Psiana - AH yes!! We do our best to make those British guys sound hot!
Star_bright25 - always love to see a new fan!! Thanks for reading. (And Nancy would just like to say that she quite likes Charlie too... ;) )
Lily - So glad you enjoyed George and his moment of embarrassment over his "Lady Friend"!!!! (wink, wink)
Little Wolf - Men like Bill and Charlie! We were just asking ourselves that very same question just the other day while working on this new chapter. (We're still looking)
Fracindy - You better watch what you say about Charlie! We wouldn't want Percy to get jealous now would we???
Heather - Awww, thanks! We were quite proud of the whomping willow bit. How's this for hurrying? :)
Zoe - one can never have too much chocolate! And by the way..Snape is mentioned again.just for you!!
Cake Twins - Marion and Carrie!! Woo hoo! Thanks for reading. still waiting for more sexy Oliver and Fred story!
Melissa - And a great big BOO to you too! :o)
Dead SEXY - Wow.posting 24/7? Well, we work on it about that much. Or at least it feels like it. Unfortunately some chapters are harder than others, and some just seem to flow really well.
Karen - glad you're enjoying the story, and don't worry about the posting problem! It's been fixed!
Louisa - Always reading! Thanks for all the late night encouragement you give to us while working on these chapters!!
Blue Eyes - This chapter made your day? WOW!! So glad people are actually enjoying this story.
Ronsspawn - Ha Ha!! You are first person who has said that we write too fast! Everyone else tells us to write faster!
Pink Panther - Don't worry! The tempers will be dealt with! Just hang in there! It will get better! (Although, we wouldn't want our heroines without that bit of spunk, now would we? MUCH too boring...)
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Before Jenni had a chance to respond to THAT, Bill's lips were against hers and her indignant thoughts were forgotten in the heat of his kiss.
Bill had expected her to pull back, but was pleasantly surprised when he felt her hands reach up to his face and return the kiss. The hand that had been lingering on her cheek moved slowly and rested just behind her head, his other arm slid around her waist and pulled her closer.
Jenni had responded without thinking. Her hands, which seemed to have a mind of their own, had found their way to Bill's face. The touch of his hand on her face had sent a jolt of electricity through her skin and she found herself returning his kiss with more feeling then she had expected. As he pulled her closer, Jenni marveled at the strength of his arms, and yet how gentle his touch was.
Bill pulled back slowly, his eyes never leaving Jenni's face. He watched with a sinking feeling as she lowered her eyes, her face turning a deep red. "Jenni, I'm sorry."
Jenni's head bounced up, "For what?"
"I shouldn't have.I mean."
Jenni smiled as Bill struggled for words. "I'm not sorry."
Bill breathed a silent sigh of relief and cast a devilish grin at Jenni. "You're not sorry that I kissed you?"
Jenni shook her head, "Not at." but before she could finish her sentence, Bill's mouth had found hers again. This time he kissed her with a fierceness that took her breath away. Jenni melted into him as his arms tightened around her and forgot her surroundings. A loud voice brought her back to her senses.
"BILL WEASLEY! What is going on?"
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Nancy had seen it coming. She could tell he was going to kiss her, because his eyes had gone very dark and swirly and were making her insides feel all gooey. She had fair and proper warning, she supposed, but really, what could prepare you for this?
Charlie was only surprised at the success of his distraction for a moment, and then he wrapped both arms around her and pulled her even closer, forgetting his own birthday as he deepened the kiss. They pressed against each other for a moment, and the connection between their lips sizzled with heat. After a second, Charlie noticed that Nancy tasted a bit salty, and he realized that her tears had flowed only minutes before. Gentling his touch, he brought a hand up behind her head, and let his mouth wander over her face, kissing away the wet tracks that had been left there.
His kisses were so tender, so incredibly soft and caring that Nancy was left feeling like she was something incredibly precious. Happy tears were welling in her eyes as she realized that he was kissing the old ones away, and as they spilled over she laughed softly against his mouth.
Charlie froze for just a moment, confused. She was crying again. No, wait... had she just laughed? He pulled back only far enough to slip his thumb in and swipe at a teardrop. "Good tears or bad?" he whispered roughly.
Unable to help herself, Nancy let out a rather choked sob. "Good... they're good..." she managed to say, smiling at him even as she cried. She saw a flash of relief light up his dark blue eyes, and then he crushed her to him in a wonderful kiss that was part bone pulverizing bear hug and part sweet, sensuous heat. In fact, Nancy could feel his breath on her neck, which was rather odd, she thought detachedly, as his lips were most definitely exploring her own right now. The air hitting her neck got hotter, and then... something LICKED her!
Nancy jumped about five feet up in the air, yelping, "What was that?" before she wedged herself between Charlie's back and the tree behind him.
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Jenni pushed away from Bill FAST. Her face flushed and she refused to look at either him or Mrs. Weasley. She'd been caught by his MOTHER!
Bill turned to face his mom, her expression a mixture of shock and amusement. He was saved from having to answer her when a loud explosion distracted all of them. Jenni turned to see a cloud of smoke emerging from the direction of the kitchen. The sound of footsteps on the stairs announced Ron, Harry, and Hermione's arrival. Mrs. Weasley's voice had gone extremely shrill as she rounded on the twins, who were fleeing the smoke.
Ron whispered to Bill, "What have those two gone and done now?"
Bill shrugged and put a finger to his lips for them to keep quiet. Bill, Harry and Ron edged closer to the door as Hermione caught Jenni's eyes and sighed. "Boys. I don't think they ever grow up."
Jenni was just about to comment when the kitchen door swung open violently, sending the two brothers and Harry running. The three had just managed to find a place to sit when Mrs. Weasley eyed the room suspiciously. Without saying another word she headed up the stairs, Fred and George starting to follow. Ron looked up from where he was sitting, "What's mum up to?"
Fred glared. "George decided to blow up dad's new muggle thing, a 'mico rave' something or other so now she's off to inspect our room for any incriminating evidence."
George argued back. "I did not BLOW anything up! YOU were the one who told me to put the stuff in there to heat it up."
"RIGHT! But I never told you to leave the LID on it!"
"Well how was I to know the lid wouldn't stay on?"
Jenni, Hermione and Harry all stifled giggles as they were the only ones familiar with muggle inventions. Jenni managed to eventually choke out, "What exactly were you trying to heat up?"
Fred grinned, "A new recipe for candy. It's supposed to make you.OW!" Fred was cut off mid sentence as George punched him. "Right, well, I can't tell you. But if George here hadn't put the bloody lid on so tight, it would have worked."
"It worked fine until you decided to push all the buttons to make it get hotter." George looked furious.
Fred continued to grin, "Yeah, but you have to admit it looked pretty amazing when it blew up!"
Jenni watched as George cracked a grin identical to Fred's. It was impossible NOT to laugh at those two. Their expressions changed as Mrs. Weasley's voice rang out, "If you two don't get up here right now!" The twins ran up the stairs with what Jenni thought was really exceptional speed. Ron chose that moment to brave the dangers of the kitchen and pushed the door open.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEW! THAT is disgusting!"
