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cjmarloweI wrote the first draft of this story last spring, then I moved and things got busy and I revisited it from time to time but never found time for the overhaul that it needed. Till now. Oh Neville, you will always be my favourite.
Chick Habit
The real trick is to find someone who wants the same things.
Harry Potter. Charlie/multiple, Charlie/Neville. 6,400 words. PG-13. [ on AO3 ]
Weasley family Christmas dinners had got a lot bigger over the past few years. Not that they hadn't been sizeable to begin with, but there'd been a fair stretch after Ginny'd started Hogwarts without any small children underfoot. These days there were more than ever.
Charlie arrived unfashionably late, after a bit of a last minute scramble to make sure he had gifts for all of the scrappy little redheads.
"There's room for you down this end," said Percy, sliding his chair over as much as he could—which wasn't much—to make some. "Mum, we need another plate, Charlie's brought someone."
Her name was Lola Crisp, and Charlie'd met her a week ago outside of Gringotts where she'd dropped her packages after tripping over a wheel of cheese. Charlie had to admire a woman who could take a tumble like that and not so much as lose her hat.
"I hope you don't mind," she said. "Charlie said it would be all right."
"The more the merrier," said his mother, which in a family like theirs was the only sane philosophy to keep. Especially since Charlie was pretty sure Angelina was pregnant again, which meant at least one more Weasley on the way, and maybe more than that if Ginny or Ron weren't quite finished yet. At least Charlie was pretty sure Bill'd had his lot, and Percy had always planned for just his two (he'd planned for one of each, but didn't seem unhappy that he'd ended up with two girls instead). "We'll all just have to squish in."
"Ought to be used to that by now," said George, making just a little bit of extra room for Angelina and holding little Fred on his lap. In his head Charlie always called him little Fred, even though little Fred's namesake had already been gone for years before he was even born.
"Haven't worried this much that I'm going to sit on one of them since Ron and Ginny were still in nappies," said Charlie, brushing off his chair as though he might've missed one of them. Little Fred giggled at him.
"Yes, but you sat on me on purpose," said Ginny, making sure her three were all resettled after the interruption.
"Only because I'd convinced you it was a game," said Charlie. "You loved it so much you used to climb into my things when I wasn't looking."
There was the distinctive pop of Apparation from outside, and Charlie looked uncertainly towards the door. There was no family left to arrive, and unexpected guests were not always good news. Even this long after the war.
"Oh, that'll be Neville," his mum said, though. "I invited him after I heard about Hannah. The poor boy actually thought I'd let him spend Christmas alone."
Neville and Hannah had split closer to last Christmas than this one—the perils of having a family like his was that Charlie knew far more about other people's lives than he really needed to—but he knew how hard it was to turn down an invitation from Molly Weasley once she'd got her mind set on something.
"Neville Longbottom," he greeted him, since he was in the chair nearest the door. "It's been a long time."
Neville gave him a friendly nod, but mostly he looked a little overwhelmed at the Weasley gathering. To be fair, they were quite a sight to see when they all gathered like this. But Charlie knew Neville'd faced things far more daunting than a sea of Weasleys, and sure enough he soon pulled himself together .
"Neville!" said Hermione, scrambling up to give him a hug. "It's been ages!"
Of course, ages for them probably meant a couple of months and not the years since Charlie had last spent any time with Neville. It would've been just after the war, now that he thought about if—just when Neville was leaving Hogwarts. At the time he'd already been growing into himself, but looking at him now, that had only been a hint of the man he'd become. Hannah was a real fool to leave this one.
"Just about time to tuck in," said Arthur. "I think there's room down by Victoire."
Victoire was just old enough now to notice how fit Neville was, and certainly didn't seem to mind making room for him to squeeze up next to her. She was going to be a menace when she started Hogwarts next year, with Neville as one of her professors.
"Your family is enormous," Lola whispered in Charlie's ear, which she would already have known if she hadn't been just the right age to not have gone to school with any of them.
"You get used to it," said Charlie. Harry and Hermione looked right at home now, after all, and Fleur had taken to it nearly as easily. Angelina, maybe by virtue of living with George, seemed to take everything in stride, and even Audrey, who was nearly as rigid as Percy, had comfortably found her place. Maybe one day Charlie would have someone who fit in too.
"Will there be enough food?" she asked, and Charlie almost laughed.
"We may have grown up without a lot of things," he said, "but there is always enough food."
And with that, once Neville was settled between Victoire and Harry, his father raised his glass and Christmas dinner was begun.
*
When Charlie came home for Easter, coming by public portkey this time because Edith didn't like to fly, he found most of the clan playing a pick-up game of Quidditch on one side of the house and the few that were left putting in the garden on the other.
If it weren't for Edith, Charlie probably would have joined the game.
"You must be Edna," said his mother, standing up and slipping off her gardening gloves.
"Edith," Charlie corrected her.
"Right, of course, Edith," she said.
"I hope it's all right that Charlie brought me. He said you wouldn't mind."
"Of course not, my dear," she said. "You're a little earlier than we were expecting. I haven't even started dinner yet."
"Oh, I'm sorry," said Edith. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Of course not," said Molly. "That's what I had children for. But perhaps you'd like to come inside and freshen up. You've had a long trip."
"Thank you," she said, "if it's not too much trouble."
"No trouble at all," she said. "Right this way. Charlie won't mind finishing up for me here."
Charlie'd met Edith at a pub in Bucharest's wizarding district, where she'd just won a bag of galleons off a pair of inebriated goblins. It was....well, it was something at first sight, anyway.
"Looks like your mum's left you with the hard bit." Charlie looked over to see Neville Longbottom with one arm deep on the soil and the other holding his wand. "She was about to hand me the grappling gardenia." Charlie reached for his wand, having dealt with beds of the stuff back in Romania, but Neville just laughed. "They're only babies, they can't get a good hold on you till they're mature."
"Don't know what Mum wants with the stuff anyway," he said, kneeling down next to Neville and handing over the plant. True to Neville's word, it made a tentative motion towards him but was far too small and weak to get any kind of grip at all.
"It's pretty and it smells nice," said Neville, "and apparently it will keep you from trying to sneak in the hall window."
"Now that's not fair," said Charlie, "I haven't done that since I was seventeen."
"Well, your nieces and nephews might not live here," said Neville, "but your mum says that if they take after you lot, then sneaking in the window will be a regular concern again."
"Grappling gardenia, that's just mean," said Charlie, but he had to admit it was kind of funny. Funny when it was going to be inflicted on someone else, anyway. He'd say he was lucky she hadn't thought of it when he was younger, but his mother'd had other ways of dealing with their transgressions. "So are you staying for dinner, or has mum just got you here to do some garden work for her?"
"She seemed to think I had nowhere else to go," said Neville. "The gardening bit came up after I'd accepted the invitation."
"Have you got somewhere else you'd rather be?" said Charlie. "I can run interference with Mum if you do. You might not want to stand up to her, but I've got years of experience. You think she was happy about me moving to Romania?"
"I actually haven't got anywhere else to be," admitted Neville. "She just wasn't supposed to know that."
It was Charlie's turn to laugh, at the idea that his mother could somehow have missed that crucial bit of information. "Have you got any more of these, or was this the last one?"
"That's it for now," said Neville, pulling his hand up and putting his wand away after the plant was good and settled in. "It looks a little sparse now, but just wait till they grow."
"I think I'll settle for Mum sending pictures," said Charlie. "I once spent a night in a bed of those before I sobered up enough to hex them off me. Let me tell you, that was not the best Wednesday morning I ever put in at work."
