A/N: Chapter 2 is finally here after a very long struggle to write this chapter. With so little seen of Charlie in the books, a lot of this was guesswork on my part. I was stuck on one moment for ages before I decided to write the last few and come back to it. In the end, I cut it completely! Bill is up next, so I should hopefully have an easier time of it.

Thanks to Arnel for picking up on all my mistakes and for positive feedback. It is always much appreciated.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own, nor have I ever owned Harry Potter.

Charlie stepped into the kitchen to find his mum cooking breakfast.

"Morning, Mum."

"Good morning, Charlie," she replied as she began serving up a plate of food for him.

Taking a seat at the table, Charlie was pleased to see his mum didn't appear to be stressed out about the final preparations for the wedding that was to take place this afternoon.

"Thanks, Mum," Charlie said as Molly placed a plate of food in front of him.

"When you're done with your breakfast, I am going to need to start getting everything set up," Molly told him as she went back to preparing the breakfast for the many people staying at The Burrow.

Charlie could only nod as he took a mouthful of bacon.

He still couldn't believe his baby sister was getting married today and to the man she had claimed, as a little girl, she would marry one day. The idea that Ginny's dream had come true still amazed him, but he also knew that he'd not had the luxury of seeing the couple fall in love as his siblings and parents had. Even so, just the few moments he had been able to witness of the two together was enough to know that Harry and Ginny belonged together.

HP&GW

December 1991…

"So, what is this I hear about you seeing the Boy Who Lived at Kings Cross?" Charlie asked as he sat down next to his sister on the sofa.

He was pleased that he wouldn't have to spend his first Christmas in Romania alone. He had made friends at the Dragon Sanctuary, but it wouldn't have been the same as celebrating Christmas with his family.

"How did you know?" Ginny demanded to know. "Did Mum tell you?"

Charlie chuckled at his sister's response to the innocent question.

"Of course, Mum told me. Who else would have written to me to tell me that your dream of meeting Harry Potter came true?"

"But I didn't meet him!" she protested. "Not really. I didn't speak to him, but I did see him! He was lost and didn't know how to get on to the platform."

Charlie had been told the whole story of what happened the day his mum and Ginny had taken his younger brothers to Kings Cross to catch the Hogwarts Express. However, he was happy to indulge his sister as she told him her version of that day's events. As he and Bill had been the ones to tell her stories of the Boy Who Lived while they still lived at home, it seemed only fair that he listen to actual stories about him.

"I even waved to goodbye to him, Charlie," Ginny told him happily before her mood changed. "He seemed so sad. His family didn't come to see him off, Charlie. I didn't like that they were not there. Do you think maybe the Muggles don't like him?"

He didn't immediately respond as he remembered his mum's words. She had been concerned about the fact that his relatives were not with him and how his clothes appeared too big for him. While his mum had not stated in any term that she thought that Harry Potter was mistreated by his Muggle relatives, Charlie felt it was something that had crossed her mind as he read between the lines. However, he did not want to upset his sister with those sorts of thoughts, especially when he had no evidence to back up his words.

"I don't know, Ginny," Charlie said as he chose his next words carefully. "Perhaps they didn't want to come onto the platform as it can be very overwhelming for Muggles who are not used to having magic in their daily lives. It can be just as overwhelming for witches and wizards to venture out into the Muggle world as well."

"Maybe, but I don't think they like him very much," Ginny responded with a determined look on her face. "Ron wrote to Mum at the beginning of December and asked if she could make Harry a Christmas present, saying he had never had any presents before."

Charlie looked over to where his father was sat in hopes he would confirm what the youngest Weasley had said. His dad nodded in confirmation, much to Charlie's shock. Perhaps the Boy Who Lived's home life was not as good as many hoped it had been.

"I helped Mum pick out the colours for his jumper," Ginny continued without waiting for a response from her brother. "I wanted him to have nicer colours than Ron has for his jumper!"

Charlie couldn't help the chuckle that slipped from his lips. Their mum always seemed to insist on making his youngest brother a maroon-coloured jumper every year for Christmas.

"What colours did you choose?"

"Mum and I settled on emerald green," his sister proudly told him. "The same colour as his eyes!"

Charlie noticed her eyes appeared to glaze over as Ginny mentioned the colour of Harry's eyes. It seemed that just one brief meeting with the boy she had long had a crush on had only served to intensify it.

"I hope he likes the jumper," Ginny said as she came out of whatever daydream she had been having.

"I am sure he will," Charlie told her confidently. "It's one of Mum's jumpers, how could he not like it? Especially when she had help from you!"

