#charlie weasley preview

[once-upon-an-imagine]

I have an ask for a preview if you want.👋

Like one of the Charlie fics you got in your WIP? 🙏❤️😂

I have two Charlie fics in my WIPs and I literally have one conversation for each of them so... nothing 😂😂😂 any ideas/suggestions are more than welcome!

request preview or dialogue

She Is Love

Charlie loves to make you blush and nervous because he knows you have a crush on him and he has a crush on you, but he doesn’t like it when someone else makes you blush or nervous.   

“Whoa, careful there, love” you heard him. 

Of course, he would be here. And of course, he would witness the moment you almost fell from the ladder while placing products on the top shelf.

********************************************** I’m Yours

Even if you’ve been friends with the twins forever, your boyfriend Charlie still feels a little bit jealous of how close you are with his two younger brothers.  

“Do we have to go?”

“Yes, Charlie. We have to go” you chuckled as you continued packing while your boyfriend just sat on the bed, grabbing everything you put in the bag and taking it out. “Stop doing that!”

“I don’t wanna go” he complained. 

“Charlie!” you chuckled. “Why don’t you want to go? We’re seeing your family!”

“I know, that’s why I don’t want to go!”

[stashandtell]

Nobody Asked For This: My Rankings of the Hermione x Weasley Ships with REASONS

I drafted this weeks ago and had set it aside with no clear plan to publish it. Then, after a stroke of 2 AM genius this morning, I wrote a piece called Ranking the Weasleys, (to be posted on 19 Sept 2024 in honor of Hermione's birthday) and it seemed like a great time to finalize this post and share it. Feel free to tell me your rankings in the comments, be it your list of the fittest Weasley as you find them or your ranked-list of pairings with Weasleys, whatever you fancy to share. Enjoy! - - - - I made a loooong post with recs for each of my top Hermione/Weasley ships that you can check out here. Read Ranking the Weasleys or see the related post where I talk about writing Ranking the Weasleys and I share just a few initial thoughts on the fetishization of war wounds in the fandom here. - - - - I've recently dove into the world of Hermione x Any-Of-The-Weasley-Brothers pairings, which is what happens when you're burnt out on the regular ships you read and looking for something more. Personally, I'm surprised I gravitate towards so many Hermione-focused pairings, especially het pairings, but that's just what I've been into lately. I hadn't considered pairings with her and any of the Weasleys until someone recommended Charmione fics in a thread for Theomione. Once I dug into the fandom's characterizations of the Weasley brood and had a better sense of who each of them were on their own, I found I really like many of these ships, some more than others. The rankings of my top-three rotate pretty regularly depending on the last great fic I've devoured. This is a snapshot of where things stand today but it could move around. Before we dive in, I've preview my rankings and the major themes of the pairings in the most popular fics shipping Hermione with a Weasley. 1. Bill: Wolf-ish Daddy 2. Fred: Uplifting, Fun, and Romantic 3. Charlie: Sexy and Rugged 4. George: Growing Through Grief 5. Percy: Acceptance of Self, Also Rules Daddy 6. Ginny: A Firecracker and a Friend 7. Ron: Angsty Best Friends-to-Lovers 8. Gideon or Fabian: Time Travel AU or Ghost Lover(s) 9. Arthur or Molly: I haven't read these ships so they're going in the bottom of the list. I'm not opposed to reading these pairings but there's already such a trove with all the brothers in my tbr list that I'm not sure I'll ever dive in. 10. Weasley Progeny: I haven't read any of these ships. I have not read many pairings that include anyone dating their friends' kid in the next generation. (Though I have read a small number of fics pairing characters like Hermione or Ginny with older characters like Kingsley or Sirius...shoutout to the older/younger Nottcissa ship.) 11. Aunt Murial: Technically she's a Prewett but I think I would be into a Murmione ship if we got there. So far nothing comes up on AO3. - - - - 1. Billmione: What I love about a Hermione x Bill dynamic is his position as oldest-sibling and caretaker. If the author has resolved the relationship with Fleur as one that has ended in divorce or death, that extra element of emotional tenderness really can push the story to complex depths. I also find it interesting to see how writers engage with Bill's hybrid/half-werewolf affliction. I'm hard-pressed to really fall in love with any Billmione fic where their relationship starts pre-Battle of Hogwarts, though I do get it. I personally enjoy stories that can be canon compliant so I want to see how the Fleur issue is handled. I also find that with such a significant age-gap for that developmental stage of teenager-dom, (not like Fleur was THAT much older than Hermione but still...), it's incredibly rewarding to see an older Hermione that brings some kind of life experience to the relationship so she can be more equal with Bill.

In some of the fics, especially a few of the multi-Weasley, reverse-harem style pieces I've finally started reading, Bill's older-brother position and wolfy streak create the core dynamic of the group.

I'm not the biggest fan of the multi-Weasley pairings with Hermione but what I loved most in the standout fics are the group dynamics and individual roles that come out. Hermione can be incredibly stubborn and independent on her own and it's always interesting when she's in opposition to Bill to see how the others in their relationship choose sides.

- - - - 2. Fremione: On it's face, I don't even know if I like this ship all that much but I keep finding myself suckered in. I suspect a big part of it is that it hits me in the sentimental feels. My inner-teen just loves a Hermione x Fred story that traces their young love to whatever conclusion the author brings it to. Even if they get together when they're older and Fred lives through the final battle, they both usually end up with a friends-to-lovers scenario that's full of light sweetness and sometimes romance.

There are some truly fantastic works in this ship and I go 50/50 on whether I prefer ones where Fred lives or not. Depends on my mood and the tone of the story I suppose. There are very few stories in this pairing that I haven't enjoyed and the element of pranking really can make shorter fics fun.

I REALLY enjoy past Hermione/Fred relationships being included in fics where she looks back on their love fondly while she navigates new relationships, sometimes with one of his brothers. Fred is often portrayed as a goof, which seems to encourage authors to consistently write a more engaging and dynamic version of Hermione instead of following some of the fanon's (beloved by me as well) personality tropes/traps of her being insecure, slow-to-assert-herself, angry-broken-or-both and etc. His character brings out some of her best qualities consistently across fics, imo.

- - - - 3. Charmione: I quickly realized when I started reading Charmione fanfics that I do not give a shit about dragons but deeply wish I did. It's a cool plot device and part of the world to hang out with but it's not for me. Tons of appreciation for writers who have thoughtful plot lines and research interesting medical maladies-- but it's hard to hold my interest. (A million kudos when a dragon-centered fic does though!) The Reserve is usually full of original characters, which is fine, but I find myself less invested in the story if we don't know much about these OCs to build out that world.

I often find in the dragon-reserve heavy pieces that I was getting part-way through were objectively GOOD multi-chapters but I kept stalling out in favor of reading something else. Usually whenever there's a Hermione that ends up at the dragon Reserve, she's characterized by her unyielding passions for creatures' rights, spurred on by house elf and werewolf activism. Those are interesting characterizations for her but they just don't keep my attention. That said, I have yet, to date DNF'd any Charmione work so clearly it's not a huge imposition. That said, Charmione is in the top third because there's so much that can be done with this character. I've read a number of fics where Charlie is ace (asexual, demisexual, etc.); where's he's inexperienced because he's married to his job; where he's "too free-spirited" and very experienced; where he's enthusiastically bisexual; where he's not interested in marriage; where he's pining over Tonks; and so much more. His sporadic attendance at family holidays and the ability for Hermione or others to visit him on the Reserve lends to great plot opportunities.

- - - - 4. Geormione: I haven't been around long enough to fully understand why Fremione is a more popular ship than Geormione, but here are some observations: - Fred is portrayed in the fandom as the more loveable, airy goof while George tends to be painted as the more serious and quiet of the two - Generally, in the canon, Fred speaks more than George, from what I've been seeing, as I notate up my secondhand copies of the books - Fred's death or, depending on the fic, brush-with-death, is ripe for the reimagining of his relationships and personality - According to internet gossip, Hermione with Fred were considered for pairing in the canon originally but it didn't suit the overall plans for the series. Source for this can not be verified but it's come up in multiple places. I believe this contributes to the numbers: Fremione has 2182 works and Geormione has 548 works on AO3, as I draft this. All that said, George is usually characterized as the quieter and possibly more serious twin. He might be more shy than the outgoing Fred. Post-war, he often mourns the loss of his twin brother, his best friend, and his sense of himself as part of the pair which can, frankly, be kind of a drag if a writer is looking for a pairing to write a hot romance about. (Not that people can't be sexy or have healthy sexual relationships while grieving!) However, when works take the journey to establish Hermione and George, it's often incredibly rewarding. It tends to feel like Fremione with the temperature turned down on the lightness and has the ability to go deeper into any darkness that needs to be explored. I do love a Geormione but there are statistically fewer works out there than some of the other pairings, thus it's earned it's spot mid-tier. - - - - 5. Permione: There's not much to say because there aren't that many longer fics with this pairing written and most times it's tied to a Hermione x Multi-Weasley scenario. This gets the 5th and some days I would rank it higher because there are worlds in which this is the actual correct pairing of all of the brothers, based on what we can surmise from the canon.

A swotty, uptight prefect-turned-Ministry drone with a regretful heart of gold, Percy's guilt over abandoning his family and Fred dying before him is well-matched for how many writers imagine Hermione's coping with the aftermath of the war. Hermione would have known him during some prime formative years and knows he'll date muggle-born or half-blood witches, a la Penelope Clearwater. It's easy to dismiss Percy as being "not fanciable" if you don't read this ship but some of the writers out there make a compelling case for him, particularly when they make a logical transition from his personal fastidiousness to him seeking to play with control and BDSM elements in his private affairs. I love a good Permione piece. He's often positioned as the conservative punching bag of the family and it's a thing of art when a writer makes us root hard for him.

- - - - 6. Herminny: I haven't much of anything in this pairing yet. Truthfully, I've been holding off on it because I'm sure I'll do a deep dive once I start. It shouldn't come as a surprise that I've read almost no Harmony works either. I love a F/F fic but tend to read in waves and I've been working my way through the Weasley brothers pairings (when I'm not refreshing for Nevmione and Theomione works.) If you have any excellent recs for Herminny or other pairings name, please drop me a line! The reason Herminny is above Romione is because I love many of the fanon characterizations of Ginny in all the other fics I've read, especially when she's mischievous, cheeky, in tune with her sexuality, and ready to take on her own adventures in the world. The ones I have read where she and Hermione have been together were lovely but most were very short fics in collections. - - - - 7. Romione: I read A LOT of Hermione-centered works and authors very often find a need to resolve the young romance with Ron or use him and their relationship as a catalyst that propels our heroine down a path into the arms of another man. I can honestly say that I have read ZERO Romione endgame fics to date, and that includes one shots AND drabbles (~100k words or less.) WILD, right?

I really enjoy angst and Ron is one of the punching bags most often leaned on by writers. One of these days, I'm going to go on a Romione bender as an offering of penance to his character for all of the times I rooted against him in every other fic.

- - - - 8. Lowest Tier: I have never read a Hermione x Molly nor an Hermione x Arthur fic, and while I'm not fundamentally opposed, I'd be flabbergasted to find either pairing beating Romione. I'd much sooner read an Arthur/Molly fic than one that ships either with Hermione because that's just where I'm at right now. I'm happy reading works that aren't smutty in any way but damn if some smut doesn't help along a work that really isn't capturing my interest. While I love when I see versions of Arthur and Molly who are loving friends and/or parental figures to Hermione, the angst-lover in me doesn't mind a solid bashing of either of them and it's hard to get that out of my head. As for the other possible pairs with Hermione and Gideon, Fabian, Murial, or the children of the other Weasleys, I'm just not well-read enough in any of those pairings to have an opinion. I literally only started reading Marauders-era works two weeks ago (and really ONLY well-known Wolfstar fics so far.) A Note About Fleur: One character who's excluded from this list is Fleur Weasley nee' Delacour. I've only read triad- or multi-Weasley fics that put Hermione with her and Bill. While I do love a Bill/Fleur/Hermione work, it seemed disingenuous to rank Fleurmione against the others with what little I've read. That and I'm so clearly jazzed about a Billmione where Bill's free-and-clear to be with whoever, that my ranking of Fleurmione would be heavily biased.

[livinginshambles]

Preview: I want to be loved first | James Potter

Pairing: James Potter x Fem!Reader

Summary: Established relationship and angst to fluff: James still loves Lily, it's clear to you. You try to ignore the way your heart aches when you always seem to be second on his mind, knowing you will never compare to her and unsure how much more you can take.

Notes: Sorry, this is not a second part of the last fic. It's just a random one shot that popped up in my brain because I was inspired. I'm still writing it, but I wanted to let you guys know.

Masterlist

______________________

People have often told you that you needed to toughen up and grow a spine. That your lack of backbone had everyone trample on you like you were a crosswalk, and you could definitely say that they were right.

Perhaps that’s why you were crying in the middle of the night because of James Potter. He was laying behind you, pressed against your back with an arm draped over you. His face was hidden in the back of your neck, breathing steadily against it as he slept peacefully, unaware of the heartache he was causing you when he whispered Lily’s name. Again.

When he’d done it the first time, your blood had run cold, goosebumps showing up and littering your bare arms. Tears had prickled in your eyes at his barely audible, mumbled confession. “Love you so much, Lily.”

You had turned around to face him and your rustling had woken him up. Eyes still closed, he'd groggily shifted and pulled you against his chest. “Everything alright, love?”

“Yeah, just a nightmare,” you had responded in a small voice. Your answer had him finally open his eyes, somewhat concerned. He had lifted his arm to yawn against it and then settled it back on top of you in such a way that his hand had easy access to your nape, drawing circles in attempt to calm you.

“I’ve got you, love. Nothing can hurt you, as long as I’m here,” he had assured you. Ironic.

Full fic

Taglist:

@elsie-bells @charlie-weasley-is-underrated @dreamingofmarauders @moonyslibrary98 @wildernessflora @hollandweather @queerqueenlynn @locklyebrainrot @thisrandombitch @grac3aph3lion @yrseline @earfquak3 @venomsvl @shrekscrustybudassy @middle-of-the-earth @sirene-noir @bettytaylorversion @littlepoisonmushroom @faumpje @iloveutwice @katelebate @moonysupremacy01 @marina468 @fangirl-kimora @bellesowl @badasswlthafatass @sjprongs @armydrcamers @its-a-ittle-bit-cold @ireallywannasleep127 @sayukoi @jsjcue @cashtons-wife

[witchofimber]

Hey, for @thethreebroomsticksfic Weasley Week I decided to write the most angsty shit possible for Molly Weasley. Below is a preview, rest of the work is on AO3.