"I'm not going to ask what you were doing stumbling drunk on a Tuesday night," said Neville, which was good because to the best of Charlie's recollection it involved a visiting wizard from Thailand, a bottle of Ogden's, and something about ceiling dancing, but that part was probably best left unremembered. "You off to go find Edith?"
"I'm sure Mum has her well in hand," said Charlie, which he would have worried about more if he hadn't had the absolute certainty that Edith could hold her own. "Was thinking about picking up my broom and joining the game."
"I never was much of a flyer," said Neville, brushing dirt off his hands and then, when that didn't work, charming it away. "Might come watch, though."
"Do that," said Charlie. "Weasley Quidditch games are always entertaining, if not particularly high-scoring."
Neville grinned at him, and Charlie gave him a wave as he headed round the house. Ron better not have stolen his spare broom again, because Charlie hated being stuck with the old one that always pulled left, the one nobody else was ever willing to take even if it meant they didn't get to play. He could handle it, but only just barely.
Still, hearing the shouts of the game in front of him and the voices from the house behind him, he had to admit it was good to be home.
*
Midsummer eve, Charlie found himself at the Leaky, eating lunch and drinking shots with a woman named Greta who'd spent the past six months at a Gringotts dig in Siberia. Charlie didn't know what they expected to find in Siberia, and Greta never said, but Charlie had to salute anyone who was up for that kind of job.
"I'm heading out to a party at my parents' place," he'd told her as he finished up. "Do you want to come?"
"Sure," she'd said. "I don't have any plans till I head back to Russia." And that was that. At Midsummer, anything went.
"Bill," he said as he unexpectedly met his brother at the front door. "I thought you lot were in America for the summer."
"We don't leave till next week," he said. "And who's this?"
"This is...Greta," he said, groping for her name for just a moment. "Greta, my older brother Bill."
"It's a pleasure," she said, offering him her hand. "I didn't even know Charlie had a brother. Mostly he talks about dragons."
Bill just laughed and opened the door for them. "Yeah, that sounds like Charlie," he said. "He's got fi-four brothers, and a sister, and all of them are around here somewhere." Charlie still stumbled over the four sometimes too.
"It sounds like a fantastic party, then," said Greta. "I'd better go meet them, find out if I should swap Charlie in for a better model."
Charlie was pretty sure she was joking, but all the same he was glad all of his brothers were married. Just in case.
Charlie found Neville in the kitchen when he went to get himself a drink. It probably would've been more of a surprise if he hadn't found him. In fact, it was just barely possible that Charlie had been looking.
"You're looking well," he said.
"You too," said Neville, which was just him being nice because Charlie knew he looked pretty rough after flying half the night. "How's Edith?"
"Oh, I didn't bring Edith," he said. In fact, he wasn't even quite sure where Edith was now, or what she was doing. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure he remembered her last name. "I'm here with Greta."
"Greta," Neville repeated, nodding to himself like he was agreeing with something, or maybe just committing the name to memory. He was a better man than Charlie.
"She's a ginger," said Charlie. "That means Mum will take one look at her and imagine the redheaded babies we'd make."
"And I'm guessing that's a bad thing."
"I just met her, mate!" said Charlie. "I don't want mother conjuring imaginary babies with a woman I haven't even slept with yet. What about you? You here with anyone?"
"Me?" said Neville. "No, no one. Just me and my wand."
"Wouldn't have to be that way," insisted Charlie. "You know you're a good looking bloke, right? You could have your pick of witches, I'd bet."
"That's never really been me," admitted Neville. "When it's meant to happen, it'll happen."
"That's what they say," said Charlie, "but in the meantime there's nothing wrong with having a little fun, is there?"
"I'll keep that in mind," said Neville.
Charlie could tell when he was just being humoured, but he didn't mind. Maybe it was just too soon for Neville. He hadn't thought Neville and Hannah has been together so long that a year later Neville wouldn't be ready to date, but they had been married. Charlie wasn't the marrying type, so he probably had no business assuming he knew what it was like for him.
"You do remember how to do that, right?" he said, giving him a little nudge.
"If I remember correctly," said Neville, giving him a nudge in return, "I'm doing it right now."
"I'm not sure holidays spent with the Weasley clan count," said Charlie, but he raised a glass to him all the same. "Surprised Harry and Ron haven't roped you into whatever secret project they're working on out there."
"They have," admitted Neville, "but my part's done. And if Hermione or Ginny ask later—and they will ask—I not only had nothing to do with it, but I had no idea they were even up to anything."
"Gryffindor boys bond for life," said Charlie sagely, though he only really kept in touch with two of his dormmates from his years at Hogwarts. Another had been lost in the war.
"So how well do you know this Greta?"
"I'm pretty sure her last name is Blackwell," said Charlie. "Or Blatwell. Blackwelder? She had a lime in her mouth when she told me, you see. Why?"
"Because I think she's got her hooks in Percy," said Neville, raising his glass to gesture to the window and what was on the other side. "And his wife's too nice to say so."
"Audrey's not that nice," said Charlie, "she's just quiet. She's probably plotting something as we speak. Think I should go save Greta?"
"I think that depends on just how much you like her," said Neville.
Stay here in the kitchen chatting with Neville, or brave Percy, Audrey, and his own erstwhile date in the back yard. Honestly, Charlie was leaning towards staying here, if not for one small detail.
"If I don't, I'm likely sleeping alone tonight," said Charlie. "Which I might be anyway from the looks of it. And things were going so well at the pub."
"That's what tends to happen at pubs," said Neville, and he'd spent a couple of years living over the Leaky, so he'd know. "Go, reclaim your date. And if you need any help, you know where to find me."
The possibility existed that he would need his help, so instead of taking the offer for granted Charlie gave him a smile and squeezed his arm and grabbed a second drink to bring to Greta outside. If he couldn't fight fair, then he was not above bribery.
After all, it was Midsummer, and at Midsummer anything went.
*
If you didn't count Teddy Lupin—and while he was certainly treated as family, he technically wasn't—Bill's Victoire was the first of this generation of their family to go to Hogwarts. So on August the thirtieth, Charlie found himself wedged in between Neville and his own date at a full family send-off.
"Didn't expect to see you," said Neville as he passed the potatoes. "It's a long trip just for a family dinner."
Charlie didn't say the same; at some point things had turned around that Neville was the expected guest in his family's home and Charlie was the surprise.
"They've got to give me days off sometimes," said Charlie, "and what better way to spend them than with my family?"
Neville shot a glance at Charlie's companion, but that was the only argument to the contrary that he made. It wasn't even an argument. More of a question, really.
Charlie'd met Rosamund when she came to visit her cousin out at the sanctuary. He'd never date the sibling of anybody he worked with—down that road lay way too much trouble—but a cousin, a cousin was fair game. Especially since she was headed back to London tonight anyway, so this was just a quick side trip to the Burrow for a good meal. She was pretty and quiet, and was instantly comfortable when she spotted Fleur, whom she'd met years ago at Beauxbatons.
Victoire was equal parts elated and nervous about her impending trip to Hogwarts, and following dinner was subjected to unasked-for advice from nearly every member of the family.
"Suppose this is your sending off party, too," said Charlie later on in the evening, sitting out by the flowerbed they'd planted in the spring and enjoying the last summer days. "You're back to Hogwarts as well."
"Later tonight, in fact," said Neville. "I've got a few things to sort out yet before the students arrive. So what happened to Greta?"
"Greta? That barely lasted the night," said Charlie. "What about you? Still no one?"
Neville shrugged. "I spend most of the year living and teaching at Hogwarts," he said. "Sure I can get away sometimes, but most people my age are looking for something a little more stable than that."
