Note: Hehehee, odd couple, I know. But I was writing another story and there was this scene with Parvati and Charlie, nothing romantic, just talking, and then I got the sudden urge to read Parvati & Charlie fics, only to discover terror! horror! that there weren't any. So what's an author going to do when they want to read a pairing there is no stories about? Well, they'll write one, of course. :)
So here's my Parvati & Charlie fic, dedicated to all the Parvati & Charlie shippers out there. I can't be the only one, can I?
Oh, and I'm not Rowling either. In case you thought I was. Well, I'm not. :)
---
The Wrong Weasley
Parvati fumed. This was not how things were supposed to go. She had been working for this day for months, she had made plans, schemes, plots, she had drawn diagrams and sketches, she had written everything down and gone over several times to make sure that she hadn't missed anything, that all the details were fully considered and taken into account, that every possible deviation from the plan had its respective counter-measures to take it back to its correct track.
Alright, perhaps she hadn't been quite that thorough in her planning, scheming, and plotting, but she had spent precious time on figuring out everything, obtaining all the necessary means, and generally getting herself ready for executing her big bad plan.
Plainly speaking, she had gone through way too much trouble to end up locked in the broom shed with the wrong Weasley!
For one, she had dated Terry Boot for three months, ever since Colin had overhead Hannah mentioning that Susan had told her that Terry had befriended Hermione. Obtaining this information from Colin hadn't been easy either, since it had happened right after their big fight over some photos of his she had refused to publish. But she had done it, apologized to Colin and seduced Terry, because it served her purpose. And it had worked, it had all gone according to the plan...
... until she got locked into the broom shed with the wrong Weasley!
And the way those twins had done it, so easily, so smoothly, without months of planning, plotting, and scheming on top of years holding grudge and swearing revenge, this felt as painful as her own failure. They had learned about the situation, they had made their plan, and they had executed it – perfectly – in a span of not more than ten minutes.
And now they were out there, enjoying themselves at the party, eating, and dancing, and drinking, and probably laughing at her expanse, while she was stuck in the broom shed with the wrong Weasley!
Perhaps Terry would notice her missing and come to look for her, perhaps he would even find her and help her out of this shed, but then it would be too late already. The ceremony would be over, the right Weasley happily married, and her plans foiled.
Until then, however, she was stuck here with the wrong Weasley, with nothing better to do than fume and swear some more revenge.
--
Charlie released a quiet sigh, shaking his head and regretting his words from earlier. He had long ago stopped being angry at the twins for pranking him, because it would have taken too much of his time and energy, and if he was foolish enough to fall for it, he pretty much deserved it. Or at least that was how he had justified his own pranks back at school.
He missed those times, when he was the cool Weasley playing tricks on people, and the twins were just two toddlers driving Molly insane at home. He had been the horror of Hogwarts, the Weasley to fear, not that anyone had actually found him frightful or horrifying, but that was beside the point.
The point being that in those days he didn't get locked into his family's broom shed with some strange girl on the day of his little brother's wedding.
Because, of course, all his little brothers had been too young to marry back then.
And he had been locked into, tied up, glued onto several locations at and around the Burrow by the twins, and before that by Bill, in those days.
But it had been just him, and he had been smaller, and the shed had looked a lot bigger, and he had been in that age to actually enjoy this kind of stuff, and there hadn't been a wedding party going on outside. With food and drink and more room.
And it wasn't even like he had said anything really mean or nasty. Still, for some reason the twins had taken offence, and now – revenge.
And he was stuck in the broom shed with some strange girl, who was trying to glare her way out of here.
It was probably the wrong time to socialize, he thought, just as it had been the wrong time to tell the twins the truth, but he didn't count on his brothers coming back for him soon, or at all, and there was a party going on elsewhere. And he had come here to socialize and have fun, not to sulk the evening away in the broom shed.
He briefly wondered how to start. 'Nice party, isn't it' didn't sound like a good opening line in their current situation. So he went with the other one.
"How do you know Ron?"
The girl startled, as if surprised he could talk, but she had probably just been deep in her thoughts, fuming and swearing revenge on his brothers. He didn't blame her.
"We went to school together," she finally snapped. Charlie waited for her to elaborate, and suppressed another sigh when she didn't. Normally, he would have smiled to her politely and walked away, but now his back was already pressed against the far wall of the broom shed, which wasn't far at all from the other one. He considered shutting up for good, but he had already tried that.
"What's your name? Perhaps Ron has—"
"Mentioned me?" she finished his question. He nodded. "Perhaps. Nothing good though, I assume. We weren't exactly friends."
"Oh. But he still invited—"
"Terry was invited. I came as his date," Parvati explained, wondering how much she should say. This Weasley, although being the wrong one, was still a Weasley, and probably not very happy to learn her real reason for coming here. Of course, she couldn't care less what some random Weasley thought of her, and their stay in this broom shed could hardly be any more uncomfortable, even if she told him the truth and he started to hate her for it.
Besides, she was a social creature and loved to talk, and if she couldn't execute her plan she could at least tell him all about it, and watch his horror, and perhaps find some satisfaction from it. Maybe she could even get him as far as to feel ashamed for the terrible deeds of his younger brother. The deeds she had come here to avenge.
And she really needed to rant to someone.
"I came here to ruin the wedding, if you want the truth," she announced boldly, before she could change her mind.
"Ruin the wedding?" he raised a brow, intrigued but not horrified, as if he didn't really believe her.
"Yes," she stated firmly.
"You didn't like my brother at all?" Charlie guessed. "Or is it Hermione you have something against?"
"It's Ron. I don't like Hermione much, either, but it's Ron who has earned my hatred."
She waited for his expression to turn dark and him to say something mean to her, because she had just revealed herself as the enemy, but to her surprise, he remained much the same, perhaps just growing a bit more curious.
"What has he done to earn this, if I may ask?" he inquired, polite as ever.
"Well," Parvati began, levelling her full glare at him and letting her resentment show to emphasise her next words, "he broke my best friend's heart."
