Yours truly ; Charlie Weasley

Fifty-five

Charlie

While Ember was asleep, I decided to take advantage of the time to go outside in the garden and smoke a cigarette. I usually didn't smoke, but it was a habit I had picked up lately. It helped calm me down and I needed to be as calm as possible so I wouldn't snap at Ember because of how stressed I am about the whole situation.

My sister's wedding was today and we couldn't be there. It sucked. I felt shattered about it. I wanted to be there to see her get married but because of Edison, we're stuck in Romania.

This also means that Ember's twenty-sixth birthday is in five days and I still haven't adopted a kitten yet. I have no idea how I'll do it. I don't want to leave her alone at home.

"Since when do you smoke?"

I jumped and quickly pushed myself off the wall at the sound of Ember. When I turned to her, I froze with my cigarette placed between my lips, staring at her. She had a blanket wrapped around her but she was outside.

She had opened the glass door and walked out into our garden without even thinking about it.

"I don't know." I exhaled as I held the cigarette between my fingers. "It calms me."

She simply nodded as she tightened the blanket around her body.

"Do you want me to put it out?" I asked, tilting my head as I studied her face.

She shook her head.

"No that's okay." She breathed and looked down at her covered feet. "I'm... I'm outside."

I smiled widely.

"Yeah... you are."

She looked at me for a minute before dropping the blanket, walking over to me with large steps.

She wrapped both of her arms around my neck, burying her face against the skin of my throat, and I held out the hand holding the cigarette so it wouldn't be near her, while hugging her back with my other arm.

"I love you." She whispered, getting her fingers tangled in my hair on the nape of my neck.

"I love you too." I whispered. "And I'm proud of you."

She kept her arms around me for a moment before she pulled away and turned to pick up the blanket.

"It's quite nice out here." She said as she slowly walked around the garden, surrounded by a hedge. "I don't know what I was so scared of."

She turned to me again and sighed.

"Healer Albu is going to be here tomorrow, right?" She asked, and when I nodded, she continued. "Do we want to know the genders?"

"Do you want to know the genders?" I asked. "If you want to know, then we'll find out."

She hummed as she stared off into the distance while I brought my cigarette back up to my face.

"Could you ever imagine us moving to Romania permanently?" I asked. I put out the cigarette before approaching Ember where she stood, watching me with no expression on he face.

"Move away from... my family?" She asked. "Your family? I don't— I mean—"

"Hey." I spoke softly when I felt her start to panic. "I was just asking. I'm in no way planning anything and I'm not talking about in the nearest future. We're gonna go back to London when all of this is over and we're gonna find a house. I was thinking... maybe one day when our kids are grown and moved out."

I leaned in to kiss her, but she pressed a hand to my mouth and shook her head.

"You just had a cigarette." She said. "I'm not gonna stop you from smoking but you're not gonna kiss me when you taste like smoke."