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Charlie had scrambled up as soon as she jumped off of his lap. "What? What happened?" he asked, looking her over quickly for any injuries. Nancy had a hand on the back of her neck, wiping at something, and... Charlie stared over her shoulder. Was that FANG?
"Cmere, boy... Fang? Where's Hagrid?" Charlie knelt down and let Fang run up to him, rubbing the huge dog's head vigorously. After a moment, he felt Nancy relax behind him, and she came over to his side.
"FANG?" Charlie looked up to where she was standing, glaring down at the dog and biting her lip. She started giggling. "Oh my. I thought... I actually THOUGHT... even for a second..."
He suddenly had a guess as to what had spooked her just moments ago. "You thought WHAT?"
Nancy dissolved into helpless laughter. "I... I thought..." she gasped out, "something... on my neck... thought it was... you!" She glanced up at him, and the expression of repulsed hilarity was enough to send her off into a fresh bout of stomach clenching giggles. Rolling his eyes at her, Charlie turned to Fang, who was watching the scene with a happy expression on his face.
"And YOU! Don't think I don't know your motive behind this whole mess. YOU wanted a kiss TOO, eh?" His lecture to the hound was greeted with a fresh gale of laughter from where Nancy had sunk to the ground, her arms wrapped around her middle. "Well, let me warn you... I don't take kindly to competition!"
Nancy could barely catch her breath from laughing, and it didn't help that mid-lecture Fang had ambled over and started licking her face, setting Charlie off on another silly diatribe about sneaky animals stealing kisses. At this point, she was lying on the ground, trying to calm down and breathe, while ignoring the excited dog bounding around and the equally hysterical Charlie, who seemed to be quite enjoying her temporary loss of control over her abdominal muscles. She'd just succeeded at taking a full breath, without hiccuping or giggling, when Charlie's face popped into view, blocking out the trees and sky she'd been staring at.
"Guess who's almost here, honey, better pull yourself together!" His face had an impish grin on it, and the teasing tone of voice would have brought on a fresh set of giggles, but he leaned down and grabbed her hands, pulling her off the ground and into his arms for a quick kiss.
Before Nancy could fully melt into his embrace again, he had spun her around so that her back was to him, and started pulling out leaves and twigs that were stuck in her long brown hair. Getting over the surprise after a minute, she suddenly realized what he'd said to her just before kissing her.
"Hey, wait..." she started, trying to turn her head to look at him. "WHO's almost here?" Charlie held her still with one of his large hands; the other one was still working some bark out of her curls.
"Ah ha! There we go. You look just lovely," he said in a sugary sweet voice that made Nancy shout with laughter. He twirled her around again, putting a finger to her lips to keep her sarcastic comeback properly stowed. "Now, you'll be a good girl and NOT tell Hagrid that I was out here ravishing you, eh? He's of the impression that you needed SAVING. So... if you need to tell him something, just make me sound heroic, understood?" Charlie waggled his eyebrows at her in a way she could swear she'd seen the twins use once or twice, and then leaned down and kissed her nose, slipping an arm around her waist.
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Bill looked up at the sound of Ron's voice and headed to the kitchen as well, grinning. He turned to Jenni, "You coming?"
Jenni shook her head vigorously. "If it's that disgusting, I'd rather not see it."
Bill grinned, "Suit yourself."
Jenni watched as Hermione and Harry stood up to follow Bill into the kitchen. "Harry," Jenni found herself feeling extremely embarrassed. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
Harry glanced at Hermione who shrugged. "Um, ok." He ran a nervous hand through his messy hair. As he turned to walk back towards Jenni, she caught an encouraging smile from Bill as he held the door open for Hermione.
Jenni waited for Harry to sit back down. He seemed as nervous as she was. Jenni took a deep breath and decided to just get it over with. "I'm really sorry about what I said earlier today. I never meant to put you on the spot. It was... it was SO wrong of me and I'll understand if you're upset. I was really angry at Nancy and I said the first thing that came to my mind. And I really am sorry."
Jenni felt her face heat up as she blurted out her apology. She looked up to see Harry's face relax. "It's okay. I mean, I'm used to being thrown into the middle of fights all the time."
Jenni looked down at her hands folded in her lap. "No. It's not okay. I had no right to say those things. I don't even know you. I mean, I've heard of you, but you've had enough things to deal with, without being the object of some petty argument between two friends."
Harry laughed. "Can I tell you a secret?"
Jenni looked up curiously, "Sure."
"Being friends with those two," he nodded towards the kitchen, "is like living your life in a petty argument between friends."
No sooner had Harry spoken the words when Ron burst through the doors followed by Hermione. "Ron I'm serious. If you don't believe me you can ask Harry. This stuff smells just like that Bubotuber puss."
"I know what BUBOTUBER PUSS smells like, and that is not it!" Ron bellowed. "Harry, tell Hermione that I'm right."
Harry rolled his eyes, "See what I mean?"
Jenni grinned, "Yeah I do."
As he stood up to walk away he glanced back, "Don't worry about it. I'm not mad at you."
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The next moment, there was a loud crash behind them, and Hagrid stepped out of the brush, making the much neglected Fang bark happily.
"Ah, there yeh are." He grinned at the two of them, and sent Charlie a wink after he noticed the arm that was still draped around Nancy's waist. "I thought that 'e'd be bringin' yeh righ' out, and I was a bit worried that 'e'd turned the wrong way at the stream... but now that it's all right and tight, yeh'll both be comin' back ter my place for a bit to eat, eh?"
Charlie groaned out loud, yelping when he felt Nancy pinch his leg HARD. She put on a smile and said sweetly to Hagrid, "Oh, we'd LOVE to..."
Charlie's mouth opened indignantly to say that he would NOT love to, but Nancy was still talking.
"...but I've given everyone at the Weasley's a bit of a fright, I'm afraid, and..." she seemed to lose steam here for a moment, so Charlie jumped in.
"And, my mum's expecting us back!"
Hagrid nodded blithely at them. "All right then. Can't be worryin' Molly now. Or Jenni, I'd suspect, eh?" he glanced shrewdly at Nancy's slightly red face. Charlie's arm tightened just slightly, letting her know that he was there for her, and Nancy leaned into him gratefully.
"Well, yeh'd better get a move on! It'll likely be dark sooner'n yeh think. Nancy knows how teh get back, right? Cmon Fang, we've got work ter do." With one last wave, Hagrid faded back into the forest, Fang galloping along beside him.
Charlie watched him go before turning back to Nancy, who was still sagging against him. He stared down at her for a minute as she gazed off into space. Where had all of that silliness come from? he wondered wryly. He hadn't cut loose and gone for the laugh like that in years, not since getting the post in Romania. Too much responsibility, he supposed. Besides, there wasn't much need for him to cut up like that at home when he visited, since the twins had come into their own so well. Although... Ginny still appreciated his stupid side, he thought with a grin.
Nancy stirred a bit and seemed to be bringing herself back from wherever her thoughts had taken her. Charlie knew that she wasn't looking forward to the trip back, no matter how hard she'd been laughing only minutes ago. After all, she'd been crying just as hard only a few minutes before THAT. He just hoped that his brother had managed to calm Jenni down.