Ginny blushed in response, something that was unusual for her as she was not the type to be easily embarrassed. That alone made him wonder just how his sister would be around the Boy Who Lived when she finally met him properly.

HP&GW

July 1993…

"I'll stay with Ginny, Mum," Charlie offered, breaking up the argument the two witches had been having over his mum's refusal to let his youngest sibling enter the final tomb that Bill had taken them to visit.

"No, Charlie, you go ahead," his mum responded. "I don't want you to miss out on seeing it."

"Yet it is ok for me to miss out on seeing it?" Ginny complained.

"I told you I don't want you having nightmares from whatever is in there. You have had enough nightmares since you have come home from school!"

Ginny froze in shock at their mum's words before turning and running off away from the entrance of the tomb.

"I'll go after her, Mum," Charlie told his mum as she remained frozen to the spot, upset with herself for what she had just said to her daughter.

He didn't wait for a reply, not wanting Ginny to get lost, and shot off in the direction that his sister had run. Luckily, she had not gone far, just enough to distance herself from their mum. She sat on the floor with her knees pulled against her chest and her head buried in them.

"Ginny?"

"Go away, Charlie!"

"I can't do that. I am not going to leave you alone when you are this upset, especially when we are in a foreign country that we don't know all that well."

Charlie sat down next down to his sister, wrapped an arm around her shoulder and gently tugged her until she was curled up in his arms.

"You want to talk about it?" he asked quietly, not wanting to push his sister, but knowing she needed to talk about the events of her first year and her nightmares.

"I don't really remember much of what happened to me," Ginny admitted in a whisper just loud enough for Charlie to hear. "I remember using the diary, but I don't remember the things it made me do."

"Are the nightmares your mind filling in the gaps?"

"Yeah, something like that," his sister confirmed. "I know most of what happened, thanks to Harry telling Professor Dumbledore after he rescued me. It wasn't hard to piece together how the events and my blackouts connected. It's just that, when I dream of what happened, it seems so much worse than it actually was."

"Like what?" Charlie asked, suspecting that this wasn't the part that was bothering her the most.

"Instead of being Petrified, the victims were…" Ginny started, pausing to calm herself. "The victims, like Hermione, were killed by the Basilisk."

"But that didn't happen, Ginny," Charlie immediately responded, desperate to reassure her.

"I know that, Charlie! I am not stupid!" Ginny snapped. "They were all lucky that there was something there, like water, or they personally had something, like a mirror, that made it so they were not looking directly at the Basilisk."

Charlie didn't respond, fearful he had now said the wrong thing and that his sister would now refuse to talk.

"Dreaming about that isn't even the worst part of my nightmares, though," Ginny said brokenly. "It's the ones I have when I dream about what happened when Harry rescued me. Sometimes, he is too late to rescue me. Other times, he gets down there, discovers what I have done and is too disgusted by my actions that he leaves me there. The worst ones, though, are when I dream that Fawkes wasn't there to heal him after the Basilisk bit him and he dies and there is nothing I can do to help him."

Charlie didn't respond as Ginny broke down in tears again. Instead, he gathered her up in his arms and held her as she sobbed.

"Are you worried about seeing Harry, again?" Charlie asked as his sister's tears eased. "I thought he spent a fair amount of time with you at the end of last term?"

"He did, Charlie," Ginny replied as calmly as she could. "He played Exploding Snap with me, after I was released from the hospital wing. The evenings he played with me were usually the same nights I slept better. He didn't treat me any differently because of what I had done."

"Perhaps I am being ignorant here, Ginny, but I am failing to see the problem," Charlie replied carefully. "Obviously, your nightmares about what could have happened to you and how Harry responded means something more as you know Harry never would have left you down there."

"Oh, Charlie, Harry would have rescued whoever had been taken down into the chamber! It could have been a Slytherin and he still would have gone down there and rescued them. That's just who Harry is!"

"Then, what is the problem?" Charlie asked, genuinely confused about the conversation they were having now.

"I am worried about how he will treat me when we finally return to school in September!" Ginny finally confessed. "I know he spent time with me at the end of last term, but what if he was just being nice to me because he felt compelled to just because he rescued me?"

"Ok, Ginny, I am going to make this clear to you, right now," Charlie said as he tugged his sister in front of him so he could look her in the eyes, "he is a boy! Like every boy, Harry is probably just as clueless as Ron is or as I was at that age! Whatever it is you are hoping from him, you may have to wait before it actually happens. The difference between Harry and any other boy is that Harry has been through an awful lot for someone who is just about to turn thirteen. Chances are he may forget about what you have been through because he is still dealing with everything he has been through."

