Back at Hogwarts - 1990

Amelia stands in front of the school along with Andre Egwu being introduced by Headmaster Dumbledore to the students of Hogwarts. Amelia smiled over at her friend who returned it in kind. They both looked out onto the student body as a round of applause went up in congratulations. Amelia peeked behind her to Professor McGonagall clapping enthusiastically and smiling over to her. When Amelia looked back out to the Gryffindor table she was met with numerous smiling faces, save for one that she caught immediately.

Charlie sat looking pointedly at his half-finished pudding. His hands resolutely clenched into fists on the table. Amelia felt something twist in her chest but looked away from him shortly after. Professor Dumbledore shook both their hands and motioned for them to take their seats once again.

Amelia received multiple congratulations and smiled kindly at each one.

She waited to cry again until she was behind the curtains of her four poster later that night.

To say her last year at Hogwarts would be rough was an understatement. She had 9 courses to keep up with while still maintaining her Head Girl duties and researching information for positions at Gringotts. There were long nights and early mornings.

One night in late summer she and Andre were patrolling together as they often did on a Friday night, walking the corridors and complaining about anything that came to mind. Andre had had to console no less than 5 first years this week alone who were feeling homesick and trying to sneak out of Ravenclaw tower. Amelia had had to have Professor McGonagall add extra security to the boy's dormitory for the first time to keep a certain 3rd year out of the 5th year boys' dorms.

Amelia was just about to start a diatribe about the amount of work she had to do in the coming weekend when they heard a loud crash from two floors above. Being nearly midnight and well past curfew, the Head Girl and Boy took one look at each other and headed off towards the sound. They were both dismayed to find two Slytherin students in varying stages of undress trying feverishly to right a rolling chalkboard they'd somehow managed to knock over in their urgency to disrobe each other. The head students grabbed the two of them and marched them down to Professor Snape's quarters.

It was almost 1:30 when she made it back to the Gryffindor common room. She looked longingly towards her dorm room but knew she'd need to settle down at one of the tables to finish some work she'd started earlier.

She moved her eyes from the dormitory door towards the long table but was surprised to see someone else awake and sitting in one of the chairs close to the fire.

The brilliant red hair could only belong to one person. Well, four technically. But she knew immediately that this wouldn't be Percy, Fred or George awake at this hour.

Charlie sat hunched over in the chair, elbows resting on his knees and chin resting on his clasped hands. From this angle she could see his profile outlined by the fire, but he didn't seem to notice she'd even entered the room. She took a moment to look over her… well, she didn't know how to describe him. One-time friend? Ex-Best friend? Former Captain?

He looked… she couldn't place the word. She'd noticed as of late she had a hard time thinking about anything regarding Charlie. It made it incredibly difficult in class. They'd always been the first to partner up for any assignment in class. Professor Flitwick had even raised a questioning eyebrow when Charlie had pointedly chosen Jae Kim over her as a partner during the first week's course work.

Amelia felt the now familiar chest tightening sensation when she looked at him – not sure what that meant. She wondered momentarily if she could sneak past him toward her own dorm room door. She needed to study but that wasn't worth a confrontation with him.

She made to move slowly towards her door – and as if on cue his eyes shot directly at her.

The two former friends stared at each other for a long moment.

"You're back late," Charlie said flatly.

"Patrol duty," she said simply, not breaking eye contact.

"With Andre?"

"Well it is Friday night, so yeah," she didn't know why she was acting so defensive. This was Charlie. The same boy who had befriended her first on the platform at King's Cross. The boy who had always stood next to her and encouraged her. The one person who convinced her to try out for quidditch and who cheered the loudest when she made the team. The boy who had socked Patrick Orwell in 5th year for kissing her on a bet and telling her after there was "no way he'd be able to be with someone like her". There was no reason for her to be treating him as if he was attacking her.

But there was acid in his words when he spoke again, "Oh, right. I forgot about your standing date night with Egwu."

"It's not a date night, Weasley," since when had she called him Weasley? And since when did she care if Charlie thought she was on a date with a boy? "It's Head Girl duties. It's not like we're just sitting up in the Great Hall having drinks. We're working."

