[ Sometimes he wonders if his desire to chase dragons was a lingering childhood escape mechanism, if growing up under the threat of He Who Must Not Be Named left any scars on his psyche, if spending the first decade or so of his life constantly worried that someone might come and murder his family for being blood traitors meant all he wanted was to get away and hide out in the forest where nobody could find him.
One morning, when he was home for Christmas and had spent half the night awake with nightmares lingering, he'd been sitting in the kitchen near dawn and Hermione had appeared at his elbow; they'd sat together at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and not really chatting about much of consequence for so long that when she'd suggested he try seeing a therapist, he'd been floored.
A therapist? For what?
No. He's fine. He's got a good life and he's happy with it, and all that unpleasantness is in the past where it belongs.
Right now, he has other things to focus on, like the tickling of her hair against his arm as Luna leans back, the gentle lilt of her voice as she rambles on about her life post-Hogwarts. Post-war. Post-fear.
He has to resist the urge to turn his wrist and fiddle with her hair. ]
Yeah, my brother Percy is still with the Ministry. I could never do what he does. [ He shudders theatrically, wanting to make her smile again. ] I think you have the right of it, love. You're young yet, you've all the time in the world to decide.
You say that like you're an aged hermit. [ She affects a deeper voice, her most playful imitation of him: ] Oh me, I am wise old grizzled dragonkeeper, living away on the mild moors. You're not that much older, Charles.
[ On the list of things that Luna cared about, an eight-year age difference was right at the very bottom. Between her odd personality, being an only child, and being her father's best friend, it meant associating with all his friends rather than children her own age — she had peered in on dinners, sat in on the adults' conversations, chatted amiably to seventy-year-old wizards. Sometimes people looked at her wide eyes and distracted demeanour and saw innocent naiveté; other times, people could realise she was wise beyond her years. (Twelve years old and standing by the carriages with her hand against the warm, leathery neck of a thestral, the animal pressing its bony nose into her palm.)
But, still— ]
You are right though. Maybe I'll change my mind entirely a few years from now and decide to become a competitive Gobstones player. You could, too — though something tells me you're rather happy where you are.
[ He laughs at her impression of him, loud and uninhibited, like she'd really done something special and not just mocked him for feeling his age.
One would think, maybe, that getting teased on and off his whole life would make him a little more sensitive to the subject, but the opposite has been true. Growing up with Fred and George dogging his every steps meant Charlie had to grow a thick skin in sheer self-defense, and Luna's gentle mimicry was hardly insulting. He's certainly had much worse. ]
Too right! [ he laughs, giving in to the urge and tweaking her braid where it lies right beside his hand. ] I am wise and old, and I feel it every time I have to stand up from a crouch.
[ He finishes his glass of tsipouro and pours himself another, tilting the glass gently this way and that to watch the clear liquor slide along the edges. ] I am happy where I am. And you seem fairly happy where you are, too. You really do look well, Luna.
Ach, my bones, my poor bones. [ Luna flashes him a mischievous smile, but abandons the imitation schtick before they can both grow tired of it. That light tug at her braid sends an answering shiver down her spine, a little ripple of warmth bubbling up; she restlessly readjusts her position again, now sitting comfortably cross-legged in the chair. She's bad at sitting still and usually feels the need to fidget, and does so now: absentmindedly nudging a rogue olive around the edges of her share plate. ]
Thank you, Charlie. I'm glad you're here, too — it's nice having a familiar face around, my first time out of the country.
[ She takes another sip of the tsiporou. It's settled into her stomach and her head, and there's a pink tinge to her pale cheeks; her alcohol tolerance isn't the highest and she can already feel it buzzing in her fingertips, loosening her tongue. ] Are you fine being called Charles or do you hate it?
[ He grins at her. ] It's my joints more than anything else. My poor knees, the damage they've seen.
[ He shifts himself slightly to make more room for her as she adjusts herself on her seat, pulling up both legs to tuck them under her, her knee winding up pressed solidly into his thigh when she settles down. He doesn't move his chair away, or even remove his arm from the back of hers, leaving them sitting quite close, nearly tucked in against each other.
