She lets out a loud “huff” as she picks up a box of Christmas decorations from the attic of the Burrow and heads downstairs. She’s spending the holiday with the Weasley’s, as she always does, and her role was helping Ginny and the twins put up all the decorations
She and Ginny were tackling the Christmas tree while George and Fred hung the garland, lights and other decorations around the house. Hermione smiled to herself as she stepped off the final stair and the scent of hot chocolate filters in from the kitchen.
“I found the last box of ornaments but I couldn’t find the garland,” Hermione said as she walked into the living room. “I think we might have left it at the joke shop when we decorated over there.”
“Oh, yeah I think I know where it is. There’s some mistletoe at the shop I’ll grab, add a little entertainment to the holiday! Who knows who’ll get stuck under there this year,” Fred smirked.
“I’m not kissing you again Fred, even under the excuse of mistletoe,” Hermione said as she unpacked the homemade ornaments.
“Ouch, love, hurt my feelings! I quite enjoyed our little snog!”
Hermione threw a roll of ribbon at him, laughing, as he ducked into the fireplace and called out Weasley Wizard Wheezes. Ginny laughed and picked up the ribbon and handing them to George to wrap around the railing on the stairs.
George quietly stopped Ginny before she walked back to the tree.
“We finished the mistletoe last week,” George whispered. “Fred’s going to grab it while he's in the shop. All the charms are in place and activated. Percy gave it a once over yesterday to double check some of the more complicated charms.”
“Perfect,” Ginny smirked. “I don’t think I could go through another holiday watching Charlie and Hermione pin after each other again.”
George nodded in agreement, gathered the decorations and headed towards the stairs. As Ginny returned to the tree, Hermione held up two ornaments in her direction, silently asking which color theme they were going with for this year's tree. Ginny pointed to the red and gold before reaching into the box to pull out more decorations.
Hermione reached over and grabbed her wand from the couch side table. With a flick of her wand, Dean Martin’s voice floated from the horn of the charmed gramophone and filled the room as the two Gryffindor’s floated ornaments from the box onto the tree.
The pair worked in harmony, one they had perfected over the years down to the way they sung along to a selection of Christmas classics.
“The neighbors might think,” Ginny hummed, bumping her shoulder against Hermione’s.
“Baby, it's bad out there,” Hermione softly chimed in.
“Say, what's in this drink?”
“No cabs to be had out there.”
“Your eyes are like starlight now,” a deep voice interrupted, as he wrapped his arm around the curly haired witch and spun her around to face him. Hermione’s face flushed a light shade of pink as she looked up and made eye contact with Charlie Weasley.
Charlie carried on with the song lyrics as he held Hermione’s hand in his and spun her around the living room as Ginny watched with a smirk on her face. Half way through the second verse, Charlie dramatically dipped Hermione, placed a soft kiss on her temple before letting go and reaching out for his sister.
The siblings danced around the room, swinging each other as they carried on with the lyrics loudly. Hermione hummed along as she hung ornaments, stealing glances at the dragon caregiver and causing the butterflies in her stomach to erupt again each time they caught each other's eyes.
As the song came to a close, the Floo roared to life as Fred stepped through with an arm full of garland and stashed in there somewhere, a small little charmed mistletoe. Ginny stepped out of the room to help Fred, leaving Hermione in the living room with Charlie.
She hung the last ornament, a little homemade lion sporting a Santa’s hat that Hermione was pretty sure Ron had made as a child.
“Charlie,” Hermione called. “Would you mind helping me put the star on the top? I never can quite reach it.”
“Of course, love,” Charlie said, placing one hand on her lower back and reaching for the star with his other. “Whatever you need, I’m here.” Her face flushes, face dropping down to hide the blush and avoid making eye contact. Once the star is placed solidly on top of the tree, Hermione slowly moved from her spot beside Charlie and sat on the couch, admiring the work she and Ginny put into the tree.
Unbeknownst to her and the second oldest Weasley, Fred, George and Ginny were kicking their plan into action.
–
“Everyone to the kitchen - dinner is ready,” Molly hollered throughout the house, a joyous chuckling followed by a sigh escaped her lips as she heard the hustle and bustle of all her children - spouses included - make their way to the dining table.
Arthur took his seat at the head of the table with Molly to his right, passing around bowls and pans of food as everyone sat down. For regular Sunday meals, the family sat in the same spots each week, but for the holidays, the seating arrangements changed with the addition of the rest of the family.
Gradually, over the years, Hermione and Charlie’s seats at the table moved closer and closer. First, they sat across the table and a few chairs down from one another. Then, he sat across from her, gazing at her with growing love in his eyes, eyes that dilated and cheeks flushing every time she laughed.
