#so i kept saying percy could be a middle or younger sibling with a lot of brothers

[sealrock]

imagine: deadbeat older sibling percy.

[gingersaremytype]

Out of Place - Percy Jackson x Reader

Masterlist

Prompt List

Percy Jackson x Reader

Requested by Anonymous

Can you make a x reader with Percy Jackson were the reader is feeling insecure and Percy makes her feel better?

Word Count - 1.8k

The summer after your 16th birthday, everything had changed. You'd discovered the truth about your parents after living with your dad your whole life with no mother. Your dad was a regular human and your mum... Well, your mum just happened to be a Goddess. The Goddess of the Hunt and Wilderness to be specific; Artemis.

You'd always been good at Latin in school and then, after realising your true identity, it made sense. The knowledge you had was already rooted deep inside of you and the legends and myths you learned were now your reality. That summer you had gone to Camp Half-Blood and met others like you. People with the skills you had and who were also children of Gods. You moved into Cabin 8 and became a Hunter of Artemis along with your siblings.

~

You had now been at Camp for at least a year and you understood more about your mother and being a hunter. Being a child of Artemis meant that you were extremely skilled with a bow and arrow, just like your siblings, and that you were quite quick on your feet.

Although you spent a lot of time with your siblings, you were also close to some of the other campers. Including Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon. You were sat at dinner with Grover, Annabeth and a couple of your siblings when Percy walked over, having been talking with Chiron for a while. He sat down in the empty spot next to you and reached for some food, smiling at you.

"Hey, how's your day been?" Percy asked lightly.

"Yeah, good thanks. Yours?" You replied, smiling at him. He nodded in response but gave you a strange look you couldn't quite decipher.

The truth was it hadn't been much of a good day but you didn't need Percy to know that. He already had so much going on his life and you didn't want to complicate it more by overloading him with things he didn't need to worry about. One of those things being that you liked him...

You'd been crushing on Percy pretty much since the day you'd met him but never had the courage to tell him. It was stupid, there's no way the Son of Poseidon would be interested in someone like you. Or at least that's how you viewed it. Sure, you and Percy were close but he was close with everyone, you weren't an exception.

Anyway, you'd struggled through your day no matter how awful it was. First off, one of your younger siblings had borrowed your favourite bow and broken it. You knew you could find another one but you'd liked that one and it was annoying to go through the process of finding another good one. Then you'd had to face a whole load of Ares' kids in one-to-one fights and had pretty much lost them all. Being a Hunter meant you were good at long-distance fighting; shooting and running for example. Up close, you weren't quite as quick as other campers and you hated it.

You continued to tuck into your dinner until one of the Ares campers walked past and shoved you slightly, causing you to spill your drink.

"Oh sorry, Y/n!" She said, full of sarcasm, "I didn't see you there." She smirked, walking on to her table.

You looked up at the rest of your table, hoping no one had noticed. Luckily, they were all deep in conversation and you didn't think anyone had.

Then another Ares girl came along and shoved you just like her sister, a little harder this time. You looked up at her and glared.

"What? Are you gonna get angry little Hunter? I'm sure I could push you to the floor easily just like earlier in the arena." She raised her eyebrows at you and smiled wickedly before moving on.

You'd had enough and mumbled something to the rest of the group about needing to re-string your bow before standing up and walking away. You felt tears threatening to fall. You knew you shouldn't listen to them but you couldn't help it. You felt like you didn't belong here, at all. You weren't good enough to be the child of a Goddess and you knew your mother would never be proud of you. Yes, she had claimed you when you'd arrived but, since then, you never felt a strong connection with her. You wanted to go back to how it was before you knew you were only half human. Things were better then, you'd had loads of friends at school and been on loads of sports teams due to your enhanced speed and strength. Even more, you were happy.

You weren't miserable at camp, but you were far from happy. The first few months it had been excusable, you were new. But now, it was just a joke and you hated how useless you felt. 

Wandering through camp lost in your thoughts, you eventually found yourself in the forest by a small stream. You sat down and put your head in your hands, closing your eyes and letting a few tears begin to fall. You didn't want to feel like this but you didn't know how to fix it. You'd tried to train to be better but it just seemed like you weren't improving at all. If anything, the extra training you put in just made you feel even more tired when you had to actually fight. You were so lost in your head that you didn't hear someone in the woods until they sat down next to you, causing you to jump out of your skin.

You knew straight away it was Percy, his distinctive smell floating into the air around you. "I wondered where you'd run off to but I had a feeling it would be here." He muttered, nudging you slightly.

You lifted your head and looked at him. His expression changed to worry when he saw your red puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

"Y/n? What happened?" He asked, his voice laced with worry.

"Nothing," You whispered, shaking your head and trying to wipe the tears away, which was no use because the taps were open now and they just kept falling no matter how hard you tried to stop them.

"You're a terrible liar, you know. You have a tell." He chuckled slightly as you raised your eyebrows questionably.

"Whenever I ask if you're okay or how your day was, you tell me it's good but you always look away straight after and don't look me straight in the eye. You just put on a smile and keep going." He said, smiling sadly.

You looked at him, not knowing what to say.

"So, Y/n... Are you okay?" He asked, taking your hand in his.

You looked into his eyes and knew you couldn't lie to him.

"No, not really," you murmured, looking down at the ground "I... I just feel useless, Perce. Sure, I can fire an arrow but that's about as far as my skill set goes and I've tried so hard to be better but I'm just not. And the Ares girls they just..."

You trailed off trying to fight back a fresh fall of tears.

Percy didn't say anything for a moment, instead, he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into a tight hug. He rested his head on yours, "Y/n, you are not useless. And you have way more skills than firing arrows, although you are pretty amazing at it. I've never seen anyone hit the middle of a target every time like you." He said, causing you to smile slightly. "And who cares about the Ares kids, they're a bunch of arrogant a-holes with pea-brains." You laughed slightly as he retracted his arms to look at you.

