The month moved quickly, days passed in a haze of classes and homework, and Poppy was disheartened that she received another short reply from Charlie. She figured that he was busy though - he had said that, hadn't he?
She took her time to reply and sent her letter a few days later, though it was again longer than his had been. Much longer in fact, as she had also explained about Moody.
Before long, her workload overcame her again, and before she really knew it, it was the twenty-third of February and the evening before the Second Task. Esther, who had sent her roll of photo film to her parents for them to get it developed over a month ago, came running into the common room, calling, "They're here! The photos!" She waved the pack of shiny pictures in her hand.
Poppy and Cass dropped their quills and Poppy sent her parchment back to her room with a flick of her wand. She was still trying to fill in the Auror application, but imposter syndrome and fear was keeping her from answering any of the tougher questions - she was currently stuck on, Your assailant casts a Blasting Curse. What is your response?
She knew that the answer was to cast the counter-curse, but she felt like that was too easy, and was currently reading up on the laws of combat to see what she was missing.
Though really, what she needed was a stiff kick up the backside by someone. Otherwise she'd get to three days before the deadline and stressfully complete the form with last minute answers.
Esther's arrival and distraction couldn't have been more welcome.
"These are amazing! Look! You can see the Weird Sisters in the background and everything!" Cass gushed, handing Poppy a photo of the three of them waving, with the band playing behind them. "We have to put this up. Can you?" she asked, gesturing to the photo. Poppy nodded and enlarged the photo to a larger size. "Thanks."
"Fleur looks great, doesn't she?" Esther asked Poppy, smiling down at the photo of Esther, Poppy, Cass, Fleur and Mathieu. Since the ball the girls had warmed to Fleur, and had spent more time with her due to their combined friendship with Poppy.
"Is she prepared? For tomorrow I mean?" Cass asked Poppy.
Poppy shrugged. She'd not really had that much time to properly talk to Fleur about the task, and they'd agreed that they wouldn't share any secrets or give any tips this time round - all of the champions had access to the egg, so they should all be able to find out what the next task would be. Though, Fleur certainly hadn't looked as worried this time round, and had said, "I will only say zis, but I will 'ave no problems I don't zink. I have my grandmother to thank for zat."
Poppy hadn't pried. But she had thought it was a cryptic and odd thing to say. She assumed that the task had something to do with water in that case since Fleur's grandmother was a full Veela, but not wanting to spoil it for herself, she'd been trying to keep her mind from wandering and working out what the task was ahead of time.
"I think she's okay, not too worried. Kind of like Cedric," Poppy replied, watching the photo-her grinning at Mathieu, who had his back to the frame.
Cedric had seemed a lot less stressed than he had before the First Task. In fact, most of the champions had. Except maybe Krum, who was normally in the library - he'd taken to diving off the side of the Durmstrang boat to go for long swims in the lake. Poppy's friends had thought it was a little odd, but Poppy just thought that he liked the coldness, and that perhaps the exercise was better for him than Quidditch, which was technically his job outside of school.
"When was this taken?" she asked, frowning. She looked closer and realised that the navy blue robes didn't belong to Mathieu after all.
"Oh, you were talking to Percy Weasley and I snapped one. Thought you seemed happy…"
Poppy smiled and nodded. She didn't want to explain that she'd been happy to hear that Percy had said Charlie had said hi. It seemed lame now. So instead she moved onto the next photo, a great one of The Weird Sisters.
"Esther! You need to send this to The Daily Prophet, or Witch Weekly or something!" Cass said, taking the photo from Poppy. "This is the best photo I've seen of them in ages!"
Esther blushed. "No… I don't know…"
"Definitely," Poppy said, grinning.
"Here," Cass said, smiling as she handed over a photo of Fleur and Poppy grinning at each other and hugging tightly. "There are two, you should give one to Fleur."
The next day the students were all allowed to skip their morning lessons since the task began at nine-thirty, so Poppy had a little lie-in and then went to breakfast.
None of the champions were there when she arrived, not even Cedric, who had taken to having his breakfast and then staying in the hall with his girlfriend, Cho.
"Where d'you think the task is?" Cass asked interestedly, looking around.
Poppy shrugged, taking a piece of bacon from the platter in front of her. "I have an idea but I don't want to think about it really."
"Come on," Esther said, appearing suddenly behind the two girls. She grabbed them underneath their arms and began to pull them up. "The task's all set up. It's by the lake. If we go now we can get prime seats!" she hissed.