At this his eyes did widen, she was happy to notice. He frowned and looked at her, staying silent for a while. She didn't say anything either, waiting for his reaction. Once again, it wasn't quite what she had expected.
"Your friend was... Lavender, right? So that would make you... erm... Parvana?"
"Parvati, actually," Parvati corrected, extremely surprised that he knew even this much, and that he had heard of Lavender.
"Parvati Patil, nice to meet you," she added sarcastically.
"Pleasure to meet you, Parvati," he said, even smiling a little. "I'm Charlie Weasley, but you probably already know this."
"Not really," she shook her head, a sly grin forming on her face as she continued. "A Weasley with manners is something new to me."
"Ah," was his curt reply, and she figured he was done talking to her, only to be proven wrong about him yet again.
"Was my brother really that awful to your friend?" he inquired.
"Yes," she answered at once. "He gave her hope and then just threw her away. He didn't even have the gall to tell it to her face, she had to find out from the rumour that he had been seen holding hands with Hermione."
"That doesn't sound very nice," Charlie agreed, raising her suspicions. Something was very wrong here. He wasn't supposed to concur, he was supposed to justify the ugly deeds of his brother. Why was he agreeing to her?
"What is going on here?" Parvati demanded, frowning. "What are you planning? I'm not going to fall for any of it, so you might as well give up right now."
"Planning?" he raised a brow, and once again surprised her by not denying her accusations. "Why do you think I'm up to something?"
"Well, it's obvious," she said. "You are agreeing to me. That's highly suspicious."
"Agreeing to..." he cut himself off, and smiled at her, making her both annoyed by such unorthodox behaviour and appreciative of his actually rather nice smile.
"Ah, I see," he said knowingly. "You expect me to defend my brother's actions, don't you?"
"He's your brother," Parvati growled in reply.
"Yes, he is. And if the situation was different, I would stand up for him."
"Different? How?"
"If I thought he did the right thing," Charlie said simply. "I don't think he did the right thing with your friend. He should have told her personally."
"Exactly!" Parvati exclaimed, momentarily forgetting her suspicions in favour of a good rant about Ronald Weasley. "It was cruel, the way he dumped her. He shouldn't have dated her in the first place, but dumping her like this, without even telling her personally..."
She fell silent and gave him a doubtful look,
"Are you standing there telling me you would approve of me ruining his wedding?"
"Certainly not," Charlie spoke seriously. "He made one mistake, I admit that. But he's a good kid and he deserves to be happy. And you can't just come here ruining other people's happiness."
Parvati inhaled angrily and glared at him.
"I'm glad Fred and George stopped you before you could do any more harm," he continued, unperturbed by her livid expression.
"I can't come here to ruin his happiness," she hissed, advancing on him as much as the restricted space inside the broom shed allowed her, "but he can ruin the happiness of my best friend and get away with it!"
"I'm not saying that," Charlie tried to argue and explain, but she wasn't going to give him a chance.
"Yes, you are!" Parvati snapped. "He made a mistake hurting Lavender, you say. Well, how do you know he's not making a mistake now, marrying that... that... that bossy bookworm? Perhaps I'm here to save him instead? To stop him from making the gravest error of all?"
"You're not making any sense," he remarked. "You don't think he's making a mistake, or else you would happily watch him make it, and get the punishment you think he deserves."
"He does!"
"And you are right. This is no mistake. I've seen the two together, they are insanely in love with each other."
"Or just insane," Parvati spat, turning her face away from him, and glaring at the wall beside her. It was the best thing she could do to ignore him, in the circumstances where she couldn't walk away further than two steps.
The silence lasted for a while, until he broke it with a softly spoken question,
"Does your friend Lavender know you are here?"
"Umm... no," Parvati confessed darkly, still refusing to look at him.
"So she doesn't know you are taking revenge for her sufferings?"
"Hell, no!" she cried out, forgetting herself. "She'd try to stop me, if she did."
She gasped at the words she had spoken, but it was too late to take them back. So she rushed on, justifying her actions before he had time to question them.
"She's just being modest. She says she doesn't care, that it was all in the past, that she has moved on and it doesn't bother her any more, that the little Miss know-it-all can have him and she's okay with it," she rambled, spinning around to face him as she exclaimed with feeling,
"But I know! I was there when he broke her heart, I saw her pain! I know how much he hurt her, and I'm not letting him get away with making my best friend suffer like that. She says she has moved on, she says she doesn't care any more, but I was there when she did care! I was a witness to just how much she cared!"
She stopped there, catching her breath, more than a little bit surprised at her fierce outburst. It wasn't the fact that she had shouted at him, but what she had shouted. And his presence didn't even seem to matter; she had repeated those words over and over in her head when planning for this and reassuring herself that she had every right to do it, even if Lavender herself didn't condole it, but this was the first time she had said it all out loud, and she was surprised by how vehement it had sounded.
True, she was angry at Ron. And she had come here to ruin his wedding.
But she sounded almost insane. This was not supposed to be a crime of a moment of passion, but of months of cool calculation, yet now there was nothing cool about her.
And why was it that she was this angry and Lavender didn't seem to even care?
Shaking her head to banish these thoughts, she took a few deep breaths, resting her back against the wall of the shed.
Did she just suffer from an emotional breakdown?
No, ridiculous.
She was a level-headed person, and she was all right.
"Are you okay?" he questioned, and did she imagine the note of true concern in his tone?
"I think so. Yes."
"You care a lot about your friend," he remarked.
"Yes."
She did. She was closer to Lavender than she was to her own twin sister. Was it because they had been sorted into different Houses or because they had different personalities, which of course was the reason why they had been sorted into different Houses, but she had shared things with Lavender she had never thought of telling her sister. Perhaps because she knew Padma didn't care for gossip as much as she cared for other things, like books and studying. Mind, her sister wasn't a bookworm. She was just smart.
"It's been a few years, though," Charlie spoke, and she knew what was going to come next. "Perhaps she really has moved on?"
Parvati was forced to admit that this was indeed the case. Lavender had been dating Ernie McMillan from Hufflepuff for six months now, and for her it was a long relationship. Besides, they really looked happy together. Lavender looked happy.
