Charlie Weasley emerged from the steamy bathroom, hair still dripping from his shower, dressed in pajama pants and a tank top that showed off his muscular upper body. He walked out to the living area of the flat he shared with his best friend Jeffrey, collapsed on the couch, and closed his eyes. Jeffrey, who was snacking on leftover take-out Chinese food in the kitchen, yelled, "Finally! I swear to Merlin, you take forever in the shower!"
"Yeah, yeah." Charlie muttered back, too exhausted to say much more. Every night they had this argument. Whoever showered second always nagged the first about how long they took. Then the second person to shower would always take twice as long as the first. Jeffrey walked into the living room with a container of rice in one hand, and chopsticks in another.
"Want some?" He asked. Charlie opened one eye, looked at him, and closed it again.
"No thanks."
"Are you sure? Food's always better a day later."
"You know, I don't see how you can eat so much and stay so skinny. We already had dinner!"
"Yeah, but I'm hungry!"
"You're always hungry."
"Guilty. So did Norbert give you a hard time today? Or are you just still moping because England lost to Transylvania?"
"I'm not moping, I just think that England could have put on a better performance than they did. 390 to 10 is a bit unacceptable…not to mention humiliating."
"Yeah." Jeffrey agreed through a mouthful of rice. "I hope Pierre gets back soon. You're no fun to bother when you're this tired." Pierre, who usually worked with Charlie, was away visiting his girlfriend in Paris, so Charlie had been doing a lot of extra work by himself.
"I'm sorry." Said Charlie, not sounding sorry in the least bit.
"You're forgiven." As Jeffrey finished off the last bit of rice, they heard a pelt against their window. Jeffrey looked up from his Chinese and Charlie propped himself up on one elbow.
"What was that?" Charlie asked.
"No idea." After a pause, whatever it was begin scratching at the window.
"Is it – is it an owl?" Asked Charlie.
"I don't know. Why don't you get your lazy self up off the couch and go see." Charlie heaved a pillow at him, but stood up and walked over to the window and opened it. Something resembling a gray, feathery tennis ball began zooming around the room. "Woah! Calm that thing down!"
"How?" But shortly after the question had been established, the owl grew tired and pulled a not-so-graceful landing right onto Jeffrey's lap.
"Hey! Watch it!" He told the owl. He looked at the letter. "Something for you." He said, holding it out to Charlie. Charlie read the note, blinked twice, and read it again. "What?" Jeffrey asked. Charlie turned to him, with a huge grin on his face, and said excitedly,
"My dad got tickets to the Quidditch World Cup!"
"What? Are you serious?"
"Yes! Oh Merlin. Do you know how long I have wanted to see the World Cup?" Charlie looked as though he had just won a million Galleons.
"When is it?"
"Monday, but Dad said that he wanted me to come down as soon as I could. I can understand. I mean, I haven't seen any of my family since last summer in Egypt."
"Yeah, that's a pretty long time." Jeffrey said. "Do you reckon you can get time off with Pierre gone too?"
"Oh, you all can manage." Charlie said excitedly.