Homecoming by Luvscharlie

~*~

"Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration." ~Charles Dickens

~*~

It had been a long time since he'd last been home. There weren't a lot of people whose life's dream was to work with dragons (scaredy kneazles, if you asked him), so they were often shorthanded at the Reserve. He'd had to bust his arse to get this time off, but his dad had ace tickets to the World Cup and he wasn't about to miss out on that.

Charlie put his rucksack over his shoulder and headed out to board the train for home.

~*~

Ginny was the first to greet him; evidently she'd been watching out the window. She launched herself at him the moment he stepped onto the porch. Ginny started talking before she had even released him from the bear hug she had locked him in and grabbed his hand to lead him inside. "Bill's already here. Did you know Harry's coming? He is. Mum gave you and Bill your old room back, so Fred and George have to sleep in the attic. They don't like that very much. Mum says you have to be quiet because Percy's working. Well, Percy says he's working, but I think he just doesn't like noise, and really, he doesn't have to be so snippy all the time." She turned back to him, breathless. "I missed you, Charlie."

There was a deep chuckle from across the room. Bill. He'd missed Bill most of all. "Are you all caught up on family affairs, little brother?"

Charlie dropped his rucksack on the table and cocked his head. "Must not be. She neglected to tell me that you'd gone and gotten even uglier in Egypt."

Bill returned the cheeky grin and raised his voice. "How many more tattoos you got, Charlie?"

"Ssh! Fuck, that was a low blow, you pain in the arse." He looked cautiously around the corner. "I don't care to start off my visit with Mum in a snit."

"What's that?" Bill practically shouted. "Four new tattoos, you say? I can't wait to see—Oomph."

Charlie's fist connected soundly with Bill's kidney. "Well, you've gotten stronger," Bill said as he staggered over to find a seat at the kitchen table, rubbing his injury. "Don't get your knickers in a twist. They're not home yet. Mum talked Dad into taking her to market so that she could make us a grand homecoming feast."

Charlie grinned at Bill's wincing. There'd been a time Bill could take him. Bill was tall and thin, but there was some muscle in his punch. And, if Bill really wanted to fight dirty, he need only draw his wand. Charlie was still no match for Bill's wand work.

Before Bill could explain further, the door to the Burrow burst open and Molly dropped her bags of groceries in favor of throwing her arms around her second son.

"Oh Charlie, you're home! I got all the fixings for your favourite dishes and—oh dear, you feel thinner. Are you not taking proper care of yourself? Aren't they feeding you at that Reserve? I see that I'm going to have to get to the post office a bit more often with care packages since Errol can't make the long trip and—"

"Mum," said Bill. "He's fine… or he will be when you let go so he can breathe again."

Molly grinned at her two oldest, then swatted Charlie on the bum. "Okay, out of my kitchen, the lot of you. There's dinner to be made."

With Bill close on his heels, Charlie took the stairs to his old room two at a time. His finger traced a burn mark on the wall. "I think we need to have a little talk with our brothers. They're not taking very good care of our old room."

"You think that's bad. Wait until you see what they did to your magazines."

"My girls?" Charlie asked with a strangled gasp, dropping to his knees to pull out the stack of dirty mags in their special place beneath his old bed. "There's something sticky on Debbie," he said, holding up a magazine that contained a dark-skinned witch on the front wearing nothing but dragon skin boots, legs open wantonly, winking and waving. "My poor, poor, beautiful girl. Charlie will take care of you," he said, taking out his wand and attempting to vanish the sticky substance… unsuccessfully. He burned a hole right through Debbie's—well—poor Debbie. That had been his favourite part of her.

He reached for another magazine. "No, no, no, no, no!" Charlie wailed. "Not my wild little Kat." The witch's head had been completely detached from her taut little body. Charlie looked up from where he knelt. "You know I fucked her, right?"

Bill chuckled. "You fucked your left hand while saying her name over and over again. Don't forget, little brother, we shared this room." Bill's voice rose an octave. "Oh, Kat!" He fluttered his eyelashes as Charlie sent the magazine soaring past his head, missing its target by mere inches and bouncing off the wall to land open on Bill's bed.

"No, I'm being serious. She showed up at the Reserve about four months ago and—"

Charlie's words were cut off by the annoying clicking sound of a tongue in cheek coming from the doorway. He knew that sound. Percy poked his head into the doorway. "Not home an hour and already comparing notches on your bedposts?"

"And how are the notches on your bedpost there, Percy?" asked Bill.

Percy pushed his glasses up his nose and crossed his arms over his chest in staunch disapproval. "A gentleman does not kiss and tell."

