"You were in Slytherin? You're kidding!"
"What a Gryffindor-like thing to say, Charles"
Far from every Slytherin is a dark wizard or witch.
Some of them use their cunning to get cookies.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Dear mother and father,
Your eldest son might have told me that you miss my presence.
I am happy to inform you that I have been assigned a mission on the Welsh reserve for a week, starting this coming Monday. I will, however, arrive on Sunday afternoon. I am inviting myself and two of my colleagues over for Sunday dinner.
I look forward to seeing you again.
Love,
Your favourite son
It had not been Charlie's idea to invite his coworkers over for Sunday dinner at the Burrow. If he got to decide, he would've traveled to Wales on the day their mission started.
Sunday dinners at the Burrow could scare even the bravest person on the earth from coming back. At least for a non-Weasley. To Charlie, they were great fun since he got to see most of his siblings and their families. Usually, the night ended with a game of quidditch, although that could turn ugly when the competitive spirits awoke. Especially Ginny's.
The last time he brought someone to dinner was also some of his coworkers. Dan, Amelia, and Amarée. It had almost been a year. Amelia and Dan loved his family - but not all at the same time. Poor Dan had been exhausted for a week after while Amelia swore she would never have more than three children.
Amarée was not easily scared though and would praise Molly Weasley's cooking to end of time it seemed because the second they got assigned the mission to Wales he almost pounced on Charlie and begged him to stop by the Burrow just to taste more of Molly's cooking.
Charlie could've said no. He should have said no, but Jessica Arlynn was curious and Amarée began a rant of how divine Charlie's mother was at cooking. Of course Jess would side with Amarée and she made a point to Charlie that he would surely like to visit his family.
He couldn't argue with that, and when Jess flashed her enchanting smile at him he couldn't help but relent, and thus the letter was sent to Molly and Arthur to let them know he would have company.
After the letter was sent off, Charlie began to worry about if someone would notice anything between him and Jess during the dinner. Hopefully, his nephews and nieces would keep him distracted from her. Victorie would be able to show him all those tricks that she had been writing to him about if Bill and his family decided to attend the dinner. He was sure that his mother would make it a thing that everyone attended the upcoming dinner because it was so rare that Charlie stopped by.
And Sunday came earlier than expected.
"Would you stop that?" Charlie asked in annoyance as Amarée started to throw some brooms and protective gear in his direction.
"You're supposed to catch them" The other man responded matter of factly.
"I'm not a target you know", Charlie grumbled and managed to catch a jacket and then put in the small bag that would hold all of their possessions and gear. It was an old tattered rucksack that was always used for missions. It could fit anything so they could transport with ease.
"There you are", Jessica said when she entered the storage unit attached to the main building. She was carrying a rucksack of her own on her back, and an emergency kit in her arms. Charlie opened up the bag in his own hands so that she could place everything there, which she did.
"If you two are done playing, we should probably get to the ministry to get our Portkey".
"It was Amarée who-"
"No one likes a telltale, Charles".
Charlie was shocked. Not because Jess was smiling, because of course, she was. It wasn't even that she had called him Charles or the fact that she had cut him off. It was because of the manner she had cut him off.
She had been standing close enough to put a finger on his lips, which was exactly what she had done.
He could feel the tip of his ears grow warm, as well as his neck and cheeks. She backed away a step, still with the same lovely smile as always, before she turned around and started to walk outside.
Amarée was laughing at Charlie, slapping him on the back before walking after Jess. Charlie touched his own lips where Jess had just touched him a moment ago. First skin to skin contact with her and she had touched his lips? Had she any idea what she had just done?
Charlie cleared his own throat as he attempted to clear his head and he looked around the storage room if there was something they were missing. He closed the old rucksack and slung it over his shoulder before following after his coworkers.
They all apparated into the Romanian ministry as soon as they reached the apparition point.
Jess and Charlie almost fell ontop each other on the landing, making both of them laugh a little.
They went to the transport section of the ministry and registered themselves as usual before gaining access to their designated portkey and before they knew it they were in Britain.
Charlie turned to his colleagues once they had made their way outside the ministry. "I apologise in advance", he said apologetically, referring to his family. He prayed they would not get too intense.
Both Jess and Amarée scoffed. "Don't you worry", the other man said. "We handle dragons for a living - a couple of Weasley's should be fine".
Charlie wished Amarée was right but the second Charlie opened the door to the Burrow a few moments later he knew that his colleague was wrong.
