Wish Granting!
Title: …and All of Those Other Decisions to Be Made
Author: Phil_Urich
Pairing: mystery Weasley/Lavender Brown
For: Peskywhistpaw
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1000 exactly
Summary: Lavender receives advice from an unexpected source
Warnings: AU
Disclaimer: The Potterverse is JKR’s, not mine.
Author's Note: Beta'd by Sarah. Thanks a million!

*Lavender/any-Weasley-boy-that-is-not-Ron-o r-Arthur* – something humorous; maybe Lavender gets stuck at the Burrow (for whatever reason), Ron is avoiding her like the plague, Molly is making her life hell, and Mystery-Weasley-Man comes to her rescue




Lavender sighed softly on the couch. Ron had invited her here to meet his parents only half an hour ago, but when she arrived she found that his parents were shopping. Fred, George and Harry had come to visit and had started a Quidditch match out back. Despite Lavender’s protests, Ron had joined them, and only a stubborn streak and desperation to heal the steadily unraveling bond she’d shared with Ron kept her there.

Her Ronald had been missing things lately. Study sessions, dates in Hogsmeade, her birthday, even dinner with her parents. The list was longer then she’d remembered, and full of let downs. They hurt, each and every last one of them, and she wondered if he really cared about her at all, or if he just saw her as a practice dummy, to be used until he found a real girlfriend.

Lavender sighed again and decided she’d give herself another five minutes before leaving. Six minutes later she heard a knock at the door. She ran to answer it, hoping that it was Ron; only to find a man she’d only seen pictures of in Ron’s family albums, Charlie Weasley.

Charlie did a double take upon seeing Lavender, first looking at her, then the address next to his parent’s door, and then her again. “Lavender Brown?”

“Yes, and you’re Charlie,” she said, doing her very best to be polite.

“Right. Are my parents here?”

“Um, no, you see, Ron invited me over,” she explained, and then paused when she saw his face go an interesting shade of red. “Oh no, not like that,” she hurriedly said. “He wanted me to meet your parents, but…well I’m waiting for them to arrive. Ron and your brothers are in the back playing Quidditch.” Lavender briefly wondered how Charlie might have known her name, considering he’d never met her before. Then she realized that Ron must have told Charlie about her in his letters, which made her smile just a little.

“How perfectly rude,” Charlie said roughly. “It sounds like Ronald though. I’ll have to have a talk with him.”

Lavender smiled at that. “Please do,” she said. “He never listens to me.”

“Nor me, but there’s a first time for everything. Do you mind if I come in?”

“Oh, didn’t you want to play Quidditch with your brothers?”

“No,” he said, as if he was surprised she would ask such a thing. “I can’t stay long, and besides, you shouldn’t be left to entertain yourself, and if my brother won’t do it, then I will.”

“Oh, well thank you,” Lavender said, finding it odd that a former Quidditch star wouldn’t want to play. There was definitely something off about him.

“So how long have you and Ronald been dating?” he asked as he sat down in a chair opposite the couch she’d been sitting in.

“A few months,” Lavender said distractedly. His mannerisms seemed off too, very prim and proper…it was very familiar. Perhaps this was simply how Charlie was though. She’d never met him before, so perhaps she’d simply misjudged him, based on the Quidditch stories Ron always went on about when talking about his oldest brother.

“Ah,” he said, seeming very unsure of himself, as if he were uncomfortable in his own skin.

“So, do you have a girlfriend?” Lavender asked, after a few moments of silence.

“No, I did, but things just didn’t really work out. She found my line of work to be a bit
dangerous for her liking.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Lavender said, embarrassed to have brought up his breakup while trying to get to know him.

“Quite alright,” he said offhandedly. “To be honest, it was a long time coming. We had the same ideals at one point, and then we started to slowly drift apart. Finally, I couldn’t even recognize myself, much less her, and I wondered if… I talked about it with her. She said this, I said that, and we both decided we were squandering our time worrying about this matter, and that it would be best to break it off.” He looked briefly at the watch on his wrist and then back at her.

“Did it hurt?” she asked, though not quite sure why.

“It did. All breakups do, I expect. It’s a loss, and with all losses comes regret, pain, and anger.”

Lavender thought on that for a few moments. Would she ever be able to deal with Ronald breaking up with her? It was easy for some to say that it wasn’t the end of the world if he did, but what if it was the end of hers? Could she stand it? Come out the other side like Parvati had with Dean, and be a smarter person for it? The sound of a beeping watch broke her reverie and she found Charlie Weasley, tall and standing before her with a half smile.

“You’re a much stronger woman than you think Miss Brown. Take care,” he said with a half smile before Apparating away.
******************

He sat before the small mirror in his apartment, watching as his body changed from the muscular frame of his older brother to that of his own skinny one. Placing the glasses on his face he thought on the conversation he’d had with Lavender. He hadn’t planned to go there to talk to her, but there she’d been looking so alone that he couldn’t resist but to have a little chat.

The letter he’d left for his father should explain everything anyways, and besides it wasn’t as if he couldn’t simply go see the man tomorrow. He and his father could even have a good laugh over Trelawney’s latest prediction before they talked about Death Eater movements and… Trelawney’s predictions had never been wrong before, but he simply couldn’t foresee himself and her… it was preposterous really.

Lavender had grown into a beautiful young girl though, he had to admit that, at least. Surely such admittance did not a relationship make.

The end.