Title: Teacher's Pet, Part 29
Author: gracerene
Pairing: Charlie/Draco
Word Count: ~400
Rating: PG this part, NC-17 overall
Warnings: professor/student
Challenge: hp_may_madness 2016 Day #29: Rain, slick, aqua
Author's Notes: Unbeta'd.

Part 28

Charlie sighed as he stared out his window at the dreary, rainy day. Fat raindrops dotted the glass, creating slick water trails as gravity pushed them down the window pane. He supposed that, if he had to be stuck inside marking papers, it might as well be cold and wet outside. On the other hand, the blustery day made Charlie want to find Draco and drag him back to Charlie quarters so they could spend the day in bed.

Unfortunately, the seventh year projects weren't going to mark themselves, and he didn't think his students would take kindly to having a year's worth of hard work being shunted aside so their professor could have a shag—brilliant though it inevitably would be.

He took another sip of tea from his mug—an aqua monstrosity that held a truly obscene amount of liquid—and set to work.

It was late when Charlie finally resurfaced; the dull grey light of the day had darkened to an inky black. The raindrops on the window glittered in the flickering candlelight like hundreds of ephemeral beetles. There was a steak and ale pie still steaming at his elbow, and he sent a silent prayer of thanks to the wonderful house elves before digging in.

He realised as he ate that he'd gone an entire day without seeing Draco, and the thought made his insides twist. Not the least because he knew that, in a few short weeks, Draco would be leaving Hogwarts for good. He knew they were on the same page about wanting to continue with their relationship, but Charlie was also aware that their ability to acknowledge their relationship in public would come with a new set of problems. Draco still didn't know what he wanted to do once he left, and Charlie wasn't sure how their fledgling relationship would handle the distance on top of all of the other obstacles they'd have to overcome.

It was going to be challenging, and Charlie was grateful that he'd have the summer off to hopefully spend with Draco, building up their relationship. There were a lot of conversations that they would need to be having over the coming months, and Charlie wanted to make sure they were on solid ground when they finally got around to having them

Just a few short weeks and everything would change. As terrifying as the thought was though, Charlie knew that he was ready for it.

They were ready for it.

Part 30