Hello Everyone! I'm sorry it took me so long to finish this chapter. Once again, if any of you have some suggestions or comments feel free to leave a review! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any characters and places associated with the story. I'm only responsible for my original character Alice Reed.

Chapter 5

"Why did we stop talking?" Charlie asked as they were sitting in Alice's room one day a few days after they finally declared their love for each other. Charlie had been wondering why they stopped keeping in contact for quite some time but he hadn't felt comfortable enough to ask her until now.

The question surprised her. She thought about what had led up to the last time they spoke all those years ago. "When you got a girlfriend, I couldn't keep talking to you. It hurt too much." Alice finally admitted.

"I only got a girlfriend because you said you didn't want to date anyone!" Charlie exclaimed.

What Charlie just said surprised her even more than the question itself. "When did I say that?!"

"About three years ago I asked if you had made any new friends or if you were seeing someone special and you said you don't have time for things like that. You said that your work comes first. I took that as a hint that you wouldn't want to be with me or anyone for that matter so I finally said yes to the girl at the sanctuary who had been asking me out. I said no before because I was in love with you and couldn't see myself with anyone else but by that point I figured I might as well try dating someone else to see if I could get over you. It didn't work. Clearly." Charlie explained, though he sounded a bit exasperated towards the end.

Alice rolled her eyes. "We're both idiots." She couldn't believe it took them so long to get together all because of some miscommunication.

"That we are." Charlie laughed.

Alice took both of Charlie's hands in hers. "Let's promise that we'll tell each other everything. No more assuming things. We need to communicate if we want this relationship to work."

Charlie gave her a questioning look. "That sounded suspiciously like my mother."

Alice smiled sheepishly. "Your mum may have given me some advice about communication in relationships when she was healing my face a few weeks ago."

That admission made Charlie laugh again. "She's had a big role in getting us together hasn't she?"

"Yes." Alice answered as she pulled one of Charlie's hands up to her lips to place a gentle kiss on his knuckles. "But if it weren't for her we would still be dancing around our feelings and who knows if we would ever get together."

Charlie pulled Alice into his arms and he leaned his head against hers. They signed, both feeling themselves relax into the hug.

"I'm glad she noticed how we felt and finally talked some sense into me." Charlie said.

Alice looked up at him with a happy sparkle in her eyes. "I'm glad too."

The next few months went by like normal, at least as normal as things could be when one was in the Order of the Phoenix and working against He Who Must Not Be Named. Charlie and Alice continued going on missions to follow suspected Death Eaters, and they helped keep watch over the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries that Dumbledore was determined to keep away from You Know Who.

On one rare day that Charlie and Alice both had off the pair were sitting in the library at Grimmauld Place. Alice was sitting on the couch looking through some papers from work while gently running her hand through Charlie's hair as he lay with his head in her lap.

"We should go on a date." Charlie said suddenly, disturbing the quiet that had settled in the room.

Alice looked down at him with a questioning look on her face. "A date?"

This prompted Charlie to sit up and face her. "Yes, a date. We've been together for a few months now but with all our missions for the Order and your work as an Auror we haven't exactly had a time to go out on a proper date and just be together. This is one of the first days we've had off in months. We might as well make use of it and go do something to get our minds off everything that's been happening."

Charlie's explanation made Alice smile. "That sounds wonderful, Charlie! What did you have in mind?"

Charlie ignored her question and hopped off the couch, pulling Alice out of the room behind him.

They wandered around the streets of London for a while just enjoying each other's company. Neither of them remembered feeling this care free in a long time.

Once it was getting dark out Charlie led them into a building. They went up a few flights of stairs and when they walked through the set of doors at the top they found themselves on at rooftop restaurant filled with tables, twinkling lights all around, and a beautiful view of the Thames.

Alice looked around in wonder. The atmosphere was very romantic and it seemed to be a wizard owned establishment judging by the clothes of the other occupants on the rooftop. "Charlie, this is amazing. How did you find this place?"

Charlie smiled at her as he led her over to one of the unoccupied tables. "I like to wander around the city when I'm not on a mission and you're at work. I randomly found it a few weeks back and I've been waiting for a chance to bring you here."

He pulled out one of the chairs and made a dramatically gestured for Alice to take a seat. "Milady."

Alice giggled and then curtsied just as dramatically. "Why thank you kind sir."

Throughout dinner both Alice and Charlie couldn't keep smiles off their faces. At one point Charlie stopped talking and just stared at Alice with a small smile on his face and a loving look in his eyes.

Alice noticed this sudden shift in her boyfriend. "Why are you staring? Do I have something on my face?" Alice questioned with a laugh.

This made Charlie smile wider. "No, you're perfect." After a moment of silence, he spoke again. "Even though there's a war starting I honestly can't remember the last time I've been this happy and it's all because of you. I can't even explain how happy I am that you're back in my life."

Charlie's admission made Alice's heart melt. "I love you Charlie."

