MERRY CHRISTMAS TO XSIRIUSLYINSANEX AKA ANNIE!

I hope you like the min-insight into Wizarding life in Australia, and a you/Charlie pairing. Just a smidgen. After all, I was having to much fun being insane etc.

XD

White-Less Christmas

"Why Australia?" Mrs Weasley moaned, folding up socks and shaking her head. "First Romania, now Australia?"

Charlie shrugged. "I like the climate." He said lamely. "And… The girls are fit? It's interesting? I like lobster? My friend got me a surfboard and I can't use it in Britain?"

"It's Christmas…" Mrs Weasley said, apparently having not heard a word of Charlie's spiel of excuses. "Why Christmas? You should be with us, as a family…"

"Mum, I'm going to Australia." Charlie sighed. "That's it. I'm over age now, and have been for quite some time. Leave me alone. I'll bring you home actual Australian recipes if you want."

Finally, his mother calmed down. But she still gave him a reproachful look as she left his room in The Burrow.

Australia was warm. No, it was more, it was oppressively hot. But Charlie liked that, because anything was better than cold, rainy Britain. The sun was blazing; there was no trace of snow (was there ever a 'White Christmas' Down Under?) and there also seemed to be no end to the endless tourists. Women pushing pushchairs, men with surfboards…

Charlie couldn't really say 'tourists'. He was English, and as such he was a tourist himself. But he hoped he was blending in.

He checked his sheet, and read the instructions for getting to the Australian Ministry, where the Dragon Experts would allegedly be meeting him on this occasion. They weren't verbatim, (in fact no where near that) so he had to stare at the messy writing to decipher it.

Hmm. Maybe he should have taken up handwriting lessons at Hogwarts.

Turn left at the- was that 'the lobster'?

Turn left at the lobster, and carry on past the-

Charlie shook his head to himself, glancing up and feeling a pang of pride when he saw quite a few hot Australian girls checking him out. Still, his hastily written instructions made no sense. Carry on past the Marshmallow? He had probably been a bit drunk while writing this.

Come to think of it, maybe the punch at the work's party had been spiked after all. He woke up in bed next to his flatmate André anyway. Probably LSD. It always was LSD…

Carry on past the monument. Charlie exhaled, finally having shaken some sense into himself. Turn left at the Lobster (that was probably a restaurant), carry on past the monument and head for the… The diving school?

There was no mistaking those words.

Charlie might have been ace at Quidditch, back in the day, but he didn't deal well with water. He had hyperventilated when Fred and George had poured a bucket of water over his head once, for heaven's sake! How was he going to deal with…

He gulped. Diving school.

"Ah, you must be Mr Weasley!" Was the next voice Charlie heard, as he lay, exhausted and dripping on the floor, just past the… The airlock.

What type of Ministry had its entrance underwater?

"Sorry about that." The voice continued. It had a definite twang, and was female, but Charlie couldn't see the person that had to come with it. "You could have taken the land route, that's a lot easier."

"There's a land route?" Charlie gasped, grabbing a table to aid with standing up, and coughing up quite a bit of water. A quick excavation of his hair found a long strand of green seaweed, and he was drenched. From head to toe.

"Ooh, English." The voice grinned. "English guys are cute."

"Yeah…" Charlie said, a little curiously. "Um… Who are you? I can't even see you. Are you like the system or… Or something?"

"Nah." The voice sighed. "I'll be down in a second. Dry clothes are on the left, and in the meantime…"

The voice cut off, and in its place was a very distinctive guitar riff. Charlie raised his eyebrows, before deciding not to comment. Guns N Roses. He didn't know which song, but… Good music. Better than the stuff his mother listened to anyway.

He was halfway through replacing his shirt with a new, dry, khaki one, when the revolving door behind his began to move.

"Sorry about that." The same voice said, and Charlie whirled around, pulling his shirt down quickly. "It's fun, you know. Making tourists come through the airlock."

"Mystery girl voice." Charlie exhaled, walking forward and holding out his hand. "I'm Charlie."

"Annie." The girl grinned. "Like the music? It's all I've been listening to all day."

Charlie managed to stop himself grinning. "Really?" He asked, smirking in a way that he hoped was flirtatious. "Well. I have literally all the Guns N Roses records at my hotel room… If you'd like to go for dinner first, that is?"

Annie's blue eyes widened, and her lips parted slightly. "Oh." She said, after a few moments. "Um… Yeah, okay, that'd be nice."

"I'll pick you up at seven." Charlie winked, before looking around. "Now. Where's this Dragon Expert I've been promised."

No one appeared from the wings. And then, just as Charlie was getting just a little worried, Annie smirked.

"Well. That'd be me, wouldn't it?"