Across the Universe
The roar of the engines kept Charlie awake; the three and a half hour flight to Romania was always one of the toughest things he had to do. He hated the enclosed spaces and amount of people cramped into the small plane. He hated the immense height of the plane and the turbulence that they often went through. He may have had a strong stomach for burns, blood and fear but unfortunately that didn't extend to rollercoaster-like turbulence.
"Are you alright, dear?" A voice said from beside him as Charlie gripped the armrest tightly as they hit another bout of turbulence.
"Yeah," Charlie said, keeping his eyes closed, "I just don't like flying much,"
"You're a lot like my grandson, terrible fear of flying."
"Oh, I don't mind flying, just not in aeroplanes." Charlie said, before realising that she was a muggle, therefore would think he was absolutely mad because as far as he knew, there was no other way to fly when you were a muggle. "Uh.. you know, like in games." It wasn't a lie, Charlie had just conveniently left out the word 'Quidditch'
"Oh, that makes sense." The woman said, before returning to her book. Charlie tried not to look out of the window at the sheer drop below him. He didn't mind heights when he was playing Quidditch, because he was focussing on the game and he could control the thing he was flying on. Flying in an aeroplane was not only terrifying, but dangerous as well, but it was necessary if he wanted to recover from the time zones quickly so that he could start work early tomorrow.
Charlie searched his mind for something to think about, anything but the sheer height they were flying at. His thoughts landed on Katie, his girlfriend of two months. He thought of how sad she was when he had to leave to get on the plane.
"Distance may keep us apart but I will not stop loving you." Charlie said, hugging Katie goodbye at the departures gate at Heathrow airport.
"I know." Katie sniffed, kissing him on the cheek, "but what I don't know is why you have to catch one of those aeroplanes."
"I'm going to Romania, Katie," Charlie laughed, "I kind of have to."
"Why can't you just apparate?" she asked, "It's much less dangerous."
"And the jet lag lasts a lot longer." Charlie said, as he pulled the handles on his bags up and started drag them behind him. "I have to start work tomorrow, and with any luck I'll have slept off the time zones within a few hours."
"I wish I could come with you." Katie said, putting her arms around his waist and hugging him tightly.
"I wish you could come too." Charlie said, putting a finger under her chin and bringing it up so that her eyes were looking into his. He kissed her on the lips, savouring the moment as it would be their last kiss for another six months, when he returned home for Christmas. "If you get too lonely go to Angelina's, I don't want you to go back into your depression again." Katie nodded as Charlie walked away to the departure lounge, blowing a kiss back at her.
"I love you!" she called after him, tears starting to flow down her face.
"I love you too."
Katie; that's who Charlie was most worried about, not his family, they could take care of themselves, but Katie, his girlfriend. She had no family left to love her, only him and her two friends, Angelina and Alicia, everyone else were victims of war. He was so scared that she would slip back into that phase that had held her in the same place and threatened to kill her. That depression that was stronger than anything at the time that Charlie had found her standing atop a cliff in London, ready to jump and join her family.
"Hey, you there, are you alright?" Charlie called out as he saw a figure standing beyond the barrier of the lookout. The figure, a girl as Charlie could tell from the long blonde hair that flew out behind her in the wind, hadn't heard him over the sound of the rain and wind. "Hey! You there!" he called as the girl took another step towards the edge. "Stop!" he all but screamed, running out from under the shelter of the pub that he and Bill had been having a drink and catching up at. The girl had obviously heard him this time, as she glanced back at him, the rain mingling with the tears on her cheeks.
Charlie reached the concrete patch that marked the start of the lookout and slowed his pace down, moving cautiously towards the girl.
"I'm Charlie," he said, having to yell over the sound of the rain, "What's your name?"
"K-Katie," the girl said, her voice being carried back to him on the wind.
"That's a beautiful name," Charlie said, "A beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Katie didn't respond, she just stared out at the rough ocean slapping against the rocks below her, he moved slightly closer, drawing his wand from inside his robes, prepared to levitate her back up if she tried to jump. "Why don't you come back to the pub with me, we'll have a drink and get you warm."
"On a normal night, I'd take you up on that offer Charlie." Katie said, taking another step towards the edge, "but not tonight, I'm going to join my family." And with those words, she jumped, arms spread wide like a bird.