"Working," Charlie snorted, looking back into the fire. "Whatever you want to call it, Rutledge."

She wanted to say something but felt that same lump in her throat she'd felt this summer. She turned on her heel and headed straight up to her dorm, not sparing him another look or caring if her slamming the dormitory door woke any of her fellow Gryffindors.

Amelia had one of the worst nights she could remember at Hogwarts. She lay unable to sleep in her bed. She turned from one side to the other unable to shake the look in Charlie's eyes out of her mind or the way he seemed to spit out her name. She was thankful this time no tears seemed to accompany the restless night – she didn't want to have to explain to her dorm mates why she had woken up again with puffy, red eyes again. Finally, when the sky started to lighten just the slightest on the new day, Amelia was able to drift off to a restless sleep.

It was late Saturday morning when Amelia woke. She wasn't surprised to find her dorm empty, it had to be late morning at this point. Amelia sat bolt upright – she'd slept valuable time away! She rushed to make herself presentable before heading down to the Common Room.

She knew she'd missed breakfast, but she hoped she could still make it downstairs in time to grab a quick lunch and then seclude herself in the library.

She was not expecting to see almost all of Gryffindor house looking exceptionally sullen in the common room.

She looked around the room and saw painted faces, some enchanted banners leaned up against the wall, and people muttering to each other in collected clumps. When she screeched to a halt in the common room, nearly every eye flew to her.

She'd missed the first quidditch match.

And because whatever higher being or force ruled the universe had a cruel sense of humor, the portrait swung open to reveal an almost murderous looking Charlie Weasley followed closely by the rest of the forlorn looking Gryffindor quidditch team.

Amelia felt all color drain from her face and her stomach dropped to very nearly the center of the earth.

Charlie stalked over to where Amelia stood. She registered at that moment she'd stopped breathing but found herself unable to gulp down any fresh breath.

"So," he said, just on the edge of too loud. Which was unnecessary. The entire common room had gone quiet, "So, not only are you going to abandon your house team you can't even dignify us with your presence at our first game?"

Amelia tried to stammer out a sentence but, having not taken a breath in at least a half minute, just took a large gulp of air.

"You know who did make it? Andre. And not just in the stands. Seems like some people are able to keep their commitments and juggle being Head Boy. Isn't that interesting, Rutledge? You should have seen him, too. Ravenclaw was damn near unstoppable today. And we were a mess. Such a mess even our own Head Girl wouldn't deign us with her attendance."

"No," Amelia said quietly, and then again louder, "No, it-it's not that." She was searching around the room, eyes frantic as more upset faces than friendly stared back at her. "Last night – you saw me last night, Charlie – Last night I had patrol. And I got in late and I- I just overslept. I'm sor-"

"You said you were patrolling with Andre, right?" Charlie said, eyebrow quirked as if challenging. She nodded. "And as I've already said, not only was he able to attend, he played on of the best games of quidditch I've ever seen him play."

Amelia searched around the room. Suddenly something felt like it was constricting around her chest. Her limbs felt numb. It was all Too Much. Her head felt like it might be spinning and simultaneously splitting in two. Her eyes went slightly out of focus. She took a few ragged breaths and, feeling all eyes on her, she looked up to Charlie and whispered a quick, "I'm sorry."

And bolted for the portrait door.

As much as she wanted to make Charlie just understand – she didn't want her entire house to see her have a panic attack.

She didn't stop moving until she had reached the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey had ushered into a bed away from some of the other students and with the wave of her wand, partitions appeared to separate her from prying eyes. It took a bit but Madam Pomfrey had been able to talk Amelia through it and had her calmed down. The matron conjured a glass of water and a few pieces of chocolate for the girl before leaving her to rest.

It was maybe five minutes before she heard a slightly timid Andre call out, "Amelia?"

"Yeah, Dre," she said, eyes clasping shut. "Yeah, I'm over here."

"Can I come in?"

Amelia breathed – in out, in out - for a moment before saying he was fine to enter.

Andre sat at the end of her bed, looking out towards the ground through the window behind her.

"Alright?" he asked, finally looking over at her.

