"Charles?" You went to sit next to Charlie, who'd taken a break from the quidditch game the Weasleys' were playing. "You look upset. What's wrong?"
"Do I?" Charlie asked, running a hand through his sweat soaked hair. You wrinkled your nose at him, earning a laugh. "Sorry... I don't know, I just never realized that I'd feel this bad about leaving my home. I mean, I won't even be in England."
"I thought you were okay with that, last time we talked about it."
Charlie turned around to face you. "I was... but last time we talked about it, I thought we were just friends." You smiled softly at that, letting him go on. "If I go, something's going to change between us. I knew I would leave the burrow the moment I could once Bill left- I mean I love my family, but nothing is going to make us lose contact- but with you it feels a bit more uncertain." He looked up at you sheepishly. "I really like you, you know that. So I don't want things to start getting rocky."
"Well..." you thought out what to say in your had before you spoke. "I see us being together in the long run. Do you see that?"
"Of course."
"Okay, then... my job- if I get it"-
"Which you will." You looked Charlie in the eye to see his serious expression. All the Weasley's constantly reassured you about getting the job, but it didn't make you any less nervous. You were sure you were going to get rejected with how late the answer was. "I'm sure you'll get it."
"Okay, once I get my job," Charlie nodded proudly. "I'll be moving around a lot, because it's an international job. So I was thinking... do you want to live together?" Charlie's eyes widened. You spoke slowly. "In Romania?"
"You'd.. You'd move to Romania for me?" Charlie asked, shocked. "I mean... it's a bit soon, so if you're rushing things for me, you don't have to."
You grinned, despite how nervous you felt. "You shouldn't be telling me about rushing things- you're the one who proposed." Charlie chuckled at that. "But no, I don't think it's too soon. We've been friends for years, and you're the person I trust the most. Jacob's literally always at work, and our parents are still kind of mad at us so they're not letting me there anytime soon. I have no where else to go, and you're the person I want to be with all the time, so the obvious decision is to go to Romania, right?" Charlie simply stared at you in awe, making you laugh nervously, and cover your mouth. "Was that too much?"
"No, I agree," Charlie grinned. "I was planning on just living at the reserve but... we could buy a place, I'm sure."
You were hesitant. "Are you sure we have the money for that now? I could always just stay at the reserve with you until we get things sorted out."
Charlie leaned forwards to kiss you. Nearing your lips he said, "But then it'd be just like the burrow. We'd have no privacy." As he kissed you, Fred and George yelled at the two of you from their broomsticks. As Charlie tilted his head, deepening the kiss, Bill joined in the complaining. Once Charlie let you go, he grinned toothily. "See? No privacy."
"Not if you snog her right in the open," Ron commented, wrinkling his nose at the two of you, who laughed loudly.
"Y/N! Y/N dear!" Your head turned at the sound of Molly calling for you frantically. "You got your letter!"
You looked to Charlie, who gave you a reassured yet excited look before standing up and pulling you up by your hand. "I bet a galleon she got in!" Fred yelled.
"I'll bet one more!"
"I bet two against!" You yelled back before heading inside. Molly had placed the letter on the counter, looking at the letter and then back at you. You looked over at Arthur. "Did Molly open it already?"
He nodded, smiling widely. "She got in!" Charlie yelled.
"She got in!" Molly confirmed, smiling proudly.
"I..." You opened the letter, not having to rip it open, and skimmed over the letter to see the words you were hoping to see.
We are happy to inform you-
"I got in!" Charlie immediately wrapped you into a hug after kissing you sweetly. "Charlie, I did it!"
"I know, I'm so proud of you, you know that?!"
"We have another curse breaker in the family!" Bill cheered from outside.
The in-the-family part caught you off guard, but you grinned widely nonetheless. Charlie grabbed you by the arm and began pulling you towards the stairs. "Let her go mum, she should write to her own parents!"
As Charlie led you up the stairs, you whispered, "You know, I don't really need to tell them. They don't even know what the job is"-
"I know," Charlie grinned as he took you into his room, closing the door with a grin. "But might as well have an excuse to get away, right?"