Poppy and Cass didn't need any more encouragement - they grabbed a handful of pastries each and ran, glad that they'd chosen to wear jeans, t-shirts and hoodies today, rather than their normal robes.
When they got outside they met Mathieu, who was smiling kindly. He threw an arm around Esther's shoulders and pointed towards the lake, where a large set of stands had been erected on the opposite side of the river.
"Krum's been swimming!" Cass screamed, beginning to jump up and down. "Krum's been fecking swimming!"
Poppy laughed, and then said, "Race you," and raced Cass, Mathieu and Esther all the way around the lake. They arrived and were stopped by a stern looking Professor McGonagall, who didn't seem impressed by their running.
"Choose your seats and please, show some decorum," she said, sighing and pointing to the entrance to the stands. But Poppy thought that she looked secretly pleased.
Poppy and her friends chose to sit right at the front. From there they could see everything. Mathieu had said that there was no point going higher up, as he thought the champions would go into the lake from right in front of them, and Poppy had to agree.
The judges table was set up already and clothed in gold. It was closer to the waters' edge than they were, but they didn't mind. Over the next half an hour they watched as the stands filled and they were surrounded by excited chatter.
Eventually, Dumbledore arrived with Cedric and the crowds roared. Fleur and Madame Maxime arrived afterwards, and Poppy and her friends screamed and clapped for her as well. Then Krum arrived. The noise was deafening, but Poppy wasn't sure if that was just because they were sitting in front of Krum's gaggle of excited supporters who were still following him around even though he was very definitely dating Hermione now.
"Honestly, I'd absolutely hate this one," Poppy said, watching the champions as they stretched. "I can't swim…"
"Do you think they'll be alright?" Cass asked, frowning.
Poppy smiled. "I know Fleur will be. Veela are water-dwelling creatures, aren't they? And she said her Grandmother would be proud of her, so I think she's pretty confident."
"Well, Harry might not be…" Esther mused, leaning around Mathieu who was sat on one side of Poppy, Cass sat on the other.
"What d'you mean?" Poppy asked.
"Well, he's not here, is he?" she asked, and Poppy and Cass gasped, turning around in their seats to see if he was in the crowd with Hermione and Ron. "Exactly…"
"Maybe he decided to go for a last minute practice swim and drowned?" Cass asked, tilting her head, staring at the water.
Poppy whacked her on the arm. "They wouldn't let that happen." She hoped at least…
Weirdly, Percy Weasley appeared at the judge's panel, and Poppy confusedly waved at him. He waved back, and then raised an eyebrow at Mathieu. Poppy chose to ignore it.
"Aye, here he comes," Cass said, pointing at a small speck in the distance. She began to laugh as they watched Harry run around the lake, sprinting and passing all of the stragglers who hadn't made it to the stands yet. "Look at the wee boyo run. C'mon Harry!"
Even Poppy had to purse her lips to stop herself from laughing when Harry finally stopped in front of the judges' table - he looked thoroughly unprepared, still wearing his robes from the school day before.
"My money's on Fleur," Mathieu said, raising an eyebrow. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a galleon.
Poppy laughed. "Here's the thing about Harry Potter," she said, "he always looks a bit lost. I'm sure he'll be fine."
"I've got Cedric," Esther said, proudly, handing Mathieu a galleon. "House pride."
"I'm on Ced too," Cass said, handing over her money now.
"No, there are four of us. One champion each," Mathieu said, shaking his head.
"Catch yourself on!" Cass cried. "He was my friend first and he's my captain!"
"That's true," Esther replied. "I'll take Krum then. At least he's been practising in the water…"
Poppy groaned. She hadn't brought any money with her. Cass laughed and handed Mathieu another coin. "Pay me back later," she said to Poppy, who smiled and hoped that Harry would win - she didn't know if she had much spare cash in her coin bag.
The champions were lined up along the waterline now, and Poppy tried not to laugh again at the scene. Harry really didn't look like he stood a chance, while Krum, Fleur and Cedric looked ready for the water.
Bagman's odd and loud voice echoed across the lakeside suddenly, making Poppy jump as he announced the start of the task. "They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three… two… one…"
"Taken from them? What does that mean?" Esther shouted over the commotion as the champions all moved towards the water.
"Fecked if I know," Cass shouted back.
"He's not even wearing trunks!" Poppy shouted now, throwing her hand in the air as she watched Harry remove his socks and begin to wade into the water. "I want Fleur! Let me switch!"
