Hermione leant against the back of the bathroom door and let out a long slow breath to calm herself. She wanted Charlie Weasley. It had been a long time since she'd last seen him, and a lot had changed. She wasn't some naive little virgin chasing after Harry and Ron, trying to save the world as a teenager. She was a woman now, with a career (well, the definite beginnings of one, she told herself firmly) and more experience with what she wanted from the world. And she wanted Charlie Weasley.
After the war ended, the grief had been all-encompassing. There were celebrations, of course, but once the relief had faded, it just made way for more grief. More funerals, and more empty spaces at tables that should've been full. The haven the Burrow once was, became a dark place of mourning the light that Fred used to shine. She made time to pop to the Burrow often but always felt as if she was encroaching on their private heartache and didn't stay long after dropping off her homecooked meals (if you could call them that after tasting Molly's cooking) and sending them all her love. She'd seen Charlie in passing during those times, but her mind had always been elsewhere, cringing away from the desolation in everyone's eyes, holding her own mourning heart together.
The post-battle situation with Ron didn't help how much she visited the Burrow. They had shared a lively (especially on Ron's part) kiss during the heat of things, but once the dust had settled and they had a moment alone together, she took him aside to try to let him down easy.
"Ron," Hermione had begun the day of the final battle, she pulled him to the shade of a secluded oak tree on the Hogwarts grounds. "I-"
"It was awkward, wasn't it?" Ron's face crinkled into a cringe and then into an easy smile. His tired eyes were red-rimmed and swollen from crying but she could tell there was no bitterness there.
"Oh, thank Merlin, you feel the same!" Hermione let loose a sigh and they shared a laugh as he nodded. She could've collapsed from the relief of not having to add to his heartache today of all days. She couldn't have strung him along, but she had not been looking forward to what could've been an uncomfortable and painful conversation.
Their smiles faded quickly as reality seeped back in and they surveyed the destruction of the grounds. An awkward silence began to creep in like fog around them. She nudged his shoulder with her own. "Still friends?"
"Course, 'Mione." He said tiredly as he looped an arm around her shoulders as they headed back inside. "We should've snogged years ago and saved ourselves all this trouble!"
A grin stretched her face again. It had been a lot of drawn-out pining over nothing. The kiss had been almost brotherly. Just the thought made her cringe internally. At least their friendship was still intact.
Intact, the friendship was, but that didn't mean that it wasn't incredibly awkward afterward. She had thrown herself into other things, rebuilding Hogwarts, refurbishing Grimmauld Place into the cozy welcoming home it now was, studying for and flying through her NEWTs, and beginning her advanced arithmancy studies.
When things had settled down and time had begun to smooth over the sharpest edges of their grief, her time at the Burrow had slowly increased, including Christmases and birthdays, and the occasional Sunday lunch. They became her second family again, and as her parents had opted to stay in sunny Australia, she was very grateful to have such a large support base at home.
Five years had passed since the Battle of Hogwarts (as the Prophet had coined it) and it was a foregone conclusion that she would be joining them for Harry's 22nd birthday celebration at the Burrow. The hot summer's day was perfect for relaxing in the dappled shade, listening to the warm breeze rustle the orchard trees, and watching her friends splash about in the water of their pond. Closing her eyes and turning her face to the sun, she was totally at peace, until she felt eyes on her.
Leaning up on her elbows, she turned towards the house and met a pair of dark blue eyes staring intensely at her from the shade of a large, leafy oak tree. His body was pointed towards the antics in the pond, but his eyes were fixed on hers. Hermione took a shaky breath as his gaze flitted down her body. She resisted the urge to pull the hem of her sundress back down from the place higher up her thigh it had inched to. Let him get a peek, she thought daringly and raised a challenging eyebrow at him. He smirked back. A heated, sexy smirk. Not his usual big-brother-Charlie smile she was used to. This was a smirk that made her want to press her thighs together.
