#charlie weasley/OC

[blueironywrites]

Title: Raindrops (M)

Summary: Charlie says goodbye.

Fandom: Harry Potter

Word count: c.11,800

Lost love, rainy beaches, tear jerker

+ + +

As I got thinking about why Charlie never ended up with anyone, I got thinking: what if he did find his one great love but he lost it?

This story explores that.

[wisteria-blooms]

sunburns & dragons (charlie weasley & reader) (13/15)

CHAPTER DIRECTORY

TAGLIST AT BOTTOM! PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF I MISSED ADDING YOU TO THE TAGLIST. A/N: Thank you guys for your patience and kind words. I've been in a writing slump that's for sure, so this was hard to write and tbh, I'm happy with it. BUT, there will be smut next chapter (it is extremely conducive to the plot... I say to convince myself).

CHAPTER 12: Your time with Charlie at Hogwarts ends with a moment of reckoning. And a chance to do it all again. (5.2k words)

CHAPTER 13: LASTING IMPRESSIONS

You’d never believed in parallel universes until now. The seismic shift in your belief system was caused by the version of Charlie who’d returned after his call. He was a sunny day shattered by sudden thunderstorms, and you were the one caught in the crosshairs of the storm. Yes, this was what it felt like. 

You gazed at him nervously as you sat in the Great Hall in anticipation for dinner. He remained silent, arms crossed, slouching back on the chair, and barely looking at you. His usual penchant for filling the empty air with conversation had disappeared faster than a cloaked thief in the darkness. 

“Are you alright?” you asked him after five minutes of unbearable silence. “Charlie?”

“Of course, (Y/N),” Charlie responded. He was physically here, the timbre of his voice still rich but his words felt hollow somehow. 

“You’ve been unusually quiet.”

“Oh?” A surprised look graced his face. “Have I?”

You nodded slowly, eyes narrowing at him because he was either lying or just oblivious to his own emotions.

“Well.” Charlie pushed against the long table with his palms. “I suppose I’m just pondering tomorrow’s examination.”

“What of it?”

He adjusted his collar. “I’m feeling a bit nervous.”

“I don’t believe for a second something like that could make you nervous.”

“It’s my first time getting involved in something like this,” he explained with a faint smile. “Loads to be nervous about. Has to go well.”

You flinched. “Right.”

Though you believed absolutely nothing he was saying, you didn’t press him further. If anything, you were going to say something stupid and ruin the rest of this trip. Dejected, you slumped back into your own chair, your own mood significantly dampened. Whatever was bothering him was bothering you now, too. 

The rest of the night persisted in the same manner. Charlie spoke only when necessary and very sparsely. He showered and then settled on the opposite side of the couch. You watched him through brief, pinholed glances as he sat writing something. Your book rested on your lap with its pages barely turned because you were so fixated on him. You were just a twitch away from trying to perform Legilimens on him. He never looked so guarded and you wanted nothing but to dig into that pretty head of his. Dammit! What could possibly he be worrying about?

You bit down on your lip to swallow the urge to call out his name. Charlie’s hand swiftly tied up the parchment before he pushed himself off the couch. You quickly turned away and pretended to read. Page five. Yep, that was where a whole twenty minutes got you. Your hands clenched the top of your book, nearly crinkling the pages, as you watched him strut to the window. He handed his letter to an owl and exhaled deeply in the cold air.

Whatever was bothering him, you really wished he’d consider you privy to it.

It wasn’t the sound of an alarm clock or a running shower that roused you the next morning. Instead, it was Charlie’s voice layered over a crackling fireplace.  Where was he? Cautiously, your right hand crawled over to his side of the bed. It was cold meaning he’d been up for a while now. After a few more moments, your brain finally caught on to the fact he was having a conversation with someone. 

“...No, it’ll be fine,” Charlie said. “You’ve never disappointed me before.” He chuckled. “As long as it works out next week. No idea how I’m going to convince her again. But don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to you later.”

The familiar whoosh of the fireplace that signalled the end of the conversation prompted you to resume what you hoped was a convincing slumber. Charlie then began walking. Your breath hitched when you realized his trajectory was back towards the bed. Shit.

“Hey, (Y/N), time to wake up,” Charlie sang. “We’ve got an exam to run.”

You pretended to open your eyes. “Right,” you murmured. “Good morning to you, too.”

“How are you feeling?” Charlie asked. You saw him smile through half-lidded eyes. “Ready to take on the day?”

How did you feel? Was he serious? You felt like total shit. Like you hadn’t spent all of last night stringing theories like a madman about why Charlie was upset, but you weren’t ready to play conspiracy theorist to his face. “Like I don’t want to get up.”

Charlie laughed. “I know.” The bed dipped when he suddenly dropped his weight on it. You bounced up slightly, jolting awake. He slipped one of his hands under the covers. “I really didn’t want to get up either. It looked cold out there, and you were so warm here.”

Without a warning, he tossed the covers off. The cold air iced your skin immediately which caused your mood to foul. “Ugh,” you let out an exasperated sound, “ I wish we could stay here all day.”

“We? Here?” Charlie tilted his head down, eyes looking up at you suspiciously with a stupid, teasing grin on his face. “We could make that happen if there weren’t an exam in the way.”

“I mean, I wish I could—” Your words tumbled in all the wrong directions. You prayed the red wasn’t visible on your cheeks. “How long have you been awake?” you asked in a desperate attempt to redirect the conversation. 

Charlie pulled his mouth side to side, thinking, blue eyes staring at the ceiling. “Two hours or so, maybe longer.”

“I assume you didn’t get much sleep.”

“No, I didn’t.” Charlie creased his eyes, accentuating his undereye area. “I missed out on some serious beauty sleep. But regardless, we’ve got an exam to run, so”— he took hold of your wrists and pulled your body up in one smooth motion, letting your face get dangerously close to his —“let’s get to it.”

“It should be decently easy, this whole thing,” Charlie assured as he opened the door to the examination room for you, revealing perfectly-arranged rows of tables. “Now, let’s go over some ground rules.”

As you listened attentively to his instructions, there was one thing that stood out to you: Charlie was in much better spirits this morning. Did it have anything to do with his conversation he had before you’d woken? You replayed the words in your head. 

“You’ve never disappointed me before.”

“As long as it works out next week.”

“No idea how I’m going to convince her again.”

What did any of that mean? What was happening next week? And who was he talking to and whom about? 

”This is (Y/N) Malfoy. She will be invigilating your examination,” Charlie explained when his students filtered in. You waved with a slight smile. One girl turned back to whisper to her friend. Charlie sat atop the table, the soles of his shoes flush the floor. “I’ve made the rules very clear last week, so don’t even attempt any funny business. (Y/N) had a large part in the products sold in my brothers’ shop in Diagon Alley. I’ve told you about them—troublemakers through and through.” The class laughed. “If you require proof, her name is embossed on the back of the Skiving Snackbox.” His last line, again, elicited a chorus of laughter.

“Is that true?” a boy with glasses quipped from his seat.

“It is,” you answered with a nod. Your head caught halfway, wondering if you should’ve clarified that you were friends. You hadn’t spoken to Fred or George in weeks. Your name might not even be on the box when these kids get there for the holidays. 

“And there’s a celebratory Quidditch game after, or you can do some time trials with Madame Hooch if you prefer,” Charlie announced. “I’ll see you all on the field later.” He held up a hand to signal his goodbye. Before he left, he placed a hand on the small of your back and whispered in your ear, “You got this, (Y/N).” 

His actions drew some obvious ire and fresh curiosity from some of his students. “I’ll see you down at the field after. You remember what to do with the papers, right?”

“Of course. Thank you, Charlie.” You straightened your back and tried to maintain your composure. When Charlie left, you commanded the attention of the class. Respect was earned, not asked for. “You have an hour starting now. I will remind you of the time in 15-minute intervals.”

The hour ended without a hitch. Relieved, you collected each and every exam paper and dismissed the students. They ran out in celebration—guess the exam went well. Out of curiosity, you flipped through one just to see what kind of questions Charlie was going to torture his students with. The amount of passion he had for beasts, you had to imagine he was going down to the nitty-gritty. 

To your surprise, even you knew most of the answers. How curious of him indeed. 

You stored the papers in a protected compartment and triple-checked the enchantments. When all your tasks were done, you slipped your coat on and made your way down to the field. 

There was indeed a series of Quidditch games taking place on the field. It was mainly supervised by Madame Hooch and loosely by Charlie who was either chatting with her or a student. At this moment, he was listening attentively to what a female student in sport robes was telling—or complaining, it sounded—to him. Awkwardly, you shuffled towards the stands, ensuring you were well behind Charlie. As much as you enjoyed the insinuation of being Charlie’s something, you had to take a literal step back. Trying to understand Charlie’s intentions was like saving yourself from quicksand. There was no use in fighting for it—you just had to lay back and hope to make it out alive. 

By this point, Charlie had concluded his conversation with the student and turned back to Madame Hooch. 

“You had a rare talent in Quidditch,” Madame Hooch complimented, her voice carrying over the loud cheers. Probably a much needed habit of hers. “I still haven’t seen anything like it since you left.”

Charlie shrugged. The sight of his large shoulders made your knees weak. Good thing you were already seated. “I don’t know, Bill was pretty good.”

“Bill was good, but not as good as you.”

Charlie laughed. “Finally, something I’m better at.”

”Is it true that he’s a father now?” Madame Hooch asked. 

”Word travels fast, doesn’t it?”

”I heard it in the faculty room. We remember his wife from the Triwizard Tournament, of course.” Then, Madame Hooch paused. Your breathing paused with her. “Sincerely, I would delay my own retirement if it meant teaching your children. Of course, if that’s in the cards.”

“Mhm,” Charlie vocalized, followed by a long silence that killed you. “I wouldn’t bet on it, Madame Hooch.”

“Really?” she laughed, her arms still tightly crossed against her chest and eyes on the field. “You were always… well, I always thought it’d be that Evangeline girl. You were prone to flying off somewhere after class. Seemed like you liked her the best out of all of them.”

“I’m embarrassed you still remember it like it was yesterday.”

Your chest tightened and your hands clenched inside your mittens, your fingernails digging crescents into your palm. 

“Of course I would,” Madame Hooch responded. “I was the poor faculty member on the broom trying to reel you back to the school grounds. You got as far as Feldcroft that day.”

The cold air that had built up in your lungs became impossible to push out, leaving your insides feeling bitter and frigid. This was your punishment for your indulgence, of listening to a conversation that wasn’t yours to engage with. You shut your eyes and tried not to let your brain get the best of you. 

“You look a little old to be here.”

You quickly turned to your right. A young girl with large, round glasses and a book tucked under her right arm sat beside you, half-heartedly looking at the pitch. Her curly brown hair poked out violently from under her hood. 

You smiled. “I suppose I am.”

“You’d look a little better if you turned your frown upside down. That’s what my parents always tell me.”

You softened your features. “Better?”

“Yes.” Then, she squinted at you. “Were you our invigilator today?”

“I was.”

“I thought you looked familiar. My name’s Lucinda, by the way. But you can call me Lucy.”

“Nice to meet you, Lucy. I’m (Y/N).” When Lucy showed no signs of going back to her book, you deduced she wanted a friend to talk to. So, you shifted your knees towards her. “How are you finding the class so far?”

She perked up at your interest. “Well, I don’t even like magical beasts, but I took the class to get out of my comfort zone. My parents say that it’s important to do that sometimes. I was expecting to hate it but it turns out that Mr. Weasley is a pretty decent teacher, one of the best, really. So, I was happy with my decision.”

You thought back to his no-frills exam. “He is, isn’t he?”

She furrowed her brows, confusion wrinkling her young flesh. “Well, out of everyone here, you should know. Aren’t you his wife?”

“What—” You almost choked. You squeezed your eyes shut for a second, resisting the urge to squeeze your temples. “No, but that seems to be a common misunderstanding.”

Lucy sighed. “I have to tell Clarissa to stop spreading rumours again. She's always wrong. But you can convince anyone of anything if you sound confident enough.” An adorably smug smile lit up her face. “I could tell she was wrong right away.”

“How so?”

“He’s not wearing a ring. And neither are you.”

You looked down at your hands. Though gloved, there was no bulge of metal poking out. “That’s very astute of you.”

“So I’ve been told. And speaking of observations, here’s another one I made. I told Clarrisa on our first day of class that I reckoned Mr. Weasley didn’t really want to be here. It seemed that we both shared fake enthusiasm for this class. She didn’t agree, but I’m pretty good at seeing through people. And I'd rather just say what's on my mind and not worry about what other people think. If they disagree, maybe they weren't my friend in the first place.”

“Is that so?” You urged her to go on, but in your heart, you knew she was wrong. She wasn’t the one who’d seen Charlie when he first returned to England in September three months ago. He had been there, right in front of you, exuberant and all engines on. 

”Yeah, but over time, he seemed to genuinely enjoy being in the classroom. As did I.”

”Why do you think that is?” you laughed. 

“Who knows.” Lucy shuffled back and forth in her seat. “I just know I wouldn’t want Mr. Weasley’s real job. It seems so terrible and dangerous.”

“Where do you want to work?” you asked.

“With the Ministry like my parents. At a desk where it’s safe. I don’t want any of those near-death experiences Mr. Weasley’s described to us. ‘Oh, that dragon was going to take off my head this time, I was sure of it, but I walked away with a slight scratch.’ Do you reckon he wears a four-leaf clover around his neck? Clarissa and Niamh think it’s so brave and cool, but I think it’s reckless.”

“I work at the Ministry,” you offered. “But sitting at a desk all day is not what’s cracked up to be.” You stretched your legs out. “Sometimes, I reckon I’m going to get a clot from how much I sit.”

Lucy grimaced. “Gross.” Then, she pushed up her glasses with her pointer finger. “But I’m sure it’ll suit me fine.”

Just then, the final whistle pierced the air, putting an end to the festivities. 

“Well,” Lucy said, dusting off her skirt. “I guess that’s it for me. Nice to meet you, (Y/N). I like having someone to talk to, especially someone older.”

“I enjoyed it, so thank you.” Maybe Lucy was right. It was nice to talk to someone to get your mind off Charlie. 

“Bye then!” 

You watched her run off towards two girls who’d just stepped out from the field. “Lucy, where’d you go?” one asked. You were close enough to hear the first part of Lucy’s brave retort: “I was seeking the truth, Clarissa. In which case, you’ll be disappointed to know…”

The snow crunched rhythmically behind you. Someone was approaching and now hovering over you.

“I’ve been looking for you. Were you making friends with my student?” Charlie asked. The delectable, deep notes of his voice tickled your ears. 

“I did,” you affirmed, turning around and trying to hold it together. “Lucy is very bright and precocious.”

“She is,” Charlie agreed. “For someone who bluntly admitted they weren’t going to take the class after this year, she sure did well on the practicum.”

“I got that feeling myself.”

“You know, she reminds me of you.”

“Really?” you questioned. “Because she took this elective against her will? She seems to be having a much better go at this than me.”

“No, but—” Charlie slipped his hands in his pockets. “As you said, she’s very smart, very outspoken and amusingly truthful.” He inhaled sharply before screeching: “Mr. Weasley, you know I really admire you, but I hate purple toads! Why would you do this to me? It’s my birthday this week!” 

“Is that what you think of me?” you asked. “That’s… sweet of you.”

Charlie leaned in closer. “On second thought, I don’t know much about truthful. You always look like you’re hiding something.” His blue eyes latched onto yours. “Are you?”

Hand on his chest, you pushed him back slightly. “Don’t be silly. I’m an open book.”

“If you had anything to say, you’d just tell me?”

“Of course I would. Would you?”

“I couldn’t imagine a moment where I wouldn’t be speaking my mind.”

“You know what they say, Charlie,” you started, eyes narrowing playfully. “Every accusation is a confession.”

“Who taught you that? Your dad’s barrister?” 

You groaned which caused Charlie to laugh. “You’d have to pay me to stand in the same room during that conversation,” you said. “I’m falling asleep just thinking about it.” 

Charlie outstretched his arms. “Fall away, (Y/N). I’m right here.”

You contemplated your next step. Fuck it, you could be a damsel in distress for once in your life. You dramatically placed the back of your hand on your forehead and stumbled towards him. The cold air that was situated in your lungs finally escaped when you laughed. How quickly it disappeared. You felt warmer, lighter now that Charlie was back to his normal self. 

“Did you have a good time?” Charlie asked. 

Two days had passed in the blink of an eye. You and Charlie were back on the train, in the same compartment that had brought you here. 

“I did.”

“Much better than being in your stuffy cubicle at the  Ministry?” Charlie asked earnestly.

You tapped your shoe on the floor and waffled on your answer. “I suppose it’s nice. I actually get to stand, get some fresh air, and feel a sense of adventure. I told Lucy that I was going to get a clot from working at the Ministry. She recoiled.”