"Same reason mine are always casual," said Charlie. "Hard to find someone who takes it well when I tell them that I'd rather get back to my dragons than stay for breakfast."
"You could at least stay for breakfast," said Neville, trying for solemnity but losing when his lips twitched.
"Okay, I usually stay for breakfast," said Charlie, "even when it's just tea and toast and not half of what I need to face a day of dragons, because it's the least I can do." And also the most.
"That's why Hannah left," said Neville. Charlie was pretty sure he didn't mean the breakfast part. "She wanted someone who could be there every night, and I love my job. Something had to give."
Charlie had the feeling, even though it'd been ages since they'd separated, that Neville hadn't really talked about this before. Not when all his friends were still happily married. He looked back inside, to where Rosamund was chatting with Fleur over a slice of his mother's decadent pie, and knew that tomorrow she'd be going home and he'd be going back to Romania and it was very unlikely that he'd be seeing her again.
He knew what Neville was saying.
"Be nice to find someone who wanted the same things," he said. "But I don't shag my co-workers. That's just a whole world of trouble right there."
"Haven't really got any co-workers I'd even want to," admitted Neville, and thinking back to his own time at Hogwarts, Charlie couldn't say he blamed him. There'd obviously been some turnover of staff since then, but not that much. "Most of them taught me."
"And that would just be awkward," agreed Charlie. "Actually, let's not think of that at all."
"Best not to," said Neville. "It haunts you after a while. Suppose there's a reason most of the teachers at Hogwarts never married."
"You're a real catch, though," said Charlie. "You'll work it out. Your best years are yet to come."
"That sounds like something your mum would say."
"It bloody doesn't," laughed Charlie. "'Find yourself a nice witch and get on with making babies!' is something my mum would say. 'Your best years are yet to come' is Dad all the way."
"Well, then let's hope he's right," said Neville as the sun dipped down below the horizon. "I've had some pretty good years, but I wouldn't turn down some more of them."
Charlie could drink to that.
*
At Halloween Charlie Apparated into his front yard at nearly the same time as Ron and his crew, he and Hermione each holding onto one of their children. Both of them seemed to take to Apparation with a lot more grace than Charlie had at that age.
"Hullo Charlie," said Hermione, gathering Hugo from Ron's arms and bustling her children inside before the rain started. "Good to see you again!"
Ron looked around as though he'd lost something, or maybe Charlie had. "What," he said finally, "did you forget to stop at the Leaky and pick someone up before showing up to dinner?"
"Cheeky!" said Charlie, giving him a swat. "I've genuinely liked everyone I've ever brought home."
"Charlie, if you liked everyone you've ever brought home, you've liked half the witches in England."
"They weren't all English," said Charlie, flashing him a grin. "And anyway, I'm not that bad. I just like to spread my affection around."
"And around, and around," said Ron, putting an arm around his shoulders as they migrated towards the house. "Mum's going to wonder what's wrong." Then he retracted his arm and felt Charlie's forehead for fever.
"Mum's not happy unless she's worrying about something," said Charlie, swatting him away.
The moment they got through the door Ron had an armful of Hugo again and his mother was coddling her newest grandchild, and in spite of Ron's prediction she didn't seem overly concerned about the affairs of her second eldest child at the moment.
"Last time I saw you, you were as big as a house," said Charlie, giving Angelina a kiss on the cheek even as she was pulled away to the table by a small child who wanted a before-dinner Halloween treat.
"So who do I get to meet this time?" said Neville from behind him, and Charlie smiled at the sound of his voice.
"I didn't think I'd be seeing you," he said. "Isn't there a feast at Hogwarts tonight?"
"Much as I hate to miss the feasting part," said Neville, "I've just got over a cold and a break from the students while I have the chance is just what the mediwitch ordered. Your mum doesn't even invite me anymore, she just tells me when you're getting together and assumes that I'll be coming. So where's the next Rosamund? Is she in the loo?"
"You're as bad as Ron," he said. "I'll have you know I came alone. Figured I'd try that out for a while and see how it went. I'm not as young as I used to be, and after Lola, Robin, Edith, Greta, Hilary and Rosamund, I figured I was due for a break."
"That's quite a run," said Neville. "Anyone last more than a fortnight?"
Charlie couldn't tell whether the question was sincere or not, so he just shrugged. "No one to feed you chicken soup yet either?"
"I actually have been seeing someone," said Neville, in a low voice like he didn't want anyone but Charlie to hear. He ought to have figured out by now that there was no such thing as a secret in the Weasley household. "I suppose you got me thinking about how it might be time I started looking."
"Finally found a witch who caught your fancy? And you didn't bring her with you on your one night off?"
Neville cleared his throat. "I've been seeing the bloke who runs the new bookshop in Hogsmeade," he said. "Just a few times. I don't think it's going to work out, though."
Charlie let that one sit with him for a moment as the clan began to mass around the dinner table. "Didn't know there was a new bookshop in Hogsmeade," he said finally.
"Last year," said Neville. "Change comes slowly."
"Didn't know you fancied blokes, either."
Neville gave him a half-nod, eyes darting around for a moment to see who might be listening. But everyone was too busy with their own business to pay any attention to Charlie and Neville's.
"Sometimes," he said. "I wasn't sure how it would go over with your family so I haven't said anything. It's not a secret, though."
"If it's not a secret, then you can trust Mum at least already knows," said Charlie, "and they won't care. They've never cared before when it came up, and you must know that it has. They certainly won't mind if you want to bring a Hogsmeade shopkeep to Halloween."
"Wouldn't've brought him anyway," said Neville. "He's already making noises about wanting me to get a place in Hogsmeade, but I'm not going to live off the Hogwarts grounds."
"He doesn't understand," said Charlie knowingly.
"He thinks Hogsmeade is close enough to the school," said Neville. But of course it wasn't, just like Charlie couldn't live off the sanctuary and still do his job right. "He's a nice bloke. I don't want to upset him."
"And you still want to be able to use the Hogsmeade bookshop."
"It's much more convenient," agreed Neville, and broke into a sheepish smile. "I guess I'll have to see if we can work it out."
Charlie wouldn't say that he was seeing Neville in a whole new way—if he was, it was something that had started at Christmas—but there was something that shifted, just a little. He'd know they were becoming friends of a sort, especially after the last time they'd got together, but this was a bit more than that. Neville trusted him, and Charlie liked being trusted.
"And in the meantime, you can tuck in to Mum's famous Halloween dinner," he said before he could get lost in the contemplation, "and hope you don't give the rest of us your cold, because if there's one thing more miserable than a cold, it's fighting a cold while dodging dragon flames."
"Or teaching children," said Neville, and Charlie had the utmost sympathy as they claimed the last two chairs at the table.
*
Charlie was on official business when he stopped at the Leaky on a Saturday afternoon. Well, the Leaky wasn't part of his official business, but stopping at Gringotts was, and he'd had to take care of some paperwork at the Ministry as well. Best to get it all done in one day, and then have a pint before taking the portkey back to Romania.
Winter was on the air now, and it was chilly enough that he was unwrapping his scarf as he finally noticed who else was in the pub.
"Neville?" he said crossing the room with his scarf and heavy robes still more on than off. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I asked first," said Charlie, and then finished unwrapping his scarf before presumptuously taking the seat across from Neville. There was no one in it, and no half-empty drink in front of it, so he figured it was fair game.
"Had some business," said Neville. "Some paperwork." And when he looked up, it was to the blond woman behind the bar. Charlie got it.