"There it is," He smiled, "that amazing smile." You blushed slightly and looked away.

"Y/n, I'm so sorry it took me so long to realise you were feeling this way. I wish you could see how awesome you are."

"No, it's okay. I didn't want to dump it all on you, you have a lot on your plate." You replied, placing your hand on his.

"I wouldn't mind having more if that meant spending time with you..." He answered, his cheeks flushing slightly pink as he looked at you.

You looked up at him through blurred eyes and your eyebrows moved together as you tried to find out what he was feeling. Normally you could read him like a book because his poker face was not very good but right now, you couldn't read him at all. 

His hand moved from yours to your cheek as he wiped away the last few tears that fell.

"You're so beautiful, Y/n. You're unlike anyone I've ever met. You're the kindest, funniest and most brilliant person I know." He whispered, staring into your eyes. You could feel the heat rushing into your cheeks as he looked at you.

His eyes flicked down your lips, only momentarily but you'd caught it. You took the leap and leaned closer into him and closed your eyes. He followed, closing the rest of the gap and pressing his lips onto yours. Your hands moved to the back of his head, tangling in his dark hair, his arms snaking around your waist. The kiss was slightly salty and you thought it was probably a mixture of your tears and the fact that you were kissing the Son of Poseidon.

Percy pulled away and looked at you, seeming mesmerised.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," He smiled down at you. You shook your head and smiled back, "I was just about to say the same thing..."

He kissed you again before pulling away and standing up.

"C'mon, I saved the rest of my dinner for you," He offered his hand and pulled you up.

You suddenly realised that you hadn't really touched much of your food before leaving dinner and you were still hungry. The two of you walked out of the forest and over towards Percy's cabin, where he'd stashed the rest of the food. Once inside, you sat on Percy's bed and rested your head on his shoulder whilst you munched your way through the rest of your meal.

"Y/n," he started, "you know what you said about fighting and everything..." 

You looked up at him and hummed in response, your mouth filled with salad.

"What if I trained you?"

You sat up and looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Only if you want to, of course." He added, seeing the quizzical look on your face.

The look quickly morphed into a smile as you nodded, "that would be amazing. Thank you, Perce."

"Hey, anything to show those Ares girls who's boss right?" He chuckled as you wrapped your arms around him and hugged him tightly, sighing happily.

You smiled as he rested his head on yours. He was here for you and right now, that's all you needed.

[scarpool-gmk]

4

Title: Godly Marine: Killed Author: Scarpool Fandom(s): NCIS, Percy Jackson & the Olympians Pairing(s): Gen Rating: PG/K+ Summary: Chapter 4 (5/13) — Staff Sergeant Michael Kahale, Marine Corps Mechanic and Son of Athena, was murdered. Annabeth Chase is determined to find out who did it and why. She, along with Percy Jackson, Grover Underwood, and Clarisse La Rue, infiltrate NCIS where they team up with NCIS Agents Leroy Gibbs, Anthony DiNozzo, Timothy McGee, and Ziva David. Complete Genre: Fanfiction, Mystery, Drama, Humour, General, Action Warnings:  N/A

Clarisse didn't think much of the place. It was just like any other bar, gross yet comfortable. Still, she hadn't survived her life by judging by appearance alone.

"Do you smell anything?" she asked Grover.

The satyr discreetly smelled the air. He made a face. "Alcohol, greasy food, some of these guys haven't taken a shower in a while, and the dumpster seems to have seen some unpleasant stuff. Maybe a slight whiff of monster, but that could just be from everything else."

Clarisse grunted. "Can't be too careful."

They walked up to the bar, and the bartender walked over. "Welcome to the Drowsy Owl," he said, and gave them a quick look over, "If you want to drink, I'll need to see ID."

"We're not here for a drink, Mr. Sachs," Clarisse said. She showed her badge. She had to admit, she loved doing that. Not that she'd ever say it out loud. "NCIS. Agent Clarisse La Rue, Grover Underwood."

"Navy? What can I help you with?"

Clarisse showed a photo of Michael in uniform. "Do you recognize this dude?"

"Yeah, heh- knew that haircut wasn't by choice. He came in here quite a lot during the past week or so."

"Did he come with someone or meet with anyone?"

The man shook his head. "No. He kept to himself. Always ordered quickly and quietly. Actually, he never got a drink either. Seemed to really want to keep to himself."

Clarisse nodded in understanding.

"Um," Grover started, "we have to ask, but…"

Clarisse sighed. "He paid in cash, right?"

The barkeep thought for a second. "Yeah. Every time."

"Do you know the validity of the cash he gave?"

"Oh, of course," Mr. Sachs said in realization, "Well, it was mostly tens and twenties, but I always check. Seemed good to me."

Clarisse could accept that. "I'll take your word for it." She handed him her card. "If you think of anything else, please call."

As she turned to go, she stopped when a familiar face walked by her.

"Mrs. Kahale," Clarisse exclaimed.

The woman turned, "Yes?"

"NCIS. You met with our partners earlier today."

"Oh, more agents," the woman smiled politely, "How nice to meet more of you."

"Really? Nice?" Clarisse snarked, "That's not what I heard."

Mrs. Kahale's smile wavered. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I want to know why you aren't with your family. Why are you here, a place that your stepson visited nearly every day for the time he was here, a stepson you don't seem to care much about?"

Grover coughed behind her.

"That boy was nothing but trouble," Mrs. Kahale seethed. "No, I'm not upset about his death, and you won't catch me mourning for him. But my husband is extremely upset, and I would never do anything to hurt him. So, if you are suggesting that I killed the boy or was involved, then you really don't deserve that badge.

