Charlie Weasley was angry, and not just the run of the mill angry, he was furious. He had just returned home to the Burrow after a very long and tiring 5 months at the reserve, helping to hatch baby dragons was always going to be a very demanding process, and all he wanted to do was see his family and then have a quick nap in his bed. But it would just be his luck for him to return home and find that all of the stuffed dragons he had been collecting since he was a child were now missing from the coveted spot he kept them in.

As soon as he had stepped into his room he knew something was different but he couldn't put his finger on it, it was once he had laid down on his bed and surveyed the room that he had noticed they were gone. They were no longer lined up in the order that he had collected them on the shelf above his desk, now it was just an empty shelf. He was going to kill whoever had taken them on him. He may be 27 years old but that didn't mean that he had to let go of his precious memories from his childhood especially those that were to do with his current profession.

Without hesitation he pulled himself from his bed, ran down the stairs and found his family all gathered in the living room. Ron and Harry were as usual playing a game of Wizard's chess, Bill and Fleur were practically sticking their tongues down each other's throats, Fred and George were huddled in their usual corner, hunched over a piece of parchment which Charlie could only assume were more of their order form and finally Ginny and Hermione were both reading peacefully on the sofa. The only one that was missing was Percy which wasn't much of a surprise, he rarely left the Ministry these days.

"Okay, which one of you done it?"

Several confused looks from his siblings greeted him as they stopped what they were doing.

"Uh, done what exactly?" Ron raised an eyebrow at his older brother

Charlie scoffed, as if he didn't know. "Stole my extremely rare and priceless, not to mention extremely sentimental, stuffed dragons that, until I checked a few moments ago, were perched in their positions on the shelf above my desk. Now, where are they?"

His siblings along with Harry and Hermione glanced at each other, almost as if they were as confused as he was. "Charlie, why in earth are you worried about a couple of stupid stuffed dragons for? You're a grown man, not a child" George laughed, only to be met by complete silence. He looked quickly around the room and saw that none of his siblings were laughing along with him and that Charlie was looking ready to kill him on the spot. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly before launching himself behind Arthur's favourite arm chair.

"Putting George's very witty comment aside" Charlie drawled, "Where are they? You guys know how much they mean to me, even if I am a 'grown adult'"

"Sorry Charlie, but I 'ave not seen zem" Fleur admitted, and to be truthful Charlie would have been quite surprised if she had, she hadn't been round a lot at the Burrow to know what he was talking about.

"That's okay Fleur, you've got the green light" Charlie smiled before narrowing his eyes at the remaining suspects.

"As much as I would have loved to have stolen your precious Dragons I've been far too busy at work and also with lovely Flear here, to have even entertained the thought" Bill blushed at his admission, but Charlie waved him off knowing all too well how much of a lovesick fool his brother currently was.

"That leaves Fred, George, Ron, Harry, Hermione and Ginny"

"Hey!" Ron whined, "What about Percy?"

Charlie shrugged, "What about him? I doubt he's rarely at the Burrow for one, and secondly when does Percy ever pull a practical joke?"

Ron frowned, thinking it over for a moment before realising that Charlie was right, "True" He grunted

"Well Freddie my boy, looks like we have to confess now" George sighed, peeking his head out from behind the arm chair.

"Are you sure Georgie?" Fred grinned, casting a glance at Charlie who seemed to be going redder and redder with every passing moment.

"Oh I'm sure alright, we better tell him the news before he passes out from lack of oxygen!"

"Tell me what?!" Charlie was getting impatient, all he wanted to do was to get his dragon's back and then take a nice, long nap.

"Okay..." Fred began

"Everyone we have some amazing..." George continued

"No brilliant!..."

"Yes! Brilliant news..."

"We have..."

"Infact..."

"Not stole anyone's dragons and instead have now purchased our own premises to open our joke shop!" The twins yelled in delight

Charlie groaned while the rest of the room clapped and congratulated the pair on their good news. How long could it really take for someone to tell him the truth? It was as if they were all stalling.

"Yes, yes. Congrulations to the twins! Now can we get back to the more pressing matter at hand?"

"Which would be?" Ginny teased much to the annoyance of Charlie

"MY PRECIOUS STUFFED DRAGONS!"

"Okay, Charlie I think you need to calm-" Hermione couldn't finish what she was saying as Ginny clamped her hand over her mouth

"Don't even finish that sentence or his wrath will come to you" Ginny whispered

Hermione nodded and glanced at Charlie who was getting dangerously red in the face with every passing moment, the more angry he got, the more embarrassed she got.

"I know you all don't get it, no one ever does, but they mean a lot to me for many reasons and I would rather not see them ending up in tiny pieces so...I'll give time for you all to think where they could be, or if it was one of you I'll give you time to recover where they are and put them back where they belong while I speak to Mum" Charlie glared at them before storming out of the room.

The tense atmosphere slowly left the room as everyone went back to what they were doing, as Ginny and Hermione tried to get back to their books, Ginny took a moment to glance at Hermione who seemed incredibly shifty in her seat and seemed to have a guilty look on her face. Ginny couldn't help but smirk as she connected the dots, she had always known about Hermione's 'little' crush on Charlie, ever since they had met at the Quidditch World Cup those years ago, she had always wondered when either of them would make a move, it was always going to be once Hermione had left Hogwarts considering Hermione had been underage when they first met and Charlie had always found it difficult to come to terms with his feelings for the bookworm because he felt like 'a dirty old pervert'. Fred and George's extendable ears certainly came in handy when you were bored and your two older brothers were home for the evening.