"MUM!" Ginny shrieked. Both you and Charlie were hot in the face, from embarrassment and laughter.
"I thought you cha... charmed the door," Charlie said, in between bursts of laughter.
"Stop it," you said, trying to stop yourself. "We've probably scarred Ginny!"
"No, Bill did that days ago," Charlie grinned. "We just gave her that muggle thing- uh, sex ed, was it?"
You slapped Charlie's head playfully. "They don't show us actual porn!"
"Please, she barely saw anything"-
"CHARLES WEASLEY!"
"Of course she's only going to scold me," Charlie muttered, rolling his eyes.
"I'll just tell Ginny you were attacking me," you grinned. Charlie turned around and gave you a suggestive look, making you burst into laughter all over again. "Get a hold of yourself, Weasley."
"I should," Charlie sighed. "We'll have more time to do this in our home in Romania. Alone."
You threw a pillow at him, earning a yelp from the boy. "Weasley!" Your joy was interrupted by Molly yelling again, with laughter from a few of the boys. You shot Charlie an apologetic look. "Sorry I'm so irresistible. I'll never look anyone in this family in the eyes again. Good luck."
"Thanks," he grumbled, getting the last of his clothes on before heading out the door.
As you listened to Molly yell at Charlie, you changed and got out parchment paper and some ink to write a letter to your brother, letting him know you'd gotten your dream job. While seven years at Hogwarts was filled with very unexpected events and unexpected losses, it was alright now. Things seemed to be getting better.
You got the dream you wanted, the person you wanted. The person you wanted had things going quite smoothly as well. Your family issues hadn't exactly patched themselves up, but Jacob was back, for good. Even he was quite stable. As you watched the ink dried, you thought about Rowan, wished she was still here, to enjoy this more peaceful, carefree part of life with you. You wished you could write a letter to her, or run into her arms squealing about how you'd done it, how you'd gotten the job you wanted.
You thought of her congratulating you, her bright, supportive smile, her eyes shining with pride past her glasses. You thought of discussing your feelings for Charlie with her, telling her how much you regretted not asking him out sooner, like she'd told you to do.
You bit your lip. You wished Rowan got to experience the life you were living. If it wasn't for you, Rowan would have never been involved in the cursed vault fiasco in the first place. It should've been you...
You shook your head, focusing on your letter again. You blew over it quickly before rolling it up. "Hey love," Charlie peeked his head through the door, making your focus change to him. He smiled. "Mum wants to talk to you." You groaned, feeling your face heat up. He winked at you with a grin. "Good luck."
It had been a rough first few months with your new job. You weren't able to drop off the Weasley's to Hogwarts because of work starting a week before. Charlie had to leave before you, so the last time you'd seen him was at the Burrow.
After three months of constant travel, apparating to and fro, sleeping over in muggle motels that reeked and breaking some weird curses, your schedule had finally calmed down a bit. You were still technically an intern, but you were considered one of the people climbing towards the top very quickly.
None of that mattered right now though. You were finally in Romania, at the dragon reserve where Charlie worked. You were obviously quite lost, as someone who worked there- burly, much taller than you and covered in scars- approached you carefully.
"I'm a visitor," you introduced yourself, and was immediately met with a snicker.
"Oh yes, Y/N! Charlie never stops talking about you, you know?" The man swung his arm around your shoulders, surprising you for a second as he led you forwards.
"Does he?" You asked, a bit amused.
"If he's not talking about dragons, he's talking about his girlfriend." The man gave out his hand. "I'm a dragon tamer as well."
"Your name would be helpful as well," you answered, shaking his hand.
He chuckled, "Romeo Jones. Nice to meet you, future Weasley."
You stuttered for a moment. "I'm... well, don't talk about it now, we're nowhere near ready for that."
"Oi, Jones, leave the poor girl alone! You're not really Romeo, you know?!" Your head turned instantly at the sound of that voice. Romeo lifted his hand off your shoulder, and you turned around fully. Immediately, Charlie went from an expression of joking to one of shock. "I think that dragon hit my head too," he muttered to himself, grabbing his head.