"As for why I'm here, there is nothing to it. Why can't I be here? I never saw Michael in this place, so it's all purely coincidence.

"That's all I have to say. Now, if you'll excuse me. I have many things still to do today." With that said, she stormed out.

Clarisse turned back to the barkeep. "That woman, does she come here often?"

"Yeah," the man said, "in fact, she's been coming here for a couple of months. Always meets up with some guys."

"Guys?" Grover repeated, "She's married..."

The bartender shrugged. "She doesn't arrive with them. Doesn't leave with them either."

"What kind of guys?" Clarisse inquired.

"Wide variety, but the most often is this younger-looking dude. He works at some fast food place; doughnuts I think it was."

"Do you have a description of him or a video even? Did you manage to hear what they were talking about?"

Mr. Sachs shook his head. "Sorry. Don't have cameras here. Didn't get a good look at his face either. And I don't get into anybody's business as it would potentially affect mine. Sorry I can't help you more."

"No problem," Clarisse reassured. "Have a nice day."

"You too."

They finally left the place.

"I don't think it was a good idea to anger Mrs. Kahale, Clarisse," Grover admonished.

"I don't like it," Clarisse scowled, "Michael hangs out for over a week in the bar his stepmother also hangs out in?"

"Well…" Grover hesitated but gathered himself. "We don't have anything to prove, well, anything. Besides, it could just be a coincidence like she said."

"I don't believe in coincidences." Clarisse had made too many mistakes believing in coincidences. "And you shouldn't either."

She trudged to the car. "It should be a rule."

-Ανναβετη-

"Come on, Wise Girl," Percy said as he drove the car in front of the Kahale residence, "Just because Ziva may say something about the knife in the house, doesn't mean Gibbs will think that both it and Michael's are suspicious. She wasn't even aware of it before I brought it up."

"Gibbs is a smart guy, Percy," Annabeth argued. "I just hope that all the stuff Chiron and I did is enough."

"Stop worrying. It's fine. There's no way you didn't think of anything."

Annabeth gave him a look.

"And if you did, which I doubt," Percy said, "we'll just deal with it as it comes up."

Annabeth sighed and knocked on the front door. Sure, they've been chased by cops before, but these were federal agents, federal agents that Annabeth and her friends were impersonating. Percy had no idea what he was getting into, and if she was being honest with herself, neither did Annabeth. The quicker she finished this investigation, the better.

The door opened to reveal a middle-aged man that Annabeth recognized as Jonathan Kahale.

"Good afternoon! How may I-" He stopped abruptly when his eyes locked with Annabeth's. He looked at her in shock, his face visibly paling. Annabeth suddenly felt very self-conscious.

Percy cleared his throat. "Mr. Kahale," he addressed, taking over for Annabeth, "We are NSCI-"

"NCIS," Annabeth automatically corrected, shaking the awkwardness away, "I am Special Agent Anne Lima, and this is my partner, Percy Jackson. I believe you were told of our coming."

"Ah, yes," Mr. Kahale cleared his throat a couple times, "Of course. Please, lead the way."

"Is your wife not coming, Mr. Kahale?" Annabeth asked as the man closed his door.

"No. She is out."

Annabeth opted to drive, if only that it gave her something to do while she was in the car with Michael's father.

"Where is this NCIS building?" Mr. Kahale asked.

"In D.C.," Annabeth answered.

Percy shot a smile at the backseat. "It's not too far. We'll have you back home real quick, Mr. Kahale."

The man nodded, falling silent. Annabeth nor Percy picked up conversation, and an uncomfortable silence settled in.

The man's deathly stillness was such a contrast to Percy's constant fidgeting. He looked lost in thought, which was always a bad idea for a demigod. Annabeth was unused to having someone without ADHD ride with her. It was kind of eerie.

After fifteen minutes, which felt like an hour, Mr. Kahale seemed to have the courage to speak up again.

"So, you two are," Mr. Kahale hesitated, and tapped his tongue on his lips a few times, "demigods?"

Percy froze in the middle of playing with the air conditioning vent.

Annabeth glanced in the rearview mirror to see the older man staring right back at her. "Why would you say that?" Annabeth asked.

"I will never forget what Michael's mother looked like," he said seriously.

Annabeth looked at the road. Oh.

"And, erm, when you misplaced the letters of the agency, Mr. Jackson was it? It alludes to your dyslexia. Also, how when you drive, Miss Lima, you tend to only read the symbols. When you had to change lanes, you did not see the construction signs that told that the right lane was right turn only. You only swapped at the last second when you saw the street arrows. And, you keep drumming your hands on the wheel, constantly moving them around. And although the consistent checking of your side and rear-view mirrors is a great driving practice, it's more likely due to your ADHD. Not that your driving is bad…."

Annabeth grit her teeth as the man kept talking. His nervous rambling wouldn't be so bad if only it wasn't critiquing her driving skills! Percy seemed to notice that things were going downhill and interrupted the man.

"So, did you ever meet up with Michael while he was here?"

"I didn't even know he was here," Mr. Kahale gloomed, "How long was he here?"

"Just under a week."

"Oh, I see." Mr. Kahale slumped further into his seat.

Annabeth felt for him. Michael was her brother, but he was one of many, and she had grown up with the tragedy of heroes she called siblings and friends. But for Mr. Kahale, Michael was his son, and the only tie he probably had left to the goddess he loved.

"I am sorry for your loss," Annabeth said.

Mr. Kahale looked up at her. "Do you know if he was happy at the camp?" He asked.

Annabeth nodded. "I believe so. He got along well with everyone. I only knew him for a year before he left for the Marines, but he always kept in contact and visited."

"It must have been really nice for him to be around family and people who could relate with him about his world."

