And Gryffindor Rebels
Chapter 11: A Colorful Christmas
Spending Christmas with Hermione was a time Charlie cherished. Much of their winter break was spent outdoors. Snow continued to fall, day after day, as the entire Weasley clan would go outside and enjoy the cold weather.
Charlie and Hermione would stroll away from the Burrow together, hand-in-hand, bundled up collectively in winter outfits to protect themselves from the bitter cold.
On Christmas Eve, Charlie decided to take Hermione out for a ride on his broomstick as the pair had not been out flying once since winter break started.
As the two straddled Charlie's broomstick, Hermione wrapped her arms around Charlie's center, holding onto him for both body warmth and because she was still nervous about flying. Charlie flew his broomstick up and over the Burrow, as the sting from the cold surrounded Charlie and Hermione.
Charlie decided to fly his broomstick slower than he usually would have because he didn't think Hermione could handle both the freezing temperatures plus the cold wind from flying his broomstick. Quite frankly, he didn't think he would be able to handle it either.
They flew over a bundle of trees nestled together, the leaves white from the continuous snowfall. Charlie then flew the broom close to a nearby village; the village streets were packed with last-minute shoppers as the store windows were brightly lit.
Christmas lights were strung up on top of every store, the bright lights twinkling merrily against the cold, dark night. Some shoppers had their gloved hands shoved into their jackets to keep away from the cold while other shoppers had their hands full of both small and large packages.
The village courtyard had a statue memoriam. The statue was of a group of men all adorned in British military uniforms as the flag of England was behind them.
"That is from a war called World War II," Charlie commented, flying as close as he would dare towards the Muggle village, pointing at the memoriam to Hermione. "In memory of those who lost their lives during that war."
While flying in the air, more snow started to fall. Charlie flew his broomstick away from the village as they traveled on in silence. Charlie passed over a pond whose waters had completely frozen over. As Charlie and Hermione flew above it, they could clearly see their reflection on the thin ice that laced the surface of the freezing waters as snow drifted slowly down all around them.
Charlie then maneuvered his broomstick to fly into a small forest with its trees situated far apart. Charlie stopped his broomstick and turned to face Hermione. He noticed her cheeks were flushed with coldness and he smiled.
"Hermione, I wanted to tell you how happy I am you agreed to come with me back to my home over break," Charlie said.
"Charlie, I'm honestly happy you invited me. If you hadn't, I would've stayed at Hogwarts," she replied. "But, I guess the correct response would be, you're welcome."
Charlie laughed at Hermione's response. "It's just that, well, what I'm trying to say is that I'm happy I know you. That sounds weird and all but I don't know how else to tell you how I feel." Charlie turned away, embarrassed by his sudden emotional outpouring.
"Charlie, expressing yourself can be hard at times. But you can count on me, right here, right now. Don't feel ashamed. I think it's sweet, actually."
Charlie turned back around to face Hermione who was smiling at him. Her warm, brown eyes were like two pits, filled with both happiness and comfort; Charlie felt as if he could lose himself forever in her gaze.
Slowly, Charlie leaned closer and closer to Hermione. They both closed their eyes but opened them suddenly when they saw a whirl of color behind their eyelids.
Fairies started to unveil themselves out from behind thick brushes of leaves and from the branches of the forests' trees. Twinkling in red, blue, green, yellow, orange, and purple, the fairies flew around Charlie and Hermione, their light blinking in the darkness and stillness of this cold, Christmas Eve night.
Once again, Charlie and Hermione shut their eyes and leaned forward. Their lips met innocently and softly, as the fairies flew around them in a fluid, circular motion. The night was calm and silent, no wind of which to shudder from, with the snowfall as quiet as the still air. No creatures but the fairies lurked about as no human came wandering into this cluster of trees that Charlie and Hermione were hovering in.
Slowly, the two drifted apart, opening their eyes slowly. The fairies broke their path of flying and drifted upwards, their bright, twinkling, colorful lights becoming lost from the thick overgrowth of the trees.
Charlie smiled at Hermione before he turned back around and flew his broomstick out from the under the foliage of the trees and back towards the Burrow. Upon approaching his home, Charlie inwardly sighed, seeing different lights on through the windows of his home's towering structure.
As Charlie flew near the broom shed, a sudden explosion of fireworks burst suddenly in bright colors of red and purple. The blast was so sudden, Hermione loosed her grip on Charlie as she fell off the broom.
Charlie's expert seeker skills dived down and caught Hermione before she could fall onto the hard ground.
Charlie then lowered his broomstick, looking around for the source of the detonation. He then saw a small rocket launch itself towards him and Hermione.
