Disclaimer: JK owns HP: Always

1989

Chapter 16

"Mmmm."

Hermione sighed joyfully as she bit into her third chocolate croissant of the day. She hadn't wanted to see Charlie after what had happened between them the night before, but she wasn't going to let her frustration with him stop her from getting her favorite meal of the day, so she'd taken several baked goods from the breakfast table early that morning before he'd arrived. She was now eating them one by one in a sitting area in the back corner of the library.

Some might say she was drowning her sorrows in junk food, but Hermione was actually and finally focusing on her task rather than on her love life. The chocolate croissants were simply due to the fact that they had been easier to grab and stash in her bag than anything else offered on the table.

After two months of being back at Hogwarts she was finally starting to see her old figure coming back. When she had first looked at herself in the mirror upon arrival to the past, her ribs were clearly visible under her skin. Now, some months later, they had disappeared, and instead of looking emaciated she appeared healthy once more.

Hermione grinned at her tasty treat before taking another ladylike nibble of the French dessert.

"I see you've already eaten after all." A voice called out softly from in front of her.

With red cheeks, Hermione looked up. She was embarrassed to have been caught savoring sweets so early in the day, but quickly forgot about it when she realized it was Charlie who was approaching her. After studying him for a second, she also realized that he was carrying a bowl filled with a variety of fruit. He looked not unlike he had on her first morning in 1989, when he had been tasked with accompanying her to Ollivanders and brought her breakfast.

"Oh, um yeah." Hermione replied awkwardly before catching herself. Even though she wanted to focus on being prepared for her impending trip back to the present she didn't want to scare him away from ever talking to her again. "I mean, yes. I have."

"Baked goods again I see." He smirked slightly at her.

"I couldn't help myself," She shrugged, cheeks still slightly pink. "Though I probably should have grabbed what you brought instead."

"Nonsense." He shook his head, placing the bowl of fruit on the end table beside her chair before stepping back a few paces to lean against the nearest bookshelf. "I think we are all entitled to a little self indulgence on occasion."

Hermione looked down at her half eaten treat bashfully. "Yeah, but this is my third one since this morning."

Charlie grinned at her before covering his mouth with one hand. He snorted, and as his shoulders shook slightly. She soon realized he was trying not to laugh., and her cheeks began to turn redder by the second. With a scoff back at him, she tucked the leftovers into her bag to save for later.

This action caused the opposite reaction she had been hoping for, and Charlie finally cracked. He began to laugh out loud humorously, with his head shaking from side to side as he continued to laugh at her.

"Oh shut up!" She finally said, opening her previously forgotten book back up in an attempt to ignore him.

Though he was able to calm himself back down fairly quickly, they stayed in their current positions in silence for several minutes. Him staring at her while she pretended to read, and her occasionally peeking up from her page to see if he was still there or not.

After a very long and odd silence, Hermione finally got annoyed.

"Why are you here Charlie?" She asked grumpily, still trying to keep her eyes on her book instead of him.

To her surprise, he smiled. "Well I got some interesting news last night, and other than telling Devon immediately and sending an owl out earlier this morning to my mum, I realized that I wanted you to be the first to know."

Hermione's brows crinkled, but she finally looked up to give him her full attention. "Know what?"

Charlie looked genuinely happy for the first time in weeks. "Madame Hooch kept Avery and I after the game last night. Turns out there were scouts from the league there yesterday. They want us to come tryout for the national team."

"Oh." Hermione smiled softly in return, not at all surprised by the news. "That's really great...Congratulations."

Charlie's smile faded slightly and he came to sit on the coffee table that was just in front of her. "Now I know you're not much of a quidditch fan, but I thought you'd be a little more excited for me. This is huge, you know!" He exclaimed, getting excited again.

"No, I know." Hermione responded, trying to force a larger smile. She already exactly how his future was going to unravel. "It is exciting. I'm really happy for you."

She must not have done a good enough job of convincing him, because his smile had now faded completely. "Then why don't you sound like it?"

"Charlie...you don't…" She paused with a cringe. She wasn't going to lie to him, just as she'd promised. "You don't play quidditch."

He paused for a moment to absorb what she had just said. When the meaning to her words finally sunk in, his face paled.

"Oh." He looked as if she had just slapped him across the face. "I won't make it then?"

Hermione cringed again, realizing she had made it seem like he was going to fail, or get rejected. "No. You do." She backtracked. "At least I think you do."

"I don't understand. " He responded, now looking confused. "How can I make the team, and also not be on it?"

Before answering, she bit her lip while trying to remember exactly what she had heard about his tryouts from the other Weasleys. "You'll have to forgive me for not knowing exactly how this is all about to play out." She finally said. "But from what I was always told by your family, you could have played for England if you had wanted to, but you were too busy chasing after dragons instead."

