Burn // Charlie Weasley

35. Complicated

 The elevator doors opened and Charlie stepped out, head down as flipped through the notebook in his hand. He didn't usually take work home with him, but he needed a distraction.

"Charlie!" Julia's eager voice pulled his attention away from his notes and he watched as she walked away from the front desk and towards him.

"Julia," he nodded. "You don't usually stay this late."

Her lips pressed together tightly, as if that was something she didn't already know, "Well with Gabi gone I'm just trying to help where I can."

When Charlie returned to work and Gabi didn't, Julia wasn't the only one who had questions. A few of the other trainers were wondering what had happened and Charlie told them all the same thing.

'Something came up, she needed to go back to New York.'

It wasn't necessarily a lie, he just neglected to tell them that the issue that came up was that Gabi had found out he had been lying to her this entire time.

In his defense, Charlie made it perfectly clear that he would always put the sanctuary first.

"Go home, Julia," Charlie politely urged, nodding towards the door behind her.

"I will, I will, don't worry," she assured him. Her face twisted and Charlie got the immediate sense that something was off. He narrowed his gaze, but it wasn't his fault when the Legilimency peeked through and caught a glimpse of one word in her mind. Not even a word, a name.

George.

"Is everything okay?" Charlie asked, wondering why Julia would be thinking of his brother.

"I think so," she didn't sound too confident. "Honestly, it's a good thing you came down because I was on my way to come get you. But um-" she smiled, "-you have a visitor, Charlie. Someone's here to see you."

Charlie lifted his head and looked around the first floor lobby. Sure enough, tucked away in the corner where the couches were, sat George. He smiled at Charlie once they made eye contact and pushed himself off the couch, walking over to him with his hands in his pockets.

Julia scurried back to her desk and Charlie met his younger brother halfway.

"What brings you to Oxhaven?" He asked, maybe it wasn't the most polite greeting, but George didn't have any reason to be here.

"I can't visit my own brother?" George chuckled, but they both knew that wasn't the only reason. George shifted his weight, "Getting approved for a portkey took a bloody long time, Charlie, so I'm not about to leave after only saying hi."

The lobby of his office building wasn't the place to have any sort of conversation. Charlie tossed his paperwork on a nearby table, deciding that he wouldn't need them tonight.

"Am I going to need a drink for this?" Charlie asked.

George nodded, "Probably."

A few minutes later the two of them found themselves sitting in front of the bar top in the local pub. It was quieter than normal, given it was only a Thursday, but that just meant that the chatter didn't require them to yell to be heard. It would pick up in a few hours, but maybe George would be gone by then.

It had only been a few weeks since he saw George. Charlie left the Burrow right after Christmas dinner and that holiday slowly faded into New Years. They had barely passed the midway point of January, but even then it felt like this month was dragging on.

In the back of his head, Charlie knew that Gabi's absence was the reason for that.

But he didn't want to talk about his own problems, especially not with George.