Chapter 1: Second Year

Maybe it had happened quickly, or maybe it was something that had slowly happened over the years. Either way Molly Weasley saw a change in her son Charlie that could only be explained one way.

Love.

Charlie had lived in Romania for almost ten years, and in that time his family had sent him numerous letters and pictures of their lives including but not limited to the amount of trouble the twins got themselves into, Bill falling in love with a veela who coincidentally their mum and sister loathed according to their own letters, Percy being Percy and abandoning everyone, and of course his youngest brother attaching himself to the Chosen One and finding trouble wherever he went.

So visiting for Christmas was always an event.

He had made it home for the hols every year since he left the country as it was the only time he got to spend with his family and the week he got with them meant everything.

Of course the letters were a way for his siblings to confess things they would never tell their mother or each other in some cases and it was all judgement-free which was brilliant for them and it helped Charlie stay in their lives. So when Ginny sent him an owl saying that Harry Potter had come to their house he was more than shocked.

And when he arrived to the Burrow for Christmas as Harry was sitting by the fire he could have collapsed. Of course, his mum was there to catch him in a bonecrushing hug.

Everyone was there, Ginny jumped into his arms just like when she was little followed by the loving hugs from each of his brothers.

"Charlie I'd like to introduce you to Ron's friends, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger." With the way she said each of their names it was obvious that Molly Weasley had already decided that they would be family one way or another.

There was no mistaking the Boy Wonder with his green eyes and black hair covering the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. "Nice to meet you." He said sticking out his small hand to shake Charlie's much larger one.

The girl, who must have been Hermione did the same. "Pleasure." He said to both of them, but for once all eyes were not on the boy everyone said would save the wizarding world, Charlie was too busy taking in the sight of his youngest siblings friend.

Her hair was bushy, that much had been made clear to him through letters but up close it was just curly and natural. Untamed. Her eyes were a mixture of cocoa and gold creating an effect with her iris' that was entrancing, the pools of color held his attention for much longer than he cared to admit before breaking away to take his belongings upstairs.

She was only twelve or thirteen, but there was so much more to her than anyone else could know. Eyes told so much about a person and that was something Charlie had learned from working with dragons for so long. Their eyes told stories, pain, love, contempt, anger, and age. It was hard to lie when everything was right there.

Sitting down on the dusty bed in the room he shared with Bill Charlie took stock of the items hanging around. There were books placed neatly on the shelf next to his bed, a toy dragon perched on his headboard ready to pounce at anyone who came near, and his quidditch stuff laid neatly on the floor. It was a room of someone who had left.

Without knocking the twins entered and sat across from him on Bill's bed. "Ron has a crush."

"On sweet, innocent, too smart for her own good Hermione."

Charlie blinked at his brothers, they had always finished each others sentences and it was odd at times but once they had started it was something you got used to. "Okay?"

"Well, we have spent the last few months with them and we've already decided that she is far too good for someone like Ickle Ronniekins."

They can't be serious. "I'm not going to play matchmaker with a pair of twelve year olds."

"It's not matchmaker per se."

"As much as un-matching." The matching grins were slightly infuriating. "See, mum has it in her head that the two of them would make a grand couple, but Ron's always going to be a prat. Don't roll your eyes like that Char you know it as well as we do. Hermione has already shown herself to be an amazing witch."

Going into detail with how the three of them had found the Sorcerer's Stone in their first year after fighting off a fully grown mountain troll and Harry getting rid of You-Know-Who and his catalyst astounded Charlie. That was only in their first year.

"Imagine what she could do when her powers are fully developed."

"She's being called the brightest witch of her age. And they're not wrong."

To hear the twins commend someone for their brains was something that did not happen often if at all. They admitted that they were brilliant until they turned blue in the face, but for someone else to be just as intelligent and a few years younger than them was cause to look into.

"I won't be a part of this. I'm all the way in Romania as it is so there's nothing that I can do except through letters." Their smiles didn't falter. "I'll leave this up to you."