"Michael was determined not to be held down by the divine world," Annabeth said, "And, although he may have been surrounded by all of the demigods, nothing beats true family."

She would know. No matter how bad things got between her and her family, they were always there. They were the stability in her crazy life. She remembered when her father came rushing in to save the day with his WWI plane. Then again, they could, if they needed to, be just as crazy.

Annabeth parked the car, and before getting out, she turned to look at Mr. Kahale. "Not everyone is a demigod or are even aware of our world," she warned.

"I won't say anything," Mr. Kahale promised.

Annabeth and Percy led him into the federal building. They made their way through check-in. For some reason, Percy insisted on waiting for them on the main floor. Annabeth and Mr. Kahale went into the elevator, going down to autopsy.

The elevator doors shut. Annabeth willed herself not to be affected by this man, as she noticed him staring at her, again. "Michael always looked like me," he finally said, "But you…" he took a breath. Annabeth realized that his hands were shaking. Were they doing that the entire time? "You have such a striking resemblance…" He finished.

Annabeth gave a light, breathy laugh. "Yes. You have no idea how much trouble it has cost me."

"I'm sorry," he said, "You know, I always knew this was a possibility. Michael told me the average age of demigods, but he was safe at camp, and when he joined the force, he was just a mechanic. I always told him to be careful. To be safe." He wiped his eyes. "But, I never understood the weight of the exact danger."

The doors opened up, and Annabeth led him into autopsy. Dr. Mallard had swapped out of his scrubs and was looking very professional in his bow tie.

It was a quick procedure, and they were able to leave quickly.

"It's not your fault, Mr. Kahale. You still have a family. Go be with them." Annabeth said before watching as Percy took him.

She pulled herself together. She needed to see Abby. Where did she say she was going to be again? The garage? She headed off in that general direction, and she was right.

Well, she was pretty sure. She found a pair of legs sticking out of a hole in the battered sports car, but she didn't think anyone else would wear those shoes.

"Abby?" Annabeth called out.

"Agent Lima?" A voice in the car responded. The legs started to swing around, as Abby attempted to escape.

"Yes," Annabeth affirmed, "Are you okay? Do you need help?"

"No," Abby said, "I'm fine. Perfectly-OW!-fine."

Annabeth took that to mean 'No' and started to haul Abby out of the hole by her legs. Except, this concept was a bit harder to carry out than Annabeth had thought.

"Stop kicking," Annabeth ordered, dodging what would have led to a broken nose.

"Sorry-Hey! Don't pull on the boots, man!"

"Gods, stop twisting! Just wiggle a bit."

"Wait, don't pull so fast! Just-just-"

"Okay. Here we go."

Annabeth finally lugged the lab rat out. Annabeth took a step back to catch her breath. Abby leaned on the car to do the same.

"What were you doing?" Annabeth blew out.

"Searching for any DNA samples," Abby panted, "Fingerprints, blood, spit, hair, nail clippings, sp-"

"Nail clippings?" Annabeth repeated.

Abby gave her a look. "You would be surprised where I've found nail clippings."

Deciding she didn't want the full list, Annabeth turned to the surrounding onlookers. "What are you looking at? Get back to work."

Abby looked on in amusement at the sudden scrambling of the NCIS personnel.

"Do you have anything, Abby?" Annabeth asked.

"Well, I am still working on the car. It's a shame, such a nice car."

"What about the phone?" Annabeth queried.

"Where's Gibbs?" Abby asked, obviously avoiding the question.

Annabeth wanted to roll her eyes. Seriously? They were still on this?

"He went to Michael's apartment with Agent McGee."

"Oh…"

"Abby, you got the phone to work, didn't you?"

Abby sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I was able to get all the list of contacts he kept on the phone. It was definitely a burner. He only made one call with it, which was to this number. The contact name listed was Annabeth Chase. Unfortunately, the number he called is also unregistered."

"Alright. Thank you, Abby."

"Yep," Abby said, already crawling back into the hole from whence she came. Not exactly the best idea, but Annabeth resolved to come back later to see if Abby needed rescuing again. Now, she had a call to make.

-Τιμοτηψ-

"Now, you sure you boys don't need anything?" the bumbling landlady asked for about the fifth time as she led them to apartment Sergeant Kahale rented out.

"No, we're fine," Tim repeated, not missing a beat.

"Alright, then. Well, here we are."

Tim couldn't completely keep in the sigh of relief as they came up to the room.

"This is his room?" Gibbs made sure.

The lady nodded. "Yeah. You guys want-"

"We are perfectly fine, ma'am," Tim interrupted.

"Alright. I'll be in the lobby if you need me. Don't forget to return the key when you leave."

"Jeez," Tim exclaimed when the woman was out of earshot. "If I was staying here, I would do my best to not be in for most of the day either."

"Ah, she's not that bad, McGee," Gibbs lightly scolded, fiddling with the key.

"Well, at least let's hope she's not knocking…woah…"

"'Woah' is right," Gibbs agreed as he entered the room. Tim followed a bit more carefully. He didn't want to disrupt the network of link analysis that littered the room.

It was writing. And lots of it. The wall was layered with notecards, post-it notes, and even pinned up napkins covered in scrawls. The table reminded Tim of his school days when he was writing his thesis for his Master's Degree.

Tim was used to a visual plot having more images, like photographs. The only thing that came close was a map, littered in more post-it notes, rubber bands, tacks, and thread.

"Landlady is not going to be happy about the holes he made," Tim commented.

Gibbs hummed in agreement.

"What are we looking at here, Boss?"

"I don't completely know," Gibbs said quietly, "Most of it isn't in English."

Tim went closer and realized that Gibbs was right. "It looks like Greek to me." He felt rather than saw the deadpan look his boss gave him. "No, I'm being serious. I recognize these characters from the Greek alphabet."