It's just that the bar is so crowded, see, and they'd have to shout to be heard over the music and general hubbub of conversation if they sat farther apart. That's all. ]
Goodness, your first time? Really? [ Sometimes he forgets that most people, even wizards, barely leave their city — going to Hogwarts doesn't count, obviously — for most of their lives. Weasleys have lived in Ottery St. Catchpole for coming up to hundreds of years now; theirs is a culture steeped in tradition and routine. Taking off and traveling the world in service to a career that offers absolutely no certainty and security is definitely not the norm. ] Then I'm doubly glad to have run into you.
[ Her pink cheeks are very fetching, making her eyes look that much bluer as she blinks at him, earnest and serious in the way he's started to understand is just her default. ] I don't mind it so much, [ he admits slowly, frowning a little. ] It does sometimes make me think I'm about to get a dressing-down, though. Charles Gideon Weasley, you stop that this minute! [ he warbles, mimicking his mother's higher tones. ]
First time, yes. There's not much money in the Quibbler. [ Another thing that, oddly, the Weasleys and the Lovegoods had in common: their strained purse-strings, their rickety old hodgepodge of houses, the Burrow and the Rookery with their built-on annexes and teetering storeys. Luna doesn't sound bitter about it, though, more like she's just offhandedly mentioning a fact of life. ]
But then I promise I shan't misuse it. I wouldn't want to remind you of your mum.
[ For so many reasons, but.
The noise in the cramped bar has been ebbing and flowing, steadily ticking upwards as the witches and wizards get drunker and louder. One of Luna's colleagues behind them shouts for her attention; a woman named Brunnhilde ducks in close, "Luna, a few of us are going to the gelateria down the street for dessert, coming with?"
Luna peers up at her from her chair, and there's that teetering indecision floating in the moment. She does not look at Charlie, but feels the warmth of his thigh against hers, his arm behind her, and remembers the sound of his voice so close to her ear, and she thinks: I'd like to see where this goes.
"No thank you, I'm catching up with a friend," she says, and it is, in fact, close enough to the truth.
A few of her party pay up their cheques, disperse, and leave. The room thins out a little, but it's still crowded enough that leaning so close to each other is still a good idea. Mostly. ]
[ Charlie had been lucky with most of his international trips, in that they've almost entirely been funded by work and he's just been able to tack on some sight-seeing along the way. Case in point, tonight.
It also probably helps that Charlie's idea of sight-seeing tends to veer towards the 'tramping through the wilderness' end of things and not so much the 'visiting museums and tarted-up tourist attractions' one. ]
I appreciate it, though I don't think you're in too much danger of that.
[ Charlie does pull back a little when one of Luna's friends swoops in to half-shout in her ear, making room for the two of them and accidentally catching the eye of one of his own colleagues in the process. Jiří grins at him, lifting his eyebrows in a way that Charlie knows from experience means he's fighting back an inappropriate comment, and Charlie finds himself scowling at him from across the table, taking advantage of Luna's distraction to make a rude gesture at him with the hand he doesn't have draped behind her shoulders. A burst of laughter, the soft brush of air as Luna's friend leaves, and then it's just the two of them again, and Charlie firmly turns his attention back to the girl sat beside him and studiously ignores the men who came in with him.
Miraculously, no other comments are forthcoming. ]
You sure you don't want ice cream? [ Charlie is happy with his liquor and tapas, but that doesn't mean he needs to monopolize Luna for the whole night, no matter how pleasant it's been so far and how warm and lazy the alcohol is making him feel. Luna's off on her first international trip. She should be out enjoying it with friends. ]
[ Luna shakes her head, an airy dismissal. ] Oh, no worries. We've been there before, and we'll go again. We've probably got loads more time here than your group anyway, I expect, unless it takes a while to catch that dragon.
