The Adventures of Artemis Hexley

OUT OF THE ASHES • Another Day

The sun was high in the sky, making the autumn leaves on the ground glow in shades of gold as Charlie arrived in the front garden of the Burrow. From inside the house, the sounds of laughter and clattering pots and pans could be heard as he crunched his way across the yard to the front porch, still dizzy from his Portkey.

He knocked on the front door and was greeted by his mother, who immediately smothered him in an almost rib-breakingly tight hug.

"Bloody hell, Mum. It's like you've not seen me in six months, not six weeks!"

"Well, six weeks is a long time when I had gotten used to you being around all the time," Mrs Weasley replied. "It's just lovely to have you home, dear."

Charlie's mother let him go, looking almost expectantly behind him before sighing deeply.

"What's the matter?" Charlie asked her.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. I thought that maybe... Oh, never mind. Come on inside, dear."

Shaking his head despairingly, Charlie followed his mother inside the house. It didn't look quite the same as it had when he was growing up, but it still felt like home, a fact he was grateful for, given the state the house had been in at the end of the war. The Death Eaters had completely ransacked the house and destroyed parts of it; it had taken Charlie and his brother Percy the best part of a year to fully restore it to its former unglorified glory.

In the living room was Percy himself, along with Charlie's other two eldest brothers and their father. Charlie hugged each of them in turn, finishing with his older brother, Bill.

"Where's Fleur?" Charlie asked him, looking around himself as if his sister-in-law might suddenly appear out of nowhere - which, in fairness, she could.

"She went for some air," replied Bill, smiling broadly. "She's out in the back garden watching Harry and Ginny teach Teddy to ride a broom."

"Right. And the others?"

"Ron and Hermione should be here any minute now, and knowing Artemis, she will be here ten minutes late."

"Of course. Why break the habit of a lifetime?" Charlie said, raising his eyebrows knowingly. "I'll go and show my face outside."

In the back garden, Fleur Weasley was sitting on a deck chair with a glass of water, watching Charlie's sister Ginny and her boyfriend holding a blue-haired toddler upright on a broomstick. At the sight of her brother, Ginny left Harry and Teddy to their flying lesson and ran across the grass towards him.

"Did you come here alone?" she demanded, without even saying hello first.

"It's nice to see you too, Gin."

"Yeah, whatever. Answer the question."

"Uh, yes. Why?"

"Oh, mum was getting all excited. She got it into her head that you were bringing a girl home as a surprise."

Charlie blinked. "Why would she think that?"

"Because Mum just loves marrying people off, doesn't she?" Ginny laughed. "And because you only ever usually come home when it's a special occasion."

Ginny had a point, Charlie had to admit that. When he had first left home at eighteen, he struggled to afford Portkeys, and always found himself feeling more homesick returning to Romania after visiting his family. Going home infrequently had become somewhat of a habit, but after the war ended and he moved back to Romania following a year's sabbatical, his priorities had changed. He had visited more often in the last five months, but it just so happened that his visits had coincided with big events: Ginny's graduation, George's shop re-opening, Ron's engagement. This was the first time he had come home without there being some sort of occasion, the first time that it was just another day in the life of the Weasley family.