Finally, Charlie took a huge leap for himself and moved to sit directly next to her. Ginny threw her fits in the air in celebration when she walked into the kitchen behind them that year. This year, the three mischievous Weasley siblings sat at the table with smirks dressed across their faces.
No matter how nonchalant Charlie - or Hermione for that matter - thought he was being, Ginny always saw the longing in their eyes and kept track of every movement between the two, relaying all the juicy details to the twins when they weren’t around.
Now, Ginny was biting her cheek to keep from squealing, she could feel the vibration through the floor from Fred’s antsy, bouncing knee.
George would be giving his older brother a pat on the back later after what happened next.
As Ron and Harry animatedly told the table a story about the recently rogue niffler they were sent out to catch, Ron threw his hands up.
“The bloody thing snatched my wand out of the holster before I could even reach for it!”
Hermione leaned forward as she laughed, adding in her own comment about being called in to the scene as a representative of the Care of Magical Creatures department after the niffler took Harry’s wand too.
“You should have seen their faces,” Hermione exclaimed. “They were running around this house, faces bright red, chasing after the animal as they yelled at each other for being stupid enough to lose their wand to a niffler!”
As she sat back in her chair, Charlie stretched his arm behind her head and onto the back of the chair, his fingers brushing her shoulders and winding one into a loose curl.
George barely cast a silencing charm on Ginny before she let out a squeal.
–
“Mum,” Charlie mumbled, placing a kiss on his mother’s head and taking the plate from her hand. “Go relax in the sitting room with Dad. Let us clean up for you since you cooked.”
“I helped cook so I’m also going to the sitting room,” Percy interjected, walking out of the dinner room.
Molly gave her son’s check a soft pat and she smiled up at him, then wiping her hands on her apron before removing it. The rest of the Weasley siblings slowly started sneaking out the room along with Harry. Before they realized, Hermione was the only other one left at the table. The thought of having a few minutes alone with Charlie, even if it was spent cleaning all the dishes, filled her with a mix of nerves and excitement.
“I’ll help,” she heard herself say. Standing up and reaching for the plates around the table, she’s thankful the Weasley’s have become haphazard with their wands and household chores since the war ended. It was rare to use magic to clean the kitchen or even make dinner nowadays. They weren’t using less magic, but with no threats on their lives, they just didn’t keep wands on them like they used to.
Hermione had sat her’s back down on the side table next to the couch after they finished the tree and she most likely wouldn't pick it up until after the holidays. The few spells she’d used while at The Burrow were ones she’s mastered wandless and wordlessly years prior.
Cleaning up the muggle way meant she’d got to spend the next 30 minutes alone with Charlie.
The shuffling of plates pulled her from her thoughts and she looked across the table, making eye contact with the curly headed ginger.
“You never told me how that last piece of legislation you were working on with Malfoy turned out,” Charlie commented.
“It passed,” Hermione said, a smile on her lips and matching one growing on his. “We took it to the Wizengamot last week and it was a unanimous yes, thank Merlin. Draco nearly ripped it apart four times to make sure there were no loose ends or lops holes they could point out. I nearly hexed him twice.”
Charlie laughed, picturing the two of them yelling at each other in her office, hair growing bigger with frustration and dripping in magic. Merlin, he’d give anything to see her like that, to see her look that beautiful.
“I knew you could do it, Hermione. I’m so proud of you, although I would have loved to see you hex Malfoy.”
The two continued to move about the room, picking up plates, bowls and silverware and placing them in the sink. Once the table was clear, Charlie handed Hermione a towel, flicking on the faucet to fill the sink and dropping some soap in.
“I’ll wash, you dry?”
“I like the way you think,” Hermione chuckled.
Conversation flowed naturally as they cleaned up, updating each other on everything that has happened in their individual lives since their last letter exchange last week. The two had started exchanging near weekly letters several years back when Hermione was sent out to collect a dragon egg someone had around near Cornwall. She’d reached out to Charlie immediately,not knowing the best way to transport something so delicate.
That’s when Hermione realized how much she enjoyed his company, but fears making a move or letting her feelings known, especially after the mess of her breakup with Ron just a year after the final battle. Molly had been crushed and Hermione kept her distance from the family for several months until things calmed down.
Luckily, Molly and the family welcomed her back with open arms but she couldn’t risk it happening again.
No matter how badly she wanted a future with Charlie, no matter how many signs she thought Charlie was sending that he felt the same way, she couldn’t lose the only family she has if things went south.
And he did feel the same, but he knew she wasn’t ready or was too afraid. So he let it be and just hoped for a day where he could spill his heart to her. Until that day, he took what she would give him - weekly letters, hugs and forehead kisses when they were both in town, longing looks across the room.
