A/N: I've been wanting to write a Charlie fic for over a year now and I began to write this story a while ago, but I've just finished it and I'm fairly happy with the results. I hope you like it too! Please review:o)
Disclaimer: You know it, I wish it was all mine, but it isn't.
Coming Round
When Hermione arrived at the door of he Burrow that night she was not surprised to hear an awful lot of noise coming from the house, it was the Burrow after all. However, she was surprised when the door opened and the person behind it was none other than Charlie. It had been at least three years since she had last seen him- at Ron's 21st birthday party- and yet he looked exactly the same, as if he hadn't aged a date. Same freckled face, same mischievous smile, same twinkling eyes… Except that his eyes weren't twinkling. Still, he grinned at the sight of her and welcomed her to the Weasley home.
"Hermione!" he exclaimed happily, "Merry Christmas! Long time, no see, how are you? Come in!"
"Hi Charlie, merry Christmas to you too." Hermione grinned back as she stepped into the orange light of the kitchen. Over Charlie's head she could see that most of the family was already sitting at the table ready to start their traditional Christmas lunch. "I'm sorry I'm late, I got caught up at work."
"You are working on Christmas day?" asked Charlie leading the way to the table. "What kind of boss makes their employees work today?"
"I'm my own boss, Charlie," Hermione answered amused, "and nobody made me work today. I stopped at the office to collect some papers and before I knew it I was surrounded by piles of folders!" Charlie chuckled, but there was something melancholic about his laughter.
"Everybody," he called before Hermione could dwell in the topic, "Look who's finally here." Greetings came from all around the table while Hermione found a seat next to Ginny who immediately captured her attention with the dramatic story of her latest break up with her latest boyfriend.
The house was as crowded as ever. All the regulars were there, including of course Harry, Lupin and Tonks- with their two-year old daughter Lily, of whom Harry was the godfather- Mad Eye, Neville, Luna and even Hagrid had joined in for lunch. And as for the Weasleys, now that Charlie had come to visit the entire family was present: Bill and a very pregnant Fleur (it was their third baby as they had had twins barely a year after they got married), Percy and his fiancée Penelope, the twins- who prided themselves on being uncatchable bachelors- and Ron and Ginny. Hermione was so happy to be spending her favorite holiday with the people she cared for the most. She hated how little she could see of them during the year. They tired to get together at least once a month, and she usually had lunch or went to dinner with some of them. But with the different jobs, responsibilities and schedules it was very difficult to keep in touch.
"So, now you tell me 'Mione, how was your date last week?" Ginny had just finished retelling her thrilling story and now wanted to know if her matchmaking abilities were still intact. The truth was that she had only made one successful match (Neville and Luna, which everyone knew was going to happen anyway) and from that moment she had been setting up dates for all her friends. This time it had been Hermione's term to go out with one of Ginny's colleagues from the Daily Prophet.
"Who did you set her up with this time Gin?" asked Ron rolling his eyes for he too had been one of Ginny's victims on several occasions.
"Peter, from Sports. Tall, well built, good quidditch player. You met him on my birthday party last year, remember?"
"Oh right, his ok." Ron and Hermione had dated for a couple of months after their final year at Hogwarts, but it hadn't worked out and they decided that they were much better off as friends. They cared too much about each other and they didn't want to hurt each other, and that was what was going to happen in the end if they had continued together. Still, Ron was very protective of Hermione and he didn't want her going out with any guy he didn't approve of.
"So, tell us everything, are you two in love already? Can I be your bridesmaid?"
"Slow done, his nice, we had a good time, but it's not going to work," Hermione said.
"But why? You are perfect for each other. You are both smart, funny, beautiful…" she looked around the table, looking for support, but none came.
"The chemistry wasn't right Gin. He is interesting. But I don't know, there's something missing," she said
"Do you realize you have said the exact same thing about the last three guys I set you up with? You are killing me here 'Mione, I'm running out of cute, kind and interesting friends to present you."