“We have very different thresholds for excitement, it seems.”

“So how do you feel about it?” you queried with a smile. “Being here and not in Romania?”

Charlie stretched his arms over his head, almost grazing the shelving. If he was putting on a display of muscle for you, then you were absolutely falling for it. “If I’m being honest with you, it’s refreshing. I feel very well-rested. You forget how much of a toll handling dragons takes on you physically. But to be clear, I still prefer my job in Romania.” He flexed his bicep (just for you?). “Though I reckon I’ve lost a lot of muscle just sitting around all day with mum feeding me.”

You shook your head. “It doesn’t look like it to me.”

“Ah, so my suspicions were correct,” Charlie beamed. “You have been ogling me.”

“What?” You leaned forward quickly. “This was just a general observation. I was being nice—!” 

Charlie glanced at his arm. A crooked smile spread across his face. For a brief moment, you imagined straddling his lap again. The seat’s headrest is a headboard, his sweater is nothing, and the metallic walls of the train are the soft curtains of a four-poster. This mantra was such a dangerous rhetoric and you just might never view a train seat the same way again. “(Y/N), you know you can just ask to touch me. I would say yes.”

His words stirred temptation but you need to prove your resilience. You instead let out a scoff. “For what reason? “

“You just look like you really want to.”

“Keep dreaming, Charlie.”

“Hey, if you want to keep spending time with me, come back with me next Friday,” he suggested. 

You thought about the amassed pile of paperwork burying Angus. “I can’t take every single week off,” you countered. “My coworker would die a slow death without me.”

Charlie twisted his mouth to one side. “I’ll make you an offer: come back just one last time before I head back to Romania, and you’ll never have to see the damned school again.” 

You blinked at him. “Won’t…all the students be gone next week?”

“They’ll be leaving when we get there, yeah.”

Your heart rate picked up. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t excited at the prospect of spending more alone time with Charlie, especially the part where you just had to sleep in the same bed as him. The horror. “So what will we be… doing?”

“Whatever you want,” he said. He grinned when he realised he’d caught you off-guard. “But in all seriousness, grading the exams, clearing out my office and classroom, and keeping me company while I complete my administrative work before I get back to Romania.”

Your excitement was quashed by the mention of Romania. You had blissfully forgotten that he was returning after Christmas. 

“Think about it, okay?” Charlie suggested. His tone was gentle, almost pleading in nature despite giving you the illusion of choice. “Anyway, Mum asked us to come over. Says she’s got a beef stew on the pot.”

So, it was decided. You’d head to Molly’s before settling back in at the apartment. In the end, you decided to take Charlie up on his offer of dinner. The reminder of his being gone by the end of month stressed that you needed a smidgeon of time more with him to ascertain how you felt about him. As Charlie opened the door for you, you wondered if it was futile either way. He clearly preferred being in Romania than in England and would go back regardless. There was no way he’d change his life trajectory because you fancied him. 

You passed by Percy on the couch. The glasses on his face moved every time he scrunched his nose over some unsettling news in the Daily Prophet.

“Hey Perce,” Charlie greeted, patting his shoulder. 

“Hello Charlie,” Percy responded without much of a glance upwards. “(Y/N).”

“Hello, Percy,” you responded rather quietly. 

Charlie led you into the kitchen. There, Bill was leaning against the wall and talking quietly with his mother. Your eyes widened at the sight of the room. Molly’s kitchen had lost its domestic charm and was now a war-time assembly line. There were pounds of carrots and potatoes on the cutting board, on the stove, and baby bottles and caps strewn near the sink. The amount of stew on the stove could feed Charlie’s extended family… and yours, too.  

“Hey Charlie, (Y/N)!” Bill bounced off the wall. “How was Hogwarts? How’d the exams go?”

“Wonderful,” you said. “I was a bit nervous at first, but I’m happy it went well.”

Charlie’s hand found your shoulder. “(Y/N) was the perfect invigilator.”

Bill smiled at Charlie, his eyes quietly communicating something you couldn’t decipher. “Anything interesting happen?” Bill was now looking expectantly at you, the curve of his mouth urging a response. What did he want to hear? You looked back at Charlie for clues, but face revealed nothing. He was as still as a statue.  

You were grateful it wasn’t entirely silent. Molly was working away in the background, the clash of metal on metal giving you something else to focus on. 

“I.. managed to tame a flobberworm?” you responded. 

Charlie cracked up from behind you. “Good one.”

Bill hummed. “Shame, I was hoping for something more exciting.”

“Have you gotten a chance to hold Victoire with mum around?” Charlie joked. 

“Not a chance,” Bill laughed, arms folded. “I haven’t seen my daughter at all today. You better watch out if you’re next.”

Amusement crossed Charlie’s face. “She can have them,” he suggested. “Would take a load off my shoulders.”

“Be a darling and bring this up for Fleur, would you now, Bill?” Molly handed a tray with stew and toasted bread to Bill. Smiling warmly, she looked at you and Charlie. “Fleur has to eat to keep her energy up. Victoire is always hungry just like her father.”

Bill groaned. “Oh no, not this story again.”

“What story? The one where you had to be fed twenty times a day?” Charlie recounted. “But I share the blame. You and I ate all the rations, that’s why Percy’s so… slender.” 

A very cross-sounding grunt sounded from the living room. 

Bill placed a kiss on his mother’s cheek. “Thank you mum, you’ve been so wonderful to us.”

“Oh, you know I’d do the same for any one of you,” Molly hummed, her cheeks a pleasant pink from Bill’s compliment. She stole a quick glance at Charlie. “I’d be willing to do double-duty, too, you know.” The implication was deadly and heavy on her lips.

Charlie, without missing a beat, placed his hands on his mother’s shoulders and steered her away. “Why don’t you take a break and daydream quietly on the recliner instead? I’ll take care of the kitchen for you and get everything set up before everyone else comes.”

“Fine,” Molly conceded, ushering Charlie away with a huff so she could untie her apron. “I might have said this one too many times, but I so enjoy having you at home.” Apron slung across her arm, she planted a firm kiss on Charlie’s cheek. Charlie muttered something akin to ‘embarassing’ and ‘not six years old anymore’. When she strode past you, she beamed at you, and made sure to add: “And you too, (Y/N). You are welcome anytime, with or without Charlie.”

You nodded politely. Once again, the implication was heavy. Was it right to continue to play along, intertwining yourself further in a lie, into a knot that couldn’t be undone? Why couldn’t you just tell Molly that you weren’t with Charlie? Wait, why couldn’t he do it for you? And who were you too scared to shatter the illusion for—Molly or you?

Charlie dusted his hands as he walked back to the kitchen. You peeked past him, past the overloaded wooden shelving on the wall. Molly had really taken Charlie’s advice and found comfort in the recliner, no doubt resting her worn feet. 

“Well, that’s mum off my—our backs,” Charlie hummed. 

“Right,” you responded, his wording sending a fresh wave of confusion and anticipation through you. Our backs. “I’ll help set up for dinner. How many people are we expecting?”

Charlie counted with his fingers. “You, me, dad, mum, Bill, Perce, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Gin, Harry… have I got them all?”

“You have!” Molly called from the other room.

Fred. George. Your skin turned cold. A vision consumed your line of sight. Fred and George would walk through the door for dinner and you’d say nothing to each other beside a forced ‘hello’. Then, you’d be forced into an awkward reunion over the dinner table. 

It was best to remove yourself from the situation before it could actually happen. 

With impressive speed, you laid out the rest of the plates. “I just remembered, I have… something to do back home,” you stammered. 

“What’s that?” Charlie asked, putting his final plate down and looking at you with furrowed brows. “You’re leaving already?”

“Yes.” You racked your brain for a passable excuse. “Something in regards to the… Christmas… party. Right, the luncheon with the minister. I’m helping my father with the seating arrangements.” So what if you weren’t exactly in charge of it? You were due to submit your seating request so it wasn’t technically a lie. 

“Do you even plan to go?” Charlie asked. He was nothing if not confused. “ It sounds so…stuffy.”

“I promised to help and now it’s so close to the actual date, but we’ve been away and I—”

“Alright, alright, you go on then,” Charlie relented. “But you’re missing out. Can I bring something back for you? A spot of stew?”

”That’d be great, thanks Charlie.” You walked quickly towards the door again, eyes darting out of the window for any sign of Fred or George. “Bye Percy, bye Mrs. Weasley. I’m sorry about this.”

If déjà-vu had a faultless definition, then this was it: you, running away from something that made you uncomfortable. When did it happen last? You combed through the places you retreated to prior to this: a dingy motel because of your blow-up with Fred and George and then to manor due to your meltdown over Mallory. 

Mallory.

The past few days washed away—for better or worse—the reason you were upset in the first place. You’d been swimming in the ever-changing current that was Charlie’s ocean. And now you were drowning.

Charlie took you to the highest of highs and let you down to the lowest of lows. He flirted with you from the get-go, wrote to you constantly, kissed you in front of your parents, and let your feelings swell into one big, hopeful bubble. Then, with a needle, he popped it. Drinks with friends, he'd said. In hindsight, maybe you shouldn’t have gotten so wound up about it. You had no pact to be faithful to one another for obvious reasons. And you didn’t even know what had even transpired at the bar that night.

Whatever had happened, you swore off falling for Charlie’s schemes ever again until he charmed you back after an outing with your cousins. He was almost on his knees, asking you to please please please go to Hogwarts with him just to invigilate an exam. And your tender, naive heart couldn’t stomach saying no. 

Resentment abandoned, you let him shamelessly feel you up on the train, listened to him spill his guts to you at midnight in the Astronomy Tower, hopped into the same bed with him without so much as a fight, and agreed to dinner with his family. A family that was convinced you were together. Why was it so hard to remember to stay mad at him? Why were you so desperate to be tethered to him despite the end being so foreseeable?

You were a coward. But you couldn’t help it. It felt good to be able to run. 

NEXT CHAPTER>> (coming soon)

CHAPTER DIRECTORY

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[fiona-lawton]

Aaaaand more art I did for Hogwarts Mystery back in 2018!

[selfish-thunder]

I’ve got another idea.

Okay, so I love those fics that have Harry trying to use his Parselmouth on either (or both) the basilisk and the dragon in the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, with varying degrees of success. And a lot of the time, talking to the dragon kinda works, right? Like, it’s not direct communication, more like two people who are just above beginner’s level in learning the other’s language, and both languages are derivative of another one, so even if they don’t fully understand they can kinda piece together what the other is saying?

So, let’s say it’s like that. And of course, dragons aren’t born like squishy humans who take forever to learn to even roll over; they immediately start walking, flapping their wings, and hiccupping sparks, right?

AU

FIRST YEAR Harry, of course, doesn’t realize yet that he’s a Parselmouth–he doesn’t even know what Parseltongue is and just assumed being able to talk to that snake in the zoo was just a wizard thing.

So, they’re in Hagrid’s hut, Norbert(a) is born, and Harry hears something that sounds an awful lot like, “Food? Hungry? Momma?” or whatever a newborn dragon would try to communicate.

Harry tries to tell Hagrid he thinks the dragon is hungry, he might want to feed it, but the others are confused because it sounds to them like Harry is hiss-cooing or something to the dragon. (Hagrid thinks it’s adorable.) But anyway, however it comes about, it becomes obvious in the time between the dragon being born and Charlie’s friends coming to get them, that Harry can, in fact, understand the dragon and speak to it.

It’s not perfect, but he’s able to communicate to the dragon not to set something on fire or that they need to try to eat the rats as they’re being weaned off the whiskey/blood mix thing. No one thinks it’s a perk of Parseltongue because hello, he’s talking to a dragon, and isn’t this incredible? It must be some kind of ancient inheritance thing.

So, when they write to Charlie, they naturally have to ask him if he’s ever heard anything like that, so instead of just coming to collect the dragon, Charlie comes, too, and they witness this incredible thing. (So does Draco, in the shadows, of course.)

Charlie is super excited and reaches out to every expert he can, and he convinces McG to let him bring Harry out to a dragon range to be evaluated, and they try to keep this new, rare ability under wraps, but some of the assessors blab, and Draco wrote to complain to his father who goes on his own investigation, etc. At any rate, it becomes A Thing.

While Dumbledore steps in to ensure Harry goes back to the Dursleys, the obsessed dragon crowd refuse to be refused outright and secures Harry a camp-like thing at a dragon resort (because they think it’s clearly Harry’s destiny to become, like, the Ultimate Dragon Trainer, and Harry thinks dragons are cool and likes the sound of getting away from the Dursleys for a few weeks).

Their letters don’t get through that summer, though, and Charlie hears from his brothers that they haven’t heard from Harry either, so it’s Charlie who goes to check on him and finds him locked up with bars on his windows. Unlike Ron, Fred, and Geroge, Charlie is a grown-ass adult with his own connections now, which go beyond Dumbledore’ reach because the wealthy dragon resort that’s so interested in Harry is in a goddamn different country with a whole different magical government, and also, ain’t nobody wants to get on the bad side of a self-sufficient DRAGON RESORT that has a ton of dragons that aren’t just roaming their countryside thanks to them.

So, a new arrangement is made. Harry will return to the Dursleys, under strict Romania supervision (I imagine it's some seasoned, scary-looking dragon tamer who demands to stay in the house with them, taking over the guest room, like… ahhhh chef’s kiss) just long enough to satisfy the protection spell, but for the rest of the summer, Harry stays at the resort. Charlie becomes his unofficial guardian, kinda, and: enter, a bunch of OC dragon tamers who are awesome and very protective of their little dragon-speaker.

Second year goes a little differently. First there’s Draco, who hates Harry more than ever over this, but while he knows he’ll never get a dragon-in with the Weasleys, there’s still a slight chance with Harry (and goddamnit, dragons are his NAME’S SAKE, if anyone deserves free access to any dragon they want, it’s HIM), so he tries to become less of a bother. Harry’s still outed talking a different language during duel club, and some people are still suspicious, but most people know about his dragon-ability and wrongly assume the opposite of what it actually is (ie, he can kinda talk to snakes because he can talk to dragons), and Harry only tells Ron and Hermione that the snake was actually a lot easier to understand.

Go to next summer, when his new dragon-tamer-family learn about the events of second year, they firstly, throw a fit because they should have been informed their charge was in danger, and secondly, go and collect the basilisk because like hell are they going to let something like that just rot somewhere. So, figuring out how to destroy Horcruxes later becomes, like, SUPER easy and accessible.

Charlie’s the one who tells Harry about Sirius Black when he escapes, and he straight up tells Harry everything, about Black being his godfather and betraying his parents, all of it, so Harry goes into third year fully informed. He, of course, does not see the grim that summer. But he doesn't spent the year an emotional wreck, just getting a little bit of the info at a time, do with that as you will.

Harry arrives to school with a signed permission slip for Hogsmeade, and even though McGonagall still wants to refuse him because of Black, members of his dragon-tamer family just happen to be in the area for that year for ‘business’ or whatever (aka, protect Harry because ain't nobody said shit to them last year) and escort him to Hogsmeade anyway.

(“With all due respect, Professor, I once had a Peruvian Vipertooth grab my leg and toss me over a hill, and I still got back up and got the collar on her. You think Black scares me?”)

Most of their patronuses are dragons, except for one tamer whose patronus is a chipmunk, and funnily enough, it’s the most powerful patronus of all of them.

Draco doesn’t insult Buckbeak because he wants to prove to the tamers and probably Potter that he can, in fact, handle himself with larger magical creatures. He becomes Hagrid's best, most dedicated student.

I mean, COME ON,  imagine how the whole series can go differently.

Maybe the tamers get hilariously invested in the Scabbers/Crookshanks feud. It's the tamers, maybe, that figure out Scabbers fucking Pettigrew.

Different dragons have to be imported for the first task because Romania would be too biased - or they change the first task altogether because Harry's a known dragon-speaker.

They would DESTROY Umbridge.

Death Eaters vs Dragon Tamers. Dragon Tamers in the Order. Sirius lives because a Tamer was there in the Department of Mysteries to save him. Sirius not going out of his mind being stuck at Grimmauld because he can go to the resort where no one outside the Order recognizes him/cares.

Draco not becoming a Death Eater because he wants to become a Dragon Tamer.

DRAGONS AT THE BATTLE OF HOGWARTS. USING THE GRINGOTTS DRAGON INSTEAD OF GRIPHOOK TO BREAK INTO (AND OUT OF) GRINGOTTS.

