Lyra || Charlie Weasley ||

Bells wanted to play matchmaker. Annabelle's POV

Annabelle's POV

I enter the master bedroom, the sinking amber light of sunset filtering through the curtains. Reggie is sprawled casually across our bed, shoes kicked off and tie loosened after a long day at the Ministry. Even after two decades of marriage, taking in his strong frame and unruly dark curls still brings me that familiar sense of peace and calm.

He props himself up on an elbow as I sink onto the duvet beside him, shifting to make room. "Don't bat those pretty eyes and pretend I don't know what you are doing. I don't like it one bit, Bells." he admonishes, though his mouth betrays the hint of a smirk. I roll my eyes theatrically.

I roll my eyes. "I honestly have no idea what you're on about this time,"

"Yes, you do," he insists. Of course I do, but I won't admit that to him.

"No really, I do lots of things you don't like, apparently. Which one is this about?" I ask, struggling to keep my voice steady through my urge to laugh at his expression.

He levels a knowing look at me. "Really, Bells? Going to make me spell it out?" When I just gaze back innocently, he huffs. "Lyra. I'm talking about our daughter, Lyra."

I bite the inside of my cheek to keep a straight face. "What about her?"

With a dramatic sigh, he runs a hand through his unruly curls, making them stand even more wildly on end. I can't hold back a giggle at the sight. He shoots me a betrayed look. "Don't play coy. You sent her off with Charlie to get Harry on purpose, didn't you?" 

I had. Ever since Lyra had developed a crush on Charlie, a fact I'd picked up on the day she returned from Hogwarts returned home after her fourth year, and practically launched herself at him, flushed and starry-eyed, gushing about the dashing second-eldest Weasley brother, I'd recognize the signs of a serious infatuation, anywhere. And if she was anything like her dad or my brother, that wasn't going to change.

"Guilty," I confess, lips twitching.

Reggi lets out another long-suffering sigh. "But whyy?" he whines dramatically. "Why would you do this to me, Bells?"

Unable to resist, I reach over to brush an unruly ebony curl back from his forehead. "You remember James?" I prompted.

He flops backwards, pulling me down to rest against his chest. I feel it rise and fall in a reluctant sigh. "Yeah..."

I snuggle closer, breathing in the comforting scent of his collar. "You remember the spark in his eyes every time he looked at Lily?" I continued.

"Yeah...?" he replied, his confusion evident.

"Do you see where I'm going with this?" I asked, knowing he did but pretending otherwise.

"Not really," he admitted, though I could tell he was just feigning ignorance. 

"Well, I see the same spark in Lyra's eyes when she looks at Charlie," I confessed.

"I don't like it," Reggi grumbles into my hair.

I smile against his shirt, picturing his petulant pout "I know you don't, Daddy's little girl and all that." I reassured him.

"Too right. She's my baby."

I pat his chest consolingly. "I know.Reggie But she is your daughter and Potter blo-." I began, but he cut me off. "I know, if she's anything like her uncle or me and this little infatuation never fades... but that doesn't mean I have to like it," he said, a mixture of resignation and protectiveness in his voice.

His arms tighten around me. "You remember how my brother reacted to us?" I asked.

"Yeah. Now I understand why he wanted to kill me," he admitted, and I laugh at the memory.