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No Time to Breathe

Chapter 16: Chapter 16

Summary:

Because there's always a moment of peace and love before things go wrong.

Notes:

Okay. Yeah, it's been a minute. Sorry. I highkey struggled with this chapter.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

May 28th, 1999

Charlie couldn’t help but stare at Maggie as she slept. She loved him. She was his.

It’d been over three years. So much time was spent hating himself for his feelings, time feeling ill with himself for wanting someone younger than him.

But it was worth it, now that she was lying beside him. Sure, she did every night, but now… Now she was his forever, officially.

“You’re staring,” She grumbled, opening her eyes and squinting at him in the moonlight.

“I am,” Charlie confirmed in a soft voice.

“It’s creepy.”

“I thought it was romantic.”

She gave a snort of laughter. “What time is it?”

“About 2.”

“Why aren’t you sleeping?”

“Because you’re beautiful.”

He could see her cheeks redden in the dim light. He grinned and leaned over to plant a kiss on her lips.

“I can kiss you. I can’t believe I can do that now,” He said, “I can kiss you without making it awkward.”

“You can,” She murmured and scooted close to him, pressing her face into his chest, “You can also snuggle me. Because you know, as your girlfriend who is very pregnant, I’m really cold and you’re my personal heating charm.”

Charlie had a smug look on his face as he wrapped his arms around her.

“You’re so pretty,” He murmured into her ear, slipping his hand down to rest on her thigh.

“If you’re trying to get some, Mr. Weasley, you are going to be very disappointed,” She cracked her open eyes once again, “I’m not what I was at the new year. I’m as big as a hippogriff. Quite the turn off, I think.”

Charlie raised a brow at her.

“You’re kidding, right? You’re perfect. You were already so damn beautiful and now… Fuck. Maggie, look at you. You’re pregnant with my baby,” Charlie said, his voice husky.

Her face burned.

“Whether you feel it or not, you are the sexiest witch on the planet,” He murmured and kissed her nose, “And I am veryturned on by you.”

She made a noise, hiding her face in his chest once again. His chest shook with a rumbling laugh.

“Hey, hey, I’m not asking you to do anything, Love. But you should know that if you ever want to do anything, I am more than willing,” He chuckled and held her close.

She was pretty sure he knew how large her smile was, even if he couldn’t see it.

May 30th, 1999

“I forgot the full moon was tonight.” Charlie ran his hands down his face as Teddy wiggled away from where he’d sat with him on the plush carpet and threw himself on the ground screaming. He’d woken them up with particularly loud cries and Charlie had run in there. Maggie shuffled from their bedroom into Teddy’s nursery when she heard his wails continue even after Charlie had gone in there. Her hair was more of a mess than usual and she looked absolutely exhausted.

“Should we skip the Burrow and go next week?” Maggie yawned, stretching her arms above her head. Charlie couldn’t help but stare at her for a moment with a small smile on his face. Sweet Circe, she was beautiful, even in baggy sweatpants and an old torn up t-shirt.

“We should go today,” Charlie replied after seeing her raised brow at his silence, “It’ll be good to see everyone.”

Maggie nodded with another yawn. “I’m going to get a cup of coffee.”

He opened his mouth to argue.

“I get one cup!” She huffed, “Your Hell spawn kept me up all bloody night and you know one cup a day is allowed!”

“Alright, alright, I haven’t been down yet to make it, make a big pot,” Charlie raised his hands in defeat just before Teddy began to slap his legs and giggle. Maggie smirked and shuffled out the room once again, rubbing her stomach.

“Come here, baby boy,” Charlie sighed and scooped Teddy up despite whines, “You gotta be good for Mummy today. She’s very tired because your little sister.”

“Mummy,” Teddy muttered, calming a bit.

“That’s right, Mummy.”

Teddy clapped his hands with a giggle.

The mood lifted slightly.


Maggie was making her way down the stairs, listening to Charlie talk to Teddy and Teddy babble back to him now that the fit was over.

Even that couldn’t lift the foreboding feeling she had woken up with.

There was nothing wrong with the baby, he’d kept her up all bloody night with his kicks and movements. He was still active, which definitely eased some worry. And Teddy was fine, if stressed from the full moon.

And then she saw the Daily Prophet on the table.

Her brows furrowed. Charlie had just said he hadn’t been down yet and the windows were closed. It wasn’t like the owl could apparate to leave it in there.

She looked at the front page, checking the date before reading the headline. The date was correct and…

Rumors Confirmed, Girl-Who-Lived, With Child!

She felt the blood drain from her face as she took in the image. It was from the night of the Gala, when the notorious redheaded bunch was rushing away- but that wasn’t the issue with it. There were hundreds of Gala pictures. Where the other pictures of Maggie that evening had failed to capture her tell-tale sign of pregnancy, this one captured it perfectly. Charlie was gripping her hand while she had her other one on her belly as they fled.