"I'll be fine," she said, "I… slept through the match."

"Can't say I didn't notice," Andre said.

"I feel so stupid," Amelia balled her hands into the crisp, clean sheets of the bed beneath her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, he placed a hand over her ankle in a friendly gesture.

Amelia thought on that for a moment, chewing the corner of her lip. She did want to talk about it. But not to Andre Egwu. She wanted to talk about how she was feeling with Charlie. However, seeing as he'd essentially called her a deserter in front of their entire house, the chances of that were unlikely.

She nodded and tried to put into words what she felt, "I – I overslept this morning. I never oversleep. But I guess being out so late last night and then… I saw… I mean I talked… Well, I just had a hard time getting to sleep last night. And I guess I just didn't hear anyone getting ready this morning. And when I did wake up – well, the entire house was in the common room. Charlie… Charlie came in and… Merlin, Andre he's never looked at me like that before."

"Like what?" Andre asked.

"Like… Like I was the reason they lost," she said quietly.

"He shouldn't put that on you," Andre said defensively. Amelia just stared at her hands in her lap.

"What are you doing here?" Amelia attempted to change the subject.

"Took a bludger to the shoulder from one of those twins," Andre moved his body to show his left arm in a cloth sling. "Even I have to say they're some of the best beaters that have come through Gryffindor in a while."

Amelia smiled faintly. She'd been playing quidditch with the twins for nearly as long as they had been flying. She knew better than anyone how great they'd become.

"I, uh, I really need to probably head out," Andre said, glancing down at his watch. "You going to be okay?" Amelia just nodded, not entirely sure she wouldn't ask him to stay with her if she opened her mouth. With one last tight-lipped smile and squeeze to her ankle, Andre stood to take his leave. Before departing from behind the curtains he looked back over at her, "Hey, next Hogsmeade weekend. Let's meet at the Three Broomsticks. Butterbeer on me." And then he was off.

It was about a half hour later when her friend Aubrey showed up, something wrapped in a napkin clutched in her hand. Aubrey sat down on the bed next to her, without saying much of anything, crowding into her space in just the way Amelia liked in these moments. Aubrey handed the napkin over to her friend and rested her head on Amelia's shoulder. Amelia unwrapped the parcel to find two blueberry scones laying one on top of the other.

"Thanks, Aubs," Amelia smiled, leaning her own head on top of Aubrey's.

"I saw you weren't at breakfast, so I've been carrying those in my bag all morning. Sorry if they're a little squished," Aubrey made a movement as if shrugging. Amelia began to pull apart the scones and eat them slowly, "So what happened? I heard just now from one of the third years that you didn't show up to the match. People said you were protesting or some shite like that. But then the kid said you came downstairs right when the team showed up and you had it out with Charlie. They said you ran off after that."

Amelia calmly told her friend of the events of the morning. Aubrey was a childhood friend who had been sorted into Hufflepuff. Amelia grew up in Manchester and she'd met Aubrey the summer she turned 8. Aubrey was visiting family but said she'd be going back to Scotland after the holidays. The two had hit it off – at the time, Amelia thought the girl weird or eccentric. How did someone not know what an electric kettle was? How had she never seen a hoover before? Amelia, who didn't quite fit in with the kids at school herself, didn't care about these little idiosyncrasies. The two became close friends and would always meet up.

When Amelia turned eleven and got her letter for Hogwarts, she thought about the idea of going away for school in Scotland. She thought absently about somehow finding a way to visit Aubrey while there. To her shock, she wouldn't have to worry about that at all. Aubrey turned up on the Platform 9 ¾ just as Amelia had. Aubrey had asked why Amelia hadn't told her she was a witch and Amelia had told her she didn't know until the letter came.

When they made it to Hogwarts Amelia clapped loudly when her friend was sorted into Hufflepuff. She hoped the same would happen for her. When the hat rang out a sure "Gryffindor!" when it sat atop her head, she only felt a little upset. She didn't hardly feel upset at all when that nice red-headed boy from the train was sorted after herself and came to join her at the Gryffindor table.