"Is it a code?" Gibbs asked.

"I assume so," McGee said, "Wouldn't know why the Staff Sergeant would know Greek." McGee started to rewrite each Greek letter with the English equivalent. "Although, it's not really good as a code, as anyone can just type it in a trans…" McGee trailed off. Okay, so maybe he was wrong.

"What, McGee?"

"It doesn't translate into anything when I turn the letters into the Latin equivalent. I'm going to have to look at them later, maybe enlist Abby's help."

Gibbs nodded, "Do what you have to. I need to know what he was on to." Gibbs tapped one of the post-it notes. Tim was grateful that it was in English, but immediately wished it weren't after reading it.

"Boss," Tim said in shock, "this… this just got way more serious."

"Could have always been this big, McGee," Gibbs told him, "It's just that we're finding that out now."

"If he was after the Sinaloa Cartel, then this case just got a whole lot bigger," Tim said.

Gibbs said nothing to that and kept observing the Sergeant's laid out thought process. He was pretty sure he heard Gibbs mutter something about doughnuts-wouldn't that be nice- as Tim ventured deeper into the apartment. He was pleasantly surprised that Kahale kept the place nice and tidy. Gibbs's phone started to ring.

"Yeah, what have you got, Abbs?"

Okay. Nice job, I'll let Tony and Ziva know."

Alright, well, who did he call?"

Thanks, Abby." Gibbs ended the call and immediately set into making another one.

As Gibbs waited, McGee figured this would be a good time to let him know what he found.

"Boss," Tim said, catching Gibbs's attention. "I've got his duffle and his gun, standard issue. He didn't take it with him. He's got some clothes in the drawers, nothing fancy but obvious that he was going to stay here for a while. I've got nothing other than that."

Gibbs nodded in approval.

It was obvious that the main focus was whatever it was that apparently had a connection to Mexican drug cartels.

Tim looked around in helplessness as Gibbs calmly waited for Tony or Ziva to pick up. He wished he could act so calm like Gibbs, but the idea of getting involved in the Mexican drug war made him really nervous. It may be wishful thinking, but McGee truly hoped Gibbs would let the DEA handle this.

-Αντώνης-

"No, Tony!" Ziva cried in frustration, "We are not getting into this."

"I am just saying," Tony pressed. "What if-"

"There is no 'what if,' Tony," Ziva interrupted. "It would be a solid 'No.'"

Tony sighed as he drove into the rental car area. Ziva was no fun.

Ziva chuffed. "Fine."

Oh! Hold that thought.

"You wouldn't get past the second date."

Tony parked the car and looked at his partner. "A lot could happen in two dates."

"She would only go on the second for the food," Ziva taunted and slammed the door.

Tony winced. Ouch. He stroked the dashboard, apologizing for Ziva's rough behavior, before joining Ziva outside.

"Now, don't go growling at the man," Tony said, referring to the businessman, "I've had enough of that."

Ziva chuckled, "Yes, as you told me."

"Well, it made a better story than what happened with you and Jackson- which am I the only one curious if Gibbs thinks of his father because of that?"

"Oh, come on, Tony. It is a simple, common name. I'm sure it hasn't even crossed Gibb's mind."

"Gibbs is a man with some deep-reaching thoughts," Tony informed, "You can never know what goes on in the deep abyss of the Gind."

"The Gind?" Ziva questioned.

"Gibbs's mind. 'The Gind,'" Tony explained. "I was thinking about 'Mibbs,' but that didn't-"

"Oh, stop!" Ziva demanded. "Just- just keep that to yourself. Honestly, who thinks of stuff like this?"

Tony was about to retort, but Ziva waved her hands in front of his face to stop him.

"No! Don't speak! Marko Tarsibo!" Ziva called.

There was some ruffling in the office before the man swaggered out. "Ah, agents! How good of you to stop by, again. Is the case sorting out?"

"We are making progress," Ziva answered.

"Oh, I am sorry," Mr. Tarsibo said, "But I do not believe we have been introduced. An Agent La Rue accompanied Agent DiNozzo before."

"Ziva David," Ziva said, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Tarsibo."

"Please, call me Marko."

Well, wasn't he just delightful?

"We are going to need to see the video recordings of the time Michael Kahale was here," Tony said. He smiled. "Marko."

Something passed over the man's face. "Ah." He said. "I see. Unfortunately, policy does make me ask to see a warrant."

"If you insist," Tony said, "We can easily obtain one."

"We will also need to see video recordings of previous weeks," Ziva said.

Tony shot a questioning glance at her but played along. "We are trying to follow a couple of leads."

"Ahem," Mr. Tarsibo coughed, "Of course. That would be no problem. However, again, I will need to have a warrant."

"Alright then," Tony said, "We will be back with that for you."

He and Ziva made their way out.

"Boss isn't going to be happy about this," Tony groaned. He hated getting warrants.

"That's true," Ziva said.

Tony gave her a worried look. "Why did you ask for old video recordings?"

"I believe Agent La Rue's gut feeling was dot on."

"Spot," Tony corrected.

"What?"

"It's 'spot on,'" Tony educated, "not 'dot on.'"

"Oh, whatever!" Ziva rolled her eyes.

Hey! Not whatever! This was very important knowledge!

"Anyway," Ziva continued, ignoring Tony's mental rant, "He is definitely hiding something. Hopefully, we can find something useful on those tapes."

"Hold up," Tony said, stopping them in the middle of the parkway and bringing out his ringing phone, "It's Gibbs."

"Alright," Ziva consented.

Tony hesitated in answering. "He knows about the warrant. He's displeased."

"He cannot possibly know, Tony," Ziva said. "Now, answer it."

Tony prepared himself.

