The house was empty. Artemis pulled Charlie inside, where the familiar surroundings of the Weasleys' kitchen were quiet around them.

When she kissed him, he let go of her hand and brought both of his to her face, his thumbs resting on her cheeks and his fingers at her hairline. She kicked off her shoes, rested her bag down on the kitchen counter, and ran her palms up his chest until she reached his bow tie. Tugging slightly, she worked at the knot so that it came to hang loose around his neck.

Meanwhile, Charlie's hands began to travel down her body. As they reached her waist, he manoeuvred her to the middle of the room. He pulled his wand out of his back pocket and placed it on the kitchen table so that he could lean back against it, and his fingers dug slightly into her hips as he pulled her towards him.

"How long do you think we have?" she whispered, fingers fiddling with the buttons at the collar of his shirt.

"Speeches are in fifteen minutes."

"Won't anyone come looking for us before then?"

"No," was Charlie's reply. Artemis could feel his words as much as she could hear them, softly murmured against her skin as he started to trail kisses down her neck to her collarbone."I made up an excuse. They'll leave us alone."

"What did you tell them?" Artemis asked, her voice already breathy. Charlie paused, and pulled his lips away from her sternum to stare at her. "What?"

"We have all of fifteen minutes and you really want to know what rubbish I've spouted to keep everyone away? Does it matter?"

"No, you're right. Waste of time. As you were."

Charlie shook his head and chuckled, lowering his mouth to — as she could have predicted — Artemis' breasts. She let out a small moan and brought her hands down to untuck his shirt from his trousers, using her fingers to gently trace the lines where the muscles of his lower abdomen ended above his hips. He pulled her even closer, and she smiled as she felt him stiffen against her for the second time that afternoon.

This time, though, Charlie was responding in kind. He released his hold on her hips to run his palms down her thighs and back up again, bunching up the material of her dress as he went. He moved almost tantalisingly slowly, so that by the time his calloused fingertips grazed the top of her thighs, she could feel her yearning for him like a knot in her core. He continued to tease her with gentle touches that moved closer and further away again as he kissed his way back up her neck to her earlobe.

"Well, we both know there's nothing else in my way now," he said wryly, and a moment later, his fingers were exploring the wetness between her legs. His lips moved back to hers, and she felt them curve into a smile as she sighed against them, her hips already gently bucking against his hand.

Determined even now not to let him get the better of her so easily, her hands found his belt. Her fumbling fingers made less light work of it than they would normally, but it wasn't long before she was able to feel him through just his boxers. A few moments later, those were unbuttoned as well. She continued to work him, firmly massaging the length of his erection, feeling it twitch in her palm as his breath became ragged.

In response, Charlie upped the ante, drawing rough circles with his fingers before delving them into her, curving them to form a question mark. But just as she thought she had the answer, he moved his hand away entirely.

"Why did you stop?" she asked him.

"To do this," said Charlie's low voice. A second later, he had hoisted Artemis up, lifting her up from the ground with his hands under her bum.

Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and legs around his waist, and he carried her to the side of the room, resting her back against the wall.

"Smooth," Artemis muttered. Charlie shrugged nonchalantly, but from the expression on his freckled face she could tell that he was feeling pretty pleased with himself. "How long have you been wanting to pull that move?"

"A while," he replied, his proud-looking half-smile not slipping one bit. "This seemed like the right time for it."

"Agreed. You know, I've always thought those muscles were wasted on dragons."

"Definitely. Now, just hold still a second."

"Why?"

"This bit's a bit more fiddly, and I now feel like I need to keep up this smooth thing so I can carry on impressing you."

"You always impress me."

Charlie kissed her forehead, before concentrating on slowly lowering her down onto him. As he did, Artemis drew a deep shaky breath.

"That alright?" he asked.

"More than alright."

Artemis kissed him. He returned the kiss, using his tongue to open her mouth and tenderly pushing a strand of hair back from her face. As the kiss began to deepen, she pulled away and looked him straight in the eye.

"Charlie. We're on a tight schedule."

"Oh, yeah. Forgot about that."

He moved his hand from her face to the wall beside her head and started to thrust against her, into her, slow and deliberate. Her mouth found his again, and his teeth grazed her bottom lip. As he continued, Artemis buried one hand in his hair, and grasped at the fabric of the back of his shirt with the other, pulling him closer to her. She wanted him closer, needed him closer. As if he knew, Charlie's movements became harder and heavier.

A moan escaped her lips and her back arched towards him, the crown of her head hitting the wall behind her loudly and painfully as she threw it back. Instinctively, Charlie moved his hand from the wall in an attempt to cushion the blow. The attempt was unsuccessful, but Artemis' own hand took hold of it. Their fingers entangled together, and Charlie brought both up above her head as he moved faster still, each buck of his hips causing her breath to hitch.

It was quickly becoming too much for both of them. A heat started to rise in Artemis, burning its way through her until she could stand it no longer. She buried her face into Charlie's shoulder as fireworks went off in her head, bursting in a myriad of colour and light that only she could see.

While the light behind her eyes was still fading, Charlie followed suit, his final thrust turning into a jerk as he also crashed and burned inside her. They clung to one another for a moment as they recovered, both still panting and trembling.

After one more clumsy kiss, Artemis was lifted up and lowered down so that her feet were on solid ground, her legs almost giving way as she bore weight on them. Charlie waited until she was standing steady before letting go of her and taking a step backwards.

"How's your head?" he asked, doing his fly back up and tucking his shirt back into his waistband.

"Fine. Well, no. It hurts, but I don't care. Worth it," said Artemis. She smoothed down her dress and started trying to help him with his bow tie, not that she knew what she was doing on that front. "Good move, we should try that again some day."

"I intend to. When you least expect it. It's a stealth move, that one."

"Sure. Are we late for the speeches?"

Charlie checked his watch above her head.

"We've actually got a minute left," he said, looking and sounding pleasantly surprised. "Well done, us."

He opened his palm and held it up to Artemis, who stopped struggling with his tie for a second to hi-five him. Looking back at the still-loose bow tie, she sighed, fetched Charlie's wand from the table, and pointed it at the fabric around his neck. It immediately formed a passably neat bow.

She handed the wand to its rightful owner, and attempted to neaten up her hair using the window as a mirror, to little avail. Luckily, her hair had been messy before she even left the marquee.

"Will that do?" she asked Charlie, who stood behind her to assess the damage.

"Yes, it looks very pretty." He wrapped his arms around her and placed a kiss on her right shoulder. "Right. Speeches?"

"Speeches."

Less dishevelled now, the two of them made their way back out through the garden, hand in hand, talking quietly. Suddenly, Charlie stopped dead in his tracks and let go of Artemis' hand. She frowned at him.

"What?"

"Here," he said, and after a quick glance around them, reached into his pocket. "You should probably take your knickers back."

Artemis grinned and took her pants back from Charlie. She pulled out her wand, and with two quick movements, vanished and conjured them again, so that she was wearing them once more.

"I knew that would get your attention."