Ushering the two out of his room and down the stairs, Charlie joined the rest of his family in the sitting room before dinner was ready.

"How're you liking Hogwarts Ginny?" His little sister looked paler than usual, but that could be explained with homesickness.

"I like it, charms is pretty cool."

"What about you Ron?"

The youngest boy shrugged before making a move in wizard's chess against Bill, the one person he could never beat. "It's alright I guess. Bloody Snape already hates us for no reason."

"I wouldn't call you making faces at him behind his back 'not a reason' Ron." Everyone stared at Hermione as she spoke, Ron said that she could be bossy at times but it was just funny to hear her call his transgressions out in front of their mother.

When dinner was called everyone scrambled to the kitchen and squeezed into the benches surrounding the table. Charlie, being stocky and all muscle that he was somehow stuck between little Hermione and Bill who thankfully was one of the leaner Weasley's so he didn't have to encroach too much in Hermione's space.

"Ron says you work with dragons."

Her eyes were filled with curiosity, his mum hated the fact that he worked with such dangerous animals but his siblings all thought it was wicked. Hermione just seemed to want to know more. "In Romania. Do you like dragons?"

"I'm not sure yet. I've seen some of them in books and they're really gorgeous, though I'm not sure I'd want to be up close to one." Her nose wrinkled thinking about the danger but her eyes were still glittering.

"It takes a lot of training to be able to handle something like that. And you're never alone so someone is always there to watch your back and vice versa."

A roll flew at Charlie's chest causing his mashed potatoes to fly off the fork and right back to his plate. "Oi! Stop boring her about your bloody dragons."

"She asked me about them first!" Throwing the roll back and watching as it split into two Charlie started laughing as each part hit a twin in the head. "I didn't do it." He defended as his mother stared the three of them down in turns.

Everyone at the table was laughing but Hermione was fidgeting a bit and when Charlie looked down she was pocketing her wand. Realizing she was caught Hermione blushed but Charlie just winked and went back to eating his dinner.

Later that night, after everyone had gone to bed Hermione was sitting by the fire reading a thick book before the embers all went out.

"Thought I'd find you down here." The voice startled her but realizing it was only Charlie coming down the steps slowly relaxed her.

"First day you've met me and I'm already predictable?"

She chuckled a bit sadly as he sank down to the ground with her. "I've heard a lot about you, know you like to read so I figured you would be down here." He pulled his knees to his chest and stared down to her, his blue eyes flickering with the dying embers. "I wanted to give this to you so you could read it, it's one of my favorite books on dragons. Since you seemed interested earlier I thought you might enjoy it."

"That's really sweet Charlie, thank you."

"I'll let you get back to your reading, see you in the morning."

Hermione watched as he retreated up the stairs, his mesh shorts framing his legs nicely and his very worn Gryffindor quidditch jersey hugging his arms.

Having almost been done the book she was reading Hermione finished the last seventy-five pages in less than an hour before picking up the books Charlie had given her. The spine was broken in a way that only happened when a book was read over and over again, the cover had Charlie's name scrawled inside in sloppy handwriting that reminded her of Ron's.

The book started off discussing the different types of dragons, where they were located, and their differences. Each chapter went into more detail and even though it was a short book Hermione couldn't put it down. When she finished the last chapter she immediately closed the book and rolled over on the couch to sleep.

When she woke up the next morning there was a blanket covering her and the book was gone.

"Good morning deary." Mrs. Weasley patted the birds nest of hair crowning Hermione's face. "You should probably go get a shower before the boys are all up. Breakfast will be ready when you get out." With a wink Molly went into the kitchen and Hermione pattered up the rickety stairs to the bathroom for a shower to wake up.

The hot water did wonders for the kinks in her neck that had accumulated from sleeping on the couch all night but it didn't do anything to tell her where she had placed Charlie's book. Letting her thoughts run wild for a little bit longer than usual Hermione finished her shower quickly and wrapped a towel tightly around her body. It was still early so none of the boys would be awake to see her walking through the house naked so she felt secure in wearing the fluffy white terry cloth and carrying her clothes to Ginny's room.

