At the Moment

A HariPo fanfic

by mew-tsubaki

Note: J.K. Rowling's characters are in another companion story to my fics To the Future, From the Past, and In the Present. As usual, there are O.C.s, but duh, because Charlie's with an O.C. Anywho, please enjoy the story and let me know what you think of it in a review. BTW: I don't know how many chapters this'll last, but it will be shorter than the companion stories.

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The First Insinuation (& the Tenth Hint)

Miraphina met Charlie nearly every night in the library now. Well, not much time had passed. The rest of that week played out, and May was soon ending. But Mira hadn't seen much of Ginny lately. Her best friend hadn't really been around except for in classes. After all, the same day Ginny had run from lunch like a mad woman had been the same day that she and Sirius were found by Dumbledore. The headmaster had owled her parents, Sirius's seventh year Defense Against the Dark Arts class had been passed to Professor Lupin, and a Distance Charm had been placed to keep Sirius and Ginny twenty meters away from each other at all times. Depression clung to Mira's friend, and Ginny had withdrawn herself from their group of friends. It was too much at once, so Mira kinda understood why she hadn't seen the girl a lot lately. Of course, Mira hadn't spent much extra time with her friends, either; a certain Care for Magical Creatures professor was occupying her free time.

"She's probably meeting Black secretly behind our backs," Charlie groused on one such library-visiting night.

"Or she just doesn't want to be with everyone right now," Mira offered while she doodled in her notebook. "After all, the headmaster put a Distance Charm on them to ensure that they'd stay away from each other until the end of the school year. They're both just waiting it out."

Charlie grimaced, but covered his grimace with the palm of his hand as he cupped his chin. "Shouldn't you be studying?"

Mira finished doodling her daisy and put down her quill. "Shouldn't you be bothering girls your own age?"

There was that something unreadable in his eyes again, the same thing she had been witnessing a lot in those blue eyes lately. And he only ever got it when she mentioned vaguely that he was spending most of his time with her.

"Sorry," she mumbled, putting away her quill.

His free hand covered hers. "May I?" he asked, and he took the quill when she nodded. He drew many curved, clustered lines. It was a minute before she realized he was drawing a Hungarian Horntail. "Laurel flew away again."

Mira didn't say anything. She knew better than to offer her own opinion when Charlie talked about the personal things that perturbed him. She also knew that his lover-mate being a were-dragon was taking a toll on him.

"She's been gone for four days now," he continued. He stopped drawing. "She's gotten very sick of me." Charlie lifted his eyes slowly from the paper to Mira's face. They lingered elsewhere before resting on her eyes.

"I've wondered…," Miraphina began, knowing she was heading into treacherous territory here. "Why is she always mad at you? What makes her fly off for days at a time, Charlie?"

He sighed and rolled his shoulders. "It's complicated, Mir."

She ignored the bit of joy that surged at her new nickname, this one that only he had for her. "I'm a smart girl."

"At first, she wanted to meet my family."

"Naturally," the witch stated.

"Then she wanted to spend even more time with me."

"But you usually spent your time with her."

He nodded, paling as he looked out the window. "The main cause is that… She-"

"-wants kids," Mira finished, hating that she could read him so well. Maybe it wasn't her; maybe he was just too easy to read…but either way hurt Miraphina. "Most women do at some point. We've got biological clocks, y'know."

Charlie reddened, embarrassed that he had reached the topic with her. "Yeah, but… I don't want kids with her." He paused. "I don't really want any kids right now."

"Of course not," the curvy brunette said bitterly. "Most men don't."

He shot her a dirty look. "I will some day, mind you. Just not right now."