Trigger Warnings: Postpartum depression (including intrusive thoughts about harm coming to a baby), complex family relationships, grief, surgery mention, smoking.

“When I became a mom, no one ever said, ‘Hey, you made a death today. You made your children’s deaths.’ Meanwhile, I could think of little else.” - Samantha Hunt 

Families have mythologies. There are stories that Molly’s children pass around like calling cards, touchstones. Ron stealing that car, Fred’s first word being “George” and George’s first word being “No.” The fact that Percy was the only baby born exactly on his due date, contractions starting right at five as if he’d politely waited for the end of business hours. How Ginny, Charlie and Bill came early, but Ron and the twins came late. How Charlie’s labour was only eight minutes, and Bill’s was nearly forty hours. As if the circumstances of birth would press into her children like wax. See? I knew who you’d be even then. I knew you right from the start. You were always going to be this person. 

Here’s something that she doesn’t tell her children: that for almost every second of those forty hours of labour, nineteen and terrified, she wanted to die. She begged for it. She begged for Arthur, for her brothers, for her mother. She begged the doctor to cut her open. Hour thirty-five, thrashing on the table - just cut it out! Cut it out cut it out get it out of me! 

If there’s a shape of his birth in Bill, it’s made of agony. 

---

When she thinks of those first few years of Bill, when she was still half a child and yet somehow a mother - 

Well, mostly she doesn’t think of them. There’s really no reason to, not anymore.

But if she were to - 

Arthur was working long hours. He had to, of course - junior ministry salaries weren’t meant to support a family. Overtime was the only thing that was keeping them fed. And he was such a good father when he was home. Not a word of complaint, not a hint that he was tired. Go to sleep, love, you need a nap. I’ll look after my little Bill. 

It was that possessive my that made Molly dig her fingernails into her palms. 

Oldest sons always belong to their fathers, don’t they? Arthur would bounce Bill on his knee and says he could be an auror, he could be minister, he could be a curse-breaker - all these grand futures he didn’t get to have himself, poured into the body of his son. 

Molly looked at Bill’s chubby face and thought he could be charging into the line of fire, he could be the target of an assassination, he could die alone on the floor of a dusty vault. She fed Bill in the kitchen and thought about all the knives around them, the kettle sitting full and hot like a taunt. She bathed him with her heart in her throat, barely blinking. She was constantly aware of all the things that could hurt him, including herself. After all, she didn’t love the baby. 

At forty-six, she knows now that this kind of obsessive fear was love - love done poorly, love swallowed by self-loathing, a conviction that Bill knew she wasn’t good enough for him. At twenty she would lie awake at night, thinking of all the things she’d done wrong and pinching the inside of her wrist. 

---

One week after the end of the war, and Ginny is the only child still in the house. Molly thought, automatically, that the whole brood would fly home to her. In the summer, when her children were still children, she would stand at the twilight doorway with a sonorous to her throat and watch them race across the meadows towards her, the kitchen windows their lighthouse across a sea of dark. Tall, rangy Bill herding Fred and George, Ron and Ginny chasing each other in squabbling circles, Percy with a mouth already full of complaints and accusations, Charlie loping slowly, always last. But Bill is with his own family now. Charlie is in Romania. Percy writes her fearful owls and avoids his father’s gaze. George is apparently drunk in the flats of various friends. Ron bounces between George and Harry, trying to watch over them, flooing back home to grab soup and hangover potion. So only Ginny - her much-loved girl, her longed-for daughter, her baby - is in the house, and that fact should not fill Molly with dread. 

Ginny has recently adopted a sort of omni-benevolent glow towards Molly, a tacit acknowledgement that she forgives her mother everything. Molly can’t be too angry about this. She did the same to her own mother. 

One night, passing the washing up silently between them, Molly says, “You know - dearest - if you were pregnant, I would be there for you.” 

“What? Mum, I’m not pregnant. I’m not even - no.” 

“I - good, that’s good, but - you know, whatever you need, whenever you need it. I’ll be there for you. I’ll never abandon you.” 

“Ok.” Ginny shoots her a half-amused glance under her eyelashes. “Is this you angling for grandbabies? Because, like, I’m pretty sure I’m last in the queue for that.” 

Some days Molly cannot remember why she ever wanted a daughter so desperately. It’s just another set of fears. 

---

Charlie appeared like a miracle or a Muggle magic trick. Step right up, see the lady step into the Ministry elevator! Watch her as the doors close - do you see her put her hand on her stomach? That faint frown? And now, on the ground floor the doors open and - ta dah! A baby! 

(And blood, of course, and two very shocked aurors. And Molly sitting half-naked on the floor of the lift, staring at Charlie in her arms. Too confused to be anything else. What are you doing here? she’d asked Charlie with her eyes, and he’d stared back - I don’t know, what am I doing here?) 

When Charlie was eight, they’d lost him. She remembers standing at the kitchen door, all her other children crowded around her, as she called his name over and over again. Thinking, stupidly, don’t let your voice crack, you’ll scare the children. Arthur and Bill had gone out with lanterns, searching down creeks and up dale, their voices getting further and further away until they disappeared under evening birdsong. And finally, at midnight, Charlie had emerged from the trees - right next to the house, he’d only been hiding in the branches. He must have heard her calling. 

She floocalls him at four, which is six for him. She knows the time difference by heart. It’s a thought that hasn’t left her since Charlie moved away. She’ll be doing the last of the washing up at ten, thinking about how Charlie is probably getting his last drink of the night in. She’ll roll over on a sleepless night to see it’s three am and know that thousands of miles and two hours away, Charlie is just beginning to get up. She is so used to Charlie’s hand on the clock pointing at work that it has become invisible. 

“How’s things?” says Charlie, no hello. 

“Good,” says Molly automatically, then - “Well. No.” 

“No, yeah. No.”

“How are the dragons?” 

Molly knows a lot about dragons now. She reads books on them when she has the time, asks Hermione questions, idly browses through Ron’s Care of Magical Creatures textbooks. She is aware, in a way that makes her prickle with guilt, that she does this so she has something to talk to Charlie about. 

“Good. Well, Andrei has this bonkers idea that he won’t let go of - there’s only one Welsh Green stud left in Eastern Europe, so he’s talking about trying to crossbreed…” 

He rattles on. Molly listens, nods, asks thoughtful questions. At the end, he says - “And… well… the political situation.” 

“Oh?”

“It’s complicated.”

“You could come back - “ Home - “here.” 

Charlie snorts. “Oh, yeah, Britain. Very politically stable at the moment.”

“We could be together again. As a family.” She doesn’t say your family needs you. She has finally learnt, after years of mistakes, that that’s not a lever that will ever work on Charlie. “I could take care of you.” 

“I’m fine, Mum.” 

“I know, but darling - “

“I just - I need to be here, you know? Or I - I can’t be there. I can’t come back.” 

When Charlie had emerged from the trees age eight, looking cold and distant, she’d grabbed him by the shoulders and nearly shaken him with the force of her love. Where were you? What were you doing? Didn’t you hear me calling? 

I did, he said, I just didn’t want to come in. 

But why didn’t you come back?

He’d stared at her, a little blankly. I told you. I didn’t want to come in. 

Read the rest here

[invisible-slytherclaw]

Hi guys! I’m back to writing!!!!

With my one of my lovely best friends motivating me on, we are writing a collaborative work on Ao3, which will also be posted on my Wattpad later. As a little treat for the holidays, I am posting the summary, the first few paragraphs of the work and the link to finish reading the chapter if you like it, so here it goes:

Summary

Join the Cast of Holby and Casualty as part of the Harry Potter universe. Between classes, wizard duels, Voldemort’s return and everything in between, join three unlikely heroes in the journey to saving Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Chapter 1: Prologue (preview)

31st October, 1998

Kevin had already gone to bed by the time Jools had been awoken by her child's whimpering cries. Sensing something was wrong, Jools pulled out her wand and raced to Sah's bedroom, where she found her child crying in their crib, a haunting figure standing over them.

Jools waved her wand, snarling as she walked into the room. "Depulso!" She yelled. A bolt of light blue energy flew at the figure, pushing them back. The figure crashed against the wall, knocking over the bookshelf.

This did not deter the figure, however, and he regained his stamina quickly before starting to retaliate. "Expelliarmus!" He yelled.

However, to Jools ears, this was drowned by the send of Kevin shouting "Protego", sending the red spark of the figure's spell shooting off and creating a dent in the wall at the back of the room.

"Take Sah and run, Jools. Get out of the house." Kevin ground out, taking an offensive stance in front of his wife and child. Jools tried to argue, but the figure was already flicking his wand.

Here’s the link: <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/52348942"><strong>Sah Brookner and the Philosopher’s Stone</strong></a> (952 words) by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Helluva_Hazbin_Boss"><strong>Helluva_Hazbin_Boss</strong></a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/invisible_slytherclaw"><strong>invisible_slytherclaw</strong></a><br />Chapters: 1/?<br />Fandom: <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Harry%20Potter%20-%20J*d*%20K*d*%20Rowling">Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Casualty%20(TV)">Casualty (TV)</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Holby%20City">Holby City</a><br />Rating: Teen And Up Audiences<br />Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings<br />Relationships: Paige Allcott/Theodore "Teddy" Gowan<br />Characters: Sah Brockner, Henrik Hanssen, Dominic Copeland, Theodore "Teddy" Gowan, Stevie Nash (Casualty), Faith Cadogan, Paige Allcott, Ginny Weasley, Percy Weasley, Bill Weasley, Josh Hudson, Gaynor Gowan, Max Cristie (Casualty), Dylan Keogh, Charlie Fairhead, Kevin Brockner, Jools Brockner, Jan Jenning, Cameron Dunn, Ange Goddard<br />Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting<br />Series: Part 1 of <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/series/3892777">Harry Potter/Casualty Crossover</a><br />Summary: <p>Join the Cast of Holby and Casualty as part of the Harry Potter universe. Between classes, wizard duels, Voldemort’s return and everything in between, join three unlikely heroes in the journey to saving Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.</p>

I hope you enjoy and happy holidays 😊

[writersmacchiato]

wip title tag game !!

tagged by @interwebseriesfan24 thank you for the tag, this was so fun!!

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! Then tag as many people as you have WIPs

Putting a read more because there’s 36… 🥹

Knowing Me, Knowing You (Charlie Dalton SMAU)

Love-struck | Billy Batson

Gerard Pitts is the type of boyfriend who…

October/Halloween ooey gooey fluff with Billy Batson

Flirty awkwardness | Peter Pevensie

Salty Reunion | Edmund Pevensie

Sodapop/Reader, Kenickie x reader

Foolish One | Billy Batson

Common Sense | Billy Batson

Billy Batson | Former foster kids, reunite, flashback to time together as foster kids

Some taylor swift song title | quill kipps

*gulps* writing for Fred makes me nervous but I’ll do my best for you <3

sweet nothings | quill kipps

Paper Rings | Ethan Landry

Foe or Friend or… Lover? | George Karim

Late Night Giggles | George Karim

Francesco Pazzi x Medici!Reader

You’re an idiot (it stands for I love you) Charlie Dalton

Secrets & Confessions | Ben Gross

Harry Potter Characters as fanfic tropes

Satellite | Harry Potter

Being besties with the golden trio and also bullying Harry who dishes it back until one day you realize you have actual feelings for him LOL

All You Had to Do Was Stay | Knowing Me, Knowing You prologue!!!

The Very First Night | Johnny Cade

Put A Little Love on Me | Gerard Pitts

Betty | Steven Meeks

Percy Weasley song prompt

Monster Song | Gerard Pitts {Supernatural AU}

August | Harry Potter

The flaws of the Pevensies in a relationship

Chew on my Heart | Edmund x Reader, Eventual!Peter x Reader

Lovesick | Zuko

Speechless | Sokka

You’re Still the One | Sokka

Ironically a draft of fic ideas (not listed here😭) that are going to haunt me until I write them

Grilled Cheese | Gerard Pitts

GOODBYE THIS IS SO HUMBLING!!!! These vary from one paragraph to several PAGES of paragraphs.

Please send in asks about these! I would love to post about them and give previews! It might even motivate me to finish one ;)) xx

Tagging anyone who would like to do this!! I dont know 36 blogs to tag

[yoselin-uyu]

Dragon clases~

So when i saw the Preview Challenge for the Fourth Task by @slytherincursebreaker i just had to draw charlie wanting to teach joshua about dragons for the next task, but she can't resist hugging charlie seeing him so focused and passionate about dragons !!

[the-al-chemist]

Eyes Up

A/N: firstly, I have a confession. I am cheating slightly with my contribution for today’s prompt, “Late”. This scene is not actually a new story written especially for @lifeofkaze’s Valentine’s challenge, but an extract from an existing WIP. The currently unnamed “Hinny Wedding Wip” takes place circa 2002, and is a farce comedy centred around a Weasley family wedding. The fic is pretty much written, but it needs a lot of editing, so this is the opening sequence as it stands. A sneak preview, if you will. Warnings: references to certain parts of female anatomy, one single swear word. Tagging: @samshogwarts who asked for a tag on this one (I wonder why…)

Valentine’s Challenge Masterlist

Charlie perched on the arm of a sofa, tapping one foot on the ground impatiently. The door opened, and he stood up, but was disappointed to see that the person entering the room wasn’t a person at all, but a strawberry-blonde cat, whose fur was grey around the face. Charlie sighed.

“What is taking her so long?” he asked, his question directed to himself as much as the cat. He looked at his watch, shook his head, and walked into the hallway to call up the stairs, “Artemis! We are going to be late!”

“What’s the time?” a woman’s voice called back to him.

“It’s half past ten!”

“That’s fine! It doesn’t start until eleven and it only takes a second to Apparate.”

Charlie made his way up the stairs. At the top, he leant against the wall opposite the bathroom, from which he could hear the sound of Artemis rummaging through a bag.

“Artie, I don’t want to rush you, but I was meant to be there over ten minutes ago,” he said, somehow managing to keep his voice level despite his mounting impatience. “I’m an usher, remember?”

“I know, I know. Stop nagging me, you sound like your mother.”

