"You know, after that I think I might be pregnant."

At the sound of Charlie's comment, Artemis lifted her head from his chest and stared at him. She was going to say something sarcastic, but at the sight of his boyish grin, she laughed instead. She lowered her head back down and felt his hands running through her hair. Placing her hand on his torso in front of her, she started to let her fingers dance over his skin, tracing patterns in his map of freckles like constellations. There was still one small doubt at the back of her mind.

"Charlie?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you say that I'm a part of your family?"

Charlie's chest rose and fell as he took a deep breath.

"I would, yeah," he said, quietly. Artemis' eyebrows stopped knitting together. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason. Just something your mum said earlier, when she was trying to marry us off."

"What was that?"

"It's nothing really. Just that if we got married I'd be a real member of your family, that's all."

Charlie shifted his position so that he was propped up on his elbow, and Artemis moved off his chest.

"She said that to you?"

"It's fine, Charlie."

"No, it's not." Charlie shook his head, and brushed her cheek with his thumb. "That's not okay, Artie. I'll talk to her."

Artemis blinked at him.

"What?" he said, and he raised his eyebrows at her. "I can do that now."

"Do you want me to make you a certificate?"

"Very funny."

"I mean, if you really want to talk to her about it, you can. You can do it when we go back to help take down the marquee tomorrow."

"See, the thing is, I was thinking that maybe we don't need to help. I mean, how many people does it take to put down a marquee, really? Maybe we just shouldn't go." At the look on Artemis' face, Charlie grinned sheepishly. "I'm only joking. If you want me to mention it to her I will. Promise."

"Nah, don't worry. I actually spoke to your dad, and he said marriage was just a signature on a bit of paper and didn't matter."

"Definitely won't be mentioning that to Mum."

"Best not," said Artemis, and she shuffled so that she and Charlie were lying face to face. "I just wanted to see what you thought, that's all."

"Right. Well, I'm with Dad on this one. You're definitely my family."

"I know that. I was thinking more about your actual family."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I always thought that I was kind of one of you, like I belonged. But after your dad's speech about loving us because we love you, and especially when your mum said that, it made me think that maybe the only reason they think I fit in is because you do. That they love me for you, and not for myself, if you see what I mean."

"I do see what you mean, but that's not how it is at all. I don't come into the equation. They love you. Just you. How could they not?"

Artemis didn't say anything. She rolled over to look up at the ceiling, where through the skylight she could see the moon but not the stars. She felt the mattress move, and knew that Charlie had done the same.

"Would you ever want to do all that?" he said, speaking into the darkness. "Get married and have babies and everything?"

Artemis frowned. She didn't really like babies. As much as she loved Victoire and Dominique for the simple reason that they were Bill's children and her goddaughters, she wouldn't want to have to be the one with them strapped to her all day, every day. Not to mention that she still struggled to even look at little Teddy Lupin, the way her own mother had struggled to look at her. If that was any indication of what she'd be like as a parent, she was better off not being one.

And if Arthur was right, and marriage really was just a signature on a piece of paper and weddings were less fun when they were your own, what was the point? Especially if it meant sacrificing a part of yourself, like Ginny had been worried about, she wasn't sure she wanted that either.

Yes, it would make Molly happy, but it wasn't really Molly's choice, was it? It was hers. She made her own choices. She did what she wanted. She was free.

"No," she said eventually. "Never. What about you?"

"I don't know. I kind of always thought that one day I'd get married and have children, but I'm not sure if that's something I actually want or whether it's just because that's what everyone else does, and what they all expect me to do as well." Artemis felt Charlie shrug beside her. "Maybe one day. Definitely not now, though."

"But one day you might?"

"Maybe. I really don't know."

"And if you do, what then? What about me?"

There was a pause, and then Charlie sat up. He turned so that he was facing the headboard, and pulled Artemis upright so that she was sitting facing him. Keeping hold of her hands, he ran his rough fingertips over her palms.

"Artemis, I don't know what I'm going to want when it comes to getting married or having children, but I do know that I'd never want to do all of that — any of that — with anyone but you."

"But I don't want to do any of that."

"I know. Listen," he put both of Artemis' hands into his right, and placed his left on the side of her face, his thumb resting on the small scar on her right cheekbone. "If it comes to the point where I have to make a choice between having none of those things with you or having any one of those things with someone else, I'm going to choose you. I will always choose you."

"You can't know that for sure."

"I'm more sure of that than I am of anything else in the world."

Artemis raised her eyebrows at him.

"Even dragons?"

"Even dragons."

She leaned forward and kissed him, slowly, and deeply, and lovingly. When their lips parted, they stayed with their foreheads resting together.

"You know, I don't like babies, but I do like kittens," Artemis whispered. "Maybe we could have some of those instead."

Charlie pulled his head away from hers and frowned.

"How?" he asked, his expression of disconcertion growing more pronounced by the second.

"You can just buy them, Charlie."

"Oh," Charlie exhaled. He looked suddenly relieved. "I thought you meant as in..."

"Ugh, no!" Artemis recoiled from him. "How would that even work?"

"I don't want to know," Charlie muttered. He shuddered, and then composed himself again. "What about dogs? You like dogs, don't you?"

"Yeah, but I'd prefer a cat."

"You already have Fergus. Let's get a dog."

"No, a cat."

"Dog."

"Cat."

"Baby?"

"Dog."

Charlie smiled triumphantly.

"I'm glad we agree," he said, and lay back down with his head on the pillow. Artemis stayed seated.

"Wait," she said, twisting around to look at him. "So, does this mean we're actually getting a dog, or was that a hyporhetorical thing?"

Charlie laughed, not unkindly, and reached out to stroke her arm.

"You know, I'm actually being serious. Let's get a dog. A really big one. One I can train to pin you to the ground when you're being annoying."

Artemis batted him gently and he laughed again.

"You really want us to get a dog?" she asked.

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

"I heard. This just seems like a very laid back way to decide to get a dog, that's all."

"Do you want it to be more formal?"

"No, I just—"

"I can make it more official if you like," Charlie sat back up. "Do you want me to get down on one knee?"

The daring look in his brown eyes and the smile causing his freckled cheeks to dimple were obvious, even in the very dim moonlight. Artemis reached up and pushed his red hair back from his ever-so-familiar face. That boy. That man. That person she'd grown to love. She smiled, as much to herself as to him.

"Yeah. I do."

THE END