"I still need to apologise to him, though," Ginny argued back. "He needs to know how sorry I am for putting him in the position of needing to rescue me, for him nearly getting killed down there."

"Didn't you just tell me that Harry would have rescued whoever it was who had been taken down into the Chamber?"

Ginny's eyes widened as Charlie threw her own words back at her.

"Something tells me that he won't require any sort of apology from you," Charlie gently told his sister. "That is what I think is causing you the nightmares about what could have happened when Harry rescued you."

"That makes sense," Ginny replied with a sigh. "Thank you, Charlie."

"Now, let's go and find something fun to do, while we wait for everyone to come out of the tomb."

HP&GW

August 1994…

"So, what is this I hear about you being a better Seeker than me, Potter?" Charlie said as he took a seat next to Harry on the sofa.

He hadn't had the chance to properly get to know the boy who had saved his sister's life and was the best friend of his youngest brother. He had only heard good things about Harry, but both he and Bill had agreed to make the effort to get to know him better for the sake of their siblings.

"Who did you hear that from?" Harry said as he shook his head in amusement.

"Choose one of my siblings," Charlie responded, "and you'll have my answer!"

It was certainly true that all five of his siblings who had attended Hogwarts at some point in the past three years had nothing but praise for Harry's flying skills. The twins, in particular, like to rub it in that the black-haired wizard was even better than he had been when he had been on the Gryffindor team.

"Even Percy?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Yes, even Percy. He might not be into Quidditch the same way the rest of my siblings are, but even he cannot deny a great flyer when he sees one."

"He did make a bet with his girlfriend about the outcome of a match. Made sure to tell me I needed to catch the Snitch because he didn't have the Galleons to pay her if Gryffindor lost." Harry said with a chuckle, remembering the desperate plea Percy had made to him.

Neither spoke again for the moment as Charlie thought about how to approach talking to the younger wizard about Ginny. His sister had already lectured both himself and Bill about not badgering Harry, most specifically about not bringing up the events of her first year. However, both of them had agreed they wanted to thank him for risking his life to save her.

"I just wanted to say thank you to you, Harry," Charlie finally said, figuring it was just best to approach the subject head on, "for saving Ginny's life back in her first year."

Charlie noticed Harry's eyes flicker over to where his sister sat talking to Hermione. He didn't know if that meant anything, but it certainly showed he did notice Ginny, even if it currently weren't in the way his sister would want it to be.

"I couldn't leave her down there," Harry replied, removing his gaze from Ginny, but refusing to meet Charlie's eyes. "She would have died had I not gone into the Chamber myself. She nearly did die. She was so cold, barely breathing. It was honestly one of the worst moments of my life, seeing her lying there, not moving."

Charlie took a sharp breath in at hearing Harry's words about that awful day. It didn't matter what Ginny had told him, that Harry didn't care about her as much as Ron, as just hearing those words told him that Harry cared deeply about Ginny. It didn't matter to Charlie if it was because Ginny was his best friend's sister, a member of the Weasley family or if the younger wizard liked Ginny as an individual. The simple fact of the matter was that Harry Potter cared deeply enough about her for the day to be one of his worst memories.

HP&GW

August 1997…

Charlie moved through the crowded dancefloor towards where his sister was currently dancing with Bill. He still couldn't believe his older brother was now married and to a part-Veela of all people. However, it was even harder to believe that his sister looked so grown up in her bridesmaid dress. Ginny had grown up much more than he had expected in the three years since he had last seen her.

"May I cut in?" he asked as he reached his siblings.

"Feel free," Bill laughed as he twirled their sister into Charlie's arms.

Charlie swooped her up and spun her round before placing her back on her feet. He placed one hand on her waist, took one of her hands in his other hand and began moving them around dance floor.

"You know," Ginny said with a teasing tone, "Mum is going to start on you to find a woman to settle down with."

"Not happening, Ginny," he told her stubbornly. "I love my dragons far too much."

He looked down to see his sister's eyes twinkling with mischief.

"I don't think Mum is going to be happy when you tell her that! Unless there is something you need to tell us?"

"Ginny!" Charlie couldn't believe the cheek at what she was suggesting. He knew she was teasing him, but this really wasn't the time or place for that sort of joking.

They continued to move across the dancefloor, with Charlie twirling and spinning Ginny every so often, when Charlie realised someone watching them. It took him a second to realise it was Harry, disguised via Polyjuice Potion as their cousin Barney, whose eyes seemed to be tracking their movements.

"You want to tell me why Harry is watching us?" Charlie whispered into his sister's ear.

"No," Ginny said despite the fact that she had frozen at the question.

"Is that a 'No, I don't want to' or a 'No, there's nothing to tell'?"