Parvati sighed. Perhaps she hadn't come to avenge Lavender at all. Perhaps she had come because she had yet to get over her hatred for Ronald Weasley.
"Yes, she has," she confessed. "Merlin!"
"You just wanted to protect your friend. There's nothing wrong about that. You are a very loyal person."
This sounded oddly like a compliment, but hadn't been spoken like one. Either way, Parvati grew tired of her emotional outburst, not to mention the serious mood and heavy tension that enveloped her.
If she had to be locked in the broom shed with the wrong Weasley, although getting locked in the broom shed with Ron seemed to have lost its appeal now, she wasn't going to be gloomy and serious and an emotional wrack.
"I guess I took my payback a step too far," she said, grinning. "I suppose it is a good thing your idiotic brothers locked us in here."
"They could have locked us into a better place," Charlie said. "I'm not so happy about missing out on my little brother's wedding, either."
"You don't deserve to be here," Parvati remarked, as if only now realizing it. "Why did they lock you in here in the first place?"
"Oh, it was a welcome home greeting, I think," he winked. "Or they might have felt insulted by my comment of preferring the company of dragons to theirs."
"Dragons?" she repeated. "So they pulled this prank on you to prove just how much you'd rather be with dragons than them?"
"Seems so. They have never been very good at logical thinking."
"Oh, but they have so many other amazing skills," Parvati argued. "Like trapping unsuspecting people into broom sheds."
"Yes, who needs logic if they've got that."
She looked at his amused expression, at his grin, and two thoughts occurred to her. First, he really was handsome. And second, there was something that still bothered her about their previous conversation, something she needed to say, even with the risk of darkening the mood again.
Parvati hesitated, but just for a second.
"I still hate your brother," she announced, making sure he didn't get any wrong idea about her feelings for Ron. She might have accepted the foolishness of coming here to mess with the marriage while Lavender was finally happy with someone else, but she still hated Ron for what he had done.
"I still want him to admit that it was wrong, and apologize."
"That sounds fair," Charlie conceded.
"Fair," she agreed, wondering how just a little while ago the only thing that felt fair was tearing this wedding down and to pieces, but now an apology seemed enough.
"So, dragons?" she changed the subject, over and done with the Ron issue.
"I work with dragons," he explained.
"Really? That's cool. I've always liked dragons," she grinned. "You know, as long as they are not trying to eat or torch me."
"Yes, you have to be very careful around them. But if you do that – you can see just how magnificent they are."
"I suppose so."
He paused, but only for a moment, not allowing for any kind of awkward silence.
"What do you do for living?"
It was such an easy question, just a simple inquiry, but she knew it might cause a lot of trouble. Well, she just had to trust him not to jump to the wrong conclusion.
"I write for the Prophet," she said. "I write the Gossip Column."
His eyes did widen a bit in surprise, but he didn't start to accuse her like he might have. Really, she had spent too much time despising Ron to even consider that not all Weasleys had to be that bad.
"I suppose you are not writing a piece on this wedding?"
"What do you want me to write about?" she laughed. "I came, I saw, I got locked into a broom shed."
"Didn't you once write an article about all the many things people have done in broom sheds?" he inquired, and at her shocked expression elaborated, "Someone at work mentioned this to me. Said that apparently broom sheds are for everything else but keeping brooms."
"Oh, that was about catching amorous couples in broom sheds," she said with a dismissing wave of her hand. "We actually set the whole thing up, pretty much like Fred and George, and then watched who fell into our trap."
"You did?" he looked truly surprised, and she felt a little insulted.
"Of course we did. A good journalist must be ready and willing to do anything to get a good story, or at least that's what they tell us."
"Anything?"
"It wasn't that horrible. We didn't lock anyone in, for one thing. And we did mention to our readers that it was an experiment from the very beginning. We even left out the most inappropriate pictures."
"You did?"
"Yes. Really, we are not that bad. So I did come here to play the vindictive bitch, but I've grown up a little since Hogwarts, you know."
"I have to take your word for that, because I didn't know you then," he spoke. "You keep saying 'we'. Is Lavender working with you on the Gossip Column?"
"No, she designs robes for Madam Malkin's. I was talking about my photographer."
"And you'd rather keep their identity a secret?"
"I would," she agreed. "Do you mind?"
"I don't think so. Is he or she here today?"
"No. I told you, I came to ruin this wedding, not to report it."
"Perhaps that's why the twins decided to trap you," Charlie suggested, "because they thought you were covering the event."
"Perhaps," Parvati conceded. "I'd be furious with them, if that were the case. Losing such a great story might get me fired, and it would definitely rob me the chance of ever broadcasting real news."
"Real news?"
"I'm not going to write a Gossip Column for the rest of my life," she snorted. "I want to become a proper reporter. To catch the big news."
"I hope you'll get there one day," he wished her luck, clearly approving her ambitions. Not every journalist was a viper, and apparently he knew this. She couldn't help but thank him with a brilliant smile.
"Why didn't you want to cover this event?" he asked. "You could have done a lot of evil with your article alone."
"Yes, but I don't write lies. My facts are always triple-checked, and if there's any doubt, I won't print it. I do have working ethics, you know."
"I wasn't suggesting anything else."
"Good. Because I'm not like that. For example, about three months ago my photographer got me some very indefinite photos of an embracing couple, insisting that these were Luna Lovegood and Blaise Zabini. I admit that they might have been, but I'm not going to print anything before I'm sure, and the quality of those photos was so bad that it might as well have been Hannah Abbot and Dean Thomas, or really anyone else. So I refused to publish them. My photographer was very angry with me."
"I hope you made up with him. Her."
"Him. Yes, I did."
"He realized it was the right thing to do."
"Not really," Parvati laughed. "But he can't stay mad at me for long. He needs someone to publish his photos, just like I need someone to take photos for me. We are very useful for each other."
"I see you have a good, strong business relationship with this man."
"Are you hinting at me having some other sort of relationship with him?" she winked. "We do, actually."
The look he gave her was not jealous – why would it be? – but it was definitely a bit more sour than just a moment ago, and that puzzled her enough.