"Do you want me to go?" he said "I just saw you and—"
"No, stay," said Neville. "Hannah and I just finished up and I figured I'd have a pint before heading back to the school. Be a shame to come out here and then not at least have a drink."
"My thoughts exactly," said Charlie, and then the heavy robes came off too because it was warm inside the pub and he'd have time enough to bundle up throughout the long winter on the sanctuary. "You're all right, then?"
"I'm fine," said Neville. "Just tying up some loose ends."
"And you're not just saying that?"
"If I were anything but fine," said Neville, "there's nobody I'm more likely to tell than you."
"Not even your Hogsmeade shopkeep?"
Neville just laughed that one off. An easy laugh, not a bitter laugh. "That was over a couple of days after the last time I saw you," he admitted. Charlie wasn't entirely surprised. "It turned out to be a pretty uncomplicated decision in the end. There are many things that I can compromise on, but some that I just can't. So what are you doing here?"
"Just business," said Charlie, then pushed up from his seat. "Hold that thought, I'll be right back." Because if was going to settle in for a conversation with Neville, he was going to do it right. It hadn't been long since the last time they'd seen one another, but Charlie'd had plenty of time to think. His seat barely had time to cool down before he was back in it again, drink in hand. "Right. Just here taking care of a few things, making a delivery to the vault, submitting some amended regulations. Someone's got to do it, and I drew the short straw this time."
"Rather be back in Romania dodging flames?"
"Nearly always," said Charlie with an unrepentant grin, "but running into you here has made this trip a lot more pleasurable."
"Really?" said Neville. "Are you sure you mean me and not that pair of witches in the corner who've been batting their eyes at you since you walked in?"
Charlie looked and sure enough, there was a pair of witches in the corner whose attention seemed to be very firmly on their table, but he was pretty sure it was Neville they were batting their eyes at.
"Didn't even notice them," he admitted, which wasn't something he often found himself saying. "Your glass is looking a little lower there. Can I buy you another?"
"I really shouldn't..." said Neville, but he was nodding his head and before he could actually decline, Charlie made sure they both had a fresh pint. One more wasn't going to hurt; if he had to be back to the school in a hurry he'd already be gone. But Neville didn't take a sip right away. Instead he toyed with the glass for a moment, then looked at Charlie a bit curiously. "Are you flirting with me?"
"Might be," admitted Charlie. "If that's all right with you."
"That depends," said Neville. "You planning on parading me past your family and never seeing me again a few days after that?"
"Ouch," said Charlie, but the blow didn't strike too deep. Everyone he'd been with knew exactly what they had; he'd never made any promises he couldn't keep. Maybe he'd never found anyone to be serious about, but he never pretended he had, either.
"Didn't even know you liked blokes," said Neville, and now finally he sipped the drink Charlie had brought him. "You didn't say, even when—"
"Who'd you think I was talking about when I said my family never minded?" said Charlie. "Bill? Ron?"
"Fred maybe," admitted Neville softly. And maybe he would've been, but Charlie guessed they would never know now. "Every time I saw you, there was a different witch on your arm."
"You only saw me a handful of times," said Charlie, but then, that was as much as anyone outside of Romania saw him. He knew as much about Charlie's life as any of his family did. "There's a lot about me you don't know."
"A lot about you I'd like to find out," said Neville, which Charlie figured was as good as a yes, to the question he'd asked and maybe the one he hadn't yet. "If we get a chance."
"Maybe we will," said Charlie. The witches in the corner were wholly forgotten, as were the rest of the pub's patrons. Not to mention its proprietor. "After all, you and me, it seems like we want the same things."
*
Charlie stopped at Hogsmeade before heading for the Burrow, a little spot near the road to Hogwarts where Neville suggested they meet. Neville was already waiting, suitcase in hand and sitting on a large rock.
"You've finished your shopping?" said Charlie. "We don't need to go down into the village?"
Neville just patted the suitcase, which almost certainly held much more than it looked like it did. "I finished on the weekend," he said, "just after most of the students left for the holiday. Have you been home yet?"
"Figured we'd go together," said Charlie. "Might as well, right?"
"Saves me minding Albus while his brother and sister get into trouble," said Neville. "Not that I don't want to spend time with Albus, he's a great little boy. He's going to look like Harry in a few years, just you watch."
"He already looks like Harry since he got the specs," said Charlie. "All right then, no time like the present."
They arrived within moments of each other, just far enough from the Burrow to make sure they were presentable before arriving for Christmas Eve. George and Ron were already in the yard throwing snowballs at one another scraped from the faint scattering of snow on the ground. And when they ran out of that, they just started conjuring them.
"Oi, Charlie!" called George. "You're late! Mum was expecting you this morning."
"Had to stop and buy presents for you lot, didn't I?" he said.
"Presents!" cried one small person, while another cried, "Uncle Charlie," and honestly, from this distance and all bundled up, he couldn't even tell who was who.
"So no one on your arm for Christmas dinner this year?" said George as Ginny came out and distracted the children with something from the kitchen. Even from this distance, it smelled delicious.
"Sure there is," said Charlie, tugging Neville closer and linking arms with him. "It's not my fault that Mum would've invited him with or without me."
Ron clearly thought he was taking the piss, but George, George was the one who raised an eyebrow as Charlie and Neville caught up with them and started for the house.
"So when did this happen?"
"Not sure," said Charlie. "I think it might be happening right now." He looked at Neville and Neville looked back and yeah, that felt like the right answer.
"Wait," said Ron. "You're serious?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" said Charlie. "Neville's a catch. I kept telling him so, then I figured I'd better catch him myself before someone else did."
"I mean, really serious?"
"You're going to give me issues if you keep insisting that Charlie couldn't possibly want to be with me," said Neville mildly. George laughed while Ron stared for a little while longer.
"You know he's not one of your witches, right?" he said, strictly to Charlie. "You can't drop him next week and go back to Romania. This is Neville. I'm on his side."
No, he couldn't, and he didn't have to. Because sure, he'd be going back to Romania after, and Neville would be going back to Hogwarts, but there were owls and holidays and a long summer, and Neville wasn't asking for anything Charlie wasn't more than willing to give. Sometimes these things had a way of working out in ways you never really expected.
"Well, I think it's brilliant," said George. "Welcome to the family, Neville. I hope you know what you're getting into with this one."
"I'm pretty sure Neville was welcomed to the family last year," said Charlie, but he appreciated the gesture all the same.
In retrospect, he shouldn't have assumed that was where George was going to leave it, but Charlie hadn't been the subject of his pranks for a long time and he was out of practice. So he thought nothing of it when George dashed in ahead of them while Charlie made sure he had all his things.
Moments later, he and Neville found themselves stuck in the doorway, able to neither go inside nor leave.
"Oh George," said his mum, while the family gathered to see what the ruckus was. "What have you done?"
"It's all right, Mum," said George. "Trust me, they were begging for it."
That was when Charlie looked up and saw the mistletoe hanging above them and just laughed. "You're not going to find a present from me under the tree this year," he threatened George, but he couldn't even bring himself to sound angry.
However he'd been planning on telling the rest of his family, it hadn't been like this, but he shrugged at Neville and Neville smiled back and even if they hadn't been trapped under the mistletoe this might've been the very best way.
Charlie put his hands on Neville's cheeks and leaned in and kissed him, and oh yes, their best years were definitely yet to come.
This entry was originally posted at http://cj.dreamwidth.org/9601.html.
Chick Habit
The real trick is to find someone who wants the same things.
Harry Potter. Charlie/multiple, Charlie/Neville. 6,400 words. PG-13. [ on AO3 ]
Weasley family Christmas dinners had got a lot bigger over the past few years. Not that they hadn't been sizeable to begin with, but there'd been a fair stretch after Ginny'd started Hogwarts without any small children underfoot. These days there were more than ever.