When he looked down again, she was staring up at him, her soft brown eyes quietly serious. "What is it?"
"I just... I don't know what to say to her."
Charlie sighed and leaned his head down until they were touching foreheads. "Well, why DIDN'T you tell her what had happened?"
Nancy sighed and closed her eyes, not really wanting to let the lighthearted feeling of earlier slip away, but knowing that he was right and that it needed to be discussed. "I... well, it wasn't very logical. Just, I knew that she'd make me go back and get the treatment, and I'm so tired of leaning on her for help! She's always got my back, and I know that she's not wealthy by any stretch..."
Charlie interrupted, pulling Nancy closer for a hug. "Hey, I know that the money was one reason. But I don't think that was it."
Burying her face in his chest, Nancy just stood there soaking up his warmth for a few minutes. Then she tipped her head up to look at him. "All right. I was trying to be an adult. I respect her so much... I just wanted to show her that I had grown up. That I could handle the situation without having to run to her all the time."
There was a lull as she leaned back into him, thankful for the undemanding support he was giving her, and relishing the warm, hard muscles that she laid her head against as she thought about what she'd just said.
"Stupid, huh. Of all the things I pick... a dragon wound."
Charlie smiled, and ruffled her hair. "Not really the most handleable of situations. Hell, even I've learned to run for help when something happens."
"So I guess that's all there is to it." Nancy stepped back from him, looking up at the deep, dark eyes that seemed to read right to her soul. He smiled gently. "I just have to tell HER that, and of course, say that I'm sorry. Because I am. Sorry, that is..." she gulped nervously.
"Yeah. The rest is up to her," Charlie said, hoping desperately that Jenni was smart enough to see what a compliment Nancy's actions had been in their own misguided way. Nancy swallowed one more time and then looked around. The shadows had begun to lengthen, and her eyes widened.
"Oh my. We'd better get going, or we'll never get out of here before dark. Not at the rate I'm walking..." she shook her head and turned to go.
"Wait." Charlie reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, turning her to face him. "What do you mean, the rate you're walking?" His forehead was creased with worry. "What's wrong?"
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Jenni smiled as she watched the three friends walk away, Ron and Hermione still arguing and Harry between the two, shaking his head. With a sigh, she moved from where she was sitting to stand in front of the window. It had gotten late and there was still no sign of Charlie and Nancy. She was owning up to her feelings of panic when she felt two arms wrap around her. She leaned back into the safety of Bill's embrace. He brought his head down, kissing the temple. "How was your talk with Harry?"
"The talk with Harry went fine."
Bill frowned at the hopelessness in Jenni's voice. "Then what's bothering you?"
"It's getting late. They should have been here by now."
There was no trace of tears in Jenni's voice. In fact, Bill noticed, it sounded hollow and empty. "I promise you that they're okay. And, I can prove it to you."
"But, how can you be so sure?"
Bill smiled and turned Jenni around. "You see that clock over there?" Jenni's followed the direction of Bill's finger and she nodded. "Well, the hand with Charlie's name on it is pointing to traveling. So, either he's still looking for Nancy, or he's found her and they're on their way back."
Jenni turned to face Bill. She was about to comment when he kept talking. "Either way, it means that Nancy hasn't pulled some crazy stunt land them in mortal peril."
She had to admit, he had a point there. Nancy was GOOD at getting herself into quite a bit of trouble. "Now that's what I like to see." Bill watched as the ends of Jenni's mouth curved up at his earlier comment. "A nice, big smile on that beautiful face of yours." He leaned forward for a quick kiss and led her back to the couch picking up an old copy of The Daily Prophet on his way.
Bill settled into the couch pulling Jenni next to him. "So, let's see what I've missed in the news three days ago."
Jenni stopped Bill as he scanned the back page. "You do realize you're reading the paper backwards, don't you?"
Bill dropped the paper slightly. "Yes. I do realize I've started reading the paper from the last page." He shot Jenni a mischievous grin and continued. "Unlike some people who try to read the paper upside down, I do have a reason for this. You see, all the good articles are on the first page. If I start from the last page and work my way to the first page, then I've saved the best articles for last."
As Bill scanned the paper for anything of interest, he asked Jenni about her work. "So, you and Nancy work at the Daily Prophet? What do you do exactly?"
"Well," Jenni began. "I'm a senior reporter, based purely on the time that I've been with them, and Nancy's still an assistant reporter. Since we teamed up when Nancy joined, we're mainly sent out on assignments for Human Interest pieces. Occasionally, for good behavior, we get sent on a trip for a bigger feature."
"Is that what you two were doing in Romania?"
"Yes. We were supposed to be on assignment for a few days. And as you know, it got cut short."
Bill nodded. "Do you two write the articles as well?"
"Unfortunately yes." Jenni rolled her eyes. "Some of them can be such a bore."
Bill grinned. "Well, what's the best one you've done so far?"
Jenni thought quietly for a few seconds. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."
"Try me."
"Well, if you insist." Jenni started grinning. "Last week, Friday, actually... Nancy and I had to start a profile piece on Professor Snape, his engagement, and his upcoming wedding."
Bill dropped the paper. "You have got to be kidding. Snape? Getting married?"
Jenni giggled at the look of shock on Bill's face. "I know. I couldn't believe it either. THAT was the most interesting interview I've ever had to do."
Bill shook his head, still in shock over the news of Snape getting married. Jenni looked over at the paper he was holding. "Anything interesting yet?"
"No, nothing yet... Wait just a minute! I think I may have found one." Bill's eyes were sparkling, and his voice had a hint of laughter in it.
Jenni was just about to ask just what he had found when he began to read.
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Nancy almost hid her head in her hands; she couldn't believe that had come out of her mouth. Charlie stepped closer, and she wouldn't meet his eyes. "Nothing, just short legs is all."
She wasn't looking into his eyes, so Charlie knew for sure that she was lying. "Show me your leg."
That got her attention and she tried to wriggle out from under his hand. "Why? You fixed it... there's no reason..."
Before she could even finish a full excuse, Charlie had swept her up into his arms and deposited her at the foot of a tree. "NOW, Nancy."
She glared at him, and stuck her leg out for his inspection. It took Charlie a moment to see what was wrong, the wound was still oozing and tender, obviously better but still an odd color and clearly painful to walk on. Since his injection of antidote last night SHOULD have cleared up any lingering effects of the dragon poison, Charlie figured it was probably the next worst thing.
"You let it get INFECTED."
"It wasn't a question of LETTING it..." Nancy rolled her eyes at his glare. "I THOUGHT that the funny color was from the dragon and not..." She was cut off by Charlie putting a finger to her lips.
"Just shush or I'm going to start laughing and then you'll be really annoyed," he said, groaning at the logic. Nancy glared, but stayed quiet. "Ok... so it's infected. Well, bloody hell. I can't let you walk on it."
"That's just... HEY!" Charlie ignored her protest and swung her up into his arms.
"Ready? You point me in the right direction and I walk. Settle in, you're going to be there for a little while."
