Day was slowly turning to night over the Hogwarts grounds, and the sky took a burst of deep indigo and pink as the sun lowered itself into the hills. Tonks and Charlie had been sat under the tree for nearly two hours, with a red and white checkered blanket spread out beneath them and a basket previously stuffed to the brim with delicacies swiped off the great hall tables. With her head in his lap, Tonks was occupied spinning strands of grass and daisies into bracelets, while he played absently with her hair as it unknowingly changed tinges to match the sky.
It had become a habit of theirs, sneaking off during dinner hours and racing towards this exact spot outside. They were already late into their seventh year, and with the workload piling up and their individual activities in mind, it was rare to ever find any time alone for just the two of them. They would therefore take to the shade under the tree as an escape of their own, where she would fall asleep on his lap and he against the tree, until both were awaken by the cold and had to go inside. She could feel herself lulling off into sleep when he broke the silence suddenly.
"Hey, so you know my brother Bill just got a job as a curse breaker for Gringotts," he begins. She hums noncommittally, having heard this before from Fred and George, who had insisted on parading about the corridors and announcing to all the teachers of the success their former Head Boy had achieved.
"I mean it's great and all, I guess, except…except I keep wondering why he chose to go to Egypt. I mean, why Egypt? Why not stay here, in England?"
Charlie pauses for a moment, entwining his fingers in the now magenta hair.
"And then I realized, it's because he doesn't want to stay in England. Because it's home and he wants to get out of here and find somewhere new. I mean, there's a Gringotts Bank right here in London…"
A blossom breaks off of the branch over their heads and floats gently towards them. Charlie reaches his hand out and catches it, easier than a golden snitch.
"But maybe he's right? Maybe it's a rite of passage, you know?" he continues. "Maybe all of us ought to get out and discover the world before we settle down. I mean my mum and dad have lived their whole lives here, and they married and had kids right after finishing school, but maybe things have changed."
She waits for him to go on, but it seems he's momentarily out of speech, so she sits up and turns to meet his eye. It's strange to see him like this, so pensive about the future and about his family, when all these years she's known him to be the confident boy, the Quidditch star who never seemed to have a worry in his mind at all.
He swallows, his Adam's apple heavy. "I'm one of seven kids", he says, voice cracking almost unnoticeably at the end, though she catches it. "Not even the eldest, I'm just as good as another middle child. There's no way I can stay here - my mum and dad have enough on their hands already."
He looks out beyond, eyes focusing on the air in the distance, and nothing in particular. "I've got to find my own place in this world".
He nods slowly to himself, drowsy in thought, and she wonders how long this has been on his mind, how long it's taken him to mull it over with himself before he had decided to share it with her.
"Hey," she entwines her fingers with his, "I'll go explore the world with you".
He meets her eye, then looks away, not believing her. "Sure you will," he says, more tiredness in his voice than doubt.
"No, seriously," she says, earnest. "I will. You know I will".
He scoffs slightly, still disbelieving, though she can tell that he's touched by her words. "Oh yeah? What about your auror training? You're already on track for that."
"It'll only be a few years, and then we can do whatever we want after that because I'll be stinking rich." She grins, and moves to sit beside him, with her head on his shoulder and their hands still clasped between themselves.
"Hey, just believe it. And besides, I would never," she says, "ever settle down to get married and have kids… without you." It's true. Charlie has been her best friend ever since they both started at Hogwarts, and, despite being in different Houses, they had found a confidant in one another and were then inseparable. She certainly couldn't bear to see him not being in her life.
He meets her eye again and now it's his turn to grin. He shakes his head slightly, laughing, and she realizes that he still clutches the flower in his hand, almost absently.
"And you know," she says, "it really is too early in the year for blossoms to be falling like this." He notices the flower too at this moment. "But maybe," she says mischievously, "some flowers are just exceptional above all the others." She nudges his knee with her own, and teases, "they've just gotta have enough faith in themselves to get their head out of the crowd and learn to float on their own."
She can't say that she knows exactly what he's feeling, being an only child herself, but she understands him well enough after all these years to see herself in his shoes and even know his thoughts before he voices them aloud. It's this understanding between the two of them that make them closer than close.
She watches, holding her breath, as Charlie leans to tuck the flower in her hair. It clashes with her hair color, but stands out brilliantly.
"You are exceptional," he murmurs, voice just above a whisper, sending a shiver through her being. He places a kiss to her forehead. "And the only one I'd trust enough to leave England with."
At this she gives him a quick peck on the lips, because she knows he's being sweet, but there is truth in that they are all each other has ever known and had for the past seven years, and breaking away from something like that was something she didn't want to think about just yet, and neither, she thinks, would he.
She decides to be light and teasing, if only for a moment. "I'm sure that if the Irish Quidditch Team were to catch wind of your skills and recruit you as their Seeker, you certainly wouldn't hesitate to go though."
He chuckles, and she smiles, loving his laugh. "Quidditch. I really much prefer you. It's fine, I can wait for you and I both to find what I'm really meant to do."
His eyes roam over her face, then stick to the flower in her hair. "Whoops, you've got something here," he says, and gently reaches to capture a beetle gnawing at a petal in her hair and to release it into the grass, a safe distance away from the two of them.
She releases a breathy laugh, and murmurs when he turns back, "Well, you've certainly got a way with animals. Maybe that could be your calling."
He chuckles again, and she feels the familiar weight across her shoulders as he wraps his arm around her. "Maybe," he says, smiling, as he settles against the tree and she shuffles to settle against his body.
A slight breeze blows across the two of them, and she digs in closer to him, trying to feel as much of his warmth as possible, and giving him hers too. She closes her eyes, knowing that in a half hour the sun will be long gone and they will be forced to return inside, but not wanting to let this moment end.
His heart beats where she lays her head, and she thinks of all the countless times she's rested atop of him and has heard his heartbeat and has known his breathing, and silently hopes that she will be the only one to ever have this privilege. Yet, deep down, she doubts they will eventually spend the rest of their lives together, let alone him wait for her like he's promised today. She knows him well enough to know the fire of passion and determination that burns below his facade of nonchalance. It's the fear talking, the fear that they both have, of venturing out without the other, when these past seven years have been nothing but the other. Her heart twists as she anticipates the parting that is sure to come, because she knows that despite what he says about waiting for her, the call for adventure is what drives him more, and is what has always driven him, even more than fear.
She hears his breathing settle and even out, indicating that he is asleep, and figures that she should make the most of the precious time they have left together. After all, it would be a whole two months before graduation, before finally being forced to admit the truth they've tried to deny for so long, and finally going about their destined, separate ways.