Just Like Home | Charlie Weasley

Chapter 39

A/N: Buckle in, guys, cos this chapter is over twice as long as my usual ones! (You'll soon see why I got carried away).

Mature content.

Later that evening, after Charlie had been to check on the Opaleye eggs with Eleanor in tow, he suggested that they head into the small wizarding town a few miles away to grab something for dinner. With the sun now slipping away behind the mountain, taking the light of the day with it, the temperature had dropped significantly. Before they could step out of the door of Charlie's cabin, he ensured that he slipped one of his own coats on top of the one that Eleanor was already wearing along with casting a warming charm on the scarf that she was wrapped up in. Eleanor understood his reasons for this when she was greeted with the bitterly cold air like a slap in the face, her body still shivering beneath the thick layers Charlie had bundled her up in.

With the daylight now having fully disappeared, Eleanor gazed around in wonder as the living quarters of the sanctuary was lit up by dozens of warm lights; many of those coming from the windows of the many cabins but also from the strings of lights that were wrapped around the trees. Each one looked like a tiny firefly and Eleanor adored the warm, fuzzy feeling of 'home' she got from a place that, until today, was completely unknown to her.

"Are you ready, El?" she heard Charlie ask from beside her. He took hold of her hand, his wand poised and ready in his other, as he raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

"Hm?" she answered wistfully, her attention moving from the beauty of the lights to the wonder of Charlie's face.

He let out a small chuckle and squeezed her hand gently. "I'm about to apparate, love, I don't want you to throw up on me if I apparate us without you being ready."

"Hey! I don't throw up..." she protested. "I just... Get a bit queasy."

Charlie shook his head in amusement and tightened his grip on her hand to let her know he was about to apparate them. In return, she gripped onto his arm with her free hand and squeezed her eyes shut in preparation. All too soon, her stomach felt like it was being tugged out of her belly button and her limbs were both simultaneously heavy and light as a feather, all of it coming to an abrupt stop when they landed on the pavement of a quiet street.

"Queasy?" Charlie teased, peering at Eleanor's face where she was slowly blinking her eyes open.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're terrible at that?" she laughed.

Charlie, who had failed his apparation test the first time around, pushed his tongue against the inside of his cheek as he stifled a laugh. "The examiner who failed me might say something similar, yeah."

At this, Eleanor turned her head to look at him as they started walking, narrowing her eyes  suspiciously. "You... Have a license, right?" she asked carefully.

Charlie threw his head back and laughed, the sweet sound of it echoing slightly in the empty street. "Now I do, yeah."

"Charlie, that's not very reassuring," Eleanor giggled.
His heart soared at the way she said his name. It has never sounded quite so sweet as it did when it rolled off her tongue. He only wished that he could save the sound to hear whenever he pleased.

"I failed my test the first time," he admitted sheepishly, smiling all the same as Eleanor nestled herself into his side and linked her arm through his.

"Did you?!" she gasped as though it was the best thing she'd ever heard. "What happened? Did you splinch yourself?".

"Not exactly...".

"Oh come on, now you have to tell me!".

With a dramatic sigh, Charlie pushed his hands into his pockets and relented. "I may have ended up landing on top of a poor old lady who was doing her shopping...".