Yours truly ; Charlie Weasley

Twenty-eight

My younger brothers turned eighteen a couple of days ago. We celebrated at home, but Charlie wasn't invited because my family basically hates him now.

I've got no idea what to do for my birthday in about two months. In the past years, I've rented a room big enough to have both my family and the Weasleys. I'm probably gonna do the same thing this year, but my family will just have to put up with Charlie being there.

I had just woken up on a Monday morning, yawning and stretching before I sat up at the same time as the door to the room opened.

"Morning." Charlie said, walking in. His voice was hoarse. More than usual. "How'd you sleep?"

I simply shrugged, my eyes following him as he walked to the window. He pushed the curtains aside, opened the window and then turned around to look at me.

"Why are you dressed?" I frowned, eyeing his outfit. He was wearing a pair of brown trousers with a dark blue jumper. He normally just wore underwear or underwear and some trousers, but he loved being shirtless around the loft.

"I'm about to leave for Romania." He said, making my heart drop as my eyes widened. "Oh, no Angel, not like that. It's just work. I can't take anymore time off."

"Oh, okay." I nodded slowly, running my hands over my tired face as I yawned again.

"I'll be back tonight, yeah?" He duck his head to try and catch my gaze. I forced a smile before I laid back down and pulled the duvet up over my shoulders. "Em, I'm not leaving you."

"I know." I muttered, closing my eyes. "Are you sure you should go, though? Your voice is hoarse. Maybe you're coming down with something."

I heard Charlie approach me, and I opened my eyes when I felt him crouch down next to the bed where my head was.

"You don't have to be nervous." He said softly, bringing a hand up to brush some hair out of my face before he brushed his knuckles over my cheekbone. "I promise you I'm not leaving."

"'M not nervous." I mumbled. Truth was that I was nervous. Of course I was nervous. I would be hard for me to get to a place where I didn't get nervous every time he had to leave for something. I looked at his eyes before I turned around, turning my back to him. "Just go, Charlie. I have to be up in like an hour to open the shop. I'll see you tonight."

With a sigh, he stood up and walked back around the bed to leave the room, through he looked back at me, our eyes meeting. He broke eye contact and then closed the door, letting me go back to sleep until my alarm would go of in an hour.

When my alarm did go off, I let out a loud groan and tried turning it off but instead I accidentally smacked it, hitting both my hand while sending the alarm clock to the floor.

"Fuck!" I cursed as I slowly sat up. I sighed and slowly got out of bed. After I put my alarm clock back, I got dressed in some black trousers, a white shirt that I tucked in, and a white blazer. I brushed through my hair and put it into a lower ponytail. I didn't bother with any makeup today so after getting some breakfast, I went down to open the shop.

I walked around, moving around some books before I went and got the new order to restock them. When I walked back out into the shop, Valencia and Calypso were here.

"Where is he?" Cal asked. "Is he up there right now? Leaned back on the sofa, his feet kicked up while you work? Or maybe he's plotting something to break your heart again."

I sighed, looking at her as I placed my hands on my hips.

"He's in Romania for work." I said. "He'll be home tonight but you're not going to confront him about anything, alright? We're going to figure it out on our own and he's already been punched by his older brother."

"Who? Bill?" Valencia asked, making her way to the back room to hang her coat.

He only has one older brother.

"I did say older, didn't I?" I asked. "Bill is his only older brother."

"Well, I'm very sorry." She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Why're you in such a mood? I thought you were happy that the idiot came back."

"Can you stop?!" I accidentally raised my voice at her which made both of my sisters freeze to look at me. They then exchanged a glance before both going quiet. I never yelled at my sibling— only my younger brothers because they were little assholes, but right now I didn't want to hear my family talk about Charlie in that way.

I get he left and I know better than anyone the damage he did, but I also know he regrets it and want to be better and make it up to me. He can't do it if there're constantly people dragging him and our relationship down.

"I'm sorry." I breathed. Val nodded but didn't say anything. "I'll be in my office. I have some paperwork I need to get finished before the day ends."

I walked through the door to the hallway in the back, and walked down to my office. I closed the door behind me, sighing deeply before I took off my blazer and threw it over my chair. I sat down and leaned back, closing my eyes.

Charlie gave me a real scare this morning when he told me he was leaving, and that made me realise just how fragile I've become. I don't like being fragile — I don't like that I've become an easy target for heartbreak.

Right... paperwork.

I pulled out a drawer of my desk. I first found my glasses, put them on before I pulled out the stack of paperwork that I had to fill out about the shop and company's income. It was the end of the month and I wanted them done today so I didn't have to worry about them anymore.

About an hour into reading through the paperwork while also taking breaks to gather my thoughts and refocus, there was a knock at my door, followed my Valencia showing up.

"Can I come in for a minute?" She asked. "I just want to talk."

I nodded and watched her as she closed the door behind her before taking a seat on the opposite side of my desk.

"Listen— I didn't mean to be disrespectful towards Charlie." She told me. "But I remember being twelve years old and seeing my seventeen-year-old sister falling in love with this cute ginger who was obsessed with dragons. I remember how happy you were and I mean— I kinda grew up around him because you've been together since you were seventeen and he was eighteen. But Em, I also remember seeing your heart break when he left. I remember the first family gathering after he left. We were all home and no one knew he had left so when he was mentioned, you broke into tears and you didn't stop. You were so broken so I'm sorry, but hearing you say you've taken him back so easily after he's returned... I just don't want you to do something you'll regret because he's hurt you once so he can hurt you again."

I ran a few fingers over my lips, looking at her as my brain processed the words she just threw at me.

"Val." I sighed, throwing my head back as I closed my eyes out of pure exhaustion. "I love him."

"I know."

I looked at her again to see her nod.

"And I know he's a good guy, but he made a horrible mistake that costed you a lot." She said. "Just think about it. You need to be sure that giving him a second chance is the right decision."