"Charlie!" Ginny's excited shriek shattered the tension as she splashed out of the pond and ran to jump at him. Charlie caught Ginny in his strong arms as she jumped and swung her around in a practiced move Hermione was sure they'd been doing for many years now. His usual happy grin lit up his face and left Hermione wondering if she had imagined their heated moment. She stood up as the others traipsed, dripping, out of the pond to greet him.
"I heard The Chosen One was having a party and didn't think I should miss the chance to kiss his feet, despite the lack of an invite." He teased Ginny lightly as he released her to hug and slap the backs of the others gathered around him. "How are you, Harry? Happy Birthday!"
"Good thanks, Charlie. I'll let you off without the foot-kissing today since you've come a long way." Harry grinned at him as Ginny loudly protested he had an open invite to every gathering they ever had, ever.
"Hermione, long time no see," Charlie grinned down at her as she stepped up to greet him. The smirk was gone, but was it her imagination or did his eyes seemed darker as he pulled her into a tight hug? He was damp from all the wet hugs he had received and his loose t-shirt now stuck to his chest. Merlin, and what a chest it was. Her traitorous hands itched to run her fingers from his shoulders down to his chest, so she firmly tucked them behind her as she was released.
"Good to see you, Charlie." Her voice was breathy. 'Get a hold of yourself, girl!' she thought to herself. She cleared her throat and thought she saw his lips twitch before his attention was stolen by one of the others. Hermione lagged behind the group as they all headed back towards the house for some lunch, trying to get a hold of herself. She murmured an excuse to the chattering crowd when they reached the kitchen and slipped away to the bathroom. She stood now against the hard door, contemplating how much she wanted to pushed up against it by the Weasley brother.
Something about his look down by the lake had shifted her persepctive of him completely. The look in his eyes when he had stared at her... She was sure she wasn't imagining things. But then it was gone so fast. And this was Charlie she was thinking about. Charlie! Lives-in-Romania, brother-of-Ron, Charlie. The complications of acting on her thoughts were extensive.
Taking another deep breath, Hermione resolved to keep her thoughts to herself. Enjoy surreptiously looking when no one would notice, sure. But don't open that complex can of worms any further. She had too much on her plate starting up her arithmancy business to be chasing anything so distracting at the moment anyway.
Checking herself in the mirror quickly, she saw her dress was slightly wet from the damp hug she had received. With a quick wand wave she was dry and relatively presentable again. Shaking the feel of that hug away, she yanked open the stiff door and went to rejoin the group.
She met Harry on the stairs, coming to find her.
"Where did you get to Hermione? We're just about to sit down to lunch." He looked at her curiously, "Are you alright? You look a bit flushed."
"I'm fine, just got a bit hot out in the sun and needed to cool down. I should've joined you all in the pond." She gave him a sweet smile and wrapped an arm around his waist to pull him into a side-hug as they walked back to the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. "Thanks for checking on me."
He gave her a quick squeeze back and went to help move the tables and chairs out to the garden for lunch. Hermione moved to Molly and was directed to start taking food out to the tables.
Lunch was the usual lively affair, with lots of shouting over eachother. She was seated next to Percy, whom she made polite conversation to stop herself from stealing too many glances towards Charlie, who was sitting almost opposite her at the table.
"Yes, it's going well so far, thanks, Percy. I've still got a long way to go to build up a client base but the few I have are keeping me busy. It's mostly potioneers at the moment, wanting to be more efficient in their potion creation but I'm hoping that with some time I can expand into arithmantic equations for spell creators too. I've tried a few for myself and enjoyed the more intricate process, and the far more advanced arithmancy involved."
"I can imagine. That must be interesting, being a part of the newes--"
"Oi, Hermione, what spells and potions are you creating? Anything good for the shop?" George waggled his eyebrows as he spoke from across the table at her and she heard Percy let out an exasperated sigh as he was once again shouted over by his brothers. Hermione gave him an apologetic smile and turned to George.
"The business I'm setting up helps others with their potion or spell creations by using arithmancy to optimize productivity during the process. It allows substantially less trial and error with actual ingredients for potion creation by using the equations to tell whether something will cause a potion or spell to explode or whether it will have the desired effect. So, that saves the client time and money on ingredients, as well as being much safer for everyone." Awe rose across George's face.
