Entry tags:

fic: taming the weasleys, hermione/percy, lavender/charlie, rating: adult

Taming the Weasleys - 6/11 - Adult - Percy/Hermione, Charlie/Lavender
Title: Taming the Weasleys (6/11)
Author: silvernatasha
Rating: Adult
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Summary: Despite their mother's nagging, Charlie and Percy Weasley are perfectly happy being single and have no intention of settling down and getting married. The women in their lives, however, have other ideas.
Ships: Percy/Hermione, Charlie/Lavender, slight Charlie/Angelina, slight Fred/Angelina.
A/N: Written for midsummerfest and loosely based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. View the dramatis personae here.
Word Count: 2418.

Chapter Six: In Which a Stag and Hen Party is Held

Lavender’s drink was blue. It was lovely and fruity and it was her fourth drink of the evening. No, wait. Fifth. Seventh, if you counted those shots with Parvati earlier. Lavender wasn’t counting those, though.

The fact that she was leaning against the high table next to her had nothing to do with the fact that she was feeling a bit tipsy. Nothing whatsoever. It was, in fact, a very good vantage point from which to watch Charlie Weasley. Speaking of Charlie, Lavender had managed to lose him among the people at the party.

She frowned, a little annoyed with herself. She’d had a particularly good view of his arse and, now her attention had slipped, she’d lost sigh of her.

Lavender nearly jumped when she heard his voice beside her. “How are you doing, kitten?” Charlie flicked her cat’s ears, grinning at her.

“Just fine.” Her heart racing from surprise and having him so close, Lavender smiled, lifting her drink. “How are you?”

“I’m very well, thanks. It feels a bit strange to be at my brother’s stag night. Percy’s anyway. I never thought he’d get married.”

“Joint stag and hen party,” Lavender pointed out. She couldn’t quite understand why they’d opted for a joint party, although Parvati had suggested earlier that they probably just wanted to get it all over and done with - Percy and Hermione weren’t exactly party people.

It was a little disappointing, though - there was a distinct lack of strippers. A bit of naked male flesh would go down a treat right about now.

Then again, several of the female guests were very little clothing, so at least the men were entertained. Lavender cast a sly look at Charlie’s torso, remembering what was underneath. She closed her eyes for a moment. Yes, that image could keep her entertained.

“Next thing you know, I’ll be settling down,” Charlie continued.

“Your mum would probably have a heart attack.”

Charlie grinned. “If she had a heart attack, at least I’d know what to do now.” He nudged her with his elbow. “Thanks to you, kitten.” Truth be told, Charlie was quite taken with the ears she was wearing. All the women seemed to be wearing them and he had a feeling that it was something to do with Ginny, who had helped organise the party. “Are you okay?” he asked when she didn’t respond.

“I’m absolutely fine.” She frowned slightly. “I think I might head off in a minute. I’ve got to go to work in the morning.” Lavender scowled. “They put me on the early shift.”

“Aw, poor kitten.” Lavender rolled her eyes slightly when Charlie called her this, but secretly she was rather pleased. It made her feel all warm and cuddly inside.

Or maybe that was the drink.

“Tell you what, why don’t you come back to my new place for a coffee or something?”

Lavender’s eyes widened. Coffee? At Charlie’s new flat? Oh my. That was a little unexpected. Not unwelcome, but definitely unexpected. Did that mean she was going to get a bit of naked male flesh after all?

“Are you sure?” Lavender tucked her hair behind her ear, teetering slightly on her heels and having to grasp the table in a bid to stay upright. She blushed, feeling horrible embarrassed.

Charlie shrugged. “Sure, why not? I like showing off my new place and, you know, you don’t have to feel awkward - Angelina’s coming, too.”

“Oh. Right. Sure.” Inwardly Lavender cringed. Angelina was coming, too? That didn’t sound at all romantic. Unless… oh, god, Charlie wasn’t into threesomes, was he? Because Lavender didn’t do girls. She could definitely appreciate the female form, but she didn’t really want to appreciate it in that way.

Almost on cue, Angelina appeared, practically wrapping her lithe form around Charlie. Her cat ears perched high on her head, Angelina wore a black corset that showed off some very impressive cleavage, and a tiny skirt that made Lavender feel fat and dumpy; she wore a flippy knee-length dress, hoping to aim for more of a mature and sophisticated look.

