Out and About

Chapter 57: Out and About

August 2004

The entire Weasley clan (all twenty-three of them, including two Potters plus the three Jordans) was seated around two large tables under a large awning on the beach along the Devonshire coastline. Everyone was laughing, joking, and chatting with each other as they ate. Parents, aunts, and uncles alike corralled and fed the eight children, regardless to whom they actually belonged, as the sun began to set into the sea.

"Who needs a drink?" Harry called out, standing next to a large cooler. Several of the adults responded positively and he tossed bottles to each one in turn.

"Beer, Annie?" he said, checking with the only person who didn't say yes to the offer.

"No, thanks. I'm fine," she replied lightly and casually, immediately turning back to her dinner.

"No alcohol for Annie," George said loudly at the same time, grinning broadly.

Several nearby Weasleys, who had up to then been involved in independent conversations, now glanced at the couple in curiosity.

"George, you idiot," Annie muttered, irritated that he was on the verge of blowing their supposed secret. Judging by the look on his face, he was dying to spill it, anyway. She wasn't much surprised – he never could hold out for long with this sort of news. She swatted at his head anyway.

George expertly deflected the blow with his arm, then caught her by the wrist to prevent further attack, chuckling all the while. "What? I haven't said anything incriminating," he said, faking a tone of defensiveness. "Your silly overreaction is what's making everyone suspect."

Curious looks began to turn into suspicious ones.

"Oh, crap," mumbled Ginny. "They did just get back from another island vacation."

George smiled and winked at his little sister, confirming her theory.

Annie sighed. The cat was fully out of the bag now. They had indeed just returned from a week in Tahiti in early June. Annie couldn't halt the abashed smile growing on her face as she remembered it – how George had pretended to "forget" to pack any clothing beyond one measly bathing suit for each of them.

"Is it true, Annie, dear?" asked Molly excitedly.

Annie was amazed that after seven grandchildren, her mother-in-law could still get excited about more. "Yes, Molly. We're expecting again," she said, giggling herself now.

"Ooh!" Molly cried excitedly. "That makes three more on the way, Arthur!" She was referring to the fact that Ginny and Audrey were also pregnant.

"Five, George?" scolded Percy in a disapproving voice, scandalized by what he deemed was his younger brother's recklessly prolific over-procreation.

"We had seven," Arthur interjected defensively on George's behalf. He frowned slightly as he noted Percy rolling his eyes. Of all their children, Percy seemed to have the biggest chip on his shoulder about growing up in a large, less-than-well-to-do family.

"You do understand what causes it, don't you little bro?" Bill joked good-naturedly.

"Sounds to me like somebody's manhood is feeling a bit threatened," George teased him back. He had been glaring daggers at Percy only a moment before.

"Don't you ever say no to him?" Ron cried, smiling in fun as he nudged Annie's leg under the table with his foot.

Hermione screeched in protest and whacked her husband over the head while Annie giggled at his joke.

"You can't blame her, really. What woman could be expected to resist me?" George laughed at one of his favorite running gags, immensely pleased with himself.

The rest of the table responded with rolling eyes, groans, and dismissive snorts.

"It's true you can be annoyingly persistent, love," Annie agreed, eliciting a smirk from her husband and a few appreciative laughs from the table.

"Seriously, when are you two going to stop? I mean, when is enough enough?" Lee asked as he thumped his best friend's back in congratulations.

George and Annie shrugged, smiling at each other. The subject was dropped soon after, once everyone had offered their good wishes and Annie had confirmed her expected due date of early March. After all, it wasn't as if a pregnancy in the family was a rare occurrence by this point.

As the group moved on to discuss something else, Annie found herself quietly pondering Lee's question quite seriously, however. At what point would they stop adding to their family? Would they choose a certain target number as their limit? Try again for another boy or girl, depending on which this one turned out to be, to even up the score once more? Or just wake up one day and decide they were finished?

She was one of those lucky women who took pregnancy in stride, even enjoyed it. She had never had any difficulty with labor either; she supposed having twins first might've had quite a bit to do with that fact. The singleton births of their two daughters had seemed ridiculously quick and easy in comparison. From where she stood, she couldn't really imagine a reason for not wanting more children.

She tuned back into one of the conversations surrounding her. Percy sat on her right and was discussing the most recent events in his own life with Charlie and Sasha, who couldn't have gotten a word in edgewise if they'd wanted to. Percy waxed poetic about his life as lord of the manor, now that he and Audrey had been given one of the many Cavendish family mansions that were scattered about the country as their own. His wife was pregnant with their first child, due sometime in the fall, but that wasn't the only reason she hadn't joined her husband's family this summer. She had never come along to their reunions at the shore – had only been to Mole Hill twice and the Burrow once, in fact – and Annie suspected Audrey wouldn't be caught dead in a tent regardless of the reason.

