A/N: Thanks for reading again! I'm SO sorry about the wait, for anyone who actually reads this. I had a boat load to do, with school and soccer. Also, there have been over 175 hits to this story, but only one review. Hint hint. Well, okay this one was written really quickly (despite the wait), so please pardon grammatical and spelling issues. Merci to all who review and read, and now on with the show!
I sprinted into the bathroom as fast as I could. I probably looked magnificently idiotic, because I was as far away from the bathroom as humanly possible. Typical.
As I sat down with my head in my hands, I thought about what I had just done. Nice going, Charlie, I thought miserably, You ran away again. It's what you're best at, after all. Running fast was good during the summer track meets I'd participate in, but it was as far from good as you can get when it comes to boys.
I had to have been in there for about 10 minutes when I heard a knock on the door.
"Hey, Charlie? Are you in here?" I didn't recognize the voice.
"Erm, yes, just a second!" I said. I leapt up from the little chair in the corner and looked at the door.
"What's up? We saw you running in here, and Ginny told me to come check on you." Hermione Granger walked in and looked at me comfortingly. "Are you okay?"
That's when it all spilled out. She just seemed like she'd understand.
"Well…It's just that, you see, I really like him, but he's 4 years older, and he's George, and he's the one who caught me when I was in first year when I fell down into the trick stair, but he was 15 then, and I was 11, and oh my god this is just so weird!" I said all this ridiculously quickly. Hermione looked at me with a calculating look, one that I recognized as the same one she had when I asked her for help on my Arithmancy homework.
"I just realized, you were the one I caught in the hallway kissing Jack Halley that one time, right?" I blushed so red I probably would have given the Weasley's a run for their money and put my head down.
"I –er – yes." I stuttered nervously. I seem to be doing that a lot lately. Good bye coherent sentences…
"Sorry, that was a stupid thing to bring up. I just meant to say that you've typically dated older guys, right?" I stared at her. Does she mean what I THINK she means? "NO NO NO!" she said, practically reading my mind. "I didn't mean it like that! I just mean, you might want to give it a try with George. He's not going to do anything stupid. It's four years, which seems really insane, but it's not as bad as it could be, is it? It's just a dance, and Jane, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Aly and I will be there in case it gets awkward. Come back out, Charlie. It'll make both of you feel better."
I stood up. "Yeah, you're right, Hermione. I mean, really, it isn't much of anything is it?"
"Hi Ginny!" exclaimed Aly. I covered my ears.
"Way to be shrill there, Als." I said as I rolled my eyes. She looked at me.
"It isn't polite not to have a nice greeting."
"Oh, and bursting someone's eardrums is exceedingly polite to the point of ecstasy, now isn't it?"
"Guys, shut up." said Harry. I looked at him and rolled my eyes.
"Hi Harry. Nice greeting there."
"See?! I told you!"
"Oh god…How are you two best friends? Honestly, we need to figure out a way to set this right." Ginny changed her tone from exasperated to take-charge. "Ron, go talk to George, he's you're brother, you'll understand him best."
"But Ginny, I'm better with girl issues!"
"Harry, you aren't related to him, so, uh, shut up." Ginny turned her attention from the boys and turned to Aly, Hermione and I.
"Hermione, go talk to Charlie."
"Why not one of us?" asked a stunned Aly.
"Because Hermione's the one who deals best with problems with the male Weasleys."
"Oh. That makes sense."
"The four of us will stay here."
"Doing what?"
"Oh, watching, observing, commenting."
"Snogging?"
"Harry I really think – " the rest of Ginny's argument was silenced by Harry's kiss. I looked at Aly. She looked at me.
"I am not kissing you, Aly, if that is what you were going to ask."
I stood there stupidly. Way to go George you let another one go. I thought to myself. I can't seem to keep any girls' attention for more than 5 minutes, and this lasted less than a song. I looked up to see Ron walking toward me and Hermione go towards the bathroom, I assume to look for Charlie.
Charlie.
She used to be so little, so tiny. Fred and I would have piggy back races, Charlie and Fred, me and Gin. Charlie used to be teeny tiny. She used to be one of those girls who seemed like she'd never really grow much, one of those people you can't really see growing up.
Man was that a mistaken idea. She'd grown from Little Lottie to…Charlie. She's so pretty now, so much older. But not old enough…
"Hey Georgie porgie! Got yourself in a twist?" said Ron. I whipped around to face him.
"Um…Sure? And never call me that again."
"Hermione's going to talk to Charlie. Man she grew up. Don't tell Mione I told you this, but she's gorgeous now. Not that Mione – "
"Ron."
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
"Ooooooooooh someone's jealous."
"I'm not…It's not…Gahguh." I said. I don't even understand that last part.
Ron stared at me for a minute. "Studying troll I see. Is that the translation of, 'I like her'?"
"No…"
"But you do."
"Well…Remember Lottie?"
"The kid who'd always hang with Ginny when we were little? Yeah."
"Her real name was Charlotte."
"Weird name coincidence. That's—what?" I was glaring at him. He stared at me for a minute then –
"OH. That means…Oh my, she's…"
"Four years younger. And we used to give her piggy back rides.Yeah."
"Oh. Now I get it…But why didn't Ginny notice that before?"
"She probably did and wanted to see what happened."
"I don't know. She looks way different."
"Maybe."
The two of us paused for a while just looking around.
"It wouldn't be like, cradle snatching if I did kind of like her, right?"
"Not really. It's only 4 years. Tonks was like 14 years younger than Lupin."
"RIGHT! And it's a dance right?"
"Yeah, George. I say you go for it." I took a breath.
"Yeah. You're right. I mean, really, it isn't much of anything is it?"
A/N2: Tada! That's all for today, folks. Tune in next time! Teehee, sorry for the dorkyness. And please, press the purply-blue button and review. Reviews make me smiley.