“Never say that again,” Charlie grinned. “Look, are you nearly done, or should I just go on without-”

Charlie didn’t finish his sentence. The bathroom door swung open to reveal a bare-footed woman with hazel eyes and dark hair that had been pulled back from her face into an artfully messy bun. His eyes swept her five foot tall frame, taking in the way the wine-coloured fabric of her dress skimmed her hips, and clung to her chest. The dress was low-cut, with thin straps over the shoulders and a semi-transparent floaty fabric that extended from each side of the bust to drape over her upper arms, leaving her shoulders and collarbone exposed.

“I’m done,” said Artemis, holding her arms out from her sides to demonstrate.

“Hm,” was the only response Charlie was able to give.

“Charlie?”

“Hm?”

“My eyes are up here, you know.”

Charlie looked up at Artemis’ face, and she rolled her eyes at him, before pulling her wand out of the clutch bag she held - funny, he hadn’t even noticed that she was holding a bag - and summoning a pair of very high-heeled shoes from further down the landing.

“Sorry. I like your dress,” he told her.

“Sure, that’s what it was,” she muttered, slipping the shoes onto her feet.

“Have you got the card and present?” he asked her, and she peered into the clutch bag, before summoning those, too, and putting them inside.

“I have now. Charlie.”

“What?”

“Will you stop looking at them?”

“Again, I’m sorry, it’s just… Well, I physically can’t,” he half-laughed, and tilted his head to one side. “Have they always been that big?”

“No, I’m just wearing a bra.”

“Do you not normally wear a bra?”

“I do,” Artemis nodded, “but this is a proper bra. Does this to them.”

She put her hands in front of her chest, pushed them towards each other, then lifted them up slightly. Charlie nodded sagely.

“I see. Very impressive.”

Artemis frowned at him, and looked downwards.

“Is it too much?” she asked. “Is it maybe just a bit too booby?”

“No,” Charlie replied, quickly. “No, I’d say it’s just booby enough. Exactly the right amount of booby.”

“Right…” Artemis didn’t look or sound convinced.

“Also, we don’t have time for you to get changed. We’re late enough as it is.”

“There we go.”

Charlie shrugged sheepishly under Artemis’ withering look. He cleared his throat and stood up straight.

“Seriously, though, you look…” he paused, making sure that he was holding her gaze. “Beautiful. Really beautiful.”

The confrontational expression disappeared from Artemis’ face, and a small smile began to play on her lips.

“Thank you,” she said. “So do you.”

“Cheers,” Charlie leant back against the wall, and Artemis’ smile faded. “What’s wrong?”

“Well, aren’t you supposed to be ushing right now?”

“Shit. Yes, yes I am. We need to go.”

“Who’s apparating?”

“You can,” replied Charlie. “It’s your fault that we’re running late, after all.”

Artemis sighed and shook her head, but she held out her arm anyway. Charlie linked his own with it, and felt her nudge him with her elbow.

“Eyes up, Weasley.”

Charlie snapped his head upwards, and the two of them disappeared with a crack.

[riddikulusfest]

Title: Bringing up Baby (dragons)

By @shuns-ao3

Pairing: Charlie Weasley x Luna Lovegood

Summary: Charlie, Luna, an adorable cruppie, an articulated prosthetic dragon tail and a clutch of unexpected baby dragons. Or 'Bringing up Baby' (dragons).

Sneak Peek:

“Luna, what is that?”

“It’s a tail.”

“Why do you have a tail?”

“Emphasis and, I suspect, pronoun declension. And probably verb conjugation. You need a tail to do them all. Though really, it is an articulated tail apparatus. It’s not a real tail.”

He sighed, “I know it’s not a REAL tail. How will your apparatus help you do all that? You don’t need a tail to talk.”

“You do if you want to talk to dragons. Though if you are talking to snakes its really more about the tongue.” She flicked her tongue in and out.

Charlie’s mind went blank as watched her pink mouth and red tongue. Then he was hit with a thousand images of what she could do with it.

Riddikulus Fest will begin posting on April 1! Follow @riddikulusfest to read this amazing story!

[rosapeachhogwartsmystery]

Preview: The Curse of Being a Seer part III

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves when you all walked to Hogsmeade, however, your thoughts were drifting off a little. You knew they were trying to make you relax by pretending everything was the same. You knew that wasn’t the case. You knew people were looking differently at you because of what you were. Even your friends seemed to look differently at you. It wasn’t surprising, you knew being officially called a Seer would cause some changes. Your friends were at least trying to make it seem like nothing had changed. They would treat you the same before they found out about you being a Seer.

There would always be people like the guy that was trying to make you predict the answers for the Potions exam that was coming up. It wasn’t like you had control over these things. Your visions just came unannounced. If you had any control over your visions, you would definitely not be in much trouble. People always seemed to think being a Seer was an ideal gift, but they were so wrong. It was more like a curse. Your visions were not about any nice events, they often happen like they warned you for the danger you would come across. Like seeing Beatrice getting stuck in a painting and seeing Jacob reveal himself as a bad guy.

  You barely noticed when you all had arrived in Hogsmeade. Did they even notice you were lost in your own thoughts? You looked at everyone, thinking most of them seemed not to notice you were lost in thoughts. However, the look Penny gave you let you know she knew you had been lost in your thoughts. You could tell Barnaby was also keeping an eye on you, probably because he still was angry because that guy that was bothering me. Maybe the rest of the group also noticed it but tried to act like they normally would to make you feel welcome. You wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

“So, should we just get into the Three Broomsticks, or do we want to look around some shops first?” Tulip asked.

“I’m not sure if I need anything, unless we are planning a prank on Filch again, then we definitely need to go to Zonko’s Joke Shop.” Tonks said, shrugging slightly.

“Maybe we can get into some shops first and then go to the Three Broomsticks, I mean we have quite some time to spend here, right?” Andre said honestly.

“What do you think, Y/N Y/L/N?” Tulip asked you.

“Oh, I don’t mind if we go into some shops.” You said honestly.

“All right, so will look around some shops first and then drink some Butterbeers.” Andre said with a smile.

A/N: Sorry for the lack of activity. I have this and two other drafts for new imagines, but I have been kind of busy with university projects and papers. 

[once-upon-an-imagine]

Any suggestions for writer's block? I just started writing a Charlie Weasley story and whenever I thought of it it felt so cool but as soon as I started writing it it was horrible 😂 and now I hate it but I don't want to delete it because maybe I'm just cranky and I'll like it or I can fix it later so idk what to do 😂😂😂😂

send me some DIALOGUES? or ask for some PREVIEWS?

this has helped in the past so idk maybe? you can see all of my WIPs here and you can ask for dialogues from any of these lovable goofballs! Thank you 😊😊

(I'd love some post-Azkaban Sirius Black but really just anyone)

[chuchiotaku]

[Preview] TBA 17: Hatch and Flight

Did someone miss a certain baby dragon? Ron definitely did not, but whether he likes it or not, Norberta is coming to officially be his problem.

[Target Release Date: May]

It was a cool Saturday afternoon when Ron came to the Ancient Runes study club classroom to see Professor Hui, excited butterflies fluttering in his stomach. It was going to be the first day of what Hui called their “wand aptitude tests” sessions, and Ron was both nervous and eager to find out just how different these sessions will be compared to his experience with Ollivander.

There was also a bit of good news Ron wanted to share. “I don’t know why it worked, but it did, Professor!” Ron said happily over the tea Hui served him—a light but distinct, slightly bittersweet herbaceous blend Hui called “matcha”—while raising Charlie’s old wand. “Charlie looked at me like I had gone a bit barmy when I told him about it, but after he asked the wand to play nice, it worked.” He paused. “Well, it’s not perfect, but at least it’s not actively trying to make my life hell.”

“I’m glad to hear it, Mr. Weasley,” Hui held the wand appraisingly before nodding. “The way this wand feels in my hands proves your statement. Of course, as you have said, it is not the perfect solution, as the wand may be doing this only out of respect to your brother. There is no way of knowing up to how far will the wand cooperate with you with that in mind.”

“It’s still mind-boggling how the wands act more sentient than I thought.” Ron said honestly. “Makes me wonder if talking to it will help. Like it getting to know me or something like that? Does that even make sense?”

Hui smiled. “Absolutely. Magical folk who showed respect towards wands and magical objects create the most steadfast of bonds with them, with some so strong that no one but those who the object consider their rightful owners can ever wield or touch them even. Can you think of any magical object that was strongly associated with any figure in history?”

Ron’s mind went back to the History of Magic lessons he had with Percy. “Err, Excalibur? King Arthur Pendragon’s sword?”

“Excalibur was the sword the Lady of the Lake handed to Arthur Pendragon in exchange for a favour, yes, but over time, Arthur managed to imprint a part of himself into that blade, the same way Excalibur did on him. The same can be said with Arthur’s first sword, Caliburn, which chose him to be the Once and Future King, the only one who could pull it out of the stone.” Hui paused for a sip of his tea. “And there are other examples throughout history I can name: Manannan mac Lir’s kin and Fragarach; his own descendant, Cú Chulainn and Gáe Bolg; Guān Yǔ, a legendary Chinese general hailed to be a war God, and the Qīng lóng yǎnyuèdāo; Parashurama then his pupil, Karna, and the bow, Vijaya, said to be a gift from the Hindu God of Destruction, Shiva. But since you’re not here for a history lesson, let’s move on, shall we?”

Ron blinked. “But aren’t most of them myths?”

“If that is what the storytellers want you to believe.” Hui said cryptically. “And whether you will believe that I have seen at least one of them with my own eyes or not is just as much up to you.”

Ron did a double-take. “You what?”

“We could discuss it further another time, as always. But we are here for your aptitude assessment."

“If Percy hadn’t told us about the surprise party he and the twins have been planning since yesterday, we never would have found out.” Harry said, still obviously miffed about it.

“Oi, it’s not that I can just go and tell you lot, ‘Oh, by the way, my birthday is on 1st of March, just so you know.’” He said in exasperation.

“And it’s just not fair, since you know all of our birthdays!” Hermione pointed out. “I don’t even know how you found out!”

Ron shrugged. “Harry’s and Neville’s were pretty obvious. As for yours, I have my ways.”

Neville shook his head. “You and your mysteries, Ron.”

“But I think it’s great you are part of the surprise. Really means a lot to me that you went through all the trouble.”

“We’re your friends, Ron!” Hermione said in exasperation. “And it’s no trouble, really. You’re the one who kept saying I needed a break from my books every now and then, weren’t you?”

Ron laughed. “Right.”

“And you looked like you needed the break too.” Neville added. “You’ve been looking out of sorts for a while now. It’s got nothing to do with the you-know-what, does it?”

The time traveler’s gut clenched at the worry in his friend’s eyes. He should have known his friends would have noticed his sudden change in mood. Did his brothers notice too, he wondered? Was that why they organised this surprise party?

What the hell are you doing, Ron?

“I’m really sorry about that, Nev. It wasn’t even anything too important anyway,” said Ron, “Was just too worried over what-if’s that I really can’t do anything about.”

“If it’s something we can help with, you know you can tell us,” Hermione said. “Well, even if it might not be something we can help with, you can tell us anyway.”

“My Gran always said that we shouldn’t try to worry too much about the future. Makes us lose sight of what’s in front of us.” Neville said kindly. “And besides, whatever it is, I’m sure you’ll be able to handle it!”

Ron winced. “I wish I knew where your faith in me is coming from, Nev.”

“And I wish I knew where yours kept disappearing to.” Harry said sharply.

“Somewhere in the real world, I reckon.” Ron shrugged. “But Neville’s right. No sense worrying too much over something that isn’t here yet. I’ll deal with it when it comes, just like I always do.” He clapped a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “And I’m glad I have such wicked mates to knock some sense into me whenever I get lost in my own head!”

And Ron meant it. Maybe it was a consequence of being a time traveler, but Ron became more prone to overthinking things and events to the point where he blocked everything else out. Having his friends there to pull him out of his self-made burrow of anxiety and careful planning helped in not only relieving him of some of that burden, but also in reminding him about the importance of what was in front of him right now.

But Norberta. Oh, Merlin, Norberta. That fucking dragon I can definitely do something about.

[enchantingnightmaremilkshake]

Preview - Catch the flying flowers (full story on AO3)

Being Fleur’s maid of honour was harder than I could have anticipated. My feet finally touched the floor having apparated to the burrow, and I walked to the door, knocking on it quickly, while surveying the scenery. The door opened a moment later, and I turned to face a man I had never met before, “I'm going to assume you are one of the bridesmaids,” he commented leisurely, 

“that’s right, I'm going to assume you are Charlie Weasley – I don’t believe we’ve met before,” he glanced at me in shock, “correct,” he murmured, stepping aside to allow me to enter. “it’s nice to meet you Charlie,” I offered a quick smile, before searching the downstairs for any hint of where Fleur was, “they are in the kitchen,” he explained, I nodded, allowing him to lead the way to the kitchen.

“y/n!” Fleur was hugging me before I’d even entered the kitchen, Bill and Mrs Weasley were already sat at the table, and Charlie took the empty seat besides Bill, “I'm so glad you made it,” not waiting for a response, she grabbed my hand, and led me to the table, sitting down next to the only empty chair, which I took. “still no ring?” Bill asked teasingly, glancing down to my left hand, I laughed quietly, “that would require a man being around in the first place,” I turned to greet Mrs Weasley who had watched the exchange in amusement, 

“I love what you are wearing,” Fleur continued, giving a pointed look to Charlie, I smiled quietly, blushing slightly. “thanks,” I hadn’t put much effort into my outfit, as the invite to the burrow had been last minute, and so had pulled on a denim skirt with a graphic t-shirt and a pair of converse trainers, with my natural waves of hair swinging around my face. Which made me somewhat underdressed next to Fleur, who had on a long flowing summer dress, her blonde hair falling in perfect curls, with a small blue ribbon tied into the braid that tied her fringe back from her face.

The rest of this is available from the link in my bio (and below) 

https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastelserpent/works

[hehron]

39 Quaffles: Part 2

Star Chaser Ginny Weasley gave up Quidditch years ago and has never looked back. On her thirty-ninth birthday, she gets a surprise gift. Coach Ginny!

"That was- that was something." Ginny sighed, letting out a half laugh as she sat next to Gwenog in the changing room. James was asking out every player who would look at him while Rose kept pestering them for advice on how to get in. Lily and Hugo were admiring the top model racing brooms with the Captain of the team and Hermione was discussing the game's political impact with the PR agent.

"You were good today." Gwenog said in strange sort of voice and Ginny turned to find her old coach watching her with a sad smile.

"What do you mean?"

"You were good with them. You taught them some valuable moves."