Her mind worked quickly, trying to figure out how the hell the charm Hermione placed suddenly stopped working.

Right after her speech.

She’d cancelled the Sonorus charm when she got off stage. When she did that, she cancelled the notice-me-not charm. Her eyes flickered down to read what this absolute rag of a newspaper was saying and-

Maggie dropped the paper as if it burned her when she saw handwriting over the print.

“An eye for an eye, Magnolia.”

“I’m coming to take what’s mine.”

The scent of freshly made coffee finally wafted into her nose as she read the two notes.

“Charlie!” She screamed out, fear chilling her every nerve.


Charlie was rattled when he saw Teddy’s favorite plush toy, a dragon, with its wing ripped off. Teddy wasn’t strong enough to do that, even on his grumpiest days. But perhaps it was reasonable today, with how upset the baby had been. On top of that, the dresser Charlie had put together himself had been rifled through, with his son’s clothes no longer organized by color as Maggie liked. At first, he assumed Maggie had done it last night when putting Teddy to bed, but then he heard her scream for him.

He was halfway down the stairs when Maggie met him in the middle.

“Grab Teddy, we need to leave, now,” She demanded. Her voice waivered, but he recognized the tone from when she had led the fight at Hogwarts.

“Where to?” He asked.

“Anywhere but here,” She said.

He nodded and grabbed Teddy from his crib as Maggie grabbed their wands in the next room. She handed him his wand and allowed him to apparate them away, trusting his concentration more than her own.

When Maggie opened her eyes again, she found herself in the kitchen of the Burrow, Charlie trying to soothe Teddy’s cries. Maggie quickly began to check everything, finding the doors locked and looking through the window to see the morning dew on the grass undisturbed.

A quick trace charm later found that the only people who’d been in the house in the last three hours had been Ginny, Arthur, and Molly.

She relaxed just slightly and took Teddy from Charlie’s arms, holding him tight.

“Oh, my baby boy, my Teddy,” She whispered and kissed his head.

“Maggie, what happened?” Charlie asked, feeling ill at the obvious fear Maggie had.

“They were in our house. The coffee, it was just made… and the paper…”

Magnolia pulled the crumpled up first page from her sweatpants pocket, still holding Teddy close.

Charlie turned a sickly pale and folded it up, slipping it into his own pocket.

“Teddy’s dragon was torn and it looked like someone went through his clothes,” Charlie whispered. Maggie felt dizzy.

“We need to check him,” She whispered hurriedly.

Charlie nodded and helped Maggie unbutton and pull Teddy’s onesie off, carefully looking over the baby.

There were three scratches on his back. Not deep and not bloody, but they were what obviously had made Teddy so upset that morning. Someone had disturbed him, scratched him, with what they could only think to be claws. Maggie let out a small sob and hugged him close. Charlie, with his jaw clenched, wrapped his arms around them both in an attempt to feel as if had the power to protect them in that moment.

“Magnolia, Charlie?” A voice asked from the doorway to the sitting room. Molly stood there, absolutely baffled at the sight. Maggie and Charlie, in their pajamas, holding Teddy between them.

“Mum,” Charlie sighed in relief. The look Maggie gave Molly reminded her of the vulnerable girl she’d met so long ago. She was unsure, in over her head, scared.

“What’s going on?” Molly moved closer and caught sight of the scratches on her grandson.

“Greyback and the Lestranges, they broke into our house,” Charlie said shakily.

“The wards, they failed somehow,” Maggie said quietly as she slipped Teddy back into the onesie.

“This is what they left Maggie.” Charlie handed the paper to Molly. Molly read it quickly.

“My Gods,” Was all Molly could say. Maggie moved away from Charlie, Teddy still in her arms as she dove into Molly’s welcoming arms.

“I’m sending for Ron,” Charlie said, his voice shaking.


By the time Ron arrived, Ginny had managed to get Teddy to sleep in the sitting room and was now sitting across from Maggie. Charlie was pacing the kitchen with his wand clenched in his hand as Molly tried to force feed Maggie. Arthur was sitting quietly, studying his copy of the Daily Prophet which had arrived with no issues. They’d all done their best to ignore the front-page article- there was only so much they could handle.

“Mags, Kingsley and I did a sweep of the cottage with Williamson and Harper. It’s… not good,” Ron began.

“Obviously, Ronald, they broke into her house,” Ginny snapped.

“Ginevra, not now,” Molly hissed.

“Ron, what did you find?” Charlie asked, going to stand behind where Maggie sat. He placed his hands on her shoulders, trying to soothe her.

“Rabastan Lestrange was hiding in your study,” Ron admitted.