And besides. I'm stuffed. I'll have to walk off some of this before ice cream. [ She waves a hand at their table. They've done a fairly good job of demolishing the liquor and the family-style plates — and whatever food is left on the table, it looks like Rolf and one of the Romanians are only too pleased to dig into and polish off. Rough hands, hungry work. ]
[ Glancing over at the rest of the group, Charlie doesn't quite smile at the sight of his colleagues and Luna's sneaking their hands over to nab some of the food from the platters left out, but his expression does soften somewhat, and he hums in response to her comments.
Truthfully, Charlie could probably eat a lot more, and keep drinking. But he probably shouldn't. ]
I never had much of a sweet tooth... [ Not necessarily true, but true enough for now. He might change his mind if he got to see some baklava out on offer, the honey oozing from each slice, freshly-toasted pistachios poised on the cusp of tumbling off the glistening flakes of pastry.
...Maybe he does have more of a sweet tooth than he realized. ] Wouldn't mind a bit of a walk, though.
[ And as delicious as the food and the company is, the air in the bar is also getting a little tight and close and warm. She tips her head to glance towards the exit, and just like that, a decision is made. Luna seems to unfold back to her feet like malleable liquid, and then it's the amiable chaos of getting the bill paid: the pair of them digging through pockets and wallets to turn out the magical Grecian currencies, the lepta and foinix, squinting and trying to count them properly in the low light, laying them out for their bartender.
That eventually done, she shrugs into her light jacket, slings the satchel back over her shoulder, and they head outside. There's a brief moment where she confers with one of her colleagues — setting up a way to get in touch later, not exactly a curfew, but still a don't go too far and get eaten by that dragon — and then it's the pair of them spilling outdoors, Luna close on Charlie's heels.
The island air smells like the sea. It's a little chillier now that the sun's set and the wind cutting in off the water, even if it's balmy, so she finds herself burying her hands in her jacket pockets as they saunter along. She breathes deep, a contented sigh. ]
[ Charlie's worked with some people who are happy to just unearth a fistful of coins and leave them on the table whenever something needs to be paid for, blissfully unconcerned with correct amounts or the current conversion rates, but he was raised by Molly Weasley in the midst of a war and is currently employed in a career that is emotionally fulfilling at best, but hardly exactly lucrative.
He and Luna sort through the coins in his palm until they've acquired the correct amount to be passed over, and then he adds in an extra lepta just to be polite, before pocketing the rest and squaring his shoulders to barge his way through the crowd to make for the exit.
At some point, he reaches behind him to reach for Luna's hand, clasping warm fingers around her to make sure she's being towed in his wake and they don't get separated. Once they make it outside, he lets her go, shoving his hands in his pockets and trying not to focus on the lingering warmth in his palm. ]
Oh, we've some tents set up outside the city. [ Hardly the most glamorous of accommodations, but Charlie's happy enough with them. They don't let in the rain or the wind, and they're surprisingly spacious inside; he's slept in worse places. ] What about you lot?
[ Charlie's hand is delightfully warm and rough and scarred, and even as he (they) regretfully let go, her fingers curl into her palm in the absence. Luna's unsurprised to realise that his hands are callused, where hers hands are soft, haven't hardened yet from her current foray into life as a field academic. Her fingers are usually just ink-stained from her wildlife doodles and scribbling notes in her naturalist's journal, which is half-indecipherable even to her colleagues, little observation fragments mingled with reminders to herself: gills? — kappa familiaris — I think it likes the smell of mango — buy loaf of bread from market later. ]
We're not roughing it quite as you are. There's a bed-and-breakfast run by this formidable Greek witch, and she makes a wonderful breakfast. We must have taken up the last of her rooms so there wasn't any left for your lot, but I suppose you're used to tents. [ A beat, an idle curiosity as to how the rugged dragonologists live: ] Are they bigger on the inside than not, or are they regular tents?
