Of dragon keepers and bookworms

Home again

Authors note: So everyone has been writing Charlie and Hermione together for years and I adore this fan ship, so I thought I'd finally take a stab at it myself. Enjoy.

Charlie walked into the back door of the burrow, home for the Christmas holidays. It was a bit odd though when the kitchen was empty. He wondered where everyone was, until Hermione came into the kitchen to make tea and was startled. "Oh Charlie hello. You startled me." She said.

"Sorry bout that love. Where is everyone? Why is it so quiet?" Charlie asked her.

"Last minute shopping and cooking ingredients. They all went to diagon ally but since I wasn't feeling well and my shopping is done I stayed here." Hermione replied.

She looked at Charlie and saw how long his hair was and she knew Molly wouldn't approve. His hair was below his shoulders and he had a rugged smile on his face. "What? Do I have something on my face?" He asked suddenly wiping at his nose.

Hermione let out a small laugh and replied with "No but I did find a small problem."

Charlie began to panic wondering what was wrong before Hermione reached out and tugged at the ends of his hair. "Your mum won't approve Charlie. She'll want to cut it."

Charlie sighed and didn't know what to do. He loved his hair just the way it was but he knew she was right. "What do you propose then hmm love."

Hermione was nervous when she looked up at him. She used wandless magic to summon a hair tie from her room and held it up to show Charlie. "A hair tie?" Charlie frowned wondering what she was planning.

Hermione motioned for him to sit and he complied. "I will use this to cleverly style your hair into something your mum will approve of before she gets home." Hermione said.

She looked at the clock and realized something. "And we only have 15 minutes it seems."

Charlie smiled and said "I trust you love."

Hermione melted at his endearment and began to work on his hair. She pulled it back gently and used the hair elastic to put it into a sort of bun style. It was not too tight but not too loose, it was just perfect to pass and get Molly's approval.

"So how does it look then?" Charlie asked.

Hermione conjured a mirror for Charlie to examine himself and he smiled. "I love it love. It looks so good and I think mum will approve. You may have just saved my hair from a chop."

Hermione blushed and said "It was no big deal. You love your hair and I didn't want to see you unhappy."

"Oh and why is that love?" Charlie asked.

Charlie stood up from his chair and looked at her and noticed she was blushing. Hermione tried to hide her face but Charlie cupped her cheek to hold her eyes.

Hermione took a deep breathe before she whispered "Because I like you Charlie..."

Charlie was surprised but also really happy. He grinned and whispered back "I like you too love."

It was true Charlie had liked her for a long time but with the distance of living in Romania, he was afraid to say something. Hermione looked at him almost unsure if she'd heard him correctly.

It was 5 minutes to everyone coming home and Charlie leaned down and captured her lips softly in a kiss, that made her certain she had heard him correctly. She sunk her fingers into his hair messing up the carefully made bun she had styled his hair into 7 minutes prior.

When they broke the kiss, she smiled and laughed, saying "Now I have to fix your hair again and we only have 2 minutes."

Charlie sat down again and Hermione fixed his hair again, before he smiled and stood up again. "Thank you love. For saving my hair and telling me your feelings." He replied.

Everyone started filtering in through the front door and Ginny was the first to get into the kitchen. "Mum Charlie's here." She shouted.

Molly came bustling into the kitchen and saw Charlie and his neatly tied back hair. "How long is it this time Charlie? Do I need to cut it?" Molly asked her second oldest son.

"No!" Charlie and Hermione exclaimed together.

Ginny gave them a weird look before Charlie spoke again. "If I agree to keep it tied back like this while I visit mum and keep it presentable will you promise not to cut it?" Charlie pleaded with his mum.

Molly thought about it for a few minutes and looked at how his hair was neatly styled before agreeing. "Fine, I won't cut your hair. But it better not be a reason you don't meet a nice girl to bring home." Molly said.

Charlie looked down at Hermione for permission to say something and Hermione smiled at him. "You don't have to worry about that mum. I met someone and she loves my hair just the way it is."

"I don't know who on earth could love long hair on a man...." Molly trailed off with a small huff.

"I do. I love long hair on a man." Hermione replied while reaching to hold Charlie's hand.

Molly was shocked and almost fell over. She couldn't believe her second oldest son fancied Hermione. Ron chose that moment to come into the kitchen and saw them holding hands and got mad. "What's this? Is this why you kept refusing to go out with me?" Ron's asked feeling very angry.

Molly had known that her youngest son had fancied Hermione for ages but what she didn't know was that she had been refusing to date him. Now she knew why. "Ronald Weasley that's no way to speak to a woman." Molly scolded him and his ears turned pink.

"I'm sorry Ron. I can't return your feelings because I like Charlie." She admitted.

By then everyone else had heard the commotion and was coming to the kitchen to get a look. They saw Charlie and Hermione holding hands and kinda pieced it together. "Ron she's allowed to love whoever she wants. You can't talk to my family like that." Harry said defending Hermione's choice.

Hermione smiled and said shyly "Thank you Harry."

"If you'll excuse us we're gonna go before Ron gets any angrier." Charlie said and he grabbed his bag and led Hermione up the stairs to his old room.

"Well that was surprising." Ginny said after the pair had gone upstairs.

Molly looked at all her children especially Bill and said "Did any of you know about this?"

Ron grumbled "Well I sure didn't."

Everyone hurriedly agreed they knew nothing including Bill who was Charlie's best friend.

Upstairs in Charlie's room, "I'm so sorry about that love. Come here." And he held Hermione close and hugged her.

"For what Charlie? You didn't do anything wrong. He can be as mad as he wants. I made my choice, I like you Charlie." Hermione said.

Charlie smiled into her hair and kissed the top of her head. "You really sure this is what you want?" He asked making sure she was ever so certain of her choice.

"Yes Charlie I want you. But are you sure this is what you want?" She asked in return.

"Yes love. I want you too. Have for a long time but because I live in Romania I was worried and afraid to say something." He admitted.

Hermione's heart broke and ached suddenly and she cupped his cheek and said "Distance isn't an issue Charlie and Romania is beautiful. I'm glad we finally said something."

Charlie smiled and picked her up gently and placed her on the bed. She laid down on her back and got comfy and he laid next to her and just looked at her. He noticed the faint scar on her wrist, the one from her torture on the run. He took her arm gently and pressed kisses to her scar and whispered that she was good and beautiful and worth it and his.

She smiled and cuddled him and pressed soft kisses to his shoulder. "You're mine Charlie Weasley." She boldly declared.

"And you're mine love." He declared back.