Nancy glared at him for a few minutes until that got old, and then she just leaned against him, feeling the rhythm of his footsteps. They walked along in companionable silence, with Nancy interrupting it periodically, saying that she was much too heavy to be carried for so long, and Charlie just grinning and shaking his head. He hadn't broken a sweat yet.
After a few tries at that, Nancy gave up. There were a few more minutes of silence and then she started singing quietly to herself. She shot glances at Charlie's face every few minutes to see if he was annoyed, but every time he just winked at her, or smiled and kissed the top of her head.
The shadows were thickening as they reached the last landmark on the trip out. Nancy knew that from there it was about a twenty-minute walk to the edge of the forest. She switched songs, wondering if the old muggle classic "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" would prompt him to let her walk out of the forest on her own two feet. She'd made it to 84 before he stopped.
"Oh, I'm sorry, am I bothering you? You can just put me down..." she was cut off when Charlie pressed her back up against a tree and kissed her soundly. After a few minutes, he pulled back for air. His husky voice was laced with laughter.
"You are the cutest thing... and you did not manage to annoy me ONCE. And I'm still carrying you out." With that, he readjusted her in his arms, and started back down the path.
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"Romanian Quidditch Hopes Written by: Jenni Ferguson, sr. Rep. Nancy Gwin, asst. Rep
The reporters, while visiting the beautiful country of Romania, were caught up in the fever of a Quidditch-mania that would put our own Chudley Cannons faithful to shame. Quidditch was in the air, from the moment we apparated to the hotel, and even though the words are different, we needed only our enthusiasm for the game to communicate."
Jenni groaned as Bill read out loud. She reached to grab the paper away but he held her hand back. "No way! I've got to read this."
She scowled, "You could have picked a better article to read. That one was horrible. We didn't even have anything to go on."
Bill grinned, "That's obvious." He grabbed Jenni's hands and held them with one hand against his chest while still holding the paper with the other hand. Jenni sighed and resigned herself to listening to him read the less than spectacular article. As he continued to read, he released Jenni's hands and repositioned himself so that her head rested comfortably on his chest. Jenni listened to his smooth voice read the article, feeling it resonate in his chest.
"As we are all well aware, the Romanian national team (which we were asked not to name, as the translation apparently butchers the beautiful sound of their language)..."
Bill paused, smirking. "You never did figure that out, did you?" Jenni whacked him in the side and he kept reading.
"...is one of the six still in the running for the Quidditch World Cup. Their seeker is said to rival Krum and their chasers would not be intimidated by the great Ireland side. We asked a number of everyday citizens to give us their thoughts on the upcoming year, and what it could mean for their country if it were to advance to next year's World Cup.
Unfortunately, due to the language barrier, we can only tell you the basic meaning behind what they were trying to say. One man, obviously enthused by the prospect of discussing everyone's favorite sport, waved his hands wildly in the air and said what we think meant, 'I love it! I love you! They are wonderful!' before grabbing some fruit from a nearby stand and running away. He could also have been asking us for money. We're still working on that.
However, we were more clear on what an old witch meant, as she tossed hexes at us after we asked her opinion on the British team. Somewhere between dodging her remarkably advanced jelly-limbs curse and projecting a shield to block her Rictusempra, the reporter is certain that she said the following. 'We are going to kick your. @$$.' Those Romanians take their Quidditch seriously."
Bill's voice stopped, and Jenni could feel his chest shaking with silent laughter. "Don't suppose she gave you any tips on her jelly legs before you ran into me?" When Jenni didn't rise to the bait, he grinned and said, "I like your translations... very original," before diving back into the article.
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Since they had made it to the path, the walk had become much smoother, and Nancy felt her eyelids drifting closed after a few minutes. She fought it, and struggled to sit up, blinking sleepily. "Quick, talk to me, I'm falling asleep!" she muttered.
Charlie, who was in one of the best moods he could remember, just smiled at her and said, "It's ok. Go ahead and sleep. I've got you." His smile widened when she put her arms around his neck and relaxed against him. In a matter of minutes she was a dead weight in his arms, completely limp and incredibly adorable.
He breathed a sigh of relief as they cleared the edge of the forest. It wasn't quite as late as he'd thought, only just now was the sun setting. The forest had been very dark for that last stretch. Charlie moved quickly through the deserted castle and back out to the town of Hogsmeade. Nancy never stirred. She had probably pushed her limits a bit further than she should have today, he thought on a sigh, but luckily the only damage she'd inflicted seemed to be in exhaustion.
When he was sure that he was outside of the school's boundaries, Charlie sat down, balancing Nancy on his lap as he dug around in his pocket for his wand. He didn't want to wake her up, and he knew a useful binding spell that he'd used in Romania once or twice to help someone who was injured or underage get somewhere fast. You had to bind them to you so that they didn't get left behind or split into pieces during the apparation.
Finally coming up with his wand, Charlie pulled it out, only to hesitate for a moment. He had really enjoyed his afternoon, despite the nasty way the day had started, and he found himself almost unwilling to end it. After all, when they got back to the Burrow, there would be people to talk to, and always the threat of someone walking in on any sort of private moment.
Charlie almost put his wand away before he realized that two or three of those people were waiting anxiously for him to come back with Nancy. And besides, he was good at sneaking around that house... he'd certainly had a lot of practice. Murmuring the spell, he watched as a pink stream of light shot out from his wand and wrapped itself around the two of them. Only then did he replace his wand, and with a last look at Nancy's peaceful face, he apparated home.
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"Indeed, although we can't verify this for certain, there appeared to be an entire section in the Romanian newspaper devoted to Quidditch. Our own Prophet affords the sport only a few pages. This could prove, once and for all, that the Romanian national team is definitely SOMETHING to write about."
This time Bill couldn't hold it in. He started laughing, deep and loud, until his face was as red as his hair. Jenni sat up for a moment and stared at him. When he had calmed down enough to talk, he gasped out, "Sorry... newspaper... the one you had... never MENTIONED quidditch... always meant to tell you that..."
Bill finally regained his composure and put the paper down. He was still laughing. "If that was one of the more horrible articles, I can't wait to read the better ones. That was fantastic."
Jenni growled indignantly. "It was horrible and you know it. There was no truth at all to that article. The only reason our supervisor and editor in chief let it slide was because Nancy got hurt."
"I tell you what. Since it's obvious we don't agree on this, how about I just find something else to read?"
Jenni had to choke down a laugh as Bill picked up a copy of Witch Weekly and began to read the silly, sugary articles out loud to her. She settled into his arms, her head back on his chest, as he read.
Bill smiled. He had no idea what had come over him. Never had he taken the time to read to anyone. That just wasn't like him. It also wasn't like him to go chasing after someone who had lost her temper in a really unbecoming way. He'd always shied away from women with too much of a temper. He tried to push the thoughts out of his head, but the more he tried, the more he failed. Whatever it was, Jenni had definitely changed his way of thinking. What shocked him the most was that he didn't seem to mind the change. In fact, he was rather enjoying it.
A small noise interrupted Bill's thoughts. He glanced up at the clock and noticed the hand with Charlie's name move from traveling to home.
