Chapter 2- History and Romance
"Right, Ginny," Tonks said with a laugh. "Me go on a date with Charred."
"Where did you come up with that name?" Ginny asked, putting away some of her clothes.
"His potions used to always explode, and he had this thing about his friends calling him 'Char'," Tonks explained. "I mean, really, what an idiot. 'Call me Char.'" Tonks rolled her eyes after doing an impression.
"You know, he still is my brother," Ginny said, sitting in the chair at the vanity. "And he's a bit different than he was then, I'm sure."
"Still same old Charred that I knew," Tonks said. "Besides, I'm sure if I agreed to your lovely matchmaking scheme, he wouldn't."
Ginny shrugged it off and started putting things away. "So you're stuck with me now, huh? What happens when I go on dates? We would need to find you someone to make it look convincing that you're just there, right?"
"I have an invisibility cloak for such occasions." Ginny gave a look that told Tonks she didn't like the idea of having an official spy. "Don't worry, I'll turn away whenever you kiss Harry," Tonks said.
"Who said it would be Harry?" Ginny asked with a bit of sass.
"Like you have to pretend."
"Harry and I have agreed to not go steady. It's best that we see other people."
"Neither of you have been following that," Tonks said. "Either way, if it makes you feel better, I'll get myself a date."
"As long as it's not Moody," Ginny retorted. Tonks started laughing. "Constant vigilance of the dinner prices," Ginny said, mimicking the old Auror.
"Even if Mungo's let him leave long enough for a date, I think I'd pass. He's older than my granddad," Tonks said, standing. "I should probably unpack my things, holler if you need anything."
Tonks walked up to the room Molly had said she could use for the summer. Her luggage was already next to the closet. With a sigh she picked it up and laid it on the bed, putting the contents in neat piles.
"Why are you in my room?" an ornery voice asked from the door frame.
Tonks turned around and rolled her eyes. "Molly said I could sleep in here," Tonks said.
"In my room?" Charlie asked with a sour expression.
"I thought you lived in Romania," Tonks replied, making a point of taking her clothes and placing them in the drawers. "Silly me, I thought that was another country. I suppose that I should have studied my geography more."
Charlie went red around the ears as he tried to think of something to come back with, but nothing came to mind. "Why are you staying here anyway? You're not a part of the family," he said lamely.
"I'd like to see you use that argument with your mum," Tonks finished puttingaway her shirts and started on her undergarments.
"What are you… stop that! Put those back in your suitcase, you're not staying here," Charlie said, walking over and grabbing Tonks's underwear from her.
Tonks took her clothes back and looked at Charlie. "It's not your room anymore, and whether or not you like it, I am staying here," she said.
Charlie continued the war by taking the underwear in hand again. "You can sleep somewhere else then!"
"Goodness, youtwo move along fast," Ginny said from outside the door.
Charlie looked down at the lingerie in his hand and shoved it back into Tonks's hands with a red face. "Did you need something Ginny?" Tonks asked, walking to the dresser and putting the handful of underclothes away, unfazed.
"I was just wondering if you wanted to go down to the pond with me," Ginny said. She looked between Charlie and Tonks for a moment.
"Sure, I'll be ready in a few," Tonks said.
"Thanks," Ginny said. "See you later."
"See ya," Charlie said in much kinder tones than he had used when alone with Tonks. He watched his sister leave before turning back to the other woman in the room. "Where's my stuff then?" he asked, back to the sharp tone.
"I don't know," Tonks said. "Why don't you follow your nose to it?"
Charlie, unable to handle another comment withoutthe abilityto respond, left the room and stalked down the stairs.
Tonks rolled her eyes and continued to unpack.
"Who does she think she is, coming here and just taking my room?" Charlie asked.
"It really isn't your room anymore, though, is it?" Ron said, sitting in Percy's old room watching Charlie take out his own things. He didn't bother organizing, but threw a bunch of it in different areas. "I mean, you haven't lived here for a while now and—"
"It's still my room," Charlie said.
Ron looked at Hermione, who was walking behind Charlie and folding his things neatly. "She is a guest, though. Can't you just be the bigger person here?"
"Bigger person," Charlie scoffed. "If you only understood what happened at Hogwarts. Nymphadora was the biggest, rudest, most horrible snot-nosed girl I had ever met."
"What happened? I mean, really, you both talk about how awful it was between the two of you, but what happened?" Ron asked, leaning forward.
