Just Like Home | Charlie Weasley

Chapter 6

George had told Charlie to not bother helping out in the shop today as it was usually much quieter on Sunday's. Truthfully, Charlie wondered why George even insisted on opening on a Sunday at all but knew it best not to question him. Now, however, the man who was very unaccustomed to having nothing to do was struggling with boredom at 12pm in the afternoon. When he was in Romania, there was never really a moment where he found himself bored or without something to be doing. He, obviously, was very happy to be back with his family, but the lack of stimulation was hard for him. He had already cooked breakfast and lunch, read a book and written up some of his field notes that he had been meaning to do. What now?

Downstairs in the shop, George had busied himself with rearranging some stock whilst other shelves needed stocking. Verity was manning the counter and Roscoe was mingling with the few customers. George realised that he could probably leave Verity and Roscoe to it and have the day off himself, but he felt he'd rather stay busy today.

"Whatcha doing, George?". George was startled by a sudden voice in his ear, causing him to visibly jump and drop the small pile of skiving snack boxes he had in his hand. He turned around to meet the cheeky grin of Eleanor who began to laugh at his cowardness.

"Bloody hell, Ellie! You almost gave me a coronary," he laughed, still slightly pale after his shock. "What brings you to my humble abode today?".

Eleanor visibly blushed at his question, making George send her a questioning glance. "I uh... I came to return this to uh..." she babbled, holding up a freshly washed and neatly folded denim shirt.

George recognised it instantly and began to smirk devilishly. "My my, what a turn of events!".

"N-no! Not like that! Merlin, nothing, nothing happened. He lent it to me and I just thought I should bring it back,".

"Oh, how dull," George rolled his eyes playfully.

"Behave," Eleanor scolded. "Um... Is he around?". She wasn't sure if she wanted Charlie to be around or not. She did, because she wanted to see his wonderful face and warm smile again and to thank him for getting her home safely. However, she didn't, because she couldn't be sure she hadn't said something embarrassing.

"Is who around?". George, of course, knew exactly who she was talking about but was rather enjoying watching her squirm.

"Charlie," Eleanor reluctantly mumbled.

"Oh, you came here to see my brother? Why didn't you say so, Ellie!" George jested. "He's upstairs. You can go up if you want,".

After a tiny bit krow teasing from George, which Eleanor took good-naturedly as it was wonderful to see him happy, she slowly ascended the stairs that he told her would lead up to his flat. She mindlessly ran her fingers through her still-straight hair, ignoring the way her hands were shaking slightly as she approached the door. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Charlie was lounging on the sofa with his head in yet another book when he heard a knock at the door. He thought it was strange because most people just walked straight in, meaning it was likely to be somebody who wasn't often around here. He stood up, stretching his torso out slightly, before heading to open the door. As soon as he did, he could have sworn some of the wind was knocked out of him as his eyes fell on the sight of a beautiful brunette girl on the other side of the door.

"Ellie!" He said in surprise, his eyes widening. His mouth went slightly dry as he took in her appearance; her cheeks slightly flushed as she smiled nervously at him, her bright yellow scarf wrapped carelessly around her neck. She looked effortlessly wonderful in a pair of relaxed-fit denim jeans with darker patches on them which she'd paired with a white and yellow sunflower pattern jumper and yellow converse. He'd never seen such a lovely sight. "Um... How can I help you?".