"Hi, Boss."

"DiNozzo, the car we found at the scene," Gibbs said.

"The beautiful, luxurious, red Maserati," Tony remembered. "What about it, Boss?"

"It was tampered with."

Tony frowned. "How do you mean?"

"The engine was modified so the car couldn't go as fast as it could."

Tony pressed the phone on his ear as the squeal of a car's tires sounded off nearby.

"Which means that our resident car renter tampered with the car that our dead Marine used."

"Bring him in," Gibbs ordered.

"Of cour-"

"Tony!" Ziva yelled. She tackled him, yanking him off the street. "Look out!"

As Tony stumbled and fell backward, he saw a black sports car speed past the spot where they were just standing. It screeched onto the main road and sped off.

Tony looked over Ziva to make sure she was alright. "I think your suspicions were just confirmed," he panted.

"DiNozzo!" The sound of Gibbs's voice came from the phone clutched in Tony's hand. "What's going on?"

Tony grimaced. There was going to be a lot of explaining to do.

"DiNozzo! Answer me!"

Previous Chapter Chapter List Next Chapter

[gideonloser]

Chapter five: The night's just begun

Once the stress of the cow monster trying to fight was over, the three found themselves in a pickle. Ash hopped down from the car and Farrah was able to get to her feet without help and seemed more or less steady, but then they were three kids, on the side of a road through a forest, next to a stolen and wrecked BMW, and a cow patterned pelt. The pelt was easy enough to deal with- Ash explained to Teddy that some monsters left behind trophies for the heroes that slayed them. She thought he should take it, as it was his quest, but he and Farrah both agreed it was hers, as she shot the Hail Mary that saved the day. Perhaps under different circumstances she would have argued more, but instead she just shoved it into her backpack and turned her attention back to the problems that weren’t so easily solved.

It was a quiet road, but someone was still bound to come by eventually and the three agreed it was best that they not be there when they do. A compass Farrah produced from her bag told them which way was West, and they started walking. That part seemed a little stupid to Teddy, as they weren’t exactly going to walk all the way to Salt Lake, but he didn’t object as he didn’t have a better plan. Eventually they found a place that was deemed far enough away from the crash to be non-suspicious- even if investigators did find them, Farrah would undoubtedly be able to come up with some kind of bluff that would explain why three teenagers were out in the middle of nowhere, and deny hearing or seeing anything about the crash, and at the distance they were, it would (hopefully) be believable.

After all the excitement, Teddy would have been perfectly happy to just flop down on his sleeping bag and sleep for days, but Ash insisted they all needed food first, and he couldn’t deny that a warm fire did sound nice. While Farrah sorted out what they could prepare with the skills they had, Ash insisted Teddy make the fire. She said since Apollo was the god of light and fire created light, he could have a special bonus there. Still, try as he might and with Ash right over his shoulder walking him through it, he couldn’t do it. When Farrah declared they could do hot dogs and had everything all ready but he still didn’t even have so much as a spark, he threw it all down in frustration and yielded to Ash.

As he watched her make the fire (which she got quickly, because of course she did), it occurred to him that he really didn’t know very much about her. As her face lit up dimly in the sparks, he thought about how he didn’t even know where she called home when she wasn’t at camp. This girl called herself his sister, and was willing to put her life on the line for his quest without even being asked. Once she sat back, satisfied with the blaze, and Farrah had distributed the hot dogs, he asked.

"Ash, what is your real life like?"

She turned to him and quirked an eyebrow.

"My what?"

He made a face at himself when he realized he had worded it a bit weirdly, and took the time in his head to make sure his internal translation wasn't lagging, as he sought a better way to word it.

"Like, where do you go when you're not at camp? What's your human family like?"

"I go to my mother's in Los Angeles. She, her husband, and my stepsister Zoe all live there. I do not have any half siblings on that side, though I do have one full sister, Q."

There was a lot to unpack there. First was that she had a full sibling, did Apollo like her mom so much that he came back? Second was that any full sibling of hers was also a half sibling of his, but he had never even heard of this Q, or seen her around camp. Third was the name Q. Was that supposed to be, like, Queue, or was it a nickname? And if it was a nickname, what was it short for? Quin, maybe?

He wasn't sure where to start with all his thoughts, but luckily Farrah seemed to sense his confusion and jumped in.

"Tell him more about Q."

"Q is my twin sister. It's short for Queenie. She joined the Hunters of Artemis a few years ago."

Farrah nodded along as she spoke, evidentially already knowing the story, but meanwhile Teddy was a little lost.

"The what?"

"They're an asexual immortal girl gang." Farrah answered in a helpful tone, but Ash shot her a glance warning her that it was not helpful, and Ash knew damn well that Farrah was aware of it when she said it.

"You know who Artemis is, right?"

"Apollo's twin sister. Goddess of..." That gave him a moment of pause. What exactly was she the goddess of, after all? He was still so new to all of this, and trying to keep everyone straight was hard. "...The moon?"

"Yes, among other things. Including the hunt and chastity." Ash started her answers quickly, almost as soon as Teddy finished speaking- probably just to cut off Farrah before she could contribute any more technically true but confusing nonsense. "So she has all these attendants- girls who pledge to serve her and to forsake the company of men, and in return Artemis makes them immortal. The only way they can die is being struck down in battle. Those are the Hunters."

"And Queenie is one?"

"Queenie is one." Ash confirmed. She suddenly busied herself with her hot dog, and what part of his face he could see while she did seemed sad.

"Do you ever get to see her?" He wasn't sure why he kept asking, especially since he could tell it was a sore spot, but she kept answering.

"Yes. Occasionally the Hunters visit camp, and we do try to Iris message once a month or so." She said, somewhat sadly. "It's just... weird. I mean, I keep aging but she doesn't. And for so long, she was always right by my side, and now she's just... gone."