“Are we off, then?” Angelina asked in what was almost a purr, completely ignoring Lavender. Parvati had told Lavender that, from her observations, Charlie didn’t seem to like the obvious in-your-face flirting that Angelina seemed to do, and she appeared to be right. Clearly, Parvati had found a vocation in her advice column as she was a dab-hand at reading people.

“Katie’s being chased by Oliver, so I’m definitely free for the rest of the night.” Angelina smiled wickedly at Charlie as a loud cry of, “Kiss me, Kate!” could be heard by the bar. Apparently, Oliver Wood wasn’t particularly good at holding his drink. Or seducing women. Perhaps the two were connected.

“Yup. Kitten’s going to come along as well, aren’t you?” Charlie beamed at Lavender, who blushed.

Angelina’s warm brown eyes couldn’t mask the icy look that she cast at Lavender; Charlie was completely oblivious to this, but Lavender caught it. Lavender watched with a little horror as Angelina’s hand wrapped possessively around Charlie’s (muscular) forearm. Her nails were a brilliant scarlet. Lavender felt slightly ashamed of her own nails, which she was obliged to keep short for work.

She noted, however, that they were quite clearly false, which was something of a reassurance. All glitz and glamour, no real substance. Angelina’s contemptuous look, though, was anything but fake.

Charlie held out his arm to Lavender, still unaware of the annoyance that was radiating from Angelina. Lavender smiled and took it, trying to cast a glare of her own at Angelina.

“A lovely lady on each arm,” Charlie remarked. “Aren’t I the lucky one?”

---

“This party is completely ridiculous.” Despite the fact she was on her third drink, Hermione wasn’t enjoying the hen and stag party any more than she had been when she first arrived. Still, she was determined to see this through, even though Percy was doing his best to aggravate her.

Percy smiled at her, looking far too amused for Hermione’s liking. “Oh, come on, sweetheart. At least pretend you’re having a good time.” He leant in close to her. “They all think we’re madly in love. We really shouldn’t get into a fight, otherwise people’ll start to doubt it. And we can’t be having that, can we?”

He sipped his drink, managing to smirk at the same time. “The unromantic among them might start thinking that you’re only marrying me for my money.”

Hermione’s eyes widened and her fingers tightened around her glass. “Percy! How did you…” She glared at him, not quite sure that she could find the words to chastise him for saying that, especially as there was more than a grain of truth in it. Had Ron said something to him? Even if he had, Ron didn’t know the full story and he certainly didn’t know everything that was going on in Hermione’s head. Ha! He’d never known what was going on inside her head. The very idea of it almost made Hermione laugh. Almost.

Deciding that this was neither the time nor the place to have this conversation, Hermione set her drink down rather forcefully and turned on her heel. Percy wasn’t going to let it go that easily and grabbed her arm, pulling her back to him.

“Oh, come off it, sugarplum.” Hermione had worked out immediately that these saccharine nicknames were not meant with the best of intentions. “Let’s talk about this, shall we? You can’t very well storm out of your own party.”

Taking a couple of seconds to compose herself and squash the instinct that was telling her to grab her wand and hex him, Hermione exhaled slowly. “We’re not going to talk about this,” she told him in a low, menacing tone. “Not now. And, as you just pointed out, this is my party. Therefore, I can do what I want. Right now, I would like to leave. Would you kindly release my arm?”

Arching his eyebrow, Percy relinquished his grip without a word.

With a final glare for good measure, Hermione left.

---

Charlie waved his arms about, beaming. “And this is it. My bachelor pad.”

Angelina commented, “Oh, it’s lovely Charlie.”

At this remark, Lavender raised her eyebrows. There were boxes piled everywhere. A couple had been unpacked already, various bits and pieces stacked on the floor in haphazard piles that looked as though they could fall over at any moment. A large pile of clothes was draped over the back of a chair, apparently not having made it into Charlie’s wardrobe. This was unsurprising as his wardrobe was currently lying on its side in the corner of the living room.

Charlie gave Angelina a bemused look. “Have you gone blind or something, Ange? It’s a fucking mess.” Lavender tried not to giggle. “Mum’s coming around to help me sort this lot out at the weekend - she’s good for some things,” Charlie added with a grin. He raked a hand through his hair, then indicated towards the sofa. “Take a seat; don’t worry about having to move things.”

“I meant it’s going to look lovely when it’s all sorted. I can see the potential,” Angelina said, blushing before taking a rather relaxed seat on the sofa.

Lavender hid her grin behind her hand. She had to tell Parvati about this.

