She didn't find anyone until right before dinner, finally coming upon the lot of them sitting around the fire when she wandered out from her dorm. "Where the hell have you been?" "I've been with the Durmstrang boys all day." Moira sighed dramatically; smiling to herself while also trying to make it seem like it wasn't a good time. "I was there too!" Bleddyn chimed in from behind the far end of the couch. "Fun. We have a problem." Charlie said, ignoring the look Moira always gave when anyone was ignoring her. "What in Merlin's name is the problem?"

"Blaise has information that I need you to get, and it's spreading." Moira immediately perked up, raising a brow and placing a perfect manicure on her knees. "Tell me, now." "It's obvious isn't it, it's about Malfoy or else she wouldn't care." Lilona sighed from her book, barely turning her head towards Moira. Charlie felt her eye twitch; looking around the room to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. "Would you please shut the fuck up?"

Sitting next to Moira, Charlie attempted to keep their conversation as private as possible. "Pansy knows the rumor that Draco might like me, the terrible tactless two trolls let it slip in front of her." "Better watch your back now." Lilona interrupted again. Charlie wanted to shove the heel of her shoe into her ear. "Blaise said there's a rumor going around to rival the other; that I like Malfoy. I don't know if Mafoy has heard that one, or the first one for that matter, but Blaise is being an ass about the lot of it. He's trying to get under my skin, and he seems to be using it to mess with Malfoy too. Avon has joined in as well, but that's most likely just because he enjoys watching people get angry. There's something Blaise is not telling me completely, which isn't a surprise, but apparently I'm a topic of Malfoy's conversation with his little clique of pricks."

Moira only smiled as Charlie stopped, the dark haired girl confused at her lack of excitement. "Well? What do you want me to do about it?" Moira replied. Staring at her in confusion, suspicion formed in the back of Charlie's mind. "Moira," Charlie started, looking the girl dead in the eye. "What are you not telling me?" She almost smacked her when Moira's grin widened, the other girl not even flinching under Charlie's glare. "Moira, tell me." She breathed out hard through her nose. "Now."

"I already knew there was a rumor spreading that you liked Malfoy, and as for Blaise not telling you what he may know, I will take care of that." Moira simply answered. It was obvious now; Moira had done something Charlie was not going to be happy about. "Moira, what the hell did you do?" Rolling her eyes at the tone of Charlie's voice, stiff and angry, the proper girl tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before continuing.

"I'm who started the rumor, even though it is not a rumor but we'll continue to call it that, that you like Malfoy."

"You WHAT?"

Moira rolled her eyes shaking her head at the outburst. "You heard me, I started the rumor." Charlie wanted to throttle her, wanted to press the chipped nail polish of her fingernails into her neck and strangle the pride right out of her best friend. Before she could do any of this, Avon wandered into the room with a shit eating grin bigger than she'd ever seen on him before.

"So, I heard Malfoy is giving you shit about talking to other men." He said as he threw himself into the couch on Moira's side, throwing his arm over the arm to land a hit precisely in Bleddyn's temple. "I swear to-""Calm down, hot head." Avon laughed, leaning away from the fist the younger Camson sent his way in retaliation before turning to Charlie. "Does high blood pressure run in your family?" Charlie rolled her eyes, fighting the urge to swing at him herself.

"Wait, what happened?" Moira turned to Charlie sharply, grabbing her arm with pointed nails. "Oh, so you don't know. How sad, guess you're not as on top of me as you thought." Charlie teased, earning a sharp tug. "Tell me now, what happened. I need to know." "Calm down, it wasn't anything special. He's just picking at me for no reason as usual." "That's not what I heard." Both girls turned to Avon, who was smiling smugly to himself.

"What exactly did you hear?" "I heard that Malfoy is-" He paused, looking at his fingernails as he pretended to form his thoughts. Charlie couldn't help but roll her eyes; he was always a drama queen. "-a little annoyed by your flirtation with the Durmstrang boys. He seems jealous, though who should know why." "That was the point of me talking to those beefed up dolts anyway, to annoy him. It worked, so what?" "It seemed to have worked too well, perhaps because he does have a thing for the loud mouth of Slytherin."

Before Charlie could respond to him Moira turned on her, looking her dead in the eye with a sharp glare as she pushed for information. "Now. What happened?" Sighing loudly, Charlie fell back into the couch. "He stalked me out of the common room, grilling me about flirting with those boys. Which was YOUR idea!" She gave Avon a pointed look, continuing when he ignored her for badgering her brother. "He made a comment that implied I would 'fool around' with the first person that showed interest, and I went off on him. It was us bickering like we always do!"

"This is different." Moira had that wild look in her eye, planning something behind those painted lashes. "He was jealous; actually jealous and not just annoyed by your pestering him. This is wonderful! This is exactly what needed to happen! I knew I made the right choice letting on that you might fancy him." "Moira, what the hell are you going on about?"

She grinned widely at Charlie, patting her arm excitedly before standing up. "You'll see, I can't tell you or you'll spoil it. But, don't for a moment think that I am not the best friend you could have ever asked for." Charlie yelped as she was suddenly pulled up, the surprisingly strong Moira linking arms with her and straitening both of their clothes. "Just trust me." Charlie couldn't help but smile at the joy in her, Moira's happiness had always been as infectious as it was rare. "Fine, but you're going to owe me." "Quite the opposite." Charlie rolled her eyes as she headed towards the Great Hall, falling into step with the girl beside her who she feared she had far too much trust in.

As they got to the hall a familiar face caught Charlie's eye, and she tugged Moira along with her to talk to someone she hadn't in far too long. She made her way to Gryffindor table to check in with Hogwarts original Beauxbatons guest. Josie Desmarais was wearing makeup to match the girl with her; Charlie smiled at the bright red lipstick that was currently clashing with her eyes. She really was a gorgeous girl; it was too bad that she wasn't as aware of it as she should be. The least Charlie could do was bring it to attention. "Someone looks nice."

