Charlie had been waiting, undercover, on the street where Harry Potter lived all day with Draco Malfoy, who kept leering at her. A year older, and a lot more experienced and enthusiastic about this work than she was, Charlie was rather scared of him. He kept trying to put his arm around her, boasting of his past acheivements.
"You know last year, at Hogwarts? You were there, you must have heard about it, I killed Dumbledore. Yep. Just like that. He said 'No, Draco don't, you're really powerful you could rule this school just please don't kill me' and I was like, 'ha' and blasted him right out of the window. Your old man was thrilled with me you know. That's why he gave me this job. With you…" he looked at her suggestively.
Charlie closed her eyes and looked away, trying not to let him see her disgust. She knew perfectly well it wasn't him who killed Dumbledore, and the only reason he was still alive was because his mother and Snape had pleaded. But she was too frightened of Malfoy to let him know that.
Suddenly Malfoy screeched in excitement. It was lucky they had cast the Muffliato charm or the mission would have immediately failed, as Harry Potter was walking down the street, looking around suspiciously.
"Yes! Right, it's up to you now, you better do this right, and if you do-" Malfoy squeezed her arse. "I'll give you a reward you won't forget…" he winked at her, and she gave a fake smile, then walked away disgustedly. The plan was for her to follow Harry into town and start a conversation somehow. For once he didn't have any of his friends around him-they were still at Hogwarts.
Charlie managed to follow him into the local town where he was doing some food shopping. Although he was obviously a very suspicious person, always looking around, and never giving eye contact, she did not let him see her the whole journey. She followed him into a shop, then carefully placed herself…
"Woah, sorry. Let me help you." He picked up the bag of frozen peas she had been holding and smiled at her. "Hey, don't I know you…?"
"Er, yeah, I, er, went to Hogwarts, but my, erm…mum, yeah, my mum took me out when, er, Dumbledore died…" she was silently impressed at her fast thinking.
"What? Wow small world, meeting another magical person in this Muggle community. Are your parents magical?" he smiled pleasantly, though Charlie saw his eyes were full of sadness from when she had mentioned Dumbledore. Deep down, she felt something stir. A new feeling, growing in the pit of her stomach. She squashed it down and carried on talking.
"I don't live with my dad, but my mum is pure-blood and I think my dad's half blood, so, er, I guess I'm ¾ blood!" she laughed nervously, cursing inside at the terrible joke she had just made. But he smiled politely at her.
"Well, I sure could use some magical folk to hang around with…do you wanna come visit sometime? I live on my own in a flat, it's pretty lonely…"
Charlie agreed, and they said goodbye. She was invited to hang out with Harry Potter! The feeling in her stomach started to grow, until she remembered her father's orders, and the feeling was squashed once more.
She walked out of the shop, very glum indeed.
Note: Hehehehehe in an English Patient Ralph says 'it's a very plum plum' hehehehehe awww I wuv him…