Ginny didn't respond, so Charlie knew she was trying to hide something when it came to why Harry was watching them dance. He had seen them both watching the other ever since Harry arrived at The Burrow a few days ago, glances that would linger. If he was right, and he suspected he was, then something had happened between the pair while they were at Hogwarts this past year.

"Answer me this, then, and I promise not to bring the subject up for the rest of the evening," Charlie quietly said, manoeuvring them out of Harry's eyeline. "Did you and Harry date at some point this year?"

He wasn't surprised when his sister nodded in confirmation. Her eyes contained a glimmer of sadness, which told Charlie that things had ended between them before they had left Hogwarts after Professor Dumbledore's funeral. However, with the way Harry had been watching Ginny all evening, he suspected that the break-up was not something he had wanted to do, but had, instead, done out of necessity. If it helped keep Ginny a little bit safer while the war raged, then he was not going to judge Harry for doing what he felt he needed to do.

HP&GW

May 1998…

It was absolute chaos as Charlie ran up the front steps of the castle, quickly passing a number of other people, including Horace Slughorn. He could see flashes of red, but he was uncertain if they were spells or the heads of his family as everything seemed to happening so quickly. All he knew was that he needed to find his family.

"Stupefy!" Charlie cried in the direction of a Death Eater who was blocking his path into the Great Hall.

The Death Eater crumbled to the floor, allowing Charlie the room to manoeuvre around his body and make his way into the Great Hall.

Charlie immediately spotted George fighting alongside his friend, Lee, which left him wondering where Fred was and why he wasn't fighting alongside his twin brother.

"Expelliarmus!"

Charlie ducked in response, the spell passing closely over his head. He shook his head of any unnecessary thoughts, knowing this was the time he needed to concentrate. He remained where he was crouched on the floor, for the moment, throwing spells to help those around him in duels with the Death Eaters who had managed to make their way into the Great Hall. When he finally felt the need to stand, he spotted something that made his heart stop for a second – his baby sister was duelling Bellatrix Lestrange.

Without thinking, he began making his way across the hall towards where the duel was taking place. There was no way he was going to let Ginny fall to Bellatrix. Harry, wherever he was, would not cope with losing her, nor would any of the family. He didn't make it far before being pulled into a duel with one of Voldemort's cronies.

Charlie was nearly distracted, however, when he spotted a jet of green light miss Ginny by an inch. He quickly disposed of the Death Eater and turned to help Ginny, only to find his own mum was now duelling Bellatrix.

"Are you ok, Ginny?" Charlie said, running over to where Ginny was watching in horror as the two witches duelled to obviously what would be one of their deaths.

"It should be me fighting her," Ginny replied numbly. "Even then, if I had died, it wouldn't have mattered as I would have been with Harry."

"What are you talking about?" Charlie responded, confused by his sister's words. Was Harry dead? He hadn't arrived until several minutes ago and had only reached the front of the castle as all hell had broken loose.

Ginny didn't respond as within a matter of moments their mum had managed to defeat Bellatrix Lestrange, Voldemort had turned and directed his wand at her and an invisible voice had cast a powerful Shield Charm in front of where they were stood.

"Harry!" Ginny whispered in disbelief.

Charlie didn't fail to notice where Harry stood when he whipped off his Invisibility Cloak. While he would have to ask Harry to confirm his theory, he suspected that the very fact that Harry was so close to where the Weasley family, most specifically Ginny stood meant he had seen what had nearly happened to Ginny and he had made his way over with the same intention his mother had had. Now, Harry was standing in front of Voldemort about to finish this war for good.

Charlie could only watch with rapt fascination as Harry and Voldemort exchanged words. Horcruxes, Harry willing to die, love, Dumbledore, Snape, the Elder Wand – so much information in such little time. Glancing over at his sister, it didn't seem as though she was truly listening with her eyes fastened squarely on Harry, a glimmer of hope held back as Harry and Voldemort cast what would be their last spellS in this long and drawn-out war.

There was silence for just a second as Voldemort lay there, finally dead, and then, the noise of celebration exploded.

Charlie turned to his family, only to see Ginny just seconds behind Ron and Hermione, running over to Harry. With all the excitement in that moment, he wasn't sure how many people noticed the way Harry's weary eyes lit up as Ginny threw her arms around him or the way he pulled her tightly to him, even if it was just for a couple of seconds. While he had been aware that the pair had dated at some point before Dumbledore's death, he had not asked Ginny anything about it after promising not to do so at Bill's wedding. However, standing there, watching the look in both of their eyes at seeing the other alive was enough for Charlie to know that it had been more than them simply dating.