Ginny was proven right when after a few minutes Hermione bounced up from her seat and dashed from the room, while Harry and Ron called after her in confusion, Ginny continued to smirk into her book. Boys were always so clueless.

Hermione quickly ran up the stairs and into Ginny's room all the while will looking out for Charlie, so far so good. She pulled up the loose floor board where she had safely stored the Dragons in a protective enhancement, she gathered them up in her arms and quickly ran to Charlie's bedroom, she placed them back in the exact spot she had found them and as she stepped back to quickly admire her handy work she felt her back connect with something firm yet warm. She gulped and felt her heart beat quicken as she knew exactly who was standing behind her but she refused to turn round.

Charlie bit back a chuckle as he saw how tense Hermione had gotten, he also couldn't help but notice how nice she smelt, especially her hair, he didn't realise he had leaned in closer to get a better sense of what exactly and sighed happily as the scent of strawberry and vanilla hit his nose. After a moment or two he came to his senses and stepped back slightly. "So, are you not going to turn round and face me?"

Hermione groaned, why couldn't he have appeared after I had left the room? Slowly but surely she eventually turned round to meet his gaze, and instead of finding an angry looking Charlie glaring at her, she was surprised to find a smirking Charlie.

"And what do you think is so funny?" Hermione frowned, which made Charlie smirk more

"Oh nothing, just that the little innocent bookworm was caught in the act of returning my beloved stuffed dragons"

"And what's so funny about that?"

Charlie chuckled, "Well you always put on this act of being a good and well behaved woman but the fact I caught you putting them back obviously means you took them from her in the first place so that means your not so good after all"

Hermione scoffed, "I'm still 'good', I just had a...lapse in judgement that's all"

This time Charlie scoffed, "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

Hermione blushed, he was calling her bluff but she really didn't want to admit why she had took them in the first place. "I was dared okay? Fred and George didn't think I had the guts to do something like that, even though everything I've been through with Harry like breaking school rules, helping sneak a dragon in the middle of the night and even fighting Voldemort! They thought I couldn't steal a couple of dragons so I proved them wrong"

Charlie pursed his lips, and for a moment Hermione was relieved that he had bought the excuse but her relief was short lived. "Still not buying it Mione, are you going to tell me the truth anytime soon? Because I can stand here all day and listen to your excuses. There's plenty of time left in the day" He grinned, wiggling his eyebrows slightly at her which caught her off guard.

Hermione wasn't sure but she thought that Charlie might actually be flirting with her, she gulped as the heat returned to her face and for once she wished she had listened to Ginny when she tried to teach her to control her poker face. "If you don't want to buy it, that's fine but that's what happened"

Charlie took a step forward which made Hermione took a step back so her back was against the wall, he was so close to her that she could feel his body heat radiating through her. "No, I don't think that is what happened" He whispered as he played with a stray soft curl in her hair, the unsuspecting movement caught Hermione by surprise and her knees suddenly turned to jelly. How could one person cause a reaction like this? It wasn't possible.

Hermione eventually caved, she knew that the longer she made up excuses the longer that Charlie would keep her here and the longer she was in this position the more tempted she was to kiss him so if she answered his question she just hoped she could make a run for it. "Fine, you win alright!"

Charlie jumped slightly as she raised her voice, pulling him out of the trance he was in while he watched her thinking, you could practically see the cogs in her head and he found it so fascinating. "What?"

"You win. I wasn't put up to stealing the dragons by Fred, George or anyone for that matter! I stole the dragons because...because..." Hermione felt so afraid to admit this, she didn't know what would happen after she did but she just hoped that it wouldn't make things awkward. "Because I wanted you to notice me, ok?!"

Charlie froze, did he hear her right?

Hermione felt herself deflate, the look on his face said it all. "Forget I said anything Charlie. I'm sorry, you know I am. All your dragons are back in their exact position. I shouldn't have done it in the first place, I mean I'm a grown woman I should have came and spoke to you like a normal person would, but I'm not good with dealing with romantic feelings for someone, so I resorted back to acting like a school girl with a crush on someone and doing something ridiculous to get their attention. I mean, its really okay if you don't feel the same-"

Hermione was suddenly cut off by the feeling of lips upon hers, her eyes widened for just a moment before she let herself relax into the kiss. This moment was what she had dreamt of and more. The feeling of butterflies and fireworks was an understatement. The feeling of Charlie's lips on hers and the way his hands fit perfectly on her waist made her toes curl. She felt so happy she could burst. It was everything she had hoped for and more.

"IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME!'

Charlie and Hermione jumped apart and turned towards the door to find Ginny, Fred and George standing there, smiling like the Cheshire Cats.

"Thank god you two finally got some sense into yourselves and kissed before we made you. The tension was driving us insane" Fred winked

"Yeah if I had to listen to Charlie whine on and on about his feelings for Hermione one more time I was going to lock myself in Azkaban" George smirked

Ginny shook her head at her two brothers before turning her attention to Charlie and Hermione, "I'm happy for you both, you deserve each other and happiness. I just find it funny that all it took was Hermione turning into her 14 year old self again to make it finally happen"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Goodbye you three" And with that she shut the door on their audience before turning back to Charlie, a small smile on her face. "Feelings for me?"

It was Charlie's turn to blush, he scratched the back of his neck and averted his gaze so he didn't have to look her in the eye. "Yeah...Well...I..." He was cut off this time by Hermione kissing him, he gladly fell into the kiss again and found that he didn't mind if he kissed Hermione for the rest of his life. She could even keep stealing his stuffed dragons if it ended up like this every time they were put back.

Those pesky dragons would always be his good luck charms.