Please review. I'm always saying how much I love them. Do I need to say it again?
I don't own Charlie, but I wish I did.
The sunlight filters through the mottled shade of the huge tree that stretches its shaggy limbs over the broad lake. The tiny spots of light glance off the water, making it sparkle like a thousand diamonds. The shady spots sink down the murky depths of the mysterious lake, implying hidden wonders. Close to the shore, a lazy tendrit of pockmarked tentacle traces the outline of the bank.
It's the holidays, and the Hogwarts grounds are almost empty. A lonely girl dressed in muggle clothes lounges relaxedly beneath the shady tree, a muggle book in her hands: Miss Match. A smile flickers across her face as she reads, her blondish hair waving before her eyes where it has fallen out from behind its restraining pins and clips. Her eyes dance, but not from the book; her eyes always dance, with an energy that lights her up from within.
The loose leaves from autumn's reign rustle and crunch as a boy approaches from behind. He comes from the gamekeeper's tiny cabin, and if he looks back, he can see a friendly coil of smoke unfurl itself from the chimney. But he isn't looking back. His eyes are fixed on the girl under the knarled tree. Impatiently, he shakes away his red-brown hair as it falls over his beautiful eyes. He speaks her name, and his voice comes out deep and mature, carefully measured in perfect diction.
"Lucy." The girl looks up at the sound of her name, hair flying upwards like a startled flock of birds. She smiles when she sees his face before her. It's a face to be smiled at, with a snub nose and freckly features above a mouth that loves to smile. It does so now, his crystalline eyes softening with the movement.
"Charlie!" She has a high voice, spilling over with excitement and happiness. "I thought you'd gone home." He shakes his head and lowers his stocky form next to her beneath the tree.
"I've been flying." He indicates the Quidditch pitch visible across the grounds; and when she looks past his muscular arm she can just see the faint forms of people darting about on broomsticks and the occasional flicker of the red Quaffle.
"I could see you." She turns to look at him, and as he looks back, she sees his eyes clearly and marvels at their colour. Green and blue all at once, like the sea frozen over and smashed in, icy fragments spearing the black disc of his pupil. "You know you're amazing at flying." He waves away the compliment as if he never heard it.
"What are you doing?" He asks the question softly, more to get the conversation away from himself than anything. He isn't shy, but something about Lucy makes him self-conscious. As if she notices this, she gives a laugh; free and joyful.
"I was just reading," she says, matching his soft tone. "It's such a nice day." They both cringe inwardly at the subject matter, but neither can deny the beauty of the brilliant sun from the cool of the old tree's shade. A perfect day.
In a moment of boldness, Charlie reaches across and takes Lucy's soft hand in his calloused fingers. He looks in her eyes and thinks how pretty they are, and how lucky he is that she hasn't pulled her hand away from his own. How amazing it is that she's smiling at him, as the brightness wells up in her eyes.
She shifts her hand in his, but doesn't want to remove it. Instead she twists her body around slightly and leans against his broad chest. She whispers the words that are hovering in both their minds, so that the Bowtruckles nesting in the old oak tree can share in their secret. "I love you," she breathes. He doesn't reply. He doesn't have to.
The giant squid's tentacle wavers upright before stroking the surface of the water, causing dark ripples to float across the lake towards the two sitting entwined on the far bank. A teacher comes out of the big wooden doors to the castle to call them in for lunch; but decides that lunch can wait when she sees them there together. The distant fliers in scarlet uniforms descend to the ground. The chattering Bowtruckles cease their incessant noise. Time seems to stop around them because they are all that matters in their own small world.
And Heaven is in this place, this tiny piece of late morning. When the two of them are together, Heaven really is a place on Earth.