"May be you should set her up with someone ugly and dull," interjected Harry, "personally, I think that's the kind of guys she likes, look at her dating history."
"Hey!" Hermione and Ron reacted together.
"Excuse me," said Ron indignantly, but there's nothing ugly or dull about me!" Everybody laughed loudly as Ron glared at Harry.
"Ok, so I cross Peter from my list, let's move to the next one… Let me think," Ginny went silent for a minute giving the others the right opportunity to change the subject. Neither knew who could be the next press.
"Where is Charlie's wife?" Hermione had just realized that Emily was not sitting at the table. Charlie had married an American girl who worked with him in Rumania. Hermione had only seen her once, at the wedding. She hadn't liked her much back then. Emily hadn't seemed bad, but she hadn't appeared nice either. She had spent the entire party pouting at some thing or another and according to Ginny- who hated her- it was like that all the time. She appeared to Hermione to be quite the opposite of Charlie, who was always in a good mood, joking and laughing.
"Ex wife you mean," said Ron in a low voice and looking at his brother.
"Oh! I had no idea! What happened?" Hermione asked, also lowering her voice. That explained why Charlie had been a little subdued when he opened the door. She glanced at him. He appeared to be engaged in a quidditch discussion with the wins and Bill. But a closer inspection painted Hermione a different picture. The others were arguing passionately but Charlie was merely listening, his expression blank.
"It happened about two weeks ago," Ron explained. "We had all come to have dinner here and he suddenly arrives at then door, holding his bags and saying his marriage was over. It was awful. I had never seen him like that before. He was a real mess; he looked as though he hadn't showered or slept or eaten in a week. He went straight to his old bedroom and stayed there for three entire days. In the end dad forced him to come down to eat something and talk to us. He was really depressed about the breakup. He said he had to quit his job because he couldn't stand seeing her, and then he had to leave Rumania because everything reminded him of her and it was just too painful."
"That's terrible. But, what happened? Why did they breakup?"
"He wouldn't say. We have tried to take it out from him since he arrived but he doesn't want to speak about it. Fred and George say he found her with another man. That would explain how hurt he is, but we don't really know."
Next to her, Ginny was trying to convince Fred to go out with one of the paper's receptionists while the rest enjoyed the show. It was funny to see Ginny in action, when you weren't the target. Hermione, however, was looking at Charlie. He did look hurt and very sad. Although he made an effort not to show it, his eyes gave him away, as did the occasional sight.
Suddenly, Charlie realized he was being watched and Hermione did not react fast enough. He met her eyes and gave her a weak smile, which she returned encouragingly. But something happened to Hermione when Charlie's gaze met hers. A pleasant shiver run down her spine and she blushed a little.
"Having fun?" Charlie mouth at her from across the table. Hermione nodded and then shook her head in Ginny's direction and rolled her eyes. Charlie grinned and told her "I know". They both laughed loudly causing the people next to them to look around. At that moment Mrs. Weasley waved her wand to make the dishes disappear, leaving room for all the dessert plates that materialized in front of them a second later. Once those were empty too, everybody moved into the living-room to continue chatting.
As Ginny had already tried to arrange a date for Hermione with two different guys, the latter decided to take a seat far from hers. She was not in the mood for matchmaking that night. As fate would have it, the chair furthest to where Ginny was was next to Charlie.
"So, how are you?" Hermione asked him when she had settled down. His expression changed so fast it almost scared her
"They told you, didn't they?" he replied bitterly, glaring at the room in general.
"Yeah, but in their defense I asked where she was. And they are worried about you, at least Ron is."
"I know, I shouldn't be mad at them. It's not their fault. I just," he sighted in frustration. Hermione took one of his hands in hers to calm him down. But the moment her hands touched his rough skin she felt a shock of electricity. Still, she didn't let go and ignored the feeling.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked cautiously.
"Not really," he answered looking away. Hermione was almost sure she had seen his eyes shine with tears.