THE POSSIBILITIES

[rae-pottah]

omgomgomg ok we all know that fred teases and stuff all the time and it’s in every fic ever and a lot of the time he’s like mean (or.. in some cases.. well you know) but i’ve literally never seen him like that.. anyway all that to say can you please do a fic (no smut) where he’s just an absolute sweetie and absolutely so whipped for reader (but like not in a cringe way LMAO)

Fandom: Harry Potter

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Reader

Warnings: She/her pronouns, fluff, golden retriever!fred, established relationship

Summary: You have Fred trained well

----------------------------------------------

*Y/n's POV*

Soon it will be Christmas, and I will be going home with my boyfriend to meet his family for the first time. It's exciting and scary at the same time, but for now, we live like normal. I had just gotten to breakfast when I realized I was missing my potions text book, we had potions first. I let out a frustrated groan.

"What's wrong m'dear?" Fred asked worriedly

"Nothing, just left my text book in the common room, I'll have to eat quickly then go grab it" I breath out

"Ah, no love, I'll go get it! You eat, I've been down here for a while"

"Oh will you Fred?! Thank you m'love!" I kiss him on his cheek before sitting down tiredly. If I had turned around I would have seen his blush and the way he touched his cheek with a soft smile before he went to go get the book

"Whipped" I hear Ginny say under her breath, I look toward the girl with a smile

--meeting the family--

I had been anxious to meet his family, I don't know what they're like. That's why I brought a deck of muggle cards to maybe teach Mr. Weasley a couple games.

I obviously had already met, Percy, George, Ron and Ginny. But the others I had never met. The door gets thrown open

"OH! HOW WONDERFUL! Y/n, we've heard so much about you!" I get pulled into a hug from Mrs. Weasley.

"And I, you! It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Weasley" I suddenly felt calm in her embrace

"Oh please, please darling call me Molly" she starts "We've already started dinner, I hope you don't mind"

"Of course not! please lead the way" I follow her right in through the living room to the kitchen and table area "lovely home you have" I say as I looked around with wide eyes, adoring the wood, adoring the homeliness

"Oh thank you dear, such a sweetheart" she mumbles the last part, hand on her heart

"Oh! Dar-mling! Hw ar ya-" Fred says, while chewing his food, I simply tap my finger to my lips and he lets out a sound of recognition, he chews his food quickly (with his mouth shut), swallows and stands up

"Sorry about that love, How are you?" he asked kindly

"I'm great, darling" I look over to his family who, other than Percy, George, Ron and Ginny, looked shocked

"Bloody hell, that's a brilliant witch!" a tall, muscled, red head, with scars all over any area showing, approached me "I'm Charlie, Charlie Weasley, whatever you're doing, keep doing it."

"Haha, He's trained well" Molly approached with a huge hug

"You are my new daughter in-law, I will accept no one else"

"Oh-Pfft" I let out a giggle as I turn back to Fred, he looks toward the floor with a shy smile and light blush, I grab his hand and sit at the table with my new in-laws

As the night continued I had played 4 or 5 hands of poker with Mr. Weasley and Fred, who was sulking because we were going to play without him

--The common room--

"Darling, hand me that" I pointed at the book to the left of the chair I was on, that was on a stand nearly connected to the couch

"of course Love" he said quickly while playing with a fire cracker he found in one of their old trunks

"Thank you love"

Ginny looks at Ron who looks at George, they all then break into laughter

---------------------------

That's all I got folks

[three--eyed--cat]

!! charlie weasley moodboard !!

CHARLES SEPTIMUS WEASLEY

Charlie was a loner, often finding company in his dragons rather tan actual people. He could spend hours studying the little things they do, sometimes he would play quidditch with them, or he would try. He'd be seen chasing around a golden snitch, a flock of scaled creatures on his tail, their fire-y breath threatening to burn his broom. After work, he'd sit in front of the fire, opening mail while cuddled up under a patch-work blanket that his mother, molly, made him.

[hphm-jeniferltheman]

That random choice in Gryffindor Celebration TLSQ

I Find the third choice of the game so random... but definitely jeni as a romantic would say at that situation 🤣. As always, Ben unconsciously brushes off jeni's feelings... again. The two gryffindor girls at the back was from charms class that the mc help, they were kind and sweet girls to mc that its hard for me to forget so i gotta include them here at least. Also there was a ben and ismelda moment in this tlsq, and here I am thinking there would be a sweet moment of the two. But it ended up ben blackmailing ismelda for being stubborn but the mc stopped ben. Like wth was that, i thought they would enhance the two's relationship that they randomly started but they didn't??? Im disappointed again.

aight, thats all the thought i got from this tlsq, sayonara~🫶

[the-al-chemist]

Human Errors

I’m publishing this story as part of @hphm-ship-week, for the prompt “Second Wizarding War”. I actually wrote the first draft of this about three years ago. It came to me after reading an online discourse about how people should know better as they get older than to make mistakes. Perhaps this is true, but it isn’t the case. To err is human. We never stop making mistakes. We are all mainly making it all up as we go along.

With that in mind, this story is for anyone who has ever made the realisation that they’ve gotten to the point where they thought they’d know it all, but still feel like they don’t know anything. Welcome to the club.

Warnings: mentions of death, war, grief, trauma and PTSD.

Dragon wasn’t usually allowed on the bed. He had his own basket in the kitchen, where the stone floor was cool in the summer, and the oven warm in the winter. His master did let him into the bedroom occasionally, but even then he was expected to lie on the rug. It was a special occasion when he was permitted to go “up”.

In the last few days, though, there had been a lot of special occasions. One each night, and every morning. Either that, or this newcomer was just a bit more lenient than his master was. He didn’t really care what the reason was, however. He was just happy to make the most of it.

A creak on the bottom step this morning made Dragon roll off his back and onto his belly, which his honorary packmate had been scratching for him a few seconds earlier. He let out a low growl.

“It’s just me, Dragon.” As his master’s voice called up the stairs, Dragon stopped growling, and wagged his two tails. “Am I alright to come up?”

The female human moved beside Dragon so that she was more upright. “Yeah.”

Dragon’s master smiled as he reached the top of the staircase, carrying what looked like two narrow, tall water bowls.

“You’re taking liberties again,” Charlie muttered as he sat on the end of the bed. He passed Artemis one of the mugs of tea and added for her benefit, “Him, not you.”

“I guessed as much,” replied Artemis, taking the mug from him. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. I thought that if I was going to wake you up, I should at least bring you tea.”

“I was already awake.”

“Right.” Charlie inclined his head and took a sip from his tea, regarding Artemis over the top of the mug. She had yet to drink, and was instead staring at the wall opposite the bed, chewing the inside of her gum and tapping one finger against her own mug. “You know, you don’t have to wait for it to cool down. It’s not actually that hot.”

Artemis said nothing. Charlie tried not to sigh as she continued to ignore the drink in her hands. She had been in this state for four days now, ever since he had awoken to the sound of banging at his front door and opened it to find her on his doorstep unannounced, broomstick in hand and completely bedraggled.

He had known immediately that something was very, very wrong. She had clearly flown to the reserve overnight — and that wasn’t exactly a short journey to make — and from the grimly panicked expression on her face, she’d done so out of shock and desperation. If that wasn’t enough, the fact that she couldn’t even find the words to tell him what the matter was when he asked her paid testament to how shaken she was.

It took a lot to shake Artemis Hexley.

It wasn’t until after he’d arrived late for his shift and been remonstrated for it by his boss Magda that he found out what the reason was behind Artemis’ unexpected arrival. It was all anyone was talking about: the death of one of the competitors during the final challenge of the Triwizard Tournament. His heart sank further when he learned the name of the victim.

Diggory. Cedric Diggory. No wonder Artemis was in such a state.

He had decided to act as if he hadn’t heard about Cedric’s death. Knowing Artemis — which he did, very well — there wasn’t much point in forcing her to talk about it. She’d speak when she was ready. In the meantime, he’d just have to wait, and hope that he’d not have to wait too long.

That morning, though, he had received a letter from his family in England that had made him rethink this strategy. The news they’d sent was… strange. Strange, terrifying, and overwhelming.

There was a growing pit of uneasiness in his core as he considered his next move. Somehow, though, he managed to force a smile and a tone of voice that could almost pass for cheerful.

“I was just thinking,” he said, scratching Dragon the Crup behind his light brown ears, “that maybe this morning you’d like to come for a walk with me and Dragon, before it gets too hot.”

Artemis’ answer was simple: “No, thank you.”

“Or we could go for a fly after breakfast?” Charlie persisted, smiling in spite of Artemis’ blank stare and his own feelings of dread and fear. “I just think it might be good for you to do something other than sit in my bed all day, that’s all.”

Artemis’ eyes narrowed, and she pursed her lips as she slowly turned her head towards him.

“Is that your way of saying you want your bed back?”

“No. Not at all, I just thought you could do with getting some fresh air and a change of scenery. Maybe even eat a vegetable, and have a shower.”

Artemis frowned, and sniffed herself in a way that was almost subtle — subtle for her, at least. Charlie’s smile became entirely genuine for a few moments, before it faded. He wasn’t getting anywhere with this. He didn’t want to, but he was going to have to push the subject.

“I got a letter from Dad this morning,” he said, not sure even as he spoke how this conversation was going to go. Judging from the way Artemis had already stiffened, it was unlikely to go well. “He was talking about some stuff that happened after the last challenge, and it was a bit confusing. From what he said, it sounded like you might know what he was going on about, so I figured that I should probably just ask you about it.”

A tense silence hung in the room. Artemis shook her head.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, eventually, her voice quiet and hoarse.

“Yeah, I know, but I just want to understand what… it doesn’t make any sense, what Dad’s written. His letter says that You-Know-Who… that he’s back,” Charlie frowned, and Artemis shuddered. “Is it true?”

Artemis merely nodded in response. Charlie swallowed, hard.

“And Cedric?”

“He’s gone,” Artemis closed her eyes. “He was killed.”

“In the challenge?”

“By… him.”

Charlie swore under his breath, and ran a hand through his hair.

“How? Why?” he asked, his voice catching with both one-word questions. “What happened?”

“The Cup. It was turned into a Portkey, transported Cedric out of the maze. Your brother’s friend, too,” Artemis still hadn’t opened her eyes. “Apparently there was a duel and some Death Eaters, and You-Know-Who. Alive. They came back and Cedric was… Everyone was screaming, and crying, and then there was all this chaos, and there was a Death Eater spy at Hogwarts. I saw Dumbledore afterwards and he told me all of it. I didn’t know what to do, so I came here.”

Charlie had to force himself not to put his arms around her. His chest tight from the gravity of the news and aching for his friend’s sake, he drew a shallow, almost painful breath before speaking again.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t know how.”

That was fair enough, he supposed. The whole situation was so bizarre and terrible that it was hard to know what to think, let alone how to talk about it. Still, he wished she had told him. This was important, after all.

“That’s alright,” he said, with a shrug. Artemis shook her head.

“No, it’s not. I should have told you.”

“You didn’t know how. I wouldn’t have known how to say it either, it’s so—”

“That’s not…” Artemis drew a shaky breath and pulled her knees into her chest. “I just didn’t want you to hate me.”

“I could never.”

“Not even if it was all my fault?”

Charlie frowned, and Artemis lifted her hazel eyes to meet his. They had a sincere expression and were almost tear-filled. Though Charlie doubted that Artemis could have actually caused this horrific turn of events, it was obvious that she thought she had.

“Try me,” he said, with a sad smile. Artemis sighed.

“I… it was really busy that morning, getting things ready and everything. Bagman was being useless as always, so I was running around like mad, and I was already not quite… Well, I had a stressful evening the night before. It’s not important, not anymore.”

Charlie’s eyes drifted to her knees, where her hands were resting, the tips of her bare fingers digging into her legs. Artemis, either by instinct, having caught Charlie looking, or sensing that he was looking, shifted the position of her hands, so that the right covered the left. Both were bare. Charlie felt his heart skip a beat.

“Anyway,” Artemis continued, “I got there and I offered to help Badeea by taking the Cup into the maze. But then, I ran into Moody and he took one look at me and said I could do with a break, and he was happy to take the Cup into the maze for me so I had one less thing to do, and I… I gave him the Cup.”

“You’ve lost me, sorry,” Charlie said, placing his not quite empty mug onto the floor by the bed. “How does that make any of this your fault?”

“Don’t you see? Moody was the Death Eater spy.”

“What? But he’s an Auror!”

“No, it wasn’t actually Moody. It was the spy using a Polyjuice potion,” Artemis explained. “But that was his plan. Get the Cup, turn it into the Portkey. And I just… handed it to him. Just like that.”

Her eyes lifted to the ceiling and she blinked, hard. A single tear rolled down her right cheek, its course altered slightly as it deflected at the level of the small scar under her cheekbone. Charlie’s fingers itched to wipe it away for her, but he didn’t. There were certain lines he didn’t want to cross, and touching Artemis’ face would definitely definitely overstepping some kind of boundary.

Artemis rubbed the right side of her face forcefully with the heel of her hand and inside of her wrist. She blinked again, and took a deep breath, as if steeling herself for judgement. But judgement never came. Not from Charlie.

“You shouldn’t feel guilty for that,” he told her. She stared back at him, clearly disbelieving. “Artemis, you weren’t to know. You can’t beat yourself up like this over something that you didn’t know about.”

“No, but I should have known—”

“How? How would you have possibly known that? I mean, the whole thing is unbelievable. You’d have to be mad for the idea to even cross your mind that someone might… that any of that might be true.”

“I guess,” said Artemis, unfolding herself slightly to stroke Dragon, who was nudging her arm. “But I should have known something was wrong.”

Charlie shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. You were stressed out, and someone you thought you offered to help you. There’s nothing suspicious about that. Besides, we have all trusted the wrong people before.”

“That was different.”

“How come?”

“We were children, then. You’re meant to trust your teachers when you’re at school,” Artemis reasoned, her eyes still firmly on Dragon. “We were told Rakepick had our best interests at heart, so we believed it. We weren’t to know better, not when we were only teenagers.”

“I suppose not,” said Charlie, frowning, “but at what point would you say that you should know better?”

“I dunno.” Artemis’ nose wrinkled. “It’s just that when you’re growing up, you just assume that adults know what they’re doing and have all the answers to everything, and if they do things that are wrong, it’s because they are all wrong. But now, we are the grown ups, and I don’t know about you, but I still feel like I’m just making things up as I go along.”

So, it wasn’t just Charlie that felt that way. “Yeah, me too.”

“Shouldn’t we know by now? What we’re doing, and what is right, and what is wrong?”

“I… I don’t know. I mean, it’s not like you turn seventeen and the trace disappears and gets replaced with some kind of fountain of wisdom, is it?”

“No, but it would be good if it did,” Artemis said, with the shadow of a smile.

“Oh, yeah. Instead we just carry on not knowing things, with the addition of feeling bad for not knowing them. It’s pretty crap, if you think about it.”

“When do you think it will happen? That we will figure it all out and stop having to muddle through our lives?”

“You’re asking the wrong person. I’m as clueless as you are.” Charlie half-laughed. “Maybe when… Maybe never. Maybe no one actually knows what they’re doing.”

“So what, everyone in the world is just stumbling around blindly trying to find their way, every single day, until they die?”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Even McGonagall?”

That was a good question. Charlie considered it for a moment. “I think she might be an exception.”

Artemis grinned, smiling properly for the first time since she’d arrived.

“Probably. I can’t believe that she doesn’t know what she’s doing. What about Dumbledore?”

“He definitely thinks he knows what he’s doing,” Charlie replied. “But I reckon he doesn’t. He hired Rakepick, didn’t he? And this person who wasn’t actually Moody, he obviously didn’t know about that either.”

“No, that’s true,” Artemis bit her bottom lip. “Do you think he feels guilty, too?”

“I bet he does.”

Both of them were quiet for a while, Artemis watching Dragon, and Charlie watching her.

“It must be easier if you’re a Crup,” Artemis said eventually. “Life, I mean.” Charlie nodded, and she raised her eyes to meet his, before telling him, “I would like a hug now.”

“I think I can manage that.”

Charlie wrapped his arms around Artemis’ shoulders and pulled her against his chest, while Dragon jealously nudged his way between them. Artemis mumbled something, and Charlie made a questioning noise.

“I said” — Artemis lifted her head from his sternum to talk to him — “what happens now? Now that…”

“Now that he’s back? I don’t know. But I don’t think life’s going to get easier any time soon.”

“What should we do?”

“I’d start by having a shower.” Charlie kept his face straight as Artemis scowled. “In the nicest way possible, you don’t smell good.”

Dragon wriggled out from the middle of the hug as his new packmate batted his master with a forepaw. She stood up and padded away from them, and he turned to look at his master with pleading eyes and two sheepishly wagging tails. He knew he was about to be scolded for being on the bed.

But, to his surprise, his master merely patted him on the head.

“Good job, Dragon. Well done, boy,” he said, before he also walked out of the room.

Dragon watched his master leave without even telling him to get down. He tilted his head to one side and whined to himself softly.

