I was going to wait a bit longer before uploading this chapter but I figured with the incoming cyclone and the uncertainty of the next few days I'd upload now. Enjoy!

Love Princess Leasha. xoxo

Chapter 29

1 and a half years later.

Charlie's POV

I was home for the holidays again, but it wasn't the same as when everyone was still at Hogwarts. This time I was the only one staying at the Burrow, as everyone else had their own places. It was an unspoken agreement that we would still spend a lot of the holiday period together just as we had done since we started school. I flooed to the Burrow and was greeted by silence. No laughter, no chatter, no yells from the quidditch pitch.

"Mum! I'm home!" I called through the house.

"Oh Charlie, dear!" She cried as she hurried into the living room. "It's been far too long!"

"It's been less than a year, the same amount of time as always," I reasoned as she pulled me into a hug.

"But it seems longer these days with no one around. How has work been?"

"Pretty good, no major new scars. A few of the dragons got sick a little while back but we got on top of it pretty quick and were able to fix them up. Vali not long got back from another stint in Zimbabwe, he found himself a girl while he was there too. She was working on the reserve there but she's transferred to ours now. Her name is Nayasha."

"That's wonderful news Charlie, Vali must be so happy."

"He is, I'm happy for him, he deserves a nice girl like Nayasha."

"Does she have any nice friends?"

"Mum, don't even start this."
"Start what?" She asked innocently.

"Trying to convince me to get a girlfriend. I'm happy being single." I lied.

"No you're not."

"Well, I'm not. But I'm content without a girlfriend unless her name happens to be Alexis."

"Charlie you have to move on. She's not coming back."

"I know mum. I know she's not coming back. She told me, remember? I'm going out."

I apparated into an alley way in muggle London, one of the designated apparating spots I used to use when I was scouring the streets looking for Alexis. Tonight was different though. I wasn't looking for her tonight, not like I used to. It usually made the pain of missing her worse after I searched because every glimpse of dirty blonde hair disappointed me. I didn't have a destination in mind; I was just walking, trying to clear my head. I should have been used to mum's attempts to get me to move on by now; she did it every time I can home. Every single time without fail, she would try to convince me to find a girl and settle down like all of my siblings had. I couldn't do it. I would be lying to the girl and myself. I had already done that once with Liz and I wasn't about to do it again. I walked slowly through the streets, taking in the people and places around me.

I had been walking for almost an hour when I stopped suddenly outside an ice-cream parlour. There was a girl, sitting with her back to the window with long dirty blonde hair, but it wasn't her hair that made me stop. It was what was revealed as she flicked it over one shoulder. In the brief second that the back of her neck was exposed a dragon was revealed. If I wasn't mistaken that dragon would be a Hungarian Horntail. My heart pounded in my chest as I momentarily debated with myself about whether or not I should go inside. I won. I took a deep breath before entering. It was small and cosy and smelt just how an ice-cream parlour should. Amazing. But it didn't matter. I wasn't here to eat. I made my way to the table where she was sitting alone, I swear everyone within a ten mile radius could hear my heart beat. I stopped beside her, hoping upon hope that it was her and not someone else. She was looking intently across the room, and I couldn't see her face.

"Alexis?" I asked quietly.

She spun around, startled. Her eyes widened when they fell on me.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, fixating her gaze across the room again.

"I was just walking past and I thought I saw you so I came in," I said lamely.

"Well you did see me. You can leave now."

"I need to talk to you."

"No you don't. I said I was leaving I didn't want to see you ever again now just leave please."

"Mummy I picked the ice-cream I want," a little blonde boy announced as he approached the table.

My heart stopped. He'd called her mummy. She had a kid. A kid that wasn't mine. That meant there was someone else. A guy. She was with someone and they had a kid. And by my best guess the kid was almost three so that meant they would have been together since… she would have had to of met this guy as soon as she left and had a kid with him like straight away. She probably knew him before she left. What if it was Dean? What if it was… My thoughts were cut short by her voice.

"What one?" she asked, pulling him onto her lap.

"The blue and green one," he declared.

He looked up at me and smiled.

"Hello, are you necklace man? You look like necklace man. My name is Lucas but mummy calls me Luke sometimes. What's your name?"

"Hi Lucas, my name is Charlie."

Alexis glared at me, "Lukey, how about we get a tub of blue and green ice-cream and take it home?"

"So we can have some another day too?" he asked excitedly.

"Sure can. Come on, we'll go get some and go home."

Lucas slid off her lap and she stood, grabbing her bag and heading for the counter. I waited for her outside.

"Alexis, we need to talk."

"There is nothing to talk about Charlie. I have nothing to say to you. Not after last time. Come on Lukey, let's go home."

She scooped up Lucas and carried him down a nearby alleyway. I followed, quietly, trying not to attract attention.

Let me know what you thought! xoxo