✔𝚨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞 ➳ 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐲

Chapter 7: A Lovely Afternoon

Mrs Weasley the first to go to bed, she had been up early; working the garden, feeding the chickens, making breakfast and doing the laundry, so understandably she was the first to leave. 

Mr Weasley joined her right after, he spent a few minutes making sure none of them would misbehave before with tired steps following his wife.

Next were the couples; Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione. George usually had morning shifts in the shop so after a few hours, he went to bed as well, leaving Charlie and Rae down in the living room alone. 

When Ron had left, Rae had gotten her book and notes back out, once again replaying a game to herself while Charlie was sketching something in his sketchbook. The piano had been charmed to play a soft tune, Franz Gordon if Rae wasn't mistaken. 

"Did she ever teach you?" Charlie asked after a while, looking towards the piano as the keys pressed down by themselves. 

"No, I wasn't allowed to touch it at all," Rae muttered, her hands folded thoughtfully below her chin as she tried to come up with another move for her opponent. 

"You played in Romania," He questioned again, his eyebrows furrowed but she couldn't see that. 

"She didn't teach me," Rae sighed, knowing very well that Charlie would simply keep asking until he got a response that satisfied him. 

"Mom and dad used to play before he left, only thing I can remember and she didn't allow me near our piano because of it, but that doesn't mean I didn't play whenever she was out," Rae looked up at him with a smile, standing up from her place on the floor and gliding towards the piano. 

"She caught me once, told me I was a horrible player and that I'd scare her flowers back into the ground," Not a smile was on Rae's face as she spoke. 

"You still can't remember him?" 

"Nope, just a blurry figure, but I was barely 3 when he left," Her fingers graced the keys, she was never very good at it but it's hard without a teacher. 

"Look," Charlie said, now reaching out his sketchbook to her. He had drawn her, wrinkled clothes, messy bun and everything. 

"You've gotten better," She smiled. 

"So have you, the games against Ron were fun to watch... Are you doing alright?" He asked while she began clearing the small table of cups. 

"Yeah, I think so, you?" Charlie picked up a few cups as well, putting the sketchbook on the table as he followed her to the kitchen. 

"The first batch of younglings just left the nest, already three years old," Charlie chuckled, caressing one of the burns on his hand. 

"The Swedish Short-snouts?" 

"Yup, Thunder and Lightning missed you so terribly!" He laughed, both of them trying to keep their voices down so everyone upstairs could continue sleeping or their other activities. 

"I still can't believe those names stuck," Rae shook her head, washing the cups while Charlie wiped off the table with a wet dishcloth. 

"They worked so well with your old name though!" 

"I said it as a drunk joke; Rain, Thunder and Lightning," She missed Romania at times, it was a nice quiet place, and sure, her shop wasn't the most active place but it was a shop in Diagon Alley nonetheless. 

"Want to hit the hay?" Charlie asked when they were back in the living room, having fluffed the pillows on the sofa and Rae had cleaned up the chessboard. 

"Yeah, should I just sleep in Percy's room?" Rae asked while using the counterspell on the piano that Mrs Weasley had informed her of. 

"Nah, you can just stay in my room, Bill's bed is empty anyway," He smiled, motioning for her to follow him up the stairs which she happily did.