Charlie arrived unfashionably late, after a bit of a last minute scramble to make sure he had gifts for all of the scrappy little redheads.
"There's room for you down this end," said Percy, sliding his chair over as much as he could—which wasn't much—to make some. "Mum, we need another plate, Charlie's brought someone."
Her name was Lola Crisp, and Charlie'd met her a week ago outside of Gringotts where she'd dropped her packages after tripping over a wheel of cheese. Charlie had to admire a woman who could take a tumble like that and not so much as lose her hat.
"I hope you don't mind," she said. "Charlie said it would be all right."
"The more the merrier," said his mother, which in a family like theirs was the only sane philosophy to keep. Especially since Charlie was pretty sure Angelina was pregnant again, which meant at least one more Weasley on the way, and maybe more than that if Ginny or Ron weren't quite finished yet. At least Charlie was pretty sure Bill'd had his lot, and Percy had always planned for just his two (he'd planned for one of each, but didn't seem unhappy that he'd ended up with two girls instead). "We'll all just have to squish in."
"Ought to be used to that by now," said George, making just a little bit of extra room for Angelina and holding little Fred on his lap. In his head Charlie always called him little Fred, even though little Fred's namesake had already been gone for years before he was even born.
"Haven't worried this much that I'm going to sit on one of them since Ron and Ginny were still in nappies," said Charlie, brushing off his chair as though he might've missed one of them. Little Fred giggled at him.
"Yes, but you sat on me on purpose," said Ginny, making sure her three were all resettled after the interruption.
"Only because I'd convinced you it was a game," said Charlie. "You loved it so much you used to climb into my things when I wasn't looking."
There was the distinctive pop of Apparation from outside, and Charlie looked uncertainly towards the door. There was no family left to arrive, and unexpected guests were not always good news. Even this long after the war.
"Oh, that'll be Neville," his mum said, though. "I invited him after I heard about Hannah. The poor boy actually thought I'd let him spend Christmas alone."
Neville and Hannah had split closer to last Christmas than this one—the perils of having a family like his was that Charlie knew far more about other people's lives than he really needed to—but he knew how hard it was to turn down an invitation from Molly Weasley once she'd got her mind set on something.
"Neville Longbottom," he greeted him, since he was in the chair nearest the door. "It's been a long time."
Neville gave him a friendly nod, but mostly he looked a little overwhelmed at the Weasley gathering. To be fair, they were quite a sight to see when they all gathered like this. But Charlie knew Neville'd faced things far more daunting than a sea of Weasleys, and sure enough he soon pulled himself together .
"Neville!" said Hermione, scrambling up to give him a hug. "It's been ages!"
Of course, ages for them probably meant a couple of months and not the years since Charlie had last spent any time with Neville. It would've been just after the war, now that he thought about if—just when Neville was leaving Hogwarts. At the time he'd already been growing into himself, but looking at him now, that had only been a hint of the man he'd become. Hannah was a real fool to leave this one.
"Just about time to tuck in," said Arthur. "I think there's room down by Victoire."
Victoire was just old enough now to notice how fit Neville was, and certainly didn't seem to mind making room for him to squeeze up next to her. She was going to be a menace when she started Hogwarts next year, with Neville as one of her professors.
"Your family is enormous," Lola whispered in Charlie's ear, which she would already have known if she hadn't been just the right age to not have gone to school with any of them.
"You get used to it," said Charlie. Harry and Hermione looked right at home now, after all, and Fleur had taken to it nearly as easily. Angelina, maybe by virtue of living with George, seemed to take everything in stride, and even Audrey, who was nearly as rigid as Percy, had comfortably found her place. Maybe one day Charlie would have someone who fit in too.
"Will there be enough food?" she asked, and Charlie almost laughed.
"We may have grown up without a lot of things," he said, "but there is always enough food."
And with that, once Neville was settled between Victoire and Harry, his father raised his glass and Christmas dinner was begun.
*
When Charlie came home for Easter, coming by public portkey this time because Edith didn't like to fly, he found most of the clan playing a pick-up game of Quidditch on one side of the house and the few that were left putting in the garden on the other.
If it weren't for Edith, Charlie probably would have joined the game.
"You must be Edna," said his mother, standing up and slipping off her gardening gloves.
"Edith," Charlie corrected her.
"Right, of course, Edith," she said.
"I hope it's all right that Charlie brought me. He said you wouldn't mind."
"Of course not, my dear," she said. "You're a little earlier than we were expecting. I haven't even started dinner yet."
"Oh, I'm sorry," said Edith. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Of course not," said Molly. "That's what I had children for. But perhaps you'd like to come inside and freshen up. You've had a long trip."
"Thank you," she said, "if it's not too much trouble."
"No trouble at all," she said. "Right this way. Charlie won't mind finishing up for me here."
Charlie'd met Edith at a pub in Bucharest's wizarding district, where she'd just won a bag of galleons off a pair of inebriated goblins. It was....well, it was something at first sight, anyway.
"Looks like your mum's left you with the hard bit." Charlie looked over to see Neville Longbottom with one arm deep on the soil and the other holding his wand. "She was about to hand me the grappling gardenia." Charlie reached for his wand, having dealt with beds of the stuff back in Romania, but Neville just laughed. "They're only babies, they can't get a good hold on you till they're mature."
"Don't know what Mum wants with the stuff anyway," he said, kneeling down next to Neville and handing over the plant. True to Neville's word, it made a tentative motion towards him but was far too small and weak to get any kind of grip at all.
"It's pretty and it smells nice," said Neville, "and apparently it will keep you from trying to sneak in the hall window."
"Now that's not fair," said Charlie, "I haven't done that since I was seventeen."
"Well, your nieces and nephews might not live here," said Neville, "but your mum says that if they take after you lot, then sneaking in the window will be a regular concern again."
"Grappling gardenia, that's just mean," said Charlie, but he had to admit it was kind of funny. Funny when it was going to be inflicted on someone else, anyway. He'd say he was lucky she hadn't thought of it when he was younger, but his mother'd had other ways of dealing with their transgressions. "So are you staying for dinner, or has mum just got you here to do some garden work for her?"
"She seemed to think I had nowhere else to go," said Neville. "The gardening bit came up after I'd accepted the invitation."
"Have you got somewhere else you'd rather be?" said Charlie. "I can run interference with Mum if you do. You might not want to stand up to her, but I've got years of experience. You think she was happy about me moving to Romania?"
"I actually haven't got anywhere else to be," admitted Neville. "She just wasn't supposed to know that."
It was Charlie's turn to laugh, at the idea that his mother could somehow have missed that crucial bit of information. "Have you got any more of these, or was this the last one?"
"That's it for now," said Neville, pulling his hand up and putting his wand away after the plant was good and settled in. "It looks a little sparse now, but just wait till they grow."
"I think I'll settle for Mum sending pictures," said Charlie. "I once spent a night in a bed of those before I sobered up enough to hex them off me. Let me tell you, that was not the best Wednesday morning I ever put in at work."
"I'm not going to ask what you were doing stumbling drunk on a Tuesday night," said Neville, which was good because to the best of Charlie's recollection it involved a visiting wizard from Thailand, a bottle of Ogden's, and something about ceiling dancing, but that part was probably best left unremembered. "You off to go find Edith?"
"I'm sure Mum has her well in hand," said Charlie, which he would have worried about more if he hadn't had the absolute certainty that Edith could hold her own. "Was thinking about picking up my broom and joining the game."