"Ok then, lets talk about something else. Let's enjoy the holiday. Tell me about your quidditch team," she said brightly, trying to change Charlie's mood. It worked, he chuckled.
"I never thought the day would come when Hermione Granger would ask me about quidditch," he said, and she was glad to see that most of the bitterness in his voice was gone.
"Yeah well, should be call it a Christmas miracle?" she proposed making him laugh again.
"Come on, you don't want to hear about quidditch. Why don't you tell me what's up with your life." And so they spent most of the night discussing Hermione's carrier, the latest news in the wizarding world, and of course Ginny's crazy new hobby. Hermione kept a close eye on Charlie, but he didn't show any sign of being gloomy or sad. True, he was not his usual cheerful self, but he was happier than he had been during lunch.
They were so engrossed in conversation that they didn't realize there was someone else paying close attention to them. Molly Weasley ahs kept a close eye on his second son ever since he had returned home, and that day had not been an exception. The only difference was that for the first time in the last two weeks, she liked what she saw. Charlie was smiling, truly smiling. The sad shadow had almost vanished from his eyes and he had changed his posture. He didn't have his shoulders down and his back curved any more. He was more relaxed. In one word, he was happier. With only a couple of hours of conversation Hermione had managed what the whole family had been trying to accomplish for a fortnight. And Molly's motherly eyes hadn't missed Hermione's body language either. She noticed how the young witch unconsciously leaned towards Charlie, or how she shivered every time their hands touched by accident. It was too early to tell, and Charlie was still to hurt, but perhaps there was something there, thought Molly.
Everyone was enjoying the moment so much that when the day ended, they were sad. Those who had kids were the first to go. Then the twins, they left early arguing they had at least ten parties to attend. Soon the only ones left were Ron, Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Charlie. Mrs. Weasley had insisted that Harry and Hermione spent the night there.
"For old time's sake," she said giving them towels and blankets. "Then we can have breakfast all together tomorrow."
They weren't able to refuse such an inviting offer, partly because they wanted to stay and partly because she didn't give them any time to turn down the invitation. The moment they had taken the blankets she disappeared into the kitchen to clean everything up. She even refused to let them help her, so they ended up sitting in the living room with Ginny, Ron and Charlie; not that they had any kind of complaint.
Ginny had taken out an old photo album from their days at Hogwarts. Each picture brought back an anecdote they relived happily. Charlie appeared to be enjoying the stories, but Hermione knew he was only half listening. At one point a heated discussion had arisen between Ron, Harry and Ginny about a quidditch match they had all went to see a couple of summers ago and Hermione found the opportunity to try again to distract Charlie from his sad thoughts.
"I never thought the day would come when Charlie Weasley refused to join a quidditch discussion," she said imitating the tone he had used earlier. This made Charlie chuckle.
"I'm getting tired of being here," he said looking around the living room. "Do you want to go for a walk? It's not too cold and I doubt those three will even realize we are gone."
It was true; the other ones were completely absorbed in their conversation. And she thought that fresh air would do him good, so she agreed happily. They summoned their coats and left through the back door.
It was a very clear night. The sky was completely cloudless and the stars were shinning. The moon was nearly full, so the garden was illuminated with its white light. For the first time in many years, it hadn't snowed for Christmas, so the grounds weren't wet. It was the perfect night to have a walk.
Charlie looked at the sky and sighted. "On our first date I took her to a stroll under the moonlight," he said sadly. Hermione instinctly knew it was the first time he talked about Emily since he had returned to England.
"Do you miss her?" she asked, hoping he would not close himself again.
"I don't know. I miss the idea of her, you know, being with someone. The familiarity, the common codes, private jokes, etc. But now that I know who she really is, I can't say I miss her," he replied.
"What did she do? As far as I knew you were madly in love with her. What did she do to make those feelings go away?" By now she too hated Emily. She only knew Charlie as Ron's brother, but she knew he was a good, kind man. He didn't deserve to be suffering like he was.
"I don't want to bore you with the story."
"I want to hear it, it will help you to talk about it. And I'm a good listener, come on!"