Teddy went quiet. He understood that, probably more than anyone thought he did. His thoughts turned to his own private grief, which Farrah picked up on. In response, she did something very impulsively, that was also strangely selfless: she threw out her own pain that she had been carefully hiding for all to see, to distract him from his own.

"Ashley," She announced, shifting her body to fully face Ash, but still keeping an eye on Teddy out of the corner of her eye. "I think it's time we talk about Luke."

Teddy didn't need to know who Luke was to know whatever this was was bad news. The temperature seemed to drop and Ash sat up straight, raising her chin and looking at Farrah evenly. She crossed her arms, a gesture that Farrah mirrored, but when Farrah did it, it looked petulant and childish. When Ash did it, she held herself with an air of nobility and carried herself confidently.

"My name isn't Ashley, but okay. Let's talk about Luke."

"Who's Luke?" Teddy asked, hoping it would break the thick tension that had settled, but the girls didn't even break their eye contact.

"Why don't you answer that?" Farrah asked, feigning politeness. "He's your boyfriend."

"He was my boyfriend." She replied, stressing the past tense. "He is your brother."

"I don't care who answers it, can someone just do it?!" Teddy snapped, a little harsher than intended, but whatever had just come over the two girls freaked him out. Finally Farrah forfeited the staring contest, looking over at him.

"Remember the counselor I told you about when you first got to camp? The one who snapped last year and attacked another camper?" He gave a small nod- he didn't remember the details, but he did remember the gist. "That's Luke."

"Why do we need to talk about Luke?"

"What did you know about what he was planning?" Farrah asked, turning her attention back to Ash and ignoring the question.

"Like I already told Chiron," Ash replied, a hint of restrained anger in her voice. "Nothing. I wasn't a co-conspirator. He didn't even say goodbye before he attacked Percy and left."

"Which you didn't know about?" The question was somewhere between an accusation and a confirmation, but Ash nodded.

"Which I didn't know about."

"Wait, Percy Jackson?" Teddy interjected, and both girls nodded. "You hate Percy. You told me yourself that you hate Percy."

This time Ash looked over at him, irritation on her face.

"I think he's annoying, but that does not mean I asked or wanted my boyfriend to try to murder him." She replied, which did seem like solid logic. He nodded, and she looked back at Farrah. "What did you know about what he was planning?"

"No more than anyone else!" She said, immediately defensive. "He complained about our father all the time, but I didn't think he would actually do anything about it!"

"Why does anyone have to know anything about Luke?" Teddy interrupted before Farrah started full on screaming, which got both of them to look at him.

"What?" One, or possibly, both asked.

"Why does anyone have to know anything? Why couldn't Luke have just acted alone and nobody knew anything?"

That idea seemed to calm both of them down considerably and when they looked back at each other, there was sympathy.

"I'm sorry that you lost your brother." Ash offered, her voice still a little guarded, but overall kind.

"Thanks." Farrah said, a bit measured but overall offering an olive branch. "...Do you still love him?"

Ash went quiet, and both the younger teens couldn't help but wonder if Farrah had overstepped as she stared into the flames. The shifting light cast sharp shadows that accentuated all the emotions, of which she seemed to have many, across her face. It seemed odd that she could all but accuse her of conspiring to murder a twelve year old and that was fine, but when she asked about an ex, that was off limits.

"I don't know if I ever loved him." She finally answered, still staring into the fire. "He was my first... Well, my first everything. I can't make that ever go away. And I would always rather be behind his shield than in front of his sword."

Suddenly she looked up. It seemed a second fire had been lit behind her eyes, which glowed with intensity as she looked at them.

"But if I'm called on to defend my home or my family, I won't hesitate. I'll fight to his death, or mine."

[batgirl-87]

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

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

Word Count: <13k

Genre: Fluff (Charlie x MC), Humour

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

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

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

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

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

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

Arrival of Fred and George! Get excited people!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I will, mum,” Charlie promised.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Oh no, they’re not sitting with me!”

“They have to,” Charlie informed them all.

“But why-“

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was addicting.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hey! We were just talking!”

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

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

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

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

“Who?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“If we wanted to be-“

“But we don’t really.”

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

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

“You’re late.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And for another…

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

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

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

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

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

“Umm…. Shopping?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“From what,” Andre asked quizzically.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What is wrong with you?!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yeah, I do,” Keira replied confidently.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“No –“ Charlie started.

“So….” Andre started innocently.

“Don’t –“ Charlie warned.

“You two-“

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you for reading! 😄 ❤️

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

[somaybeimbiased]

SHINee 5- Demigods

A/N This is a Percy Jackson and the Olympians AU, I got a request but accidentally deleted it so I’m sorry anon! But here you go!

A new group of Demigods sent on a quest to defeat the new terror threatening the world. Death itself. Can the five boys save the world? Will their contrasting personalities stop them fromdefeating death? Will they overcome diversity and jealousy? Probably, everyone can only hope for the best at this point.

Lee Jinki- Son of Athena

The boy with a plan

Has been at camp since he was 13

He was the ideal Athena kid;  well rounded, thoughtful, brave, a leader

He was the head of the cabin

He loved capture the flag and leading the team sometimes.

Chosen to lead becuase the quest called for it

Didn’t want to

But he was a senior camper so basically he had to.

Good with a sword but prefers calling the shots and watching to help plan the next move.

Really helpful on the quest

Made sure everyone packed the important stuff.

“No, Taemin, that is too much clothing....”

Has always been close with Taemin and Jonghyun

Doesn’t think Minho likes him?

Died for a bit on the quest and the others had to like, save him

Death was like: Bish you’re mine

He didn’t enjoy being a ghost

Once he was saved, he got really serious about the threat and decided that they needed to end it sooner rather than later.