Humans were such strange and confusing creatures.

[alzirrx]

My favorite Weasley and one of my favorite characters is by far Charlie, yet we barely see him at all and I’m starved of content, so of course I needed to give him a girlfriend that I can draw smooching together. Academic rivals to friends to lovers anyone?

So here’s my ref sheet for him and Montana Mirren! Known to her family as Monty and to him as Tana, you will definitely be seeing more of her.

+ Character details!!

I think they’re so adorable and I’m fully obsessed with them. I will be giving more details later so stay tuned!!

And ofc close ups

[twistedmercy]

out of place (f. weasley)

chapter one

pairing: fred weasley x oc!malfoy

sypnosis: arabella malfoy, the oldest daughter of lucius and narcissa, is in her 6th year at hogwarts. she had always had an annoyance towards the weasley duo, especially fred, who’d taunt her daily along with his carbon-copy twin brother, george. the malfoy girl and weasley boy had been rivals since the start. a little time together, however, could cause the two to have a change of heart.

warnings: heavy topics such as violence, neglect, manipulation, cheating, swearing, etc.

authors note: i started this story on wattpad many many (three) years ago! i hope you enjoy :)

next chapter:

——————————————————————————

"ARABELLA!"

arabella shot up. the sudden yelling had disturbed the rest she long desired. she blinked a few times to help her fuzzy vision. she groaned, looking in the mirror in front of her bed. her hair was all tangled and her lips were dry.

"bella!" the same voice yelled once again, only this time, accompanied by footsteps coming towards her room.

the voice came from bella’s little brother, draco. he was dressed in a fine black suit, and his platinum blond hair was combed back. he had a strong smell of cologne, too strong. bella’s nose scrunched when it came in contact with the scent.

"what are you doing still in bed?" draco snarled, "mother and father are getting impatient."

"why," bella asked, rubbing her eyes. "what are they waiting on me for?"

draco stood there, his mouth wide. "are you actually stupid," he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose, "its the world cup today, you oaf."

"what?" bella asked, looking at the calendar on the wall. it was, indeed, the day of the quidditch world cup. she suddenly felt her heart race and scrambled out of bed. quidditch was her favorite sport. how could she have forgotten the day she was looking forward to?

draco's laughter rang around bella's room as he leaned against the door. she grabbed the nearest item and chucked it at him.

"why did you wait this long to wake me up?!" she asked, running to her closet grabbing the outfit she picked. a lot like draco's, her outfit was pitch black, but it was a black dress with puffed, flowy sleeves.

"because it's not my job to tell you to keep up with things," draco remarked, "oh and before i let you get dressed," he continued, pulling something out of his top pocket. it was an envelope. "a letter from your boyfriend."

bella cocked her head to the side. the word boyfriend threw her off because last time she checked, she didn't have one. "boyfriend? what do you mean?"

he held the letter out to her and she snatched it out of her hand. as draco left and shut the door, she tore the envelope open. the letter read:

dear bella,

by the time you get this letter, i won't be able to receive one if you do write back. no, nothing is wrong. i have good news actually. father got us tickets to the world cup! i assume you'll be there as well, knowing your father's history with the ministry. if you are there, try and find me, okay? i can't wait to see you!

your good friend,

ced

bella smiled wide reading the letter. cedric diggory was one of her best friends. he was the only person not in slytherin to talk to her during her first year at hogwarts. the only one who wasn't scared or intimidated by her. he looked past her family's bad history and just saw the good in her. no matter how much his fellow hufflepuffs judged him for talking to her, he stuck by her side all these years. she flipped the letter over to see he wrote a little postscript.

P.S.

if you see me with the weasleys, do not get the wrong idea. my father and their father decided we go to the games together. i don’t like them, and they don’t fancy me neither, especially after the whole quidditch debacle last school year.

bella’s smile quickly faded. she really could not escape that family, especially the twins, fred and george. they were the jokesters of her year at hogwarts, but she found them nowhere near funny. she just saw them as embarrassing. they would taunt bella constantly just to get a rise out of her, but it never worked. fred was the most annoying of the two, always yelling snarky remarks at bella during class, or throwing paper balls her way. he mocked her about her family, how they were nothing but arrogant and belittling, but fred was the only one belittling anyone. her and the boys always bickered in class, in the corridors, you name it. they never shared a laugh, and doubtful they would ever.

bella sat the note down on her dresser. she wasn’t going to let those redheads ruin her game. she finally changed out of her sleepwear into her outfit for the games. after putting it on, she brushed her wavy blonde hair out a bit, getting rid of the tangles. she put light makeup on and took one last look in her mirror. she grabbed her handbag, slipped on her shoes, and headed out her bedroom.

walking out the door, she looked at the long corridor. though many would love to have a house like her's, she preferred a smaller setting. mansions get boring, very quickly. she did like the noise her shoes made when walking through it, though. the sound of her feet hitting the ground echoed through the hall.

she got to the stairs, held onto the railing, and walked down. the stairs led her to the main lobby of the mansion, where draco was waiting with their father and mother.

"took you long enough, arabella," her father, lucius, said in his normal, snarky tone. in the media, he was represented as a well respected, well mannered man, but the press didn't know him personally. bella knew him as the father who barely gave a shit about his kids. the father who pushed his kids to their limits until he made them afraid of him. the father of the year.

bella was hardly afraid of him now. she had grown up and matured without the help of him.

"good morning to you, too, father," she replied, mocking his tone. his stone cold face finally gained some emotion to it, only that it was anger. bella made it down the stairs and joined her family.

her mother, narcissa, gave her husband a shameful look, then turned to bella. "you look beautiful, honey," she said, kissing bella's cheek.

"thank you, mother,” bella replied.

"do you have all your stuff?" narcissa asked, and bella nodded.

"how are we getting there?" bella asked her father. he clicked his tongue before responding.

"a carriage will be here any minute now," lucius said, "we'll be going with the minister."

bella had met the minister of magic many times, and she thought he was a big old goof; not fit at all to be a minister.

she nodded to her father as the sound of hooves stomping was heard. "come on now," lucius said as he made his way out the door. narcissa walked beside him while bella and draco staid in the back.

the carriage outside was a shiny black, lead by winged pegasi, about four of them to be exact.

"ah, lucius!" a man called from the carriage. it was minister fudge. he got out of the carriage, followed by another man who bella did not recognize, and walked over to the family to greet them all.

"how are you today, minister?" lucius asked, shaking fudge's hand.

"hello narcissa," fudge shook her hand, "you both remember barty, of course?" he asked, referring to the man beside him.

"how could we not?" narcissa said, shaking barty's hand after her husband did.

"there are the young masters," fudge said as he walked towards bella and draco. he grabbed bella's hand and shook it firmly.

"good day, minister," bella said with a closed lip smile. he then went and shook draco's hand, who greeted him with the same remark.

"barty," the minister called out to rhe man accompanying him, "i'd like you to meet the children, arabella and draco. children, this is mister bartemius crouch. he is the head of the department of international magical cooperation."

"pleasure to meet you both," he said shaking both their hands, starting at bella then going to draco.

"alright," the minister exclaimed, rubbing his hands together, "shall we be off?"

everyone nodded and the minister led them all to a carriage. a man, who must've been the one running the carriage, hopped out and opened the door for the minister, barty, lucius, and narcissa.

bella followed after her mother, but was stopped by the carriage man. "you two will be sitting in the smaller compartment," he said, walking over to another set of doors and opening them.

the inside of the carriage looked very comfortable; the seats looked as if they were made out of clouds, and they were a fine red color. there was a cabinet filled with soft drinks and sugary pastries. bella got in first, sitting on the side nearest to her, and draco sat across from her.

"if you need anything, just ring the bell," the carriage man said and shut the door.

bella threw her head back and relaxed in her seat. it felt like she was sitting on a large marshmallow. she rose back up to look at the variety of treats. she hadn't been able to eat breakfast, so she was quite hungry.

she grabbed a wrapped pumpkin pastie, took the wrapper off, and began to eat it. it tasted just like the ones she had at hogwarts, just a little less sweet and a bit dry.

"so," draco spoke up, "what did your boyfriend have to say?" he asked, a smirk showing up on his face.

bella rolled her eyes. "cedric is not my boyfriend, draco," she said, "and he was just telling me that he'd be at the world cup."

"he might as well be your boyfriend," draco replied, leaning back in his seat, "how did he get tickets for it?"

bella took another bite of her pastie before responded, "his father works at the ministry, idiot. you know this," she said.

"oh, right, right," draco nodded, before his eyebrows furrowed once again.

hes always wearing that disgusted look, and bella rarely sees any other when in the presence of their parents or his schoolmates. he always gives the impression that he's some rude, intimidating individual, but he's really not. not at all. not to bella, at least. to bella, he's always been her sweet, little brother. at some times, he's her best friend.

"does that mean those weasleys are gonna be there as well?" draco said, looking as if he would vomit. he’s had his own runs with the weasley boy in his year, ron. though unlike bella, draco was the rude one who instigated.

"cedric said they were going together," bella said, taking another bite of her pastry.

draco scoffed. “some boyfriend you have, then,” he said.

“cedric doesn’t like them, neither,” bella replied, “remember the quidditch game they played? how all of gryffindor blamed ced for potter’s injury?”

draco nodded. “then why are they going together?”

“their fathers are friends,” she replied.

“you’re gonna be hanging out with the twins bella, going to have loads of fun,” draco laughed, mocking his sister.

bella tore a piece off of her pasty and threw it at draco’s face.

“shut it, dra,” she said, and all draco did was laugh.

the rest of the time in the carriage was nothing but silence. bella and draco we're both still pretty tired, and they didn't really have the energy to talk the whole time.

draco had ended up falling asleep, and bella had started on another pastrie. suddenly, she began to hear roars and cheers of excitement. she looked out her window to find loads of tents, and more people surrounding them. they all were wearing either red or green decor, supporting the two teams in the cup: ireland and bulgaria. bella was planning on cheering for ireland. draco, on the other hand, was a bulgaria fan.

the sound of people cheering made the experience so much better. it was one main reason why she loved to play quidditch for her house; the mutual adrenaline made anything more enjoyable.

the carriage flew a little while longer, and the sound of cheers became quieter. bella took one more look out the window and saw that they were at the stadium. it looked huge from up above.

she looked at her sleeping brother. his mouth was wide open and his head was laid back. it was a funny sight, really. she reached over to him and began to shake him lightly.

he woke up with a jump. "huh? are we there yet?" he asked, blinking.

bella nodded, putting her hands in her lap. the carriage came to a stop, and a somewhat hard landing. one hard enough that bella was lifted a couple of inches off her seat.

draco cursed under his breath. he got up and went to the door. he opened it, and bella saw the adults outside. draco stepped out of the carriage and bella followed him.

he was waiting at the door for her. she got to the door and grabbed onto draco's hand so she wouldn't fall out on her way down the steps.

the stadium looked grand. it seemed to be at least 15 stories tall. if it looked this great from the outside, one could only imagine what it looked like inside.

she looked behind her and saw the crowd once again. there had to be at least 500 tents there, and even more people. if she didn't leave right now, she wouldn't be able to find nissa and cedric before the game begins.

bella walked up to her mother, since she would be the better person to ask. "mum?" she began, and narcissa turned around.

"yes, darling?" she asked in reply.

"can i go look for my friend? he said he was going to be here," bella asked. draco then walked up to them both.

"i need to find crabbe and goyle, too," he said. their mother hesitated for a moment, but that gave lucius just enough time to answer.

"you two must stay with us, no wandering around this place," he said, gritting his teeth together.

narcissa turned around and glared at him. "don't be like that, now," she scolded her husband, and turned back to her children, "of course you two can go. do you know how to get back here?"

bella nodded. "yeah, it's kinda hard to miss," she said and laughed.

narcissa smiled. "alright, be back here at least 30 minutes before the game starts," she said.

"okay, we won't be too long," draco said before nodding to bella. they said their goodbyes to their mother, and they set off to find their friends.

[slygirl666]

august (Charlie Weasley)

Charlie x reader

notes: based on the Taylor Swift song, but I couldn't not end hopeful. Slytherin reader but the is only one reference to it not explicit but refers to sex

I have more Taylor swift Harry Potter fictions in my stuff if y'all want more

word count: 1,217

You brushed by Charlie Weasley entering potions, you looked down to control the heat that rose to your cheeks. Looking up you caught his eyes lingering.

You flushed remembering this last summer before your seventh year. 

You were out at a small beachtown with your parents, they were there less often than one would think for a family vacation so you spent much time walking around the town.

You had walked down to a more private area taking off your shoes laughing to find your toes in the sand. 

But when you got to your spot you found someone sitting there.a familiar mop of red curls, the gryffindor quidditch captain.

He turned to meet your eye. He looked over your curiosity written all over his face. When he moved you noticed a sketch book in his lap.

“Sorry I didn't think someone would be here,” you began to turn around.

“No, it's fine,” he smiled at you. “You go to Hogwarts don't you? I think we had charms together.”

You nodded at him smiling. You gave him your name.

“Its nice to properly meet you.”

You were soon meeting him in this spot every day. Talking, subtly getting closer, memorizing the way his hair curled around his face and how it carelessly fell back when he ran his finger through it.

It turned into an everyday thing to meet him out by that small hidden place. You were reading, he was drawing something facing you and you caught his eye more than once.

“What are you drawing this time?” you smiled at him placing down your book.

“You,” he shrugged like the simple word didn't just take your breath away.

“I thought you only drew dragons,” you tried to recover quickly. 

“I draw what i'd like to,” he looked up at you shyly placing the sketch book on your lap.

You inhaled sharply as you saw the way he drew the curve of your nose and the silly face you make when you concentrate too hard. 

“You made me beautiful,” you gave him a soft smile somewhere in you being lost in the drawing he moved right next to you.

“I drew you as you are,” his voice was almost a whisper and a rather large hand round a lock of your hair. 

You turned to face him, finding an intensity in his eyes you've never seen up close. Your eyes went to his lips that were twisted into a slight smirk. 

He was getting closer giving you time to pull away, but you met him there. You met slightly chapped lips and a hand found its way to your chin. 

You wanted to wrap yourself in him, he was warm and inviting. 

“Charlie,” you beathed when he pulled back his forehead against yours. “Do you want to come to my cabin?”

It was forward,stupid and might scare him off. But you wanted to take the chance what if it was only today, but also what if this could mean forever. 

He smiled, bringing his lips to yours again before getting up to go. He grabbed your hand so you could pull him with you.

Once you got to the cabin he seemed less dazed. “Your parents?”

“Out of town for the weekend.”

He pulled you to him, his arms circling your waist, a soft kiss on the front porch. “Are you sure?”

It was a good question, they could turn back now but nothing in you wanted to. 

You nodded, pressing a kiss to his lips pulling him in by his tee shirt.

Innocent kisses easily turned to gentle touches, clothes were shed frantically, it was a hunger you had never known before.

“Charlie,” you breathed as he went for your waist band. “I haven't ever done this before.”

He nodded, “we can stop.” 

“No.”

***

You pulled away from his eyes as you joined the other slytherin students on their side of the class. You took notes as diligently as you could wondering why he hasn’t talked to you. 

You needed to know what only two months ago put so much distance between the two of you. You thought he wanted you too.

Thinking back to how your parents never being present meant you and Charlie got the cabin to yourselves. 

You remembered his golden skin that stood out on your green sheets. He was laying on his stomach looking at you as you mindlessly traced his back. It took everything in you to not trace your own name on the muscle you were feeling.

“Charlie?”

“Yes love?” The nickname made your heart flutter.

“This won't be it for us, will it?”  you whispered. The doom of seventh year only weeks away.

“If you don't want it to be it won’t,” he twisted to face up,his fingers laced with yours bringing them to his mouth for a kiss.  

But it had been a lie, you walked onto the train and saw him with his friends, his arm slung around a pretty blond hufflepuff.

You walked to where you knew your friends were fighting back tears that you never allowed to slip.

You breathed you thought a week without hearing from him was reasonable but now you saw he may have had another reason.

You were young sure but everything in you knew you wanted Charlie Weasley in your life, you wanted his hands around your waist, his whispers at night.

He was everything you never knew you needed.

You hoped maybe he’ll reach out after maybe you miss understood, it was known Charlie Weasley was not intrested girls or anyone really. 

He never did.

So here you were in the October chill reading the same book you read on that beach for what had to be the tenth time since that day.

You heard a soft ‘oh’ as someone intruded on your quiet spot. 

It was Charlie.

“I'll go,” you said at the same time. You stood up almost falling from how fast you got up. You turned to walk away but a familiar hand grabbed your wrist. 

“Love?” he breathed as your face twisted into one of hurt you could fee the tears pricking your eyes. 

“What do you want Weasley” you tried to pull but his grip was firm.