"Get down!" Charlie screamed out suddenly, pulling Hermione down towards the ground. The rocket ricocheted off of one of the broom shed's walls and bounced back into a nearby tree. There was a loud BANG and the tree was suddenly covered in bright blue and yellow embers which floated down onto the roof of the broom shed.
Charlie looked into the darkness and suddenly realized who was causing all the sudden commotion. "Fred! George! What are you two doing!"
"We're just celebrating! What's Christmas Eve without little fireworks," asked Fred.
"You should be the one to talk, Charlie, taking Hermione on yet another broomstick ride," George countered.
"We haven't been flying once since we came back from Hogwarts," Charlie replied.
"Oh, are you not counting on the entire summer when you snuck out every night for a midnight ride," Fred asked.
"Oh shut it," Charlie said, his face burning red as he slung his broomstick over his shoulder. "Anyway, what do you think mum and dad are going to say when they know you're causing a ruckus late at night," Charlie asked.
"You call our fireworks creation a ruckus, do you," George asked. "My dear, sweet, love-struck brother, you jest."
Fred and George walked over to Charlie and Hermione, their hands filled with their own fireworks creations.
"Fred, George, how do these things work," Hermione asked. "They don't have any lighters to set them off?"
"Oh, Hermione, Hermione, Hermione, what a Muggle thing to say," Fred teased. Charlie shoved him in the shoulder, giving him a warning glare but Fred just laughed.
"Here hold these for a second," George said, shoving four rockets into Hermione's hands. Fred and George turned and took out a much bigger rocket from under the root of a tree.
"Why on earth would you put a rocket there," Charlie asked.
"Well, we did bury it so mum wouldn't find it but since the ground froze over last week, we've been hiding it here," George explained.
"We've been waiting for this night to test it, and now since the night is here and the night is young, we're going to give it a go," Fred finished.
"You're just going to launch that thing in the sky," Charlie asked, uncertain with his brother's plans for the rocket.
"Why not," they replied in unison.
"You guys are going to burn something down," Charlie said, laughing quietly.
"Dear Charlie, you have so little faith in us. How shameful," George mocked while Charlie rolled his eyes.
Suddenly, the four rockets Hermione were holding darted out of her hands, flying towards the broom shed. Fred and George's heads snapped over to the now airborne rockets, their eyes wide with wonder.
Two of the rockets collided with each other in mid-air while the other two slammed through on the broom shed's windows, shattering the glass. A sudden burst of orange and green exploded in front of the broom shed while another explosion in the shack sent out yellow and purple embers out of the newly-broken window.
The colorful embers lit up the black night as they danced around in the air before dissipating into nothingness.
"Jeez Hermione, if you were so anxious to set off the fireworks, all you had to do as ask," Fred said.
"I didn't. They just flew out of my hands," Hermione said.
"What are you doing out here!"
Fred and George's eyes widened at the sound of the voice. "Oh no! It's mum!" And within a second, the four scattered in different directions, Hermione taking off with Fred while Charlie raced in the opposite direction with George.
Charlie and George raced around to the reverse side of the broom shed. He craned his neck to look around the corner and saw Hermione and Fred take off to hide behind the trunk of the nearest tree.
"Charlie, your girlfriend is quite the troublemaker," George said, giving his older brother a wicked smile. "I didn't know she had that in her."
"I'm sure she didn't set those off on purpose, seeing as you and Fred were taking a go at her for saying something 'so Muggle'," Charlie countered.
"Listen mate, I support you and your trouble-making girlfriend," George replied, patting Charlie's back.
"Oh come off it!"
Charlie and George suddenly heard a figure approach the opposite side of the broom shed of which they were hiding.
"Oh those boys! Going off and breaking windows with their silly creations! They'll soon start deconstructing the house," came the shrill voice of Mrs. Weasley.
"Now you're girlfriend is getting us into trouble," whispered George. Charlie put up a finger to his mouth to silence him.
Mrs. Weasley stalked away from the boom shed, muttering under breath but Charlie could have sworn he heard the phrases "where did we go wrong" and "silly creations".
Once he was sure his mum had gone inside the Burrow, he and George carefully snuck around the broom shed to survey the broken window.
"Well, at least it's not too much of a fix," Charlie said. He heard footsteps behind him and saw Hermione and Fred walk towards them.
"Oh Charlie! I'm so sorry about breaking your window! I promise I'll pay for it," pleaded Hermione.
"Hermione, honestly, it's no big deal. Just a wave of a wand from dad and it'll be good as new," Charlie comforted, walking over to Hermione and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Come on, let's go back up." With that, the four headed up to the Burrow.