Aubrey huffed after Amelia concluded her story of the night before and what had transpired this morning. "He's an absolute git, Ames," Aubrey assured her friend.

"He's not though," Amelia tried to defend, "He's just… upset still. That I'm not on the team. It's just all… messed up. None of this year was supposed to be like this."

"You can try and stick up for him all you want," Aubrey said resolutely. "He's a git. Always has been and always will be."

Amelia smiled softly at the reassurances from her friend. In all honesty the three of them had gotten on quite well up until the summer past. Amelia had always seemed to be the go-between for the two of them – she always said their tempers were too alike for either of them to be able to communicate effectively. But Aubrey had admitted in fifth year that Charlie was a good friend to her. And that's all that really mattered.

"I don't want to talk about Charlie Weasley," Amelia said finally. "I do have something to run by you though…"

"That is?"

"I… If someone were to say 'Butterbeer on me for the next Hogmeade weekend' – would that be a… a date then?" Amelia asked quietly.

"Who's asked you out on a date?" suddenly Aubrey's head snapped up.

"That's what I'm asking, is it a date?" Amelia said apprehensively.

"Amelia Eliza Rutledge," Aubrey was standing at this point. "For as brilliant as you are, you are bloody thick. Of course it's a date. Now, who?"

"Andre…" she answered quietly.

"Oh Merlin, I thought he'd never ask," Aubrey visibly relaxed and sat back on the edge of the bed.

"Never?" Amelia spluttered.

"Oh, please, Ames," Aubrey rolled her eyes, "that boy's fancied you for the better part of two years. He just never made a move because…"

Amelia quirked an eyebrow, sure she knew what her friend was going to say but wanted to hear her say it all the same. "Because why?" she challenged.

Aubrey shook her head and waved her hand dismissively, a standard Aubrey move, "Doesn't matter. You're saying yes, of course."

"Well, he didn't really ask, did he? Just told me to come round the Broomsticks and he'd buy me one," Amelia said.

"You two are going to be so cute together," Aubrey already had a faraway look in her eye. "I'm going to help with your outfit choice, don't worry. Don't give me that look, you'll thank me later. Now come on, let's get you some lunch." She began pulling at her friend's hands but Amelia resisted.

"I don't know if I can go to the Great Hall," Amelia admitted. "I'll just wait til dinner. I'll go late and try to let some of this blow over."

"Nonsense," Aubrey waved her hand dismissively again, "I'll just take you down to the kitchen. The elves have been asking about you anyway." Amelia let her self be pulled from the bed then, arm and arm with her friend. With one last once over from Madam Pomfrey, the two girls made their way out of the hospital wing.

After the incident of the first quidditch match, Amelia doubled down on Head Girl duties and studies. There were long nights and early mornings, a few more trips to Madam Pomfrey when it all became too much, and a few late-night excursions to the kitchens with Andre under pretense of Head duties just so they could get an extra piece of cake.

They had enjoyed their day in Hogsmeade and had made a point to see each other outside of Head duties but Amelia could tell right away there wouldn't be anything coming from the relationship. She enjoyed Andre's company more than most people's but when it came down to it, there just wasn't much the two had in common. They could only talk about quidditch for so long before Amelia started feeling the creeping guilty feeling that usually accompanied talking about the different house teams and she tried to change the subject.

She'd also made it almost a sport to avoid Charlie. She had his schedule memorized down to the minute. Charlie Weasley had always been a creature of habit – something that had frustrated her in the past. So it wasn't hard to find out which classes he had, which corridors he took to go to his next class, when he usually headed down for dinner, when he would head to bed. She could almost set her watch to it. She knew after Care of Magical creatures – a N.E.W.T. level class he took almost by himself – he tended to linger to talk to Professor Kettleburn and help him set up for his next lesson with the third years. She knew he was a quick eater – so she just had to stretch her meals out and she could avoid any interaction when they both sat at the table.

