I wish I owned Harry Potter and the characters. Also, the Phelps twins. Please don't tell me I'm stealing—I'm just slightly infatuated. Title sums up both the plot, but also how my OC seemed to get away from me and write her own story.

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Charlie Weasley paid no attention to anyone else while he was at King's Cross Station with his family. Fred and George were being difficult, Ron and Ginny were being cranky, Percy was being snotty, and his mother was getting frazzled. They made it on to Platform 9 ¾, were kissed wet goodbyes by their mother, and Charlie could finally lose his little brothers. After spending ten minutes with the prefects, he went to see if there were any empty compartments available. He waved to everyone he knew, but he didn't feel like being surrounded by the people who called themselves his friends. Finally finding an empty car, he fell back on to one of the familiar seats and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hello," a well dressed girl with light brown hair and dark eyes was smiling at him from across the car.

"My god," Charlie nearly jumped out of his skin. "I didn't think anyone was in here."

"I'd noticed," she continued smiling and closed her book. "You're welcome to stay, though. Are you feeling well?"

"Thanks," he gave her a brave smile. "I'm fine; it's just nice to be going back to Hogwarts."

"I understand," she nodded sympathetically. "I mean not going back to Hogwarts specifically, this is only my first year, but just getting away from the hectic atmosphere at home."

"Yeah," he straightened up in his seat. "So, you excited about your first year at Hogwarts?"

"I think so, I think a part of me is nervous, but most of it's excitement," she straightened the thin glasses on her nose.

"Are you the first in your family to go to Hogwarts?" he tried this tactful approach.

"Do you mean am I muggle-born, pure-blood, or half-blood?" she replied perceptively.

"Yeah," his tact was uncomfortable and her frankness was refreshing.

"I'm a pure-blood," she grimaced as though that was a fact she wasn't proud of. "Generations of my family have been attending Hogwarts. You?"

"I'm a pure-blood, too. What family are you?" he inquired.

"Burke," she looked even more pained by this statement. "Darcie Burke," she extended a pale hand.

"Charlie Weasley," he shook it awkwardly.

"Please don't leave," she put in hastily. "I'm not like the rest of my family."

"Hey, I wasn't planning on leaving after we were talking anonymously, your name doesn't mean a thing to me," he told her this mostly to make her feel better, but he realized it was true.

"If you thought it did mean something, you'd be almost as bad as my family," she told him.

"For the record, you said that," he grinned.

"Gladly," she laughed, sending shivers down his spine. "What year are you going in to?"

"Six," he relaxed. "I'm Quidditch captain for Gryffindor."

"That's incredible," he searched her face for signs of mockery, but found only awe. "I've been learning how to fly, so I don't make a fool of myself in front of everyone, but I think I'm afraid of heights. Or, more accurately, afraid of falling from heights."

He laughed with her. "Don't worry, you just need to get used to it," he assured her.

"Did you like it the first time you flew?" she asked earnestly.

"Can you keep a secret?" he waited for her to nod. "Good, the first time I flew, I fell of the broom and nearly crushed my little brother."

"Oh gosh," she looked concerned.

"He wasn't hurt," he waved his hand dismissively.

"You have a little brother?" she inquired politely.

"Actually four younger brothers, one older brother, and a younger sister," he informed her.

"Wow," she raised her eyebrows. "I guess I can see how Hogwarts must be a haven for you."

"Are you an only child?"

"Yes," she sighed.

"I'll be right back," he promised, getting up and leaving the car.

"Sure," she nodded and returned to her book.

"Darcie," Charlie stuck his head back in.

"Yes?" she looked up, smiling.

"I have some people I want you to meet," he was followed in to the car by two twin boys who looked remarkably like him and a dark skinned boy.

"Hello," she looked at them politely.

"Darcie Burke, two of my little brothers, Fred and George Weasley, and their friend, Lee Jordan," Charlie indicated the boys should sit down and they did: Charlie across from Darcie, Lee on one side of Charlie, Fred or George on the other side, and George or Fred next to Darcie.

"Are you really a Burke?" the boy next to Darcie asked.

"Yes," she blushed.

"You don't seem like a Burke," his twin interjected.

"Shut up, you two," Charlie ordered. "Darcie's going in to your year and I want you to be hospitable to her, understand?"

"Yes, sir!" the boy next to Charlie saluted. "Fred and I will do everything in our power to make sure her stay at Hogwarts is pleasurable and enjoyable."

"You the boss, Chuck," Fred grinned.