"What?" she questioned.
"Nothing," he tried to brush it away. "I just thought... you said you came here with someone else... not that it's any of my business..."
"It's not," she agreed good-naturedly. "I came with Terry, Terry Boot. He's a friend of Hermione. I heard she was going to invite him to the wedding, so I befriended him myself to get the invitation. It's not an easy thing to wedding crash, what with so many capable wizards and all the wards around the place. I am, after all, a journalist with a dubious past with the groom.
"Oh, damn. This is going to make me sound like a vindictive bitch all over again, isn't it?"
"It does sound as if you were just using this Terry," he remarked.
"And I suppose now you're telling me I'm no better than Ron, doing to Terry what he did to Lavender?" she guessed. "I did warn him, though. Said that I wasn't expecting any serious relationship from him, just a bit of fun. He was okay with it."
"And your boyfriend didn't mind?" he asked, his look considerably darker.
"My boyfriend?"
"The photographer."
"Oh, him. He's not my boyfriend. Just a friend. A good friend, though."
"And are you going to continue your 'just for fun' relationship with Terry after this party?" he inquired.
"Why are you suddenly so interested in my love life?" she laughed.
"Just making conversation," he shrugged.
"I might," she replied, then quickly shot, "my turn. What about your girlfriend?"
"What about my girlfriend?"
"Let's start with a name."
"I don't have a girlfriend."
"You don't?" she exclaimed, surprised and secretly pleased. "But you're—"
"Old?"
"No," she frowned, wondering why he would think that. True, he was Ron's older brother, and therefore older than Ron, but that didn't mean he was old. He wasn't. He was only... well, he couldn't be more than thirty-five. And he looked good.
"I was going to say you're nice," she admitted, "but now you've piqued my curiosity. How old are you?"
"Thirty-one," he replied without hesitation.
"So you're eight years older than me," she calculated. "That's practically nothing. We could definitely date each other."
For second time during their stay in that stupid little broom shed, Parvati wished to take back her words. Why in the name of Merlin had she said that? Now he would think she wanted to date him! She rushed to amend the situation.
"Not that we should. I was just saying. You're not old. Besides, you are attractive. Not that it means I want to date you. Because I don't. I mean, it's not like I would mind it, or anything, because you are really nice and totally hot, but we don't really know each other, and you are a Weasley, not that it matters, because not all of you are as bad as Ron, and perhaps even Ron isn't that bad, although I still hate him, until he apologizes, at least, and that would be awkward to see him all the time if we do start dating, and I really need to breathe now."
She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to continue, but thought better of it. She had probably said enough. And he was looking funnily at her. Probably because of what she had said.
Time to change the subject.
"I have a twin sister. I bet you didn't know that."
Well, that was subtle.
"No, I didn't know that," he remarked, looking like he wasn't ready to drop the previous subject just yet.
"Then I suppose you don't know that we went to the Yule ball with Harry and Ron, either," she quickly continued, hoping this at least would get his attention. It did, luckily.
"You dated Ron?"
"No, I went with Harry. But they were both as dull as the other. Danced with me just once, and that was it. Ron didn't treat my sister any better, either. At least Lavender let me dance with Seamus, her date."
"She was a good friend to you."
"She still is. She's closer to me than my own sister."
"You don't get along with your sister?"
"No, nothing like that," Parvati assured. "We get along fine, keep in touch, and get together every once in a while, and talk and laugh and have great time together, it's just that Lavender is more like me, and because of that she gets me better. Does this make any sense?"
"Sure," Charlie smiled, and she couldn't help but wonder if he was telling the truth or just being polite.
"Are you telling me the truth or just being polite?" she decided to ask.
"Does it matter?"
"Probably not," she admitted, "Just that it would be nice if you did. Understand me, that is. It would be nice."
She let out a short and slightly nervous laugh, before continuing,
"Padma, my sister, she's working for the Ministry. She's an Unspeakable."
"Really? I've always wondered—"
"What they actually do?" she finished his question and after getting a confirming nod from him, proceeded to answer it. "I don't know. She won't tell me anything either. All that classified stuff and rules. But she did once say that she gets to test the limit of her capabilities and apply the full depth of her knowledge, so I think she likes doing it."
"Aren't you afraid it may be dangerous?"
"Compared to dragon-wrangling?" she snorted, winking at him. "I'll have you know that writing the Gossip Column has its risks as well."
"Unhappy victims?" he suggested teasingly.
"Unhappy boss, mostly. And sometimes unhappy photographer. But yes, there have been those not so fond of my writings, too."
"Nothing serious, I hope?"
"Nothing I couldn't handle," she grinned.
"I take none of them has locked you into a broom shed?"
"No, this is my first time," Parvati remarked, patting the wall beside her. "Certainly not yours?"
"Hardly," he snorted. "I've had this pleasure ever since Fred and George learned to prank people, and that was before they learned to speak."
"You sound pretty experienced in this thing," she noted, "how did you get out of here all those times?"
"Sometimes I had my wand with me. Other times I had to wait for someone to let me out. Unless I managed to trick the twins themselves into freeing me, which did happen."
"But not very often, I gather. Do you think anyone will come to let us out this time?"
"I'm sure they will," Charlie said, "eventually."
"How very optimistic of you."
"I've locked Ron into here a couple of times, if that cheers you up."
"Actually, it does," Parvati admitted.
"He managed to escape and tell on me to Mum, though. Oh, my ears start to ring at the mere memory of the yelling that followed."
"I can imagine that," she laughed, then suddenly sobered up. "How did he get out of here?"
"Oh, I think one of the boards was loose and he managed to squeeze himself through."
"What?" Parvati exclaimed, staring at him with surprise. "Why didn't you tell me this before? We could have got out of here hours ago!"
"You're overlooking one small detail here. Ron was about seven when that happened, he was a little kid. I couldn't squeeze myself through the hole then, and I certainly can't do it now, even if this board is still loose."
"Maybe I can," she said, maintaining her hope and enthusiasm. "Where is this loose board?"