[ He's not the tallest of his siblings — the indignity of having his baby brother tower over him by nearly six inches having long ago ceased to sting — Charlie is nonetheless one of the quickest on foot, having perfected the skill of striding with purpose and determination with the air of a Bludger on a mission that makes people leap out of his way. When he's not paying attention, he tends to slip into that way of walking no matter where he is, cheerfully barreling his way through an empty forest and the crowds of Diagon Alley alike.
With Luna at his side, the way he's walking is all he can pay attention to, since the path they're taking isn't particularly wide, and the way Luna has her hands in the pockets of her jacket makes her elbows poke out enough that they brush against him every other step.
He has a bizarre urge to offer her his arm or something equally ridiculous. She's the one of the two of them that has any idea where they're going. ]
Most of them are just regular tents, [ he admits, shrugging with his hands still jammed in the pockets of his jeans. ] Hermione's fixed mine up for me, though, don't tell the others. She's a real gem, that girl. I've told Ron if he ever fucks it up and they split that I'd marry her just to keep her in the family.
[ Luna was never an athlete, so she's having to half-scurry in order to keep up with him with little half-skipping strides, but she doesn't seem to mind. It's a steep and winding path along the edge of town, teetering at the top of the cliffs; there's always the sense that you might take the wrong step and plummet into the ocean below, but she's done this walk every morning and night, and so she's comfortable with it. She doesn't really know where she's leading them, except that it'll descend to the beach eventually and they've got a nice view and somewhere along the way, there might be a creperie, or her bed-and-breakfast, and they'll make up their minds as they go.
At Charlie's declaration, she snorts a laugh. ]
Only if I don't beat you to it. We have a sacred pact that if she ever had enough of boys and their nonsense, she should ring me up.
[ Is she joking? Maybe. It's hard to tell. The two girls hadn't gotten along at first, back in the day — Hermione's prim, straightlaced love of order versus Luna's affable chaos — but they'd clicked in the end. War and adversity had a way of searing away the surface and boiling everyone down to their essence, and you found out what really mattered. They'd finally understood each other, then. ]
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One morning, when he was home for Christmas and had spent half the night awake with nightmares lingering, he'd been sitting in the kitchen near dawn and Hermione had appeared at his elbow; they'd sat together at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and not really chatting about much of consequence for so long that when she'd suggested he try seeing a therapist, he'd been floored.
A therapist? For what?
No. He's fine. He's got a good life and he's happy with it, and all that unpleasantness is in the past where it belongs.
Right now, he has other things to focus on, like the tickling of her hair against his arm as Luna leans back, the gentle lilt of her voice as she rambles on about her life post-Hogwarts. Post-war. Post-fear.
He has to resist the urge to turn his wrist and fiddle with her hair. ]
Yeah, my brother Percy is still with the Ministry. I could never do what he does. [ He shudders theatrically, wanting to make her smile again. ] I think you have the right of it, love. You're young yet, you've all the time in the world to decide.
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[ On the list of things that Luna cared about, an eight-year age difference was right at the very bottom. Between her odd personality, being an only child, and being her father's best friend, it meant associating with all his friends rather than children her own age — she had peered in on dinners, sat in on the adults' conversations, chatted amiably to seventy-year-old wizards. Sometimes people looked at her wide eyes and distracted demeanour and saw innocent naiveté; other times, people could realise she was wise beyond her years. (Twelve years old and standing by the carriages with her hand against the warm, leathery neck of a thestral, the animal pressing its bony nose into her palm.)
But, still— ]
You are right though. Maybe I'll change my mind entirely a few years from now and decide to become a competitive Gobstones player. You could, too — though something tells me you're rather happy where you are.
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One would think, maybe, that getting teased on and off his whole life would make him a little more sensitive to the subject, but the opposite has been true. Growing up with Fred and George dogging his every steps meant Charlie had to grow a thick skin in sheer self-defense, and Luna's gentle mimicry was hardly insulting. He's certainly had much worse. ]
Too right! [ he laughs, giving in to the urge and tweaking her braid where it lies right beside his hand. ] I am wise and old, and I feel it every time I have to stand up from a crouch.