Though neither thought others caught on to the energy that flowed between them, at least three Weasleys had caught on.
And things were about to change drastically for Hermione and Charlie, the twins were going to make sure of that.
–
As the last bowl was placed on the shelf, Hermione turned and wiped her hands on her pant legs. Charlie ran a hand through his shaggy hair, leaning his hip against the counter and crossed his arms.
She looked over and smiled up at him. “Well Mr. Dragon Trainer, shall we go join game night?”
“Lead the way, Ms. Golden Girl,” Charlie said, motioning his arm in the direction of the sitting room where the laughs of the other Weasleys carried out from. Charlie placed his hand on the small of her back as she stepped around him towards the door.
As they stepped through the doorway, Ginny, Fred and Georged plan kicked into gear.
Suddenly, Hermione’s feet were glued to the ground, nearly falling forward from the momentum. Charlie stepped forward to pull her back and found his feet stuck in place as well. Chiming and bells went off above them, causing the three mischievous siblings to jump up from their game and race down to the doorway, hollering in excitement.
The couple looked up and saw the corporate of their situation; a charmed mistletoe.
It had taken Fred, George and Ginny, with occasional help from Percy, months to perfect the charms used in their scheme. With a modified sticking charm, the holiday plant traps the couple under the plant until they share a true, meaningful kiss. Percy had modified some common marital and soul binding spells and intertwined them with a modified magical core tracing charm to ensure the mistletoe would only react to Hermione and his brother.
Hermione’s eyes shot daggers at Ginny, who chuckled with a smirk on her face, before fear and embarrassment started to creep up her spine.
She couldn’t kiss Charlie, it could ruin everything. She used all her effort to try and move her feet, to get away from this mistletoe and from Charlie. She wrapped her hands around her thigh and pulled, and pulled and pulled.
She was completely, unequivocally stuck.
Slowly she looked up at Charlie, a nervous smile on her lips, but he looked calm - almost happy and relieved.
“Sorry love,” Fred interrupted her thoughts. He leaned back against the wall, throwing his arm around George’s shoulder, shaking him slightly and patting his shoulder. “It’s charmed. The only way to get out from under it is to have a proper snog. You can thank George for that little detail.”
Charlie chuckled, a deep throaty chuckle that shook his shoulders and sent shivers through Hermione before catching her completely off guard. He looped his arm around her waist and pulled her as close to his chest as possible considering their feet couldn't move, his hand resting just above her arse. A rough, callused hand pushed the curls from the side of her face, his thumb moving gently over her check.
“What do you say, Golden Girl,’ Charlie whispered, leaning in. “Why don’t we give the mistletoe what it wants?”
Nodding her head, her eyes fluttered closed.
When their lips touched, glowing cords illuminated the room, filling it with gold light as they twisted, braided and were woven around the witch and wizard. Charlie deepened the kiss, sneaking in his tongue when Hermione gasped at the magic surrounding them.
A magic so deep and powerful it nearly made her knees go out from under her. She fisted his shirt to rebalance, pulling him even closer, sloting her right knee between his legs and stepping up on her toes. Charlie’s hands drifted from her back and cheek into the hair on the nape of her neck.
The cord around them grew so bright that the three siblings had to cover their eyes. As they started to dim, Ginny watched the cords concentrated between Charlie and Hermione’s chests, the magic ebbing and flowing before snapping into one solid cord and flashing red before dimming and lingering between them as they pulled away
Charlie felt lightheaded, Hermione felt out of breath as they pulled away.
“Woah,” all five of them whispered.
Percy and the rest of the family walked in, confused on what was going on and where the bright light came from. Percy’s eye’s shot to the fading cord and then to Ginny.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
“It worked,” George sputtered. “It actually worked! They kissed!”
Ginny slapped George in the chest before turning to Percy. “There were these magical cords that appeared as soon as they kissed. Circled around them before turning into one cord connecting their chests.”
“Merlin,” Percy whispered, running a hand over his face.
“Was… Did what I think happened, just happen?”
Hermione looked between the two of them, eyes flashing over to Arthur briefly for any indication on whatever the hell was going on. She looked up at Charlie, who had pulled her back against his chest and looked just as confused as she was.
Magical glowing cords.
Charmed mistletoe.
Sharing a kiss.
It all clicked together in her mind before anyone had time to answer Ginny’s question.
“Holy shite,” Hermione blurted. She locked eyes with Percy, asking the question silently. The nod he gave confirmed her suspicion. She turned in Charlie’s arms to face him directly, nervous but for some reason excited to tell him.
“The charmed mistletoe… We’re soul bonded.”