Mathieu laughed and shook his head. "Never in a million years. She was born for the water!" he shouted, and Poppy groaned - Fleur was already under and on her way.
"He's literally going to die of the cold before he even gets in," Poppy complained as her friends laughed. "Look, he's shivering and everything!"
And he was shivering. Harry's body was shaking violently and he began to hunch over.
Suddenly, he dived into the water and the stands roared.
Maybe he did know what he was doing after all, Poppy thought when he didn't resurface. That, or someone would have to explain to the Ministry of Magic why no one had noticed that Harry Potter had drowned within inches of the judges' table.
They realised quite quickly that there were no cameras set up, and so no way of knowing what was going on under the water. So after a few minutes of screaming their support, they sat down and Mathieu pulled a small deck of cards out of his pocket. "Exploding snap?" Cass asked, eyeing the pack up.
Esther blushed and hid her face on Mathieu's shoulder. "We've been playing together," she said, to Cass and Poppy's 'aww's.
After about half an hour, there was bubbling in the distance, and then a figure emerged, screaming and fighting in the water. Her silver hair plastered across her face.
"It's Fleur!" Mathieu shouted, standing and pointing.
The stands exploded with shocked and worried shouts, and they watched as Fleur was brought back to the shore, screaming and crying, her arms and legs covered in long cuts…
"Ze Grindylows…" she said to Madame Maxime, loud enough for Poppy and her friends to hear at the front of the crowd. She looked terrified, defeated, shaking from the attack and was screaming at her headmistress; "Je n'ai pas pu les éloigner de moi. J'ai essayé! J'ai essayé! C'est ma faute. Mais je les ai pas vu venir. Je suis tellement désolé Madame Maxime! Désolé! S'il te plaît crois moi. J'ai essayé!"
"What's she saying?" Cass asked, turning to Poppy, who frowned and shrugged. She had spent the past few months trying to learn French, but she had yet to properly understand the language, and when Fleur or the other Beauxbatons students she knew well began to speak quickly, she found herself lost.
"I'm not sure," she said quickly, turning to ask Mathieu, "she's apologising, isn't she?"
"Yes. She is saying that she tried to get the Grindylows off her but could not. We do not have Grindylows in Beauxbatons," Mathieu said quietly, his face pale; he was holding Esther close to him now. "She had no chance."
They watched Madam Pomfrey tend to Fleur's wounds, and then they waited. Fleur was beside herself, staring out to the water. Madame Maxime wrapped a towel around her and held her tightly.
"Do you think you should go, you know, comfort her or something?" Cass asked.
Poppy frowned and looked at Mathieu, who seemed preoccupied and hadn't registered Cass' answer. She shook her head. "She definitely doesn't need us right now."
Poppy didn't think she'd ever seen Fleur so distraught. Whatever she was meant to recover from below the water meant the world to her, Poppy knew that much. They could only hope someone else was able to help.
They waited anxiously, and Poppy found herself filled with nervous energy. The crowd was mostly silent, and so there was no release from her anxious thoughts. She couldn't help but watch her silver haired friend who was beginning to crack as the minutes ticked on and no one else had returned.
A gong sounded indicating that the hour mark had been reached, and even more worryingly, that no one had arrived back in time.
Mercifully, just a minute later they saw a disturbance in the water, and suddenly Cedric was there, carrying something in his arms. No, someone. He was carrying Cho Chang, his girlfriend, out of the water bridal style.
She began to wake as soon as the air hit her face, and she stared up at him as if he were the only person in the world. Though, Poppy thought, they were probably so in love that they were the only two people in their worlds.
The crowd began to cheer and chatter, but it was diminished quickly when Fleur let out a scream of anguish and sank onto her heels, and they all fell silent. Even Cedric, who was hugging and grinning at Cho, seemed upset.
"They took actual people?" Cass asked, horrified. "What if they don't get back in time?"
"Cedric's already late, we just have to hope it's a moveable time limit…" Poppy replied. "Do you know who they would have taken for Fleur?" she asked Mathieu. "She's not with Roger anymore, is she?"
He nodded solemnly, staring out to the water still. "She has a sister."
Poppy's eyes widened and she stared at Fleur again. She couldn't imagine the horror she would feel if she had to wait to see if one of her siblings was pulled out of the water (and she didn't get along well with hers!).
Her eyes flickered to Percy, who was as white as a sheet. He seemed to have understood the gravity of the situation as well now, and then it clicked.