Led his quest members to victory, destroying death despite his constant bickering with Minho and his annoyance with Kibum.

When his mom asked if he wanted anything in return he asked for a hug

This cute bean just wanted his mom’s love and acceptance

She told him that she was proud

He almost passed out

After they got back, he claims to be able to see dead people now.

“It must just a side effect of being dead for two days”

Kim Jonghyun- Son of Apollo

Best singer at camp

He got it trademarked.

Lives in the amphitheater

Always seen singing, playing music, or shooting archery

Led camp singalongs.

Been at camp since he was 12

Weary about questing

becuase the prophecy sounded like it wanted a hunter of Artemis to go on the quest

But the camp couldn’t get in contact with the hunters 

They tried for like, 3 days but they were going to run out of time.

Decided to send him instead becuase he had the Apollo genes, he could heal people, and he was the one volunteered by his siblings.

Pissed

Went on the quest anyways becuase His boyfriend and his bestfriend were going

At least he could try make sure they were okay then, right?

Became the leader when Jinki went MIA

Bartered with the gatekeeper of Hades to get Jinki back.

He traded his voice so he could go get Jinki

Big sacrifice especially for someone who sang all the time.

But they needed Jinki to lead them to save the world.

Now he understands who the oracle talked about when she said the voiceless one

It was a struggle to communicate in battle without a voice

He did get his voice gifted back to him by his father after they saved everyone.

He cried

“Thanks pops”

Kim Kibum- Son of Hermes

The master to all trades

Nicknamed ‘Key’ becuase he could pick any lock or break into anything

Most people are surprised he isn’t an Aphrodite kid, but like, His mom is basically a human embodiment of her anyways

Miltiligual, and he has a knack for knowing exactly where he is and where he needs to be heading at any time

Been at camp since he was 14

Proud of who his father is, despite having so many siblings.

“I’m not an extra kid, I’m his favorite”

Fights with Minho about it all the time

Sends Jonghyun after him.

Bc Jonghyun can be a scary guy when it comes to his boyfriend getting hurt

Exctied to go on a quest

Time to prove he is the best Hermes kid 

Volunteered himself to be a navigator

Cried a lot becuase of Jinki and also becuase of Jonghyun’s voice.

“I could’ve traded my gucci instead”

He was in charge of getting them shelter after a rouge monster set their tents and other supplies on fire.

“MY GUCCI BURNED”

Lowkey stole them all new clothes

Said he bought them

Really helpful in battle too

Like he just zips around with his two swords having the other’s backs and stuff

Good team player.

Snapchated Hermes sayings that he was his favorite child and sent it to all of his siblings.

Choi Minho- Son of Ares

Basically the most intimidating guy at camp.

If looks could kill

Stereotyped as a player, but he has only ever dated one guy? (Taemin)

To be fair he thought Tae was a chick for his first month at camp

Really good with most weapons

But extremely lethal with a spear

Named his spear Brittany (T:Why? M: Like Brittany Spears?)

Leads a lot of training and fighting classes to younger campers

Has been there since he was 12.

He was HYPED to hear there would be a quest and that they were in need of a child of war

“Where do I sign up?”

Threatened to fight any of his siblings for the spot, but it was his right as the cabin head.

He got mad when they chose Taemin for the quest.

Scared for him

Also kinda glad that Taemin was going though?

Bc he doesn’t think the rest like  him too much. Like Jinki needs to mellow out about Athena being superior to Ares, Key is annoying, and Jonghyun is dating Key so they can’t be friends by default.

Got V upset and jealous that Taemin and Jinki were getting close though the quest

But he also started to warm up with Jjong and Key too.

Saved everyone at least once on the battlefield. 

He knows what he is doing man.

Don’t question his fighting.

Cried when Taemin got hurt near the end of the battle.

Wont admit he did though.

Once everything was okay again, he asked his dad for new specially made sheild replica of his

Showed off once they got back to camp.

Lee Taemin- Son of Aphrodite

Not your typical Aphrodite kid?

Like he loves the whold lets look really cute and dress up and stuff.

He changes his hair color around a lot

And he loves clothes and earrings are his favorite

But he also isn’t afraid to fight and be a proper demigod.

Gets really pissed becuase his nickname is Pretty Boy around camp.

When he first got to camp as an 11 year old, his older siblings would dress him up as a girl, and that lasted for like 2 years

He fell for Minho hard as soon as he got to camp (even if Minho thought he was a chick)

Really good at archery too and he helps Jjong teach a few classes

He also has scary good charmspeak abilities so he gets whatever he wants if he uses it

But he doesn’t use it unless he really needs to.

He didn’t want to go on the quest

But they needed a ‘Son of Love’ for it

Lucky Lucky, they chose Taemin becuase they know he isn’t afraid to fight

He was used a lot on the quest to get them places and to trick whoever got in their way.

He was doing great.

He got along with everyone in the quest. He had his boyfriend, someone to gossip with, someone to sing with, and his new found friend Jinki.

They had beaten every obstacle  apart from the battle itself

He is really bad at close combat

And the only weapon they had left for him was a dagger

He tried to charmspeak the monsters and get them to kill themselves

But then one got him from behind.

After the battle, he had a close call to death and almost died 

Jonghyun saved him

He was really scared for a while becuase of the whole almost dying thing

When they got to olympus, his mom fawned over him

“You’re like a doll! My beautiful Son!”

She granted him a wish

He asked for a happy future with Minho for as long as they are alive.

He kept that a secret from Minho though.

A/N- I LOVE PERCY JACKSON OKAY? It was my life all of middle school and part of highschool. I hope I did botht the books, Rick Riordan, and SHINee justice in this!! REQUESTS ARE OPEN!