"I never was much of a flyer," said Neville, brushing dirt off his hands and then, when that didn't work, charming it away. "Might come watch, though."
"Do that," said Charlie. "Weasley Quidditch games are always entertaining, if not particularly high-scoring."
Neville grinned at him, and Charlie gave him a wave as he headed round the house. Ron better not have stolen his spare broom again, because Charlie hated being stuck with the old one that always pulled left, the one nobody else was ever willing to take even if it meant they didn't get to play. He could handle it, but only just barely.
Still, hearing the shouts of the game in front of him and the voices from the house behind him, he had to admit it was good to be home.
*
Midsummer eve, Charlie found himself at the Leaky, eating lunch and drinking shots with a woman named Greta who'd spent the past six months at a Gringotts dig in Siberia. Charlie didn't know what they expected to find in Siberia, and Greta never said, but Charlie had to salute anyone who was up for that kind of job.
"I'm heading out to a party at my parents' place," he'd told her as he finished up. "Do you want to come?"
"Sure," she'd said. "I don't have any plans till I head back to Russia." And that was that. At Midsummer, anything went.
"Bill," he said as he unexpectedly met his brother at the front door. "I thought you lot were in America for the summer."
"We don't leave till next week," he said. "And who's this?"
"This is...Greta," he said, groping for her name for just a moment. "Greta, my older brother Bill."
"It's a pleasure," she said, offering him her hand. "I didn't even know Charlie had a brother. Mostly he talks about dragons."
Bill just laughed and opened the door for them. "Yeah, that sounds like Charlie," he said. "He's got fi-four brothers, and a sister, and all of them are around here somewhere." Charlie still stumbled over the four sometimes too.
"It sounds like a fantastic party, then," said Greta. "I'd better go meet them, find out if I should swap Charlie in for a better model."
Charlie was pretty sure she was joking, but all the same he was glad all of his brothers were married. Just in case.
Charlie found Neville in the kitchen when he went to get himself a drink. It probably would've been more of a surprise if he hadn't found him. In fact, it was just barely possible that Charlie had been looking.
"You're looking well," he said.
"You too," said Neville, which was just him being nice because Charlie knew he looked pretty rough after flying half the night. "How's Edith?"
"Oh, I didn't bring Edith," he said. In fact, he wasn't even quite sure where Edith was now, or what she was doing. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure he remembered her last name. "I'm here with Greta."
"Greta," Neville repeated, nodding to himself like he was agreeing with something, or maybe just committing the name to memory. He was a better man than Charlie.
"She's a ginger," said Charlie. "That means Mum will take one look at her and imagine the redheaded babies we'd make."
"And I'm guessing that's a bad thing."
"I just met her, mate!" said Charlie. "I don't want mother conjuring imaginary babies with a woman I haven't even slept with yet. What about you? You here with anyone?"
"Me?" said Neville. "No, no one. Just me and my wand."
"Wouldn't have to be that way," insisted Charlie. "You know you're a good looking bloke, right? You could have your pick of witches, I'd bet."
"That's never really been me," admitted Neville. "When it's meant to happen, it'll happen."
"That's what they say," said Charlie, "but in the meantime there's nothing wrong with having a little fun, is there?"
"I'll keep that in mind," said Neville.
Charlie could tell when he was just being humoured, but he didn't mind. Maybe it was just too soon for Neville. He hadn't thought Neville and Hannah has been together so long that a year later Neville wouldn't be ready to date, but they had been married. Charlie wasn't the marrying type, so he probably had no business assuming he knew what it was like for him.
"You do remember how to do that, right?" he said, giving him a little nudge.
"If I remember correctly," said Neville, giving him a nudge in return, "I'm doing it right now."
"I'm not sure holidays spent with the Weasley clan count," said Charlie, but he raised a glass to him all the same. "Surprised Harry and Ron haven't roped you into whatever secret project they're working on out there."
"They have," admitted Neville, "but my part's done. And if Hermione or Ginny ask later—and they will ask—I not only had nothing to do with it, but I had no idea they were even up to anything."
"Gryffindor boys bond for life," said Charlie sagely, though he only really kept in touch with two of his dormmates from his years at Hogwarts. Another had been lost in the war.
"So how well do you know this Greta?"
"I'm pretty sure her last name is Blackwell," said Charlie. "Or Blatwell. Blackwelder? She had a lime in her mouth when she told me, you see. Why?"
"Because I think she's got her hooks in Percy," said Neville, raising his glass to gesture to the window and what was on the other side. "And his wife's too nice to say so."
"Audrey's not that nice," said Charlie, "she's just quiet. She's probably plotting something as we speak. Think I should go save Greta?"
"I think that depends on just how much you like her," said Neville.
Stay here in the kitchen chatting with Neville, or brave Percy, Audrey, and his own erstwhile date in the back yard. Honestly, Charlie was leaning towards staying here, if not for one small detail.
"If I don't, I'm likely sleeping alone tonight," said Charlie. "Which I might be anyway from the looks of it. And things were going so well at the pub."
"That's what tends to happen at pubs," said Neville, and he'd spent a couple of years living over the Leaky, so he'd know. "Go, reclaim your date. And if you need any help, you know where to find me."
The possibility existed that he would need his help, so instead of taking the offer for granted Charlie gave him a smile and squeezed his arm and grabbed a second drink to bring to Greta outside. If he couldn't fight fair, then he was not above bribery.
After all, it was Midsummer, and at Midsummer anything went.
*
If you didn't count Teddy Lupin—and while he was certainly treated as family, he technically wasn't—Bill's Victoire was the first of this generation of their family to go to Hogwarts. So on August the thirtieth, Charlie found himself wedged in between Neville and his own date at a full family send-off.
"Didn't expect to see you," said Neville as he passed the potatoes. "It's a long trip just for a family dinner."
Charlie didn't say the same; at some point things had turned around that Neville was the expected guest in his family's home and Charlie was the surprise.
"They've got to give me days off sometimes," said Charlie, "and what better way to spend them than with my family?"
Neville shot a glance at Charlie's companion, but that was the only argument to the contrary that he made. It wasn't even an argument. More of a question, really.
Charlie'd met Rosamund when she came to visit her cousin out at the sanctuary. He'd never date the sibling of anybody he worked with—down that road lay way too much trouble—but a cousin, a cousin was fair game. Especially since she was headed back to London tonight anyway, so this was just a quick side trip to the Burrow for a good meal. She was pretty and quiet, and was instantly comfortable when she spotted Fleur, whom she'd met years ago at Beauxbatons.
Victoire was equal parts elated and nervous about her impending trip to Hogwarts, and following dinner was subjected to unasked-for advice from nearly every member of the family.
"Suppose this is your sending off party, too," said Charlie later on in the evening, sitting out by the flowerbed they'd planted in the spring and enjoying the last summer days. "You're back to Hogwarts as well."
"Later tonight, in fact," said Neville. "I've got a few things to sort out yet before the students arrive. So what happened to Greta?"
"Greta? That barely lasted the night," said Charlie. "What about you? Still no one?"
Neville shrugged. "I spend most of the year living and teaching at Hogwarts," he said. "Sure I can get away sometimes, but most people my age are looking for something a little more stable than that."
"Same reason mine are always casual," said Charlie. "Hard to find someone who takes it well when I tell them that I'd rather get back to my dragons than stay for breakfast."
"You could at least stay for breakfast," said Neville, trying for solemnity but losing when his lips twitched.
"Okay, I usually stay for breakfast," said Charlie, "even when it's just tea and toast and not half of what I need to face a day of dragons, because it's the least I can do." And also the most.
