Entry tags:

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

Taming the Weasleys - 11/11 - Adult - Percy/Hermione, Charlie/Lavender
Title: Taming the Weasleys (11/11)
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: 2549.

Chapter Eleven: In Which It All Ends with a Kiss

Molly Weasley was having difficulty restraining her temper as she poured boiling water into the kettle. How Arthur could remain so blasé and just sit at the kitchen reading the paper was beyond her. Even Ron was looking as nervous as Lavender’s father, who was sitting across from Arthur.

“Sugar?” she asked him, trying to keep the terse tone out of her voice.

“Er, just the one, thanks.” Lavender’s father shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat. He swallowed. “So, I take it you got a postcard as well?”

Arthur nodded. “Yes. I wonder what this surprise they’ve got for us is.”

Shoving his mug of tea down in front of him, Molly gave her husband a hard look. “What do you think it is, Arthur?” She sat down at the table with a sigh. “They’ve been gone for four days and the only thing we get is a… postcard!”

Lavender and Charlie had sent postcards to their parents, simply saying that they were coming home and had a surprise for them. Molly had been absolutely livid at receiving this and, by all accounts, had been unable to form a coherent sentence for over half an hour.

“It’s alright, Mum,” Ron said after a moment. “ It’s not like he’s the first one to run off like this. Fred did it, remember?”

“But that was different! That was during the war. I just can’t understand why Charlie would want to do this! Why wouldn’t he want his family there?”

Ron frowned. “Speaking of family, isn’t Percy due back today?”

“Trust me when I say she knows,” Arthur murmured, half to himself and half to Ron. He folded up his paper and set it down on the table, looking at his wife. “Maybe we should be looking at the positive aspect of all this.”

Molly’s gaze was cool as she stared at her husband. “And what, pray tell, would that be, Arthur?”

He took a sip of his tea. “Percy’s married and Charlie probably is. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

For a moment, Molly gaped at him and Ron’s expression looked as though he was caught between shock and trying his hardest not to laugh. “That, Arthur, is beside the point,” she snapped back.

Looking a little bemused, Arthur asked, “And what is the point?” He took another swig of tea. “I would have thought that the most important thing was that our sons are happy. And I can only hope that they are.”

Molly fixed a steady gaze on her husband. Her nostrils flared and Ron was a little wary that she would explode into a Howler-worthy rant. Instead, she calmly excused herself and left the kitchen.

Arthur glanced at Lavender’s father. “Do you have this sort of trouble at home?”

Looking a little sheepish, he shook his head. “Actually, no. My wife, she… she… it’s just me.”

Ron cleared his throat and stood up. “I think that I’ll go and see where Mum’s gone. Might have to sacrifice myself and remind her that I’m still single.”

*****

“You’re going to have to get out of bed eventually,” Hermione remarked closing her trunk.

Percy rolled over, propping himself up on his elbow so that he could look at his wife. “I think that I might just stay here as long as possible,” he retorted. “It’s nice and warm.” He pushed back the covers, raising his eyebrows. “You’re more than welcome to join me.”

Hermione perched on the edge of the bed, reaching over to stroke his hair. Percy’s hair could certainly rival hers for wildness in the morning and she smiled softly as her fingers moved down his cheek. “You need to pack at some point.”

He wrinkled his nose; it was looking even more freckled than normal after he’d spent time out in the sun. “If I really wanted to, I could leave everything here and just buy new stuff when we get home. Can afford that, you know.”

“I know you can,” Hermione agreed quietly, nodding. “But you’d never do that.”

“No, I wouldn’t.” Percy yawned, reaching for his glasses and slipping them on. He blinked at Hermione. “I’ll pack later.” His arm went around Hermione’s waist, pulling her down to lie beside him. “Just want to make this last a little longer before we have to go back to reality.”

Hermione laughed. “You wouldn’t have been saying that two weeks ago.”

“No. Two weeks ago I was hoping that this honeymoon would be over as soon as possible.” Percy pressed a kiss to the side of Hermione’s neck.

Something had happened to their relationship. Neither of them could quite work out what it was, or when it had happened, but, after trying a tentative friendship, it had quickly blossomed. Both would vehemently deny that love had anything to do with it, although lust had made a contribution. Love would take time and, now that they were married, they could take all time in the world.

Hermione was definitely expecting people to be surprised when they returned to England, but she was surprisingly happy with the way things had turned out. The issue of the Daily Prophet and her possible inheritance was a subject that they had managed to avoid and Hermione was not going to broach it for a while. It wasn’t urgent that the matter was resolved. Not yet, anyway.

