I thought I'd start leaving little bits of a preview at the beginning of the chapter… just for the heck of it. SO, here ya go.
'But what did you honestly expect me to do Hermione? Sit here and wait for you to come to your senses?' – Charlie Weasley
So, maybe I'll do that for every chapter. A quote... and then who said it. Do you like the idea?
Wow. A lot of people have reviewed, and guessed that Irena must be Alin's sister, under a false name, or in disguise, unknown to Alin…. Interesting….
Ok, so I took a LOT longer than I would have liked, but school started this week, and I've had basketball tryouts (Lets hope I make it) and just the fact that I have to try and get back into a schedule or routine. So, I'm sooooo sorry for the long wait. I hope you like it.
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Anyone who STILL wants to hit/hurt/embarrass Alin… leave me a name to use in my story :D Ok, and I can't promise a PUNCH… but I can promise… something… :P
Disclaimer: How I wish Charlie was mine…
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She sprinted up the stairs, a smile on her face, and tears rolling down her cheeks. She knocked quickly on the door to his flat. After a brief pause, she heard the click of the lock and the door opened. Hermione looked up, smiling like a maniac. "Charl-" Her face fell immediately.
"Oh, you're back! It's Hermione right?" Hermione started backing slowly away, back down the hall… away from her and her voice. Hermione had the sudden urge to vomit, scream, hit Irena, and curse Charlie all at once. She bit her lip though and kept backing away from the pyjama-clad brunette as she heard a scuffling behind the door.
If you can call those pyjamas... it's basically booty shorts and a tank top.
Hermione glared at the brunette. "Irena..."
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Irena frowned slightly at the cold voice the girl backing away from her used. Charlie suddenly appeared beside her, and Hermione's icy glare turned to him.
'There's nothing going on between me and Irena'….'It's not what you think.' He says. YEAH RIGHT!!! Why the hell is she still here then!!!!!!
"Hermione? What are you doing here? I didn't know you were… do you want to come in?"
She glared at him even more and he seemed to realize what she must have been thinking. He licked his lips slightly.
"Irena… uh, could you give us a minute out here, thanks."
The brunette shrugged and skipped back into the apartment, her boobs bouncing slightly, without a second look at Hermione, who was standing stock-still and glaring at Charlie, tears still present in her eyes. At this point however, they were completely different tears then those she had arrive with.
"Hermione… what are you-"
"Here." She spit out, shoving the envelope at him.
"What is this?"
"The files about the reserve. You got your land back."
I sound like Alin a bit…"Already? Doesn't it usually take longer than-"?
"It was put as a top priority." He smirked slightly and she quickly added, "Because the dragons were so bad off... not because of you!" She glared at him.
"You brought this all the way here, at…" He looked at the watch on his wrist, "Ten o'clock at night? Why?"
"I… I thought you would want to know…"
"Is that it?"
She raised her chin slightly in the air. "What else do you want me to say?"
"Why you're really here."
"That's why I'm here. I told you already." She pointed at the envelope as she spoke.
"You didn't have to personally bring me the envelope, and it certainly could have waited until tomorrow… at a more… decent… hour."
"Well I'm sorry to disturb you and your…guest…by thinking you'd want it now." She turned on her heal and headed back to the stairs. She paused when she got to the top however. "Aren't you going to try and stop me this time?" She asked quietly. She heard Charlie laugh softly and turned to glare at him. He was laughing, but it wasn't showing on his face. It was a dry laugh, and his smile…well; it couldn't really be called a smile.
"Why should I bother anymore Hermione? Every time I try to talk to you, you shrug me off. You ignore me and disappear before I can explain anything. You don't want to listen anymore. Why should I keep talking and calling you back… if you don't want to listen?"
She hung her head slightly. "I…I came here tonight to listen. I've talked with some…friends… and they all want me to listen. They pointed out my mistake Charlie… I'm doing the same thing I did before… with the whole Tim thing… and Ginny's letters." She bit her lip, looking up slightly. His arms were crossed over his chest and he was staring at her blankly. She took in a deep breath and looked up. "I should have listened to you from the beginning… and I realise that now. That's why I came back tonight. I want to listen now; even though I know I won't like it…" she trailed off quietly.
"What makes you think you won't like what you're going to hear?"
"Because." Hermione's voiced got stronger as she talked more, tears still sliding slowly down her cheeks. "The one thing I want to hear you say… the one thing that will make me happy… is to hear you say Irena isn't some girl your sleeping with-" A smile tugged at Charlie's face as Hermione continued. "I want to know that you do want to try and get back together with me, even though I've screwed up royaly. That you always have wanted to get back together with me. I want you to tell me I made a mistake when we broke it off…when I broke it off. Tell me I was stupid for doing it, and that you've wanted me to come to my bloody senses and come apologize!" She took a deep breath. "But obviously, you've moved on, and, I know you can still tell me I made a mistake and all that… but you're also going to tell me it's too late… that I'm too late… and I really, really don't want to hear that." She bit her lip again and went to turn away.
