Mignon: small and pretty; delicately pretty.
June 10, 2005
"Uncle Charlie, did you love my Mum?"
Charlie Weasley nearly slipped on the steep muddy river bank he was scrambling up. Clutching a rough branch in his large, callused hands and breathing hard, he looked up at the little boy squatting in the tall grass at the top of the slope. Teddy was running his hands along the fuzzy tops of the cattails, looking thoughtfully into the sluggish current of the river below, sunlight making his currently-golden hair into a halo.
"Yeah, I guess I did," he grunted, redoubling his effort to heave himself up the bank.
"Like my dad did?"
Charlie sighed internally. He should have known, when the kid practically jumped at his tentative offer of an afternoon fishing, that he wouldn't get out of this unscathed. With a mighty effort, Charlie made it up the bank and collapsed beside his small companion (who, with a good leg-up, had scampered up the slope like a rabbit).
"No, not like your dad," he said, staring up at the clouds. "Not really. I mean, for maybe a second I might have thought…." Charlie trailed off. "What made you ask that?"
"Bill says you did," Teddy informed him matter-of-factly, swiveling around to stare intently down at him.
Charlie shook his head. "Big brothers like to make things up to heckle their little brothers." He rolled over and climbed laboriously to his feet, offering Teddy a hand.
"Did you ever give her a heart?" Teddy asked, taking the hand and letting Charlie swing him upright.
"No," Charlie laughed. "I wasn't much for valentines. Flowers. Girls like flowers. You can never go wrong with flowers. I gave your mum a bouquet."
XxX
"About time you showed up."
"Good to see you too, big brother," Charlie grinned as Bill opened the door for him.
Bill grabbed his little brother in a rough, one-armed hug. "Thought you got lost up the river again."
"That was once, and I was five," Charlie defended. "Anyway, Mum told you I was taking the kid out?"
"Yeah, speaking of, where is he? She said you were bringing him."
Charlie gestured vaguely over his shoulder. "Ran off into the yard. Said he'd be in in a bit. Cute kid, he is. Funny. A lot like his mum."
Bill nodded, understanding the wistful look that was just barely detectable in Charlie's eyes.
"It's nice you make time for him when you come round," he said quietly. "And that you come round for Vic. Used to take the end of the world to bring you back."
"Yeah, well," Charlie muttered. He looked away, coughed into his fist. "Kids grow up fast. Stay away too long, and they're grown up and saving the world and you don't even know who they are."
"Victoire thought you weren't going to make it," Bill said, changing the subject.
"What? And miss the best ballet recital of the year? Where is the bell of the ball, anyway?"
"Uncle Charlie!" someone squealed.
Charlie barely had time to open his arms for the pink, ribbony blur that flew down the stairs at him.
"Hey, squirt!" he beamed, squeezing his niece hard before kneeling down to get a good look at her. Victoire spun compliantly, her feathery pink tutu swirling, dainty fingers laced above her head and her toes pointed like a proper ballerina. She looked like a porcelain fairy with her strawberry blond hair braided around her head.
"Mummy made me fancy," she told him, giggling.
"Well I can see that," Charlie said, sitting back on his heels and pretending to frame her with his fingers. "You'll be the prettiest one there."
Victoire beamed. Then she caught sight of something over Charlie's shoulder.
"Teddy!" she cried, prancing to the door like a little pony. "Are you gonna watch me dance?"
Teddy stood on the porch, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot, one hand tucked behind his back. "Here," he said abruptly, and he produced a slightly bedraggled-looking bouquet of wildflowers, which he shoved in Victoire's face. "You know. 'Cause of the show and everything."
Victoire trilled with delight, snatching her bouquet and twirling off to show Dominique in the kitchen, completely missing the wink Charlie tipped toward Teddy.
A/N: Okay, was going to make this Charlie coming to see Victoire for the first time, but I rather like the idea of him being there when she's born, you know, for the anniversary and everything. And then I got talking to my cousin, the awesome Bookworm1256, and she inspired this. Hope you like it! :) I figure Charlie made an effort to be there for Victoire and the rest of Bill's kids at least. And I think for Teddy, too, because of Tonks, but he was never really around like the rest of the family.