"It wasn't that special."

"They admire you."

"They admire you too."

"You got them to listen to you without even raising your voice." She continued as if Ginny hadn't spoken.

"Gwenog, what's going on?" Ginny finally asked.

"I didn't just call you back to meet the new trainees." Gwenog chuckled. "I want to offer you a job."

"I have a job."

"You call writing drivel a job? Be a woman and get back on the field."

"I'm thirty-nine, Gwen, and not in any form to play."

"But you're in the perfect position to teach."

"What?" Her eyes widened.

"I'm stepping down." Gwenog said with a faraway look in her eyes.

"But-But Quidditch is your life!"

"Exactly. My life has been just Quidditch for so long. I think I need to see what else is out there." She said gruffly.

"Is this the same Gwenog Jones who told me that all you need in life is Quidditch? The same person who was offended when I got married and had kids?"

Gwenog chuckled. "I stand by all that. And I was offended by you taking time off."

"I chose to do that and it didn't affect the team in any way."

"And I hated Potter for knocking you up. I lost one of my best players!"

"I chose that too!" Ginny laughed.

"Well now then, choose this." Gwenog insisted.

"I-"

"No more excuses, Weasley. Your children are all grown up and you have a pathetic job."

"But I don't know how to be a Coach. I know nothing about organising schedules and-"

Hermione who had been in the middle of dragging James away from getting hexed by the seeker, called over her shoulder.

"If that's your only concern, you've got nothing to worry about because you're amazing at it."

"But I'm not good at organising!" Ginny protested.

"You are, when it's something you care about. You proved that at Harry's birthday. It was so much better than anything I would have done."

"Seems like we have a deal." Gwenog smiled.

"Wait a minute-"

"Damn, Weasley. Where's your fire? Look out there at that group of girls and tell me you don't see yourself."

Ginny stared at the laughing witches and felt excitement bubble inside her again. Yes, she had given it all up, and she had done it willingly, never once regretting it. But perhaps the only reason you let go of something is so that you could find it again.

"I guess I'm the new Coach."

"What?" Gales, who had been passing by, stopped midstep, her mouth open in shock. Before they could make a move, she had screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Hear that, Harpies? Ginny Weasley is our new Coach!"

She and Hermione shared an alarmed glance before following the children, who had raced off the moment they read the sign.

They could hear loud music blaring from the house and there was a thin line of smoke coming from the window. As they entered, they were hit with a torrent of bright orange. Blinking back spots, Ginny took in what was once their living room. People were laughing and dancing and the teenagers were sliding down a romp on the stairs, above which hung a trapeze. The wall separating the dining room from the sitting room had been blown off and George, Fred and Lee were selling WWW products to the guests' children, while Neville and Hannah moaned about the trouble they'll have back at Hogwarts. Angelina, Roxy and Dom had somehow turned the porch into a haunted house and Charlie was performing a sort of dance with two baby dragons, with Molly and Percy screaming at him to stop while Luna cheered him on.

"What's happening?" Ginny asked, reading the sign that read 'ENTER THROUGH THE BACK'.

Molly Jr and Louis had set up a kissing booth where all her old teammates and much to Louis's annoyance, Bill and Fleur, seemed to be having a jolly good time.

Arthur, Lucy and Al were gathered around Rolf, who was showing off a new muggle gadget, with Audrey frequently interrupting his lecture on it. Lastly Vic and Ron were doing a weird jig on their brooms and screaming at the top of their lungs with Harry and Teddy providing them lights and puffs of smoke and occasionally joining in their off-key singing.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked panicked. "This wasn't how your party was supposed to be!"

"Yeah, things got out of control." A flushed Al said.

"Are you drunk?" Ginny asked with narrowed eyes.

"No." He shook his head quickly but the effect was spoiled when he let out a loud giggle.

"You're only fourtee- Oh Merlin! James, do not get on that trapeze!"

It was too late though, for he had already started to swing. Unfortunately, he clashed right into an unsuspecting Hugo, who was marvelling the jelly punch.

"My turn." Lily said.

"Now Lily. I know from my muggle studies class that you have to angle your body-"

"Oh no." Hermione said heading towards them.

"I need a drink." Ginny said aloud.

"Right this way, ma'am." Katie winked as she dragged her away towards a corner where Alicia was handing out drinks.

"Better be careful just in case Mcgonagall decides to show up." Ginny's eyes widened. There was something about your old teachers that made you feel like a teenager all over again.

"I've got to find Harry."

"Looks like he's done with the stage." Katie snorted, staring at Oliver and Charlie doing headstands on their brooms in the same place Ron and Vic had been a couple of minutes ago.

Ginny made her way through the crowd searching for her husband. It was her birthday! Where was he?

"Hey." The man in question grabbed her arm and pulled her behind the curtains.

"There's a whole band of people outside." Ginny said with raised eyebrows.

"I'm hiding from Hermione. Poor Ron, there was nothing I could do for him." Harry said with an exaggerated shake of his head.

Ginny snorted. "You did ruin the house."

"Easily fixed with magic." He shrugged.

"Of course. But I have to ask. How on earth did this happen?!"

"George."

"Say no more." She said, grinning.

"Do you like it?" He asked softly, resting his chin on her shoulder and pulling her close as she peeked between the curtains.

"I will if this makes James swear off alcohol." She said, watching him have a drinking contest with Teddy.

"Angelina spiked soda with a bit of alcohol and told them they were muggle drinks."

"Clever. Should've spiked it with Hannah's Pepper up. They'll never think of drinking again."

Harry chuckled. "Really though, do you like it?"

"I do." She smiled, turning around and looping her arms around his neck to stare up at him.

"Something happened at the pitch today." She started.

"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask you. What's all this about you being the new Harpy's coach?"

She groaned burying her face into his shirt. "News travels fast."

"So it's true?"

"Yeah, it just felt so good to be up there, with them. Gwenog offered me the job and I accepted." She said slowly.

"Gin, that's fantastic!"

"Really? We said we'd take time off now that you're up for the promotion to Law Enforcement, and I was really looking forward to that. It's been so long since we've had some time to focus on us again. What if we grow apart?"

"Ginny," He said, with a serious look. "We will never grow apart, okay? It doesn't matter if we see each other every hour or once a week. We'll always love each other. And you once put Quidditch on hold for our family, and I know you don't regret it, but I know you will if you give this up. You're amazing and you deserve this."

"Thanks, love." She said, pulling him in for a brief kiss.

"Will you be okay, though? Based on experiences, you do not do well with boredom."

"I'll be fine. Maybe I'll take up that training job. That way, I'll still get to work with the Aurors." Harry smiled. "Now let's go out there and watch Oliver have a heart attack when he finds out you're the opposing coach."

Ginny smirked. "After that, I'll give him a little preview of the game he's about to lose."

"Don't be so sure of that. You may be the Star Chaser but my team will completely destroy yours tonight."

"Ha! Bring in on, Potter!"

[batgirl-87]

Summary: Sixth Year begins and the events of last year’s End of the Year Ball still linger over Charlie and Keira. While the two try to navigate what this means exactly for their relationship, various obstacles thwart their efforts including rumours about Keira’s summer and the mysterious letters she receives, her consistently disappearing, withholding her whereabouts, and returning exhausted and bruised (does it have to do with R or something else?), and one intense night that may destroy Charlie and Keira’s relationship, friendship or otherwise, completely.

First Part of the Series: The gang reunites on the Hogwarts Express with Charlie struggling a bit with his new role as the now oldest Weasley (at least at Hogwarts) who has to wrangle his two younger Twin brothers on to the Hogwarts Express and be responsible for them the next two years – Bill had it so easy with him and Percy. There’s a lot of confusion surrounding his relationship with Keira following the End of the Year Ball last year and while their reunion doesn’t add much clarity, it ends up providing Charlie with a bit of hope. Also a surprising new fact about Barnaby is learned!

Word Count: <13k

Genre: Fluff (Charlie x MC), Humour

Warnings: Some Angst mentioning Bill graduating and going off to Egypt – WE MISS AND LOVE YOU WILLIAM! (Take a drink every time I mention Bill to try and numb the pain 😜)

Note: I’ll just apologize for the bad Quidditch metaphors now… I’m sorry. I should also apologize for the sappiness and clichés. I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist. I tried! But I failed… Guess who wrote more than intended?! (Classic me!) Reference to Under the Stars (primarily). I would describe my writing style as too many commas and too many adjectives/details... Sorry... Hi, I have a problem writing concisely...

I also want to apologize up here instead of an author’s note at the end if it’s not edited all that well - I really wanted to get this posted before I leave for a little birthday vacation this week.

I’ve done a lot of research and thinking about the Quidditch World Cup and how teams are made up, games are played, etc. and I may make a post about it some time but if anyone is interested or has any questions on my take on it feel free to ask =) I also believe Charlie has tons of fans that drool over him for his Quidditch skills that he is completely oblivious too.

I am in Chapter 17 or 18 of Year 5 I believe so I’m not sure if we’re actually going to face a dragon, and if Charlie gets to be there with us, so if that does happen than rephrase the line (you’ll know it when you see it) to him feeling the same way when he finally saw a dragon in person – up close and personal =p And I’ll try to remember to change it when/if that time comes.

I estimate the Hogwarts Express takes about eight hours to get to Hogwarts since it departs at 11am and seems to arrive in the early evening, about 7? I know in the game when eating with Andre he says he shops as Gladrags Wizardwear but I believe he would splurge and treat himself to something nice from Twilfitt and Tatting’s, probably something he could wear with pretty much anything or maybe some fancy dress robes for game days and special occasions =p  

Arrival of Fred and George! Get excited people!

Preview: He found himself transported to that night a few months ago where he held her close in his arms as they glided gracefully along the balcony outside the Great Hall. Where it felt like they were the only two in the world, if only for that brief private moment. Where they were able to drop their guards and allow their emotions to freely flow. .…. His arm around her waist tightened to hold her securely against him, to bring her closer to him as if they couldn’t get close enough, as if he was afraid she would suddenly disappear. The sensation of her lips on his was intoxicating; the feeling of her in his arms, her hand in his, caressing his face, running through his hair, brought a sense of comfort – it felt right. And he wanted to feel like this all the time.

“Fred! George! Slow down!” A frazzled Molly Weasley chased after her two newest editions to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as they raced through King’s Cross Station. Their agility to weave throughout the crowd without mowing anyone over with their luggage carts was a remarkable feat. Needless to say the Twins were very eager to board the train and begin their own Hogwarts adventures! While her husband watched after their two youngest children, Molly focused her energy on wrangling her two most mischievous ones. At least their high energy kept her busy from missing and worrying about her eldest now out on his own in Egypt pursuing a Curse-Breaking career.

Meanwhile, her second eldest was hell-bent on becoming a Dragonologist and working hands-on with those ferocious beasts! He was so determined, in fact, that he spent most of the summer seeking advice and help from his mum on improving his healing spells – apparently an essential skill when working with dragons according to the experts and not just their mothers. He even spent a lot of time reading up on healing potions but was waiting for school to start up again to work with his friend Penny Haywood who was apparently very skilled in potion making. But he did not remain held up in his room all summer studying – he wasn’t Percy! In true Charlie Weasley fashion, he also spent a lot of time outside during the summer as well, probably searching for new magical creatures to study and practice his caretaking on. And of course played some Quidditch with his siblings.

However, his dedicated focus on his future Dragonologist career also caused him to turn down the opportunity to play on England’s Quidditch team for the upcoming World Cup. It was an honor, and he greatly appreciated the offer, but as much as he loved Quidditch (and had quite the natural skill for it) his goal was always to work with dragons. And to achieve his goals he needed to receive an E or O in his Care of Magical Creatures class, and next year’s N.E.W.T.s, (which shouldn’t be too hard for him to do), while also proving to have high competency in healing magic, and in advance healing/antidote potion making – why he required Penny’s help. He needed to learn and perfect fireproofing spells, protection spells, and cloaking and tracking abilities.

He had done his research, a lot of research, over the years on what he needed to do to finally get to work with his beloved dragons and he couldn’t allow anything to distract him or take time away from his studies. If he didn’t do well in his classes or on his N.E.W.T.s and didn’t improve in the necessary areas to become a Dragonologist because he was too busy training and practicing for Quidditch he would never forgive himself. And probably always resent Quidditch which would be horrible because he loved it! He just loved dragons more.

Besides, he still planned on venturing out into the Forbidden Forest just in case he found his own dragon out there – old habits die hard and if he did find one and handle being in its presence wouldn’t that prove he was destined to be a Dragonologist? (and look good on the resume?) – and still planned on helping with Cursed-Vaults adventures, plus he had Prefect duties – his plate was already pretty full. Unfortunately, he couldn’t accept the offer to play for England – it would be just one too many things to take on for him. At least Forbidden Forest explorations and Cursed-Vaults adventures could help him in the areas he needed to become a Dragonologist. Unfortunately, Quidditch didn’t really help him on the skills he needed to achieve his dream career and therefore would be an unnecessary added responsibility and a distraction. It was a tough decision but he felt he made the right one. He would still play at Hogwarts for Gryffindor of course though!

Molly at least didn’t have to worry about Charlie possibly getting severely injured while playing Quidditch in a professional setting, especially for the World Cup which was a major event in the wizarding world and those players practically played until the death to win. It was a tough sport and playing in school was already bad enough. Her children playing in their backyard was even worse. Not that she wouldn’t be immensely proud of him if he chose to take their offer. But she was also immensely proud of him for making such a difficult and mature decision to turn the offer down to focus on his dreams. Honestly, she wished he could do both. But at least studying was much safer than playing Quidditch.  Until he graduated and went to work with actual dragons…

Oh, what did she do to get such adventurous, reckless children? Didn’t they think about what their actions did to their poor mother?

Speaking of her second eldest, where was he? He should be helping her with his younger brothers just as she had Bill help with him and Percy. Although, Percy clearly was not as much trouble as the Twins.

Bill may have sent Charlie a letter before the start of the school year wishing him luck on looking after the Twins while also gloating how he graduated just in time. Looking after Charlie and Percy was a walk in the park compared to looking after Fred and George. Of course Charlie could always write to Bill whenever he needed. But Bill had to admit he was glad he didn’t have to watch over all four of them at school.

“Percy, help me with your brothers.” Molly nudged the least adventurous of her children whose nose was currently stuck in a book as they walked along the station towards their platform.

“Isn’t that Charlie’s responsibility?” The good thing about being a middle child and having older siblings was watching after the younger siblings automatically became their responsibility and he got left alone.