“I want to know what happened to us,” you turned to meet his eyes to find hurt in them. “I thought you wanted us, I did, well I do.”

“I waited to hear from you Charlie, I understood the week before school, I did.” tears slipped, “but then I walked onto the train to find a pretty hufflepuff around you and i thought maybe you made a mistake.”

“Love, no, I meant what I said only if you wanted it.” he breathed, softly pulling you closer you followed his movement. “Penny is genuinely a friend. When you didn't reach out i thought you didn't want us.”

“Somehow, after everything all I want is us.” you managed a smile. You put your free hand into his red curls as he intertwined your fingers on the hand he used to pull you in. You laughed, pulling his face down to meet yours. 

There would be much to talk about , but right now you are grateful that Charlie wasn't a lost memory to linger on.

[looneyleyle]

quidditch and dragons and hot younger brothers ~ c. weasley

synopsis: maeve has been close with the weasleys for years, but after 5 years away, she can't get over how much they've all grown. especially the charred dragon tamer. or, in which her best friend's younger brother may be the one for her!

warnings: small mentions of anxious tendencies (skin picking), unedited as always

word counter: 7156 words

**image is NOT mine!!

third person pov

"now boys, your father has a very exciting announcement to make!" molly weasley cheered, focused in on her three youngest boys. the rest of her children all sat at the back of the table in front of her. the eldest sons, along with ginny, all sat there, smiles on their faces, some with jittery legs bouncing up and down at the coming announcement. arthur, who was beside molly, stepped forward, smile brewing on his lips.

"we will be going to this year's quidditch world cup!"

the boys exploded in cheers, the quaint home filled with whoops and hollers and yells of all sorts. ginny was practically bouncing out of her seat, happy that she didn't ruin the secret for her brothers. bill and charlie sat in the back, arms folded across their chests, happy to be back home and to see their family this happy. it had been a while for the two of them, with bill off in egypt and charlie in romania. my, how their siblings had grown, with even starry-eyed little ginny already going into her third year at hogwarts. and now, the two of them were there to spend the next few weeks with them, no work, no curses, no dragons, just a relaxing time with their family.

as the younger ones made their way upstairs for bed, still jumping around from excitement over the world cup, bill went to help his mum with the dishes, while charlie went over to arthur to help with some trinkets in the shed.

"y'know," he started, stacking the dirty plates together, "maeve owled that she's going to the world cup as well." molly gasped, throwing the towel in her hand down at the ground.

"and you haven't invited the girl over yet?! you must owl her straight away, and i expect her here by nightfall overmorrow. do you understand billius?" bill couldn't help but laugh, with the slightest twinge of fear, at his mother's tone.

he wrote to her straight away, and sure enough, maeve was there in their fireplace first thing the morning the day after receiving bill's owl, easily making it before the matron weasley's deadline. she was a bit disoriented, but the smile on her face wouldn't falter as she looked around the home she spent most holidays at during her time at hogwarts. it was all the same, the colorful furniture, the ever present sound of someone scurrying about, and the lovely clock, with all nine arrows pointed to the upper-left corner: 'HOME'. the smell of whatever dish molly had cooked up for breakfast wafted through the air, and maeve felt all the tension leave her. it was good to be back. a wobbled sound of footsteps rustled over to the entrance to the living room, and a pudgy mrs. weasley entered maeve's line of vision.

"oh maeve, darling, i'm so glad you're here!" she exclaimed, running towards her. maeve dropped her bags and returned the bear hug she found herself in.

"i came as soon as i got bill's owl. it's been too long." she returned, pulling away from the woman's grip. a couple more pairs of footsteps scurried on into the living room, each bug-eyed as their sights landed on the girl- the woman in front of them.

"maevey, is that you?" ginny exclaimed, already running over. maeve laughed, engulfing the younger girl into a hug, twirling her through the air like she did when ginny was just a tot.

"it's been so long! look at how grown you've gotten! i remember when you were all but this tall and i would be braiding your hair while your brothers were whacking garden gnomes! you've grown quite nicely." maeve exclaimed. the girl blushed, being set back down on the ground and pulling away from the older girl and going back to her breakfast. next up was ron- who was promptly cut off by fred, who pulled himself and george right up in front of maeve before ron had the chance.

"maeve!"

"it's been quite a while!"

"try this!"

"our treat!"

the two kept toppling over each other's words, leaving maeve's head spinning, laughing at the ever-present chaos the twins brought around with them.

"alright you knuckleheads, leave her alone." a voice called out from behind. bill was there, at the back of the room, an amused smile playing at his lips as he watched his younger brothers try to trick his best friend into eating their latest disaster candy. the two backed off, quipping comments at their brother. maeve's face lit up as she ran over to her best friend.

"bill, it's great to see you again!" she greeted, bringing the boy into a hug.

"it's been a while. hard to visit you when you're traveling all over."

"when i stopped in cairo on my way to ref the patonga proudsticks game, you were the one that was to busy to say hey." she argued, huffing dramatically, a teasing lilt to her voice.

"oh bugger off." he laughed, the two of them splitting apart. ron started bouncing up and down besides them at the mere mention of quidditch.

"blimey, you reffed a proudsticks match?!" he buzzed, adoration scribbled across his face. maeve smirked, coming closer to the boy.

"i reffed last year's catapults-cannons game, the one where galvin gudgeon debuted and caught the snitch within five minutes, a cannon's team record." maeve boasted, remembering ron's unwavering loyalty to the cannons. ron seemed as if he could burst, his face all bright red and cheeks puffed.

"bill, you didn't tell me your friend was this cool! a bloody quidditch ref, how d'you reckon i could land a job like that?" he gushed. maeve's smile didn't leave her face for a second; the boy's enthusiasm was infectious.

"you have to have good luck and actually be good at quidditch, unlike yourself. plus, not the most stable of jobs, better off doing something in the ministry." a snotty voice piped up, entering the room

"aww, percy, you haven't changed a bit. get over here!" maeve called, arms wide open. the boy rolled his eyes, but reluctantly walked over to the girl. she slammed him into a hug, ruffling up his perfectly styled hair.

"always cheesed off, aren't ya." she teased. percy promptly pulled away, smoothing out his clothes and straightening his back.

"i'll have you know, i am currently working at the department of international magical co-operation, under the lead of bartimous crouch." he bragged. maeve and bill shared a knowing look, having always commented on percy feeling the need to show off his accomplishments at any opportunity he got.

a final pair of footsteps clomped into the living room, and there stood charlie weasley, the last of the weasley children up that morning. his eyes were still glazed with sleep, but at the sight of maeve in the living room, he straightened up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes to make sure he was seeing this right.

and sure enough, it was indeed maeve walsh, standing in front of him after all these years, surrounded by his various siblings.

"well well well, look at you charles, all grown up." she said, smile growing impossibly wider. he couldn't fight the smile that grew on his face even if he wanted to as she came up to him, bringing him into her umpteenth hug of the day. he was still a bit out of it from sleep and slight shock, seeing the girl he had the biggest crush on as a schoolboy now five years later. she had grown a lot since he last saw her, much more mature, an air of confidence surrounding her.

she pulled him out to about an arm's length away, keeping her hands on his shoulders as she gave him a once over.

"look at this. scars, big burn on the arm, hair short, have you gotten more freckles? you sure have changed a lot haven't you? must be all that time wrangling dragons off in romania and whatnot." she laughed, giving him a cheeky wink. charlie tried to fight it, he was positively sure he had gotten over his childhood crush on his brother's best friend, but he couldn't help but turn red at her piercing gaze. if it had been but a few years prior, he would have absolutely melted on the spot.

"oh boys, leave the poor girl alone, let her at least leave the living room! you must be starving dearie, come on over, i have some sausages ready just for you." with that, the weasley children scrambled out of maeve's way, letting the girl finally enter the rest of the weasley home.

when she made her way to the kitchen, she saw arthur weasley there, finishing up the morning's edition of the daily prophet.

"well i'll be. if it isn't miss maeve walsh. it's been quite a bit since i've last seen you here!" he exclaimed, coming over from his seat to shake her hand.

"always a pleasure arthur. couldn't pass up an opportunity to spend more time back here."

"i'm afraid i must be leaving for work, but i do hope we can catch up over stew tonight. last i heard you're working as a quidditch referee? how exciting." he conversed, grabbing his suitcase and making his way to the fireplace. before maeve could reply, he was off.

as molly served up a generous plate of food ("my dear, are they starving you off at work? here, an extra helping of toast and eggs should do the trick!"), maeve just enjoyed watching the weasley children going about their day. it was as if she never left.

"it's so crazy seeing all of the weasleys in one place after all this time" she remarked to molly, accepting the plate from the woman. molly beamed as she looked out at all of the children scattered about the living room and kitchen.

"it sure is. couldn't ask for anything more," she started, a far-off look in her eyes, before zeroing her gaze back on the girl. "and now you're back as well! and ron's friends will be arriving in the following days, my, we'll see if the house can handle this many youngins running about." she fussed. "but make yourself at home dear. it really is great to have you back. now eat up!"

and with that, maeve began to dig in, with weasleys seemingly forming lines to talk to her. ginny pushed her way in front of her brothers, gushing about how she'd finally have another girl there besides hermione. being stuck with at least four boys all summer got quite boring to her, wanting to do more 'girly' things. fred and george tried yet again to sneak her some 'treats', but were stopped by molly, who came in hot, swatting at them with the towel she was using to dry off the dishes. ron came up just as maeve finished up her meal, chatting her ear off about all things quidditch, asking about the matches she's reffed, games she's watched, and general quidditch news. even percy chimed in with a few comments, mostly about some recent international wizarding decree violations by some members of the heidelberg harriers.

"boys!" molly's shrill voice yelled, bringing all of the weasley boys into the kitchen as maeve finished cleaning up her breakfast plate. "help maeve bring her stuff upstairs, would you? you'll be staying with bill and charlie in their room."

"just like old times." bill quipped, already going to pick up maeve's bags before he bumped into charlie, who was coincidentally also going to pick up her bags. bill gave his brother a quizzical look before it morphed into a knowing smirk, and charlie simply huffed before stepping back, allowing bill to help the girl out. the attention was quickly diverted off of them by a short and loud "eep!" coming from the woman of the hour. fred and george had hoisted her up onto their shoulders, careful to hunch down a bit so she wouldn't hit her head on the ceiling.

"we'll help you up there."

"too long of a journey to make on your own two feet."

"oh, boys, put her down! that's no way to treat a lady!" molly yelled.

"on the contrary mum, this is exactly how a lady should be treated!" george countered.

"swept off of her feet and carried up to her room by two true gentlemen!" fred exclaimed. maeve could only laugh, jokingly swatting at the boys until they gently let her back down onto her own feet. bill rolled his eyes but laughed regardless, beginning the familiar trek up to his shared room. as always, bill and her argued over the sleeping arrangements, with bill insisting that he sleep on the mattress on the floor and have her sleep on the bed. and like always, maeve forced him to compromise, with the two of them rotating between the bed and the floor mattress. and, again, just like olden times, just as they would settle the whole thing, charlie would come up and throw his name into the hat, saying how he couldn't let them take the floor while he had the bed the whole time. so, the three would all take turns sleeping on the, admittedly quite uncomfortable, floor mattress throughout the following week leading up to the world cup.

maeve's time back at the burrow couldn't be more nostalgic. even with everyone all grown up, they were the same crazy family as they always were. there was always some sort of noise echoing throughout the burrow, but it was never loud or obnoxious -or at least, usually not, so long as fred and george weren't involved. it was packed and people would always find themselves bumping into one another, especially with the addition of harry and hermione in the following days after maeve's arrival. it was just one big, loving family, and maeve wouldn't want to spend her summer days in any other way.

each day mirrored those summer days from way back when, from wizard's chess with ron to whacking gnomes with the twins to the whole-family quidditch matches. maeve felt like a young girl again, running around with the weasley children, all responsibilities temporarily forgotten. it was all the same.

except, of course, the ever present fact that everyone was, indeed, five years older. ginny was no longer a little girl who maeve would read bedtime stories to. now, ginny was asking for boy and hair and makeup advice. ron seemed to have his foot in his mouth a lot more now, especially around his friend hermione, something maeve didn't think was possible considering his unfiltered nature as a kid. fred and george were ever the pranksters, but they were undoubtedly smarter, more cunning, than before, having successfully slipped a couple mostly-harmless trick treats into her. percy was still stuck up, but with an even bigger ego than before, now that he had his impressive ministry job. bill, in maeve's eyes, stayed more or less the same, as she had kept up with him for the past five years.

but charlie, charlie seemed to be the one whose change messed with maeve the most. he was vastly more mature and composed than he ever was during her time knowing him. of course, maeve had known about his schoolboy crush on her, in fact, she knew about all the little crushes the younger weasley boys had on her. she was their older brother's best friend, the only consistent older girl in their lives, it was only natural that they all sought her attention to some varying degree. with charlie though, it was always obvious; tripping over words, always running to help her out, bragging about any and all accomplishments a little louder than he normally would if she was in the next room, et cetera. maeve, of course, never did anything about it, as he was just her best friend's little brother. it just wasn't something that ever crossed her mind; he was her best friend's younger brother and that was that, nothing more, nothing less.

now, though, charlie was more collected. he easily maintained a witty banter with her without stumbling to get words out. he no longer raised his voice to brag about himself, keeping a healthy dose of ego without listing off achievements like a resume. he was also less rigid around her, no longer standing stiffly the second she passed by, he was able to relax, to laugh with her. and most importantly, he didn't follow her around like a lost puppy. he was able to enjoy his family's presence without obsessing over where maeve was or if she could hear him.

and because of all of this, maeve found herself wanting to spend some more time with charlie, getting to know this new adult version of him better. admittedly, she found herself laughing a bit harder at his quippy jokes, and, not that she'd ever say it out loud, but wouldn't feel the need to look away right away when he came back into the house from helping arthur out in the shed, a thin layer of sweat covering his muscled arms, shown off by the simple tank he strutted around in.

the two spent a lot more time together than they ever had in the past, usually in the company of bill, of course.

late nights, they would find themselves alone in the living room, everyone else already tucked in and snoozing or in their rooms, chatting up a storm. it would just be maeve, charlie, and bill, with bill quickly falling asleep on the couch next to them ("what an old bogey" charlie would quip, his cheeks always being ever-so-slightly twinged pink, because let's face it, even if he was "over his schoolboy crush on her", maeve was a pretty, intelligent girl sitting there, now alone with him without his brother's teasing stare on him). one night, they were so immersed in their conversation that molly stumbled upon them, the sun peaking over the horizon, not a wink of sleep gotten.

the morning of the quidditch world cup, the adults, adult children, and hermione were the first ones up, scurrying around to pack their bags and get ready for the trip there. molly was preparing tea, scones, and some fruit for everyone as arthur made sure he had everything in order, from the portkey time to the tickets to the lot their tent was set up in.

"up up up, out the door, out the door in five minutes, all of you! you're going to be late!" molly rushed, motioning for them all to leave. hermione started up the stairs, already ready to rip the boys out of bed. percy followed behind her, jumping at the opportunity to yell at his troublesome younger brothers. maeve volunteered to go up to wake up charlie, pointedly ignoring the raise of bill's brow at her already bounding up the stairs.

when she got up there, she knocked somewhat quietly on the door. no response. she turned the knob lightly, opening it ever so slightly. charlie laid there, splayed out on his bed, snoring.

"charlie." she called out quietly. he looked so peaceful, sprawled out here, woven with the sheets. she just stood there for a beat, taking a moment to appreciate him.

"charlie, wake up" she said a bit louder, peeking her head a bit further in the room. finally, he woke up with a start, sitting up abruptly to look at whoever was at the door. his blanket quickly fell, showing off his skimpy sleep tank (which accentuated his arms quite nicely, a thought that maeve made sure to zip up).

"mhm, i'll be out in a sec." he replied before immediately flopping back down onto the bed, eyes closing again.

"charles septimus weasley, you'd better be out of bed in the next minute, or else you'll send your mother into a fit about us being late for the world cup." it was as if the mention of quidditch brought him back to life, jolting up and saluting the woman in his doorway, getting up and out of his bed.

