The Safe Wizards

4: The Beginning of the Holidays

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were walking down the driveway to the gates of Hogwarts on the evening of December twenty-third. They would be separated for a few days, but would meet again on the twenty-fifth at noon to celebrate Christmas at the Burrow. Harry quickly greeted his friends and moved on. He was anxious to get home.

No sooner had he landed than a pair of strong arms wrapped around him.

"I missed you," a deep voice whispered in his ear.

Harry shivered and turned around in the redhead's arms to hug him.

"I missed you too," he replied in the same tone.

The two young men had spent a magical weekend together a week after they first kissed, but hadn't been able to see each other since. Charlie had been held up in Romania by his work, rarely having more than two consecutive days off, and it was obvious that the trip was too long and arduous with international portkeys to make the trip over a weekend. Although the time apart had seemed long to Harry, the many letters they had exchanged had allowed him to get to know the older man and his time had been well filled with homework, Teddy and his many appointments at Gringotts. Indeed, the rehabilitations of his houses in the United States required a lot of supervision, especially since not everything had worked out as he had hoped.

Bill had first done a survey of both homes and concluded that the one in Forks would require almost ten times as much work as the one in Alaska. The spellbreaker estimated that it would take him just under two months to deactivate all the dark magic on the Alaska house and remove all the dangerous artifacts afterwards... He was very impressed with the amount of work that had to be done on the Forks house and was concerned that he had not detected all the spells on it. After discussing this with Andromeda, Harry asked Bill to start with the Alaska house and offered to hire him directly because of the amount of work he had to do. Complicated discussions ensued between Borgak, Bill and Harry. After five meetings of negotiations and contract drafting, Harry officially became Bill Weasley's employer and he received a nice salary increase. They, then arranged for the redhead and his family to move so that he would not have to take an international portkey twice a day. Borgak had taken care of the paperwork with MACUSA (the U.S. Magical Congress) and everything was finally in order since the previous weekend. Bill, Fleur and Victoire would celebrate Christmas with the entire Weasley clan at the Burrow and then move to a small house in the wizarding district of Anchorage, Alaska.

"I heard you poached my brother from Gringotts and are sending him to live in the States," Charlie whispered again as he led him to the bedroom.

The dragon rider's mouth was kissing Harry's neck as his hands slipped under his shirt, caressing all the accessible skin and playing with his nipples. The dark-haired man could feel his powers of concentration declining rapidly under this pleasant treatment and didn't really want to discuss Bill under these conditions.

"Yes, I hope your mother won't be too upset with me..." he replied before moaning under Charlie's expert hands.

"She doesn't know he's going for you, only I."

The redhead seemed to want to add something, but Harry did not leave him the time of it, kissing it with full mouth with passion. Separating only to breathe, they took a little while to reach the dark-haired man's room, but they finally got there. With a gesture of the hand Harry, impatient, made disappear their clothes. A grunt of pleasure escaped them both when their naked skins came into contact. Charlie raised the brownhead, smaller and thinner than him, by the buttocks. This one surrounded the broad hips of the dragon rider and clung to him with delight. He liked the raw strength that his boyfriend gave off, as well as the feeling of protection that he felt in his arms. There was at least one person he didn't have to be strong in front of all the time, who he could totally surrender to and feel safe in. Since the first night they had spent together, Harry had no longer been afraid to let himself go in the redhead's arms, he had done what they both wanted and he had lost his virginity in pleasure and sweetness. This night of reunion took place in the same way, all in softness, in passion and without pressure. The two men rediscovered each other in the most beautiful way and fell asleep naked, exhausted, sweaty, but happy, very late at night.

Harry's alarm clock rang too early for the two men's liking.

"What time is it?" grumbled the dragon rider, not happy to have such a short night on his vacation.

"Ten o'clock," answered Harry while trying to extricate himself from Charlie's arms.

"But we don't have to be there until noon..." complained Charlie, tightening his arms.

"We?"

The redhead huffed in annoyance and released Harry. He turned on his back, now wide awake, and began to massage his temples. The dark-haired man felt guilty. He knew he was hurting his boyfriend by refusing to acknowledge their relationship in front of his family, but he felt he shouldn't do it... at least not yet.

"You're not going with me..." Charlie said, resigned and disappointed.

"I'll meet you there, but I'm going to go to Andromeda's first, help her with Teddy before I go to the Burrow."

"But you want me to keep pretending that nothing is going on between us."

Harry didn't want to have this discussion when he got out of bed, but he could see that his boyfriend was hurt. So he decided to open up more.

"I'm not ready to share what we have, not with your family, not with my family."

"Why not?"

Charlie was bitter, his family had taken Harry in since he was eleven years old, they all considered him one of their own. He didn't understand, he felt as if the dark-haired man was ashamed.

"I'm just... I'm not ready, that's all. Let me go at my own pace Charlie, a lot has happened in the last few months, everyone is always interfering with my life. Every time I step outside, I get harassed by reporters. For once something good happens to me, I want to enjoy it without others sticking their noses in."

Harry took it upon himself not to get upset, but the dragon rider was not fooled.

"I understand Harry, although I'd like to talk about it..."

There was a moment of silence during which everyone thought about the situation. The Survivor was clearly not ready to give in on this. He felt, deep in his soul, that he should not make an announcement. Charlie was the one who finally proposed a solution to smooth things over.

"What do you think if I just tell Bill? You know he won't tell anyone, not even Fleur, if I ask him..."

"Do you really want to?" Harry asked, cutting off the redhead's plea and he nodded silently. The dark-haired one blew before answering.

"Okay..."

Charlie, even though it bothered him that he had to hide his relationship from his family, gave the little brown-haired man a big smile and pulled him into his arms. Harry lay on top of him, a small smile on his face.

"I need some time," he whispered, inches from the groaning dragon rider's lips.

"I understand, I'll only tell Bill," he replied in the same tone before closing the gap between them. "Do you have a little time before you have to go?" he asked, directing his hands to Harry's bare bottom.

Harry grinned this time, and came to sit on Charlie's naked pelvis.

"If we're quick..." he said just before capturing the tempting lips in front of him.