Author's Note: In celebration of my birthday today (I'm so old now, but don't let ANYONE tell you that you have to give up your nerdy little hobbies just because you're an adult. That's none of their business.), I am updating all of my current WIPs throughout today and even debuting the first chapter of a new one I have been working quietly on in the background. Please feel free to Follow/Subscribe me to get all of the updates.

Chapter Four

Hermione

For weeks following the incident in the Ministry stairwell, Hermione avoided Charlie whenever possible. Being on the same Level made the task that much more difficult, but she was determined. What happened that day couldn't happen again. They had taken too many risks for just a little bit of pleasure.

She was mortified that they were nearly caught. What would have happened in they were? His face was nearly between her thighs. There was no simple explanation that could've saved them or their reputations. No matter who caught them the news would've been all over the Ministry in no time. Juicy gossip had a way of flying through nosy workplaces. She might have had to quit the job she loved, if she wasn't outright sacked. Imagining the scandal was too much for her mind to bear.

The only sensible course of action was to stay as far away from the handsome wizard as physically possible. History had proven she could not trust herself where he was concerned. She had been tempted to pull up her skirt and let him take her right there in the stairwell, damn the consequences or the potential audience. A witch could lose her mind where Charlie Weasley was concerned. Everything that transpired in his parents' attic was further proof of that.

Three full weeks had gone by and she was only just beginning to feel like herself again. What possessed her to ever think entering into some casual sexual arrangement with him would ever work? Clearly she needed to make more of an effort of getting out of her office to meet other men. Any other man would probably do. Despite their offices being just a short distance apart, she had been successful in not finding herself alone with him again. Likely he felt the same way and was trying just as hard to avoid her as well. Was it a mistake to climb up that damn ladder to meet him in the attic?

She worked a lot. Some would even say she worked far too much, but she tried to ignore the negative voices. How was it their business how she chose to live her life as long as she wasn't hurting anybody? Far too many people thought they had a right to an opinion about her life. Maddening really. Most days she was the first one in the office and nearly always the last one to leave. She took her job very seriously. The amount of research she had to complete alone was enough to keep her busy long after most of the other Ministry officials made their way home.

Friday nights weren't any different to her way of thinking. They were just another day of the week. Once again she found herself alone on her Level still fully engrossed in a proposal that consumed her every waking thought. When she wasn't obsessing over Charlie's calloused hands, that was. A soft knock on her office's doorframe startled her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Kingsley waiting just outside her door. Glad to see him, she waved him inside with a bright smile he gladly returned.

"It's awfully late for you to still be here, Kingsley. What keeps the Minister so busy?"

They had become good friends in the years since the war, especially once she started working in the Ministry after leaving Hogwarts. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence for him to drop by her office. She enjoyed the visits. He needed no encouragement to take the seat across from her desk.

"I was finishing up my preparations for my visit to MACUSA next week. I thought I would check to see if you were still here. And if you were, as I suspected you might, invite you to dinner."

He was such a thoughtful man that she couldn't help but smile again at his answer. Leave it to Kingsley to worry that she was working too late to remember to eat. What other powerful Minister for Magic would care? She highly doubted Cornelius Fudge would check on her the same way if a series of miracles managed to allow him to retain his old position.

"That's very kind of you, but I'm afraid I'm not ready to call it a night just yet. If I don't finish this draft of this proposal before I go home tonight, I know I'll be unable to enjoy my weekend."

The smile on his handsome face slipped for a moment before his years of practiced diplomacy kicked back in. It happened so quickly Hermione couldn't be sure she saw what she did.

"All right then. I just thought I'd ask."

Kingsley stood up from the chair.

"Perhaps another time."

"Enjoy your trip to New York. It sounds terribly fascinating."

His smile returned with a little more force.

"Maybe you can join me next time. These official visits can be frightfully tedious, but I imagine it would be more fun together."

"That sounds lovely. I'd like that."

With a little more bounce in his step, Kingsley extracted a promise from her that she wouldn't work too late before leaving. Hermione was worried about the wizard. No matter how hard he tried to hide it, he always seemed a bit lonely. His position meant he didn't have many close friends. It was sad really. Somehow she managed to get her mind back on her work though more than once her thoughts returned to Kingsley. He had been acting funny around her in recent months. Why? She didn't have the first clue.

It was almost nine o'clock when she finally decided to call it a night. Or rather her stomach did. Unable to ignore the growling, she realized she had forgotten to eat again. Perhaps joining Kingsley for dinner wasn't the worst idea. Knowing without a doubt that she would find nothing edible in her own flat, once she cleared off her desk she made the decision to go to the Leaky Cauldron and find out what Tom had on special.