[ He finishes his glass of tsipouro and pours himself another, tilting the glass gently this way and that to watch the clear liquor slide along the edges. ] I am happy where I am. And you seem fairly happy where you are, too. You really do look well, Luna.
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Thank you, Charlie. I'm glad you're here, too — it's nice having a familiar face around, my first time out of the country.
[ She takes another sip of the tsiporou. It's settled into her stomach and her head, and there's a pink tinge to her pale cheeks; her alcohol tolerance isn't the highest and she can already feel it buzzing in her fingertips, loosening her tongue. ] Are you fine being called Charles or do you hate it?
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[ He shifts himself slightly to make more room for her as she adjusts herself on her seat, pulling up both legs to tuck them under her, her knee winding up pressed solidly into his thigh when she settles down. He doesn't move his chair away, or even remove his arm from the back of hers, leaving them sitting quite close, nearly tucked in against each other.
It's just that the bar is so crowded, see, and they'd have to shout to be heard over the music and general hubbub of conversation if they sat farther apart. That's all. ]
Goodness, your first time? Really? [ Sometimes he forgets that most people, even wizards, barely leave their city — going to Hogwarts doesn't count, obviously — for most of their lives. Weasleys have lived in Ottery St. Catchpole for coming up to hundreds of years now; theirs is a culture steeped in tradition and routine. Taking off and traveling the world in service to a career that offers absolutely no certainty and security is definitely not the norm. ] Then I'm doubly glad to have run into you.
[ Her pink cheeks are very fetching, making her eyes look that much bluer as she blinks at him, earnest and serious in the way he's started to understand is just her default. ] I don't mind it so much, [ he admits slowly, frowning a little. ] It does sometimes make me think I'm about to get a dressing-down, though. Charles Gideon Weasley, you stop that this minute! [ he warbles, mimicking his mother's higher tones. ]
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But then I promise I shan't misuse it. I wouldn't want to remind you of your mum.
[ For so many reasons, but.
The noise in the cramped bar has been ebbing and flowing, steadily ticking upwards as the witches and wizards get drunker and louder. One of Luna's colleagues behind them shouts for her attention; a woman named Brunnhilde ducks in close, "Luna, a few of us are going to the gelateria down the street for dessert, coming with?"
Luna peers up at her from her chair, and there's that teetering indecision floating in the moment. She does not look at Charlie, but feels the warmth of his thigh against hers, his arm behind her, and remembers the sound of his voice so close to her ear, and she thinks: I'd like to see where this goes.
"No thank you, I'm catching up with a friend," she says, and it is, in fact, close enough to the truth.
A few of her party pay up their cheques, disperse, and leave. The room thins out a little, but it's still crowded enough that leaning so close to each other is still a good idea. Mostly. ]
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It also probably helps that Charlie's idea of sight-seeing tends to veer towards the 'tramping through the wilderness' end of things and not so much the 'visiting museums and tarted-up tourist attractions' one. ]
I appreciate it, though I don't think you're in too much danger of that.
[ Charlie does pull back a little when one of Luna's friends swoops in to half-shout in her ear, making room for the two of them and accidentally catching the eye of one of his own colleagues in the process. Jiří grins at him, lifting his eyebrows in a way that Charlie knows from experience means he's fighting back an inappropriate comment, and Charlie finds himself scowling at him from across the table, taking advantage of Luna's distraction to make a rude gesture at him with the hand he doesn't have draped behind her shoulders. A burst of laughter, the soft brush of air as Luna's friend leaves, and then it's just the two of them again, and Charlie firmly turns his attention back to the girl sat beside him and studiously ignores the men who came in with him.