"Hang on. You could- you could stop the explosion part of potion creation? Where do I sign up?" He laughed. A blush crept over her cheeks as the other Weasleys were laughing and declaring how useful that could've been when they were growing up and the twins were blowing up the house every other day.
"Seriously, Hermione," George pulled her attention back to him as the others went back to other conversations. "How do I formally request your services for WWW?"
"If you're really interested-"
"I am! I am!" He said emphatically, his face unusually serious.
Hermione smiled at him. "Then I'll owl you some paperwork about what's involved, timeframes and prices on Monday."
"Careful, George, she's not cheap!" Ron called down the table with a broad smile. "You'll have to save your galleons!"
"My services are worth every knut, Ronald Weasley!" She called back harmlessly and stuck her tongue out at him to general laughter.
"I'm sure they are, I'm sure they are!" He held his hands up in surrender as he turned back to his conversation Harry.
A glance to Charlie found his intense gaze on her despite the lively table. He had an interested look on his face and she met his eyes, his gaze darkened again. He smiled at her, not the same sexy smirk as earlier, but not his usual harmless smile either. This smile made her insides squirm. She willed herself not to blush harder as she turned back to her potato salad and the relative safety of conversation with Percy.
The rest of the day passed with lazy garden games and cake for the birthday boy. The family was jubilant with the news that Charlie had accepted a managerial position at the Reserve that meant he would have extra time off to be able to return home more regularly. Molly had burst into tears at the declaration and Charlie had needed help to extricate himself from her weepy hug.
"Sorry, Charlie, dear. I'm just so pleased you'll be home!" she mopped at her eyes with a hankerchief and leant into Arthur for support who squeezed her shoulders bracingly and beamed at his son happily.
"Not all the time, Mum. I'm just more likely to be able to get back for things like this and Christmases, you know, important stuff." This still caused a cheer to erupt from the Weasleys, who were used to seeing Charlie only about once a year. Hermione felt herself grinning too.
Hermione decided to carefully avoid being left alone with Charlie, not wanting to embarrass herself with her wayward thoughts and blushes. This turned out to be very easy, as everyone wanted to spend time with him while he was home for a short time. She couldn't quite relax as she went back to enjoying herself with her friends, part of her remained hyper-aware of Charlie. Exactly where he was in the room, how hearty his deep laugh was, how his muscles flexed and bulged as he play-wrestled his brothers (to their mother's discomfort).
At one point, when he had Bill pinned on the grass and surrendering the fight, she couldn't help but think of how she would feel pinned underneath him in that position. She sucked in a breath and his eyes whipped up to hers where she sat alone in the shade watching. He gave her that sexy smirk again, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. His tongue darted out to lick his lips as he kept his eyes locked with hers. Bill took that moment to flip Charlie over and pin him, which started a heated debate about whether the fight was over or not. Hermione took the moment to calm her racing heart. Fuck, she wanted him, bad. 'Shake it off, Granger. Shake it off, he's leaving tomorrow.' she told herself firmly.
When it was time for her to leave, she bid everyone goodbye and handed out the usual hugs and kisses, saving Charlie until last. She drew up her Gryffindor courage and turned to face him.
"It was good to see you, Charlie." She smiled sweetly at him, calm on the outside, while her subconscious cheered about getting to hug him again.
"It was good to see you too, Hermione," he smiled and held his arms out for a hug. She did not eagerly throw herself into them, she told herself. He squeezed her waist tightly. "Maybe next time I'll see more of you," he murmured huskily into her ear. Her breath caught at his words, surely he didn't mean..? His eyes were dark as he released her and he said louder so the rest of them could hear: "I feel like we barely spoke."
"Maybe next time it'll be less of a whirlwind visit, and I'll be able to get a word in edgeways." She tried to act nonchalant, but knew he knew how he affected her.
"I hope so," He said with a charming smile and with a last goodbye to everyone gathered and a yell into the fireplace, she flooed home with a mind full of Charlie Weasley.