Charlie held a laugh as the other girl jumped a bit in her seat at the sudden comment. Josie turned to look up at her, the confused expression on her face brightening a bit as she answered. "Thank you, so do you. You always look so nice." She turned herself on her seat to face her out of politeness, Charlie having to look down to keep eye contact as she replied. "I try, thank you." "You don't need to try, you're a fucking babe."

Covering her mouth with her hand, Charlie couldn't help but laugh. The combination of the odd off-hand comment from the Gryffindor girl sitting with Josie and the latter girls blue eyes going as wide as saucers as she glared at her friend was too much. Catching a glance at Moira standing agape next to her with disgusted judgement in her eyes made it even better. Charlie took a minute to collect herself, laughing into her palms before shaking her head in amusement and looking at the two older girls.

"I'll take the compliment." She finally replied, sticking out her hand towards the stranger after a moment of debating it. "I'm Charlie, Charlie Camson." "I know." The girl replied to her introduction, earning another chuckle from Charlie before she turned to the girl who was pulling at her arm impatiently. "This is my best friend Moira Mordred. Apparently we've got to be going back to the snobs; I don't think the socket of my arm can take any more of her tugging."

Moira finally uprooted Charlie's heels from their spot and dragged her to the Slythering table, Charlie shooting the Gryffindors an eye roll and catching a glimpse of the Weasley boys and Lee Jordan sitting across from them. Durmstrang was already seated at their table, and Moira stopped briefly to talk to some of them before continuing down to their regular spot with the rest of the fourth years and finding their quickly disappearing seats.

"Calm down, you'd think I'd set you up with a Gryffindor muggle born." Charlie shot at Moira, who glared up at her as she sat down next to Morgan. Charlie squeezed herself in between Moira and Lilona, barely noticing Draco seated across from her with his goons on each side and Blaise not far down. She did however notice Parkinson, who turned sharply to glare at her when she spoke and continued to glance heatedly at her as she settled in. "That was very embarrassing; I don't know why you hang out with such people."

Charlie rolled her eyes, looking away from Pansy and turning to Moira. "I don't hang out with them; I just like to make sure she's okay. I've never even met her friend before, but I like her." "She's vile." "And you're a prude." Charlie sighed, turning to load her plate with food as the Halloween feast began. She realized she had barely eaten since breakfast, only eating the last of the scones her father had sent her and Moira for her lunch as she finished up homework. Reaching for a plate of roasted potatoes she knocked hands with another person, looking up from listening to Moira's conversation with Lilona about the tasks the tournament might include.

The hand, much to her dismay, was attached to Pansy Parkinson. They locked eyes, and Charlie felt her skin crawl as Pansy curled her lip at her. Charlie had no reason to hate the other Slytherin girl, in fact she would probably stick up for her if it was ever needed, but Parkinson never seemed to have liked her. When she tagged along like a shadow with Blaise, she seemed to hate her because she was another girl in the group. Charlie's break into her personality seemed to fuel Parkinson's dislike for her even more, even though Charlie had never said a thing to her. She didn't even join in on calling her a pug, something her classmates said to make fun of Parkinson's facial structure.

"Sorry, you can have it first." Charlie said, letting go of the bowl and nudging it with the tips of her fingers towards the squished nosed other girl. Parkinson glanced from her, to the bowl, and then back to make eye contact again before smiling softly to herself. Charlie immediately regretted her manners and wished she had stabbed her with a fork instead. "I don't want to put on weight. But you take them; obviously you don't care about that." Parkinson smiled to herself, pleased with what seemed to be her comment on Charlie's physical appearance. From the corner of her eye Charlie caught Moira scoff and shoot Parkinson a look meant to kill, but became quickly distracted by someone else.

"Eat it; you're starting to look like an underfed penniless half breed with your bones poking out of your skin like that. At least Camson looks like she takes care of herself."

The color in Parkinson's face drained, her mouth falling open as she turned her head to look at who had spoken. Charlie finally got out of her state of shock, glancing on either side of her to find her friends all staring as well, Moira with a small grin. Charlie shared a look with her cousin. Blaise seemed to be deciding whether or not he wanted to comment, utterly annoyed with the situation that had fallen on all of them.

"I didn't know you cared so much about my health Draco." Parkinson finally said, speaking slowly and laying on the charm like she always seemed to do when she addressed him by his name. Malfoy hadn't even looked up from refilling his goblet, setting down the pitcher with enough force to slosh the contents dangerously close to the rim. He glanced at her, quirking an eyebrow in response before looking away. Charlie felt her muscles tense as his cold eyes met hers, barely breathing as she waited for what would happen next.

"I don't." He began, taking a sip from his drink before looking back at Parkinson with a sneer. "It just makes me sick." With that he went back to his meal, turning away to casually listen to whatever conversation was being had between Goyle and the Durmstrang students across from him. Parkinson deflated, half-heartedly glaring at Charlie before yanking the potatoes towards her plate.

Moira nudged Charlie's side, barely earning a glance at her smug smile from the other girl. Charlie was too busy staring at Malfoy, brow quirked in confusion as she tried to figure out what exactly had just happened. Had Draco Malfoy just stood up for her? And against one of his usual lackeys as well, that was the most confusing part. She didn't get to wonder for long, snapped out of it by Parkinson shoving the bowl towards her with a loud grind of metal on wood.

But it stayed in her mind as she continued her meal, not able to fall back into listening to her friends around her. Lost in thought, she finished her meal on muscle memory. She barely realized that she had taken an extra-large serving of her favorite desert as the feast drew to a close and their headmaster got to his feet.