
"C'mon brother, you know when you know," Charlie said with a laugh, "It's kind of how I feel about Chuck."
"No, it's exactly how you feel about Chuck," Bill said. "But Charlie, there is something you should know," he added looking down at his firewhiskey.
"What?" Charlie asked nervously.
"She's dating Fred," Bill said quickly.
"Well, I can't say I didn't see it coming, but still," Charlie said softly.
"Can I get another firewhiskey please Tom?" Bill asked the bartender, "Thanks," he said taking the drink from Tom and sliding it over to his brother.
Charlie slammed it back, and then dropped his head into his hands.
"Of all the guys at Hogwarts," he mumbled. "How long?" he asked looking up at Bill.
"Well, from what I gather they'd been close since the Yule Ball, but she wouldn't even look at him all summer, or George for that matter," Bill explained, "Then the morning we left for King's Cross the pair came downstairs holding hands and we all figured they'd made amends."
"Well, that's it then," Charlie sighed, returning to his butterbeer.
"C'mon Charlie, you don't honestly believe that, do you?" Bill asked.
"I don't know Bill, but he's my brother and she's the girl I love, I want them both to be happy," he shrugged.
"It's that simple huh?" Bill asked.
"Yeah Bill, it is," Charlie nodded.
"So you're just giving up on her then?" asked Bill.
"I don't think I'll ever really give up on her," Charlie smirked, "I still firmly believe that if it's meant to be, then it will be and right now, it just isn't meant to be."
I know its short, but I just wanted a quick chapter updating on Charlie. The next chapter will be longer. :)