During class was a bit more difficult. There was no escaping him in Charms or Transfiguration, they were two of the only Gryffindors in the class as their class size had shrunk by a couple with it being N.E.W.T. levels. But she managed to always sit close to the front, knowing he'd prefer to hang back towards the back of the class. She'd had an unfortunate run in at the library one afternoon. She'd been trying to find a quiet place to work, but she remembered a particularly secluded alcove where a table sat towards the back of the library. When she located the table, it was to find a frustrated Charlie Weasley poring over a large text. She stopped short, surprised by his sudden appearance after weeks of avoiding him. He looked up at her and the look in his eye turned even darker.

She mumbled out a quick, "Sorry," and turned to find somewhere far away to be.

It was an oddly warm, sunny Friday in November when Amelia found herself lounging under one of the trees close to the lake, studying for an upcoming exam by herself. She had view in the distance of the quidditch pitch, castle, and grounds so she could occasionally look up and survey her surroundings, making sure there wasn't something that needed the attention of the Head Girl before returning to her notes.

It was on one of these glances up she saw a flash of red out of the corner of her eye from the quidditch pitch. She looked over and saw the familiar form of Charlie Weasley soaring above the pitch running drills with the quidditch team. They were trying to get in the last few drills before it became too dark, she instinctively knew. She let herself watch her former friend. He'd do a lap around the pitch, pointing to his teammates; she knew he had to be barking something at one of them. He would dive and zoom across the pitch and pull up suddenly. She saw him fly close to another redhead, smaller than him, it had to be Fred or George. He'd said something and the younger Weasley zoomed off.

It was hard to tell from here but Amelia was sure she could tell he'd pulled his shaggy hair back with some sort of headband. He'd started growing his hair last year after his mum had given him one of her trade mark shearings. It wasn't nearly as long as Bill's, she remembered, but unlike his brother, Charlie's hair had a slight curl to it. He'd usually wear it down in his face but they soon realized that during quidditch that wouldn't work. Amelia had found one of her cloth headbands she'd gifted him, it was slim and dark, nothing flashy. And ever since it was a part of his quidditch uniform. She wasn't sure how long she watched the team practice but it couldn't have been too long before her mind began to wonder.

She thought back to a little over a year ago, sitting under this same tree, on a sunny late summer afternoon.

Amelia sat much like she did now, a book propped in her lap and her back against the tree, while Charlie lay on his back perpendicular to her. They'd studied for a while, Charlie reciting the three main components of the Aguamenti charm. But they'd decided to take a break, Charlie listening to the sound of the gentle waves from the lake as Amelia read a book she'd started that summer.

She looked down at her friend. His hair hung back from his face, she noticed it had a little extra curl today. She also noticed he'd stopped humming as he had been earlier and a faint crease was showing between his furrowed brows. Without too much thought, Amelia reached down and ran a hand through his hair. They both froze.

"Is… is everything okay?" she asked, hoping he understood the double meaning of the question.

"Yeah," he said and cleared his throat. The furrowed brows were gone but now they'd shot up halfway up his forehead as he looked up at her. "Yeah, just still a little worried about the Charms exam is all. That, uh, that felt good though."

She noticed the faint blush that colored his cheeks but just summed that up to him being embarrassed he enjoyed a touch that, to her, seemed so motherly.

"I could… do it again?" she said. She'd crossed her legs at the ankle earlier but shifted so both legs were flat on the ground, giving him a spot to rest his head in her lap. He looked up again at her briefly before shimmying his body until his head lay on her. She smiled at him, reassuringly she thought, before placing her right hand on the top of his head, pressing gently and pushing his hair back again. He relaxed instantly and seemed to sag even more body weight against her. She took her fingers next and let it card through his hair, scraping just barely against his scalp, and she saw his mouth go slack. She smiled brighter and continued running her hand through his hair, eventually picking the small book back up with her left hand as she absentmindedly ran her fingers through her friend's hair.

Amelia noticed not too long after that a faint snore rose up from her lap. She looked down again at Charlie to see he'd completely fallen into a slumber, mouth slightly parted and eyes closed in relaxation. She continued her ministrations for a while longer, letting her tired captain rest in her lap, talking herself through the situation.

'He's your best friend and captain. This is a perfectly normal thing for friends to do. He was tired and stressed. What person wouldn't find a way to calm their friend down if they were upset or worried? Yes, that's all that this is. You'll wake him up in a minute, he'll call you a git for letting him sleep so long, and you'll go grab dinner. Nothing different than normal.'