Star_bright25 - always love to see a new fan!! Thanks for reading. (And Nancy would just like to say that she quite likes Charlie too... ;) )
Lily - So glad you enjoyed George and his moment of embarrassment over his "Lady Friend"!!!! (wink, wink)
Little Wolf - Men like Bill and Charlie! We were just asking ourselves that very same question just the other day while working on this new chapter. (We're still looking)
Fracindy - You better watch what you say about Charlie! We wouldn't want Percy to get jealous now would we???
Heather - Awww, thanks! We were quite proud of the whomping willow bit. How's this for hurrying? :)
Zoe - one can never have too much chocolate! And by the way..Snape is mentioned again.just for you!!
Cake Twins - Marion and Carrie!! Woo hoo! Thanks for reading. still waiting for more sexy Oliver and Fred story!
Melissa - And a great big BOO to you too! :o)
Dead SEXY - Wow.posting 24/7? Well, we work on it about that much. Or at least it feels like it. Unfortunately some chapters are harder than others, and some just seem to flow really well.
Karen - glad you're enjoying the story, and don't worry about the posting problem! It's been fixed!
Louisa - Always reading! Thanks for all the late night encouragement you give to us while working on these chapters!!
Blue Eyes - This chapter made your day? WOW!! So glad people are actually enjoying this story.
Ronsspawn - Ha Ha!! You are first person who has said that we write too fast! Everyone else tells us to write faster!
Pink Panther - Don't worry! The tempers will be dealt with! Just hang in there! It will get better! (Although, we wouldn't want our heroines without that bit of spunk, now would we? MUCH too boring...)
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Before Jenni had a chance to respond to THAT, Bill's lips were against hers and her indignant thoughts were forgotten in the heat of his kiss.
Bill had expected her to pull back, but was pleasantly surprised when he felt her hands reach up to his face and return the kiss. The hand that had been lingering on her cheek moved slowly and rested just behind her head, his other arm slid around her waist and pulled her closer.
Jenni had responded without thinking. Her hands, which seemed to have a mind of their own, had found their way to Bill's face. The touch of his hand on her face had sent a jolt of electricity through her skin and she found herself returning his kiss with more feeling then she had expected. As he pulled her closer, Jenni marveled at the strength of his arms, and yet how gentle his touch was.
Bill pulled back slowly, his eyes never leaving Jenni's face. He watched with a sinking feeling as she lowered her eyes, her face turning a deep red. "Jenni, I'm sorry."
Jenni's head bounced up, "For what?"
"I shouldn't have.I mean."
Jenni smiled as Bill struggled for words. "I'm not sorry."
Bill breathed a silent sigh of relief and cast a devilish grin at Jenni. "You're not sorry that I kissed you?"
Jenni shook her head, "Not at." but before she could finish her sentence, Bill's mouth had found hers again. This time he kissed her with a fierceness that took her breath away. Jenni melted into him as his arms tightened around her and forgot her surroundings. A loud voice brought her back to her senses.
"BILL WEASLEY! What is going on?"
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Nancy had seen it coming. She could tell he was going to kiss her, because his eyes had gone very dark and swirly and were making her insides feel all gooey. She had fair and proper warning, she supposed, but really, what could prepare you for this?
Charlie was only surprised at the success of his distraction for a moment, and then he wrapped both arms around her and pulled her even closer, forgetting his own birthday as he deepened the kiss. They pressed against each other for a moment, and the connection between their lips sizzled with heat. After a second, Charlie noticed that Nancy tasted a bit salty, and he realized that her tears had flowed only minutes before. Gentling his touch, he brought a hand up behind her head, and let his mouth wander over her face, kissing away the wet tracks that had been left there.
His kisses were so tender, so incredibly soft and caring that Nancy was left feeling like she was something incredibly precious. Happy tears were welling in her eyes as she realized that he was kissing the old ones away, and as they spilled over she laughed softly against his mouth.
Charlie froze for just a moment, confused. She was crying again. No, wait... had she just laughed? He pulled back only far enough to slip his thumb in and swipe at a teardrop. "Good tears or bad?" he whispered roughly.
Unable to help herself, Nancy let out a rather choked sob. "Good... they're good..." she managed to say, smiling at him even as she cried. She saw a flash of relief light up his dark blue eyes, and then he crushed her to him in a wonderful kiss that was part bone pulverizing bear hug and part sweet, sensuous heat. In fact, Nancy could feel his breath on her neck, which was rather odd, she thought detachedly, as his lips were most definitely exploring her own right now. The air hitting her neck got hotter, and then... something LICKED her!
Nancy jumped about five feet up in the air, yelping, "What was that?" before she wedged herself between Charlie's back and the tree behind him.
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Jenni pushed away from Bill FAST. Her face flushed and she refused to look at either him or Mrs. Weasley. She'd been caught by his MOTHER!
Bill turned to face his mom, her expression a mixture of shock and amusement. He was saved from having to answer her when a loud explosion distracted all of them. Jenni turned to see a cloud of smoke emerging from the direction of the kitchen. The sound of footsteps on the stairs announced Ron, Harry, and Hermione's arrival. Mrs. Weasley's voice had gone extremely shrill as she rounded on the twins, who were fleeing the smoke.
Ron whispered to Bill, "What have those two gone and done now?"
Bill shrugged and put a finger to his lips for them to keep quiet. Bill, Harry and Ron edged closer to the door as Hermione caught Jenni's eyes and sighed. "Boys. I don't think they ever grow up."
Jenni was just about to comment when the kitchen door swung open violently, sending the two brothers and Harry running. The three had just managed to find a place to sit when Mrs. Weasley eyed the room suspiciously. Without saying another word she headed up the stairs, Fred and George starting to follow. Ron looked up from where he was sitting, "What's mum up to?"
Fred glared. "George decided to blow up dad's new muggle thing, a 'mico rave' something or other so now she's off to inspect our room for any incriminating evidence."
George argued back. "I did not BLOW anything up! YOU were the one who told me to put the stuff in there to heat it up."
"RIGHT! But I never told you to leave the LID on it!"
"Well how was I to know the lid wouldn't stay on?"
Jenni, Hermione and Harry all stifled giggles as they were the only ones familiar with muggle inventions. Jenni managed to eventually choke out, "What exactly were you trying to heat up?"
Fred grinned, "A new recipe for candy. It's supposed to make you.OW!" Fred was cut off mid sentence as George punched him. "Right, well, I can't tell you. But if George here hadn't put the bloody lid on so tight, it would have worked."
"It worked fine until you decided to push all the buttons to make it get hotter." George looked furious.
Fred continued to grin, "Yeah, but you have to admit it looked pretty amazing when it blew up!"
Jenni watched as George cracked a grin identical to Fred's. It was impossible NOT to laugh at those two. Their expressions changed as Mrs. Weasley's voice rang out, "If you two don't get up here right now!" The twins ran up the stairs with what Jenni thought was really exceptional speed. Ron chose that moment to brave the dangers of the kitchen and pushed the door open.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEW! THAT is disgusting!"
