Chapter Four: Christmas Miracles
Snape was scowling deeply when he reached the staff table on Monday morning. When Professor McGonagall leaned over to ask what was wrong, he muttered something and McGonagall caught Charlotte's eye and motioned her to the staff table. Charlotte gulped and trudged up there. "Yes, Professor?" She asked in an innocent voice.
Snape glowered at her. "Potter, are you the one responsible for the vomit inducing explosion of pink all over my office and classroom?"
Wondering if he found the chocolates yet, she opened her mouth to deny the accusation, but instead, she cackled, laughing so hard her sides began to hurt. Students were staring at her, and so were the teachers. "I'd take that as a yes, Severus." McGonagall said disapprovingly.
Charlotte finally caught her breath. "You should've known, Professor."
"Ten points from Ravenclaw, Potter." He hissed. "I would have thought you wouldn't prank me."
"You're the new DADA teacher. It's a rule." She said dismissively. "See you in class."
"You didn't!" Seamus said when she sat back down.
"Oh, I did." She grinned. "And, it's not over. I don't think he's discovered the second part yet."
"He'll kill you."
"Doubtful. He's my godfather, so I don't think he can get too mad."
When they arrived in DADA that day, Snape was staring at a box on his desk with a look of absolute disgust on his face. "Something wrong, Professor?" Blaise Zabini asked curiously.
Snape looked up, his eyes narrowing as Charlotte smiled innocently. "Nothing." He snapped. "Potter, detention tonight."
"What'd I do this time?" Harry asked indignantly.
"Not you." Snape looked at Harry. "Talk to me in that tone again, and it will be, though."
"But, Professor, we have Quidditch practice tonight." Charlotte whined.
"Cancel it."
She huffed and began to read the assigned chapters.
Hahahahahahahaha you got in trouble with Snape! What'd you do?
Chocolates from Umbridge
Blimey. I'm surprised he didn't expel you for that.
You did what?!
Snape's not going to expel me, guys. Seriously. I'm his favorite.
Are you sure? He's still glowering at you.
He'll get over it.
That night, she went to his office, wondering what he was going to have her do for detention. "You are going to write lines for me."
"You don't happen to have one of the blood quills like Umbridge did, do you?" She asked cheekily.
He smacked the back of her head. "Sit down. I want you to write 'I will not prank Professor Snape again' until I tell you to stop."
She pulled out parchment, a bottle of green ink, and a quill, and started writing. She wrote for almost two hours before he stopped her. "Am I done, Professor?"
"Now go away." He said gruffly, but she knew he wasn't mad at her anymore.
-HP-
Christmas was coming up quickly and instead of going home, she was going to Seamus's for Christmas, at the insistence of his mother. A week before the end of term, at Dean's joke suggestion, the first years and some older students, gave their letters to Santa to Professor Flitwick, explaining that a group of sixth years had told them he was one of Santa's elves. That was the first time Flitwick had yelled at the four students, and it lost them a total of eighty points, twenty from each Marauder, and they also had a night's detention to do after the holidays.
Isobel, perfectly content with staying over at Hogwarts with Dean, raised her eyebrows after Charlotte informed her of her Christmas plans and set out to tell her dad. She pulled a piece of parchment from her bag and began to write.
Dad and Sirius,
I, unfortunately, will not be spending Christmas with you this year. Mrs. Finnigan has invited me over to their house, and I accepted. Isobel's staying here at Hogwarts, and we both wish you a Happy Christmas. See you in June!
Charli
"You're going to spend Christmas with Seamus." Isobel repeated.
"Yup."
"So, you two are back together?"
Charlotte shrugged. "No idea. I expect I'll find out before the holiday's over with, though." She said as she packed.
"Hey, Charli, Hermione's wanting to talk to you." Lisa Turpin said, poking her head in the dorm.
Isobel and Charlotte rushed out of the common room to find Hermione with an odd, goofy smile on her face. "Is she alright?" Isobel murmured.
"I don't know. She went with McLaggen to Slughorn's party." Charlotte muttered back. "Is something wrong, Hermione?"
She shook her head. "Not at all. Um, Harry's got detention when we get back from the break, though. He took a leaf out of your book and punched McLaggen in the face. He's in the hospital wing right now."
The trio of girls started walking that way. "Why'd he punch him?"
"Cormac made a rather rude remark about me and Harry didn't like it." She said, the goofy smile still on her face.
Harry, it turned out, also had a goofy smile on his face; though that could be due to the fact the blow McLaggen had delivered to him knocked him out for several minutes. "Hello, Charli, Is, Hermione."
"You alright?" Charlotte asked, smirking slightly.
"Hm? Oh yeah, I'm great." Isobel furrowed her brow, confused.
"Well, I think you're in good hands, Harry. Have a good Christmas." Charlotte nudged Isobel toward the door.
"You too, Charli!"
"What was that about?" Isobel asked worriedly.
"I think Harry and Hermione have realized they fancy each other, and it seems the feelings are reciprocated." She said, as Ginny came running up to her, excitement blazing on her face.
"Charli! Oliver said he wanted to meet me in Hogsmeade on our next weekend!" The fifth year hugged her tightly. "Thank you."
"You're welcome Ginny." She grinned. "Have a great Christmas."
"You too!"
The next day, she and Seamus shared a compartment with Harry and Hermione on the way to King's Cross. "So, you two are alright now?" Harry asked, slightly protectively.
"Yeah." Charlotte replied easily. "You and 'Mione snogging yet?"
Hermione blushed. "No, Charli, we're not."
"With the war going on, I'm waiting until after it's over for us to become official." Harry explained.
Ardara was waiting for her and Seamus when they stepped off. "Well, come on." She said affectionately, Apparating them to the Finnigan house. "It's 'bout bloody time yah two made up." She said curtly. "You're in the same room yah were the last time, dearie."
"Thanks for inviting me, Mrs. Finnigan." Charlotte smiled sweetly before following Seamus up the stairs and stowing her trunk in the guest bedroom. She was tired and went straight to sleep.
The next night, after a hearty dinner, she decided it was time to talk to Seamus about their relationship. She knocked on his door around midnight, her breath hitching when he stumbled to the door shirtless. "Your room is in a permanent state of messiness, Shay." She wrinkled her nose, surveying the mess as a way to distract her mind.
He shrugged. "Don't really matter, as long as I can find everything I need, right?"
She rolled her eyes and plopped down on his bed. "You're utterly ridiculous."
"What's ridiculous is the fact I don't know whether or not we're back together." He countered, sitting crossed legged on the bed, facing her.
"I've actually been thinking about that. Do you thinkā¦" She hesitated. "We could possibly start over? Put everything that happened last year behind us?"
He didn't answer. He just leaned forward and lightly brushed his lips across hers. "As long as we're not going back to the getting to know each other phase." He finally said, his mouth barely an inch from hers.
She shook her head and kissed him, tangling her fingers in his sandy-blonde locks. "I missed that." She admitted, resting her forehead against his. "And you."
"Me too, Char." He gazed into her eyes, hazel meeting aqua-blue. "And I'm gonna promise yah something. No matter what, I'm gonna stand by yah, alright? You're me girl and I'm not losing yah again, just because I'm a feckin' idiot."
"It wasn't just you. I have an issue with pride, Shay, but the next time we get mad at each other, we'll leave and come back later, hopefully with cooler heads and be able to peacefully work it out."
"You're not the only one. But that sounds good." His crooked grin reappeared. "I love yah, yah know."
"I love you, too." The words slipped out without thinking, but in that moment, it felt right and she knew she really did love him.
