Disclaimer: JK owns HP; Always

1989

Chapter 22

"What the hell is a rubber duck?" Charlie asked as they argued over what to get his father for Christmas.

Hermione went into another fit of giggles. He had been making her laugh all day as they went from shop to shop in an attempt to get something for everyone in his family.

"I'm serious Jean." He said, only using her false name since they were in public. "It sounds like a rather vile and inappropriate gift to give to one's father."

"Oh don't be vile." She scolded with a light push to his arm. "It's a children's bath toy."

"Okay." He said as he scratched his head in thought. "Still not sure why he would want something like that, but if you insist."

"He loves learning new things about muggles." She reminded him as they exited Zonko's joke shop; having picked up more than half of the gifts from there. "But it's just one idea. Bad Bathilda's Bazaar around the corner gets some muggle items in from time to time, maybe we can search for something there."

"Sounds like a plan to me." He agreed as he escorted her down the snowy street; hand in hand. "It's a bit chilly out though. Want to grab a drink at The Three Broomsticks first?"

"If, by a drink, you mean a nice hot butterbeer, then sure." She grinned; knowing very well he had a different beverage in mind.

"Of course I meant butterbeer." He laughed as they changed direction toward the inn. "For you."

XXXXXXXXXX

Once inside The Three Broomsticks, Hermione excused herself to the bathroom while Charlie agreed to place their order at the bar. She smiled to herself in the mirror as she washed her hands.

Their connection only seemed to have deepened after their encounter on his bed the previous weekend. She'd blushed uncontrollably the next morning, embarrassed by how much she had enjoyed it. He, on the other hand, had greeted her excitedly; unable to hide how pleased he was by grinning from ear to ear.

He had been even more affectionate with her since his birthday as well, if that were even possible. There had also been times she'd caught him looking at her inappropriately in class; as if he was reminiscing. Though, to be honest, he wasn't the only one. Hermione had been thinking about it a lot herself, and was now almost positive she was ready to go further.

"Hey Jean!" Sarah suddenly said excitedly, as she joined her at the sink to wash her own hands. "Having a good day with Charlie?"

Hermione nodded with a grin. "Yes, what about you and Laura?"

"Oh, I'm having a great day." She responded, as she attempted to fix her windblown hair. "Haven't seen much of Laura though, she's out with Tyler from Ravenclaw again."

"Oh, does that mean you're wandering Hogsmeade by yourself?" Hermione asked, suddenly realizing she hadn't checked in on her new friends much the past week. "Because I'm sure Charlie wouldn't mind-"

Sarah held up one hand to stop her blabbering. "No, Jean. I'm fine thanks. When Devon found out we were both getting ditched this weekend he asked if I wanted to come with him so we could keep each other company."

"Devon?" Hermione smirked at her friend. "I thought he was a bad kisser?"

"Oh he was, in fourth year." Sarah grinned as she continued to fix her hair in the mirror. "But who knows. If he plays his cards right today, maybe I'll find out if he's improved or not."

She laughed at how bold and unashamed Sarah always was; at times she reminded her of Ginny, only a little more crass. Deciding to take a leaf out of her book, Hermione coughed under her breath to prepare herself for the question she was about to ask.

"So, um, speaking of kissing and furthering relationships…" She paused as she cringed at herself.

"Yeees?" Sarah asked interestedly.

"Let's say that sometime in the near future I might be ready to further Charlie and I's." Hermione tucked a bit of her unruly hair behind her ear nervously. "How would I go about protecting myself?"

Sarah smirked knowingly and tilted her head to one side. "Well between you and me, you came to the right friend."

"Yeah I get the feeling Laura can be a bit..." Hermione cringed for a second. "Judgey, about this sort of thing."

"Godric knows I love that girl, but can she ever be." Sarah snorted. "Sure knows how to keep me grounded though."

"Well the two of you do balance each other out, it's a good team."

"Agreed...Now, here." Sarah reached into her bag before handed over a small blue vial. "This should last an entire month."

Hermione looked the potion over curiously. "Are you sure?"

"It covers everything from pregnancy to STDs" She explained. "I'm due for my next round Christmas day, but I know where to get more so don't worry about it."

"Thanks." Hermoine smiled at her as she tucked it into her bag. "I mean I'm not sure I really need it, but it's good to have just in case."

"Right." Sarah smiled knowingly; she may be a bit ditzy, but she definitely knew Hermione wouldn't have asked about it unless she was serious. "No problem Jean."