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Charlie had scrambled up as soon as she jumped off of his lap. "What? What happened?" he asked, looking her over quickly for any injuries. Nancy had a hand on the back of her neck, wiping at something, and... Charlie stared over her shoulder. Was that FANG?
"Cmere, boy... Fang? Where's Hagrid?" Charlie knelt down and let Fang run up to him, rubbing the huge dog's head vigorously. After a moment, he felt Nancy relax behind him, and she came over to his side.
"FANG?" Charlie looked up to where she was standing, glaring down at the dog and biting her lip. She started giggling. "Oh my. I thought... I actually THOUGHT... even for a second..."
He suddenly had a guess as to what had spooked her just moments ago. "You thought WHAT?"
Nancy dissolved into helpless laughter. "I... I thought..." she gasped out, "something... on my neck... thought it was... you!" She glanced up at him, and the expression of repulsed hilarity was enough to send her off into a fresh bout of stomach clenching giggles. Rolling his eyes at her, Charlie turned to Fang, who was watching the scene with a happy expression on his face.
"And YOU! Don't think I don't know your motive behind this whole mess. YOU wanted a kiss TOO, eh?" His lecture to the hound was greeted with a fresh gale of laughter from where Nancy had sunk to the ground, her arms wrapped around her middle. "Well, let me warn you... I don't take kindly to competition!"
Nancy could barely catch her breath from laughing, and it didn't help that mid-lecture Fang had ambled over and started licking her face, setting Charlie off on another silly diatribe about sneaky animals stealing kisses. At this point, she was lying on the ground, trying to calm down and breathe, while ignoring the excited dog bounding around and the equally hysterical Charlie, who seemed to be quite enjoying her temporary loss of control over her abdominal muscles. She'd just succeeded at taking a full breath, without hiccuping or giggling, when Charlie's face popped into view, blocking out the trees and sky she'd been staring at.
"Guess who's almost here, honey, better pull yourself together!" His face had an impish grin on it, and the teasing tone of voice would have brought on a fresh set of giggles, but he leaned down and grabbed her hands, pulling her off the ground and into his arms for a quick kiss.
Before Nancy could fully melt into his embrace again, he had spun her around so that her back was to him, and started pulling out leaves and twigs that were stuck in her long brown hair. Getting over the surprise after a minute, she suddenly realized what he'd said to her just before kissing her.
"Hey, wait..." she started, trying to turn her head to look at him. "WHO's almost here?" Charlie held her still with one of his large hands; the other one was still working some bark out of her curls.
"Ah ha! There we go. You look just lovely," he said in a sugary sweet voice that made Nancy shout with laughter. He twirled her around again, putting a finger to her lips to keep her sarcastic comeback properly stowed. "Now, you'll be a good girl and NOT tell Hagrid that I was out here ravishing you, eh? He's of the impression that you needed SAVING. So... if you need to tell him something, just make me sound heroic, understood?" Charlie waggled his eyebrows at her in a way she could swear she'd seen the twins use once or twice, and then leaned down and kissed her nose, slipping an arm around her waist.
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Bill looked up at the sound of Ron's voice and headed to the kitchen as well, grinning. He turned to Jenni, "You coming?"
Jenni shook her head vigorously. "If it's that disgusting, I'd rather not see it."
Bill grinned, "Suit yourself."
Jenni watched as Hermione and Harry stood up to follow Bill into the kitchen. "Harry," Jenni found herself feeling extremely embarrassed. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
Harry glanced at Hermione who shrugged. "Um, ok." He ran a nervous hand through his messy hair. As he turned to walk back towards Jenni, she caught an encouraging smile from Bill as he held the door open for Hermione.
Jenni waited for Harry to sit back down. He seemed as nervous as she was. Jenni took a deep breath and decided to just get it over with. "I'm really sorry about what I said earlier today. I never meant to put you on the spot. It was... it was SO wrong of me and I'll understand if you're upset. I was really angry at Nancy and I said the first thing that came to my mind. And I really am sorry."
Jenni felt her face heat up as she blurted out her apology. She looked up to see Harry's face relax. "It's okay. I mean, I'm used to being thrown into the middle of fights all the time."
Jenni looked down at her hands folded in her lap. "No. It's not okay. I had no right to say those things. I don't even know you. I mean, I've heard of you, but you've had enough things to deal with, without being the object of some petty argument between two friends."
Harry laughed. "Can I tell you a secret?"
Jenni looked up curiously, "Sure."
"Being friends with those two," he nodded towards the kitchen, "is like living your life in a petty argument between friends."
No sooner had Harry spoken the words when Ron burst through the doors followed by Hermione. "Ron I'm serious. If you don't believe me you can ask Harry. This stuff smells just like that Bubotuber puss."
"I know what BUBOTUBER PUSS smells like, and that is not it!" Ron bellowed. "Harry, tell Hermione that I'm right."
Harry rolled his eyes, "See what I mean?"
Jenni grinned, "Yeah I do."
As he stood up to walk away he glanced back, "Don't worry about it. I'm not mad at you."
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The next moment, there was a loud crash behind them, and Hagrid stepped out of the brush, making the much neglected Fang bark happily.
"Ah, there yeh are." He grinned at the two of them, and sent Charlie a wink after he noticed the arm that was still draped around Nancy's waist. "I thought that 'e'd be bringin' yeh righ' out, and I was a bit worried that 'e'd turned the wrong way at the stream... but now that it's all right and tight, yeh'll both be comin' back ter my place for a bit to eat, eh?"
Charlie groaned out loud, yelping when he felt Nancy pinch his leg HARD. She put on a smile and said sweetly to Hagrid, "Oh, we'd LOVE to..."
Charlie's mouth opened indignantly to say that he would NOT love to, but Nancy was still talking.
"...but I've given everyone at the Weasley's a bit of a fright, I'm afraid, and..." she seemed to lose steam here for a moment, so Charlie jumped in.
"And, my mum's expecting us back!"
Hagrid nodded blithely at them. "All right then. Can't be worryin' Molly now. Or Jenni, I'd suspect, eh?" he glanced shrewdly at Nancy's slightly red face. Charlie's arm tightened just slightly, letting her know that he was there for her, and Nancy leaned into him gratefully.
"Well, yeh'd better get a move on! It'll likely be dark sooner'n yeh think. Nancy knows how teh get back, right? Cmon Fang, we've got work ter do." With one last wave, Hagrid faded back into the forest, Fang galloping along beside him.
Charlie watched him go before turning back to Nancy, who was still sagging against him. He stared down at her for a minute as she gazed off into space. Where had all of that silliness come from? he wondered wryly. He hadn't cut loose and gone for the laugh like that in years, not since getting the post in Romania. Too much responsibility, he supposed. Besides, there wasn't much need for him to cut up like that at home when he visited, since the twins had come into their own so well. Although... Ginny still appreciated his stupid side, he thought with a grin.
Nancy stirred a bit and seemed to be bringing herself back from wherever her thoughts had taken her. Charlie knew that she wasn't looking forward to the trip back, no matter how hard she'd been laughing only minutes ago. After all, she'd been crying just as hard only a few minutes before THAT. He just hoped that his brother had managed to calm Jenni down.