"Ron. Harry'll be trying to save Ron," she whispered, pointing at Percy, who had dropped all of his usual gravitas and was standing by the water, peering into the murky depths.
"What about Krum?" Esther asked from Mathieu's side. "Who would Krum have? Does he have a sibling?"
"No," Cass replied quickly. "What? They did bios of all the teams who made it to the World Cup in Quidditch World last summer."
Poppy shook her head, and then turned, scanning the crowd again for her bushy haired friend - she was sure Hermione would know, she and Krum had been getting closer and closer since they'd attended the Yule Ball together. When Poppy didn't see her, she finally understood. "Hermione," she said, finally, in a shocked voice. "I think it's Hermione."
The girls behind her (Krum's fans), began to moan and cry, and Poppy turned to glare at them.
"They won't… they'll save them won't they?" Cass asked. "If they don't come back soon, someone will go out there?"
Poppy started. She'd assumed not. They turned to Esther, who was Pure-blooded, and knew more about the tournament than Cass did. Mathieu gulped audibly. He, too, knew a lot about the tournament. Esther answered for them both, "No one's meant to interfere," she said quietly. "I don't know if they've changed all of the rules…"
Poppy baulked. When Cass grabbed onto her arm, she wanted to shove her off, to say that she was overwhelmed and didn't want physical touch, but she didn't - she let Cass have the comfort even though Poppy hated it.
After what felt like hours but was merely minutes, they saw something move in the water again, and Krum emerged, shaking his head and transfiguring himself back into his normal human likeness.
"Hermione! It was Hermione!" Poppy screamed, staring at Hermione and Krum who were making their way out of the water. "Thank god!"
"Where's Harry?" Esther asked. "And his friend?"
"And Fleur's sister," Mathieu added, "where is Gabrielle?"
"Do you know her?" Esther asked, placing a hand on his chest.
Mathieu shook his head and covered her hand with his. "No, but I have a brother the same age. Fleur and I have spoken about them since Christmas. We missed them over the holidays. We are hoping they will go to Beauxbatons together…"
They fell silent again, and watched until suddenly, Harry's head popped out of the water, followed by two more. There were green heads too now, popping up around the human trio. "Merpeople!" Poppy cried. She'd only learnt about them in Care of Magical Creatures theory classes - she hadn't come across one in person yet. "I didn't even know they lived in the lake!" she shouted excitedly.
It was like a weird procession - Harry, Ron and Fleur's sister, swimming towards the shore, surrounded by Merpeople.
Poppy started to cheer and clap, but then she saw Fleur and stopped - she was fighting against Madame Maxime's arms, trying to get to the water, trying to get to her sister. It was horrible and heart-wrenching to watch, but Poppy didn't feel as though she could look away. Fleur's usual shine was gone, and it didn't feel like a moment for Poppy to be cheering on.
But, mercifully, soon enough the group approached the shore, and Fleur broke away, screaming something which was inaudible above the crowd who seemed to be cheering for everyone, now that all of the contestants and their wards had arrived back relatively unharmed.
Within minutes the champions were hearing their scores, standing lined up on the shore, watching the judges as they conjured their numbers in the air. It seemed perfunctory now, no one truly cared, the trauma of the event was too fresh. But still, they stood and accepted the numbers and finally, they were all released. Mathieu hurried away and over to Fleur, joining his fellow Beauxbatons students in congratulating her, though he was the only person to greet her sister with a hug rather than a verbal greeting.
Poppy shook her head when Cass asked if she wanted to wait until the crowd had dissipated before they headed back to the castle, and the three girls made their way back within the massive crowd in a bit of a daze.
Along the way, Poppy spotted Percy, who was still walking next to a disgruntled looking Ron, who seemed to be trying to get his brother to leave him alone. They were with the little group of champions and their hostages, being led slowly up to the castle by a very concerned looking Madam Pomfrey.
"Percy," Poppy shouted, getting the boys' attention. "I'll be back," she said to her friends, and then she ran over to the two Weasley boys and fell into step. "Ron, are you okay?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. She really did want to know. No, rather, she needed to know that he was okay. She thought about the fact that after the last task Charlie had said how worried his mum was about Harry. She couldn't imagine how distraught she would be to find out that her own son had been involved this time as well (and not as part of his job as a Dragonologist).
"What? Er, yeah, I'm fine," Ron replied, frowning at her.