"aye aye captain."

after surely much more than five minutes, the rest of the weasleys and company were out of bed, with ron and harry apparently giving hermione much more trouble than a sleepy charlie did maeve, and gathered outside of the burrow, ready to start the trek.

percy led the group with arthur, droning on and on about some ministry assignment. harry and ron held up the rear, sleepily dragging their feet through the grass, wishing they could be back in the comfort of ron's room, blankets wrapped tightly around them. a yawn could be heard from ron, leading hermione to shoot him a look from ahead mid-conversation with ginny. in front of the two girls were bill, maeve, and charlie clumped together, talking about the old days back at hogwarts and all that, as well as finally catching maeve up with everything they've been up to since. the three hadn't had the time during maeve's first few days back, as they had been chock-full of different activities. she had already known about most of the stuff with bill, for even though they had not seen each other much, the two would frequently owl. charlie, however, she knew virtually nothing about his time in the past couple of years. he told her all about these crazy dragon taming stories, but what caught maeve's sleepy attention was the care with which he would talk about these creatures. from nursing them back to health to sharing monumental moments in their lives with, he talked about these dragons with nothing but love and respect. he was always a fiercely passionate boy, realizing his love of magical creatures early on, but now? he was a fiercely passionate man, something she kept on reminding herself of with each look at his sculpted, scarred arms or built frame.

after what felt like forever, they finally reached the portkey, the trio not even noticing the addition of amos diggory and his son, too entrenched in their own conversation. everyone crowded the manky old boot, fred pushing bill out of the way to be next to maeve, giving her a quick wink. she rolled her eyes and leaned down, looking to her other side to see charlie thoroughly unamused by his brother's antics. they all grabbed on, and when it came time to let go, maeve had a wobbly descent, leading charlie to wrap a firm arm around her to stabilize her. maeve gave charlie an appreciative nod after they landed, charlie teasing her about her inability to use a portkey.

at the cup, ginny, hermione, and maeve split off from the rest of the group, going to their slightly smaller tent while the boys piled into the tent lent to arthur from perkins.

night quickly fell upon the field of partying wizards, everyone moving in droves to see what was sure to be a phenomenal game. the twins, who had an awfully suspicious looking conversation with none other than ludo bagman, were bursting with excitement, which seemed to be flowing through everyone there.

the arena hummed with energy from the get-go. the weasleys couldn't wait to watch, being the first major quidditch match that many of them had ever attended. after the uncomfortable encounter with the malfoys, they climbed and climbed ("blimey dad, how much higher?") until they reached the top. maeve was, of course, draped in green garments in support of her home team, ireland. bill was in similar robes, while charlie donned red and black, as most of the other dragon tamers back in romania pushed him to root for bulgaria.

maeve's face lit up as krum caught the snitch, the math in her head aligning with the realization of every irish supporter in the arena: 170-160, the score in favor of the green white and orange.

maeve gloated on and on about the win, beaming from ear to ear. charlie couldn't help but admire her, his love for quidditch was almost as big as his love for dragons, and seeing her passion rival his stirred something within him, something he had been fighting with himself over, the fact that she would be leaving only a day after weighing heavily on his chest.

"and youuu thought the bulgarians had a chance? ha! an absolute blowout of a game prior to krum's folly, and we weren't even the ones to catch the snitch! he's a right talented seeker, i'll give you that, but merlin is he a daft one!" she laughed, rubbing the win in charlie's face. bill was exhausted and retired to his bunk as soon as the group arrived at the tent, while charlie offered to walk maeve back the short distance to the girls' tent. hermione and ginny went to celebrate with the others in the main tent, leaving charlie and maeve to their own devices.

"yeah yeah, you win. but, if quigley hadn't whacked dimitrov with that bludger, which was of questionable legality, mind you, they would have at least had a shot."

"a perfectly legal hit from where i'm sitting, and i am the resident quidditch ref here." she gloated, hoisting herself up onto the small table behind her. charlie walked up, almost in between her legs, the firewhiskey the trio had shared earlier pumping charlie full of confidence, not backing down.

"oh yeah, because from where i'm sitting, i would say dimitrov only got hit by quigley's bludger because of moran attempting to blatch him. if dimitrov didn't think he was going to collide with moran, then he wouldn't have been sent straight into the bludger's path, and i think any good quidditch ref would be able to see that."

"questioning my integrity now are ya charlie?" maeve teased, scooting a bit further on the edge of the table, trying to get up in charlie's face. but, maeve scooted just a tad too far, sending the table tipping and maeve falling straight into charlie, who was able to catch her, but not fast enough to prevent them from toppling over onto the floor.

the moment was charged, uncharted territory for the two of them, so close together, truly alone for the first time practically ever, save from a few silent mornings eating breakfast years and years ago. charlie diffused the tension with a laugh, not trying to fall back into his schoolboyish ways with her. she returned with a hearty chuckle, getting off of him and pulling him up, a slight pink dust upon her cheeks. the two of them stood there for a second before yells were heard from outside, the tent flaps opening wildly.

"we have to go, now." arthur ordered, not even acknowledging how close the two had been, nor why the two of them were in the tent alone. the two looked at each other in shock and concern before maeve started pulling the two out of the tent. ginny, ron, harry, hermione, and the twins were nowhere to be seen, while bill and percy stood alongside their father, awaiting orders. noticing the concern on both of their faces at the missing parties, arthur spoke up.

"they're hiding. we have to help." was all he could rush out before a large blast of fire landed a couple tents down from them. charlie and maeve looked around to see people fleeing in all directions, and groups of masked wizards going around, chanting, destroying anything in their path, and tortuing innocent people. maeve's wand appeared in her hand in a flash, ready to fend them off.

the five of them ran about, ushering people into hiding while fighting off any death eaters that came into their path. charlie went off to help an elderly wizard couple get into the woods safely, causing him to be separated from the rest.

when the dark mark appeared, a chill ran up and down maeve's spine, and she became acutely aware of charlie's absence.

"why isn't charlie back yet." she growled through gritted teeth, but her words failed to cover up the worry in her tone. bill noticed, but had nothing to say to help ease her worries -he was equally, if not more so, worried about charlie's location as she was.

after what felt like hours, the weasleys and friends were reunited, and arthur was quick to send the children home with the adult weasleys minus percy, who would stay behind with arthur to help the ministry clean up and assess damages. bill and maeve ushered the group to the emergency portkeys that had been brought in by the ministry.

upon arriving home, molly bombarded them, hugging each of her children, making sure they were alright. she was worried when she didn't see arthur or percy, but her worries were eased when charlie explained that they had stayed back to help. after molly sent everyone up to bed, the kids had so many questions, and so they followed the adults up to their room. harry, ron, and hermione all sat on the floor mattress, fred and george leaded up against the far wall, and ginny sidled up next to maeve on charlie's bed, still a bit spooked.

"death eaters? what are death eaters?" harry asked, feeling a bit silly that everyone else knew what they were.

"it's what you-know-who's supporters called themselves. i think we saw what's left of them tonight." bill explained.

"but what were they doing there?" ginny continued. bill shrugged.

"your guess is as good as ours. death eaters haven't been active for years now, most of them either in azkaban or too afraid to end up there to show their faces." maeve said, twiddling her thumbs. she tried to seem neutral in front of the younger ones, but on the inside, there was a twinge of paranoia within her. the last time the dark mark had appeared was during the war, and maeve didn't want to think about the implications that had on what was to come.

"what we do know is that the ministry has this covered. the death eaters are gone, a fair amount of them captured tonight. it'd probably be best if we all got some shuteye." charlie suggested, getting up to escort the younger ones to their rooms. charlie went upstairs with the twins, ron, and his friends, while bill went with ginny across the stairway, knowing she was more than rattled and that she would probably need someone with her tonight.

"you take the bed tonight. i'm gonna stay with ginny, help her get some peace of mind. g'night." bill told her, pulling her into a quick side hug before following his sister out and to her room.

aloen in the room with her thoughts, maeve couldn't find it in her to move to get off to bed. she sat there on charlie's bed, unmoving, staring out the dark window into the abyss.

a bit later, charlie came back into the room, finding maeve in the exact same spot as earlier. his brow furrowed, and he sat up next to her.

"hey, maeve, what's wrong?" he asked, trying to get a good look at her face. she wouldn't look at him, only looking between the window and her hands, with her fingers picking at the skin around her nail.

"i guess i'm a bit more worried than i realized." she mumbled. charlie placed one of his big hands over hers, stopping her hands from continuing.

"i'm not going to lie to you and tell you that everything is okay, but i can tell you that you're okay. you're safe here, and i know that for a fact." he told her, hoping he was being comforting. he wasn't really used to this, spending more time recently comforting dragons rather than humans. she smiled lightly at his words before nodding, getting up to change into her pyjamas.

when she got back into the room, charlie was already changed, sitting upright on the edge of his bed. he looked at her, waiting for her to say something, his concerned, analytical gaze resting on her frame. when she made no move to say anything or move, he got up.

"are you sure you're okay?" he asked, moving a bit closer to her. she felt silly, the request that popped up into her mind. she nodded, but she was like an open book to charlie, he could tell something was still wrong.

"c'mon darling, you can tell me anything."

"would it-" she started, her hands coming back up to each other again.. charlie watched her hands like a hawk, so she simply clasped them together. "would it be alright if we pushed the beds together? i know it's silly, but-" before she could finish, he was already on it, pushing bill's bed up to his, grabbing a blanket from the floor mattress and wrapping it around her shoulders. this was what he did best, not the talking, but the showing of his care. words weren't his forte, but actions sure as hell were.

and so she hopped into bill's bed, and after turning off the lights, charlie hopped into his, but the two of them met in the middle, only a wee bit of space in between the two. charlie reached an arm out around maeve, watching her face as he did so.

"is this okay?" he whispered. as a response, maeve pulled herself close to him, slotting herself just millimeters away from his body, nodding so he could feel the movements on his chest. he started to rub slow and soft circles into her back, and before he knew it, the two of them were out.

the two woke up to maeve's head buried in charlie's chest, charlie's hand rubbing languid strokes against her shoulder. feeling maeve shifting around in his arms, charlie slowly opened his eyes, being met with hers already staring up at him.

"hey." he whispered, his brain already waking up and becoming acutely aware of his arms still wrapped around her. Before he could overthink anything, to worry that she was uncomfortable, she buried her face back into his chest, mumbling a quiet "hi" in return.

"how are you feeling?" he asked softly. she simply mumbled into him, not having the energy to process the fears she had from the night before. before charlie could ask any more questions, he was interrupted by a sleepy bill coming into the room. he stared long and hard at the sight in front of him; his bed pushed up against charlie's, no maeve to be- oh, no, maeve was there, buried impossibly far into charlie, surely not wanting to look at her best friend as she was caught wrapped up with his younger brother. deciding it was too early to tease, he simply grabbed some clothes and went to the bathroom, deciding to process it all later.

neither bill nor charlie nor maeve commented on whatever had been seen that morning as they all sat down with the rest of the weasleys for lunch. arthur and percy had stayed late at the cup last night and were already at the ministry bright and early to deal with the death eaters and the media and all other loose ends that they weren't able to deal with the night prior.

the weasley children were properly spooked from the cup, leading to maeve staying another night, just to help raise the spirits. she spent the day helping distract the younger ones from what had gone down, playing far too many games of wizard's chess for her liking.

when night fell, maeve found herself standing next to molly, folding up some laundry to keep herself busy. molly wouldn't stop looking over at maeve with admiration, and only after she finished folding her pile did she speak up.

"y'know maeve, i always tried to push bill in the right direction if you know what i mean. would love to have you as one of us, officially of course. you know you're always welcome here." maeve of course laughed, thinking back to all the times bill ranted about his mum trying to push the two of them together. after thinking back on the past few days and the... new interactions maeve had been having with a certain weasley, she let out a casually sly comment.

"maybe one of the others will tie me down some day. i'd love to have you as my mum in law." molly squealed at that, bringing her into another one of her signature motherly bear hugs.

maeve, at the insistence of mrs. weasley, stayed at the burrow for a another week, not having to go back to work just yet, but not wanting to leave this wonderful bubble she was in at the burrow. the week was peaceful, domestic, and nothing short of wonderful. during the days, she'd run around with the family, goofing around, forgetting about the world. at night, she would curl up onto one of the beds and talk all night long with bill and charlie, with bill often falling asleep early like the old man he was, leaving charlie and maeve to chat alone most nights.

maeve went with when the kids all had to go to king's cross to get back to hogwarts, having a few more days before she would have to start traveling for the macaws versus warriors game off in new zealand. it was bittersweet watching the children get on the train at platform 9 and 3/4, a part of her wishing to go back to the simplicity of her life at hogwarts.

the next day, bill said his farewells early in the morning, not being able to delay work any longer. he hugged his family goodbye before getting to maeve, looking between her and charlie, who was talking to arthur, giving her a knowing smirk.

"so..." he started, whispering in a teasing voice as to not be heard by the others. maeve's face heated up before lightly smacking his arm.

"billius, if you so much as say one word, merlin, i'll set an ironbelly on you." she whispered back through gritted teeth. bill's smirk got impossibly wider.

"interesting that you're threatening me with dragons. i wonder why that is." he beamed before making his way out the door.

"i'll see you soon, christmas maybe? unless the wedding is sooner." he finished his teasing, maeve mumbling some choice words under her breath, waving as her best friend disapparated.

maeve followed in bill's lead only a few minutes later, grabbing her bags and saying goodbye to the remaining weasleys. molly, of course, reminded her that she was always welcome, and that she would be expected at christmas this year. maeve smiled and promised the woman, not wanting to pass up the opportunity to go to another weasley christmas after all these years.

her last goodbye was to charlie, and it seemed like everyone knew something was up, from molly hand-dusting a nearby lamp, very obviously watching the pair, percy unabashedly peaking above the book in his face to see, and arthur staring "intently" at the clock, as if there was anything interesting to see.

"it was great seeing you again after all these years. thank you for... everything." she told him, her words heavy in her throat. charlie nodded, at a loss for words like he was so many times as a schoolboy.

"i uh- of course. anything for you." he managed to get out, inwardly cringing at his words.

"when will i be- er, when will you be back?" she asked, hoping he would be back soon.

"i don't know, i usually spend holidays in romania, it gets pretty short staffed around those times." he rambled, heart already sinking at the thought that he wouldn't be seeing her for a while. he loved his job, it was his favorite thing in life, but after the tension building between the two of them for the past weeks, he wanted nothing more than to be here, with his family, and her.

"oh." she said, frowning. she quickly replaced it with a smile, trying to rid herself of all of these emotions she was feeling. "well, until we meet again." she told him, giving him a quick hug, which was not nearly enough for either of them, before flooing off to her apartment.

when will i be seeing you again. charlie was sure that's what she was going to say. it was always after the moment was over that he would have these bouts of clarity, where he would over analyze everything that had been said and realize what he should have said instead. he couldn't figure it out, he could face a hungarian horntail or norwegian ridgeback with a clear head, but the second a woman, no, the second maeve was involved, he would lose his head.

he sat there silently at dinner, picking at his food, still thinking about the past few weeks with her. everyone at the table noticed, and eventually, molly had enough.

"oh, quit your moping and go to her." she told him, already putting his food, along with another serving, in to go containers and pushing him towards the fireplace.

"but-"

"i don't want you home until you've told that poor girl how you feel. godric, we haven't all been watching you two pine over each other like puppies for weeks just for you to let her go."

and so, charlie quickly found himself in the middle of maeve's apartment, her standing there wide eyed in shirt she may have snagged from the burrow before she left. charlie had been practicing what to say, but at the sight of her there, in seemingly nothing but his old quidditch jersey, he couldn't think straight anymore.

"charlie- i-" he quickly closed the gap between them, pulling her up into a deep kiss. no words could convey all the pent up emotions he has felt since the first time they met in the gryffindor common room. she didn't waste a second reciprocating, throwing her arms around him and arching herself into him. his arms were wrapped around her so tight, he had the fleeting thought that he might be crushing her, but she held onto him with the same force, pulling him down to her level.

"that jersey looks awfully familiar" he panted when they separated, his face so close to hers that she felt his lips move against hers when he spoke.

"shut up weasley." she huffed, pulling him back down again.

when maeve and charlie showed up to christmas that year hand-in-hand, a flood of whoops and hollers were heard throughout the burrow, an approving nod coming from the eldest weasley child seeing his best friend and brother so happy ("no funny business, alright? or at least, not while i'm in the room you bloody slags").

[wisteria-blooms]

sunburns & dragons (charlie weasley & reader) (10/??)

CHAPTER DIRECTORY

TAGLIST AT THE BOTTOM! (Let me know if you'd like to be added or if I've missed you!) A/N: I might have a cold coming on, ugh. Thought I'd get this out if I'm afflicted by illness AGAIN. And apologies in advance if there are mistakes I missed while reading it over! Feel free to let me know about them + what you think about the story!

CHAPTER 10 : What goes up must come down. Your relationship with Charlie is no exception. (5.6k words)

CHAPTER 10: YOU DON'T OWN ME

“What happened?”

Your voice was pitchy and stricken with worry. Your eyes urgently implored Charlie to provide a reason for his concern as if it was more important for you to hear than it was to him. You’d never seen Charlie in this state, though you supposed you’d barely been around for two months of his life, and no important moments at that.

