Charlie piddled around the house after Draco left. Normally a very private man, he was surprised at how quickly he'd gotten used to sharing his personal space. His house seemed empty now, without Draco.

He glanced at the clock and decided that it was late enough in the morning to arrive at the Burrow. If he arrived to early, Molly was likely to enlist his help in preparing the house for Bill and Fleur. They had opted to have their child at Saint Mungo's, instead of in France. Charlie suspected that this was because the Delacours were not as accepting of Bill's werewolf scars as Fleur—what if the daughter got turned into a werewolf or their grandson was born furry? The end result was that Arthur had spelled on an addition to the back of the house, and Molly was filling it with a seemingly endless supply of baby things as the due date grew closer. A crib, spelled diapers, bottles—he hadn't remembered this much baby stuff when Ginny was born. Then again, he had been nine years old at the time.

Instead of Flooing, he apparated to this old bedroom. He was surprised at the amount of old memories as he looked at the old quidditch posters and Griffindor paraphernalia. He ran his finger along the spines of the books and picked up the book that had first sparked his interest in Dragons, The Complete Compendium of Carnivorous Creatures. He grinned when his eyes landed on the scorch marks where Ron had tried to confringo his Vratsa Vulture's poster after a particularly harsh beat-down of the Chudly Cannons. His reverie was interrupted by a loud shriek.

"Charlie! Charlie, you will be the death of me! Where are you! Why didn't you say you were coming to visit?!" He heard his mother's footsteps on the stairs and smiling, he stepped out of his room and into her hug.

"The clock rat me out?" Charlie kissed the top of his mom's head.

Molly's voice was muffled, as she spoke into her son's chest. "Yes. I never can thank my brothers enough for that gift."

"Are Bill and Fleur here, yet?" Charlie followed his mom down the stairs, her frizzy red hair out of control. Charlie was surprised at the amount of gray in her hair these days.

"No, I was going to start lunch. Want to help?"

Charlie grinned. "Like old times, eh?"

Molly sighed, "It is my sole failure as a mother that only two of my children learned to properly cook."

Charlie laughed and followed his mom into the kitchen. He sat on the countertop and asked, "What are we making?"

She brandished a wooden spoon at him, "Get down!"

"Yes, ma'am." Charlie didn't move, his tone and smile teasing.

"How about a nice roast and mashed potatoes? The roast will keep since Bill and Fleur are running late."

"M'kay. I'll do the mashed potatoes and veggies." Charlie slid off the counter and the two danced around the kitchen, working in companionable silence. He glanced at the clock—not the one that gave each family member's location, the one that actually gave the time—and silently bet that his mother wouldn't make it past five minutes before bringing up his new boyfriend.

Sure enough, his mother made it to three minutes before inquiring, "Sooo, Charlie, dear, tell me about him."

"Not much to tell, Mum." Charlie peeled another potato with the flick of his wand and levitated it into the pot of boiling water.

"Is he the reason you decided you like boys?" Molly had a furious blush, obviously uncomfortable with the idea of her son being gay, but trying to re-aproach the topic without the drama of the previous go-around.

"Men, Mum. I like men. I've known I was gay since what, my third or fourth year at Hogwarts? A long time, Mum." He reached for the bag of carrots and selected a few to rinse and peel for the roast.

"Oh. Well, so how many boyfriends have you had, then?" Molly's question made Charlie blush; they stood in the kitchen on either side of the stove blushing like mirror images. This had to be the most awkward conversation he had ever had with his mother.

"Mother!"

"I'm just trying to find out if this one is serious. I mean, why did you keep it a secret for so long?" Molly stopped rummaging through her spice rack to give Charlie her undivided attention.

"Ah. Well, this one is very serious, but I didn't meet him until I went to Mungo's." Charlie spelled a knife to cut the carrots, and sighed, knowing his next statement was going to upset his mother. "And the trip to Mungo's is precisely why I didn't tell you earlier."

Sure enough, Molly started sniffing, and before Charlie realized what was happening she had him in another hug.

"I'm sorry, Charles. I'm so sorry."

Charlie awkwardly patted his mother's back and let her sniffle into his shoulder. "S'okay, mum. S'okay."

"Why's Mum crying?" Bill's loud voice started Molly, and she turned around and grabbed her eldest around the waist.

"Nothing, dear, nothing." Charlie shrugged at Bill, who was standing in the middle of the kitchen with his mom crying into his shoulder, looking confused.

"Is this menopause?" Bill patted his mother's back the same way Charlie had, in kind of a helpless, I-don't-know-what's-going-on flutter. "I can't handle two hormonal women, Mum. Fleur's enough for me."