“And when we find him I’ll make sure he looks after all of you but until then I need your help,” Molly informed him, causing Percy to sigh a bit dramatically and close his book.

Charlie was already at Platform 9¾ scouring the crowd of returning and new Hogwarts students for one in particular. He had tried to get their earlier but getting the bustling Weasley house organized was a trying task and they always ended up being later than intended to anywhere they were heading. Fortunately, most were understanding. It was already getting close to 11, so the Twins also had a bit of a reason to rush if they wanted to make it to the correct platform in time.

“Charlie, there you are!” Charlie whirled around when he heard his mum calling to him. “I was wondering where you disappeared to.”

“Sorry, mum.” Charlie smiled apologetically as he walked back over to his family, Percy currently in the middle of giving the Twins a scolding lecture, one they were not really paying any attention to.

“I know you’re eager to return to school and get that help on your potions and learn all you need to so you can achieve your goals but try and have some fun to,” Molly reminded her son as she draped an arm around him as they walked back to the rest of their large family.

“I will, mum,” Charlie promised.

“And please look after your younger brothers. I know it’s impossible to ask you to keep Fred and George out of trouble completely but –“

“Don’t worry, mum, of course I’ll look after them. And try and keep them from getting caught,” Charlie added with a smirk, earning a couple more smirks from his twin brothers. Molly huffed and playfully hit Charlie’s arm but smiled at her boys. She did love her children so.

“I can’t believe we’re sending another two off to school,” Molly said as she stared wistfully at the Twins, some tears beginning to form in her eyes.

“Ugh, mum,” the Twins groaned in embarrassment, looking away from her intense gaze only because they were going to get emotional too!

“We’ll be empty nesters soon enough,” chimed in Arthur who placed a lovingly supportive arm around his wife’s shoulders.

“Oh, don’t talk like that,” Molly scolded.

“Won’t know what to do with ourselves then,” Arthur continued.

As their parents lovingly bickered, Charlie and Percy took the opportunity to bestow their older brother knowledge on the Twins and what they could expect. Sure, they had heard about some of their adventures and experiences at school but the more boring, informational things, such as the rules or what to expect on their first day they tended to tune out when anyone mentioned it. They knew the Twins found it boring but begged them to listen.

Of course Percy may have also told the Twins not to cause too much trouble, especially for him as he worked towards becoming Prefect and Head Boy himself and if they got in the way of that he would never forgive them! Also, don’t embarrass him.

“Don’t worry, we’re not going to ruin your chances at becoming Head Nerd,” Fred snarkily assured.

“And how could we possibly embarrass you more than you already do for yourself,” George asked as innocently as he could with a smirk.

Percy narrowed his eyes at the two of them briefly before waving at Charlie. “They’re your responsibility. Good luck.”

Charlie sighed and shook his head but did echo some of Percy’s sentiments. “He’s right though. Try not to get into too much trouble.”

“Don’t worry. We plan on pacing ourselves,” Fred assured their older brother.

“Yeah, we have a whole school year! We’re not going to waste pulling all our best pranks at the beginning of the year and having nothing left for the rest of it,” George explained.

Charlie sighed but chuckled softly. “As long as you mean that. And do well not to get caught. I don’t want to have to punish my brothers all the time.”

“Get caught,” the Twins scoffed. They were not amateurs!

“You two plus Tonks and Tulip are going to be the death of me,” Charlie groaned.

The Weasley family said their goodbyes which were filled with promises to write home and a lot of hugs all around. Molly made sure to give each of her boys plenty of kisses to make sure they knew how much she loved them and would miss them, along with her stern warning of keeping out of trouble. Don’t make her send howlers every week! She’d lose her voice!

“Hey, Percy! Where are you going?” Charlie called after his brother as they boarded Hogwarts Express. Almost instantly onboard, Percy took off down the corridor through the throng of students, primarily First Years unaware of where to go since older classmen already had their usual compartments.

“I’m going to sit with my friends,” Percy shouted back over the crowd.

“You don’t have any friends,” the Twins shouted back in unison. Charlie sighed and shook his head before taking the lead as the new oldest Weasley at Hogwarts and following after Percy, maneuvering through the crowd of confused students. He knew as Prefect he should be helping them but he was busy helping some other First Years at the moment so technically he was doing his Prefect duty. Besides, the wrath of his mum was way scarier than the wrath of the Head Boy and Girl and other Prefects.

“Excuse me. Pardon us.” Charlie politely forced his way through the mass of students, new and old, before arriving at the compartment Percy disappeared into towards the front of the train. Of course Percy would sit as close as he could to the Prefect carriage without actually being in it.

“Why do we have to sit with Percy,” the Twins whined. Their complaint was echoed by Percy himself when Charlie opened his compartment’s door.

“Oh no, they’re not sitting with me!”

“They have to,” Charlie informed them all.

“But why-“

“Because I have to go up to the Prefect’s carriage,” Charlie continued.

“Why can’t we go sit with you up there,” the Twins asked with a smirk. Charlie was unable to hold back his own amused smirk at the thought of that happening.

“No way. If anyone gets to go up to the Prefect carriage without being a Prefect it’s me,” Percy announced, standing up for emphasis.

“Okay, settle down, none of you are going up there with me. Not that I don’t doubt you’ll all make Prefect if you want, but for right now, I’m going up there and you’re all staying here,” Charlie instructed. Which of course was met with more complaining.

Bill had it so lucky with him and he planned on letting Bill know that especially come Christmas.

“Percy,” Charlie started, turning his attention to his now second in command, whether either of them liked it or not. “I’m going to need your help with looking after Fred and George. Think of it as prep for becoming Prefect. And I’d owe you,” he added.

Percy thought it over a moment before sighing. “Fine. Although I still don’t understand why they have to sit with me.”

“Don’t you remember your First Year? You think you’re prepared but there’s a lot more people than you think and it’s overwhelming and you haven’t made any friends to sit with yet so you sat with me. And you sat with me in the Great Hall for meals and hung out in my room with me and my roommates –“

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Percy held up a hand to stop Charlie from going down this memory lane.

“They’ll make friends quickly, don’t worry,” Charlie assured Percy.

“Yeah, people love us,” the Twins decided to chime in with their charming grins.

“Just buy them some sweets when the trolley comes around, that’ll keep them occupied,” Charlie suggested to Percy.

“And get them all sugared up? I don’t want to deal with that,” Percy cried.

Charlie groaned again and made another mental note to write to Bill informing him of how wonderful and easy he was as a brother, caused Bill little to no problems, and how he would expect some great birthday and Christmas gifts to show his appreciation.

“It’s a long trip, they have to eat. And you can’t keep them locked up in here the whole time. Maybe they’ll make friends and then they’ll leave you alone,” Charlie reasoned. Percy thought that over a moment before nodding his head in agreement. If they met friends on the train and left to sit with them they would no longer be his problem!

“Just don’t be out in the corridor causing any problems when I’m on patrol,” Charlie suddenly instructed the Twins.

“If we see you in the corridor we’ll turn right back around,” the Twins promised.

“Alright guys, I really got to get going. I’ll come back and check on you when I can. Listen to Percy,” Charlie told them, making a point to tell the Twins to respect Percy’s authority. Doubt it would really matter but at least he tried.

Fred and George sighed but didn’t argue as they moved to go into Percy’s compartment. “Where are all your friends, Perc,” the Twins teased as the noted the empty compartment.

“They haven’t arrived yet and once they see you two here they’re going to find somewhere else to sit,” Percy irritably replied.

“Once they saw your rat they fled,” Fred joked.

“Hey! Ron likes my rat,” Percy argued.

“Ron likes anything soft and furry,” Fred retorted.

“Except for that teddy bear we turned into a spider that one time,” George reminded with a mischievous smirk.

Charlie turned to leave his bickering brothers and head to the Prefect carriage through the still crowded corridor of the train. “Excuse me,” he started as he attempted to push his way back into the traffic of students.

“Charlie! They’re being unreasonable!” Percy’s cry of outrage was followed by the giggling fit of the Twins. He knew putting the Twins with Percy alone in a small train compartment was a recipe for disaster but couldn’t they manage for a few minutes? “Wait until I tell mum you dropped the Twins off on me and ditched out on your older brother responsibilities!” It had literally been two seconds and Percy already had enough of babysitting Fred and George.

“Percy-“ Charlie started, unable to hide the annoyance and frustration in his voice as he spun back around to confront them. Unfortunately, this quick movement could not be done gracefully in a narrow corridor bustling with students trying to find a place to sit for the ride. He wasn’t sure if he tripped over someone’s bag or foot or what it was but whatever it was caused him to fall forward and knock into another student who was trying to sneak by.

Fortunately he was able to catch himself and them before they both hit the floor and risked being trampled on by other students. One hand flew out to slam against the wall of the train compartment holding his brothers to stop his fall and regain his balance, while his other arm instinctively wrapped around the smaller figure he almost knocked over to catch them, causing them both to fall against the wall on the compartment side of the train instead of the floor. Great, first day as the eldest Weasley at Hogwarts and he almost killed someone! Ugh, he missed Bill.

Charlie opened his mouth to apologize and check to ensure they were okay but his breath hitched in his throat when he heard them speak first.

“Well bonjour mon étoile! This is quite the reunion, eh?”

Charlie looked down at the person he currently had pinned against the wall and found himself suddenly drowning in stormy sea eyes once again. He quickly became hyper-aware of how close they were, their faces mere inches apart, his hips pressed against hers as he pinned her to the side of his brother’s occupied compartment, his arm securely snaked around her waist.

He found himself transported to that night a few months ago where he held her close in his arms as they glided gracefully along the balcony outside the Great Hall. Where it felt like they were the only two in the world, if only for that brief private moment. Where they were able to drop their guards and allow their emotions to freely flow.

Their eyes were locked much like they were now before Charlie leaned down to close the distance between them, moving instinctively. However, the fear suddenly struck that maybe she didn’t want this and maybe he was putting her in an awkward and uncomfortable situation, a situation that could ruin their close friendship. But when she leaned up and her lips met his all his fears and doubts melted away as a spark ignited within him.

His arm around her waist tightened to hold her securely against him, to bring her closer to him as if they couldn’t get close enough, as if he was afraid she would suddenly disappear. The sensation of her lips on his was intoxicating; the feeling of her in his arms, her hand in his, caressing his face, running through his hair, brought a sense of comfort – it felt right. And he wanted to feel like this all the time.

It was addicting.

Now he understood why so many couples were caught snogging all the time. He would be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about it throughout the summer, replayed that moment over and over again in his head as he remembered all those sensations. And he’d be lying if he said he had no desire to feel that way again when in actuality it was all he wanted. They had had so many “almost” moments and he was quickly growing tired and, frankly, frustrated by them; and now that they finally had their moment he greedily wanted more.

When they eventually parted, slowly, he rested his forehead against hers, their eyes remaining shut as they savored the moment. And he would have kissed her again, kissed her all night if he could have, but their pivotal moment was brought to an end as one of their friends found them to spend one last moment at the ball with Bill – the whole reason they even went to the ball that year – surely including pictures since Penny was around.

He was very reluctant to let her go, to no longer have her near him, leaving him feeling cold and incomplete. But when she reached down to grab his hand and led him back inside the Great Hall that spark she always ignited within him returned, spreading her signature tingling warming sensation through his body.

The rest of the evening and the next day at the End of the Year Feast were dedicated to Bill, and packing up to head back home, but primarily for Bill, filled with tearful goodbyes and bone crushing hugs – both mainly from Keira herself. They even had a goodbye dinner at the Burrow over the summer for Bill, which Keira would have attended but she spent most of this summer in Canada. Therefore, they never discussed the events of that night. They never determined where they went from there, what they were now. And maybe because of the fear and anxiety of the uncertainty of what either of their response would be – possible rejection after putting their feelings so boldly out there, an excuse of being swept up in the moment, fear of losing a close, dear friend – neither of them had brought up that night in the few letters they shared throughout the summer, a lot fewer than previous summers.

She was busy and far away and this wasn’t really something that should be discussed in letters anyway, right? This should be something to discuss in person. Which may be why he was so eager to get to the train station that morning, to finally see her again. He wasn’t sure why, but he just had this feeling that once they saw each other, in that moment everything would be made clear.

However, this was definitely not the reunion he had planned for.

Instead of sharing a knowing look where they both somehow understood each other’s unspoken thoughts and feelings and ending on the same page he had knocked into her, almost fell on top of her and squashed her, and now they found themselves in a compromising position in front of a large portion of students at Hogwarts, including new First Years and his brothers.

But none of that even registered to Charlie at the moment. All he could see was her. And all he could think about was how he was finally holding her close again in his arms, where she belonged. And how that electricity flowed through them when their hands touched, even just brushed up against each other, and how that initial spark lit a fire that burned hotter within them the closer they grew. Her warm, dark, alluring scent with her signature hint of ocean air enveloped him. It seemed every time he was around her he found himself drowning in her, completely entranced by her, but it was one of the best feelings he’s ever felt; it was exciting but calming, an adventure and home, dizzying yet grounding all at the same time. It was an overwhelming, intoxicating feeling he couldn’t get enough of. He imagined this would be how he would feel when he finally came face to face with a dragon, but never imagined a person would cause these feelings to stir within him. Suppose he had to admit he had become utterly enamored with her. He loved being completely immersed in her, yearned to be lost in her. Without even realizing it, he had begun leaning down towards her, longing to reclaim that captivating, pleasurably blissful feeling once again that only her enticing lips allowed.

“Bloody hell, Charlie, are you going to start snogging her right here in front of everyone?”

“The train hasn’t even left the station yet! Bet mum can still see you through the window.”

The teasing from the Twin’s caused Charlie to freeze, his nose brushing against hers, successfully halting his actions. Suddenly their surroundings crashed into him like a freight train. Students were still shuffling behind him trying to locate a place to sit for the ride, his brothers were right there staring at him from the doorway of their compartment and – Oh Merlin, what if his mum really could see them through the window of the train?! Part of him feared he would hear his mother storming aboard any moment now – ‘Charles Weasley! What are you doing to that poor girl?!’ She didn’t raise him to be like that!

“I expect this type of behavior from Bill, but not from you Charlie!”

“Never from you, Charlie!” The Twins continued to taunt their older brother.

Charlie pulled away as much as he could, which wasn’t much considering the hoard of bustling students behind him trying to frantically find a place to sit before the train took off to Hogwarts, stammering out an apology to the young woman he still had trapped.