"That's why Hannah left," said Neville. Charlie was pretty sure he didn't mean the breakfast part. "She wanted someone who could be there every night, and I love my job. Something had to give."
Charlie had the feeling, even though it'd been ages since they'd separated, that Neville hadn't really talked about this before. Not when all his friends were still happily married. He looked back inside, to where Rosamund was chatting with Fleur over a slice of his mother's decadent pie, and knew that tomorrow she'd be going home and he'd be going back to Romania and it was very unlikely that he'd be seeing her again.
He knew what Neville was saying.
"Be nice to find someone who wanted the same things," he said. "But I don't shag my co-workers. That's just a whole world of trouble right there."
"Haven't really got any co-workers I'd even want to," admitted Neville, and thinking back to his own time at Hogwarts, Charlie couldn't say he blamed him. There'd obviously been some turnover of staff since then, but not that much. "Most of them taught me."
"And that would just be awkward," agreed Charlie. "Actually, let's not think of that at all."
"Best not to," said Neville. "It haunts you after a while. Suppose there's a reason most of the teachers at Hogwarts never married."
"You're a real catch, though," said Charlie. "You'll work it out. Your best years are yet to come."
"That sounds like something your mum would say."
"It bloody doesn't," laughed Charlie. "'Find yourself a nice witch and get on with making babies!' is something my mum would say. 'Your best years are yet to come' is Dad all the way."
"Well, then let's hope he's right," said Neville as the sun dipped down below the horizon. "I've had some pretty good years, but I wouldn't turn down some more of them."
Charlie could drink to that.
*
At Halloween Charlie Apparated into his front yard at nearly the same time as Ron and his crew, he and Hermione each holding onto one of their children. Both of them seemed to take to Apparation with a lot more grace than Charlie had at that age.
"Hullo Charlie," said Hermione, gathering Hugo from Ron's arms and bustling her children inside before the rain started. "Good to see you again!"
Ron looked around as though he'd lost something, or maybe Charlie had. "What," he said finally, "did you forget to stop at the Leaky and pick someone up before showing up to dinner?"
"Cheeky!" said Charlie, giving him a swat. "I've genuinely liked everyone I've ever brought home."
"Charlie, if you liked everyone you've ever brought home, you've liked half the witches in England."
"They weren't all English," said Charlie, flashing him a grin. "And anyway, I'm not that bad. I just like to spread my affection around."
"And around, and around," said Ron, putting an arm around his shoulders as they migrated towards the house. "Mum's going to wonder what's wrong." Then he retracted his arm and felt Charlie's forehead for fever.
"Mum's not happy unless she's worrying about something," said Charlie, swatting him away.
The moment they got through the door Ron had an armful of Hugo again and his mother was coddling her newest grandchild, and in spite of Ron's prediction she didn't seem overly concerned about the affairs of her second eldest child at the moment.
"Last time I saw you, you were as big as a house," said Charlie, giving Angelina a kiss on the cheek even as she was pulled away to the table by a small child who wanted a before-dinner Halloween treat.
"So who do I get to meet this time?" said Neville from behind him, and Charlie smiled at the sound of his voice.
"I didn't think I'd be seeing you," he said. "Isn't there a feast at Hogwarts tonight?"
"Much as I hate to miss the feasting part," said Neville, "I've just got over a cold and a break from the students while I have the chance is just what the mediwitch ordered. Your mum doesn't even invite me anymore, she just tells me when you're getting together and assumes that I'll be coming. So where's the next Rosamund? Is she in the loo?"
"You're as bad as Ron," he said. "I'll have you know I came alone. Figured I'd try that out for a while and see how it went. I'm not as young as I used to be, and after Lola, Robin, Edith, Greta, Hilary and Rosamund, I figured I was due for a break."
"That's quite a run," said Neville. "Anyone last more than a fortnight?"
Charlie couldn't tell whether the question was sincere or not, so he just shrugged. "No one to feed you chicken soup yet either?"
"I actually have been seeing someone," said Neville, in a low voice like he didn't want anyone but Charlie to hear. He ought to have figured out by now that there was no such thing as a secret in the Weasley household. "I suppose you got me thinking about how it might be time I started looking."
"Finally found a witch who caught your fancy? And you didn't bring her with you on your one night off?"
Neville cleared his throat. "I've been seeing the bloke who runs the new bookshop in Hogsmeade," he said. "Just a few times. I don't think it's going to work out, though."
Charlie let that one sit with him for a moment as the clan began to mass around the dinner table. "Didn't know there was a new bookshop in Hogsmeade," he said finally.
"Last year," said Neville. "Change comes slowly."
"Didn't know you fancied blokes, either."
Neville gave him a half-nod, eyes darting around for a moment to see who might be listening. But everyone was too busy with their own business to pay any attention to Charlie and Neville's.
"Sometimes," he said. "I wasn't sure how it would go over with your family so I haven't said anything. It's not a secret, though."
"If it's not a secret, then you can trust Mum at least already knows," said Charlie, "and they won't care. They've never cared before when it came up, and you must know that it has. They certainly won't mind if you want to bring a Hogsmeade shopkeep to Halloween."
"Wouldn't've brought him anyway," said Neville. "He's already making noises about wanting me to get a place in Hogsmeade, but I'm not going to live off the Hogwarts grounds."
"He doesn't understand," said Charlie knowingly.
"He thinks Hogsmeade is close enough to the school," said Neville. But of course it wasn't, just like Charlie couldn't live off the sanctuary and still do his job right. "He's a nice bloke. I don't want to upset him."
"And you still want to be able to use the Hogsmeade bookshop."
"It's much more convenient," agreed Neville, and broke into a sheepish smile. "I guess I'll have to see if we can work it out."
Charlie wouldn't say that he was seeing Neville in a whole new way—if he was, it was something that had started at Christmas—but there was something that shifted, just a little. He'd know they were becoming friends of a sort, especially after the last time they'd got together, but this was a bit more than that. Neville trusted him, and Charlie liked being trusted.
"And in the meantime, you can tuck in to Mum's famous Halloween dinner," he said before he could get lost in the contemplation, "and hope you don't give the rest of us your cold, because if there's one thing more miserable than a cold, it's fighting a cold while dodging dragon flames."
"Or teaching children," said Neville, and Charlie had the utmost sympathy as they claimed the last two chairs at the table.
*
Charlie was on official business when he stopped at the Leaky on a Saturday afternoon. Well, the Leaky wasn't part of his official business, but stopping at Gringotts was, and he'd had to take care of some paperwork at the Ministry as well. Best to get it all done in one day, and then have a pint before taking the portkey back to Romania.
Winter was on the air now, and it was chilly enough that he was unwrapping his scarf as he finally noticed who else was in the pub.
"Neville?" he said crossing the room with his scarf and heavy robes still more on than off. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I asked first," said Charlie, and then finished unwrapping his scarf before presumptuously taking the seat across from Neville. There was no one in it, and no half-empty drink in front of it, so he figured it was fair game.
"Had some business," said Neville. "Some paperwork." And when he looked up, it was to the blond woman behind the bar. Charlie got it.
"Do you want me to go?" he said "I just saw you and—"
"No, stay," said Neville. "Hannah and I just finished up and I figured I'd have a pint before heading back to the school. Be a shame to come out here and then not at least have a drink."
"My thoughts exactly," said Charlie, and then the heavy robes came off too because it was warm inside the pub and he'd have time enough to bundle up throughout the long winter on the sanctuary. "You're all right, then?"
"I'm fine," said Neville. "Just tying up some loose ends."
"And you're not just saying that?"