XXXXXXXXX

When the two girls exited the bathroom, they parted ways; Sarah rejoining Devon at a small booth in the back, while Hermione headed to the bar to find Charlie. He looked entirely too handsome with his cheeks still flushed from the cold, and the usual grin that was on his face as he chuckled at something the barmaid said.

"Hey!"

He greeted her enthusiastically with a kiss to the cheek before handing her the foamy mug of butterbeer he had ordered for her. The top of it was so overfilled with whipped cream that a glob began to drip down the side. She slurped the drippy edge to stop it from making a bigger mess, before glancing over at the drink in his hand. It was steaming and amber colored while giving off a very distinct aroma of whiskey.

"Hot Toddy." He clarified as he held it out to her. "Want to try it? It has honey in it."

"No thanks." She shook her head before sipping at her own drink again.

She hummed happily as it seemed to warm her from the inside out. Charlie laughed at her when she pulled the glass back down in front of her. She was just about to ask why, when the pad of his thumb brushed itself firmly over the top of her lip.

"You had a bit of a mustache there." He smiled as he stuck his thumb in his mouth to suck the whipped cream off it.

The intimate gesture made her blush as her thoughts flashed back to the previous weeks activities again. Specifically to the other things he had done to her with the very thumb he was now licking clean. She was suddenly even more grateful to Sarah for supplying her with that potion. It just might come in handy even sooner than expected if he kept doing things like that.

"Thanks." She stammered. "Would you like to go find a table now?"

"Sure." He nodded with a knowing smirk as he grabbed one of her hands to help guide them to the seating area.

As they turned around to head toward the back corner, Charlie barely had time to lift his drink out of the way to avoid spilling it all over a person whom they hadn't even noticed was there. A small amount sloshed over the rim and onto the floor, but due to his quick reflexes none of the droplets spilled onto the woman who had approached them silently from behind.

"Sorry, I…" He started to say before realizing who it was he'd almost spilled his drink all over. "Heather?"

"Hi Charlie!" The overly pretty blonde smiled brightly at him before throwing her arms around his neck. His eyes widened, but he kept his drink at arms length out to his side to avoid further spillage.

Hermione felt her heart sink as she realized who had just crashed their Hogsmeade date. It turned out Heather St. Clair was even prettier in person than in that blasted copy of Witch Weekly Lilac had forced into her hands. Then as Charlie's hand dropped from hers to pat the other girl gently on the back it sank even further. Her lips parted as she watched the reunion going on in front of her.

"What..." Charlie shook his head slightly, trying to brush his shock away as he took a step back. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you silly!" Heather giggled slightly. "An old friend mentioned that it was a Hogsmeade weekend, so I thought it might be fun to come surprise you."

"Why?" He asked rather coldly, surprising both his old girlfriend and his new one.

Heather's smile faltered, but only slightly before she stepped toward him again to place a slow kiss to his jaw. "Can't a girl pay an old boyfriend a visit every once in a while? Just because she might have missed him."

"Well I'm not exactly here alone Heather." He informed her as he took another step back to move in close to Hermione. He hooked one arm around her waist. "This is Jean." He said, introducing the two. "My girlfriend."

"Oh!" Heather's eyes rounded in realization; a look of mortification etched into her features. She then held a hand out to Hermione, silently requesting for her to shake it as she forced another smile which was obviously fake this time. "Hi. I'm Heather. Heather St. Claire."

Hermione begrudgingly took the other girls hand, if only to seem polite. "Hello; yes, um, I know who you are actually."

Heather's fake smile turned into a smirk at her stuttering. "Oh good, then you won't mind leaving Charlie and I alone for a few minutes to catch up then?"

Though still taken aback, Hermione ended up nodding. She didn't want to cause a scene by refusing the other girls request. "S..Sure."

"Jean, No. No." Charlie shook his head, his arm tightening around her waist a little. "You don't have to-"

"It's alright." Hermione interrupted him before placing a small kiss straight to his lips. "I wanted to ask Madame Rosmerta if she could put a little more whipped topping on this anyway." She added with a gesture to her drink.

The idea of more whipped cream being added was obviously preposterous with the amount that was already dripping off the sides, but she pried herself from Charlie's hold anyway and walked back to the bar. She had no intention of actually making the ridiculous request as she leaned her elbows against the bartop. From this angle she could turn her head every once in a while to see them, but unfortunately their voices were just out of range.