“Can I get either of you a drink?” Charlie asked. “I think I’ve got orange juice or tea or coffee or… water.” He shrugged apologetically. “Haven’t really had much chance to do any shopping yet. I’m sure I’ve got a couple of bottles of wine around somewhere, but they’re in the boxes and, well…”

“Oh, that’s alright, Charlie,” Angelina said with a smile. “Orange will be fine.”

Charlie nodded, turning to Lavender and tweaking one of her cat’s ears. “And you, my kitten?”

Lavender blushed. “Coffee would be lovely. Help me clear my head a bit.”

“Sounds good,” Charlie agreed. “Think I might have a cup myself. Sugar?”

She shook her head. “No, thank you.”

He grinned at her. “That’s because you’re sweet enough already, right?” He glanced at Angelina, and said, “Right. I’ll be back in a minute. You two make yourselves comfortable.”

Angelina narrowed her eyes as she watched the exchange between Charlie and Lavender. In all the time she had known Charlie he had never flirted with her. For the most part he even seemed oblivious to her flirting. He would respond to her, no doubt, but he never gave her that sort of look. And there was Lavender, not even flirting back, just blushing and looking coy.

She wondered if she should try that tactic. It wasn’t really her style, though.

As Lavender sat down, smoothing down her skirt, Angelina watched her closely. “I’m not quite sure what to make of you,” she said finally, when Charlie was out of earshot in the kitchen.

Lavender looked confused and Angelina resisted the urge to curl her lip. That sweet and innocent look wasn’t going to work on her. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“What’s going on with you and Charlie?”

“Nothing.” Lavender shrugged. “I like to think that we’ve become friends.” Of course, I still want to shag him, but it’s become a lot more emotionally complicated than that and I’m not entirely sure what these feelings are, but I’m not about to tell you, Miss Dragon Keeper with your false nails and flawless skin. Lavender’s train of thought was making her a little dizzy.

Angelina pursed her lips. That wasn’t a very suitable answer. How could any woman be around Charlie Weasley and not fall for him? Was that even possible? “Not quite sure I believe you,” she said softly, her tone slightly menacing. Lavender swallowed nervously and Angelina smiled, pleased to see the other witch squirming a little under her gaze. “I’m going to go and help Charlie with the drinks,” she announced, standing up and stalking out to the kitchen, her high heels clicking on the floorboards.

Leaning against the worktop, Angelina beamed at Charlie, pushing her shoulders back and her chest out so that Charlie could get the best impact of her cleavage. “Anything I can help you with, Char?”

He raised his eyebrows. “I think I can manage to make coffee.” Having set the kettle going, he cast a quick Cleaning Charm on two mugs.

“I was thinking,” Angelina said slowly, licking her lips. “Maybe we could go for a drink sometime? You know, one day after work?”

Charlie nodded. “Yeah, that sounds great. We could invite the others from the reserve, too. Get to know each other a little better.”

Angelina frowned. “That wasn’t exactly what I meant.”

“It wasn’t?” Charlie’s brow furrowed, trying to work out what she could have meant. Was she on about a date or something? She wasn’t interested in him like that, was she? He was her boss! Charlie couldn’t quite get his head around the idea.

He reached up onto the shelf where he had stacked all his glasses and mugs to get a glass for Angelina’s juice, but she reached up, too, saying, “Here, let me help.” They succeeded in knocking several of the glasses off the shelf and they shattered on the work surface, a large shard bouncing back up to cut Charlie’s hand. He hissed, recoiling and nursing his hand against his chest.

“Oh, fuck, I’m sorry, Charlie,” Angelina said hurriedly, reaching for her wand. “Don’t worry about the mess. I’ll clear it up. And buy you some new glasses or something.”

“Is everything alright in here?” At the sound of the crash, Lavender had come to the kitchen to investigate. She stood in the doorway open-mouthed at the sight of the glass all over the place. “Oh.” Her eyes widened as she looked at Charlie. “Charlie, you’re bleeding.”

She crossed quickly to him, pulling his hand away from his chest in an authoritative manner that only a mother or medical professional could get away with using. “It’s not very deep,” she assured him, already drawing her wand out. “This might sting a bit,” Lavender warned him before drawing the tip of her wand along the cut.

Charlie pulled a face as she healed his cut and then smiled gratefully. “I think I’m going to have to keep you around if I keep hurting myself like this.”

With a scowl, Angelina Banished the broken glass to the sink. This evening wasn’t going as she had planned. Not at all.