Across from them, Annie noted Ginny was chatting with Hermione. The two of them had grown almost as close as sisters during their time at Hogwarts, and being married to Harry and Ron all the years since had only served to strengthen the bond. She could pick up bits of the conversation from across the table; it sounded like Ginny was talking about her pregnancy, as usual. She was terribly excited about the whole thing, as every mother-to-be ought. Hermione, though, had a slightly sad expression lurking behind her smile. Annie wondered if perhaps she was feeling somewhat sensitive about being the only one of the Weasley sisterhood not to have started a family, even though she'd made it clear to everyone that her Ministry career was the most important thing to her right now.

Dinner was finished and cleaned up as twilight descended. After all the children had been put to bed and the rest of the family were all gathered around a fire outside, Annie sat at the table in her tent, quietly chatting with Molly. Annie had agreed to hang back, listening out for the children, since she was feeling somewhat tired herself. She and her mother-in-law were sipping tea when the conversation turned once again to Charlie.

"Don't get me wrong; it's nice that he has such a good friend. But they spend too much time together, those two. I think Sasha prevents him from getting out more, finding a nice girl. I want you lot to take him out tomorrow night to the village. Find a good girl for him, Annie," Molly charged her.

Annie had been thrilled last Christmas when Charlie, true to his word, had come back to stay with them at Mole Hill for the holiday. And she had been pleased as punch he'd felt comfortable enough with her and George to bring Sasha along. It meant a great deal to her that Charlie and Sasha's experience over Christmas had been positive enough that they had subsequently agreed to come back for the annual family summer camp-out on the beach. And having his brother back with the family had meant the world to George.

"No offense, Molly, but no," she replied as gently as she could. "I won't find someone for Charlie because it's you who wants it, not him. I think it's time you just accept Charlie for who he is. Stop trying to force your idea of happiness onto him."

"It's high time somebody forced something!" she began to argue. "He's nearly thirty-two years old!"

"Charlie likes what he does for a living," Annie countered. "He likes where he lives. He likes who he spends his time with. Not many people get that lucky in life. Let him be happy, Molly. Let him be," Annie urged.

Molly pursed her lips, looking unconvinced. "I'm his mother, Annie, and I think I know a bit better than anyone else...."

"You're driving him away," Annie cut in, warning her in a quiet voice.

Molly sat quietly for a moment, taking in what Annie had just said. "Is that why he stays with you and George now? Because of me?" she cried softly.

Annie nodded reluctantly. She was sorry to hurt Molly's feelings, but reckoned it was better coming from her now than for Charlie to let it keep building within and either lash out in anger at his mother, or even worse, withdraw completely from the family.

"He feels like he's done nothing but disappoint you. He is who he is, and he shouldn't be made to feel like that's not good enough. Especially for his own mother."

"I'm only trying to help!" Molly exclaimed, keeping her voice down because of the sleeping children but starting to get teary. "I can't stand to see him so lonely! I just want to see him happy! How can he be satisfied sitting all alone on that mountaintop? What about love? What about having a family? The rest of you have settled down – you're all happy – why won't he?"

"Just because you or I may not understand it doesn't mean his life doesn't make him happy," Annie argued. "Maybe Charlie's already found the right thing for him, and that's what matters. The only thing that matters, in fact. But one thing's for sure: you harping on him to get married doesn't make him happy. So maybe you could try to lighten up a bit?" she suggested.

Annie handed Molly a napkin. Molly stared at the table in front of her while she dabbed her eyes and blew her nose.

"You're right, dear. I only want for all my children to be happy, but if I'm making it worse.... I'll try to hold my tongue from here on. Thank you, Annie, for being honest with me," she said, hugging her daughter-in-law.

The next night, Molly and Arthur offered to stay with the children, insisting the adults venture out to the village for an evening. Annie caught Molly's eye and gave her a stern warning look. Perhaps it was too much to expect for Molly to go cold-turkey when it came to Charlie, Annie thought ruefully. To her credit, she could tell Molly was trying desperately not to ask her to set Charlie up, or to encourage him to return to their tent tonight engaged to a nice girl.

"Have fun!" Molly called out to everyone as they walked down the beach toward a nearby pub.

An hour later, Annie sat at one end of the table, staring off into space, bored silly. She had chatted with Ginny for a little while, answering a few pregnancy-related questions before they decided to drop the subject when Hermione began to look a bit put out with them. Then Hermione'd asked Ginny to take a stroll with her – Annie suspected maybe she'd had another row with Ron and needed to vent. Everyone in the family had at one time or another witnessed the two of them snapping at each other like a couple of hungry dogs over a carcass, usually over some silly misunderstanding. Annie felt relieved rather than left out by not being asked to join them.

Not long after they left, while the rest of the table was arguing over the merits of the newest change to the rules of Quidditch (a new penalty to which George took exception), Charlie asked Annie to dance.

