2 Grandparents

Daphne came Saturday morning using the Floo. As soon as she arrived, she kissed Charlie on the cheek. Freddie looked timid and a bit frightened. He smiled when he noticed Charlie and promptly asked to be in his arms. Only then he noticed the other two adults in the room and became shy again.

"Mom, Dad, these are Daphne Greengrass and our son Fredric Fabian; Daphne – my parents, Molly and Arthur," Charlie made the formal introduction.

Daphne smiled at the older couple. "So pleased to meet you! I've been hearing all kinds of stories about your warm family and the splendid meals. I'm very interested to experience them myself."

Arthur shook her hand a bit awkwardly, feeling a bit stunned by her radiant beauty. Molly just hugged her, thinking her son had shown very good taste in finding a mate.

"Who are these?" Freddie asked his father quietly.

"My parents and your grandparents."

"I have grandparents at home," the small child didn't really understand.

"Each child has normally two sets of grandparents. You know the ones you live with, your mother's parents. These are the other pair – my parents."

"Oh..." Freddie checked them over. "They have red hair, like me."

Molly turned to the young child. "So, your name is Fred?"

"Freddie," he corrected, making her smile.

"Will you come to me?" she offered, opening her arms in invitation.

Freddie looked at his parents for approval. Both nodded. He then moved hesitantly into Molly's embrace.

Molly invited them all to the kitchen, where the table was ready with some sweets and refreshments. Freddie became comfortable in a few minutes. Molly gave him some of the toys she was keeping for Victoire and Teddy. These delighted him and kept him busy while the adults could talk.

Daphne told them mainly about her son: how he had been as a baby, what accidental magic he'd already done, what he liked and disliked.

Molly insisted that Daphne and Freddie should come to the Sunday Dinner and meet the rest of the family. Daphne agreed a bit reluctantly.

Everybody was already there when they arrived. Daphne knew, if only from a distance, most of those present, yet Freddie was frightened by the noise coming from the many people present. He clung to Daphne at first, until Charlie greeted him with a kiss on his head. He then moved to Charlie's arms, feeling more secure. Charlie walked with Daphne towards the others, who were too busy to notice the new arrivals.

Ron was the first to notice Daphne. "What is this snake doing here?" he asked threateningly.

Daphne's smile disappeared and her face froze as all eyes turned towards her. Most seemed indifferent. Some even seemed welcoming – George and Angelina, as well as Harry and Hermione, whose presence was a surprise for her. However, Ron and Ginny seemed quite hostile while Molly looked surprised and confused.

Charlie stepped forward, holding her hand. "Daphne is the mother of my son and she is as welcome here as any family member."

"Why is this man angry at Mum?" Freddie asked, while the others were still trying to understand what Charlie had just said.

"This man is my brother Ron and your uncle. He sometimes speaks before he thinks. Once he apologizes for his behavior, you may find him quite nice." These words were also directed at Ron, who was only a few paces away. Charlie also glared at him, silently indicating this was more than a mere suggestion.

It took Ron some time to understand, with both Lavender and Hermione urging him. He then tucked his wand away and approached Daphne, who was still by Charlie's side. "I'm sorry, Miss Greengrass. I should have known better than to offend you on your first visit here."

Daphne seemed to relax a bit. "You may call me Daphne, and this is my second visit here." Her tight smile also indicated she accepted the apology.

Hermione was the next to approach, followed by a curious Fleur. "We used to take Ancient Runes together. You were the only Slytherin to behave nicely near me. I'm really glad to meet you again. I didn't know you had a son, though."

"I'm glad to meet you as well, but I wasn't the only polite Slytherin. I believe my friend Tracey was even nicer to you. We also took Arithmancy together."

"Well, yes. I thought she was nice only due to you."

"No. She's actually half-blood, like Harry, but she had to keep it a secret."

The conversation continued amicably afterward. Ginny also lost her hostility once she saw how friendly Hermione was with Daphne. Only Molly seemed to be still bewildered. Once Charlie put Freddie down, to let him play with Victoire, who was only a few weeks older, Molly dragged Charlie to the kitchen.

"Why didn't you tell us she was a Slytherin?" she asked.

"Does it really matter? She's the mother of my child and she seems to be a very caring mother. You've already talked with her and found her a good person, so why should her house at school matter to you?"

Molly was surprised at his reply. "I'd say... it doesn't really matter now, but we must get to know her better before we can fully trust her."

"Isn't that true of any new person you meet?"