Leaving the two of them alone together made her chest tighten with a certain dread. Thoughts of him rekindling the old flame and leaving her in the dust presented themselves in the forefront of her mind, as she watched what seemed to be a heated exchange from several feet away.

xxxxxxxxx

"Alright Heather." Charlie said in a flat tone once Hermione had stepped away. He folded his arms firmly over his chest as he shrugged. "What's your real reason for coming here today?"

"Well, to be honest, I wanted to see if you still had feelings for me." She said; getting straight to the point while tucking the entirety of her long straight hair over one shoulder. "I've been thinking about you a lot lately. Since before my recent breakup with Reg actually."

"Right." He asked stiffly. "And?"

Heather stepped directly in front of him and placed her hands on his shoulders. "I've missed you Charlie." She whispered, giving him a solemn look. "I know that I broke up with you because I was scared of a long distance relationship while you were still in school, but you only have a few months left now. I think if you gave me another chance, we could be really good together. Especially now that we are both a little older and more mature."

Charlie sighed and rubbed his forehead with one hand before biting his bottom lip. "Heather, I'm already in love."

Her genuine smile resurfaced, much to his surprise. "It's good to hear that you still feel that way after all this time."

"No, Heather." He cringed with a nervous laugh. "Not with you...with Jean."

"What?" Her mouth gaped as she began to glare daggers at him. "That frizzy haired nobody of a girl?"

"Well that's not exactly how I'd describe her." He responded as calmly as he could as his old girlfriend had just insulted his new one. "But yeah...I love her. In fact, I'm pretty sure she's it for me."

Heather swiftly closed her gaped mouth as she readjusted her stance. "Think about this rationally Charlie." She shook her head at him calmly. "How exactly do you think she is going to look standing next to you in all the interviews and press conferences that will be expected of you?"

"Press conferences?" Charlie's brows wrinkled in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I heard that the national team had their eye on you." She explained. "Don't you have a tryout coming up in a few weeks?"

"Well, yeah. But that doesn't mean anything."

"Of course it means something!" She scoffed at him. "Once you win your spot on that team, which you will, there will be certain things expected of you. Publicity and an image to maintain. Things I'm sure Jean won't understand."

"Heather, Jean is one of the most intelligent witches I've ever met, and she can handle anything thrown at her." He defended her. "But even if she couldn't, it doesn't matter as there aren't going to be any interviews or an image to maintain anyway."

"What are you talking about?" It was her turn to ask, while she shook her head at him. It appeared that she was both confused and a little angry. "That seeker position is as good as yours if you are as good as I remember."

"What I mean, is that it doesn't matter how the tryout for England goes because I won't be playing for them." He finally put his foot down. "I'm going to Romania to work for the dragon reserve there. Or had you forgotten that was my real dream?"

"Don't be ridiculous." She scolded him, as if she had any way in what he did. "You can't seriously be considering rejecting a chance to play quidditch professionally?"

"That's actually exactly what I'm doing." He held his ground.

Heather surprised him once again as she slid one hand against his face, and leaned in closer. "Charlie, I know you...And I know that if you give up this opportunity, you will regret it for the rest of your life."

A weaker man might have caved, but Charlie was far from weak and he was also well aware of Heather St. Claire's tricks.

"No, that's you." He replied firmly as he pushed her back away from him gently. "You left Reg because his parents didn't set you up as well in the prenup as you expected, so you thought you could come running back to someone who wouldn't know any better. Someone who didn't grow up with money and just might be about to come into some." Charlie was more than annoyed at this point. "Well guess what? There won't be any coming to or from me regardless."

"You are way out of line!" She spoke angrily as she glared daggers at him. "I would never-"

"You know what Heather, I'm not really interested in arguing about what your real reasons for being here are." He interrupted her. "All I wanted was to spend a nice day with my girlfriend before going home for Christmas tomorrow, and you had to sweep in and ruin it. I've been done with you for a long time. So as you so kindly put it to poor Reg Swepper, 'I don't have to put up with this shit!' I am not one of those other, so called 'options', you talked about; but if you still have any others I kindly suggest you go bother one of them."