Fortunately for him, she somehow always managed to diffuse the awkwardness of a situation like this for him. “It’s okay,” Keira assured with a small amused laugh. “I missed you too.” She patted his chest playfully a couple times before a mischievous smirk played on her lips. “Ooo, someone worked out over the summer.”

“What? No,” Charlie awkwardly replied with a sheepish chuckle, glancing away a moment as he felt the familiar feeling of heat rising to his face she always brought upon him.

“Clearly you spent a lot of time outside,” Keira observed. “I think your freckles have doubled – at least,” she teased.

“Yeah? Are you trying to tell me I look fit,” Charlie asked her with a charming smirk.

“You’re looking very fit,” Keira confirmed with a flirtatious smirk of her own, her infamous House of Black genes showing, causing Charlie’s brothers to groan.

“I think I preferred it better when they were about to snog,” George leaned over to whisper to Fred.

“This is only the beginning.” Percy muttered his warning to the Twins – he would know, he had already spent a couple school years around them making eyes at each other and all their flirting and blushing – it got annoying.

“She’s right, Charlie, you are looking very fit.” The group of primarily red heads turned to look at the girl who interrupted their private moment with her unsolicited, overtly flirtatious comment as she eyed Charlie like he was her favourite treat on the Honeyduke’s trolley. She appeared to be in Charlie and Keira’s Year and brought her own little posse of Charlie fangirls with her for an added bonus.

“Oh, thanks mate,” Charlie replied, ever the oblivious one to his throngs of adoring fans for his amazing Seeker skills, particularly towards the ones who practically threw themselves at him. Honestly, they could be laying on a bench in the Quidditch changing room in lingerie with candles lit and smooth jazz playing and he still wouldn’t get it.

“But if anyone here looks fit, it’s Ady,” Charlie said, taking a moment to admire the Slytherin fully in front of him. “You look great,” he gushed sincerely, causing a light blush to appear on her face.

“W-well I did play a lot of Quidditch this summer,” she stammered, suddenly nervous.

His adoring fan did not take too kindly to the attention being taken away from her and glared daggers at the Slytherin who received such high praise from him. “Did you play a lot of Quidditch this summer, Charlie,” she asked in an attempt to get the attention back on her.

“Uh, yeah, not as much as usual with Bill leaving,” Charlie awkwardly replied. He missed his older brother and best friend.

While one of his admirers continued to swoon over the Gryffindor Seeker, coming on a bit strong in Keira’s opinion… Keira managed to slither out from under Charlie and give the Twins a proper greeting, hugs and all. She couldn’t help but gush about how excited she was that they were all going to be going to Hogwarts together while also voicing her concern about dealing with them and Tulip and Tonks – the four of them and their pranks were going to end up being her downfall long before ‘R’ ever got to her.

Much like with Bill and Charlie, Keira bonded rather quickly with the Twins, and seemed to share a particular closeness with them. And as soon as the Twins caught on to Charlie’s little crush they definitely used that to taunt to him. Not like Charlie was really going to be jealous over his little brothers and worried the now eleven year olds were somehow going to “steal” Ady from him, something they liked to tease him about, but she did seem much more comfortable with physical affection with them – the hugs, sitting close together, sharing a blanket, arms around each other. And at first he thought it was because they were little kids, but he couldn’t help but notice she wasn’t like that with Ron or even Ginny much! Sure she’d give Ginny a hug and let her play with her hair if she wanted but it was nowhere near the same level of physical contact as with the Twins.

Any time she visited the Burrow or they somehow managed to run into each other while shopping in Diagon Alley, the Twins always gained her attention and did, much to their smugness, steal her away from Charlie to spend time with them. Which led to more taunting such as how she loved them more than him, how they were going to ask her to the ball and she’d of course say yes to one of them and reject Charlie. Ugh, little siblings…

Honestly, though, he was worried about the quick close relationship she had with his Twin brothers because the three of them and their mischievous nature concerned him and what trouble they were bound to get into. And like Keira, the thought of George and Fred with Tulip and Tonks was anxiety provoking. Oh what was going to happen to poor Ben… The Weasley’s were known for being a very close, tight-knit family. Charlie and Bill always visited each other’s room, Percy visited both his older brother’s rooms and now the Twins – who had to be sorted into the same House, right? – were going to barge into Charlie’s room. Or worse. Sneak in and leave traps everywhere. His poor roommate Ben…

“No way, you guys are totally Slytherin!” Charlie glanced over as he heard Keira inform his Twin brothers they belonged in her House instead of the family Gryffindor one. And actually, he wouldn’t mind it if they were in Slytherin. Give him a little bit of break to not worry about pranks set up around his room. Let them terrorize some other people for a change! “Whatever happens, you guys belong in Slytherin and nothing will convince me otherwise.” Charlie couldn’t help but chuckle to himself as her proclamation.

“Charlie? Did you hear what I said?” Charlie looked back over at his fellow Gryffindor as she sweetly – sickeningly sweet – called to regain his attention back on her.

“Uh, no, sorry,” he apologized politely.

“I asked if you would help me with my Charms homework some time.” She repeated her question as she reached up to place a flirtatious hand on his arm.

“Oh, well actually Ben is the one who’s really good at Charms. I’ll let him know you’re looking for some help,” Charlie told her, continuing to be blissfully unaware of her advances.

Keira had to admit those types of people who tended to throw themselves at him and shamelessly flirt with him did bother her a little bit, but since Charlie showed no interest in them whatsoever – that, and he appeared completely unaware he was even being chatted up – she wouldn’t say she was necessarily jealous. Maybe if Charlie showed interest in someone else, connected and grew closer to them, then she would be jealous. But this, while it annoyed her, didn’t make her jealous. That being said, if necessary, she would rip that girl’s arm off and beat her to a bloody pulp with it.

“Okay, that’s enough. Piss off!” The girl was suddenly shooed away from Charlie by his best, although never recruited, wingman.

“Hey! We were just talking!”

“Yeah, we heard you chatting him up, being all cheeky. We get it, you’re up for it, but he’s not – at least with you – so begone,” Andre demanded as he continued to usher the girl and her little friend group away. She called back to Charlie to come by so they could finish their talk but Andre was adamant that they keep moving and get out of there.

“Honestly, the nerve of some people,” Penny huffed as she folded her arms after assisting Andre with escorting Charlie’s small group of admirers away.

“She just wanted to talk about Quidditch and asked for help on her Charms homework,” Charlie said with an ignorant shrug.

“Sometimes you’re dafter than Barnaby,” Andre informed him. “She fancies you – they all do.”

“Who?”

“All those girls – your fans,” Penny chimed in.

“You guys think everyone fancies everyone,” Charlie said, waving off their supposed warnings.

“Shouldn’t you guys be in the Prefect Carriage,” Penny suddenly reminded them.

“Oh right! That’s where I was heading,” Keira said from her new position of leaning against the compartment’s doorway, an arm lazily draped across Fred’s shoulders. Charlie couldn’t help but narrow his eyes at his little brother’s smug look – it was the smugness that got him and he would wipe that smug little look right off his face! Everyone thought Bill was the one Charlie was supposedly jealous of with how close he was to Keira but turned out that maybe it was the Twins instead!

“Right, so we better get going then. The train’s about to take off any minute now,” Charlie said before turning his attention to his brothers. “Now what did we discuss?”

“Only cause mischief when you’re not on patrol.”

“Don’t listen to Percy, he has no authority whatsoever!”

Charlie sighed while Percy slammed his book down on his lap and glared at the Twins. That was not true! Keira however found this quite amusing. “Don’t cause any mischief while I’m on patrol either,” she requested to which the Twins happily obliged.

“I can’t believe you became a Prefect with all the trouble you get into,” George amazed.

“According to all the stories we heard from Bill and Charlie,” Fred added for a further explanation.

“I know. If I can become Prefect, anyone should be able to, right,” Keira joked.

“Tell me about it,” Percy muttered, earning himself a glare from the Slytherin Prefect.

“I don’t think becoming Prefect is in the cards for us.” The Twins had to agree on that. It was added responsibility and duty that would get in the way of their fun.

“You guys could if you wanted to be! How cool would it be if all of us became Prefects?” Charlie couldn’t hide his excitement over that thought.

“If we wanted to be-“

“But we don’t really.”

Charlie’s grin fell at the Twin’s admission. “Come on, Charlie.” The Gryffindor looked over as he felt a cool hand on his arm which began to lead him away from his brother’s compartment. Keira smiled up at him reassuringly before another realization dawned on her. “Oh!”

She quickly let go of the redhead and hurried over to Penny, throwing her arms around the Hufflepuff. She had almost forgotten to give her friends a proper greeting as well! Her and Andre shared a special handshake – no hugging since it would wrinkle his outfit, plus much like her, he wasn’t really one for physical affection, but she had clearly grown more comfortable with her friends over the years, opting to give them hugs at least. Charlie walked back over to partake in the friendlier greetings as well. There was brief chitchat over how everyone’s summer went – Good? Good! – and promises to talk more about what they did over the summer, and what they planned to do that year regarding the Cursed Vaults, before Charlie and Keira had to part ways and finally make it to the Prefect Carriage.

“You’re late.”

The warm greeting welcomed the pair of Prefects as soon as they opened the door to the Prefect carriage and stepped inside.

“Uh oh, are we grounded now,” Keira snarkily replied as she plopped down in an available seat, smirking playfully at the Head Girl who scolded them upon arrival.

“We were helping some First Years find a place to sit,” Charlie explained as he took a seat next to Keira. He conveniently left out the fact that those First Years were his brothers earning a small smirk from Keira as the Head Girl accepted his reason for being late.

Fortunately the debriefing in the Prefect Carriage and distribution of patrol schedules was brief and they were able to return to their regular compartments with their friends.

Keira plopped down on the seat across from Barnaby, who was getting a head start on his tutoring lessons with Rowan, resting her feet on the seat across from her between her fellow Slytherin and the wall of the compartment. “Hey roomie,” she greeted, causing the Slytherin boy to beam. Charlie closed the compartment door behind them and took a seat next to Keira.

Ah, that’s right, Charlie recalled hearing something about Barnaby moving in with Keira over the summer when they ran into each other in Diagon Alley for some back to school shopping. Well, he saw her, she didn’t see him because he made sure to hide and avoid her, somewhat awkwardly according to the Twins and Percy. He wasn’t sure why but seeing her put him into a bit of a panic. Well that wasn’t the complete truth, he did have a good idea why…

For one he had lost the snitch, sort to speak, let it slip right through his fingers and didn’t keep in better contact with her over the summer. Especially after spending the End of the Year Ball together…

And for another…

He had first spotted her hanging out around the entrance to Knocturn Alley with Barnaby, Jae, and Merula and Ismelda, of all people, who probably saw the others there and went to investigate what they were doing per their nosy selves. Charlie knew how his mum felt about that place and the people that hung out in the shady shopping area, banning all her children from even thinking about entering that place or anywhere like it, so he clearly did not want his mum catching Ady there! She was initially put off by the idea of her two eldest boys befriending a Slytherin, changing her mind once she actually got to know Ady better, but if his mum saw her in Knockturn Alley… he did not want to deal with that. So there was some awkward rushing of his mum past the Knockturn Alley entrance.

They didn’t seem to spend too much time there, however, and soon Charlie saw her walking around Diagon Alley with Barnaby and he, once again, awkwardly hid and avoided her, ducking into the nearest store as she approached and was warmly greeted by his mum and family. Unfortunately that store was Twilfitt and Tattings, a store that his family never entered since they could never afford the high end prices which therefore earned him a lot of confused and disdainful looks from the wealthy, primarily pureblood, shoppers…and Andre. Commence more ridicule.

“Charlie?!” The second eldest Weasley spun around from watching his family through the store window from behind a mannequin at the surprised call of his name to come face to face with his fellow Quidditch aficionado, Andre Egwu.

“Uh, y-yeah, h-hey, Andre. What’s up? How was your summer? Doing some back to school shopping?” His attempts to act cool and casual clearly failed since the Ravenclaw saw right through him. That and he was, again, in a store he never shopped at.

“…What are you doing in here,” Andre questioned suspiciously.

“Umm…. Shopping?”

“I’ve never seen you in here before. I’ve also never seen you wear anything from here before. Normally you’re in Bill’s hand-me-downs,” Andre observed.

“W-well, maybe I thought with Bill graduated and gone now working in Egypt I should get myself some nice, new clothes,” Charlie attempted to reason.

“Really? Is that so? Then why are you hiding behind a mannequin,” Andre questioned.

“I’m not hiding! I’m just looking at this piece of clothing,” Charlie defended, turning to admire the article of clothing on the mannequin before grimacing. Bloody hell….

“Those are women’s dress robes,” Andre pointed out. “Not that I’m one for gender stereotyping, of course, I think anyone should wear whatever they want. As long as it’s stylish and properly tailored, of course. But you’ve just never struck me as someone who would wear something like this… Not even something feminine but something so lavish. You and your family manage to pull off the casual, second-hand look.” It was a compliment, he swore!

“…Maybe I’m looking for something for my mum,” Charlie quickly thought, earning an unamused look from Andre.

“Really? We’re going to keep doing this?”

“Okay, okay,” Charlie sighed exasperatedly, running a hand through his hair. “I’m…hiding,” he awkwardly admitted.

“From what,” Andre asked quizzically.

“Not what, who,” Charlie answered before begrudgingly motioning out the shop window where Keira and Barnaby were talking to his family. Andre peered out the shop window before a devilish smirk spread across his face.

“Ohhhh…. I see. Why are you hiding from her? I thought you guys had a great time at the Ball last year,” Andre recalled, his smirk widening.

“I haven’t really talked to her much this summer,” Charlie admitted.

“What,” Andre cried out in surprise, earning the attention of most of the shoppers although he didn’t seem to notice or at least not to mind. “But… why?! I thought we were finally over all the oblivious feelings and then the awkward realization of feelings and embarrassing behavior around each other. You had your chance, you took it, I was so proud of you! And now –“

“I know! I know!” Now it was Charlie’s outburst that caused the shoppers in the store to once again look over at the two boys. “I blew it! I buggered everything up!”