"You, too, Lee," the oldest boy rounded on his brothers' friend who had so far been quiet.

"Absolutely, Charlie," he nodded.

"Good," Charlie stood to leave. "Listen, Darcie, I promised some friends that I'd go and sit with them; think you'll be okay with my brothers and Lee?"

"Of course," she nodded. "Thanks, Charlie," she smiled up at him.

"It's no problem, I'll see you at the feast," he told them and left.

"I'm sorry, which one of you is Fred and which one is George?" she turned her wide eyes on them.

"George," the one now occupying Charlie's seat chirped.

"Fred," his brother, still next to her, chimed in. "And you're really a Burke?" he examined her doubtfully.

"Yep," she told them dismally.

"Well, we'll just call you Darcie and no one will ever need to know," George came up with a solution.

"Sounds good to me," she agreed, grinning. "Are you Charlie's youngest brothers?"

"Nah," Fred shook his head. "Bill's the oldest, he's already finished school and he wants to work at Gringotts; then Charlie, you've obviously met him; Percy's after him, he has something shoved up his rear; then us, of course; Ron, he's the baby boy; and Ginny, the only girl."

"It must be tremendous having five brothers and a sister," she exclaimed.

"Not really. It's the best to have a twin, though," George grinned mischievously. "You can always swap places and no one can ever tell."

"Except at Christmas," Fred pulled a face.

"Why?"

"Because Mum always gives us jumpers with our first initial on them," George explained.

"You lot had best be getting your robes on," Charlie had returned to get his trunk.

They all managed to get tangled in their robes, but, with the assistance of everyone else, they were all straightened out eventually. The rest of the train ride was in a sickly silence contemplating what they all knew was coming.

"What house do you think you'll be sorted in to?" Lee asked to break the tension.

"My entire family's been in Slytherin," Darcie reported glumly. "So my auntie hopes I'll be in Slytherin, but I don't think anyone knows for certain."

"Well, our family's the same, but with Gryffindor," Fred put in. George, by the pasty look on his face, didn't appear to want to add anything.

"I hope to be in Gryffindor," Lee agreed. "I guess Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad, but Hufflepuff, to quote my dad, 'would bring great shame on our family', so I dunno what I'll do if I get sorted there. And Slytherin would probably be just as bad, no offense."

"None taken," Darcie looked too preoccupied to be offended.

Darcie was thrown in to George's lap as the train came to a stop and as they were picking themselves off the floor, they saw a large man herding other first years. The four of them hurried after him and managed to get a boat to themselves. Lee proved useless with a paddle and Fred kept assaulting George with his, but Darcie and George somehow got them to the shore.

Charlie was chatting with his friends who also had siblings coming in to their first year when McGonagall led their topics of conversation in. All the kids looked nervous as they surveyed the room. He could pick out his brothers as they jabbed each other in the back trying to make the other one nervous. Lee Jordan was whispering something to someone a few people behind him. His companion turned away from him and turned her eyes on the crowd. They connected with Charlie's and he smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

The first person to be sorted was a surly looking boy with dark hair whom Charlie privately thought would end up in Slytherin, but was sorted into Ravenclaw and then it was Darcie's turn. Darcie, who Charlie had assumed on the train was naturally pale, appeared almost completely bloodless as she waited in line. She looked like she was trembling slightly as she approached the stool to place the hat on her head.

The hat took a long time deliberating and Charlie could see her hands were shaking in her lap. Lee had his fingers crossed as he watched. Fred and George were looking at her intently and they all seemed to let out a collective breath when the hat yelled, "Gryffindor."

"Congratulations," Charlie clapped her on the back as she sank in to the seat next to him. Some familiar names were called, sorted in to a house, and then Lee joined Gryffindor. Charlie grinned at Lee as he took a seat across from him. There were a few names Charlie didn't recognize, a girl was put in Gryffindor, and another boy. There were many people to be sorted before the twins were going to have their turn and Charlie, Darcie, and Lee were waiting impatiently. They were silent while Fred put on the hat and was sorted in to Gryffindor, they roared, and the noise almost doubled when George followed him. The twins fell in to seats next to Darcie and Lee.

"Mum and Dad will be so proud," Charlie told them and they pulled faces at him.

"Your family will, mine will be disappointed," she told them, but her mournful tone was betrayed by her giant smile.

"At least the hat didn't yell out Squib," George told her brightly.

"Good point," she giggled.

"I didn't realize 'til right now just how hungry I am," Lee exclaimed as food appeared in the dishes in front of them.