"Dragons?" Charlie's eyes got big, and he immediately started to look excited again. "Are you saying…?" He paused as a grin spread across his face. "Are you saying I get to work with dragons?"

Hermione couldn't help it. She grinned back, nodding in the process. "Yes, Charlie. That's why I only ever met you twice." She explained. "You've lived in Romania longer than Ron and I have known each other."

"Romania?' His face lit up even more. "You mean the largest dragon sanctuary in Europe?"

"Mhm." She confirmed. "At the base of the Bucegi Mountains."

Charlie looked as if Christmas had come early. It seemed the excitement of a possible career as a professional quidditch player was now long forgotten, having been replaced by images of dragons spouting fire instead. There was a child-like gleam in his eyes as he stared at her. He was grinning from ear to ear at the news that his childhood dreams were going to come true.

"Well Shit." He finally said happily. "No wonder I tell the English National Team to fuck off."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

They were now out walking by the lake. Madam Pince had kicked them out after seeing that food had been brought into her precious library, so they had run for their lives before she could also give them detention.

"So I'm in a position where I can help Hagrid by smuggling a Norwegian Ridgeback he hatched in his cabin out to Romania for him?" He asked excitedly.

"Well not you personally. You had some friends coming to visit you anyway." She clarified. "So they strung up a harness between the four of their brooms and picked her up from the Astronomy tower late at night. She's still there with you in Romania last I heard."

"Her?" He asks her curiously. "I thought you said Hagrid names it Norbert?"

"Oh he does!" Hermione giggled. "But the night before Bill's wedding he asked you how Norbert was doing, and you just laughed at us and asked 'Do you mean Norberta'." Her fingers mocked quotations as she made fun of future Charlie.

He laughed. "Glad to see I keep my sense of humor. Only adding an 'A' at the end of a boy's name is definitely something I'd do."

"It is, isn't it." She asked rhetorically.

Hermione slowed as he turned to walk backwards, staring at her intently as he came to lean his back against a nearby tree. His arms crossed over his chest as she stopped just in front of him. The mood seemed to have taken on a more serious tone finally.

"I'm not mad at you, you know." He finally changed topics to the very subject that had caused a strain between them in the first place.

"You're not?" She seemed surprised.

"No. Confused, yes. Frustrated, definitely." He tried to explain himself. "But not at you, just at the situation."

"It hasn't exactly been easy for me either." She looked down at the ground where her foot was dragging a pattern in the dirt. "Especially when you wouldn't even look at me this week."

"I know." Charlie looked remorseful. "I'm sorry. I'm not the greatest at handling difficult situations."

"Seems to be a family trait." The corners of her lips twitched upwards for a second before she looked up at him again, her shoulders shrugging in the process. "So what do we do now?"

Charlie sighed as he stared back at her. "I should probably be a good brother, and let you go so you can be with him when you get back." He looked conflicted. "But that's easier said than done. I still picture Ron as the nine year old, food loving, speaks before thinking, Chudley Cannons fan that he is. He's honestly still a kid in my eyes. Not really someone I think of as competition. The idea of you and him together is bizarre to me."

"I know how you feel." Hermione agreed with him solemnly, knowing that he was making the right choice, but disappointed by it anyway. "Ron has always felt overshadowed by all of you, as if he is just an extension of all of his older brothers rather than his own person with his own talents and feelings." She looked down at her feet again. "How's he going to feel when I tell him I don't want to be with him anymore because I fell in love with you."

Both Hermione and Charlie gasped at the same time. She looked up from her feet to catch the look of surprise that now crossed his face.

"Oh." She said simply as her cheeks turned a light shade of pink.

"You're in love with me?" He finally asked after a small pause. It had taken several seconds for her words to truly sink in.

"I...I." She stuttered, not sure of what to say. She turned her head to look toward the forest instead of at him, needing a few seconds to think about what she had just let slip. She knew her feelings for him ran deep, but until the words had unintentionally slipped from her mouth, she hadn't realized how true they actually were.

"Yes." She finally nodded at his question, turning back to look him in the eyes. "I do. I love you."

Charlie closed his slightly gaping mouth, as the shock of her admission finally wore off slightly. He pushed off from the tree and took the three steps needed to close the space between them. Very slowly the corners of his lips twitched upwards into a smile.

"I'm glad." He said before sliding one hand into position on the right side of her neck. "Because I love you too."

And with that, his lips descended upon hers. Much softer than they had the first time. Much more patient than he had been the night before. The kiss was tantalizing and sweet, as if they had all the time in the world together.