Andre frowned as he watched his friend wallow in his despair. “Maybe not. Why don’t we go talk to her and –“ The mere mention of going out to talk to Keira instantly horrified the Gryffindor, his eyes widening, face paling, and adamantly shaking his head no. And they’re supposed to be the brave House… “Alright, how about I go out and talk to her. See if she’s upset with you ditching her after one night together. If she thinks you were just using her to get what you want and then once you got it you threw her away or you didn’t enjoy your time with her, think she’s a bad kisser –“ Charlie let out a groan of despair. This was not a good pep talk if it was supposed to be one! “I’ll go do damage control,” Andre rephrased before handing Charlie a robe he was looking at before heading out of the store and joining the group catching up in front of it.

Meanwhile, Charlie watched them nervously from behind the mannequin in the store. Ugh, what was he doing? What had become of him?! He was a Quidditch Seeker, a future Dragonologist, a big brother! He normally was braver than this and more calm and collected. Dragons didn’t scare him but this girl did? What was happening to him?!

He just couldn’t bare it if he hurt her and he was afraid he did. He didn’t mean to! And he wanted to fix it! He just wasn’t sure how to do that… This whole situation, having these types of feelings for someone, everything, was entirely uncharted territory he was trying to navigate with a map he couldn’t read. Normally he would turn to Bill for help but now he was embarking on the next chapter of his life in Egypt as a Curse-Breaker.

“So? What happened,” Charlie questioned eagerly but nervously once Andre returned into the store.

“I think you can rest easy, she doesn’t seem mad at you,” Andre informed him, causing the Seeker to visibly relax. “Actually she said she felt bad she didn’t keep in better touch, like it was her fault, so doesn’t sound like she’s blaming you. She asked about you, wondered where you were. Sounded like she missed you.”

Charlie took a moment to process what Andre told him before finally speaking. “She blames herself? Why? She shouldn’t do that! I didn’t write to her either –“

“Yeah but even if you did it sounds like she wouldn’t have gotten it for a while or have a lot of time to respond back. According to Barnaby she was away from home a lot this summer. Spent most of it across the pond in Canada,” Andre informed him.

“Oh… Guess Barnaby did a better job of keeping in touch than me,” Charlie chuckled.

“Well it was easier for him. They’re living together apparently.” Charlie immediately tensed back up at this new information that completely blindsided him.

“They’re living together?! What does that even mean?!”

Andre shrugged. “I don’t know, I didn’t ask. I was sent to go see if she was mad at you. Which I did. And since she’s not, you can go ask her about her living situation. Now give me this,” Andre said, taking the robe he was looking at before all this drama started from the Gryffindor, “You can’t pull this off.”

Charlie admitted, at first, the news of her and Barnaby living together came as quite the shock to him and he may have been a little… jealous… and confused and worried what that meant exactly… And he tried to listen to Andre, despite the Ravenclaw being only somewhat helpful, and prepared himself to step out of that store and rejoin his family and greet Ady and Barnaby but as he began to do so, the owner of Quality Quidditch Supplies stepped out of their store and attempted to get Ady’s attention who quickly grabbed Barnaby’s arm and said her goodbyes to the Weasley’s as she hastily took her leave before the owner of the Quidditch store caught up to her.

Charlie wasn’t really sure what that was all about but he was more focused on figuring out what was going on between her and Barnaby. He knew they had always been very close friends, and Charlie and Barnaby were good friends as well, sharing a common passion for Magical Creatures as well as in interest in Quidditch since Barnaby was Ady’s Beater partner on the Slytherin Quidditch team. He just wanted some clarity on the situation because the uncertainty was causing a lot of crazy thoughts to swarm through is head.

He had started a letter to Penny about twenty times, scribbling out each attempt and throwing away a lot of parchment that evening when he got back to the Burrow. Bill’s empty bed was now covered in crumbled up pieces of parchment from all of Charlie’s failed attempts at trying to figure out how to casually ask the Hufflepuff, who knew everything that was happening with everyone at Hogwarts even during the summer months, if she could shed some light on what was going on with Ady and Barnaby. But every time it was too awkward or obvious why he was asking and Penny, like Andre and Bill…and the rest of his siblings, loved teasing him about his secret feelings for Ady…which may not be so secret anymore…

Ultimately Charlie scrapped the whole thing and instead had the brilliant idea to ask Tonks instead. Tonks, who surprisingly discovered was related to Ady which only brought the two closer, who also did not care much, if at all, about who fancied who, or who was dating who, or who was caught snogging who unless it was a funny, embarrassing story. Tonks who also was his first, and still one of his closest, friends since he first starting attending Hogwarts (clearly not including Bill).

Tonks proved to be quite the reliable source, although Charlie had to steer the conversation back to the topic at hand a few times since Tonks could lose her train of thought and get distracted easily. According to her, Barnaby had spent most of the last summer and holidays with Ady at her place or at Hogwarts with her. This summer it seemed he officially moved in to one of the spare rooms in 12 Grimmauld Place (Keira taking over the old House of Black home was a sort of revolutionary act and having her friends visit during the summer and hang out there was surreal. Walburga was probably rolling over in her grave). It was pretty common knowledge, at least in their friendship group, that Barnaby did not have the best childhood with his father or being cared for by his grandmother. Apparently things with her continued to be bad, possibly growing worse, and none of their friends felt Barnaby should continue to live in such a negative, stressful, and toxic environment. And Ady was the one friend who finally took action.

First she opened up 12 Grimmauld Place to all her friends whenever they needed a place to go, to get away or just to hang out, and then she practically packed up Barnaby and his things herself and brought him over to live with her and her elusive guardian. Barnaby still visits his grandmother, checks on her to make sure she’s doing alright since she is getting older, and run some errands for her (apparently that’s what they were doing in Knocturn Alley that day and ran into Jae and the others) since Barnaby still cares for his grandmother and feels responsible for her and her well-being. However, he does seem to be doing better since no longer living there, like a weight has been lifted and he even seems well-rested.

Charlie appreciated Tonks sharing this information with him. Not only did it ease his anxiety but it just made him admire and fancy Ady even more than he already did. Plus she didn’t tease him about his crush on Ady like Penny would have. That Hufflepuff was part Slytherin, he swore!

“Oh thank Merlin,” Andre breathed a sigh of relief as he entered their compartment. “I hope it’s safe in here. Tulip and Tonks are getting an early start on their mischief making and rumour has it they have two little apprentices with them as well,” Andre informed them as he closed the door behind him and took a seat next to Rowan after she shifted over for him. Charlie tensed up at the mention of the two apprentices although he did his best not to show how anxious he actually was. But his worst fear was happening. And they hadn’t even made it to Hogwarts yet!

“Shouldn’t you two go and stop them as Prefects,” Rowan asked the two sitting across from her, giving them a pointed look from over the top of her glasses.

“It’s safer in here. I’m not going to get caught in a dung bomb explosion or worse,” Keira replied.

“And I deal with this kind of stuff every day when I’m home, can’t I have a little bit of a break,” Charlie pleaded.

“Besides, there are other Prefects who can handle it, ones who are on duty right now. We’re on break,” Keira added. Rowan sighed but dropped it, resuming reading her book.

“So, how was everyone’s summer,” Andre asked in an attempt to change the subject to a less anxiety provoking one. The small fraction of their group of friends began to share their summer holiday stories, the popular Hufflepuff even managing to join them from her busy task of greeting and catching up with essentially everyone on the train (she was the most popular person in Hogwarts for a reason), sometime during Rowan telling everyone about her time on her family’s tree farm.

When it was Charlie’s turn to talk about his summer he had to admit it was bittersweet with Bill leaving for Egypt. He didn’t mean to bring the train compartment down but he missed his brother and they all missed their surrogate older brother. Or crush in Rowan’s case. And as proud as his family obviously was for him becoming a Curse-Breaker and achieving his dream, of course they all missed him and worried about him, especially their mum. But he promised to write them often and so far had kept his promise, writing to them almost every day, mainly to assure their mum he was safe and eating and had clean clothes and he was okay. “You might get some letters from him too this year, who knows,” Charlie told them, trying to end on a positive note.

“What about you, Keira? How was your summer,” Penny asked, peering around the Gryffindor who sat between them.

“Fine,” Keira answered with a shrug. The rest of the compartment stared at her, waiting for her to elaborate.

“Just…fine? That’s it,” Penny asked with a frown.

Charlie didn’t want to pry or urge her to speak when, he assumed, bringing up the topic of Bill had upset her. She wasn’t one to normally show her emotions, at least not the negative ones, in front of others and only a select few had actually seen her stress, frustrated, and depressed, himself and Rowan being a part of the select few. Keira and Bill were close. Very close. Best friends. Partners. Family. And him graduating and leaving had to be just as hard on her as it was on him and the rest of the family, if not possibly harder. She had lost one brother and now it was sort of like she was losing another one. But he was sure Bill would write to her and keep in touch with her. Didn’t matter the distance between them, nothing would break their bond.

“You were gone a lot,” Barnaby finally spoke up when it was apparent Keira wasn’t going to say any more on the matter. “It was kind of lonely. Luckily Tonks and some of our other friends were around to hang out with,” he added with a grin, but it was obvious he missed her.

“Gone? Where did you go,” Penny asked curiously.

“Canada,” Keira answered. These one word answers were clearly starting to annoy the Hufflepuff as she narrowed her eyes at the Slytherin girl.

“And what were you doing in Canada,” Penny asked.

Keira shrugged as she stared out the window. “Stuff.” Charlie swore he saw her smirk briefly but she quickly hid it to continue messing with the Hufflepuff.

“Must have been really busy since I didn’t hear from you much over this summer,” Penny continued.

“Yeah, I was really busy,” Keira confirmed sincerely. “And I’m sorry I couldn’t write more often. To you and everyone. Plus travelling that much distance is exhausting,” she added.

Penny perked up once she got a genuine answer from the Slytherin that was also more than one word. “What was keeping you so busy? Something exciting?”

“More Curse-Breaking adventures,” Rowan asked, intrigued as well because she was also worried that she hadn’t heard much from her friend over the summer holiday but learning she was not the only one was a relief.

“Did you get a Thunderbird,” Barnaby asked excitedly, practically bouncing in his seat.

“Was it a guy,” Andre asked with a smirk, causing Keira to look over at him curiously. Why would he assume that? His suggestion seemed to capture everyone’s attention in the compartment as they looked over at him in shock over that possibility, since it never crossed any of their minds, before looking back at the Slytherin being questioned curiously.

“A guy. Twenty guys. You don’t know my life,” Keira replied with her usual sass. And while everyone else chuckled Charlie was filled with dread - he may have just missed the snitch and lost.

“World Cup is happening next year,” Andre announced excitedly to change the subject once again. “Teams are already competing for a spot.”

“Did you get offered a position, Andre,” Penny asked curiously. He was working towards playing professionally after all.

“No, unfortunately but they only choose a few select Keepers so it’s more difficult to get offered a position as one compared to say all the Chasers,” Andre explained.

“Guess that makes sense. One Keeper to three Chasers,” Penny replied.

“Right, but since this is the World Cup and not any normal match, games in the tournament can last for days or weeks! So they want to have two to three Keepers and a few lines of Chaser and Beaters to switch out so players can get some rest,” Andre continued to try and explain. “So teams may have nine Chasers but only two or three Keepers, so the odds are slim. I’m not taking it personally. Or letting it discourage me from playing professionally,” he assured.

“That’s good to hear,” Penny replied with a grin before Andre turned his attention to the red head next to her.

“While I may not have gotten an offer, someone here did…”Charlie tensed up slightly as all eyes turned to him.

“You got offered to play,” Rowan asked excitedly.

“Uh… yeah… I was offered a position for England,” Charlie admitted awkwardly, clearly a bit embarrassed by all this attention. Also because he knew when he told them he turned it down they were all going to throw a fit.

“Congrats! I knew you would, mate,” Andre congratulated proudly. “I can’t wait to watch you play and beat all those other teams and win, and oh you think you have fans now, wait until they see you -“

“I’m…not going to play for England,” Charlie interrupted nervously. But he didn’t want Andre to get himself all worked up only to be let down by his decision.

“What? But you said you got an offer to –“

“I did. But… I turned it down,” Charlie admitted.

“YOU DID WHAT?!?!” Charlie winced and looked down as the entire compartment yelled at him followed by a lot of scolding and questioning. He was afraid Andre might hit him in an attempt to knock some sense into him!

“Are you insane!? It’s an opportunity of a lifetime!”

“Why wouldn’t you want to play in the biggest Quidditch tournament in the world?”

“What is wrong with you?!”

“What?! What do you mean you’re not playing for England?” Charlie glanced over at the Slytherin next to him whose question, although a cry of surprise and outrage, was not as rage filled as others (Andre) but instead filled with disappointment. The look on her face confirmed the tone in her voice and Charlie’s heart began to ache slightly.

Keira had sat up when Charlie made his announcement, her feet dropping to the floor from the seat across from her. She was definitely not expecting him to say that. And she couldn’t hide the shock and disappointment from her face as she stared at him awaiting an answer, an explanation for his poor life decision, in her opinion.

“Can we all stop yelling, please!” The compartment went silent and for a brief moment everyone’s attention turned from the red head to Barnaby. “I know you’re not fighting but I still don’t like all the yelling,” he explained. The compartment quietly apologized to the Slytherin boy before turning their attention back to the Gryffindor Seeker.

“Well? What do you have to say for yourself,” Andre demanded, folding his arms over his chest as he watched Charlie fixedly.

“It was an honor being asked and I am very grateful for the opportunity, like I told them, but… after thinking a lot about it and how much time and energy it would be asking of me, and travel, and everything it meant… it’s accepting a huge commitment and that means it would take time away from school and studying and working towards becoming a Dragonologist. It’s my dream to work with dragons and I’m not going to let anything jeopardize that, even Quidditch. And if my grades slip or I’m unable to master necessary spells and skills I need to be able to work with dragons I’ll never forgive myself.” His passionate speech seemed to settle the questions everyone in the compartment had, even if they were still disappointed in his decision.

An awkward silence fell throughout the train compartment until Keira finally dared to break it. “I guess it’s for the best. I would hate to see the disappointed look on your face when Canada beats England and wins,” she told him with a small smirk.

Charlie blinked at her a couple times, not expecting some trash talking, before a small smile crept onto his face. She, and everyone else, may still be disappointed in his decision but at least they accepted it, or were at least trying to.

“You’re right, it is a big commitment and you have different goals for yourself and your future. It couldn’t have been an easy decision to make but I think it is the right one for you. Takes a lot of courage to be able to turn down an opportunity like that and maintain your focus on your aspirations that you know will make you happy overall instead of just for a moment,” Penny spoke up encouragingly.

“Thanks, Penny.” Charlie was really touched by the Hufflepuff’s words. He was very fortunate to have such understanding friends and it meant a lot to him that they thought so highly of him.

