Safe House

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the elements of it. They are the property of J.K. Rowling, I only wish that I had thought of it first. :D

Chapter 7

Professor Dumbledore walked back to the tent that Harry and Charlie were sharing. \"Harry, I have a few things for you,\" he said placing a small box on the table and quickly enlarging it. \"Since you couldn\'t get any mail, Hedwig delivered your mail and birthday gifts to me.\"

Harry opened the box to find his birthday presents and a very large stack of parchment. There were many letters from Ginny and Hermione, a few from Mrs. Weasley, Fred and George and four from Ron. He took out the first of Ron\'s letters and quickly read it. He scanned the parchment again after finishing the letter and began to laugh.

\"What\'s so funny Harry?\" Charlie asked. Harry handed him the letter and waited for him to finish reading it.

Harry watched as Charlie folded up the note and handed it back to him. \"I don\'t believe him,\" he shouted

\"Calm down, Charlie,\" Dumbledore told him. \"What is the problem?\"

Harry wiped the tears from his eyes and cleared his throat. \"Well, sir. Ron didn\'t react well to finding out that I\'m gay. It has taken him awhile, but now he wants to fix me up with George. It seems that Fred and George have been trying to convince Ron to lighten up, and trying to get him to let them ask me out.\"

The twinkle in Dumbledore\'s eyes got brighter, \"So am I to assume that you are not interested in George?\"

Harry snorted, \"No sir. I like Fred and George, but I don\'t want to date either of them.\"

\"And why, if I may ask, does this get Charlie worked up?\" he asked.

Charlie ran his hand through his hair, \"Because it will be over my dead body that any of my brothers dates Harry.\"

Dumbledore smiled and turned toward Charlie, \"Would I be wrong to assume that you are interested in Harry?\"

Charlie looked at the headmaster and blushed. \"I uh.......\"

Harry stepped between Charlie and the headmaster, \"Charlie and I have sort of found each other since I got here,\" Harry told him. \"I\'m not interested in any Weasley aside from Charlie.\"

\"I see,\" Dumbledore told them. \"I could see as soon as I arrived here that there was something between the two of you.\"

\"We would like to keep it just between the three of us for now, headmaster,\" Charlie told him. \"Harry and I haven\'t discussed what is going to happen when he goes back to school.\"

\"Mr. Weasley, I am sure that you will have time to discuss things when I leave this afternoon. There are some people that would be thrilled at this development.\" He scratched his beard. \"Your mother, I\'m sure would be over the moon to hear that Harry has chosen one of her children as a life mate.\"

Harry looked at the old wizard and comprehension dawned on his face, \"That\'s what the dragons were talking about. They were talking about Charlie being my mate, and that they were going to protect him.\" He smiled at the red haired man. \"Maybe we should talk when Professor Dumbledore leaves.\"

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Three days later, Harry saw a group of red heads heading toward Nannette\'s enclosure. \"Charlie, we have company,\" he shouted. Charlie ended his conversation with Nannette and walked over to the tent and stood behind Harry.

\"It looks like Ron, Ginny, Mum and Dad,\" he stated, watching the group move toward them.

Ron raised his hand and shouted, \"Harry!\"

Harry waved back and stepped back against Charlie, who wrapped his arms around his lover. \"Don\'t worry Harry, Mum will be happy for us.\"

The four red heads walked to the gate of the enclosure. His mother looked at the two men standing together and smiled. \"Charlie dear,\" she said, motioning for them to come outside the enclosure. Charlie and Harry stepped out the gate and were engulfed in one of Mrs. Weasley\'s giant hugs. \"Harry, you look wonderful. You\'ve gained weight, not staying with those muggles has done wonders for you.\"

Ginny looked over at Harry and winked, then stepped over to him. \"Are you and Charlie an item?\" she whispered in his ear.

Harry grinned and squeezed his friend. \"I never expected to fall for Charlie,\" he whispered back. \"But since I got here, it\'s been great,\" he kissed her cheek. \"He\'s almost as good of a cook as your mum.\"

Ginny laughed, \"Mum, did you know that Charlie can cook?\"

Molly looked over at Ginny and Harry, \"Charlie, you can cook?\" she asked.

\"Mrs. Weasley, it\'s almost like eating at the burrow. He\'s a great cook,\" Harry said, putting his arm around Charlie.

Mr. Weasley smiled, \"Charlie, could I have a word with you?\" he asked.

Charlie nodded and led his father away from the ref thf the group.

\"Ron,\" Harry started.

Ron put his hand up, \"Forget it Harry, I\'ll break the news to George,\" he said. \"I didn\'t know that you and Charlie were, well, you know.\"

Harry laughed, \"I didn\'t expect it either.\"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

\"Charlie, I have to ask you what are your intentions toward Harry?\" he asked.

Charlie swallowed hard, \"I thought that you were supposed to ask him that,\" he laughed.

\"Well, since Harry has no family, your mother and I decided that we were going to be the ones to watch out for Harry,\" he smiled at his second son. \"So, what are your intentions toward our only non-red haired son?\"

Sorry about leaving you hanging there, but I\'ll work on chapter 8 tomorrow. Please review!!! I always write better when I have feedback.