"You have made a mistake Hermione. Actually, you've made a fair few mistakes." His voice held no emotion. He wasn't happy to tell her this, and he wasn't laughing in her face, but he wasn't angry either. She looked back up at his blank expression. "I'm not sleeping with Irena, or anyone else for that matter. I've tried to tell you on many occasions, but like I said, you never want to listen. I guess you could say Irena and I are friends… she's going out with Jack, you know from the reserve. He's my roommate. Irena's almost always here visiting him… she practically lives here. Actually, she sort of moved in when I left for the summer. If you would have listened from the beginning, you would have known that."
A fresh round of tears where streaming down Hermione's pale face. "I… I didn't know you had a roommate."
Charlie let out a slight snort. "Your brothers did. They found out that one night they drilled me…"
They were both silent for a few moments. Hermione was staring at her feet intently, and she could feel Charlie's gaze on her constantly. "I…I jumped the gun again didn't I?" She looked up slightly, then dropped her head again, ashamed that she had made such a stupid mistake…again.
"Yea you did Hermione. You jumped a hell of a lot ahead."
"I should have let you explain." She looked up slightly, expecting him to cut in and say something else, but he didn't. He just continued to stare at her, his arms still folded over his chest. "I… I thought you had moved on?"
"I could have. You shrugged me off Hermione. You didn't even write me."
"I wrote you once."
"Oh right. What was that letter like again… you were talking about how you had started work again, asked how the reserve was doing. You didn't even ask how I was. You had no fricken emotion in that letter at all." His temper flared slightly, but he quickly dropped his gaze. When he looked back up, his emotionless tone returned. "I had plenty of opportunity to move on Hermione… but I didn't want to. I clung on to that little bit of hope that next time I went home, you and I would work through things. I don't know why. What did you honestly expect me to do Hermione? Sit here and wait for you to come to your senses?"
"I…I guess I hoped you would."
"Yea well I shouldn't have. Most guys would have moved on. But I really did care about you Hermione… then you just pushed me away, without even allowing us to have a civil conversation between us."
"Used to?" She whispered softly looking up with shining eyes.
He paused and looked at her, searching her eyes and face. She tried to do the same to him, but he really had mastered blocking out all emotion that should have been present on his face. After a few minutes he spoke again, without answering her question. "Every time I tried to tell you that there was nothing between Irena and me, you ran off. I tried to fix things between us, bt you didn't give me a chance to. And I must say, it didn't take you long to move on."
"I didn't move on…"
"Alin." Charlie's eyes darkened slightly at that one simple word. For a brief second he was quiet. Recapturing his temper before he continued, still lacking emotion. "How was your date tonight with him?"
She looked up at him for a moment, tears staining her cheeks. "Alin and I aren't a couple. It was just dinner. He knew something was bugging me. He figured out why I had really come here." When Charlie raised an eyebrow at her, she bit her lip again. "To see you ok! I really came here to be with you, to fix things with you. But when I got here… I thought you and Irena…" She stopped again. She couldn't even finish the sentence. "We talked for a bit, Alin and me. He told me all about what happened between you and him… about Prinţesă…"
Charlie's eyes flashed dark again. "Princess my arse. She was anything but a princess. She was a spoilt brat. They both were. But working on the dragon reserve helped a bit with her. She smartened out slightly, but I think she was with half the male population of Romania by the time she was dragged away." He looked down.
"But you guys were best friends I thought?"
"We were. She was a great friend to have, I guess partially because she always got her way, so it was great having her on your… team so to speak. You see, she was a great person… until she didn't get her own way… Then she turned into a complete… well, she wasn't that great after." He looked back at Hermione. "So Rickmond told you all about what he did to his sister."
"Yea. And why." She sent him a slight look, but didn't push the matter. She didn't want to make him any madder at her.
"That's not a story he likes to tell often..."
"Well, he only told me that because I told him what my family put you through. He actually…he was the one who gave me the final kick in the rear to get over here and talk to you. He said that it sounded like you... really must have liked me to put up with all that, and that I at least owed you the chance to explain things." Charlie snorted again. Hermione ignored him. "Charlie… I've never been more… upset, or lonely… than I've been these last few weeks." She looked up at him pleadingly, silently begging him to make some sign that he knew she was hurting. But he remained stock-still, not moving a muscle, not giving away any emotion on his face, or in his eyes. She looked up at the ceiling as she started to sob. "Charlie please... I made a mistake. Hell I made a LOT of mistakes." She looked back at him. "I know I don't deserve another chance… but please. I… I'm. So. Sorry." She wiped at her eyes, and before she had realized it, Charlie had strolled across the hall and pulled her into a hug.