Inside, Charlie remembered how when Hermione first arrived at the Burrow, Charlie and Mrs. Weasley out-right refused Hermione's offer to sleep on the couch in the living room. They insisted she sleep up in Bill and Charlie's room while Bill and Charlie slept down in the living room. The three of them had gone on for ten minutes of back and forth, when Hermione finally relented.
Hermione bid everyone a good night and headed upstairs into Bill and Charlie's bedroom.
As Charlie spread out bed sheets over one of the couches, Bill asked, "So, you and Hermione are kind of serious, aren't you?"
Charlie looked over his shoulder at Bill who staring at the slowly dying fire in the grate. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."
Bill laughed and replied, "Oh you two…so young yet so in love. I was right about you all along, then."
Charlie turned around to face Bill, his arms folded over his chest, an eyebrow quirked up in confusion.
"I always said you liked Hermione. But you never had the nerve to tell her yourself. I remember watching the two of you last year. It was so obvious from you that you had feelings for her. It wasn't quite so obvious if she had feelings for you but now, I guess we know the answer to that."
"She's so different, Bill. I just like the idea of being around her and spending time with her. It feels so good and I feel at peace. I don't know why I feel the way I do, but I just do," Charlie replied, lying down on the couch that was to be his bed for the remainder of the break.
"I guess that's what love feels like," Bill suggested.
"Is this what love is? I thought it was different," Charlie replied.
"Yeah? How so?"
"I don't know…but I didn't think it was this; not that I'm complaining or anything," Charlie said.
"Well, anyway, good night Charlie," Bill said, flicking his wand as the lights went out.
"'Night Bill." The fire in the grate went out mere minutes after the two brothers bid each other a good night.
The next morning, Bill and Charlie were woken up by Ron and Ginny thundering down the stairs to open their presents. They were followed by Fred, George, Percy, Hermione, and their parents.
Everyone opened their presents from Mrs. Weasley as they all received sweatshirts she had knit with their first initials sewn into the fabric; Hermione got a midnight blue sweatshirt as she noted it was the same color as Charlie's.
Hermione had given Charlie a self-kit broom prepare for his Cleansweep Six, the broom Hermione had given to Charlie the previous year as a late Christmas present.
Charlie had gotten Hermione a necklace with a violet dragon pendent, in memory of Ailsa. Charlie had wrapped the necklace around Hermione's neck and gave her a soft kiss. She smiled as Mrs. Weasley called out, "Okay, let's all have a spot of Christmas breakfast!"
The Weasley's and Hermione all made their way into the Burrow's kitchen, Hermione sitting in between Bill and Charlie.
During the breakfast, Ginny had accidentally kicked Ron's shins which caused him to spill his Pumpkin Juice all over Fred's scrambled eggs. In retaliation, Fred threatened to fill Ron's bed with spiders which caused Ron to turn a deathly pale. Mrs. Weasley started scolding Fred for his threat to his younger brother while George, Bill, and Charlie laughed uncontrollably.
The remainder of the break was spent in peace, with the snow continuing to fall yet the happiness of family and peace was felt throughout the entire Burrow. Charlie said quite sad to say goodbye to the coziness he had felt during his entire winter break. But soon, Charlie, Hermione, Percy, Fred, and George found themselves all boarding the Hogwarts Express.
As Mrs. Weasley, Ron, and Ginny waved goodbye from the platform, Charlie and Hermione found Adam, Josh, and Tonks.
During the train ride, Charlie noted that Adam was being overly-polite to Tonks of which she seemed to notice.
"Is there something up with Adam," Hermione asked Charlie quietly. "He's been acting so strange to Tonks."
"I-well, yeah, I guess he, um, feels like he wants to um, talk to her like that," stuttered Charlie, trying to cover for one of his best friends.
"Charlie, you are a horrible liar," laughed Hermione. The tips of Charlie's ears turned scarlet at her comment.
As the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogesmade Station, Charlie and Hermione were one of the last to exit the train. However, Professor Blackwell suddenly approached them, worry etched into the lines on his face.
"Professor, did you have a good holiday," Charlie asked.
"Fine, fine holiday," he replied.
"Professor, is there something wrong," Hermione asked, noticing his hands were wrangling his scarf.
"Well, yes, something is of the matter. But I don't think you two should know about this," he replied.
Charlie and Hermione looked at one another in confusion. "Is everything alright, professor," Charlie asked.
"Alex is planning to break into the Department of Mysteries tonight."
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Well, here is the finished product of Chapter 11 of "And Gryffindor Rebels!" I hoped you all enjoyed it! Chapter 12 is a work-in-progress and will be posted sometime Friday night. Don't forget to read and review and share with your friends!