Freddie was already tired by the end of the meal. Molly put him to sleep in the same room where Victoire was already napping, feeling grateful for the new grandchild she now had. Ginny, who came to check on her niece, also caressed Freddie's cheek, whispering "Welcome to the family".

Much later, when only Charlie was still there with his parents, Arthur sat at his side on the old couch. "Well, son, when are you going to propose?"

"I don't know. Shouldn't I meet her parents first?"

Arthur smiled. "You were extremely reluctant to marry Viviana. You don't seem to have any doubts about Daphne."

Charlie frowned. Was it really so? He hadn't thought much about Viviana since he met Daphne, except for thinking of excuses not to marry her. He had spent most of his time thinking of how to make Daphne agree, once he got the courage to propose.

"Well, Dad, Daphne was there for me during a period we were both feeling extremely fragile, just as I was there for her. We opened our souls to each other in a way that couldn't happen under other circumstances. Viviana is really nice. She's smart and beautiful and quite fierce when handling dragons... or men, yet I can't seem to find the kind of connection with her that I see between you and Mum. I feel that Daphne and I can have this connection."

"You love her, don't you?"

"I really don't know. She's beautiful, that's sure, yet I didn't pay much attention to that at the time. Now she's also the mother of my child. I need to be there for him, just like you've always been there for me. It's just natural to be with her as well."

"Have you been together since you came here?" Arthur sounded stressed at having to ask such an intimate question.

"No. We've just talked, and yet it was much better than being with Viviana, although... well, you know..."

Both blushed.

Charlie didn't know what to tell Vivi and how. He didn't dare call her by Floo. Somehow, just thinking of her reaction to the news he had was quite scary, yet sending a letter didn't seem right either. Of course, he could just hop back to Romania and talk with her. He'd rather face an angry dragon...

Eventually he wrote, telling her of his delight at finding he already sired a child and how much he liked the boy. He also told her that he wanted to let the boy grow knowing his father and being loved by him. "I don't yet know how this will go with the plans we were discussing before I came here, but I hope we can mange," he concluded his letter.

It was during breakfast, two days later, when somebody knocked on the door. Arthur opened it to a tall, muscular lady with long chestnut hair and pretty face which looked quite worried. "Is Charlie here?" she asked, her accent sounding foreign.

"Yes, he is. Who are you?"

"I'm Viviana Florescu, his fiancée, hopefully."

"Do come in, please. We're just starting breakfast, and you're invited to join with us."

Arthur showed her in. She let her small suitcase drop at the door and walked decisively towards the kitchen. Charlie had heard her. He turned to face her, feeling quite apprehensive.

"Charlie! I was so worried when I've got your letter. I just couldn't let you face this alone!" Viviana hugged Charlie fiercely, resting her head on his shoulder. Her eyes were tearing and she seemed to have been very stressed. Seeing Charlie safe at his parents' house seemed to have relieved some of her stress.

"It's alright, Vivi. I'm not in any danger, you know," Charlie said as he was returning the hug, a bit reluctantly.

"Please tell me everything!" she pleaded.

"There's not much more than what I've told you in the letter. I was sitting here with my parents when an owl came in, landing on my plate." He grimaced when he remembered how the owl messed with his favorite food, making Viviana chuckle a bit. "It brought me this letter," he added, taking the folded parchment out of his pocket.

Viviana unfolded it and read it attentively. It was a high-grade parchment, quite expensive, delicately embedding a house crest, and the handwriting was fluent and elegant. Being the daughter of an old pureblood family from Romania, she knew what to look for.

"Who is she?" she asked.

"When we first met, a few weeks after the end of the war, I thought she was a young Muggle woman. I was trying to drown my sorrow at losing my brother during the last battle and she was also visiting that pub of her own reasons. We ended spending several nights together, drinking, crying and shagging. Eventually we parted. I returned to the reserve and stayed there until now, except for a few one-day visits here. We didn't talk much at the time. I didn't tell her I was a wizard and I thought she was a muggle. Now it's evident I was wrong. She knew my family and recognized me, while I didn't really know who she was until this week."

"And now she wants to marry you?"

"We haven't talked about this at all. When I met her, she only told me about my son and showed some pictures. I then met him and fell in love with the boy. I wanted my family to meet him, so I brought him here during the weekend."

"Alone?" Viviana raised a brow.

"No, of course not. His mother came as well. Turns out she had been a classmate of my youngest brother, Ron, although she was in a different house."

Viviana bit her lips. "I want to meet them," she whispered.

Charlie couldn't refuse her. It was the least he could do after setting the bomb of having a child on her. He sent an owl, suggesting to meet at the ice-cream parlor the next day.