"Ey! Zat ees not nice, mon loup!" Fleur scolded her husband and pulled Molly into a hug. Molly huffed at Charlie and patted Fleur's pregnant belly.

"The little one is ready to come join us!"

"Oh, c'est vrai. I cannot wait, I do not know how you did zees so many times!" Fleur let Molly lead her into the den, where she sank gratefully onto the couch.

Alone in the kitchen, Bill clapped Charlie on the back. "So, how goes it? Mum obviously came around. Told you she would."

"Yeah, we had one more emotional, yelling conversation when I got out of Mungo's. You missed that one." Charlie drained the water from the potatoes and added copious amounts of butter. He added some salt and parsley and a few other spices that Bill didn't recognize, and then charmed a wooden spoon to begin stirring and mashing the potatoes.

"Doesn't mum have a special tool for mashing?" Bill watched Charlie with an expression of amusement. "I still can't believe they sent you to Mungo's, that's just…" Bill shook his head.

"If you're not going to help us cook, stuff it." Charlie hopped up on the counter again. "Anyway, yeah, so, she's come around, I think. I don't know about Dad. I think he's just hoping I'll snap out of it. Mum is being all super-nosey about my personal life now, though. Wants to know who I'm seeing and all that." Charlie rolled his eyes.

"Well, who are you seeing?"

"It's not important." Bill leaned against the table and stared at his little brother until Charlie started fidgeting.

"Bill, look, you aren't going to like it when I tell you his name, and I don't want to spend the rest of the day fighting with you or trying to defend him, or whatever, so please, just, can you please leave well enough alone?"

"Oh, c'mon Char. If you don't tell me, I'll just encourage Mum's nosiness." Bill smiled smugly at Charlie.

"I'm not nosy." Molly smacked her eldest on the shoulder and moved to the stove. "Oh, Charlie! I have a special potato masher for that!" Molly looked at the bowl of potatoes with dismay. She cast a spell to stop the wooden spoon and started rummaging through the drawers.

"Told you." Bill grinned at Charlie. "Mum, I'm going to help Fleur unpack."

"Okay, dear." Molly acknowledged Bill with an absent-minded wave; she was too focused on finding the potato masher. She finally emerged from the cabinet and handed Charlie the weirdly shaped utensil. "Get off the counter. So, tell me about him, Charles. Why is he special?"

Sensing a lost battle, Charlie obliged his mother, "He's younger than me. He's going to be an apprenticed Healer in a few months, working with the potions unit at Mungo's. He's very smart, and kind, and thoughtful. And you and the rest of the family won't like him at all."

Molly turned from the stove in surprise, her brown eyes flashing dangerously. "That's not a fair thing to say! I've never even met him! How do you know I won't like him?" she exclaimed indignantly.

"Mum, it is a fair thing to say, because once I tell you his name you're going to get mad." Charlie said matter-of-factly. He licked the mashed potatoes off the spoon, and shrugged at his mother.

"Well, I'll have you know, son, he wrote me a very kind note. Completely surprised me, and made me realize that I was wrong in how I had treated you both. So maybe, Charles Septimus, you don't know everything about your dear old mum!" Molly glared, and whirled around to start opening and closing cabinet doors with unnecessary force.

Charlie felt a pressure building behind his eyes. "Mum. Mum, stop." He placed his hands on her shoulders and spun her around, "His name is Draco."

"Draco? The Malfoy kid?" Molly gaped at her son.

"Yes." Charlie braced himself for an angry reaction, and was completely surprised.

"Oh. That's nice. Isn't he a little young for you?" Her eyebrows were raised curiously.

"I know, he's a former Death Eater, but you just got to give him a chance, if you—" Charlie launched into a heated defense of Draco and then mid sentence realized what his mother had said. He spluttered in surprise, "Wait, what?"

"I said, 'That's nice, isn't he a bit young for you?'" Molly repeated herself amusedly. Once she had reconciled herself to the fact that Charlie was gay, and she'd have two son-in-laws instead of just poor Harry, she really didn't care who Charlie brought home. She knew her children would make wise choices in their serious relationships.

"Oh." Charlie jumped back up on the counter. "Yeah, I guess. He's Ron's age, but he had to grow up fast."

"Yeah, the war, I know. I forget sometimes that Ginny and Ron had their teen years ripped away." Molly flicked her wand, and the dishes flew from the cupboards to the table.