"I doubt even you could make it," Charlie shook his head, but nevertheless went to check on the board, pushing it away with little effort, "Oh, it is still loose."
Parvati looked at the hole with doubt. It was really small. But there was freedom on the other side, not to mention food and drink. Perhaps she could make it through, she was slim and rather hungry.
"I'll give it a try," she decided, kneeling down and peering through. She got a view of the house but not of the guests which was probably a good thing, because she really didn't want anyone see her doing what she was about to do. It might arise all kinds of questions, and people might draw wrong conclusions, although she really couldn't think of any herself. Still, it was probably better. At least the twins wouldn't accidentally notice her escaping.
"I don't think it's a good idea," Charlie said above her.
"Can you think of anything better?" she countered, the sweet call of freedom deafening her.
"No, you can't," she replied for him. "This is our best chance of getting out of here, and you know it."
"I still don't—"
"Be silent, faithless," she ordered, glaring up at him, "go stand at the other wall and no comments from you, thank you very much. I'm going to get us both out of here."
Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, Parvati stretched out her arm, placing it on the ground on the other side. That was easy enough. Turning her body sidewise she pushed her shoulder through as well, without much trouble. She leaned down to where the gap was wider to move her head. Her hair got caught on something and she felt it falling down to her shoulders, but that was really the least of her worries. Getting the other arm through proved more difficult, but after a while, surprising even herself, she managed that, too. A little tired from all of it, she dropped her upper body onto the grass – oh, her poor dress – and rested for a while.
Well, she was already half-way there. Half-way to her freedom, and some food. She had a lot to labour for. She was going to do it. She was going to make it. Hah!
Three minutes later she dropped down into the grass again, a lot less determined now. There hadn't been much progress during those three minutes, if she didn't count tearing her dress, and she didn't. Damn, she'd probably look like hell – torn, dirty, sweaty – once she got out of here. Of course, she wasn't very sure about that any longer.
Five minutes of pushing, pulling, struggling, wiggling, squirming and other such activities later, she was finally ready to admit her defeat, and tried to go back.
Was she really that surprised it didn't work?
Damn. Much worse than being stuck and starving inside a broom shed was being stuck and starving in the brood shed wall. Much more embarrassing, as well.
Damn.
She really didn't want to hear that 'I told you so' from him. She was stuck in the damn wall, and that was bad enough without his gloating. She wiggled some more, brushing the annoying hair off her face, and silently cursing the whole world.
"You okay?" she heard him ask, more concerned than amused.
"Just taking a small break," she replied.
"You're stuck, aren't you?"
"Maybe," she said, glaring and pulling at the grass.
"Need any assistance?"
She thought about it, reaching the conclusion that it probably couldn't make things any worse.
"I suppose you could try to give me a small push," she suggested.
"Shouldn't you rather get back here?"
"Absolutely not!" Parvati exclaimed. "For all the trouble I've gone through, I refuse to end up on the wrong side of the wall."
He was still hesitating, and after a moment she realized why. A moment after that, she realized it hurt, and that was a bit puzzling. Just because they had been locked into a broom shed and conversed a bit, didn't mean that he suddenly trusted her. He had no real reason to do so. They weren't friends. So what if she had liked talking to him, so what if he had seemed to really listen and understand, so what if she had been open with him about many things concerning herself and her life – it was her own fault, after all.
She had assumed too much, read too much into his behaviour to think he might actually like her. He was just being polite, nothing more, nothing less. Parvati felt like the biggest fool in the world and being stuck in the wall didn't help much either.
"You think I'm going after Ron as soon as I get out of here," she stated flatly, not seeing any reason to keep silent about it. Actually, it was good that she was stuck here like this, because now she didn't have to face him and he wouldn't see how much this affected her.
Inside the shed, Charlie was thinking along the same lines, feeling quite relieved that she didn't witness the blush on his face as he prepared to give his answer; he was a bit surprised and bemused at her thinking that, even though a small part of him told the rest to at least consider the possibility, but there were more urgent thoughts occupying his mind at the moment. Thoughts that made him blush like he hadn't thought himself capable of blushing.
"It's not that," he told her, "it's just... how do you expect me to give you that push?"
"What?" she exclaimed from across the wall, "what do you mean how? You just push me, how hard can that be?"
She was surprised at such an odd question, and she had just started to consider the first part of his reply and its meaning, when she suddenly felt his hands on her hips and flinched at the touch she hadn't expected.
He drew back immediately, and she was quite glad of it, because she had just realized she quite liked him touching her like that and she was not supposed to think that. Because, well, because... just because, damn it!
Resting her hot cheek against the cool ground, she took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on the important. Getting out of here was important, getting something to drink and eat, that was important. All these silly thoughts could be saved for later, when she was in a better position to deal with them. Of course, right now, any position was better than this.
"Charlie?" she asked, a bit breathless but relatively calm.
"I'm sorry," he said, sounding embarrassed. She supposed the situation wasn't the best for him either, having to share the broom shed with her legs and backside. But damn it, she was the one stuck, so he'd better get over it and get her out of it.
"Oh, I wish I was out there catching someone in a situation like this," Parvati said, "it would make a very amusing piece of writing in my column."
"I could perhaps try pulling you back inside?" he suggested again, but she still opposed it.
"No way. You pull yourself together there, and then push me the hell out of this bloody shed!" she ordered, using her most authoritative tone, which sometimes even worked on people.
"This is a bit awkward."
"You think?" she hissed, "I'm the one stuck in this wall, thank you very much, and it's not the most comfortable position to be in, let me tell you."
She was surprised he didn't reply with reminding her that it had been her own idea trying to climb through the hole.
"I'm sorry," he just said again.
"Oh, be a man," she snapped, "what use is of— aaah!"
She ended the sentence with a cry, because he had pulled himself together and been a man, just like she had wanted, but she had expected a bit of a warning, although it was debatable if it would have helped, because now his hands weren't exactly on her hips and he was adding some pressure required to push her through, and the edges of the hole were once again tearing at her robes and even scratching her skin, but all she could think about were his hands, warm and strong and gripping something else than her hips, and oh, how different a situation she could presently imagine.