"That's all I needed to hear Hermione." He leaned down and kissed her soundly on the lips. They stayed that way for what seemed like forever to Hermione, who started crying a new round of tears. He pulled away slowly, "I don't know why… but, that's all I needed to hear."
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HAHA!!! I CAN'T believe you all forgot about Jack!! During the test in Twinkling Eyes and Cheshire Grins… Hermione's brothers asked Charlie if he had a roommate… and he said yea, Jack… See… those little bits of information I randomly throw in aren't COMPLETELY random… most of the time anyways. :P
Alright, so it's a little short I know, but school started this week… so yea. I had originally planned on this chapter being longer, but… well, I like how it ends here. So yea… hope you don't mind. I hope it sort of answers the one question that you've all been begging to know. I promise they'll be even more on Irena in the next chapter.
Thanks to my awesome reviewers! I love you guys for sticking with me all this time!!!
Lixa Levine : Haha. Ok, you can hit Alin! I'm sure you're not the only person who wants to do that… (Evil smirk) Did Hermione listen enough for you?? And when are you updating:D
Weasleytwinsarehott : OMG thank you so much!! I'm gonna miss writing it. It's so entertaining, especially when a random idea pops in my head, like right now for instance. I just thought of a great filler bit. But for later on, a couple chapters in.
Snapehermionelover: Alter ego? That's not too far fetched for me. :P I hope this answers all your Irena questions… :P nd yea… the REAL Irena's too hard to figure out. And I know her. :P Heehee… yes, when Scotty and Holly show up. LOL I can't wait for that part:D
ruchie-smooch: You know who Irena is. She's the really annoying shadow… you know the really loud one that's always around… has a crush on a different guy how many times a week?? LOL OHHHHHHHH Do you mean the Irena in the story??? Oh her… well, now I hope you know who Irena is :P Yea… Scotty is fun… :P Love ya too hun:P
lemonicelolly: Yea, I'd say she has it pretty rough right now… lol. Thanks for the review!
Fahzzyquill: You want to hit Alin too? Alrighty then! You don't like Irena!? You don't really KNOW Irena yet. :P
ErikandChristine: Yes… you WILL get the punch. :P As long as I get Draco in your story. And my story's worth being late… who cares if you're fired:P
Mimi The Witch: HAHA… ok, and does this story answer your questions about Irena?
IceAngel89: Don't worry, you and Scotty will be in lots more!! I didn't forget about his ring. :P Yea… he was mean to his sister Alin… but I think he realized it.
Fireboltwiccan: Heee heee :D CLIFFY!!!! I looooooooove writing cliffies:D Sorry
nattt-tastic003: Haha… you want to just…HURT him slightly…right:P Yes… hoping is always good!
Hotkat144: Wow… another person who thinks Irena is Alin's sister… interesting.
Sapphire Alia Moondust: Thank you.
Sam's Firefly: Haha… I'm updateing as fast as I can! LOL
I r e n ii: (Rolls eyes) No… your nothing like the Irena in the story… I'm going to make her NICE!! Oh hoh ho… I am SO going to have fun with you in this fic… you're going to be like my little Voo-Doo Doll… :D (Evil smirk) I can't wait….muah ha….
Journey: Yes… thank you… everyone wants to know who Irena is….:P
Siriusforeva: Thank-you!
FredWeasleyLover1126: She's there because she's there! That's why! LOL And I'll try my best to update fast.
whedonist19: I thought the flashbacks would help. :D glad you liked it! And you're very welcome! Thanks for reviewing:D
pstibbons:O You don't think Hermione should go out with Charlie:O And yes… Alin's actions were UNFORGIVABLE… and Hermione shunning her brothers would mean… that I have no one for her to talk to… LOL
Erytha: So you kinda sort like him… :P Lots of people feel that way now…
ladyBlue Wolf: NO! Don't die!! Come back!!! It's just a cliffy!!! Don't die!!
Rupertgrintlovesmeandonlyme: Haha… ok :D
christy86: I'll be updating as fast as I can:D
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REMINDER: Anyone who STILL wants to hit/hurt/embarrass Alin… leave me a name to use in my story :D Ok, and I can't promise a PUNCH… but I can promise… something… :P
COMING UP: Scotty and Holly are coming back! Who else is coming back too? What's going to happen between Hermione and Alin… or between Charlie and Alin now? What's going to happen now at the reserve?