"Charles!" You ran into a hug, his arms open. He even took a few steps forward, unable to wait to finally hold you. "I missed you so much," you muttered as you gripped onto his shirt.
"I missed you too love," he whispered back, his hold on you tightening. "You won't believe how much I missed you."
"I was told," you giggled softly. "You couldn't stop talking about me, according to Romeo."
Charlie groaned into your shoulder. "Why was the first person you met the most annoying?"
You leaned back, looking at him, wide-eyed and excited. "You have to show me the flat."
"Come on, it's not far," Charlie said, pulling you by the hand. "It's a short walk, if you don't mind?"
"Of course not," you stretched your free hand, and cracked your neck. "I never get to walk peacefully anymore. It's all apparating for travel." Charlie laughed, draping his arm around your shoulders. "I've missed you."
Charlie squeezed your shoulders. "I missed you too," he grinned. "I love dragons, don't get me wrong, but even they didn't cheer me up completely. I also had to face the fact that they really can't be domesticated."
"Oh my god, so we can't keep a dragon in our backyard?" You joked. Charlie chuckled, his head bowing. "Who knew work was so tiring, huh? I mean we don't need to do exams anymore but I can't see you everyday, so there really are no benefits. How've you been getting along with everyone at the reserve?"
"Just fine," Charlie smiled. "There's no snobby purebloods around to call me a blood traitor or anything."
"Of course, those people are too bratty to do actual work," you muttered bitterly. "Did you get my letter about having to break a curse for the Malfoys?"
"I did!" Charlie's eyebrows furrowed. "They're absolutely horrible for just shooeing you away like that, just for your bloodline! Their son is bothering Ron too, last I heard. If I wasn't in Romania,I would've got a good hit in their faces by now." Charlie abruptly stopped. "Here."
"But Charlie, this is a..." you trailed off, realizing what he meant. "You got us a house?!"
Charlie hushed you. "Not so loud, we don't want the neighbors hating us already." You nodded, and let him usher you in the small home. "Are we... really, Weasley, how did you afford this? Are you illegally selling dragon eggs or something?"
"No, no," Charlie chuckled. "It's the old house of one of my mates at the reserve. She moved out because she's married, but I told her about us looking for a place to live and she gave this place to rent, for a pretty low price. My job alone could pay."
You looked around the home as you stepped in. The floors were wooden, a darker type of wood. Near the entrance was the living room, which was quite spacious. Ahead, you saw the kitchen. Charlie took your coat, being the gentlemen he was, and stored it away in the closet near the door. In between the kitchen and living room, was a staircase.
"The bedrooms are upstairs," Charlie explained, nervously trying to figure out your expression. "There's three plus a bathroom in our room."
"What's that room?" You asked, pointing to a room near the kitchen.
"Another bathroom," Charlie said. "Probably the guest one. I know it's not perfect, there's some chipped paint in the bedrooms, and the stairs creak a lot honestly, but I'm sure I can fix that. Uh, and I know living in a muggle neighborhood isn't very ideal, but it was a nice house and I thought maybe you wouldn't want to completely disassociate yourself from muggle society because I know you do miss your old life sometimes so"-
You interrupted him with a kiss. As you parted, he looked at you, very confused. You smiled, reaching up to pat his shoulder. "I love it. I love you so much."
"You seriously... like it?"
"I love it," you repeated. "It's beautiful. Sure, we don't need this much room, but when the family comes over- and you've got a pretty big family- the room will be perfect. And just, it's beautiful, really. Anything would've been fine if I got to live with you, but this is amazing."
Charlie leaned in again, for another kiss, and now he smiled, carefree. "I'm glad you like it then. I was so worried you'd hate it."
"And what, break up with you?" You joked.
Charlie laughed. "Bugger off," he said playfully, bumping his shoulder with yours, before taking a few steps up the stairs, which did creak slightly as he said. "Come on, let me show you our room."
As he hurried up the stairs, you laughed. "The bed better not creak as much as the stairs Weasley!"