Charlie slid down the counter and ducked out of the way because the cabinet behind him smacked into him, trying to open so the cups could escape to the table. "So, that's it, no rage about the destruction the Death Eaters caused, or Fred?" Charlie watched Molly apprehensively. After the fuss his parents caused when he came out to them about being gay, he was expecting a third Great War when they found out he was seeing Draco Malfoy.

Molly stopped, and jumped up on the counter next to Charlie. She grabbed his hand and cradled it against her heart. "Charles, I trust you're going to make the best choice. If there's something you see in him, then maybe I need to give him a chance, too."

Charlie thought his mother was on the brink of tears again, but she jumped off the counter and said briskly, "I'll finish in here. Go tell Ginny and Bill and Fleur that dinner is almost ready, will you?"

Molly was beside herself to have some of her brood back at the Burrow. They crowded around the table, happily eating, and she flitted around, making sure everyone had a full plate. Charlie finally grabbed his mother's wrist on her fourth, or fifth, trip past him to the kitchen. "Mum. Sit down. We want to spend time with you, not stuff our faces."

"Oui, tell us, where are Percy, George, and Ron? Why could not zey make it today?" Fleur smiled at Mrs. Weasley.

Charlie gave an exasperated look to Bill and Ginny for their lack of support, and mouthed, "Thank you!" to Fleur. Ginny caught on, and chimed in, "Yeah, Mum, I can go get stuff from the kitchen, if we need it, but I think we're good. The roast is delicious."

"Okay." Mrs. Weasley patted Charlie's shoulder and sat down in her seat. She started to happily chatter about Percy's new job, Ron's latest adventure, and speculate on when George was going to marry Angelina. In short order the table was filled with carefree conversation. Charlie was, contrary to his earlier statement, not contributing much to the conversation because he was happily stuffing his face. In fact, he wasn't really paying close attention at all to the conversation as it flowed around him, until he heard Bill exclaim, "What the hell, Charles? Ginny's met him, and you told Mum, but you won't tell me?!"

Charlie choked on his dinner roll. He was saved from having to reply by Ginny. "Bill, does it matter, really?"

Bill crossed his arms, irritatedly. Fleur reached over and patted his hand, "Eet ees no reason to be angry, mon loup. Pas un problème."

Charlie rubbed the bridge of his nose. "No, Bill has a right to be angry. He stood by me through the Hogwarts years and kept my secret almost as long as Ginny."

Bill shot Fleur a dirty look and started to say, "See? I told you so!" but immediately shut his mouth when she glared right back at him. "Sois sage!"

"The reason I don't want to tell you, Bill, is because you already met him. He was at Gringotts, and I guess you said some things to him that were…that upset him." Charlie reached for his glass of water and took a sip.

"I what?" Bill looked at Charlie in confusion.

"He got caught up in some stuff during the war, Bill. He made some shit choices. I really, really, do not want to spend the rest of this meal defending him. So if I tell you, you have to promise me that you will leave it alone."

Bill pursed his lips and looked at Charlie. He could tell that this was a highly sensitive subject for his little brother, but there was a nagging voice insisting that Charlie was in a relationship that was going to hurt him. The fact that he felt he needed to keep his lover's identity hidden from the family set warning bells ringing. Instead of agreeing out-right, Bill asked, "Charlie, do you remember what happened to Pyrites at the end of your 4th year?"

"That was you?!" Charlie threw his hands up in frustration. "All the more reason not to tell you who I'm dating now!"

The three women at the table glanced between Bill and Charlie in confusion.

"My little brother got hurt. I took care of it." Bill defended his actions with a shrug.

"I can't belie—" Charlie stopped himself, not wanting to delve into a private piece of his personal history. He stood, and excused himself, "Mum, thank you for lunch. I'm going to collect a few things from my room that I'd like to take to the reserve. I'll be back in a bit." He strode out of the dining room, leaving a somewhat stunned silence in his wake.

As soon as he was out of earshot, the three women rounded on Bill. He waited for them to finish talking over each other, and then responded in a matter-of-fact tone. "His boyfriend cheated on him, so I got even with him. They found him naked and trapped on the rock in the middle of the lake after everyone left on the Hogwarts Express. The Giant Squid agreed to keep him there if I brought him shrimp from the End of Year Feast." He shrugged, again, as if to say, "It was no big deal."

Molly's jaw dropped, in shock. Ginny started laughing so hard tears ran down her face. Fleur looked at her husband, and muttered, "Le calmar géant? Mon anglais est si mauvaise? Did you say Giant Squid?"

Gasping for breath, Ginny answered Fleur, "No, you heard him right. There's a Giant Squid in the lake at Hogwarts."