“I’m hungry,” she murmured after enjoying his embrace for a few moments.

“That means you’re going to get up.”

Hermione frowned. “I could always stay here and you could go and make me breakfast,” she teased, twisting to face him.

He gave a disparaging snort. “That doesn’t seem very likely.”

“It was worth a try.” A smile played on Hermione’s lips and she gently brushed her fingers over his cheek. “We’re starting to sound like a proper married couple.”

“We are a married couple.” He paused. “To have and to hold. For better and for worse.”

“That sounds about right,” Hermione agreed with a nod. Her stomach gave a grumble and she grimaced. “I told you I was hungry. Maybe… I can go and get some food and bring it back to bed.”

Percy smiled. “Excellent. It’s good to know I married a woman with brains,” he teased.

*****

Ron had just finished the Daily Prophet crossword when the fireplace started to flare up. He wasn’t sure that all his answers were right, but the seemed to fit. He glanced over at Arthur and Lavender’s father to see if they had noticed, but they were engrossed in a conversation about gardening.

He folded up the paper and called, “Mum! I think we’ve got visitors.”

Immediately, his nephew barrelled into the kitchen at top speed. “Come and play, Uncle Ron.” He held up the Quaffle that he was holding, his eyes shining with excitement.

“Not right now,” Ron told him gently as Molly scurried back into the kitchen. Ron frowned slightly, a little bemused to see that she had apparently put on make-up and changed into neater robes. Who exactly was she expecting? Percy or Charlie? Even after working for a women’s magazine, Ron was no closer to understanding women than he had been when he was thirteen.

The flames turned green and, a moment later, two people stepped out of the fireplace.

“Uncle Charlie! Come play Quidditch with me! Uncle Ron’s mean and he won’t come and play.”

Looking slightly sheepish, Charlie ruffled his hair. “Er, not right now. Later, yeah?” He bent down to give his nephew a hug. “Grandma’s got her angry face on, so maybe you should go out in the garden.”

The youngster turned to look at his grandmother before nodding and running out into the garden with his Quaffle.

Charlie straightened up, glancing at Molly. “Hi, Mum. Dad.”

Lavender stepped out from where she was half-hidden behind Charlie. “Hello, Daddy.”

“Now, look,” Charlie started, “don’t get angry. With either of us,” he added hastily.

Molly’s nostrils flared. “Don’t get angry?” she repeated, her voice turning shrill. “How do you expect me not to get angry, Charlie? I never thought you’d go and do anything like this. You’ve always been such a sensible boy, always had your head on your shoulders and now you go and…”

Charlie cut her off. “Mum. I am not a boy. I’m a grown man and I can make these sorts of decisions by myself.” Lavender reached for his hand, squeezing gently to reassure him.

“A man? I hardly think that you could call yourself that now, Charles Weasley. You would never have done anything like that before she came along.”

“Molly,” Arthur warned.

Straightening up, Charlie glared at his mother. “Don’t you dare imply that this is Lavender’s fault. It’s no-one’s fault. I love her and I asked her to marry me?”

“Is that true, Lavender?” he father asked. She nodded, feeling horribly timid in front of her dad and what her now her in-laws.

Molly gave a hollow laugh. “Love? What do you know about love, Charlie? You’re always moving on to the next girl, so what happens a year from now when you get bored?”

“Maybe,” Charlie ground out, “I’m bored of always moving on. Maybe I’ve found the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with. Have you ever considered that?”

From the way that she stared at him, it was quite obvious that Molly had not.

*****

Hermione paused as they walked up the path to The Burrow. Percy noticed after a few paces and turned to look back at her. “Are you alright?”

She nodded and a shaky smile formed on her tanned face. “I’ve known your mother for years, and all of a sudden I’m scared of seeing her!” Hermione laughed slightly. “It’s ridiculous.”

“She’s your mother-in-law, now,” Percy pointed out. “Maybe that’s why.”

“Maybe,” Hermione agreed with a soft sigh. “Perhaps I’m afraid of being a bad daughter-in-law or something. What if she’s got all these expectations or something?” She nervously bit her bottom lip.

Percy told her, “You’re nothing like what I expected,” although he wasn’t entirely sure if that was the best thing to say. Her was about to hug her to reassure her when his nephew came running around the side of the house, chasing after a Quaffle.

He stopped when he saw them, grinning. “Uncle Percy!” His eyes slid over to Hermione. “And Auntie Hermione. My other new auntie.”

