Love Burns (Charlie Weasley X Reader)

Chapter 5: Paradoxical

Charlie was bustling around in the closet.

"Hey," he said over his shoulder when he heard me come in. "How was work?"

"It was stressful," I answered honestly and sat down on the edge of our bed. "Hana tried to start a conversation about the war."

"Hana did?" he asked to clarify.

"Yeah. I didn't tell her anything though."

"Think she's a death eater?" he asked and pulled a shirt out, tossing it behind him onto the bed.

"I don't know. I mean, I'd like to say no but I can't," I said and shrugged.

Charlie sighed and came to sit beside me.

"What's up with you?" he asked and grabbed my hand, his calloused fingers brushing over the skin of my palm.

"Nothing," I said and turned to face him, tucking my face into his neck. I placed a chaste kiss on his neck and raked my hands through his hair.

"You're acting differently," he persisted, one of his hands moving to rest on my hip.

"No, I'm not." I trailed my hand under his shirt and to his chest and pressed a kiss on his lips.

"Ever since we got-" he sucked in a sharp breath through his nose as I slipped my tongue into his mouth and brushed my hand against his crotch. "Are you trying to distract me?" he asked and pulled away, his hand closing around my wrist. I straddled his hips.

"Is it working?"

"No," he said decisively and grabbed my other wrist when I slid it up to his chest. "Just talk to me."

"I don't want to talk," I protested and rolled my hips against his.

"Fuck," he cursed. "Please talk to me."

"What if I'm not ready to talk?" I asked and stopped struggling against him.

"Then we don't have to but you shouldn't feel like you have to distract me whenever I try to talk to you," he said and loosened his grip on my wrists.

"Maybe we need a distraction," I said.

"Distractions don't solve anything," he said, his eyes flickering between mine.

"Yeah, but this distraction feels good," I said and pushed my hips against his. Charlie's jaw clenched and his head lolled slightly.

"Y/N," he mumbled. His resolve was slipping but I didn't want to push him. I sighed and climbed off of his lap.

"Sirius won't be the last," I said after a moment of silence.

Charlie's head dropped down to his chest as he looked at the ground.

"The longer this goes on, the more there'll be," I continued.

"I know," he said. "But we can't change that. We can only do so much."

"That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. I'm just scared... What if something happens to you or-" I cut myself off with a shake of my head.

Charlie didn't say anything. The silence was broken by a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," he said and pushed himself off of the bed with an air of relief. I followed after him. I watched as he went to pull open the door only to find it locked. He hesitated, his hand hovering over the doorknob before he unlocked it and opened the door.

"Sorry to show up uninvited." Alcott, who was flanked by Fatima, was outside. "I just had some things to run by you and I figured we could make a date out of it."

"Yeah, come in," Charlie said and stepped aside.

"Hope we're not interrupting anything," Fatima said as she and Alcott slipped through the doorway.

"No, you're fine," Charlie assured them and shut the door behind him. He left it unlocked and followed after the two women who were making their way to the living room.

"It'll just be a few minutes," Alcott said. "I noticed some inconsistencies in Randy's logs and I wanted you to look over them. I didn't want to be the asshole who accused someone of screwing up if he was right."

"So," Fatima said as Charlie and Alcott began to look over the logs, "could I bother you for a spot of water?"

"Sure," I said and led her to the kitchen. I filled a glass with water and slid it to her over the countertop. "What have you and Mia been up to?"

"She's been obsessing over the dragons," Fatima said and rolled her dark eyes fondly. "The new handler, Randy, is absolute ass but she doesn't want to step on his toes. Classic ingrained misogyny if you ask me. She shouldn't step down to a man if she's right."

"Well, she's not exactly confrontational," I said and nodded. "What about you? How're things in the nursery?"

"Same as always," Fatima said with a shrug. "We haven't been doing a ton of breeding but we've had an upsurge in wyrmling deaths."

"That's awful," I said and frowned.

"Well, a few lost is natural," she said. "Seems like you've been doing pretty great yourself. I haven't heard of any wizard deaths."

"Not many injuries," I said with a shrug. "Not that I've had a wizard die under my care," I clarified quickly. Fatima giggled.

"I didn't think you had," she said and smiled widely.

"Things have been slow at the hospital. We have had uneventful nights for the most part. It's nice to know that people aren't getting hurt but it's a little strange," I said and traced my finger over a scratch in the countertop.

"Paradoxical," she commented and stared into her cup of water.

"Exactly."

"Hey, we finished up with the logs," Alcott said as she poked her head through the doorway. "Want to play a card game?"

"Oh! Can we play Clue again?" Fatima asked.

"No way," Alcott said and shook her head. "Y/N and Charlie always cheat."

"We don't cheat," I scoffed.

"Do too," Alcott said and wrinkled her nose. "There's no way Charlie could figure all of that shit out on his own."

"I can hear you," Charlie called from the other room. Alcott cackled and wrapped her arm around Fatima's shoulders as they migrated to the living room.

how's it going, lovelies?