Until she opened the door of course.

Charlie was just walking through his bedroom door as Hermione emerged from the steam filled room, he was still dressed in the shorts and jersey from the night before but now his feet were covered in muddy socks where she assumed trainers had been. But he didn't notice her, it looked as though he was returning from a run with the sweat accumulating on his shirt but there was no time to ask him before he closed the door quietly behind him.

Ginny was still dead to the world and stretched out on the bed her red hair half covering her face. Hermione got dressed as silently as possible before drying her hair as much as she could with the damp towel, when she walked over to the cot set up for her to grab the jumper she threw on it there was a book lying underneath it.

I noticed you finished the book I gave you last night. Here's another one. - Charlie

The mystery of the missing book was solved and Hermione felt much better knowing that she hadn't actually lost the book after all. Tucking the note between the pages and pulling the jumper over her head Hermione made her way to the kitchen where bacon was sizzling in a pan and Molly was humming a tune to herself.

That week that Charlie was home the boys played quidditch nearly every day, except of course on Christmas.

When they woke on Christmas morning it was because the twins had run into everyone's room jumping on the bed in an attempt to fill the Burrow with Christmas spirit. The tradition was that everyone wore their pajamas to open gifts and for breakfast before dressing for the day, so pulling on a shirt Charlie followed his brothers down the stairs and situated himself in front of the fire before anyone else could claim the spot.

Spending so much time in Romania meant that he had gotten used to the warmth the sun provided him every day and while in the beginning it had been too hot now Britain was too chilly.

Fred and George looked as though they had stayed up all night in anticipation and already were starting to sort through gifts starting a pile in front of the family members already there.

Ron and Harry were the second to last pair to arrive followed closely by Ginny pulling a still half-asleep Hermione down along with her.

"Why don't you sit in front of the fire dear?" Molly asked pointing to the spot next to Charlie. "That will wake you up." Ron tried to move to sit next to her as well but Harry had already taken the spot. Maybe Fred and George had tried to recruit him in their un-matching too.

The gifts continued to be divided and even Harry and Hermione had a small pile in front of them. Once there were no more gifts under the tree everyone started ripping the paper off the parcels revealing items that matched each child exactly.

"What is this?" Hermione asked holding up a quill that was purple.

"Oh that's from us, something we invented just for you Granger."

Immediately she looked frantic that it would explode in her hand or turn her hand green. "It never runs out of ink no matter how much you use it," George explained. "And there are two different colors you can use, black and green, in case you needed to make separate notes or edit something."

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at either the twins or Hermione trying to gauge reactions. The quill was still gingerly held between her thumb and index finger as she too tried to determine whether they were serious and after a moment her lips turned up in a smile. "That's brilliant."

Ron's mouth fell open in surprise displaying the half chewed chocolate frog before Harry pushed his jaw back up, Molly and Arthur looked proud for once of the twins inventions but continued opening gifts.

Everyone had gotten a Weasley sweater from Molly, even Hermione and Harry who stared at it like it was the most precious thing he ever owned before pulling it over the unruly black hair. His was made with Gryffindor colors while Hermione was maroon and a grey H.

Charlie received another pair of dragon hide gloves and a Chudley Cannon's jersey among other innocuous things while Hermione mostly got books, Ginny got a bracelet, Ron and Harry got candy, the twins got quidditch stuff as well, and Bill got new dress robes for work. Everyone had chipped in to get their parents something nice this year and the weekend trip they would be taking to Cork in Ireland was overshadowed by Arthur also receiving a bag of plugs and Molly opening up three new cooking spell books.

It was always the simple things that his parents appreciated more than the grand gestures, it made Charlie love them more and obviously Hermione was proud of herself for what he assumed were ideas she had given his brothers.

Christmas had always been Charlie's favorite time of year but this Christmas his already large family seemed to adopt two new members and he was happy with the change.