Hermione felt a little strange about being called ‘auntie’, although it was technically true. A glance at Percy, though, confirmed that she wasn’t the only one who frowned in confusion at the mention of the other new auntie.

“Other new auntie?” Percy prompted.

“Uncle Charlie just came home.” He bounced the Quaffle and, at that moment, his expression reminded Hermione exactly of the twins. “And Grandma’s got her angry face on.”

“Angry face?” Hermione asked. Her query was answered by some impression gurning from her new nephew. Strangely, it was actually surprisingly easy to recognise the expression that he was trying to recreate. When she looked over at Percy, he looked vaguely queasy. “Perhaps we should come back another time?” she suggested gently.

He shook his head. “Might as well go and see them while we’re here.” Percy cast her a glance, lips curving into a sly smile. “Besides, I want to go and see what sort of trouble Charlie has got himself into.”

Hermione bit back a laugh. That sounded like the typical morbid delight of a younger brother who had just discovered that his older sibling was in trouble with their parents. Oddly, it was rather endearing.

Percy linked his arm with Hermione’s steering her around to the back of the house. “If anything’s happening,” he told her knowledgably, “it’ll be in the kitchen.”

As they approached the back door, which had been left slightly ajar, they heard a strange laugh from Molly Weasley. “Love? What do you know about love, Charlie? You’re always moving on to the next girl, so what happens a year from now when you get bored?”

Hermione’s eyes widened. “You don’t think that he…” She was cut off by a tired-sounding rant from Charlie.

“Maybe I’m bored of always moving on. Maybe I’ve found the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with. Have you ever considered that?”

Percy looked amazed. “He got married.”

“We’ve only been gone for two weeks!” Hermione hissed.

Her new husband chuckled. “No wonder Mum’s angry.”

“I feel sorry for him,” Hermione admitted. “Do you think we should go in? We might be able to diffuse the situation a little.” Percy agreed and they stepped into the kitchen.

Ron waved at them from the kitchen table; Arthur nodded his acknowledgement that they were there, but seemed riveted by the argument between Molly and Charlie. Neither Percy nor Hermione recognised the other man sitting at the table. Considering that Lavender Brown was standing beside Charlie, they both came to the conclusion that he was her father.

Neither Molly nor Charlie seemed to be aware of their arrival, although Lavender turned to look at them, offering a nervous smile. “Hello,” she said softly as Molly started going on about family values. She bit her lip. “We got married.”

“We gathered that,” Percy said, looking amused.

“We eloped,” Lavender added.

“Which would explain why Molly’s so upset,” Hermione said with a nod.

Percy cleared his throat. “Mum? Charlie?”

Molly stopped mid-tirade, trying to soften her expression when she saw her other son. “Percy. Hermione. It’s lovely to see you, but I’m a little busy here. Your brother’s gone and…”

“Married the woman he loves?” Hermione suggested. Lavender blushed and Charlie looked faintly surprised that more people were actually standing up for them. “What’s so wrong in that?”

“They eloped!”

“And saved us all rather a lot of money,” Lavender’s father added.

“Money doesn’t matter,” Molly ground out. “Not when…”

“Not when love is involved?” Arthur prompted.

Molly faltered. “I’m angry with you, Charlie. And upset. I can’t believe you did this. At the moment, I really can’t think of anything other than how you’ve disappointed me.”

“I own Playwizard,” Percy said.

Molly blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Playwizard,” Percy repeated. “The porn magazine. I own it. Where else do you think all my money comes from?” He glanced over at Charlie who mouthed a grateful, ‘thank you’. Percy shrugged.

“You own a porn magazine?” Molly’s face had turned an interesting shade red. “My baby boy owns a porn magazine?”

Percy nodded. “And I’m going to buy the Daily Prophet for Hermione.”

Grinning in shocked amazement, Hermione asked, “You are?”

“Yes.” He smiled at her and Hermione bit her lip, sure that she was blushing.

As Molly started to chastise her son for not telling her something like this, Percy murmured, “Kiss me, Hermione.”

“Kiss you?” she whispered. “In front of your family?”

“That’s the general idea.”

Hermione licked her lips, glancing around the kitchen before kissing Percy hard. Her arms curled around his neck in a bid to pull him closer, Percy’s arms slipping around her waist. It was the sort of kiss that could fade even Molly Weasley’s voice to a dull murmur. She faintly heard Ron, or Charlie, or possibly both, cheering.

“Percy?” Molly demanded. “Are you even listening to me?”