And it had happened like that. Sort of. Amelia did wake Charlie up about a half hour later, telling him it was time to head to the Great Hall. The boy had grumbled and stretched. But when he opened his eyes, the soft look he gave Amelia made her look away and slide out from under him. He did call her a git – but only after her sudden movement caused his head to crash to the ground with a painful 'thunk'.

Amelia shook her head to clear it now, looking back to her book in her lap and trying her best to ignore the team that flew not too far away.

In early April, Amelia received a letter she'd been anxiously awaiting. A tawny owl stopped dropped off the heavy envelope. She read the letter quickly and jumped up with a squeal.

Gringotts had accepted her!

She wanted to share the news immediately. Her eyes automatically flew to Charlie who sat at the other end of the table. He saw her jump and looked over at her. When he saw the letter clutched in her hand and the look of pure joy on her face, he knew immediately what it meant. And for the first time in a long time he had the urge to jump up with her and wrap her in a tight hug.

She saw the look of realization flash across his eyes – then a wide variety of emotions. He finally turned a stony gaze back to his plate, fists clutched on the table. Amelia felt a little crack in her armor but didn't let it stop her from scooting away from the table and running to her friend seated with the rest of her Hufflepuff house.

"I did it!" Amelia said to Aubrey. "I'm in!" Aubrey hugged her and the two set about making plans for the short time they had left at school before they both headed off.

With it being the last few months of school it wasn't uncommon to hear of one of her classmates accepting this job or that. Jae Kim had accepted a job at the Daily Prophet. Andre had been scouted by Pride of Portree and left for training camp after classes let out. Even Merula Snyde had managed a low-level position at the Ministry.

So it shouldn't have been a shock to her when she started hearing rumblings about Charlie.

"Romania?!" she questioned again. "And you said he leaves when?"

"From what I heard," Aubrey said under her breath. The two were studying one afternoon in the library and neither were keen on getting kicked out. "Supposed to be right after classes are let out."

Amelia mulled this over – there once was time when she'd have known this before anyone else – maybe even before some of his family members. Now she was getting the news second hand from someone who got it second hand. She wondered if there was any way to repair the rift with her former friend, but she feared it may be too late and the chasm too wide.

He sat across the library now; she had seen him as soon as he walked in and kept glancing his way. He'd grown since the summer she noticed. He'd bulked up now – his shoulders broad and sturdy looking. She wasn't close enough to tell now but remembered from one of their recent Care of Magical Creatures classes exactly what his forearms looked like with his sleeves rolled up. His face was set as he concentrated on the text in front of him. His hair, she noticed, had been pulled back into the low ponytail he favored. She wondered if he'd come from quidditch practice or was going – he had her headband pulling his bangs back.

"Well," she said quietly, looking back at her own text book. "Good for him."

Amelia made sure she didn't miss a single quidditch match after the first. It didn't help. Neither the team's luck or her relationship with Charlie looked any brighter by the end of the school year.

They lost their last match of the season to Slytherin – 340 to 180. Charlie had caught the snitch but more to end the pain of having to endure losing by any more points.

Amelia thought this might be her last chance to catch Charlie. They only had a few weeks left in the year and they were both going to be studying for their N.E.W.T.s full force. She waited for him outside of the changing rooms after the match. It took a few hours, but he finally emerged. The rest of the team had already gone – each one giving her a once over before heading to the castle without saying a word. Fred acted like he was going to speak with her but with a tug on his arm from his twin he moved on.

When Charlie came out the sun had set and Amelia was more than just a little chilly. She could feel her teeth chattering. They'd had a string of cool May days and even cooler nights. She heard the door open and looked up from where she leaned against the wall to see Charlie, hair wet and a murderous look settling on his face.

"Charlie –" she started.

His head whipped so quickly in her direction she swore it made a sound. Then she noticed the slightly puffy, red tinged eyes glaring back at her.

"I – " but he didn't give her time to say anything. Looking forcefully at the ground he moved past her and up to the grounds without another word.