The owl returned within an hour carrying a reply, "Tomorrow, eleven o'clock."

With that settled, Charlie had the whole day to show her around. He took her to Diagon Alley first. Viviana had never been in Britain before. She looked at everything with awe, reminding him of the first time he visited that place as a small child. Her reaction also reminded him why he liked her. She was so eager to experience everything, almost like a child. One could not stay indifferent to her.

The first stop was the WWW shop. He had already told Vivi a lot about this shop and she was anxious to see it. George was busy at the back when they came in. Ron welcomed them, looking suspiciously at Viviana, but said nothing. Vivi loved the place and enjoyed looking through the shelves, reading the labels and trying the few gadgets that were open for potential buyers to try. She then stopped, her face turning stonily serious when she noticed the large painting of the twins above the counter.

"Which?" she asked.

He didn't need her to elaborate. "George runs this shop now. Fred is the one on the right, the one who winks at the female customers."

She asked no more. After chatting a bit with his brothers and with Angelina, they continued their tour, yet Viviana seemed distracted.

They returned to the Burrow for lunch, as Molly insisted, and Vivi tried her best to look happy and carefree, yet Charlie sensed she was troubled. "What is it, Vivi? What's bothering you?" he asked her after lunch, when they went into the garden.

She didn't answer immediately. She just kept walking a bit, until they reached a bench. She sat down and motioned Charlie to sit at her side. Once seated, she took his hand in hers and put her head on his shoulder. It took her another minute or two before she started speaking.

"Six years ago, I had a boyfriend, Radu. I loved him very much and I thought we would get married. He even proposed, but before we started preparations for the wedding, he left for Britain. You see, he believed that we, magical folks, have a great responsibility to care for the muggles, to lead them and help them the way big brothers help their less talented siblings. From the little information we were getting from Britain he thought that Voldemort was trying to do just that. He was very naïve..."

She breathed hard for a moment. Charlie was sure she was trying to hold back some tears, but he didn't look at her face.

"I didn't hear from him since. It was almost two years later when I met one of his old friends who told me the rest of the story. Radu managed to persuade two of his friends to go to Britain with him, yet they were reluctant to join Voldemort. They wanted to first see what would happen to him before deciding what to do."

She stopped again, wiping an errant tear from her face.

"He joined Voldemort's forces, but once they were ordered to raid a muggle farm and murder all its occupants he refused. That didn't go well with Voldemort, who decided to make an example out of him. His friends didn't know what happened, until they met another Death Eater and asked about Radu. It turned out that he had been subjected to the cruciatus curse repeatedly for several days, each time for just long enough to fall short of turning him catatonic. Eventually, he was given to the werewolves for a meal..."

Vivi was now weeping silently on his shoulder. He could understand why she hadn't wanted to hear anything concerning that war. He just hugged her comfortingly, not knowing what he should say.

She stopped sobbing after a while. "We've both lost someone dear to Voldemort," she said in a hollow voice. "I hoped I could love you just as much... I'm sorry... You deserve better..."

"Shh... You're just upset. We don't need to decide anything just yet."

She smiled at him gratefully, her eyes still wet. She looked so innocent and fragile at that moment that Charlie felt his heart melt for her.

They just cuddled on that bench for the rest of the afternoon, speaking softly of everything but the war. They came in when it was getting dark, just in time for dinner.

Molly was very interested in getting to know the young woman and Viviana was eager to talk. Arthur didn't take part in the conversation. He just watched his son and the visitor. After a while he was quite sure this young woman would not become a Weasley.

Charlie spoke very little during that evening. With the women doing most of the talking, he felt quite content to just sit and listen. Eventually, even Molly felt tired. "I think it's time we retire for the night. Charlie, please show her to one of the rooms. Good night to you two."

"I'm sleeping with you," Viviana informed him as soon as they were left alone.

"My Mum..." he tried to protest.

"...has no say in this. We've been sleeping together for almost two years by now. We've been living together for almost a year," Viviana insisted. "Besides, I'm not sure if I'll ever have another chance with you."

"Why do you think so?"

She smiled sadly. "As much as I hoped to soon be your wife, I can see this is not likely to happen. My love for you is not as strong as you would like it to be, and although you like me, you don't really love me, not as much as you seem to love the mother of your child, despite not having seen her for four years."

"Then why do you want to be with me now?" he felt confused.

"You're the best shag I ever had. I like to have just another one before I go back home."

Charlie could never really refuse such an offer.

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