"It's from the nerves" Charlie said sagely.

"Is the food here always this good?" George wondered filling his mouth with it.

"Most of the time," Charlie nodded.

"I've heard so much about this place," Darcie looked around the room. "I just never thought it would be this big."

"You get used to it," Charlie assured her. "But for your first couple of days, I'd stick together, things tend to transform right before your eyes."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lee eyed the table suspiciously.

"Don't worry, the tables stay the same," Charlie chuckled.

Dumbledore stood up, addressed the students, the food was cleared away, and the students filed out of the Great Hall.

"See you in the morning," the boys watched Darcie follow her peers up to the girl's dormitory.

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Charlie had dreams of Darcie all night long and woke up with her still on his mind. He smiled at the other boys in his room and walked down to the Common Room with them, not thinking once about her. Nodding at his brothers, he climbed out through the portrait hole.

"Hi, Charlie," Darcie mouthed at him from down the table.

"Hey," he waved.

"What are you doing, Charlie?" Arielle demanded from across from him.

"Just saying hi to a friend," he told her and turned around.

"Hi, River," she wiggled her fingers at the boy who looked back at her in wonderment. Charlie snorted in to his oatmeal.

"Hey, Arielle," River raised his hand.

"Isn't that your family's owl, Charlie?" she pointed at the tired looking owl swooping in.

"Probably my parents congratulating my brothers," he shrugged.

There was an audible gasp from some girls at the Hufflepuff when a beautiful black owl dove at the Gryffindor owl. Darcie fed it a bit of her breakfast, took the letter from its leg, and sent it off.

"A congratulatory letter from my aunt," she informed her friends unhappily.

"Charms first, boys," Fred reported looking up from his schedule. Darcie coughed delicately. "And Darcie," he added diplomatically.

"Do you guys know any spells?" she looked at them worriedly.

"Not many," George shook his head.

"Good, neither do I," she helped herself to a piece of fruit.

"You're not supposed to know spells, that's why we're here," Lee pointed out.

Darcie laughed and nodded. "I think what Darcie's trying to say is: What kind of pinhead doesn't know everything about magic before they come to Hogwarts?" George grinned. "But I'm paraphrasing."

"Paraphrasing?" she raised an eyebrow.

"You know; changing a couple of words around," he elaborated.

"I know what it means," she smiled. "I just don't think it means the same thing as making up an entirely different statement."

"Of course it does," he nodded and stuffed a forkful of eggs in her mouth.

She looked surprised and coughed them down. "You're so mature, George."

"Thank you, I get it from my brother," he pointed at Fred who was sticking utensils in his ears.

"I can tell," she laughed and George felt his stomach fall to the floor like it did every time she laughed.

He opened his mouth to say something, but as he was talking, the Great Hall got even noisier with the scraping of seats as everyone stood to go to class.

"Good luck, you guys," Charlie grinned at his brothers and their friends as he walked by with Arielle.

Arielle kept passing Charlie notes through their first class, so he was glad when she went off to Arithmancy and he to Care of Magical Creatures. The rest of the morning went smoothly, but every time he saw his brothers in the corridors, he looked for Darcie who he knew must be with them, maybe just lost in the throng of people.

Right before lunch, Arielle was off with her other friends, Charlie spotted Darcie. She was alone with her nose in a book. Everything in Charlie was advising him to go up to her, but he decided against it and kept walking. She passed him a few minutes later, hurrying to the Great Hall, running backwards from Fred and George. Her eyes lit up as she waved at him, she smiled, and kept running.

"Hey, Chuck," George slapped him on the back as they too passed him. Lee nodded at him silently and tried to catch up to Fred, George, and Darcie.

"Will they ever grow up?" Percy sniffed watching their brothers charge off.

"Doubt it," Charlie grinned.

"Who is that charming girl keeping company with them?"

"You make it seem like they're having a giant orgy every time they're alone. Anyway, that's Darcie," he shrugged.

"Yes, well," Percy went red and walked off.

"Hey, Baby," Arielle joined Charlie as he meandered thoughtfully towards the Great Hall.

"Hi," he started at her touch.

"You look a million miles away, Sweetie; is everything okay?"

"Everything's great," he kissed her.

Later that night in the Common Room, Charlie saw Darcie sitting in a corner with the twins and Lee working on homework. Admittedly, it was Darcie working hard on her assignment, while Lee looked confused and snuck glances at the girl's paper, and Fred and George were joking around. Arielle had gone to bed early that night and Charlie felt a little lonely so he moved over to the knot of First Years. Darcie's grey eyes searched his face.