"I can tell you're bored stiff," he said, smiling. "Fancy a spin around the dance floor?"

"Don't bother asking me," George huffed possessively, pausing momentarily in his tirade against Quidditch referees in general.

"Why should he want to dance with you, you troll?" Annie teased, deliberately misunderstanding him. "Go back to ignoring me for the sake of your stupid argument, which is completely unfounded, by the way."

Annie and Charlie walked away from the table as the argument heated up again. "I'm pants at dancing," he warned her as he placed his hand at her waist.

"You're fine," Annie assured him, putting her hand in his. "This is just my speed tonight," she said, barely stifling a yawn. "Sorry – it's not you. I get this way when I'm... well, you know," she giggled.

Charlie laughed. They swayed in comfortable silence for a minute, Charlie slowly shuffling her around in a small circle.

"I wanted to thank you for what you did last night," he said softly.

"What do you mean?" she asked him, confused. It was Molly who had cooked the fabulous meal yesterday, not her.

"I heard what you said to Mum," he said with a shrug.

"Oh." Her face burned with mortification that Charlie had caught her talking about him behind his back. "I didn't know anyone could hear us," she said, worried now that they might have been overheard by the rest of the family. It had not been her intention to broadcast her thoughts to the entire group.

"I was just outside the door – the smoke from the fire was giving me a headache, so I stepped away for a bit. You could say I was eavesdropping, I suppose. You're not angry with me, are you?" he asked with a reassuring smile.

"No, of course not," she insisted, relieved he didn't sound angry with her.

"Anyway, thanks for sticking up for me. It means a lot to me that you and George feel that way.... That you accept me the way I am," he said shyly, stumbling a bit over the words.

A long pause followed as Annie waited for him to collect his thoughts. She sensed he was debating with himself about something – or maybe plucking up his courage. Like he was about to jump off of something rather high up. A cliff, perhaps.

"Are you going to say it out loud to me?" she said gently. "Want to practice?" Annie gave him her most encouraging smile.

He looked at her curiously for several moments. Charlie's brow furrowed, then a small, amused smile grew on his face. He leaned down just a little bit, for he was the shortest Weasley brother, and whispered in her ear. "I'm gay."

Charlie straightened up immediately and looked searchingly at Annie's face to gauge her reaction.

"Well done you!" Annie stood on her tiptoes and whispered back. "I'm proud of you for saying it. And honored that you trusted me. Thank you."

He looked at her with an odd, perplexed look on his face, shaking his head slightly. "You are the strangest person, Annie. Is it a Muggle thing?"

"Thanks. And no, I don't think so," she chuckled. "Have you come out to anyone else?"

Charlie vigorously shook his head.

"Not even...?" she asked, glancing at Sasha rather than identifying him out loud.

Charlie rolled his eyes and smirked, indicating it was a stupid question on her part, and the answer should be obvious. "Don't be thick."

After another minute, Annie spoke again. "I think you should tell George next," she suggested.

Charlie inhaled a deep breath then let it out slowly. "I don't know," he said hesitantly.

"You know we love you, Charlie. And that it makes no difference to us. There won't be an easier person to tell than he will be," she coaxed him.

"As easy as you?" Charlie laughed.

"That's sweet of you to say. Honestly, why don't you come over to our room tonight, and you can pretend you haven't told me yet. It'll give you another go," she offered.

He thought about it for a moment as the first song ended and another one began. "Okay. I think I can handle the two of you at once," he conceded, smiling at the ridiculousness of the setup.

"And then we can help you work on what you'll say to the rest," she pressed on.

"The rest?" he said, looking alarmed.

"I think you should tell the family," she said.

"Why?" he demanded, obviously leery of the prospect.

"It would be a mark of... trust. Of respect. Show them that you love them enough to share this part of you with them," she urged him softly.

"I don't know..." he said again.

"Charlie, George and I spent a long time hiding a relationship from the rest of the world. I know how miserable it feels not to be able to share the one you love the most with the ones who love you. Can you honestly say you want to do that forever?"

Charlie sighed, then slowly shook his head. "I suppose not."

"Are you worried they'll react badly?" she asked.

"You don't think they'll be upset?" he replied, slightly surprised she might disagree.

Annie shook her head confidently.

"Even Mum?" he asked pointedly.

"Well... all right. Molly will be upset, that's true," she conceded. "But the rest... I think will be fine with it, truly I do. Maybe a bit surprised, but okay with it, still," she added, recalling George's initial bafflement when she'd broached the subject last summer.

"And Molly.... Well, your mother will have to take her time with it, but she loves you like crazy, Charlie. And she'll come around. She was telling the truth last night, you know – she does just want you to be happy. And maybe this will finally convince her that you are."

"We'll see," he said doubtfully. "Let's take it one step at a time, okay? Tonight I'll tell George...."

"And me," Annie amended.

"Right – and you," Charlie chuckled. "And we'll go from there."