"Ok then… The thing is, it was all so sudden. She came to were I was working and told me she needed to tell me something. She sounded so enthusiastic that I thought she was going to say she was pregnant. I took my break and walked to the cafeteria with her. We ordered a couple of coffees and sat down in our regular table. We did everything we usually do, how could I suspect something was going on?" he wasn't expecting an answer, Hermione knew he was talking to himself, so she waited for him to continue.
"I asked her what was it she wanted to tell me, and she said that she had been to see a lawyer, that she wanted to divorce me because she had met someone else. Like that, with no warning at all she was telling me all the plans she had with her boyfriend. They had already decided which house they wanted to buy. I was so confused I didn't react. I just sat there, listening to my wife talking about the new life she was about to begin… A life that didn't include me. Later on I found out that the man she was seeing was a much older wizard who had a lot of money and had promised her everything I was working so hard to give her! That night she moved out of the house, a couple of days later I got a letter from her attorney with the divorce papers and instructions of what I had to do. And less than a week after it was over. I was destroyed. I had to leave, so I sold the house to the first buyer I got, quit my job and came here, hoping to be able to start again. But so far I haven't even been able to leave the house, let alone look for a job or an apartment."
Hermione couldn't believe what he was telling her. How could someone be so heartless, so greedy and shallow? Charlie was of the nicest men she knew, and she treated him as if he was worthless. By now she definitely despised Emily and wanted to see her being eaten by a dragon. Ok, it was a little drastic, but she really deserved it.
"Well, you have to change that!" Hermione told him gravely. He gave her and odd look, hadn't she heard how miserable he was? But she continued before he could protest. "You are too good for her; she doesn't deserve your time or your tears! She isn't even worth us having this conversation!"
"I know. It's just that… I thought I knew her, I thought she loved me. I feel betrayed, and used." It was killing Hermione to hear him talking in such a defeated tone.
"Charlie, do you love her? Do you want to get her back?" Hermione had stopped walking and was standing in front of him, looking at him straight in the eyes.
"No, I don't love her any more. And I don't want to see her ever again!" he said, and he sounded convinced.
"Well, that's good. It's the first step to start moving on. You'll see that in a couple of months this will be nothing but a bad memory!" she said encouragingly. He smiled at her, and she noticed there was something different in his eyes. Part of the sparkle the used to have had returned.
"Thanks Hermione! Thank you for convincing me to talk about it, and for listening. I do feel better. It's going to take time, but as you said, I've taken the first step." He hugged her and they stayed like that for some time. They returned to the house to find that Harry, Ron and Ginny were still immersed in their talk, so they decided to go to bed.
When Hermione woke up the following morning, Charlie was gone. She found a flower in her bedside tale and a note from him that said: "I'm moving on. Thanks a lot! I'll never forget what you did for me! Your friend, Charlie" She smiled. She was happy to have been able to help, but for some reason, in the back of her head she had a strange feeling of sadness, and she had no idea were it came from.
A whole year went by before Hermione saw Charlie again. Ron told her that he had found another job somewhere in Africa, where they needed a lot of help with taming dragons. So he hadn't been able to return to England before Christmas. For some reason whenever they discussed Charlie, Hermione never asked Ron or Ginny if he was seeing someone. Nor did she ever tell them about the conversation they had had that night. On the one hand, she felt that if Charlie had not told them what had happened with Emily, it was not her place to say it. And on the other hand, she liked the idea of sharing a secret with him, although she didn't know why. The truth was that she had been thinking a lot about Charlie lately, but she kept telling herself that it was only because she was worried about him, that he was a very god person and he deserved to be happy. However, deep down she knew there was something else there, but she didn't dare go any further.
So it was Christmas again, and once again Hermione was the last one to arrive for dinner. But this time it was Ginny how opened the door.
"'Mione, hi!! Merry Christmas!" she said letting her friend in.