“Very focused on your career goals… Very ambitious… Very Slytherin of you,” Keira teased with a small smirk earning a small smirk and chuckle from the Gryffindor.

“Well, you know-“ Charlie started before being interrupted from the Ravenclaw across from him.

“Wait, hold on,” Andre said suddenly, holding up a hand as he took a moment to gather his thoughts. Charlie prepared for another tongue lashing but instead, to his surprise, Andre turned his attention to the Slytherin next to him. “You think Canada is going to beat England? And win?”

“Yeah, I do,” Keira replied confidently.

“Really? I’ll take that bet,” Andre replied just as cocky.

“Oh no, here they go,” Rowan sighed, shaking her head.

An evil, mischievous grin spread across the Slytherin’s face. “Are you sure? Without Charlie they don’t really have much of a chance to win, do they,” Keira pointed out with a smirk before looking at the Gryffindor Seeker. “So really I should thank you for turning down playing for England. Makes England far less of a threat.”

“Your maple drinking team is the nonthreatening one,” Andre barked suddenly.

“Alright you two, calm down.” Penny attempted to calm the two Quidditch obsessed friends down. This was not the first time they got into passionate arguments over Quidditch teams and players and it wouldn’t be the last. She had a feeling this was going to be a long year with the World Cup coming up.

“Hey! Maple is delicious,” Keira snapped back. Not exactly the point but still she felt she needed to defend it.

“It really is. She brought me back pure maple sugar candies – those things are amazing,” Barnaby informed the compartment blissfully.

“Did someone say maple sugar candy?” The compartment’s residents all turned to look at the new voice that graced them with their presence. Jae stood in the now open doorway of the compartment with a bag of what they all assumed was full of some of his merchandise slung over his shoulder.

“Hey Jae,” the group greeted prompting Jae to go into his sales pitch. The train ride to Hogwarts was a long one! They needed snacks, rarer ones they couldn’t get from the Honeyduke’s cart, and things to keep them busy! Plus now was the best time to get their hands on last minute school supplies, like auto-answer quills, before they arrived at Hogwarts. And since they were his friends he’d promise to give them a deal… He had a bag full of stuff for everyone! Like Santa except they had to pay him…

“We’re fine, Jae, thanks though,” Charlie answered. Every day that kid pitched him something, being roommates, so he had gotten used to turning him down without any feeling of guilt.

“Alright but if you do decide you want anything, you know where to find me. And speaking of maple sugar candy, I believe we have our own deal to make,” Jae told the Slytherin girl who sighed and stood up to grab her own bag from the overhead luggage compartment.

“Keira! Have you become one of Jae’s suppliers,” Penny asked, sounding rather shocked by this turn of events.

“He asks me to bring him some candies and snacks from Canada that he can’t get here to sell. It’s not a big deal,” Keira assured.

“Yeah, and it’s not like I’m taking advantage. We’re splitting the profits,” Jae assured Penny as Keira grabbed a package out of her bag and began to hand it over to him. “70-30.”

Keira paused at Jae’s distribution percentage and quickly pulled the package back to her before Jae could get his hands on it. “70-30? It’s supposed to be 50-50.”

“Did we decide on that though? I mean, I am the one doing all the work, making all the deals, doing the sales pitching, putting myself at risk by carrying the merchandise around so if I get caught that’s it,” Jae debated.

“And I’m the one who smuggled these in for you and without me you wouldn’t have any merchandise to sell,” Keira pointed out.

Jae frowned and considered her point. “Fair enough. 60-40.” Keira’s eyes narrowed at the shady dealing Gryffindor. But since she knew he did this to get money to send back to his mum she didn’t mind him getting the majority of the profits. Besides, she had enough money.

“Alright, deal,” Keira agreed before they shook hands and she handed over the package to him.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Jae said with a smirk before placing her package in his bag. “I’ll come back around later and see if you guys want anything.”

“You could also come back just to say hi and hang out with us because we’re friends,” Penny pointed out.

“I would, Penny, but I’m working,” Jae pointed out.

“You know, if you put in half as much effort into your school work as your do with this little business of yours you could be top of the Gryffindor students in your year,” Penny informed him.

Jae blinked at her a moment before bursting out into laughter. “Oh Penny, I had no idea how funny you were! Studying about plants and writing essays on Goblin Rebellions doesn’t help me, but perfecting my business skills and making money does.” And with that the shady dealing Gryffindor took his leave to get more sales, closing the door to the compartment behind him.

“There goes all the pure maple candy,” Barnaby sighed, looking down in disappointment. That was short lived, however, as suddenly a box of the candy he was just mourning plopped down in his lap. “Maple candy,” he exclaimed excitedly with a grin.

“I wouldn’t give him all of it,” Keira assured. “Have to save some for ourselves. For free,” she added. Keira began distributing some more candy and snacks she brought back with her from her visits to Canada around the compartment. “Oh, you know who may like some of these? Talbott.” Since, thanks to Penny, she learned he had a bit of a sweet tooth. “I’m going to go find him,” she announced, standing up. “Besides, I have to do my rounds soon anyway. Tonks and the rest of them better take a break from their mayhem.”

“I’ll go with you,” Penny said, standing up as well. “I want to go check on Beatrice.” Of course she did. She was going to be even more overprotective of her little sister after what happened last year and no one blamed her.

Barnaby stood up suddenly as well and wrapped Keira in a tight bear hug. “Thanks, Keira! You’re the best!”

The Slytherin girl blinked in surprise before laughing slightly and reaching up to pat Barnaby on the back a couple times. “Thanks, Barnabas. Any time.” After their hug, Barnaby took his seat and began devouring the maple candy while the two girls left the compartment.

As soon as the door to the compartment closed, Andre looked over at the Gryffindor with a devilish smirk.

“No –“ Charlie started.

“So….” Andre started innocently.

“Don’t –“ Charlie warned.

“You two-“

“I’m not talking about this right now with you,” Charlie informed him.

For a brief moment Charlie honestly thought Andre had dropped it but he just lulled him into a false sense of security. “So do you think she has a boyfriend back in Canada,” Andre asked suddenly. “Maybe it was just a summer fling,” he suggested as Charlie groaned and slumped over to thump his head against the wall of the train. “If it’s any consolation, I don’t think she actually dated or did anything with twenty guys,” Andre added, trying to make Charlie feeling better…or mess with him more, Charlie wasn’t sure, but it didn’t help him feel any better and instead let out another groan. “Could always ask her roommate,” Andre suggested with a smirk, glancing over at Barnaby who was preoccupied with stuffing his face full of candy.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” Charlie attempted to say but Andre just spoke over him like he wasn’t even listening.

“Hey, Barnaby. Do you know what Keira was busy doing in Canada this summer,” Andre asked curiously.

“She went to see her family over there,” Barnaby replied after a moment. “And… I know there was something else… but I forgot.” The Slytherin paused a moment to think. “I think it’s supposed to be a secret. So guess it’s good that I forgot,” he laughed.

“That’s it? You can’t remember anything else,” Andre urged prompting Barnaby to think hard once again.

“Umm…. I think I remember her mentioning someone named Patrice?” Charlie and Andre shared a look at Barnaby’s possible recollection.

“Is that…a woman or a man,” Charlie eventually, carefully asked.

“It depends,” Rowan spoke up from behind her book, the boys forgetting she was even there for a moment since she was so quiet! “Typically in English it’s a feminine name but in French it’s a masculine name.”

“Well that doesn’t help much,” Andre sighed. Charlie still wasn’t sure if Andre was actually trying to help him or if he just liked messing with him. Probably both. But guess he should appreciate his friend taking an interest. Unfortunately, none of this made Charlie feel better or clear up anything for him.

After Keira returned to their compartment, with Tonks in tow – whether she came as a friend or as a prisoner from getting caught in her mischief making while Keira was on rounds was unknown – Charlie left to go on his rounds.

“Did you find Talbott and give him some candy,” Rowan asked curiously.

“I did. I think he was happy. I told him where we were sitting and he said he might come by,” Keira replied as she took her seat back across from Barnaby and next to the window.

The group of friends chatted idly, quietly read or watched the scenery go buy, and snacked on their various snacks. Charlie’s mum of course made her children plenty of delicious homemade snacks, as did Penny’s mum, and they were nice enough to share with their friends. Although Keira also joked she might go shake down Percy for more. At least Charlie thought she was kidding…

Rowan even attempted to hone her teaching skills by discussing what she was reading about and quizzing her friends but that did not last long since they decided they weren’t even at Hogwarts yet and they would have plenty of lectures and homework and studying this year so they wanted to continue to enjoy the last bit of their summer holiday; although of course Rowan thought this was fun! Penny came back for some time but left again to check on her sister once again, and once again no one was going to blame her for her overprotective nature. Honestly, the fact that she didn’t keep Beatrice chained to her was astounding. Jae also returned and attempted to sell them some of his merchandise once again but they all refused; however, they did manage to get him to stay and hang out for a while before he continued with his side hustle, taking Andre’s place as Andre went to visit with some other people for a moment.

It was hard having so many friends and such small compartments on the train and they did their best to squeeze in – it became like a revolving door of friends in an attempt to get to sit and hang out with each of them during the ride up to and from school. They basically needed their own train car at this point.

Eventually, the part of the eight hour train ride came where everyone began to get tired, or aka: nap time. Tonks leaned against the compartment wall, snoring slightly as she dozed. Jae pulled out a pillow from some unknown magical place to help him sleep, apparently needing that break from the hustle and finding the perfect place to do it with them, while Rowan fell asleep in her classic style with an open book across her lap and her glasses askew on her face. Keira meanwhile had fallen asleep with her arms folded and legs still propped up on the seat across from her next to Barnaby. At some point she slowly began to fall over and ended up using Charlie’s shoulder as a pillow – something that was becoming a bit of a habit – which he of course didn’t mind and instead gazed down fondly at her with a small smile from his newest book on dragons as she slept peacefully, reminding him of other times he had the privilege of watching her sleep over the last couple years.

“Hey, Barnaby,” Charlie called out softly to the only other person awake in the compartment, possibly due to all the sugar candy he ate earlier. Barnaby looked up from his own book on magical creatures where he was probably more admiring the pictures rather than reading it. “What does etrall mean? Keira said it earlier…”

Barnaby frowned quizzically as he repeated the word under his breath a few times. Was this some sort of trick question? “Oh! Do you mean étoile?”

“Yeah, that’s it,” Charlie confirmed. “Couldn’t quite remember it. Do you know what it means?”

“Don’t worry, I have that problem all the time,” Barnaby assured when Charlie apologized for not remembering. “Étoile means star.”

“Star,” Charlie repeated before looking over as he heard voices coming from their compartment doorway.

“Looks like it’s full,” Penny observed. “I’ll go sit with Beatrice and come back later,” she assured with a smile as Andre continued to stare at Barnaby.

“You speak French?!” Barnaby smiled proudly up at the Ravenclaw who was astounded to learn this new bit of information. He shook his head as he slowly closed the door and went to go find somewhere else to sit for the time being and needing time to process that Barnaby, who he thought had a hard time with English, apparently spoke two languages! Maybe more! Barnaby continued to grin proudly as he resumed looking back at his book.

Charlie’s gaze once again turned to the sleeping Slytherin on his shoulder, his eyes softening as he admired her a moment. “Star,” he repeated again softly, the memories of asking her to the Ball last year during her Astrology class and dancing with her under the stars before they shared their first, and only, kiss playing in his head. Maybe he hadn’t lost after all. Maybe he still had a chance.

A/N: I know the song I’m referencing isn’t the best to use for a romantic relationship (since it’s about drug addiction) but it has some great lines I think that are perfect for them (it talks about a dragon okay?! =p) I’m going to continue using the lyrics throughout each part that I think correspond to the mood.

Again, apologize for the rough editing and that I have a problem being brief... Too many commas, too many adjectives/details... I’m sure there’s a support group out there somewhere =p

I decided to make a sort of series instead of just one about them admitting their feelings because I have a lot of ideas that happen this year. I also wanted to finish Year 5 fics before getting into Year 6 but this has been sitting around waiting to be posted and I love writing the sibling banter with the Twins so I’ve been excited to get this posted and this series started - so many ideas! But I will try to get the last Year 5 fic written and out soon too I just haven’t had any motivation to write it, all my inspiration has been taken up by Year 6! (I’ve also been looking into AO3 and Wattpad to post my fics on as well so if anyone has any experience with these platforms please let me know =)  )

I hope you enjoyed, hope you laughed, and if you did please let me know which parts you enjoyed and laughed at the most! As always feel free to comment and/or reblog with your thoughts and comments and let me know if you want to be added or removed from the tag list (and I’m sorry if I forgot anyone, I have to find a better way to do this!)! And as always my Masterlist is linked in my bio =)

Thank you for reading! 😄 ❤️

Tag List: @sly-vixen-up2nogood @sungoddessra @cinnamoncam @bexeris @urban-eagle @thatbritishcanadiangirl @abravelittlefangirl @justducky0423 @tatlikar @otpshipper93 

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A preview of chapter 39 of A Contract Most Inconvenient...

“Arthur,” Hermione called, reaching out to grasp his sleeve.

He turned, giving her face a brief glance before he turned back to where Harry had paused at where the grand double doors of the foyer of Charlie’s home stood open, the voices of the greater Weasley brood floating down the hall. “You go on ahead, Harry,” he encouraged, and Harry waited until she gave him a quick, encouraging smile before he wandered off towards the noise.

“Are you sure it’s alright for me to be here?” she ran a hand over her bump nervously until Arthur's hand folded over hers, stilling it.

“It’s fine, Hermione,” he said. “I promise.”

She nodded, her eyes still trained on where his hand had folded over hers, resting gently on her bump. It was the most contact they’d had since his encounter with her father. She’d gone to him twice since the incident, and he’d politely declined her company, leaving her feeling hollow and confused as she made her way back to her rooms. Despite his reassurances that nothing was amiss, she knew that something fundamental had shifted between them, creating an awkwardness that lingered in the air between them with their every private interaction.

She lifted her other hand to close over his, but before she could make contact he had already pulled away, heading toward the doors. She looked up to see him already halfway to the doors, likely having assumed that she was following behind him.  

“Arthur,” she called.

He paused, turning to look at her questioningly. She searched his expression, seeing the open, kindly look she had grown so used to on the surface, yet she could see the closed-off look that lingered just below it. He was ever the picture of composure — and distance.

“I—”