"Hi, Charlie," Lee grinned. "All alone? It doesn't look like we're all going to finish up here. You realize, she wants to do two years of school in one and it looks like the three of us are going to have trouble doing one in one!"

"You're doing two years in one?" Charlie glanced at her.

"Yes," she nodded. "I had a chat with Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall today about it. I can do all my History of Magic and Transfiguration work out of class and while you guys are in those classes I'm going to take Second Year classes in Potions and Herbology. So, next year I'll be in Third Year."

"That's incredible," Charlie exclaimed at the same time Fred demanded, "why?"

"I want to be able to finish as quickly as possible," she explained. "My great aunt won't be around forever."

"Your great aunt?" George wondered.

"Well, I live with my Great Aunt Zelda. She's about ninety-six and she's raised me. I need to be able to be by myself if, heaven forbid, anything happened to her."

"You don't live with your parents?" Lee asked.

"I can't. I don't even know who they are. Apparently my mum left me with Auntie Zelda—she's never told me why. I don't even have my mother's last name," Darcie shrugged, "Auntie thought it would make life easier if I had the last name of Burke instead of whatever it was before. None of the family knows who my mother is."

The boys just looked at her in disbelief—first she told them she was planning to do two whole years of schooling in a single year, and then she told them she lived with her great aunt and didn't know who her parents were. Charlie was amazed at how simply she could tell them all of these intimate details about herself; George was floored at how calm she seemed about the whole situation; Fred and Lee were gaping at each other. Percy came over and held out his hand to Darcie.

"Percy Weasley."

"Hi," she stood and beamed up at him, "I'm Darcie Burke."

"Darcie's going to try to do all the work for First and Second Year in this one year," Charlie knew that piece of information would help Percy warm up to the girl.

"That's an admirable undertaking," he exclaimed. "Well, if you ever need a hand with your schoolwork, I'd be happy to give my advice. It's time for me to turn in, sleep well, everyone."

"Night, Perce," Fred waved and yawned. "I'm headed up to bed, too, George, Lee?"

"We haven't finished our work!" Lee protested.

"Come here and let me see it," Darcie directed. "Now, this isn't going to be a regular occurrence, but I'll give you help. All you need to do tonight is the stuff due tomorrow. We can do the stuff for next week another time."

Charlie drew out his own work and followed the example set by his younger brothers and their friends. He was going to have to work his tail off if he wanted to win and keep a scholarship to Romania to work with Dragons. Finally, Darcie had finished assisting them and the three boys headed off to bed leaving the other two to continue slaving away.

"You sure you shouldn't head to bed, too?" Charlie asked the girl.

"I don't sleep much," she shook her head. "Plus, I've much too much to do to go to bed at this hour. What about you?"

"Well, I don't sleep much, either. It's too much hassle to take a sleeping draught every night and I'm able to function without a lot of rest, so I just live with it," he shrugged. "Done, finally."

"Careful, Charlie, don't put that there," she warned as he set his just finished homework assignment on the floor.

"Why?" he wondered.

"I don't know," she looked confused.

"I'll just place it over here then," he put it on a table.

"How was your first day back?" she inquired.

"It was intense, but it was nice to be back. Hey," he stomped out an ember that had fallen from the fire on to the carpet where he had put his homework just a few minutes ago.

"Yes?" she had looked away from him to close her book and stick it in her bag.

"Didn't you just tell me not to put my homework there?" he was staring at the slightly burned spot on the carpet.

"Yes, so?" she seemed lost.

"It would have been burned if you hadn't warned me," he explained.

"Really?" she looked surprised.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"I- I'm not sure," she appeared startled by this information.

"It was probably just a lucky guess," he dismissed it.

"Right, the fire is high and we are close," she agreed and seemed to brighten.

They lapsed into silence and Charlie's brain started running a mile a minute about his homework, and Quidditch plays, and Arielle's birthday that wasn't for almost two months but she would be expecting something big for her coming of age so it would have to be great. Darcie was deep in a Second Year History of Magic textbook and Charlie wondered if she was trying to bore herself to sleep. It was almost two in the morning when she began yawning and she opened her eyes more slowly each time she blinked, he smiled to himself.

"Charlie, it's time for me to get to bed," she spoke softly.

"Sweet dreams," he watched her head for the stairs.

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Well, I hope you enjoyed my first foray into Harry Potter fanfiction. Please read and review!