But then she felt her body actually move, and the prospect of freedom was even more exciting that the other stuff, and she couldn't help but spur him on, speaking without thinking, words stumbling out of her mouth.
Only afterwards, when the whole of her with the exception of only her feet was lying on the cool grass, did she recall with utter humiliation some of the things she had spoken and how it must have sounded, even though she hadn't been thinking anything like that then; of course, she had been thinking it a moment earlier.
She dearly hoped she only imagined screaming 'Harder!' and 'Yes! Yes! Yes!' at some point during the ordeal.
Damn, it was embarrassing. Damn, it would have made such a good story for her column.
After a few more minutes of lying there like that and trying to get her blush under control, she made her first move, sitting up on the grass and pulling her feet through the wall. Well, she was finally out of the shed. Yay! Take that, Weasley twins! She had escaped their trap.
So much delighted by the thought, Parvati couldn't help her cheeky remark of "Was it as good to you as it was to me?" as she heaved herself up, finding support from the broom shed wall. Oh, how beautiful did it look from this side.
He didn't reply, and she leaned against the better side of the wall, catching her breath.
"Oh come on, this was fun," she remarked. "Something to look back to and laugh."
"Fine. Be that way if you want to," she said a while later, disappointed with his silence. "I'll go get myself something to eat and drink. It was nice meeting you, Charlie Weasley."
And she walked round the shed, still a bit disappointed, but mostly just excited about the prospect of food, drink, and getting her wand back. At least until she reached the shed's door, where she couldn't help but react with a cry of indignation.
They had tried pushing the door open. Well, Charlie had tried, while she had been admiring his wonderful muscles at work. Or would have, if she hadn't been so angry at the world, especially the Weasley part of it, that she missed this great opportunity, choosing to glare at the opposite wall instead. Since the door hadn't budged, they had given up, certain the twins had used some clever spell.
Now that clever spell was staring her at the face, and the flowers and silk ribbons around it did little to cheer her up. Because, all that taken away would left nothing but a chair.
A chair. A chair against the door. That was all that had kept them in the shed, that was what had made her to climb out through a tiny hole, tearing her dress, scratching her skin, and humiliating herself.
A chair.
A white chair decorated with flowers and silk ribbons, like many others at the tables around the dancing floor. One white chair.
Suddenly recalling her anger at the Weasley part of the world, Parvati stepped up to it, as if wanting to smash it into bits and pieces. She would have rather smashed it into bits and pieces against the Weasley twins, but they weren't around, which was a good thing, because she still didn't have her wand.
Her wand that was stuck into the flower decoration of the same chair, as she noticed belatedly.
"I get it. Very ironic," she muttered, reaching to pick it up, "very stupid."
Because now she was armed with both her wand and the chair.
The fact that Weasley twins weren't quite that stupid only annoyed her further. She had snatched her hand back, starting at the twinge of pain that shot through her body at coming in contact with it. So they had cast a spell upon it after all. It was just a mild shocking hex, though, and Parvati was angry enough to endure a little pain provided someone would endure a lot later. It took her six tries to get her wand out from the flower arrangement, and by then her right hand was hurting quite a bit.
But she didn't care, because she was free, she had her wand, she had the power. And the first thing she used it for was to cast a real locking spell upon the shed. Then she walked away without a backwards glance.
--
Charlie rested against the shed wall, breathing heavily and trying to control himself. He wasn't supposed to feel that way. The girl was eight years younger than him, and if that didn't matter – as a treacherous voice kept screaming inside his head – he had known her only for what, an hour perhaps, and she had come here with the purpose of ruining Ron's wedding.
He wasn't supposed to be attracted to her, even if he had spent the last minute grabbing her ass while she had cried out things like 'Harder!' and 'Yes! Yes! Yes!'.
All right, so perhaps he should be feeling physical attraction to her. She was a beautiful woman, and he was a man, and they had been stuck in that little shed, forced close to each other. So that reaction was normal. Nothing to be especially proud of, thank Merlin she hadn't seen any of it, but nevertheless quite normal.
What truly puzzled him, however, was not the wish to get her in the bed, but to perhaps meet behind a cup of coffee some other time and talk a bit. He had liked talking with her, even if he had to talk her out of ruining his brother's wedding. But her personality intrigued him. She was strong and stubborn. But she was also gentle and understanding, funny and clever. And she cared very deeply about her friends. She was fiercely loyal.
The point was, he wanted to continue their relationship, if they had one, or start one, if being stuck here hadn't already done it. And when he thought relationship, it wasn't just being buddies. He was, after all, attracted to her. A lot. If his body's reaction was something to go by.
But Charlie wasn't born yesterday, so he saw the problem very well. Several problems. She might not want him in return. She might not want to ever see him again. And even if she would, what about the rest of his family? The twins thing was fine, everybody got angry at them but couldn't hold a grudge for too long. And even if they did, Fred and George didn't really mind getting pranked by other people, especially if those other people were amateurs and had little chance of ever reaching their level. So twins were okay.
Ron wasn't. He might have talked her out of ruining his wedding, but she surely wasn't over her revenge for him yet. Ron and Parvati together in a room would probably not be a very good idea. Ron, Hermione, and Parvati might develop into a real disaster, and there was no hope for anyone if Lavender joined them. But if he decided to keep seeing her, something like this might very well happen.
Besides, he lived in Romania.
So, all things considered, starting something with her wasn't a good idea. Not that she'd want him anyway.
Charlie sighed, quite depressed by his thoughts and only now coming out of them. Parvati wasn't lying on the grass any more as she had been a moment ago, or perhaps it was longer than that. Not that he got a particularly good view of the outside through the small hole, but she didn't seem around.
He tried the door just in case, but it was still tightly stuck. Well, of course, she didn't have her wand. She would probably go to look for Terry and borrow his.
Oh, and then there was Terry, her current boyfriend. Nothing serious, she had said, but perhaps she would still decide to stay with him. From what Hermione had told him of Terry Boot, he knew the man was smart and charming. And her own age, of course.
And he, Charlie Weasley, was stuck in the broom shed, all alone.