Maggie pushed out of her chair, forcing Charlie to step back as he watched her fume. Fury took over her face.

“He was in my house?” Maggie snarled, “While my child, boyfriend, and I were there?”

Charlie was silent, the blood completely drained from his face.

“Were you able to arrest him? How did he get in?” Maggie’s hands cradled her stomach protectively.

“We arrested him, Maggie. He’s in a holding cell at the Ministry right now,” Ron assured, “I’m not going to even theorize how he got in, because your wards were still standing. We’re calling in Bill to try and figure it out.”

“Has he said anything? Why was he in their house?” Arthur asked, brows furrowed.

Ron sighed, “We’re not sure yet, we haven’t inter-”

“I go into the study first thing in the morning,” Charlie interrupted, “I get a cup of coffee then I go to the study. I grab my coffee after I grab the prophet from the owl. But we broke the routine in this morning.”

Maggie’s fire went out as fear filled her face.

“They’ve been watching us,” She breathed.


Kingsley hadn’t expected the case to take the turn that it had, and it was on him. He shouldn’t have forced Magnolia off of it completely, especially when she would’ve seen something like this coming. His regrets ate at him as he made his way into one of the various private waiting rooms in the Auror department- designed to comfort families while they waited for what was often bad news. This situation felt no different, going into a room to deliver news to a family. Only this time it was personal.

“I had Williamson and Harper collect some of your clothes,” Kingsley said.

“Let me question Rabastan,” Maggie demanded without missing a beat.

Ignoring her, Kingsley continued, “We’ll be moving you to a safe house. Who you have as your secret keeper is up to you, but due to his position on this case, Ron cannot be.”

“There was a reason he was sitting in my house, Kingsley. He wants to talk to me,” Maggie huffed and glared.

“Which is exactly why you will not be talking to him,” Charlie snapped.

“Charlie’s correct, Magnolia,” Kingsley said.

“You’re not going to get any information you need if you don’t let me at him,” Maggie argued.

“You’re five months pregnant, Magnolia. It’s not happening.” Charlie grabbed her hand firmly.

“He was going to ambush one of you, we know that for sure,” Kingsley interrupted, “We’re doing everything we can right now. And that includes sending you three into hiding. We don’t know if there are other loose Death Eaters working with them, we don’t know what they’re planning. This is the safest option.”

Maggie’s eyes flashed, as she spoke, “You know, my mum and godfather were sent into hiding with me while she was pregnant because that was the safest option. Look what happened to them, when they weren’t allowed to fight.” Charlie bounced Teddy on his knee when he babbled for the first time in a while. He was oddly good at sensing moods for a baby, Charlie thought, and had remained calm for most of the day. Apparently now he thought it a good time to make noise, as if sensing the fact that Maggie needed it at the moment.

Kingsley was gaping at the young woman in front of him.

Charlie was the one to break the silence, “Magnolia, you and I discussed this. You interrogating the man who broke into our house? Not happening. We are going to a safe house; we need to go into hiding. This isn’t about fighting. It’s about protecting our children.”

Maggie looked like she wanted to argue but somehow, didn’t. Instead she sighed and looked at Kingsley, “Will you at least send me case files? I… I can’t do nothing, Kingsley.”

Kingsley nodded, “I’ll have them sent with your supplies each week.”

“Healer appointments… Maggie has several of them a month. What about those?” Charlie interrupted.

“Are they mandatory?” Kingsley asked.

Charlie looked at Maggie helplessly. She pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I’m pregnant- of course they are,” She was obviously exasperated.

“I’d rather have almost no one know your location,” Kingsley murmured to himself, “I think if it’s the busiest hours of the day it won’t be a major issue… But you can’t bring Teddy.”

“Could we leave him with my mum?” Charlie asked.

“Once a week. That’s it. Don’t leave the house any other time,” Kingsley all but demanded, “Hopefully we’ll have them captured by the time you… give birth.”

Charlie and Maggie exchanged a look as they realized the implication- she may be giving birth hidden away, far from her family and friends.

And suddenly, the dam broke. Tears poured down her face as she began to sob, gripping Charlie’s knee. She bent over in her chair as it all hit her. Everything from the past six and a half years was being shoved into her face. All the fighting, all the death, was it really for nothing? Here she was, a mother at 18 with the second on the way, still in danger.

All Charlie could do was hold her and their son while she wept. He was helpless. They were helpless.


August 26th, 1999

"Only a few more weeks," Charlie grinned broadly as he readied to apparate them home, clutching the newest image of their child in his hands.

"A few more weeks and we can kiss sleeping through the night goodbye," Maggie bemoaned.

"Darling," He sent her a pointed look, "You hardly do that as it is."

She pouted. He kissed that look off her lips with a small laugh.

Things were good.

Notes:

Two or three more chapters, y'all.