Fleur primly dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. "Le calmar géant. Crazy."

"William Arthur Weasley!" Molly sputtered, so angry she couldn't even say anything more than his name.

"I'll go talk to him." Bill hastily retreated, knowing his mother was about to give him a stern dressing-down, the likes of which the twins had only rarely earned.

Bill knocked gently on Charlie's door. "Go. The Fuck. Away!" Charlie yelled at Bill. Something solid slammed against the door.

Bill opened the door and stepped inside, holding his wand defensively. "I break curses for Gringotts, you aren't about to hex me." He stopped, and put his hands up in a surrendering motion. "Just, hear me out, okay?"

Charlie was sitting on the edge of his bed. He crossed his arms and glared at his older brother.

"You're right, Charlie. I don't blame you for not telling me. I just wanted to apologize. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did to Pyrites, when I knew you still were in love with him. I'm sorry I've been harassing you about telling me who you're dating now. When you're ready, you'll tell me. I'm even sorry I offended him, whoever he is, when he came into Gringotts. That's all. I'll be in Fleur's and my room for the rest of your stay, so you can spend time with Mum and Ginny without having to stifle your anger at me, okay?" Bill finished his little speech and turned to grabbed the doorknob. Charlie's voice froze him in midstride.

"Actually, Bill. When I finally got over Amin, him stranded out there…it was nice to imagine, when I need a laugh."

"You shoulda heard him yell." Bill grinned at his brother.

"It just…I hadn't thought about him in a while, and your comment brought up a lot of miserable memories."

"Sorry." Bill wasn't sure what else to say.

"I'm seeing Draco Malfoy."

Bill's eyes opened impossibly wide, and he asked, "Malfoy?"

"Yeah." Charlie glared, silently daring Bill to start another fight.

Bill was silent a minute, and then announced, "Well, tell him what I did to Amin Pyrites, and warn him it'll be worse if he hurts you. I've got a wider variety of hexes and curses at my disposal now, thanks to Gringotts." Bill turned and walked out of the room before Charlie could form a reply.

Charlie groaned, and followed his brother back down to lunch. His family was beyond frustrating some days. However, Charlie thought, he wouldn't trade them for anything. Charlie hadn't realized how badly the Mungo's incident had hurt. He was relieved that his mother was making an effort to be accepting of his lifestyle-and his boyfriend. He sat down with his family, sharing love, laughter, and improperly mashed potatoes. He smiled, content.

Author's Note: To the guest who left an anonymous review...If the "jizz-fest" is a reference to the explicit chapters, my apologies. I've considered taking those chapters down because I'm pretty sure this website is not as accommodating as LiveJournal or other websites, and I would hate to be banned. I did try to be as realistic as possible and yet, I didn't want the sex scenes to detract from the story. That was my initial reaction to your review, but if you were referring to Ginny, my intent with introducing various family members was to develop the character of Draco and Charlie. Charlie was raised with probably the most stable, healthy home atmosphere in all of wizardkind, and Draco obviously wasn't. I wanted to use their relationships with their families as a tool to catch a glimpse of what motivates their behavior. Also, as they deal with their families acceptance/rejection, it allows them to bond together. All of that is why I took this chapter to focus on Charlie and his family, and the last one on Draco and his mother (Draco never really resolved things, Narcissa just decided to avoid the conflict, whereas the Weasleys forgave and restored relationships)...Anyway, if you have further feedback, I'd love to hear it; I really enjoy dialoguing about my writing and what I'm trying to accomplish with the plot and characterization etc etc.

Anyway, to everyone else who's still with me: El33ri, Thank you for the note about the music; I grew up with musical instruments so it seemed a natural family setting to me (although my family was not dysfunctional like the Malfoys!)... I'm really not sure where the harp came from, except it just seemed like a high-society type of instrument and I can imagine Narcissa playing it. Congrats on your certification-that's a big deal :) ladydhampir, I'm soooo very encouraged that you like my take on this pairing. It's difficult because of those very things you've mentioned ;) Trying to keep them in character, but not so much that it ruins the story...it's been an interesting challenge for me. Anyway, fangirl away! I did, and it resulted in this story...Bailey Michelle, thank you :)

Lastly, I took French through my four years of highschool, but that was well over a decade ago, and I don't remember any of it! I used the powers of google-translate to assist me with Fleur...I thought it would be amusing if her pet nickname for Bill was "mon loup" or, "my wolf;" I remembered that on my own...but everything else, google. If there are any French speakers who are following my story, forgive my poor grammar.