It was too much to hope that Fred and George would remember him any time soon and come to let him out. And even if she did find Terry and got to borrow his wand, who said she would be coming back for him?
She will, he insisted in case it would help.
Well, at least there was more room for him in here now.
--
Parvati grabbed a platter of cheese balls and placed it atop the salad bowl. She considered grabbing some plates, but it didn't sound very important at the moment. She had taken two forks, and those would do. Besides, with the bottle of champagne under her arm, the bowl of salad, platter of cheese balls and her wand in one hand, and the glasses, forks, and a plate with four pieces of cake in the other, she didn't have any more hands left. She knew she could easily levitate all the stuff, but didn't want to draw herself any unnecessary attention, like those of the Weasley twins, or of Terry whom she'd last seen dancing with Luna. He would probably start asking questions, and she wasn't in the mood to answer them. She just wanted to get to some quiet corner and enjoy the food.
Ron and Hermione had been nowhere in sight, which meant that they were either inside the house, and she didn't dare venture there, or had already gone to their honeymoon, which meant she had spent a lot more time in that shed than she had realized. Well, time flies when you are in good company.
And she had been in good company. She had enjoyed talking to Charlie. She had enjoyed looking at him. And she had enjoyed both of these activities quite a lot. And she wouldn't mind at all to keep doing them. This was insane, of course. She had come here to make enemies, not friends, and remind her existence to her old ones. She had had a plan, and had been determined not to let anything stop her. But then the twins had arrived and locked her into the broom shed with their older brother, who was really nice and polite and really really hot, and now Parvati was walking away from the celebration, from the smallest chance of meeting Ron or Hermione. In fact, she didn't want to meet Ron or Hermione right now, or anyone else but Charlie, actually. And she really wanted to meet Charlie again. Today, this moment, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, the day after that. She wanted to keep meeting him, again and again.
And that was ridiculous. She was not going to date a Weasley, even if he was this charming and gorgeous. But he was still a Weasley. They had met in a broom shed. She had come to ruin his brother's wedding. This was not the start of something beautiful. This was nothing but an unfortunate accident.
Except it was fortunate. If she hadn't been trapped into the shed and convinced otherwise, she would have gone through with the plan to ruin the wedding, and no one would have benefited from that, she saw it now. Lavender wouldn't have approved. Lavender was over him, she was living her life, she was being happy, she didn't want to be reminded of this sad incident of her past, it would have just hurt her. And she didn't want to hurt her best friend.
But dating Charlie might hurt Lavender as well. He was a Weasley after all. And if they all got together, his friends and her friends, it would mean putting Lavender together with Ron, and even though she was over him, he'd still been a bastard to her, and she might not like seeing him again after all that time. She didn't want to hurt her best friend.
Besides, even if Lavender would really be okay with meeting Ron again, this whole thing was still ridiculous. She had met Charlie just a few hours ago, had known him just a few hours, in the darkness of a broom shed, and while they had conversed, she had done most of the talking, most of the opening up. They practically didn't know each other. So it was ridiculous that she was feeling this way, that she still remembered the feel of his hot strong hands on her body and wanted to feel it again. And again, and again, and again.
But wasn't it the point of meeting again, of dating, to get to know each other better? And even if she was feeling this way, hadn't she also known from the first time she looked at Lavender that they'd become friends for life? And hadn't she known from the first look at Colin that the boy could become very useful for her? So what if she knew from the first look at Charlie that she wanted to see him very often for a long period of time?
Nothing peculiar, ridiculous, or weird about that.
The only unfortunate thing was that he probably wouldn't want to keep seeing her. There was a good chance that all that had happened between them had been just politeness from his side. He was not Ron, and for a moment she wished he was more like Ron, because then she could tell if he had really liked her, if only a bit, or it had all been just politeness and good manners. Good manners weren't always a good thing.
And would it really be possible for him to like someone who had wanted to ruin his little brother's life? Parvati reflected upon it, considering a similar situation happing with her and her sister. Well, Padma knew how to stand for herself. But she was her sister, and Parvati wanted to protect her, even if she didn't need her protection. And if someone wished to do harm upon her sister... well, she would probably walk down the path of revenge once again, learning nothing from her past mistakes. But Charlie wasn't like that, he was better and wiser.
How in Merlin could she ever attract the attention of someone like him, especially in the way she wanted it to be?
Shaking her head, Parvati reached the broom shed. The chair in front of it was still there, and she set the food down upon it, then levitated it a few feet away. There was nothing between her and the door now, and nothing between her and Charlie other than the door. She twirled her wand before her fingers, hesitating. She could still change her mind, she could go find Terry and go home, or go home without Terry, but the truth was that she didn't want to go home at all, or if she did, then not with Terry.
She grabbed the bottle of champagne, stepped closer to the door, and making up her mind – really, she couldn't have decided in any other way – knocked on it.
On the other side of it, Charlie raised his head and gave it a puzzled look. Was it possible that Fred or George had finally remembered about him and come to let him out? Was it possible that she had got a wand and come to let him out? Why was he both hoping and fearing for the latter? Ah, but he knew the answer to that. What he didn't know, however, was his next move, so he just remained where he was, sitting on the floor, staring at the door.
He kept doing that even when the door was carefully opened a few inches. He kept doing it when a bottle of champagne appeared visible through the crack. And he kept doing it when the door was pushed open all the way.
"Cheese ball?" Parvati announced, standing in the doorway and holding the platter. "There's also some salad and cake."
"Well, aren't you hungry?" she asked, when he kept on sitting and staring.
He was ravenous. Not for the cheese balls, though. So he kept his mouth shut, in case he might say that aloud.
There wasn't much room in the broom shed, especially with his legs occupying most of its floor. But she managed to put the chair above his legs, and then, telling him to pull over, climb past the food ladded chair and take her place by his side, where she belonged. Good thing she didn't say that aloud.
