On This Wild Night

VII. Charlie

Charlie had managed to bewitch the gramophone to play music for the rest of the night. It was a shame that Artemis hadn't been able to help him pick the songs to play, really. It just meant that he was probably going to have to redo it at some point after she came back.

The music was surprisingly loud, and so Bill had said that he was going to take Dominique out for a walk around the garden to try and get her back to sleep. In need of some fresh air and a break from the crowded marquee, Charlie offered to join him. They had walked and talked until Dominique fell back to sleep, at which point they had taken a seat on a pair of old deckchairs, facing the marquee.

The sun was rapidly setting in the sky behind the rolling hills of the Devonshire countryside, and the scents of grass and honeysuckle mingled in the air. Charlie smiled to himself. It didn't matter how far he travelled; this would always be home.

"Can you believe it?" Bill asked him, nodding his head at the marquee. "Little Ginny, married."

"Bill, I still can't believe that you're married, and I was your best man."

"Can't blame you for that, I can't believe it sometimes, either," grinned Bill. "How did we get to be so lucky?"

"It must be something about the red hair," Charlie said, and he leaned forward to peer at the baby in Bill's arms. He held out his little finger to stroke her tiny hands — they might have been the smallest he'd ever seen — and in her sleep, Dominique closed her fist, holding onto his little finger. "Do you think she's inherited that?"

"Too early to tell. Victoire's hair was almost black when she was born, and look at her now."

"True. She looks so much like Fleur, it's scary."

"She does, but she came out in freckles for the first time this summer," Bill laughed. "So it looks like she is one of us, after all."

Charlie chuckled, and looked down at his sleeping niece. It was difficult to tell in the dimming light, but there might well have been a reddish tinge to her hair.

"Bill?"

"Yes?"

"If I take my finger back, will she carry on sleeping?" he asked his brother. "Or am I just stuck here, now?"

Bill conjured a small blanket. He placed the corner against Dominique's hand and she let go of Charlie to cling onto that instead.

"See? Easy," said Bill, with a smirk that rapidly disappeared as the sound of a door slamming in the house caused Dominique to stir.

A second later, a flash of burgundy fabric and dark hair shot across the garden in the direction of the marquee. Bill and Charlie exchanged glances.

"Is that..."

"Artemis? Yeah."

"Is it just me, or does she look..."

"Really angry? Yeah."

"Should we do something?" asked Bill, frowning at the marquee as Artemis stormed inside.

"Yeah, we should probably stay out of the way," Charlie half-smiled. "At least until she's had a chance to stomp about and shout a bit. She'll be easier to calm down once she's got the worst of it out of her system."

"You make me look like an amateur," Bill said, and Charlie shrugged. "You know, I don't think I've ever been so glad to not be inside a marquee."

"I just feel sorry for whoever ends up on the receiving end," said Charlie, shaking his head. "Poor sod doesn't know what's coming to them."

A moment later, a small shadow appeared in the entrance of the marquee.

"Look who's back," Bill muttered. "Oh, great. She's seen us."