Levicorpus, Charlie thought, flicking his wand and Katie was pulled up short, dangling in the air by her ankle, screaming her head off. He rushed over and leaned over the railing and pulled her towards him by her bedraggled top and thought Liberacorpus. Katie collapsed on top of him, still sobbing.
"Come on Katie, let's get you inside."
He couldn't let her do that. He had recognised her immediately, she'd been in her first year when he was in his seventh, yet it had only taken a week and a half to conquer her heart and before he knew it, they were kissing. Charlie loved having Katie as his girlfriend, someone who would love him unconditionally, apart from his family but Charlie had always considered himself a bit of a traveller, and his job required him to do that. Possibly the worst part of their relationship was when Charlie had told her that he would have to return to Romania for six months.
"Katie, please talk to me." Charlie begged, placing a hand on Katie's back as she lay on their bed with her head buried in the pillow, like she had for the last two days, ever since Charlie had told her that he would have to return to his job. The depression had come back, stronger than before her suicide attempt. Katie didn't respond.
"Katie please?" Charlie repeated. There was no reply from his girlfriend. "Katie, you know that I'll always be there for you, always. This is just my stupid job messing things up, I'll be back in six months, next to no time." Katie sat up, tears clouding her eyes.
"I thought you loved your job" she said, her voice shaking.
"Not as much as I love you." Charlie replied, drawing Katie in for a hug, her lips brushed his in a soft kiss and Charlie knew that Katie understood. She understood how much he loved her, and nothing would change that.
An immense bout of relief washed over Charlie as the plane touched down on the runway at the tail end of his trip. The flights to and from Romania were absolute hell and when they were over, Charlie always treated himself to something afterwards, this time, he decided to spend some of his muggle money and call Katie on her fellytone, at least that's what he thought it was called. He pulled the piece of paper that Katie had given him with a bunch of numbers on out of his wallet and made his way over to the payphone that stood just after baggage claim. He didn't see any point in waiting for his bags to come out before he called Katie, they were always the last.
When he looked at the payphone, he saw what all the numbers were for and thanked god that there were onscreen instructions in both Romanian and English. He put in some Romanian money and punched in the number on the paper and put the receiver to his ear as it started to ring. Charlie could only assume that this was normal, because there were two people on either side who weren't jumping out of their skin at the ringing in their ears. Katie answered on the third ring.
"Hello?" she said, sounding slightly nasal and Charlie could tell that she had been crying.
"Hey, Katie, it's me." Charlie yelled into the receiver, not sure if Katie could hear him, earning himself a few stares from those around him.
"Charlie!" she exclaimed happily, "Why are you shouting?"
"Wait, you can hear me?" Charlie said, lowering his voice to his normal tone.
"Yes, silly." Katie said, "The phone will pick up your voice if you speak normally too."
"Oh so that's what it was called." Charlie said with a small laugh, twirling the cord around his finger. "I miss you already."
"I miss you more." Katie sighed, "I wish you weren't going for so long."
"Six months is nothing," Charlie said, dismissing it, "You can come and visit if you get a weekend off work or something."
"That would be lov- please insert an extra five dollars for an additional six minutes"
"Katie?" Charlie said, as the phone cut out and a robotic voice replaced hers. "Katie what happened?" a horrible beeping sounded in his ear. "Katie, are you alright? Katie answer me!" Charlie swore as he realised that he'd run out of time on the payphone.
"Stupid muggle technology." He muttered, kicking the machine and swearing loudly when he all but broke his toe.
"Would Charlie Weasley please come to baggage claim six, Charlie Weasley." A voice called over the loudspeaker and Charlie swore again, hobbling towards a large six that was placed over the conveyor belt where he was to collect his luggage, which, conveniently was the only one left on there. He collected it and went off to the residents line, which meant that he could skip the long process that was immigration, and get to his house to write to Katie an apology note.
He was a bit of a drifter, now that he thought about it. He never liked to stay in one place for too long, but he knew that wherever he went across the universe, Katie would always be there to welcome him home.
AN: Wow, that ended up being at least a thousand words longer than I originally planned. Anyway this is for xBlueEyedAngel's "Monthly Characters & Prompts" Competition for the month of July (obviously)
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~The Original Horcrux~