When he looked down again, she was staring up at him, her soft brown eyes quietly serious. "What is it?"
"I just... I don't know what to say to her."
Charlie sighed and leaned his head down until they were touching foreheads. "Well, why DIDN'T you tell her what had happened?"
Nancy sighed and closed her eyes, not really wanting to let the lighthearted feeling of earlier slip away, but knowing that he was right and that it needed to be discussed. "I... well, it wasn't very logical. Just, I knew that she'd make me go back and get the treatment, and I'm so tired of leaning on her for help! She's always got my back, and I know that she's not wealthy by any stretch..."
Charlie interrupted, pulling Nancy closer for a hug. "Hey, I know that the money was one reason. But I don't think that was it."
Burying her face in his chest, Nancy just stood there soaking up his warmth for a few minutes. Then she tipped her head up to look at him. "All right. I was trying to be an adult. I respect her so much... I just wanted to show her that I had grown up. That I could handle the situation without having to run to her all the time."
There was a lull as she leaned back into him, thankful for the undemanding support he was giving her, and relishing the warm, hard muscles that she laid her head against as she thought about what she'd just said.
"Stupid, huh. Of all the things I pick... a dragon wound."
Charlie smiled, and ruffled her hair. "Not really the most handleable of situations. Hell, even I've learned to run for help when something happens."
"So I guess that's all there is to it." Nancy stepped back from him, looking up at the deep, dark eyes that seemed to read right to her soul. He smiled gently. "I just have to tell HER that, and of course, say that I'm sorry. Because I am. Sorry, that is..." she gulped nervously.
"Yeah. The rest is up to her," Charlie said, hoping desperately that Jenni was smart enough to see what a compliment Nancy's actions had been in their own misguided way. Nancy swallowed one more time and then looked around. The shadows had begun to lengthen, and her eyes widened.
"Oh my. We'd better get going, or we'll never get out of here before dark. Not at the rate I'm walking..." she shook her head and turned to go.
"Wait." Charlie reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, turning her to face him. "What do you mean, the rate you're walking?" His forehead was creased with worry. "What's wrong?"
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Jenni smiled as she watched the three friends walk away, Ron and Hermione still arguing and Harry between the two, shaking his head. With a sigh, she moved from where she was sitting to stand in front of the window. It had gotten late and there was still no sign of Charlie and Nancy. She was owning up to her feelings of panic when she felt two arms wrap around her. She leaned back into the safety of Bill's embrace. He brought his head down, kissing the temple. "How was your talk with Harry?"
"The talk with Harry went fine."
Bill frowned at the hopelessness in Jenni's voice. "Then what's bothering you?"
"It's getting late. They should have been here by now."
There was no trace of tears in Jenni's voice. In fact, Bill noticed, it sounded hollow and empty. "I promise you that they're okay. And, I can prove it to you."
"But, how can you be so sure?"
Bill smiled and turned Jenni around. "You see that clock over there?" Jenni's followed the direction of Bill's finger and she nodded. "Well, the hand with Charlie's name on it is pointing to traveling. So, either he's still looking for Nancy, or he's found her and they're on their way back."
Jenni turned to face Bill. She was about to comment when he kept talking. "Either way, it means that Nancy hasn't pulled some crazy stunt land them in mortal peril."
She had to admit, he had a point there. Nancy was GOOD at getting herself into quite a bit of trouble. "Now that's what I like to see." Bill watched as the ends of Jenni's mouth curved up at his earlier comment. "A nice, big smile on that beautiful face of yours." He leaned forward for a quick kiss and led her back to the couch picking up an old copy of The Daily Prophet on his way.
Bill settled into the couch pulling Jenni next to him. "So, let's see what I've missed in the news three days ago."
Jenni stopped Bill as he scanned the back page. "You do realize you're reading the paper backwards, don't you?"
Bill dropped the paper slightly. "Yes. I do realize I've started reading the paper from the last page." He shot Jenni a mischievous grin and continued. "Unlike some people who try to read the paper upside down, I do have a reason for this. You see, all the good articles are on the first page. If I start from the last page and work my way to the first page, then I've saved the best articles for last."
As Bill scanned the paper for anything of interest, he asked Jenni about her work. "So, you and Nancy work at the Daily Prophet? What do you do exactly?"
"Well," Jenni began. "I'm a senior reporter, based purely on the time that I've been with them, and Nancy's still an assistant reporter. Since we teamed up when Nancy joined, we're mainly sent out on assignments for Human Interest pieces. Occasionally, for good behavior, we get sent on a trip for a bigger feature."
"Is that what you two were doing in Romania?"
"Yes. We were supposed to be on assignment for a few days. And as you know, it got cut short."
Bill nodded. "Do you two write the articles as well?"
"Unfortunately yes." Jenni rolled her eyes. "Some of them can be such a bore."
Bill grinned. "Well, what's the best one you've done so far?"
Jenni thought quietly for a few seconds. "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."
"Try me."
"Well, if you insist." Jenni started grinning. "Last week, Friday, actually... Nancy and I had to start a profile piece on Professor Snape, his engagement, and his upcoming wedding."
Bill dropped the paper. "You have got to be kidding. Snape? Getting married?"
Jenni giggled at the look of shock on Bill's face. "I know. I couldn't believe it either. THAT was the most interesting interview I've ever had to do."
Bill shook his head, still in shock over the news of Snape getting married. Jenni looked over at the paper he was holding. "Anything interesting yet?"
"No, nothing yet... Wait just a minute! I think I may have found one." Bill's eyes were sparkling, and his voice had a hint of laughter in it.
Jenni was just about to ask just what he had found when he began to read.
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Nancy almost hid her head in her hands; she couldn't believe that had come out of her mouth. Charlie stepped closer, and she wouldn't meet his eyes. "Nothing, just short legs is all."
She wasn't looking into his eyes, so Charlie knew for sure that she was lying. "Show me your leg."
That got her attention and she tried to wriggle out from under his hand. "Why? You fixed it... there's no reason..."
Before she could even finish a full excuse, Charlie had swept her up into his arms and deposited her at the foot of a tree. "NOW, Nancy."
She glared at him, and stuck her leg out for his inspection. It took Charlie a moment to see what was wrong, the wound was still oozing and tender, obviously better but still an odd color and clearly painful to walk on. Since his injection of antidote last night SHOULD have cleared up any lingering effects of the dragon poison, Charlie figured it was probably the next worst thing.
"You let it get INFECTED."
"It wasn't a question of LETTING it..." Nancy rolled her eyes at his glare. "I THOUGHT that the funny color was from the dragon and not..." She was cut off by Charlie putting a finger to her lips.
"Just shush or I'm going to start laughing and then you'll be really annoyed," he said, groaning at the logic. Nancy glared, but stayed quiet. "Ok... so it's infected. Well, bloody hell. I can't let you walk on it."
"That's just... HEY!" Charlie ignored her protest and swung her up into his arms.
"Ready? You point me in the right direction and I walk. Settle in, you're going to be there for a little while."