The popular tavern was crowded as could be expected on a Friday night. Hermione went straight up to the bar hoping to find a stool empty with no luck. A little frustrated, she turned to scan the room to see if there might be a table available. At once her eyes locked onto Charlie's. Seated alone at a table meant for two, it was too late to pretend like she hadn't seen him. She might have been willing to be rude and run away if Charlie hadn't lifted his hand up to wave her over.

"I'll send your order to the table it's ready."

Tom must have thought he was being kind. No matter. She knew she could handle a conversation with the wizard she had been trying to avoid in public. With so many witnesses on all sides, it wasn't as if she was in real danger of repeating what happened in the Ministry stairwell, right?

Charlie offered her a cheeky grin when she sat down. Or was she looking more into the smile than was really there? A guilty conscience could make a person see what wasn't really there. It was as uncomfortable as she knew it would be to return to Charlie's presence. After their meeting in the stairwell, she'd been humiliated by how reckless they'd been. What would've happened if they had been caught? She couldn't stop imagining the worst-case scenario. It would've been an enormous scandal.

"You've been avoiding me. Why?"

His tone was teasing. Clearly he was in an excellent mood and not at all nervous about seeing her again. She noticed his half-empty glass of fire whiskey and wondered if that was the culprit of his confidence. If so, she wanted a glass at least twice as large.

"No, I haven't."

"Oh? Then why did you walk into the Ministry canteen last week, see me, and run back out?"

"I'd forgotten a very important meeting."

It was a complete lie, of course. His amused grin told her he knew it was too.

"And the day you got off the lift moments after I got on?"

"I had to rush back to my office. I forgot something."

His loud laughter drew a smile out of her against her will. At least he was having some fun with their terribly uncomfortable discussion. Part of her was ready to run out of the Leaky Cauldron and starve to death. It would've been easier.

"I wasn't aware you were so forgetful… or such a bloody terrible liar."

There was no heat behind his statement. He found her amusing. She couldn't help but laugh at his facial expression and the fact that he'd caught her in a very obvious lie.

"Okay, all right? Yes, I have been avoiding you."

"Why?"

"Because clearly when you're around, I lose all sense of common decency and just let you in my knickers in places we can get caught."

It wasn't necessary to ask him where his mind travelled after she made her statement. If he was anything at all like her, he was recalling the last few moments in the stairwell before they were interrupted. The way he dropped to his knees in front of her and pulled her knickers down never failed to make her squirm in place when she remembered. He'd been so close to putting his sinful mouth to such good use. If she ever discovered just who the inconsiderate bastard was who refused to use the lift that day, she would be tempted to find a number of creative ways to hurt them. So engrossed was she in her recollection of the disappointments of the past, she didn't even notice Charlie scoot his chair close enough to hers to whisper in her ear.

"Sounds like you should spend more time with me, not less."

She couldn't deny that she wanted to see him again even if logically it seemed like a terrible idea. Being with Charlie was far more exciting than she could've imagined. There had been passion in her life before the night in the attic, but somehow it was all very different. She didn't know how exactly. Maybe she had always been far too quick to obsess about the future when she had been with other wizards. A definite pattern existed of her ruining the present by dwelling too much about what had yet to happen, what might not even happen that she had been unable to enjoy the moment. Was that how Charlie was different? She never thought about the disappointments that were bound to come when she was alone with him. Mostly she just thought about his tongue and where she longed to feel it. She suddenly felt far more bolder than she had any right to feel.

"Maybe we should see what happens when we're alone somewhere no one can walk in on us."

"Somewhere like your flat?"

"It's a very nice one."

"I'm sure it is."

Tom chose that exact moment to arrive with her promised dinner. Before he could return to the bar after placing a steaming roast dinner in front of Hermione, Charlie ordered two more glasses of fire whiskey for them and requested the bill. Alone once more, Charlie winked at his companion.

"All right then. Tuck in because you're going to need your strength. You don't have a flatmate, do you?"

She shook her head.

"Good. Audiences haven't always bothered me, but the constant banging of a fist on the bedroom wall can fuck with a bloke's concentration."

Few meals in Hermione's life passed so quickly and so painfully slow at the same time. Knowing what would be coming as soon as she dragged the wizard back to her flat, the temptation to leave with her plate still nearly full was compelling. Only Charlie's remark about needing her strength kept her chewing. Fuel was important. It would do no good for either of them if she became too tired to continue. Their arrangement had an expiration date. How disappointing would it be to not take full advantage if that was their one and only opportunity to be truly alone?

Fire whiskey filled her belly with a pleasant warmth. Galleons were hastily removed from Charlie's pocket and tossed on the table. Before she could allow the logical side of her brain to fully take over to remind her she was being foolish, she grasped his hand in hers to drag him out the back door. If anyone in the bustling tavern caught that gesture or the determined look in her eye, they would know without reservation just what devious acts she was about to commit. For once she didn't care what anyone thought. Rita Skeeter herself could fill the front page of the next day's Daily Prophet with scurrilous lies and innuendos and Hermione would only laugh. Let the entire world be jealous of her for one night.