Charlie set his drink down on the nearest table with a little more force than necessary, and turned on his heel. Heather was left flabbergasted by his outburst and seemed to be almost frozen in place. Without another word, he grabbed Hermione by the elbow on his way past her, and jerked her toward the exit.

xxxxxxxxxx

Hermione didn't argue as he pulled her along. By the path he had taken, she was pretty sure he was steering them toward the Shrieking Shack, but she wasn't positive. Knowing him, he could just be looking for somewhere secluded so they could be alone. She hadn't heard much of what he and Heather had been arguing about, but from the glances she had taken of them, she was sure it had been heated. As much as she was dying to know what had happened, she knew better than to ask him whilst he was still fuming.

And he was still fuming.

It was another few minutes of stomping through the frosty village backroads before Charlie finally stopped. They had just passed the Shrieking Shack and entered the shallow wooded area of the opposing hill when he dropped his hold on her hand.

He cupped his hands over his face and groaned loudly into them. His skin was pale from the biting cold, as they'd left the inn so abruptly neither one of them had had time to put their gloves on.

Hermione approached him slowly, not wanting to spook him; her boots crunching against the icy grass beneath her feet. She gripped his wrists with her hands in a silent request for him to look at her.

"Are you alright?" She asked, when he made no move to drop his hands from covering his face.

When he took a deep breath and shook his head, her heart plummeted into her stomach. He was worrying her, and it was causing a bubble of self doubt to grow in her chest. What if he was about to break things off?

"I'm sorry." She muttered before she could stop herself, and dropped her arms. "I knew being with you was going to mess up your life."

Charlie then jerked his hands from his face abruptly at her statement. He looked almost as angry, and definitely as shocked at as he'd just been with Heather.

"Mess up my life?" He asked, unsure that he'd heard her correctly.

"I'm changing things for you." She explained gloomily as she stared down at her feet. "Causing you to do and say things you wouldn't have done in the original timeline."

Charlie's jaw ticked as he tried to temper his anger. "Hermione, how much of what just happened did you actually hear?"

"Not much. Just that you were being ridiculous at one point, and out of line at another." She dragged the toe of her right boot in a pattern on the ground, as a single tear slipped down her cheek. "But her body language said more than words ever could. She wanted you back, and you only told her no because of me."

Hermione finally tilted her head up to look at him, and the sadness he saw on her face made his bad mood soften.

"I hate to break it to you, but you have finally read something completely wrong." He semi scolded her as he closed the gap between them. He wrapped one arm around her back and cradled her face with his free hand. "You being here or not, had no impact on me telling that fame and fortune seeking whore that I want nothing to do with her."

Hermione's face paled as what he said only half sunk in. "Fame and fortune seeking?"

"That's right." He nodded. "Heather is, and always has been, on the hunt for a husband who could give her an extravagant life. She dated Reginald Swepper her fifth year, whom she broke up with because he graduated. She then dated another seventh year named Tate Bobbins, whose family owns a chain of successful Apothecaries, in her sixth year."

"Oh!" She reacted as the rest of the puzzle clicked into place.

"Bill tried to warn me when she set her sights on me two years ago, but I wouldn't listen." He continued his rant. "She was pretty, experienced, and most of the guys in school wanted her; so of course I brushed it off. I thought she might just actually like me, for me, since I didn't have money and at the time didn't realize I actually had a chance at playing professional quidditch." He sighed again as he tried to remember the events accurately. "I was pretty crushed when she broke things off. Especially when not a month later she was back with Reg. That's when I knew Bill had been right."

"So you wouldn't have wanted to give her another chance?" Hermione asked, needing the clarification. "Not even if you'd never met me."

"No." He responded firmly. "Fuck no. I refuse to be used like that."

"I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions then." She grimaced. "I guess I just keep expecting something to come up and cause you to change your mind about me."

"You aren't the only one who has doubts about themselves, you know?" Charlie shrugged.

"I find that hard to believe." She said solemnly.

"Here you are worried about me wanting to be with other people, but what do you think is going through my mind half the time?" He asked, trying to make her understand how he felt. "I mean, I'm planning on waiting eight years for you to come back to me; all the while wondering if when you do, you'll change your mind and want to be with Ron after all."

"What?" She stammered in shock. "You….you plan on waiting for me?"

"Of course I am, you silly witch." He scolded her before planting a kiss firmly on her lips. "I love you!"

"I...I know." She answered, still in shock. "But I guess I didn't realize just how much."

A grin finally appeared on his face, making him look much more like the Charlie she had come to know over the past few months.

"Well I guess I better show you then, hadn't I?" He said before reattaching their lips.

He then spent the rest of their afternoon kissing her for all she was worth between whispered confessions of everything he loved about her.