Nancy glared at him for a few minutes until that got old, and then she just leaned against him, feeling the rhythm of his footsteps. They walked along in companionable silence, with Nancy interrupting it periodically, saying that she was much too heavy to be carried for so long, and Charlie just grinning and shaking his head. He hadn't broken a sweat yet.
After a few tries at that, Nancy gave up. There were a few more minutes of silence and then she started singing quietly to herself. She shot glances at Charlie's face every few minutes to see if he was annoyed, but every time he just winked at her, or smiled and kissed the top of her head.
The shadows were thickening as they reached the last landmark on the trip out. Nancy knew that from there it was about a twenty-minute walk to the edge of the forest. She switched songs, wondering if the old muggle classic "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" would prompt him to let her walk out of the forest on her own two feet. She'd made it to 84 before he stopped.
"Oh, I'm sorry, am I bothering you? You can just put me down..." she was cut off when Charlie pressed her back up against a tree and kissed her soundly. After a few minutes, he pulled back for air. His husky voice was laced with laughter.
"You are the cutest thing... and you did not manage to annoy me ONCE. And I'm still carrying you out." With that, he readjusted her in his arms, and started back down the path.
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"Romanian Quidditch Hopes Written by: Jenni Ferguson, sr. Rep. Nancy Gwin, asst. Rep
The reporters, while visiting the beautiful country of Romania, were caught up in the fever of a Quidditch-mania that would put our own Chudley Cannons faithful to shame. Quidditch was in the air, from the moment we apparated to the hotel, and even though the words are different, we needed only our enthusiasm for the game to communicate."
Jenni groaned as Bill read out loud. She reached to grab the paper away but he held her hand back. "No way! I've got to read this."
She scowled, "You could have picked a better article to read. That one was horrible. We didn't even have anything to go on."
Bill grinned, "That's obvious." He grabbed Jenni's hands and held them with one hand against his chest while still holding the paper with the other hand. Jenni sighed and resigned herself to listening to him read the less than spectacular article. As he continued to read, he released Jenni's hands and repositioned himself so that her head rested comfortably on his chest. Jenni listened to his smooth voice read the article, feeling it resonate in his chest.
"As we are all well aware, the Romanian national team (which we were asked not to name, as the translation apparently butchers the beautiful sound of their language)..."
Bill paused, smirking. "You never did figure that out, did you?" Jenni whacked him in the side and he kept reading.
"...is one of the six still in the running for the Quidditch World Cup. Their seeker is said to rival Krum and their chasers would not be intimidated by the great Ireland side. We asked a number of everyday citizens to give us their thoughts on the upcoming year, and what it could mean for their country if it were to advance to next year's World Cup.
Unfortunately, due to the language barrier, we can only tell you the basic meaning behind what they were trying to say. One man, obviously enthused by the prospect of discussing everyone's favorite sport, waved his hands wildly in the air and said what we think meant, 'I love it! I love you! They are wonderful!' before grabbing some fruit from a nearby stand and running away. He could also have been asking us for money. We're still working on that.
However, we were more clear on what an old witch meant, as she tossed hexes at us after we asked her opinion on the British team. Somewhere between dodging her remarkably advanced jelly-limbs curse and projecting a shield to block her Rictusempra, the reporter is certain that she said the following. 'We are going to kick your. @$$.' Those Romanians take their Quidditch seriously."
Bill's voice stopped, and Jenni could feel his chest shaking with silent laughter. "Don't suppose she gave you any tips on her jelly legs before you ran into me?" When Jenni didn't rise to the bait, he grinned and said, "I like your translations... very original," before diving back into the article.
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Since they had made it to the path, the walk had become much smoother, and Nancy felt her eyelids drifting closed after a few minutes. She fought it, and struggled to sit up, blinking sleepily. "Quick, talk to me, I'm falling asleep!" she muttered.
Charlie, who was in one of the best moods he could remember, just smiled at her and said, "It's ok. Go ahead and sleep. I've got you." His smile widened when she put her arms around his neck and relaxed against him. In a matter of minutes she was a dead weight in his arms, completely limp and incredibly adorable.
He breathed a sigh of relief as they cleared the edge of the forest. It wasn't quite as late as he'd thought, only just now was the sun setting. The forest had been very dark for that last stretch. Charlie moved quickly through the deserted castle and back out to the town of Hogsmeade. Nancy never stirred. She had probably pushed her limits a bit further than she should have today, he thought on a sigh, but luckily the only damage she'd inflicted seemed to be in exhaustion.
When he was sure that he was outside of the school's boundaries, Charlie sat down, balancing Nancy on his lap as he dug around in his pocket for his wand. He didn't want to wake her up, and he knew a useful binding spell that he'd used in Romania once or twice to help someone who was injured or underage get somewhere fast. You had to bind them to you so that they didn't get left behind or split into pieces during the apparation.
Finally coming up with his wand, Charlie pulled it out, only to hesitate for a moment. He had really enjoyed his afternoon, despite the nasty way the day had started, and he found himself almost unwilling to end it. After all, when they got back to the Burrow, there would be people to talk to, and always the threat of someone walking in on any sort of private moment.
Charlie almost put his wand away before he realized that two or three of those people were waiting anxiously for him to come back with Nancy. And besides, he was good at sneaking around that house... he'd certainly had a lot of practice. Murmuring the spell, he watched as a pink stream of light shot out from his wand and wrapped itself around the two of them. Only then did he replace his wand, and with a last look at Nancy's peaceful face, he apparated home.
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"Indeed, although we can't verify this for certain, there appeared to be an entire section in the Romanian newspaper devoted to Quidditch. Our own Prophet affords the sport only a few pages. This could prove, once and for all, that the Romanian national team is definitely SOMETHING to write about."
This time Bill couldn't hold it in. He started laughing, deep and loud, until his face was as red as his hair. Jenni sat up for a moment and stared at him. When he had calmed down enough to talk, he gasped out, "Sorry... newspaper... the one you had... never MENTIONED quidditch... always meant to tell you that..."
Bill finally regained his composure and put the paper down. He was still laughing. "If that was one of the more horrible articles, I can't wait to read the better ones. That was fantastic."
Jenni growled indignantly. "It was horrible and you know it. There was no truth at all to that article. The only reason our supervisor and editor in chief let it slide was because Nancy got hurt."
"I tell you what. Since it's obvious we don't agree on this, how about I just find something else to read?"
Jenni had to choke down a laugh as Bill picked up a copy of Witch Weekly and began to read the silly, sugary articles out loud to her. She settled into his arms, her head back on his chest, as he read.
Bill smiled. He had no idea what had come over him. Never had he taken the time to read to anyone. That just wasn't like him. It also wasn't like him to go chasing after someone who had lost her temper in a really unbecoming way. He'd always shied away from women with too much of a temper. He tried to push the thoughts out of his head, but the more he tried, the more he failed. Whatever it was, Jenni had definitely changed his way of thinking. What shocked him the most was that he didn't seem to mind the change. In fact, he was rather enjoying it.
A small noise interrupted Bill's thoughts. He glanced up at the clock and noticed the hand with Charlie's name move from traveling to home.