Charlie sat on the bed—not his own, he kept in mind. "She never liked me," he said. "For some reason, she started pulling pranks on me. Granted, they were rather stupid at first. She couldn't make it work, but by my third year she had this little posse of friends who couldn't seem to stop. Finally, inmy fifth year," Charlie stopped looking down. "Let's just say she went too far."
"What did she do?" Ron asked, now leaning so far in, he could almost fall over.
"Oh, please," Hermione said, straightening Ron. "It's obvious he doesn't want to talk about it."
"Come on, that could just be a story-telling devise," Ron said, pointing to Charlie.
Charlie smiled. "No, Hermione's right on this one."
"Hermione's always right," Ron mumbled and sat back in his chair.
Hermione gave a glare to Ron before turning back to Charlie. "Tonks and Ginny get along really well. She's even planned on going with Ginny to Italy, so I'd suggest you fake getting along," Hermione advised.
"Right," Charlie laughed. "You go on and tell Nymphadora to do the same then."
"I will," Hermione said, heading for the door. "But I'd first like to tell you she doesn't like being called by her first name. I would start there."
Hermione left the room and started down the stairs. "I think I'm going to stay here for a bit," Ron said looking out the door.
"Why?" Charlie asked, without enthusiasm.
"When Hermione's on the peacemaking path… there's bound to be war of some kind," he explained and summoned two fire whiskeys.
"Wotcher Hermione!" Tonks shouted from the pier. She had made herself very tan for the swimming trip in combination with short brown hair.
"Hey Tonks," Hermione responded, walking up to where Ginny was sitting on a towel, hair already wet from having taken a quick dip. Hermione made herself comfortable next to Ginny and watched Tonks dive off the pier.
"Any hope for the two?" Hermione asked quietly.
"It doesn't look like it, but he was holding her underwear today," Ginny said, waiting for the reaction she knew would come from Hermione than laughing.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing," Ginny said. "They don't seem to click the way we had hoped."
"What are you two talking about?" Tonks asked, walking out of the pond.
Ginny and Hermione looked at each other and laughed. "Just this rivalry between Charlie and you," Hermione said after gaining control.
"Oh that," Tonks said shortly. "It's a long story."
"So I've heard," Hermione said. "What happened his fifth year? He said that's when you stepped over the line."
Tonks gave a frustrated growl. "What an idiot," she exclaimed.
"What?" Ginny asked, confused.
"Charred blamed me for his girlfriend moving away, and apparently he still does."
"How could it have been your fault?" Hermione asked.
"There was a terrible rumor going around about her father being the leader of an underground operation. It must have been true, because she was taken out of the school once it reached the ears of authorities she was pulled from Hogwarts," Tonks said. "He likes to think I started it."
"Did you?" Ginny asked.
"A friend of mine did, but that's another story in and of itself," Tonks said, wiping herself down with a towel.
"Wow, to think one of my brothers with a romance story."
"Hey!" Hermione exclaimed with a look. "What am I, fried liver?"
"Fine, fine, but I never imagined Charlie with a story like that," Ginny said. "What was her name?"
"Nora," Tonks let roll off her tongue. "She was a Hufflepuff in my year," she continued.
"I've never seen any pictures of him with a girl," Hermione said. "And trust me, I think I've seen all the pictures your mother has."
"As far as I know, he didn't date anyone after that," Tonks said. "Hence why he probably won't ever forgive me."
Silence fell over the three as they soaked up a bit of sun. Ginny looked at her arms. "I think it's time to go in, before I get a burn."
"Yeah," Hermione said, standing and holding out her hand to help Ginny up.
They all started to walk in. "Girls, it would be best to not mention Nora," Tonks said.
"Yet another secret," Ginny said with a sigh.
A/N: Slow moving on getting reviews... methinks I didn't pick a good time to start up a story. Ya'll are probably busy with school.
Anyway, review! The chapters will come along faster (the secret is... I already have chapters three and four written... they're just waiting to be posted.)
Thank You:
Hermione30: My guess is you've already read this chapter lol. Thanks for the review and the compliments. And no, this won't be filled with just a bunch of fluff. I'm really liking this version of Charlie. He makes me laugh.
Pedagogie: Well here's more for ya lol... hopefully it actually sends out alerts this time... though I don't know if you're even on that list... eh... have fun reading!
Spacemonkeylover: Thanks. When I saw how close their ages were on lexicon, I couldn't help but think of them knowing each other... and it's more fun than having them never meeting before and just falling in love at first sight... like I said, I'm having fun with this version of Charlie!
Shading in Grey: lol rivalry is so much fun! I love it! Thanks a ton for the review.