In fact, she didn't say anything, just cast a spell to close the door and then, after a moment of thought, one to lighten up the shed so that they could actually see the food, and that she could see his gorgeous features. She made the light soft so it would not hurt his eyes, and would throw a nice romantic glow over them. She picked up a fork, and her elbow brushed his hand as she reached for the salad bowl, making her almost drop it and do something very stupid. Or something not so stupid from her point of view. But he might not appreciate it, especially not on an empty stomach.
Handing him the salad bowl and fork, since she hadn't brought any plates, she went to deal with the champagne next. She got it open without a problem, poured first him a glass and then for herself, clicking it against his as a toast and then drowning it all in one gulp.
"What are we drinking for?" he asked, opening his mouth for the first time since her return, or even since her departure.
Parvati shrugged, not yet willing to admit what she was drinking for. She wanted to let him finish his food and drink first, since she didn't want his empty stomach disturbing them during what she was planning to do next.
"For Ron and Hermione, I suppose," she said, drawing his attention to the fact that she didn't want to ruin the life of his little brother any more and could therefore be his friend. She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear licking her bottom lip at the same time, in a well-practised gesture attempting to make him want to be more than just her friend.
Then she poured herself more drink and tried to remember if that well-practised gesture had ever worked on anyone. Well, there were other things she could do. Oh yes, many other things. Better things. Irresistible things.
She had just raised her glass to her lips when he clicked his against it. Startled, for she hadn't expected this, she turned to look at him, locking her gaze with his, and suddenly unable to break it.
Oh damn.
If he had looked gorgeous before, in the darkness of the shed, then now in her soft romantic light, sitting right beside her and looking straight into her eyes, Parvati forgot to breathe.
Oh, oh damn. She hadn't been expecting this. She wasn't ready for this.
Not just the way he looked, but the way he was looking at her. Like, like... like he really did like her back.
"For Ron a-and... Hermione?" she barely managed to stutter.
"For Fred and George, I'm thinking," he said, and then, to rip the last shred of rational thinking away from her, he winked.
Curse the moment she got locked into the broom shed with the wrong Weasley!
Bless the moment she got locked into the broom shed with the exactly right Weasley!
There wasn't much room in the broom shed and she knew she had kicked over the chair in her rush to get to him. She probably should have cared that there was cake and cheese balls all over the floor by now. But her dress was already torn and dirty, and about to get even more torn and dirty, and if he didn't worry about the cake and cheese, then why should she? There wasn't much room in the broom shed, but it's not like they needed much of it.
And then she stopped thinking altogether.
--
The breakfast next morning at the Burrow consisted of the many left-overs from the wedding party. Molly set the table when she got up, and then sat down to it to wait for the early risers. It was about noon, so people would be starting to wake up soon.
Mr. Weasley was the first to join his wife, followed by Percy, then Bill, Fleur, Harry, and Ginny. The twins didn't arrive before one o'clock, complaining about having to get up so early.
The meal went on as usual for a while, and it was Ginny who finally noticed someone was missing.
"Hey, where's Charlie?" she asked. "He did stay over, didn't he?"
"Come to think of it, I didn't saw much of him yesterday," Bill remarked. "He was there at the ceremony, wasn't he?"
Molly frowned, thinking back to the previous evening. Of course, she had been in too many tears during the ceremony, but now that she recalled the rest of the night, she had to admit she hadn't seen much of Charlie either. Before she managed to get concerned, however, she happened to glance in the direction of the twins, and suddenly she was both concerned and angry.
"Do you two know anything about it?" she demanded.
"About what?" Fred inquired, innocence itself.
"He's probably still in his room, sleeping, the sleepy-head he is," George suggested.
"Stayed up all night, partying."
"Probably met some nice girl."
Now Ginny too was staring at them suspiciously, so the twins took it as their cue to leave.
"We'll go and wake him up!" Fred said, jumping up from the table.
"Yeah," George nodded in agreement, "Can't have him sleep through the whole day, now can we."
"That was close," Fred admitted, stopping on the stairs.
"Close? What on earth are we going to do now?"
"Well, he can't still be in the shed, can he?"
"Didn't you let him out last night?"
"No, you were supposed to let him out."
Fred and George exchanged a look.
"He might get a bit upset if we let him out now."
"Won't he get more upset if we don't?"
"Ah, but by then, oh brother of mine, we'll be miles away."
"True," Fred admitted. "We could go to Australia, get new names and identities."
"We could go international with WWW," George offered.
"Sounds a plan to me," Fred beamed.
In the end they decided to take a peek into Charlie's room just in case, since if he really was sleeping there, the sleepy-head he was, their going to Australia 'might raise unnecessary suspicions'.
They were at the door arguing whether to knock or not and who should stick their head into the room first, when, to their great distress, the door suddenly sprung open.
"Fred was supposed to let you out!" George exclaimed at once.
"It was George's idea!" Fred shouted at the same moment.
"Keep it down, will you, you're going to wake Charlie."
And then the twins were staring at her, two mouths open, four eyes wide, mirror images of surprise on their mirror images of faces.
"And I'm still mad at you," Parvati added, glared at them for another moment, then shut the door to their faces.
"Uh-oh," Fred remarked after a while. "This could be trouble."
"Wonderful, isn't it," George beamed. "I told you it'd be a good idea to lock them into a broom shed together."
"What are you talking about, that was my idea from the start," Fred complained.
"What are we going to tell Mum and the others?" he asked after some more arguing.
"That he was sleeping so adorably we didn't have the heart to wake him up."
"Mum would never believe that."
"So?"
"She might go to check upon him herself?"
"So?"
"Well, she'll find..." Fred began, then stopped, and grinned from ear to ear. "Brilliant."
"Serves him right, saying we're worse company than dragons."
"Serves her right... erm, why did we trap her into the broom shed?"
"I think we thought it would be a good idea. At least, I thought, since it was, after all, my idea," George stated.
"Who is she, anyway?"
"Didn't she go to school with us? In Ron's Year, though."
"Did she?"
"Didn't she?"
"Well, she did close the door to our faces, and that wasn't very nice. Serves her right for doing that!"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah!"
---
End Note: Well, this was it. I hope you enjoyed. :) And if any of you know of any Parvati & Charlie stories, please leave me a note about them.
Thanks for reading!