Charlie read: “Fleur’s in labour. Come when you can. Love, mum.”

“You got it, Charlie.” Stan obeyed by performing the sharpest u-turn known to mankind, on the narrowest road known to mankind. The force flung your body towards the windows this time but Charlie effortlessly caught you by the wrist. When you recovered from another near-death incident with the metal insides of Knight Bus, Charlie’s words sunk in. 

“Charlie!” you exclaimed.

“(Y/N)!” he returned with equal excitement, blue eyes widening. 

You got back on your knees, bone meeting the plush covers of the bed, found a stable moment in Stan’s driving, and clapped your hands together giddily. “You’re going to be an uncle!” 

The moment—half past midnight—you entered the obstetrics wing of St. Mungos was precisely the moment you asked yourself: why were you here? Why had you followed Charlie here? It felt natural to drunkly stumble out of Stan’s bus with Charlie to help him find his way to the right wing, but when Bill (who was standing by a water fountain) came into view, you felt like you had intruded on a personal moment. 

”Shit, Bill, I’m sorry,” Charlie apologized as he strode into the waiting area. Your nervous gait reflected in the windows, the colours of your long skirt spilling on the black skies outside, brightened only with a speckling of stars. You left a considerable amount of space between Charlie and yourself, not wanting Bill to perceive your being here as impolite. You hoped the green chairs would provide enough coverage if you stood behind them.

“This was precisely the reason I told you I couldn’t make the concert,” Bill explained, pulling Charlie into a hug. The hug was long. Bill made eye contact with you as he released Charlie. 

“How was the concert?” Bill asked, looking at you. 

“It was excellent,” you said. “We got—Charlie got Molly’s letter at the end of it.” You hoped this would absolve you of your uninvited presence. 

”Well, thank you for taking my place,” Bill said with a smile. “Charlie was never going to let me live it down.”

”(Y/N) was better company, anyway,” Charlie scoffed. “And easier on the eyes.”

“Of course she is,” Bill agreed, nudging Charlie with his elbow.

“You wound me, Bill,” Charlie protested, holding his side.

Bill smirked. “You know what wounds me? The fact you missed the birth of your niece and almost made me miss it, too.”

“What are you boys bickering about now?” Molly chided, stepping out of the room. Her hair was frazzled, the bulk of it pulled back into a bun. She appeared more stressed than the nurses walking out the room before her. Her expression softened immediately at the sight of her second eldest son. “Charlie! You’re here.”

“Of course, mum.” Charlie walked over to give his mother a hug, his body towering over hers.

“Come meet Victoire. The others will come tomorrow to give Fleur some breathing room.” Then, Molly noticed you. Your grasp on the green leather chair tightened and your chest strained anxiously at the same. “(Y/N),” she called out sweetly. “Would you like to come, too?”

“Oh, no, I can wait here,” you said, sliding over to sit on a chair. “Please, take as long as you need.”

“Alright, then,” Molly said. She placed a hand on both Charlie and Bill’s backs and guided them back into the delivery room. 

You exhaled heavily when they left. A pounding tension still lingered in your jaw; you were so embarrassed. You should’ve waited downstairs in the lobby instead of following Charlie upstairs. You were certain that as nice as Molly was, she was going to talk about your gaffe with her neighbours over tea: her perfect son’s only-remarkable-because-of-what-her-last-name-affords-her girlfriend invited herself to meet her first grandchild. And can you believe she might’ve been drinking prior to it? Ruined the occasion. You groaned, squeezing your eyes shut. Next time, you’d think things through. 

“Don’t drop her!” a shrill voice, muted by the door, rang out. 

You looked up. 

“I promise I won’t, mum! Now, calm down. Not even Fleur is worried,” came the response. Definitely Charlie. 

“He did a decent job holding onto the snitch back in school.” That was Bill.

Then, a delicate little laugh complemented by Bill’s deeper one.

“See, mum, nothing to fret over. She’s perfectly happy in her uncle’s arms.”

Your mind crafted an image of Charlie holding the newborn in his arms. There was a tender look in his blue eyes as he cradled something so delicate and precious. You felt the look of love through your vision and for a moment, the weight on your chest lifted. 

Every single detail of the night of the concert lingered in your mind for the next couple of days. You replayed each segment in your mind. Charlie taking you to pub and meeting Don. Charlie’s show of some emotion—jealousy?—and the touch of his hand on your hip in front of Alex. The moment in Stan’s bus, and had it not been for that owl, something might’ve happened. A confession, a kiss… you would’ve been pleased with either outcome. But you sung high praises for that aforementioned owl; it led to you being able to witness him being there for his niece’s first moments. You reckoned you handled it perfectly well, passing yourself off as a supportive partner rather than a nosy one.

Feelings of infatuation overwhelmed you as you tried to scrub them away at the dirt-speckled skin of a potato. It was Monday evening and you were running high on the fumes of adrenaline. You’d decided to expel that energy by trying your hand in the kitchen. A recipe for leek and potato soup caught your eye and it seemed easy enough. You figured Charlie might appreciate it too, given how he’d made fun of there not being a meal ready for him previously. He said he’d be back this evening, and you were going to be ready for it this time.  You even pulled down two wine glasses in anticipation.

You nearly nicked your finger with the peeler when you heard keys in the front door. You drew in a deep breath and extended your hands over the top of your head to smooth out any flyaways. But really, did the rugged, sun-kissed, outdoor-prone Charlie Weasley care about how your hair looked? Before you could answer, Charlie walked in with a small duffel bag slung over his shoulders. His hair was dishevelled, his cheeks rosy, and a thin sheen of sweat coated his skin.

Your heart nearly gave out at the sight. Heavens, he looked even more handsome like this. 

“Letter for you, (Y/N),” was Charlie’s greeting.

”Thank you,” you said. “Just set it down on the table there, if you don’t mind.” “Where’ve you been?” you asked, trying to keep your eagerness to a minimum. 

Charlie closed the door behind him. “I took up Mallory’s offer of Quidditch.”

Oh.

Your smile dropped but you prayed that Charlie didn’t see it.

Something more bitter and darker washed out the sweet taste in your mouth. “How was it?”

”Great!” Charlie replied cheerily. “Reminded me of old times.”

You didn’t dare ask what those old times consisted of. Treacherous images of post-celebratory locker room make-outs and late-night “practice” sessions came to mind. 

“I got around to chatting with her brother, Marcus,” Charlie added. “ When I wasn’t being tackled down to the ground or gasping for breath, at least. I forgot how well-connected he was to all the Ministry departments.”

More treacherous images flooded your mind. Charlie. Entangled with Mallory. On the field. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, stellar guy. I reckon I should keep in touch with him.” Charlie shedded his bag and his jacket. ”What are you making? It smells good.”

You beamed at his question. “I figured I’d take one out of Millicent’s book, seeing both you and I are such fans now.”

Charlie sucked some air through his teeth. “Bad night for me to grab dinner with old classmates, huh?”

“Oh, not at all,” you waved Charlie’s sentence off with a shake of your head. You shuffled slightly over to your left to conceal the second wine glass you’d pulled out. “There will be quite a bit left over, if you want it.”

“Thanks, (Y/N),” Charlie said. “I’m going to shower before I head out. Want to join?”

”No, I have dinner—” you stopped yourself, your peeler wedged in the crevice of a potato and refusing to budge. You swallowed a lump in your throat. Your chest felt strange, a strong ache casting shadows on where there was just so much joy. “I’ll see you afterwards.”

Charlie responded with a crooked smile and clamped his lips together like he was concealing a retort. You imagined it would’ve gone something like, ‘Ah, so you were thinking about joining me in the shower. How naughty of you, (Y/N).’

Well, no kidding. What sane person would refuse an elusive chance to see Charlie shirtless? The longer you thought about it, the more you could taste the hot beads of water coating his hair, running down the nape of his neck, down his chest and into the ridges of his abs. 

Your steam-ridden daydream was shot by you remembering of why he was in such desperate need of a shower. 

His mention of Mallory and his dinner plans made you want to dump the contents of the soup—that you’d made a second time over because you’d burned the first batch—into the sink. You feared how much more Mallory could get under his skin when you weren’t around him. Trying to quell your building insecurities, you had to rationalize it and break it down for your own sanity. ‘Friends’ was a plural word; Charlie and Mallory weren’t going to be alone at dinner. Charlie loved Quidditch. Mallory loved Quidditch. You didn’t love Quidditch. It was easy for the thought of inviting you to slip his mind. Charlie clearly talked to Mallory’s brother, Marcus as well. And most importantly, Charlie wasn’t your boyfriend or some committed lover or a lover of any sort. That prohibited you from asking anything of him.

Besides, he was going to come home after…right? 

You brushed off these thoughts as fanatical insinuations. Maybe you were going a little stir-crazy from Charlie’s flirting. When you heard the shower start, you slipped the extra wine glass back in its place and topped your own glass off. You needed it, because what else did Malfoys do when faced with trivial matters besides drinking them away? The dose was derived from observing your father: two glasses for a mild inconvenience, four for a moderate one, and the whole bottle for a considerable issue.

The situation at hand was pretty moderate, so four glasses it was.

In the reflection of the window, you saw your father’s eyes staring back at you. They held the same look of perturbance and wondering of why you should have to deal with any misfortune. You really were his daughter. 

The effect of the alcohol cushioned the pain of Charlie leaving through the door. He looked well-combed and delectable and ready to slip right into Mallory’s arms. Or into her mouth. No, you scolded yourself, none of that nonsense. After a lonesome dinner, your fork scraping your teeth in contemplation more than scraping the bowl, you sorted the leftovers into containers. You had your bath and went straight to bed.

Sleep that night was not only futile, it was wishful thinking. You tossed and turned. When you turned the light on again, both the hour and minute hand on your clock inched perilously close to two, meaning it was that late and Charlie still wasn’t back. He’d been gone for almost six hours.

You should’ve been asleep right now. You should’ve been fine right now. You shouldn’t be fretting over Charlie right now. So, why were you staring at the ceiling, a bruising feeling consuming your bones?

Before Charlie came into your life, you were trying to prove a point to your parents: you didn’t need a partner. And you’d always sworn you wouldn’t let the affections of a man change you; you preferred to operate independently.  Now, you were absolutely sick over Charlie. Sometime in the past couple weeks, you’d gone from not really caring where he was to your mood beating to the sound of his drums. Merlin, you were a raging hypocrite. 

The memories you had thought beautiful seemed so ugly now. His act of blowing off dinner in favour of hanging out with Mallory and her friends cheapened everything that happened over the weekend. And how was it fair that Charlie was free to spend his nights as he pleased, while the moment you engaged with Alex, he led you away? Wouldn’t it be preposterous if you showed up to the bar he was at right now and made a show by snatching him back in front of Mallory? If you did it, you’d look crazy. But when Charlie did it, it was chivalrous. 

As you fluffed your pillow just to lay down again, you thought about your friend, Alicia Spinnet. She used to complain about the men she dated and the ways they cycled hot and cold. They were indecipherable, affectionate one day and gone the next. In the end, they wanted nothing more than a fling which led to numerous late-night conversations with her asking you where she’d gone wrong or if those men were really interested in the first place. The pain she felt was only punctuated when she saw them out with a real partner months later. 

While you empathized with her by providing long hugs, ice-cream, and promises of getting petty revenge, you didn’t think yourself as so naive to find yourself in such a situation. You’d look for the signs, you’d know when to leave. But now, you felt so, so stupid. 

Charlie Weasley was not different; he was exactly the type of men Alicia complained about. At this point, you weren’t even sad. You were angry and you didn’t know who to be angry with.

“You look like shit.”

You eked out a smile. “Thank you, Fred.”

You stopped by Cauco and Weasley Wizard Wheezes the next morning just before work. Neither place brought you much peace after what had happened with Charlie there, but Fred and George were the cure-all to any sort of pain. And the last time you trekked from Cauco to the shop, you hadn’t met Charlie yet, so maybe this would serve as some sort of spiritual reset. 

You almost choked on your coffee order. You’d asked for the strongest drink as a feeble attempt to get through the day and you were served accurately. You peeled off the sleeve trying to ascertain how many shots of espresso were exactly in this concoction. Oh—was that a 3 or 8?

The delivery man finished stacking a boatload of parcels near the front and readied a slip in front of you. You counted the boxes and signed off on it for Fred and George who were busying themselves with opening duties. You thanked the worker as he left.

From there, you walked around the shop and gently rearranged some crooked products as a means to distract yourself. Charlie did get back last night, interrupting your very light sleep. You heard him brushing his teeth around 3 a.m. It was early enough to signify he didn’t spend the entire night in Mallory’s bed but late enough for the opportunity of an emotional and physical rekindling to occur. You slipped past him this morning as he slept in. You had no desire to ask him how last night went as your first conversation of the day.

You were confused. The burning desire to be by Charlie’s side flamed out so quickly after he’d mentioned Mallory. Was what you thought you felt even real, then?

“Want to do something this weekend?” you asked quickly.

“I always want to do something,” Fred was the first to respond. “But I figured your days were better spent on maintaining appearances with Charlie.”

“No,” you corrected quickly. “I think we’ve done well enough not to require anymore… appearances together.”

“It’s settled then,” Fred proclaimed. “Let’s hop a couple of bars and see where we end up.”

“(Y/N) will be on the floor,” George sang. “Just like before.”

You giggled at George’s lyricism as you propped up a Skiving Snackbox. “I will not!” 

Talking and making plans with Fred and George always took a weight off your shoulders. You went home that night feeling ready for whatever punches and hooks life was going to throw at you. You, however, stalled when you arrived back to an empty apartment again. You walked down the hallway and into the kitchen where you stopped in front of the fridge. Curiously, you peeked in to find your leftovers untouched, and you felt your resolve falter for a moment. Did it taste bad? Or did Charlie have no need for it because he was sustained by something else?

You took a deep breath to ground yourself. You had to stop thinking about this for your own sanity. Charlie and Mallory could move out to the countryside and have their perfect, beautiful academically-gifted, athletic, curly-haired, bright-eyed babies. You swore you’d wish him well when that day came. Maybe you’d even send him a gift basket. 

You were going to be fine.

You didn’t see Charlie until Friday evening after he’d arrived home from the train station. He intercepted you at the door just as you were about to leave for your night out. 

“Hold up, (Y/N). What are you doing next week?” Charlie asked, leaning against the doorframe. 

You felt as if you’d been punched in the gut. He looked so good. 

Composing yourself, you said: “You’re going to have to be more precise.”

“End of the workweek?” Charlie tried again. 

“I’ll be working.”

“Can’t take the time off?”

“I can’t afford to anymore.”

Charlie frowned. “That’s unfortunate.”

You put on a smile that didn’t quite reach your eyes. “I don’t have years worth of vacation banked up like you.”

“What about the weekend?”

“I’ll have plans.”

“They’re more important than me?”

“Maybe.”

“I like this new side of you, (Y/N),” Charlie remarked with a smirk. The same smirk that would’ve sent a heart-stopping shockwave through your body last week and left you dreaming the whole night. “I didn’t know you could tease like that.”

You now felt nothing but annoyance. Charlie obviously didn’t care enough to ask who your friends were or why you were blowing him off like this. 

“Thank you, Charlie,” you said amicably. “I’ll see you soon.” 

With that, you slipped out from the gap underneath his arm and hurried to the lift.  

Fred and George were more than ready to go when you joined them on the main floor of their shop. It was pitch-black outside and the shop was long closed, but they’d left a side door open for you. George already had a potent shot prepared for you which you happily accepted. 

“To another one of (Y/N)’s successful schemes!” proclaimed George as he clinked glasses with you and Fred. You threw back the shot with the boys. 

“What was the scheme again?” Fred set his glass down and exhaled in pleasure. “That’s some good stuff.”

”I think it was to throw her bloodhound parents off her scent,” George said. “By using Charlie.”

“Or to seduce our brother.”

George nodded. “We may never know (Y/N)’s true intentions.”

“Hey!” you protested. “That was not the reason.”

“I don’t know,” George tutted. “You seem to rather fancy living with him.”

“He’s not a terrible roommate. I like that he doesn’t talk incessantly like some people. You know, by trying to fill in any quiet gap.”

It was Fred’s turn to protest. “Hey!” 

“It’s true, though!” you laughed. “Charlie said you told him about our adventures in Care of Magical Creatures. Is that any detail you couldn’t have spared?”

“Oh, of course,” Fred stated. “There isn’t a soul in the world who doesn’t know about your failed adventures.”

You went quiet. The rush of bantering with Fred and George was washing out into a muted anger. So, Fred did tell Charlie you’d failed. Your voice was low when you asked: “Is that how you described it? My failed adventures?”

Fred stroked his chin. “Something like that. Maybe not those exact words. I said it was interesting he’d spend so much time around someone the complete opposite of him.”