Miraculously, no other comments are forthcoming. ]
You sure you don't want ice cream? [ Charlie is happy with his liquor and tapas, but that doesn't mean he needs to monopolize Luna for the whole night, no matter how pleasant it's been so far and how warm and lazy the alcohol is making him feel. Luna's off on her first international trip. She should be out enjoying it with friends. ]
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And besides. I'm stuffed. I'll have to walk off some of this before ice cream. [ She waves a hand at their table. They've done a fairly good job of demolishing the liquor and the family-style plates — and whatever food is left on the table, it looks like Rolf and one of the Romanians are only too pleased to dig into and polish off. Rough hands, hungry work. ]
If you want ice cream, though...
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Truthfully, Charlie could probably eat a lot more, and keep drinking. But he probably shouldn't. ]
I never had much of a sweet tooth... [ Not necessarily true, but true enough for now. He might change his mind if he got to see some baklava out on offer, the honey oozing from each slice, freshly-toasted pistachios poised on the cusp of tumbling off the glistening flakes of pastry.
...Maybe he does have more of a sweet tooth than he realized. ] Wouldn't mind a bit of a walk, though.
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[ And as delicious as the food and the company is, the air in the bar is also getting a little tight and close and warm. She tips her head to glance towards the exit, and just like that, a decision is made. Luna seems to unfold back to her feet like malleable liquid, and then it's the amiable chaos of getting the bill paid: the pair of them digging through pockets and wallets to turn out the magical Grecian currencies, the lepta and foinix, squinting and trying to count them properly in the low light, laying them out for their bartender.
That eventually done, she shrugs into her light jacket, slings the satchel back over her shoulder, and they head outside. There's a brief moment where she confers with one of her colleagues — setting up a way to get in touch later, not exactly a curfew, but still a don't go too far and get eaten by that dragon — and then it's the pair of them spilling outdoors, Luna close on Charlie's heels.
The island air smells like the sea. It's a little chillier now that the sun's set and the wind cutting in off the water, even if it's balmy, so she finds herself burying her hands in her jacket pockets as they saunter along. She breathes deep, a contented sigh. ]
Where are you all staying?
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He and Luna sort through the coins in his palm until they've acquired the correct amount to be passed over, and then he adds in an extra lepta just to be polite, before pocketing the rest and squaring his shoulders to barge his way through the crowd to make for the exit.
At some point, he reaches behind him to reach for Luna's hand, clasping warm fingers around her to make sure she's being towed in his wake and they don't get separated. Once they make it outside, he lets her go, shoving his hands in his pockets and trying not to focus on the lingering warmth in his palm. ]
Oh, we've some tents set up outside the city. [ Hardly the most glamorous of accommodations, but Charlie's happy enough with them. They don't let in the rain or the wind, and they're surprisingly spacious inside; he's slept in worse places. ] What about you lot?
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We're not roughing it quite as you are. There's a bed-and-breakfast run by this formidable Greek witch, and she makes a wonderful breakfast. We must have taken up the last of her rooms so there wasn't any left for your lot, but I suppose you're used to tents. [ A beat, an idle curiosity as to how the rugged dragonologists live: ] Are they bigger on the inside than not, or are they regular tents?
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With Luna at his side, the way he's walking is all he can pay attention to, since the path they're taking isn't particularly wide, and the way Luna has her hands in the pockets of her jacket makes her elbows poke out enough that they brush against him every other step.
He has a bizarre urge to offer her his arm or something equally ridiculous. She's the one of the two of them that has any idea where they're going. ]
Most of them are just regular tents, [ he admits, shrugging with his hands still jammed in the pockets of his jeans. ] Hermione's fixed mine up for me, though, don't tell the others. She's a real gem, that girl. I've told Ron if he ever fucks it up and they split that I'd marry her just to keep her in the family.
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At Charlie's declaration, she snorts a laugh. ]
Only if I don't beat you to it. We have a sacred pact that if she ever had enough of boys and their nonsense, she should ring me up.
[ Is she joking? Maybe. It's hard to tell. The two girls hadn't gotten along at first, back in the day — Hermione's prim, straightlaced love of order versus Luna's affable chaos — but they'd clicked in the end. War and adversity had a way of searing away the surface and boiling everyone down to their essence, and you found out what really mattered. They'd finally understood each other, then. ]