"Hi!! I'm sorry I'm late. I was…"
"Let me guess, working!" an amused voice interrupted her from the kitchen door. It was Charlie. Hermione's heart started to beat fasted at the sight of him, but she tried not to show how excited she was to see him.
"Hi Charlie, how've you been?" she asked casually as she passed by him.
"Fine, and you?" he said blocking the door and hugging her. "Much better than a year ago," he whispered in her year. And before letting go he added "You look great 'Mione."
Hermione blushed furiously, but he either didn't notice or acted as if he hadn't. Dinner was more or less the same as the previous year, same faces but a little older. Same topics of conversation, but with different names.
"Hermione, I have something very serious to discus with you," Ginny said suddenly.
"What?" Hermione reacted too fast and too guiltily.
"I was going to say that you haven't let me set you up with anyone this year, but why did you react like that? What are you hiding?" Ginny asked suspiciously.
"Nothing! You just startled me, that's all!" Hermione defended herself. Ginny gave her a weird look but didn't push the matter.
"Anyway," Ginny continued. "I have a couple of very good candidates, so once the holidays are over, you won't have a chance to escape."
"Gin, how come you never try to set Harry up with anybody?" Hermione asked in an off-hand tone, but knowing perfectly well it was a tricky question. Ginny began to stammer and she gave her friend a contempt look.
"That was mean," someone said to Hermione's left. She turned to find Charlie standing next to her. Dinner had just finished and everybody was moving to have the traditional drinks in the living-room.
"I know, but it was my only get away, other wise I would have to spend the whole evening listening to the qualities of my dates-to-be." Charlie chuckled. Hermione had forgotten how nice his laughter sounded.
They walked together. Charlie leaded her to a couple of seats away from the rest of the family and friends. Hermione wasn't about to complain, but she found it weird all the same. He summoned a couple of glasses and handed one to Hermione.
"Are you planning to get me drunk?" she asked playfully, taking a sip from her goblet.
"That was the idea, yeah. Too bad you discovered me before I could carry it out," he answered in the same tone.
"Shame on you Charlie Weasley!" she said giggling.
"Actually, I wanted to toast with you," he said, more seriously.
"And what are we drinking to?" Now she was curious.
"I want to propose a toast because exactly one year ago a very wise witch, who also happens to be a very good friend of mine, gave me some very advice and to that I owe my new life. So I really want to thank you 'Mione, you have no idea how much you've helped me." He raised his goblet and knocked it twice with Hermione's.
"You've nothing to thank me for. I'm glad I was able to help you. And you do look a lot better than last year. Africa is doing you a lot of good."
"Yeah, I'm gonna miss it. I met some very interesting people there, and they have some amazing views. The best I've ever seen."
"Why do you say you are going to miss it? Aren't you going back there?"
"No, I got a job here."
"Well, that's good too. You'll be close to your family and friends."
"Yep, that's one of the reasons why I took it," he said looking out of the window. "Look, it's starting to snow. Wanna go outside? I don't think we'll be missed here and I know you love snow." Everybody else was too busy to notice that they were gone.
"How do you know I love snow?" Hermione asked as they were standing a couple of meters from the house, watching snowflakes fall around them.
"I didn't, but everybody loves snow," he answered cheekily.
"True, who can not like this?" She asked, pulling out her hands so that snow would fell on her palms. But before the first flake could touch her skin, Charlie covered her hands with her.
"I've been thinking about you a lot Hermione," he said looking into her eyes, just as she had done a year previously. She swallowed nervously, his stare was intense and it made her shiver, but pleasantly.
"I've been thinking about you too," she said in a small voice.
"It took me one year to realize what was going on, but when I saw you tonight suddenly everything made sense. Hermione, I love you," and without waiting for an answer he bend his head and kissed her. It was the sweetest kissed Hermione had ever had. She put her arms around his neck as he grabbed her by the waist and they deepened the kiss.
"I love you too Charlie," she said when they broke apart some minutes later. The moment she said it, she realized what she had known all along. But it didn't matter anymore. They were together and it was all they needed.