“No, I reckon those were the exact words you used,” George said with a laugh. Neither men had picked up on the way your jaw tensed. “Don’t sugarcoat it.”

“How do you do reckon we’re the opposite?” you asked. You had to know.

Fred, still oblivious to the fact you were getting upset, answered honestly. “He’s a natural with beasts and creatures. You’ve no instinct for them—”

“And Quidditch, and the opposite sex,” George added. “Amongst other things.”

If this conversation had occurred on any other day, you would’ve belly-laughed yourself into the ground; you knew your faults. But today wasn’t any other day. You still had unresolved pain to contend with. Your mind instantly jumped back to Charlie and Mallory. Mallory was probably great at handling creatures and Quidditch, and if she had Charlie in the bag, then she was great with the opposite sex. 

“Is there anything you can’t keep to yourself?” you snapped. Fred finally picked up on your cues, your question slapping the grin off of his face. “Why do you have to hold the fact I failed that stupid elective over my head?”

“Whoa—what’s this about? You haven’t cared about this in 10 years.” Fred said in defence. 

“What makes you think I don’t care? I don’t go around telling people what you’ve failed!” 

“It’s just Charlie, (Y/N),” Fred rationalized. “He won’t hold it over your head.”

“I’m sorry, you mean the Charlie whom I’ve barely met until this September?” You inched closer to Fred. You wanted to hammer the point home, make him feel sorry for the first time in his life. “How about you give someone a chance to meet me before you give them an opinion of me?”

“Hey, I didn’t mean—”

“(Y/N), really,” George stepped in against your wishes, “He’s our brother, we know him. He really doesn’t care.” 

You wanted to scream. “Why do you think it’s just about Charlie?” But it was, it really was. “It’s about how you treat me in front of other people. Do you find it so humorous to take jabs at me?”

“Of course not!” Fred responded hastily, genuine worry in his eyes. “(Y/N), let me—”

You pounded the table with your palm. “Just forget it!” 

The shot glasses rattled. Fred took a step back.

George’s eyebrows furrowed. “(Y/N), let Fred—”

You threw your arms up in the air, exasperated. “Why don’t you talk to me when you’re ready to apologize?” 

You grabbed your coat and stomped out of the shop and out onto the cold, cobbled street. The door swung shut behind you and blocked out any last apologies if any were to be had. You waited for a couple seconds. Fred didn’t bother to follow you out. Of course he wouldn’t. And you weren’t going to look back to confirm it. 

Diagon Alley was afflicted with wintry darkness and a nippy front. It only got worse as you walked on, your face battered by headwinds. The cold winds stung your cheeks and froze the tears that had begun forming in your eyes. Not only was your friendship with Charlie deteriorating right in front of you, but you were letting how you felt about him dictate your feelings towards other people: Fred who unwaveringly had your back, and George who was just trying to help. You lost both of them in the span of one night and it was all your fault. 

As much as you tried to shake off your last name, you were a Malfoy through and through. Pleasant when people served your purpose, cold when you got what you wanted. You deserved to be standing here, shivering as you walked down the street with no one rushing up to put an arm or coat around you. 

Now where were you going to go? You couldn’t find refuge within your family. Hadn’t you worn down your relationship with them because of Charlie, too? You couldn’t go back to the shop with Fred and George—you were sure they resented you. You couldn’t go back to your apartment. But why even consider that? Charlie was probably taking advantage of your outing to escape under the covers with Mallory. 

And Charlie, oh, Charlie. If he wasn’t going to like you because of your poor handling of magical creatures, then he certainly wasn’t going to like you after the way you treated his brothers—his family. You kicked up a patch of dirt in anger and let the loose soil splay over your stockings. 

The thought of being alone and the pain shooting up your toe released the tears you’d been holding back. Once you started, you couldn’t stop. The salty stream trickled down your skin until they caught on the corners of your lips. You pulled your scarf upwards to mute the sob working its way up to your throat. And much like your tears, once the cries started, you couldn’t stop. 

You woke the next morning with a strong ache in your back and a pounding headache. Your lips were chapped, glued in certain spots from the lack of water. You pushed yourself off the scratchy pillowcase, your movement stirring a creak in the bed. The cloth that wrapped around the lamp beside you was mottled, and the gold paint scratched away to reveal the harsh grey base layer. 

Your sense of hearing came back when the pounding of your head retreated, but it was only to make way for the thudding of bodies and moans spilling out on the other side of the thin wall.  Your sense of smell came alive next, picking up on the smell of bacon grease wafting upwards through the floorboards. As if you couldn’t feel sicker.

How the mighty (Y/N) Malfoy had fallen, you thought as you scrunched up the starchy bedsheets. From her canopy bed in her mansion to a paper-thin mattress in a sketchy motel she checked herself into because she had nowhere else to go.

In the washroom, you did your best to comb out your hair with your fingers and wipe off the smudged makeup from under your eyes. You’d figure out the wrinkled clothing later on. At the very least, your topcoat would conceal the fact you slept in last night’s clothes. When you deemed yourself presentable, you walked onto the street and turned towards a different coffee shop.

A rush of blonde hair suddenly obfuscated your peripheral vision. You stumbled from the impact of two girls grazing your sides. You looked up in confusion at what had just happened.

“Girls, come back here,” a stern voice called out. 

The two girls turned back but caught your eyes first.

“(Y/N)?” the taller one called out.

Okay, now you were even more confused. “Clara?”

“That’s me!” she said. Clara ran over and threw herself in your arms. Still in a state of shock, you returned the hug. 

If this was Clara, then there was only one possibility as to who the other girl was. “Hello, Charlotte,” you greeted. Charlotte came sprinting over in a frenzy and enveloped you from the side. 

You never understood how Clara and Charlotte weren’t twins. They had a whole two years of genetic possibilities separating them, but they still maintained so much likeliness. It was as if Aunt Rosamund and your Uncle Leon copied and imprinted preset genes into their offspring. They both had Aunt Rosamund’s platinum blonde hair though wispier and wavier. They were both small and nimble, fairy-like in their stature. It was impossible to detach either girl from their love of reading fantasy and romance novels. You supposed childish wonder helped preserve their everlasting youth. 

Given that Clara and Charlotte were here, it could only mean one thing. The woman who’d called for them was none other than—

You turned around. “Hello, Aunt Rosamund.”

Aunt Rosamund quirked a pointed eyebrow at you, her inquisitive green eyes sweeping you up and down. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a tight bun. Her silver hoop earrings perfectly complemented her white suit and cloak. She twisted her mouth which pulled her cheekbones—looking so much like her older brother, Lucius, in the process—meaning she was ready to pass judgement. You braced yourself. 

”Goodness, you look terrible, (Y/N). Did you sleep on the streets yesterday?”

Ouch. Well, at least it wasn’t your Uncle Theo. Things could be worse. 

“I had a long night. It’s been busy at work,” you responded. 

“You may benefit from a de-puffing potion,” Aunt Rosamund continued, now staring into your eyes. “I have a contact in Luxembourg who is the Chief of Operations at a cosmetic company that carries simply the best line of anti-aging products. I’ll set an appointment up for you.”

You touched your face, fingers grazing swells of your eyelids from all the crying you did last night. “Oh, this is temporary. It’ll fade.”

“Hm,” Aunt Rosamund said, half-believing you as she pressed her red lips together. 

“She doesn’t look like a vagabond, mother. I like it. It’s rather bohemian,” Charlotte commented sweetly as she smoothed out your topcoat for you. “And (Y/N) looks even more youthful with her puffy eyes.” Alright, bohemian and youthful—you’d take it. 

“So, what are you girls doing here?” you asked, trying to move the limelight away from your appearance. 

“We wanted to see Christmas in London!” Charlotte piped up.

Clara sighed wistfully. “There’s a certain sense of romance that lingers in the air here that you can’t find anywhere else.”

You were gobsmacked. These girls had the entirety of Europe in their little hands and they wanted to see Christmas here? “Really?“

“You should know, (Y/N)! You live here,” Charlotte harped. 

Even more puzzled, you stated: “It’s only November.”

Charlotte took your hand. “Sure, but we have to be back in Switzerland in December. And I can’t wait for you to visit us then.”

You squeezed her palm affectionately. “Me neither.”

”Come on, girls,” Aunt Rosamund called. “We have to be on our way to brunch. You can discuss your plans with (Y/N) when we arrive at your uncle Lucius’s at noon.”

“See you later, (Y/N)!” Charlotte said, giving you one last hug, before running off to her mother.

“Bye, (Y/N)!” Clara repeated. 

As the three ladies ambled on, you stood there motionless, wondering what the hell you had missed.

Charlie was on the couch when you ran into your apartment. You huffed as you shut the door, having sprinted here to make the best of the hour you were given before you had to be back at the Manor.

“Hey,” was the first thing out of Charlie’s mouth when he saw you. Were your eyes betraying you, or did he genuinely look concerned? “Where were you last night?”

“Uhm,” you stammered, his question really wedging you in between a rock and a hard place. Should you lie or lie? You didn’t feel like divulging about the night you spent crying in a dirt-cheap inn. “With Fred and George.”

Charlie’s shoulders released in relief. “That’s good. I was a little concerned when you didn’t come home.”

Well, didn’t that make two of you?

“I’m going to freshen up. I have family visiting today.”

Charlie perked up. Begrudgingly, you attempted to read him. Was he excited that you were going to be gone? Your absence would surely afford him more opportunities with Mallory. 

“Which side?” he asked. “Mum, dad?”

“My father’s.”

“Is it your Uncle Theo or Aunt Rosamund?”

You raised your eyebrows. “You remember?”

“I couldn’t forget your fantastic descriptions. So, who is it?”

“My Aunt Rosamund.”

“Do you need me to accompany you?”

Sharply, you said: “No.”

“Alright then,” Charlie said, falling back on the couch. “Don’t forget about me.”

“I’ll try my best, Charlie, no promises.”

You opened the door to your room and rummaged through the closet for an outfit that wouldn’t suffer the scrutiny of Aunt Rosamund. You heard the thud of footsteps drawing closer and stopped. 

“Before you go, (Y/N), can you think over one thing for me?” Charlie asked.

You almost laughed when you spun around. Charlie’s head looked like it was decapitated and hanging from the way he positioned himself at the door. “Depends on what it is.”

“Is there any Thursday and Friday you could take off?”

You frowned. 

Like how Alicia’s stories usually went, this was the part where the guy (Charlie) would try to win your affections back after realising you’d turned cold. Shower you with praise and compliments and his undivided attention. Charlie was about to feed and rescue you from the famine he started. And when you thought you were safe in his arms, he was sure to starve you for good. 

You weren’t going to let that happen. You weren’t going to be a crumpled mess on the floor again. 

“Sure,” you said coolly. “I’ll think about it.”

However deflated you sounded, it didn’t impact Charlie in the slightest. He looked as gleeful as the day he’d gotten his Hogwarts acceptance letter. “Aren’t you going to ask why?”

You placed a hand on your hip, willing to humour him one last time. “Alright, why, Charlie?”

When the response spilled from Charlie’s lips, you realised you had no playbook to navigate the question he’d just posed.  

>> NEXT CHAPTER

CHAPTER DIRECTORY

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Commissions for Hogwarts Mystery I did back in 2018! (1/2)

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HOME: Book 11 - CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

MASTERLIST

The next morning, Veronica awoke to the smell of bacon and coffee wafting in through the open door, and as she stretched, her hand brushed against Charlie’s empty side of the bed. Slowly, she got up, her legs aching and unsteady after last night’s activities, and jumped in the shower. Once she was dressed, she left the room and made her way into the kitchen to find Charlie cooking up a storm. “Since when do you cook?” Veronica grinned as she came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

Turning in her arms, Charlie placed his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her into him, kissing her deeply. “How do you think I’ve survived this long on my own without starving to death?” He chuckled as he stroked her cheek.

Veronica’s eyes crinkled as she smiled at him. “Well, I guess I just assumed you were surviving off takeout – ah!” She squealed as he slapped her bum playfully.

“With this body?” Charlie grinned, motioning a hand down his fit frame. “I don’t think so. Now sit, breakfast is almost ready.”

As she sat down at the kitchen island, Veronica let her eyes wander around the apartment, and she couldn’t help but notice that nothing had changed since she had last been there. It looked exactly the same as it did three years ago, from the way the furniture was arranged to the photos on the mantel to the paintings adorning the walls. Even the throw blanket she had bought him for the couch that he claimed he hated. He hadn’t changed anything.

“I couldn’t get myself to make any changes, you know.” Charlie explained as he placed a plate in front of her and sat in the stool next to her. It was as if he had read her mind. “Everything reminded me of you… and I couldn’t bear to move anything or get rid of anything because I was afraid that… that I’d never see you again, and this would be all I had left of you. I know it was my fault, but–”

Charlie’s voice cracked at his last words, and Veronica’s eyes softened as she squeezed his hand. “I’m here now, Charlie,” she whispered, “and I’m not going anywhere. Someone would have to drag me away kicking and screaming.”

Charlie’s grip on her hand tightened as he touched his forehead to hers. “Over my dead body,” he growled.

***

“Alright, love, where should we start? I can either take you to see where I spend most of my time - with the dragons. Or we can start at the Lecture Hall, which is what I’m sure you’d enjoy the most.”

As they stood in front of the Sanctuary doors, Veronica took a moment to admire how big the place was. She hadn’t had a chance to visit when she first brought Charlie to Romania three years ago, so he had made sure to make it the first place he took her this time around. Veronica knew he was also hoping a tour would help convince her to accept his offer to join his team.

“Hmm, that’s a tough one… not! Let’s start with the Lecture Hall!”

Charlie chuckled as he took her hand and guided her along the winding corridors. “Your wish is my command, sugar. One of the professors has become a good friend of mine over the years, so I’m excited for him to meet you. He’s heard enough about you, I’m sure he was beginning to think you didn’t actually exist.”

Veronica’s eyes crinkled as she giggled, and her hands flew over her body. “Wait, do I exist? Maybe I’m just in your imagination! Or maybe you dreamt me up!”

Charlie chuckled darkly as he pulled her into his side, giving her hair a rough tug until her neck was exposed to him. “It’s taking everything in me not to bend you over my knee and spank you right here in this crowded hallway, princess,” he whispered in her ear. “So behave, or I’ll show all these people who you belong to.” 

Veronica’s cheeks flushed as he placed a soft kiss just behind her ear, and the arousal pooling between her legs from his words was undeniable. She didn’t say anything else until they reached the classroom they were looking for; it was all she could do to prevent a moan from escaping her lips. As Charlie pulled open the door and held it for her, he grinned knowingly, and Veronica glared at him.

“You’re an arse, you know that?” She whispered as she passed him. His chuckle was the only response she got.

“Charles! You’re back from your big trip alr–” The older man’s voice caught in his throat as he locked eyes with her, and Veronica waited with bated breath as he eyed her up and down, his curious gaze raking over her features as if trying to place why they seemed so familiar. 

Veronica took the opportunity to examine him as well. His cheeks and nose were covered in freckles despite his darker skin tone, and they gave him a youthful air that suited him well. His dark brown eyes shone with mischief, and Veronica cringed at the thought of all the trouble he and Charlie must have gotten themselves into over the years. 

Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind. Could he be the reason Charlie is so experienced in bed? If Charlie told him about me, it’s possible he tried to help him forget his feelings by encouraging him to sleep with other women. The thought of Charlie doing the things he did with her - to her - with anyone else made bile rise in her throat, and she had to force it back down. We weren’t together. He didn’t think he’d ever see me again. He was not obligated to be celibate all these years. Get a grip! Veronica shook her head as she willed the tears away. As she glanced at Charlie, she could tell he knew something was wrong, and she had never been more thankful when the professor finally spoke up, not giving Charlie a chance to interrogate her.

“You must be the best friend I’ve heard so much about! Veronica Singer, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

[chwlb]

Charlie lingered down the corridors with that same hollow feeling he’d had living in his soul recently: the feeling that nobody really knew him anymore. At what point did he accept the people he once couldn't imagine life without are nothing but the pawns he played with till he was bored. He exerted all this emotion towards Skye and pretended to love it back, but none of it was real.

He looked around, the loud voices echoing off the hollow walls of the castle he’d been in far too long. He saw all the people he grew up with and wondered if he knew the things he knew. All these people had their own thoughts and lives, and their paths have intertwined and drifted apart more times than he could count. What were the odds of them knowing the things he knew? The chances of them knowing the things he thought were high. How much did they even know, did they even care?

Charlie kept to himself most times, he knew thoughts could be a lot for people. He could try to make friends, but they’d answer the call to his worst nightmares. The idea of rapids around the halls as he chased them before their vultures circled him, plucking apart any inch of dignity he had left after they loudmouthed his holy secrets to the paintings on the walls.

So bored