"He won, Charlie!" Ginny cried out in excitement after she had forced her way out of the crowd that now surrounded the Boy Who Lived. "He won and he is alive!"

Charlie wrapped her up in his arms and spun her around, ecstatic the war was finally over.

"Now Harry gets to face six brothers about his intentions when it comes to their sister," Charlie said jokingly.

Ginny froze in his arms, causing Charlie to put her back on the floor. She gazed up at him with a look of sadness.

"Oh, Charlie!" she said before she burst into tears. "Fred died."

HP&GW

May 1998…

Charlie paused outside his parents' bedroom door as he made his way downstairs. He couldn't hear any movement inside, which suggested neither of his parents were awake yet. In all honesty, given the time, he suspected his mum would not be getting up anytime soon, which was not unsurprising given the fact they had laid Fred to rest the following day. He knew his heart still felt heavy with grief at the loss of one of his brothers, but somehow, this morning, it also felt a little lighter than it had been in the last several days.

Knowing it was best not to disturb his parents, he quietly continued his journey down the stairs, intent on helping out by making breakfast for the family. However, as just before he reached the final couple of steps, he heard voices coming from the kitchen.

"I wish Mum would just let us share a room."

Charlie was taken aback by his sister's statement, knowing she must be talking to Harry. While he was accepting of the relationship, as was every other Weasley, he didn't quite think they were at that stage to take such a big step forward. It didn't matter to him that Ginny was due to turn seventeen in August, the couple had still been separated for nearly a year and he felt they needed a little more time before sharing a bed.

"I sleep better next to you," Ginny continued, unaware Charlie was listening.

"I sleep better next to you, too," Harry replied. "It stops the nightmares from centring around you."

No one spoke. Charlie didn't dare take a peek because he didn't fancy catching his sister snogging her boyfriend. He still had a hard time realising how much she grown up over the last few years after he left to work in Romania.

"Perhaps Mum is right, though," Ginny said, breaking the silence. "If I go back to school in September, it will just make it harder to leave you, deal with the nightmares and sleep alone if we were to get too comfortable sleeping next to one another."

"Don't you want to go back to school?" Harry asked curiously.

"I don't know," Ginny admitted. "I do want to finish school. I mean, someone needs to as no one has completed their time there since Percy!"

The couple chuckled as Charlie slapped his hand over his mouth to prevent himself from laughing.

"Even so, I don't know if I can return there after everything that has happened. Fred died there, Harry, and at some point, I am bound to walk past where it happened and I don't know if I could cope with that."

Charlie heard the sound of a chair scraping against the floor and wondered who had moved. Taking the risk, he peeked round to see Ginny sat in Harry's lap, her head buried in the crook of her boyfriend's neck as Harry comforted her.

"Whatever you choose to do," Harry told her quietly, "I will support you, no matter what anyone else thinks. If you go back to school, I will be there at every Hogsmeade weekend, every Quidditch match and any other time I can get away with visiting. If you don't want to go back, that is fine as well. We could look at getting our own place together and we can find out if there is a way for you to get a trial for the Holyhead Harpies without being at Hogwarts."

"You would do that?"

"Why wouldn't I? I love you, Ginny. That's never going to change and I would do anything to make you happy."

"I love you, too," Ginny replied as she lifted her head up to kiss Harry.

Charlie stepped back out of sight and onto the stairs, thinking about what he had just heard. He could honestly say he didn't realise how deep and how serious their relationship was. He had not asked Ginny any more about Harry and what had happened between them at Hogwarts, just as he had promised. Even then, he thought being separated by the war, for as long as they were, that perhaps one or both of them would decide to just move on.

He knew, having spent most of his time in Romania, that he had missed out on watching his siblings grow up. Perhaps that was what had made him sceptical about his sister's relationship with Harry, especially when the couple had quickly reunited in the aftermath of the final battle. However, now having heard this one simple conversation, he knew they were in it for the long haul. That thought alone made Charlie smile, knowing his sister have found someone she loved.

HP&GW

A clap on the shoulder nudged Charlie from his reminiscing about Harry and Ginny's relationship. He turned his head to see Bill stood behind him.

"Once you are done eating, can you come and help Dad and me put the tent up for today?" his older brother asked.

"Yeah, give me five minutes and I will be there," Charlie responded, knowing he had left his wand upstairs. He turned back to his food, ate the last couple of bites before downing his now-cold cup of tea.

A few minutes later, as promised, he was heading out to the back garden to help with the first of the preparations. He still couldn't believe his baby sister was getting married in a matter of hours, but he knew now that if anyone deserved a lifetime of happiness, it was Ginny and Harry.