"Good, good," Poppy breathed. She didn't really know what to do in situations like this, and she tried to think through what the social norms would be. She decided to do something comforting, and moved forwards to wrap her arms around the younger boy, even though she didn't know him that well. She hoped he wouldn't push her away, and luckily, he didn't. He patted her gently on the back and when dropped her arms and stepped away, he didn't say anything. She bounced on her toes, worried that she'd done the wrong thing completely, but then he said;
"I mean, I'm still a little off…" as a blush made its way onto his face.
Poppy grinned and reached out to place a hand on his shoulder. She felt awkward doing so, but she knew that when one of her friends did this for her it made her feel comforted. She hoped he would feel the same.
Percy rolled his eyes when Ron smiled and his blush deepened.
"She has a boyfriend," Percy chastised. "Come on," he said, pushing Ron away, marching him up the hill to rejoin the group which was a fair way ahead of them now.
"Why would that- Wait… Boy- uh… who?" Poppy asked, falling into step with them again, feeling her face heat up as she thought of Charlie. Had he told Percy that he liked Poppy? Had Percy assumed that they were dating from something Charlie had said? She felt her heart swell at the idea that she'd completely misunderstood the situation, and that Charlie did like her, it really was just that he was too busy to reply properly. She shouldn't have overthought, she told herself quickly. She should have trusted that Charlie-
"What?" Percy asked when she reached the Weasley duo.
"I think I should be asking you that," she replied with a hopeful smile. "I have a boyfriend now do I?"
He stared at her as if she'd grown another head. "Your boyfriend," he reiterated, "that Beauxbatons boy," he added, nodding behind her.
Poppy turned, her mouth opening in horror as a shiver of cold shot down her spine. As if in slow motion she focussed on where he was pointing and saw Mathieu, who was with his Beauxbatons friends.
"No!" Poppy said loudly in a shocked tone, turning to stare at Percy, as she walked quickly forwards to catch up with the duo again - Ron was angrily fighting against Percy, who had grabbed him by his blanket and was pulling him up the hill towards the castle quickly. "He's my friend," she said, her eyes wide and her tone sharp. "You didn't- Please say you- Percy! Did you tell Charlie he was my boyfriend?"
She didn't care that she was attracting odd looks from badgering a tournament judge, in her mind he was still Percy Weasley, who had massively effed up. So she ignored the looks and continued to stare at Percy, who went red as he walked. "Well, yes, I did."
"What did you say? Tell me, Percy!" she demanded. Ron's eyes widened and when Percy stopped in the middle of the lane, Ron managed to extract himself from Percy's hold and he ran to catch up with Harry, Hermione and the others again.
"How dare you-" Percy said, looking between Poppy and Ron, who was now halfway up the hill.
"Percival Ignatius Weasley!" she cried, stopping in front of the redhead and placing her hands angrily on her hips.
Percy gulped and looked around. He answered quickly now, seemingly conscious that they were causing a scene, and understanding that Poppy was not going to leave this alone. "I- I told him what happened at the ball. That you left with that boy during dinner, and that he was territorial later in the evening, and I realised that he was your boyfriend and so I stepped back. I-"
"What?" Poppy said quietly, putting a hand over her mouth. "This is why…"
"What's going on?" Ginny asked, appearing at Percy's elbow.
"Percy told Charlie that Mathieu was my boyfriend," she said, her eyes swimming with tears now. "And…" She looked back to Percy. "Charlie believed you?"
"I don't see why he shouldn't," he said, adjusting his robes. "I'm not in the business of lying," he said haughtily.
"Uh… Why're you shouting at my brother?" Ginny asked haughtily, appearing at Poppy's elbow.
Poppy glared at Percy again, then began to march up to the castle as her anger and upset rose. She knew if she stayed she'd take out all of her feelings on him, and that wouldn't be fair or good for either of them.
Behind her, she heard Cass ask, "What's going on?"
Before Poppy made it to the main doors of the castle, Cass had caught up with her. "Aye Poppy, slow down, love. I've left Esther to explain it all to Ginny," Cass said quickly. "I think if you write him a letter-"
"There's no point," Poppy replied, storming inside.
It was like a dam had burst, and she finally confronted her broken heartedness full on. She knew now why he had barely written, and that made her even more mad. That he thought that she would be capable of hurting him like that… that he thought she could be so cruel as to spend the night in his bed, be emotionally intimate with him and all the time have a boyfriend waiting at Hogwarts?
Merlin. She just couldn't fathom being that… unloyal to her non-existent boyfriend or to Charlie.