Just outside near the entrance to Diagon Alley, Hermione tightened her grip on Charlie to pull him into the wizarding district. There were times she wished she didn't live so close to the heart of wizarding society in London, but that night she was grateful that the walk to the flat she let above Sugarplum's Sweets Shop wasn't very far to walk. She was anxious to see to what depraved depths that night would drop to. More than once on the short journey, Charlie had to drag her into a dark corner for a searing kiss or a whispered promise of what was to come. In front of the darkened windows of the Magical Menagerie, she had a legitimate fear that they weren't even going to make it to her flat. She put both of her hands on his firm chest to push him away.

"Stop. Much more of that and we'll be back in the same position we were in in the stairwell."

"I liked that position in the stairwell."

"Of course you did."

His snort of laughter made her smile despite remembering the most frustrating part of that entire ordeal.

"As I recall, you were a very good boy and came for me just when I told you to."

The deep groan that came out of the wizard's mouth was half-feral. Ignoring the hands she hadn't yet removed from his chest, he used his larger frame to press hers against the closed door to the popular pet shop. Her breath caught in her throat. His mouth sought out the sensitive flesh at her neck, dragging his tongue along to forget they were technically still in public. She made no effort to hide her moan.

"I would've kept going, you know. You were the one who pushed me away."

"Of course I did. We were nearly caught."

"I didn't care. We could've let him watch. He probably would've quite liked watching you come all over my face."

Her cheeks burned at his words. Would he really have kept going if she hadn't insisted they stop and immediately parted ways? The thought was delightfully naughty but she didn't really believe he was serious. His own father and one of his brothers worked in that building. It wouldn't have taken any time at all before his mother knew what he had been up to when he was supposed to have been working. Now that would've been the real scandal.

"Were you uncomfortable that day? I got to come, but you didn't. Was it miserable? Did you spend all day cursing that damned wizard or did you take care of yourself in the ladies'?"

No, she'd been positively unbearable for the rest of the workday until she could get home to release the pressure that he was responsible for building up. If there was anyone she wanted to curse that day, it was Charlie Weasley. She wouldn't admit it though. He would take far too much pride in knowing the power he could wield over her whenever he wished.

"I would never do that while I was at the office. What sort of witch do you take me for?"

His soft laughter held a great deal of promise.

"Oh, so it was perfectly all right for your hand to be in my pants but not in your own?"

"No, nothing we did that day was all right. We were deviant, reckless."

"Not nearly enough."

A gasp escaped Hermione's mouth that Charlie quickly captured with his mouth. She'd been so focused on his lips against her neck and the dirty words that were coming out of them that she didn't notice his hand slipping down the waistband of her skirt. How was he so sneaky? His fingers were just as devious as his tongue. He slid them inside her knickers without bothering to ask for permission. Not in a thousand years would she deny him his goal, not when she ached for even the slightest touch. His middle finger dipped straight into her slit, drawing another moan out of her as he traced her from back to front and then back again without pausing.

"You're already so wet for me I could rip your knickers off and fuck you right up against this door, couldn't I?"

She couldn't deny what was quite obviously the truth. Yes, she was almost to the point where she would let him do just that right there in the middle of an almost deserted Diagon Alley where anyone could've easily walked up on them at any second. His finger moved with purpose creating the perfect amount of friction to make stars appear in her vision. He paid close attention to where her breath caught or she couldn't fight off a moan to use to his advantage. Just when she thought she was on the verge of complete madness, his hand abruptly stopped. If he was being cheeky to torture her, she would make him pay for that dearly. He moved his lips from hers to rest just outside her ear to whisper.

"We're going to play a game now. I'm going to do everything in my power to make you scream, but you can't scream because someone might come running and find us."

The man was evil incarnate. That was the only suitable explanation. She didn't have time to agree to his terms. Before she could even open her mouth to make any sort of comment, Charlie was on his knees just like he'd been the day they were nearly caught. And also like that day weeks earlier, he used one hand to push up her skirt and the other to pull down her knickers. She didn't have even a moment to consider the full consequences of their reckless behavior before he pulled her left leg over his right shoulder. The shops in the wizarding district might have been closed, but the Alley was far from empty.

Only one lick of his practice tongue was required to make her no longer give a damn. Let the entire city walk up on them as long as he didn't stop. If she had only known what it would have felt like to have Charlie's face between her thighs, she would've gladly remained in the stairwell to give the unsuspecting wizard a show he wouldn't forget. He knew what he was doing. That much was evident within the first few moments when she nearly lost the game by screaming out his name. As competitive as she could be, she didn't think it would be the worst way to lose. The reminder that he was the sort to tease her relentlessly later about losing was the encouragement she needed to bite her tongue.