"Still not getting any then?" asked Charlie. He threw a magazine Percy's way. "Here, meet Alice. She likes long walks on the beach and is searching for a wizard who will respect her feelings. Boring little thing, but with an arse I'd love to stick my cock--"

Percy shushed Charlie and came over to sit beside him on the bed.

"Honestly, do you two ever talk about anything besides pulling—"

Their mother appeared from out of nowhere with Charlie's neatly folded robes laying across her arms. "And what are we discussing pulling, boys?"

"Well, mother," said Percy, his haughtiness annoying Charlie. "Your sons were discussing pulling—" Charlie grabbed a hold of the waistband of Percy's underwear and yanked… hard. "Weeds," Percy finished, his voice noticeably higher, biting his lip in obvious pain. "They said your garden looked a bit overgrown and they were going to pull the weeds for you."

"Oh, the two of you are such dears," Molly said proudly. "What thoughtful boys I have raised. When you're out there, would you de-gnome it for me as well, darlings?"

Charlie yanked again, causing Percy to let out a small yelp. "Of course we will, Mum. I'm sure Percy would love to help us."

"Oh, no," Molly said. "Now Percy, that is very thoughtful, but you really must finish up your research on cauldron bottoms. Your father said that Mr. Crouch was anxious to receive your report."

"Yes, Mother. I really must." Percy stood, though every movement was clearly painful as he walked, back ramrod-straight and legs stiff and unbending from the room.

~*~

The heat in the back garden was blistering. This was not how Charlie had planned to spend his first day home. Stupid Percy.

"One of these days I'm going to beat his scrawny little arse," Charlie said, spinning another gnome, putting a large amount of muscle behind it before letting go. "Ooh, beat that one. No way that you'll get one farther than that."

"Ah," said Bill, "Percy means well. Don't be too hard on him." Bill captured another gnome, dropping it quickly. "The little bugger bit me. Forget what I said, beat his scrawny arse. That hurt!" The gnome chuckled, kicked its heels together and scurried quickly away. "Come back here, you." Bill said, capturing the gnome again and holding it by its scruff. "I have a task for you." He brushed the dirt from his trousers. "Want to have a bit of fun, mate?" The gnome seemed to understand and stopped struggling. "Perce!" Bill called.

Percy raised his window and stuck his head out, looking about for who had called his name. Bill spun the gnome and hurled it through the open window.

Percy shrieked. "No! Not the ink, you evil little thing. Argh! Footprints on my parchment! Come back here with that this instant!" The gnome could be heard giggling through the open window, as it commenced wreaking havoc upon Percy's room. Charlie and Bill bumped knuckles.

"Well done, big brother," Charlie said with a grin.

"I do feel better," Bill said, plucking up another gnome, spinning it around and throwing it over the wall. "Ha, beat you."

"In your dreams. Mine went at least three feet farther than that."

"Obviously, the Romanian sun has damaged your eyes. You might want to run up there and borrow Percy's spectacles."

"I might. If we go clubbing tonight, I'll take them along to give to the poor bird you pull. She'll need them to find that wee todger of yours."

A sound from inside the upstairs window caused them both to turn. "Ow, you nasty little cretin. When I get my hands on you—"

Charlie cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hang on to it, Perce. It could be female. And there's a good chance it'll be the only play you get all year."

~*~

Dinner that night was an affair fit for royalty. Their mum had gone all out creating all of Charlie and Bill's favourite dishes.

Halfway through the meal, their mother began the line of questioning he had been anticipating. "So tell me, Charlie dear. Have you met a nice young lady you'd like to tell us about?"

"Molly," said Arthur. "I'm sure Charlie doesn't want to talk about his love life with his parents."

"Besides," said Bill with a chuckle, "it's hard to talk about something that's non-existent."

"Ah, big brother, perhaps you'd like to tell Mum about that nice young lady, or four, that were a constant fixture in your flat when I visited you a few months ago."

Bill's eyes widened in shock and the fork full of peas that he'd been headed towards his mouth went awry. One hit Ron in the centre of his forehead.

"Okay!" said Arthur, clapping his hands together and quickly changing the subject. "I think it's time for dessert. What marvel have you made for us tonight, darling?"

~*~

The Burrow grew quiet with the falling of the night. Charlie flopped onto his boyhood bed as Bill entered the room fresh from the shower, with a towel swathed about his hips.

"You're a bloody, useless prat, you know that?" Bill said, still rankled from dinner.

Charlie propped his hands behind his head and grinned. "Yeah."

Bill turned back the quilt on his bed and looked back, the moonlight outlining his wiry form. "Hey, Charlie."

"Mm?"

"It's good to be home, yeah?"

Charlie struck with lightning reflexes, yanking Bill's towel and flipping him painfully on the arse with it. "Yeah, it sure is."

Fin

A/N: Originally written for the hp_spring_fling exchange on Live Journal.