Charlie grabbed Alice's hand and squeezed it. "I love you too Alice. More than you know."

"Oh, I think I may have an idea."

After they were done with dinner they wandered around for a bit longer before hearing back to Headquarters.

When they got back the pair was surprised to see a few Order members in the kitchen besides Molly, Arthur, and Remus. Tonks, Kingsley, and Mad Eye Moody along with a few others were gathered around the table.

"What's going on?" Alice asked. "I didn't think we had a meeting today."

Her mentor from work, Alastor Moody turned to look at them. "There was no meeting today, Reed. We just came from the Ministry. Potter and a few of his friends were lured to the Department of Mysteries but You Know Who. We were informed by Severus Snape so we went to help unfortunately Sirius Black was killed in the fight."

Hearing about Sirius's death crushed them but it also made Charlie angry. Hearing that someone from their side had died hit him harder than he thought it would.

"You should have sent someone to get us! Or at least sent a patronus! We could have helped!" Charlie exclaimed.

"That's not something for you to decide Weasley." Moody countered, clearly annoyed that he was being yelled at.

"Charlie!" Alice scolded. "Don't yell. What's done is done and there's no way of changing the past." With that Alice stormed out of the kitchen and ran upstairs to her room.

Alice fell back onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling, not sure what to do with herself. She had gotten quite close to Sirius in the year that she was living in Grimmauld Place with him. She would even consider him to be a close friend at this point. They would often joke around and share stories of their times at Hogwarts while drinking fire whiskey. It was difficult to believe that he was gone. Thinking about these memories opened a floodgate of tears that Alice had been holding back from the moment she heard the news.

Not much later Charlie found himself knocking on Alice's door. There was no answer but when he heard a sniffle from inside the room Charlie let himself in. He saw Alice curled up in the middle of the bed, her shoulders shaking as she cried. Charlie's heart broke to see the love of his life so upset. He walked over to the bed and laid down behind her and pulled her into his arms. She quickly turned around and buried her face in his chest, letting Charlie comfort her.

The following days were solemn and one day Alice and Charlie's moods were dampened even more. Charlie was informed by Dumbledore that he was free to return to Romania and to start work on making foreign contacts. When they heard that Charlie and Alice locked themselves in Alice's room.

Neither of them knew what to do or say so they just laid there on the bed. Alice with her head on Charlie's chest and Charlie had his arms wrapped around her, holding her tight, both of them lost in their thoughts.

On one hand, Charlie was overjoyed that he would be able to go back to his home in Romania to be with his dragons. On the other hand, he was heartbroken. Things were going so well between him and Alice. He felt that their relationship was strong enough to handle long distance but no part of him wanted to leave her.

Alice was feeling much the same. She knew Charlie was missing his job and itching to get back to the sanctuary, but she also didn't want him to leave. Seeing him every day made all the bad things happening in the world seem a little less terrible. He brightened her life more than she ever thought someone could.

"Come with me." Charlie spoke suddenly.

"What?" Alice questioned, lifting her head off his chest to look him in the eye.

"Come with me to Romania. We can live in my hut at the sanctuary. You could floo to the Ministry for work or you could work on making contacts when I'm with the dragons and I can help you on my days off. I'm sure Dumbledore will be okay with it, he's been saying we need more people to help us." Charlie looked deep in her eyes as he explained. He seemed almost frantic. "I can't imagine being without you, Al."

Alice was silent. Somehow her brain hadn't even considered going to Romania. But the more she thought about it the more she liked the idea. This way she could be with Charlie every day and she could keep her job as an Auror for the Ministry. At that moment, Alice wanted to thank whoever invented floo powder for making this possible.

"Alice?" Charlie said. Her lack of response worried him and he began to question if his proposition had been a bad idea.

His voice startled her out of her thoughts. "Right! Sorry! I got lost in my thoughts."

"I could see that." Charlie responded with a small smile. "So?"

"So... I'll go with you to Romania because there's no way I'm letting you go now that I've finally got you." Alice informed him, her smile growing as she spoke.

The second those words left Alice's mouth Charlie rolled them over so he was hovering over her and started peppering kisses all over her face. Once he got the initial excitement out of his system, Charlie looked at her again with a gentle grin on his face. "I love you Alice, more than anything."

"I know you do and I love you too."

The following week all of Alice's things were packed up and sent to Romania.

They spent the next year living in Romania together. Alice would floo to the Ministry to continue her work as an Auror and Charlie worked at the sanctuary. On their days off they would go around Europe meeting with foreign contacts and doing other work for the Order. Even though the war was still going on they found that they had a happy little bubble there in Romania where they could just be together and be happy. However, their bubble burst when they heard the news of Albus Dumbledore's death.

This was honestly a bit of a filler chapter so I apologize if it wasn't too good. I promise I have some more cute moments coming up in the next chapter. Once again thanks for reading!