She couldn't tell how much time passed before her legs were shaking and she had to cover her mouth with her hand to remain quiet. Likely only an embarrassingly short time had gone by. He would probably tease her later, encourage her to come more often so as not to seem too wound up in the future. It was impossible to worry too much riding her explosive orgasm out on his tongue. He never stopped until her tremors subsided and she was on the verge of falling onto the pavement.

"Where is your flat?"

Teasing and playing was over. She could see he meant serious business when she dated to look back down at his face. In a reversal of his movements a short time before, he had her knickers back up and her skirt back down. Charlie stood to his full height, grabbed her hand, and repeated his question about the location of her home one more time to bring her back to reality. Unable, or perhaps unwilling, to wait any longer, Hermione dragged him a short distance further down the Alley ignoring the weakness in her legs. An unmarked door just next to the main door of the sweets shop opened at the first tap of her wand. The narrow staircase might have been an arduous climb if she didn't have so much to look forward to when they reached her flat.

"I need to be back inside of you again, Hermione. So help me I'll take you right here on these stairs if you don't hurry up."

No further encouragement was necessary to get her to all but fly up to the top of the staircase. Another tap of her wand on her flat door opened to allow them both inside. She didn't bother to keep pulling him behind her as she crossed the lounge towards her bedroom. He would follow. The trail of clothes she left behind her would ensure he wouldn't get lost.

Not even a single stocking remained on her body when she reached the edge of her bed. Knowing exactly how she wanted him to take her next, Hermione crawled on top of the mattress staying on her hands and knees. A strangled groan from the doorway was all the evidence she needed to know Charlie appreciated what he was seeing. She looked over her shoulder to give him an imitation of his own cheeky grin he'd worn several times that night. Never before had she seen a man strip out of all of his clothes so quickly.

His hands weren't gentle when he grabbed her hips from behind. She didn't want them to be. Let the tender touches be saved for the poor souls who imagined they were in love with each other. All she wanted was to be fucked, fucked hard and by someone who knew how. That wasn't going to be a problem with Charlie. One thrust filled her up nearly to the point of pain. He kept one hand on her hip to keep him balanced but used the other to grab a fistful of her curls. She gasped at the perfect mixture of pleasure and pain.

"How many times do you think you can come?"

No one had ever asked her that nor did they seem to even care. She gave him the answer she wanted to be true and hoped he would agree.

"As many times as you want to make me."

"Perfect answer."

He sped up determined to waste no more time.

Charlie

It was sometime in the middle of the night when Charlie woke up. The flat was silent except for the quiet, steady breathing coming out of the exhausted, thoroughly satiated witch asleep next to him. He didn't even try to keep his prideful smile off his lips. What was the point? He'd performed exceptionally if he had to say so himself. Hermione's incoherent screams and babbling confirmed it too. If he'd ever had a more passionate night, he couldn't remember it. Or perhaps more likely, he was only trying to suppress those memories better left undisturbed.

Every muscle in his body seemed to cry out to his amusement. It had been too long since he was that physical. A repeat of that night needed to happen sooner rather than later. He was half-tempted to reach for her again to see if he could add another tally to his list. Not that either one of them had been able to keep an accurate count. How could they? There had been more important things to think about instead.

When his eyes threatened to close again, Charlie knew he needed to get up. A short nap was fine. Spending the night was not. That wasn't part of their agreement. As carefully as he could to not jostle the bed and wake Hermione up, he put his feet on the floor to start the tedious task of searching for his clothes.

"Leaving already?"

He was in the middle of pulling his trousers up when he heard her voice coming from the bed. She had been watching him move around the room without him realizing. There was just enough light from the street lamps outside streaming in the window for him to see the sheet covering the sleepy witch had fallen to leave the top half of her body exposed to his eager gaze. He wanted to drop the trousers back to the floor and cover her perfect breasts with his mouth until neither of them could keep their eyes open. But that was wrong. He had to remind both of them what was really going on.

"This is still just sex, remember? No sleepovers."

Hermione nodded her head and rolled over onto her other side to show him her back.

"Try not to make too much noise when you leave."

Charlie was glad she didn't try to convince him to stay. That was far too complicated. Doing just as she asked, he made a quiet escape from her flat. Minutes later he stood in front of his own front door. Naively he assumed once he was in the comfort of his own bed he would have no trouble falling asleep again.

Life didn't always work like that sadly. As he tried to find a comfortable position, his eyes kept drifting to the empty side of his bed. It felt so cold and empty, a visual mockery of his own life. Eventually, he managed to fall asleep with thoughts of Hermione on his mind. Did she have any trouble falling back asleep after he left?