Mira sighed and gathered her hair over her shoulder again. It was a habit of hers, to play with her hair when she was lost in thought. Tonight, one new thing entered her thought. She saw Charlie reached out and tugged her hair as he playfully did sometimes. She saw Charlie leaned forward over the table staring at her, an intensely passionate look in his blue, blue eyes as she'd never before seen. She watched him close the gap between them, his breath sweet and warm as it brushed over her nose and cheeks. She felt the taste of his lips as he kissed her, the two of them ceasing to be anything but one entity. She closed her eyes as he kissed her further, just enjoying those sweet kisses. Her thoughts tormented her so.

Mira sighed happily and unhappily at the same time, knowing that when she opened her eyes, her mind's eye would run away with those pleasant daydreams. When she finally lifted her eyelids, her face felt warm. But it was not because of the romantic thought she was having.

It was because those thoughts hadn't been thoughts at all. Her mind's eye had not carried her off to another world.

Charlie's face was right in front of hers, his lips moist, as if they had just been kissed. His eyes crinkled as he half-smiled. "Sorry," he muttered.

Mira's heart nearly stopped like it had before when she had first realized that he was the one from Trelawney's reading.

Charlie hadn't been a daydream just now.

He had actually kissed her.

Her muscles tensed and relaxed over and over again. She wasn't sure what to do, what to say, how to look. This was not something she expected of him.

Was this really Charlie?

"Sorry," he repeated, but he didn't even half-smile this time. "I didn't mean to frighten you. I guess I-

Mira abruptly stood. "You dinnit froightin me, Chalie," she spluttered. And she realized her mistake there.

"Mir, you only ever speak in your true cockney accent went you're completely frazzled," he said with a smile, a laugh in his voice. "Do I make you frazzled, Mir?"

She shook her head, everything clear and confused, focused and unfocused at once. "Stuppit. Stuppit now!" She shoved him away, though his hands caught hers and gave her a squeeze.

"Mir, you felt it. That time when we walked and talked in the forest. That time it was the spark, and it grew as we talked more and leaned on each other more. It had already been growing from the first small conversation we had. You felt it, didn't you?" Doubt was leaking into his expression and tone now, but Mira didn't know what to do.

"Yer a ruddy git!!" she yelled at him. She grabbed his shirt collar, yanked him down for another kiss, slapped him, and ran. She couldn't think of anything else to do but go to bed.

Why had he done that?! He confirmed what she felt and thought she saw he felt, and all with that kiss!! And she had no idea what to do!!!

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That was a royal mess, Charlie snarled to himself as he entered his hut that night. He was most grateful for Laurel's absence tonight, because he didn't know what he'd say after what had happened with Mira.

He had been pretty sure that she felt the same way about him. All their time spent together, all their talks, the smiles, the secret double-takes, the thought about the other that they could perceive in the other one's face –he had thought Mira loved him like he did her.

Charlie lay awake on his bed. Had he really just said the l-word?

The wizard turned on his side, blushing furiously as he thought of the Hufflepuff. Yes, he had enjoyed the bits of conversation with Mira before, but it had only taken him one month to fall in love with her.

And screw that up, he noted, replaying the scene in the library. She didn't seem like she knew what she wanted to do, eventually deciding on yelling at him, kissing him, slapping him, and then running. Not typical of a girl who's in love with you.

Then again… She had kissed him, in an albeit hazy whirlwind of actions. And her eyes spoke to him, too. They told him all was not lost. But his temper raged. Did she really have to slap him?!

He finally drifted off to sleep an hour later, thoughts of Mira plaguing his dreams.

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Honestly, I wasn't expecting that to happen. I'm glad that the story finally got a mind of its own, but look at what these two have done!! *mock-horror* Oh, well. Mira's a lucky girl to have kissed the Care for Magical Creatures professor.

Review if you agree!! XD har, har

-mew-tsubaki

P.S. –Yes, 10 was ransomed by o0Black-Sand0o. Who knows when I'll post another chappie? Hopefully soon! After all, 11's a nice build-up and 12… Well, let's just say that it'll be the favorite chapter. *smiles* NOW GO READ AND REVIEW!!!