It's Hogwarts, and it's Hagrid's hut, and it's the only place where Charlie still feels like himself. He goes every morning, and the two of them stand side by side in the blazing sun or the bitter cold, and they tend to the creatures. Charlie doesn't have answers, but Hagrid doesn't ask questions, and it is because of all of this that one day, a month after Eleri leaves, Charlie finally starts to talk.
He hasn't told anyone but Bill about what happened with Eleri, and he won't. Molly has guessed and has offered brief spurts of advice, but he always finds somewhere else he needs to be, and she's finally given up trying. But now… he and Hagrid are taking a break and are sitting in the hut. Hagrid is drinking his undrinkable coffee, and Charlie has made himself a cup of tea with the questionable ingredients of Hagrid's cupboard. They are relaxing in silence at the table, and Fang has his head on Charlie's lap, which makes it perfectly understandable for Charlie to be scratching Fang's ears and not looking at Hagrid when he says, "Eleri's gone, you know."
Hagrid chokes on his coffee but covers his surprise with a loud harrumph. Charlie's eyes flicker up for a moment, but Hagrid is examining his own cup, and Charlie quickly looks back down as he continues talking.
"She – she needs to be in Romania," he mumbles almost indistinctly. "And my mum needs me here now."
Hagrid is nodding slowly, Charlie can see out of the corner of his eye. It gives him the courage to say almost inaudibly, "I need to be here now, too."
He feels his ears burning, but then Hagrid says, "Yer whole family needs yeh here now, Charlie. That's nothin' to be ashamed of."
He sighs and nods. "I know," he mutters. "It's just – I had a whole life in Romania, and now, I've given it all up to be living with my parents again and working at my old school. No offense," he adds quickly, but Hagrid shakes his head, unperturbed.
"Charlie, yeh know as well as I do that we can't plan our lives. None of us would have ever planned fer things to be the way they are now, withou' -- withou' Fred an' all... but we can't change it. Sometimes we jus' have to change our lives instead."
Charlie nods and sighs. Hagrid is right. But that doesn't make this any easier.
"I miss her," he mumbles miserably. His throat feels tight, and he suddenly finds swallowing his tea to be almost impossible. He puts the mug on the table. His hand is clenched, and he is suddenly and oddly grateful for Hagrid's indestructible pottery. He stares at the designs on the side of the mug and whispers, "I don't understand why she couldn't come back with me."
Hagrid sighs. He knows that Charlie doesn't really expect him to have answers, but he also knows that he's looking for them right now anyway.
"D'you love her?" he asks, and Charlie nods almost imperceptibly. Hagrid notices that he is blinking quickly, and he stares at the table, himself; if there's anything he knows for sure, it's that Charlie does not want anyone looking at him right now.
"I bet she loves you, too," Hagrid says quietly. He's not sure if this will help, but he feels like it's important to say. Charlie doesn't answer him, and Hagrid knows it's because he can't, but he continues talking anyway, if only to cover the strained sounds of Charlie's breathing that he knows he'd do anything to hide.
"If it's meant to be, Charlie, then it will be," he says. "I bet yer Mum's said this, too, but that's because it's true. If yeh love El, and she loves yeh, then yeh have to b'lieve that yeh'll find yer way to each other someday."
After a few moments, Charlie manages to say, "Thanks, Hagrid. You're right. And my mum did say that, too. It's just – it's hard to believe that sometimes when you're alone…"
Hagrid nods but says nothing. He knows that Charlie doesn't really want a response.
After a few minutes of silence, Charlie clears his throat. He still doesn't look up from the table, but he says, "Let's – let's get back to work."
Hagrid nods, and he gets up first, taking both his and Charlie's cups to the sink. He has just turned back to Charlie, but then he looks quickly at the sink again, pretending not to notice Charlie swiping at his eyes with the back of his hand.
They make their way back to the nifflers, and Charlie is quickly caught up in taking them out of their cages. Hagrid glances at him out of the corner of his eye. He wishes he could help, but he's not sure how. What he does know is that Charlie is in the right place right now. No one knows how to take care of each other quite like the Weasleys, and there's no doubt in Hagrid's mind that they will do the right thing for Charlie. And in spite of the pain Charlie's in, he knows that Charlie knows this, too.
A/N: And Charlie's story is finished at last. It picks up again in Weasley Family Heartbreak, of course, but I'm fairly certain that anyone reading this has also read that. (The relationship with Eleri does continue there for anyone who hasn't read it and is interested.) I'm sorry, once again, for the crazy delay in getting to the end. Thanks for reading.