Work Text:
Milk-Drunk
2002
The noise in the Burrow has been unbearable for some time now. Ever since Bill and Fleur showed up, peace is gone. Crying turning into laughter, laughter into crying could be heard all the time.
Hermione watches Charlie babysit baby Victoire and newborn Dominique at the same time and she is amazed.The older girl next to him looks like a small unruly elf chattering in a language known only to her.
Yet, Charlie has patience and stoically endures the screams of the older one, whom surprisingly joins Teddy. Little Lupin is a reflection of all crazy features, and pink hair only adds to his charms. He's not quite in control of their color change yet, so his hair are an easy indicator of his mood.
The Burrow begins to vibrate with a different kind of life and gaiety that everyone has lacked in recent years. The time after the war was bittersweet - on the one hand full of reasons to celebrate after the victory, and at the same time, a sad time of goodbyes. Hermione believes the worst is behind them and it will only get better.
Teddy unexpectedly jumps on Charlie's back as he leans over and covers little Dominique. He does it so incompetently that Hermione freezes in her tracks. But contrary to Hermione's unfavorable assumptions - Charlie just smiles under his breath, grabs the boy's calves and with a smooth movement puts him on his back.
Teddy starts screaming, then laughing - he didn't expect his cunning plan to work. Charlie shushes him by putting his finger to his lips, which the toddler eventually ignores.
Once again this evening, the contrast between the little boy and the big, big man leaves Hermione astounded.
She wonders why he has so much patience with children, but then – Charlie wasn't always the tattooed, broad-shouldered king of Romanian dragons.
He used to be only the second eldest of the siblings who were heavily involved in looking after each other. Molly raised her sons from birth to be ideal husbands (maybe except for Ron, here the plan didn't work out, she notices).
And apparently that wide experience results in as Charlie began caring for the next generation of Weasleys.
"Are you going to help me, sweetheart, or are you just going to look at me like that?"
2005
There have been more babies at the Burrow in the last three years, and now Hermione appreciates Charlie's skills even more.
Teddy is not such a little boy anymore, he is starting to grow up, and becoming a handsome boy. Slowly, Hermione can see the features of his parents in him - his father's resoluteness and his mother's scatterbrain. Madness flows in his veins and his pearly laughter illuminates the interior like the most beautiful light. Teddy lives with Bill on a daily basis, but Charlie is fascinating to him - so Teddy stubbornly claims that when he grows up, he will also have dragons. Charlie doesn't prove him wrong, because his baby chatter is adorable, and dreams on the way to adulthood can change a hundred times over years.
Bill's daughters agree with Teddy’s opinion and Charlie is the best and most beloved uncle of theirs (only sometimes, they are favoring George when he secretly gives them sweets from the store). As soon as they see him, they don't move away from him for hours. Charlie often tells them Romanian fairy tales, and although they know most of them by heart, they sit spellbound and hang on every word that comes out of his mouth.
The rest of the babies are still too small to listen to the stories. But that doesn't stop Charlie from leaning over the crib with Albus, Ginny's newborn son, and telling some of the fairytales. They arrived yesterday and the boy is only a week old. Ginny gratefully accepted the generous Charlie offer to babysit while she tried to sleep off the fatigue.
"He's wonderful." Hermione lets out a whisper that causes Charlie to turn his head and look at her. His blue eyes look at her intently, then he nods and smiles as he steps closer.
“Of course he's wonderful. After all, he is my nephew.” He snorts, sitting next to her and catching her hand between his palms. He pauses, then adds softer, "But the greatest child is here."
His large hand touches the white velvet blanket that covers the small pink body lying on Hermione's stomach.
Rose Carlie Weasley is less than a month old and has just been fed by her mum.
"She fell asleep a while ago. She's milk drunk." Hermione replies, fascinated, and stares at her daughter. Charlie kisses her forehead tenderly.
"You're beautiful." He whispers into her ear and she smiles softly. Hermione knows she is surrounded by love and it is one of the greatest situations she could find herself in. She receives love, but for a month she also shares a new kind of love. And she has learned that a mother's love will never fade.
Charlie has always been good with children, so Hermione never doubted that he would become a great father.
And he is.
Little Rose opens her eyes and looks at her parents with misty eyes. She whimpers for a moment, but when she grabs Charlie's finger hard, she falls asleep again.
She knows she is loved and surrounded by the love of her parents. But what she doesn't yet realise is that she has become the whole world to them.