"If I were anything but fine," said Neville, "there's nobody I'm more likely to tell than you."
"Not even your Hogsmeade shopkeep?"
Neville just laughed that one off. An easy laugh, not a bitter laugh. "That was over a couple of days after the last time I saw you," he admitted. Charlie wasn't entirely surprised. "It turned out to be a pretty uncomplicated decision in the end. There are many things that I can compromise on, but some that I just can't. So what are you doing here?"
"Just business," said Charlie, then pushed up from his seat. "Hold that thought, I'll be right back." Because if was going to settle in for a conversation with Neville, he was going to do it right. It hadn't been long since the last time they'd seen one another, but Charlie'd had plenty of time to think. His seat barely had time to cool down before he was back in it again, drink in hand. "Right. Just here taking care of a few things, making a delivery to the vault, submitting some amended regulations. Someone's got to do it, and I drew the short straw this time."
"Rather be back in Romania dodging flames?"
"Nearly always," said Charlie with an unrepentant grin, "but running into you here has made this trip a lot more pleasurable."
"Really?" said Neville. "Are you sure you mean me and not that pair of witches in the corner who've been batting their eyes at you since you walked in?"
Charlie looked and sure enough, there was a pair of witches in the corner whose attention seemed to be very firmly on their table, but he was pretty sure it was Neville they were batting their eyes at.
"Didn't even notice them," he admitted, which wasn't something he often found himself saying. "Your glass is looking a little lower there. Can I buy you another?"
"I really shouldn't..." said Neville, but he was nodding his head and before he could actually decline, Charlie made sure they both had a fresh pint. One more wasn't going to hurt; if he had to be back to the school in a hurry he'd already be gone. But Neville didn't take a sip right away. Instead he toyed with the glass for a moment, then looked at Charlie a bit curiously. "Are you flirting with me?"
"Might be," admitted Charlie. "If that's all right with you."
"That depends," said Neville. "You planning on parading me past your family and never seeing me again a few days after that?"
"Ouch," said Charlie, but the blow didn't strike too deep. Everyone he'd been with knew exactly what they had; he'd never made any promises he couldn't keep. Maybe he'd never found anyone to be serious about, but he never pretended he had, either.
"Didn't even know you liked blokes," said Neville, and now finally he sipped the drink Charlie had brought him. "You didn't say, even when—"
"Who'd you think I was talking about when I said my family never minded?" said Charlie. "Bill? Ron?"
"Fred maybe," admitted Neville softly. And maybe he would've been, but Charlie guessed they would never know now. "Every time I saw you, there was a different witch on your arm."
"You only saw me a handful of times," said Charlie, but then, that was as much as anyone outside of Romania saw him. He knew as much about Charlie's life as any of his family did. "There's a lot about me you don't know."
"A lot about you I'd like to find out," said Neville, which Charlie figured was as good as a yes, to the question he'd asked and maybe the one he hadn't yet. "If we get a chance."
"Maybe we will," said Charlie. The witches in the corner were wholly forgotten, as were the rest of the pub's patrons. Not to mention its proprietor. "After all, you and me, it seems like we want the same things."
*
Charlie stopped at Hogsmeade before heading for the Burrow, a little spot near the road to Hogwarts where Neville suggested they meet. Neville was already waiting, suitcase in hand and sitting on a large rock.
"You've finished your shopping?" said Charlie. "We don't need to go down into the village?"
Neville just patted the suitcase, which almost certainly held much more than it looked like it did. "I finished on the weekend," he said, "just after most of the students left for the holiday. Have you been home yet?"
"Figured we'd go together," said Charlie. "Might as well, right?"
"Saves me minding Albus while his brother and sister get into trouble," said Neville. "Not that I don't want to spend time with Albus, he's a great little boy. He's going to look like Harry in a few years, just you watch."
"He already looks like Harry since he got the specs," said Charlie. "All right then, no time like the present."
They arrived within moments of each other, just far enough from the Burrow to make sure they were presentable before arriving for Christmas Eve. George and Ron were already in the yard throwing snowballs at one another scraped from the faint scattering of snow on the ground. And when they ran out of that, they just started conjuring them.
"Oi, Charlie!" called George. "You're late! Mum was expecting you this morning."
"Had to stop and buy presents for you lot, didn't I?" he said.
"Presents!" cried one small person, while another cried, "Uncle Charlie," and honestly, from this distance and all bundled up, he couldn't even tell who was who.
"So no one on your arm for Christmas dinner this year?" said George as Ginny came out and distracted the children with something from the kitchen. Even from this distance, it smelled delicious.
"Sure there is," said Charlie, tugging Neville closer and linking arms with him. "It's not my fault that Mum would've invited him with or without me."
Ron clearly thought he was taking the piss, but George, George was the one who raised an eyebrow as Charlie and Neville caught up with them and started for the house.
"So when did this happen?"
"Not sure," said Charlie. "I think it might be happening right now." He looked at Neville and Neville looked back and yeah, that felt like the right answer.
"Wait," said Ron. "You're serious?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" said Charlie. "Neville's a catch. I kept telling him so, then I figured I'd better catch him myself before someone else did."
"I mean, really serious?"
"You're going to give me issues if you keep insisting that Charlie couldn't possibly want to be with me," said Neville mildly. George laughed while Ron stared for a little while longer.
"You know he's not one of your witches, right?" he said, strictly to Charlie. "You can't drop him next week and go back to Romania. This is Neville. I'm on his side."
No, he couldn't, and he didn't have to. Because sure, he'd be going back to Romania after, and Neville would be going back to Hogwarts, but there were owls and holidays and a long summer, and Neville wasn't asking for anything Charlie wasn't more than willing to give. Sometimes these things had a way of working out in ways you never really expected.
"Well, I think it's brilliant," said George. "Welcome to the family, Neville. I hope you know what you're getting into with this one."
"I'm pretty sure Neville was welcomed to the family last year," said Charlie, but he appreciated the gesture all the same.
In retrospect, he shouldn't have assumed that was where George was going to leave it, but Charlie hadn't been the subject of his pranks for a long time and he was out of practice. So he thought nothing of it when George dashed in ahead of them while Charlie made sure he had all his things.
Moments later, he and Neville found themselves stuck in the doorway, able to neither go inside nor leave.
"Oh George," said his mum, while the family gathered to see what the ruckus was. "What have you done?"
"It's all right, Mum," said George. "Trust me, they were begging for it."
That was when Charlie looked up and saw the mistletoe hanging above them and just laughed. "You're not going to find a present from me under the tree this year," he threatened George, but he couldn't even bring himself to sound angry.
However he'd been planning on telling the rest of his family, it hadn't been like this, but he shrugged at Neville and Neville smiled back and even if they hadn't been trapped under the mistletoe this might've been the very best way.
Charlie put his hands on Neville's cheeks and leaned in and kissed him, and oh yes, their best years were definitely yet to come.
This entry was originally posted at http://cj.dreamwidth.org/9601.html.
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Date: 2012-04-04 04:18 am (UTC)Thank you for sharing!
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Date: 2012-04-21 07:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-04 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-21 07:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-04 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-21 07:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-05 06:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-21 07:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-08 04:07 pm (UTC)"You're going to give me issues if you keep insisting that Charlie couldn't possibly want to be with me," said Neville mildly.
Hee. I like how laid back both Charlie and Neville are about their relationship.
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Date: 2012-04-21 07:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-31 04:41 pm (UTC)I love the slow development of the relationship, the way they both clearly thought things through, and Ron's reaction was just perfect.
Nice job! :)
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Date: 2012-08-05 03:22 pm (UTC)