For Sam, Laura, and Amber because they're lovely and extreme Charlie/Draco fans.
Written for the Character Showcase (profession: Quidditch player), Book Club (Loki—(dialogue) "My talents are wasted on this audience," (action) gaining freedom, (word) scars), Amber's Attic (the moon), Showtime (everything you've ever), Days of the Month (game day), and the Jingle Bells Song Challenge (u2- loneliness.)
…
'The trouble is not really in being alone, it's in being lonely.'
...
It all starts the day Charlie gets a concussion. Not that it's anything special, concussions are a regular part of being a Quidditch player, but when he hits the ground at a speed so dangerous he thinks he might have died if he wasn't so practiced, he has an epiphany.
Quidditch—it's not what he wants anymore. He wants action and adventure and mischief and scars that… well, at least scars without a broom. He loves flying but he wants something more than the constant feeling of being lonely in a crowd and that's the end, really.
...
His coach is not in agreement.
"Are you insane, Weasley?!" He thunders, storming around the office and throwing papers on the floor in rage. "You've gone and lost your goddamn mind; fame finally drove you round the bend. You quit and you'll regret it, you hear me? Listen closely, before your career goes down the fucking drain."
Charlie grins, trying to muffle the laughter he feels bubbling in his throat. He feels giddy, like a kid stealing from the cookie jar, not like a man about to give up stardom. "I knew I was a lunatic already, sir, but thanks for repeating it."
"Idiot," his coach says sadly, shaking his head mournfully. "You youngsters, no understanding of money or games or anything. Must've been that concussion."
He may have a concussion, but he's never felt more certain of anything. "Give me the leaving form," Charlie says, sticking out his arm. "The season is done. I'm not coming back."
...
At Thanksgiving, his family calls him insane when he tells them what he's done.
"You could have had it all!" Ron exclaims, his eyes wide and Charlie loves his brother, but he's never felt more alone than now, when even his own family members don't get it.
George and Fred are looking at him like they've never seen him before, his mother is crying in relief, his father's mouth is open and Ginny's looking at him at disbelief that somebody could choose anything but flying.
"My talents are wasted on this audience," Charlie says, forcing a grin, and he wonders now, why it feels more like he cares about others feelings then they care about his. He wants to disconnect from the world, to disappear somewhere nobody will ever find him.
"Now the nightmare's real," Ron grumbles. "Never thought I'd see the day a Weasley gave up Quidditch."
"Guess I'm not a Weasley then," Charlie says, his tone bland, and turns to leave. In the corner of his eyes, he sees his mother open her mouth to protest, but he's out the door long before any words make it out.