And the idea that Charlie was writing shorter letters to her just because he thought she had a boyfriend? How dare he? How dare he be… what? Threatened by the presence of another man? How dare he act as though she was someone's possession and he was no longer… what? Allowed? Allowed to speak to her?
"Come on, come celebrate, take your mind off it," Cass said, trying to pull her back when they reached the common room which was slowly filling up with happy people.
Poppy released herself from Cass' grasp - she couldn't handle the physical touch at the moment - and said, "No. I'm sorry, but I want to be alone."
She stormed into the dorm and paced and paced. After about an hour she took herself to the shared bathroom for a long shower but that left her vulnerable to her thoughts, and she eventually had to leave the warmth.
When she returned to the dorm room, Esther's voice carried through the open doorway. "-chocolate, she always eats that."
"Good, and…" Cass sighed loudly. "We're eejits. She'll need something to read and I've not got anything in. I'll run to the library for a book?"
Poppy sighed and hid in the bathroom until her friends left, and then she ran to her bed and pulled the curtains round as she wriggled under the covers. Her head was hot and heavy with swirling thoughts until finally she went to sleep.
She missed lunch and dinner in the end, and at one point, she wrote Charlie a letter explaining what had happened and asking under no uncertain terms why he thought that he couldn't talk to her if he thought she had a boyfriend, and then, once she'd finished, she tore it up, and instead angrily finished a section of her application to the Auror department and then went back to sleep.
When she woke the next morning, she knew that her reaction had been… different. But she also knew why it had been, and why she was still angry and sulking.
For the first time in years… ever, really, she'd felt as though someone completely understood her. And she and Charlie had a history. A camaraderie. But then he'd contacted her oddly, writing short letters until she began to think it was an issue with her, and then she'd found out that it was because he believed that she could be so heartless as to, within twelve hours of leaving him, have a boyfriend. Or, he thought she'd had the gall to be in Romania with him, share a bed with him, and have a boyfriend the entire time.
She was confused. Oh so confused.
She didn't know what to do. She couldn't get her head straight on it all, and she couldn't put her feelings into words. She wanted comfort but she didn't, she wanted normality but that didn't seem like enough. She wanted Charlie, but she didn't (but she really, really did).
In the end, she decided not to write to him about her reaction to it all - Percy would explain everything to him, surely, as she knew that the Weasleys talked amongst themselves. Or Ginny. Yes, Ginny would tell him… Well… surely someone would tell him.
So she went quiet, insular and avoidant.
She avoided Ginny for the next week and a half - she didn't want to chat to the girl about her feelings for Charlie, or the fact that she'd shouted at Percy in front of everyone… and she'd finally figured out that Ginny had been avoiding her because of Mathieu as well.
Poppy's overwhelming swirling feelings also came with a shocking level of embarrassment for full-naming Percy in front of the school - it was too far.
Luckily (or unluckily), a rather defamatory story went out on March's edition of Witch Weekly about Hermione, so Poppy's outburst against one of the Triwizard judges was largely forgotten by the gossipmongers at school.
Not that many people seemed to care anyway - the majority of Hufflepuffs thought that Poppy must have had a good reason to snap, since she was normally so calm and quiet.
Fleur was the most interested in what had happened between Poppy and Percy, asking her in no uncertain terms about the situation. But Poppy hadn't divulged that information, choosing to keep mum about it all. Cass and Esther often sent each other cryptic and worried looks, but also stayed quiet on the situation.
And so Poppy channelled all of her confused, angry and anxious energy into her Auror application instead, hoping that one day she'd be clear headed enough to write a coherent and strong letter to Charlie.
On Sunday the fifth of March, a whole five days before the cut off of the Auror programme, Poppy completed her application and began to collate everything ready to send.
"Is that a letter to your wee fella?" Cass asked, sitting up straight in her bed when she saw two letters sitting on Poppy's bed, addressed and ready to send. "Charlie I mean," she clarified when Poppy raised an eyebrow.
"Charlie's not my fella, and no, it's an apology to Percy," Poppy replied, slipping the parchment pack and letter into her bag.
Cass sighed. "Will you ever write to him?"
Poppy pursed her lips and nodded. "Of course. But every time I put quill to parchment, I realise how ridiculous my words sound. I think it's one better left for an in person chat… at the very least, I think I want him to send me a letter for me to reply to…"
"He hasn't written yet?"
"No," she replied. "I wrote ages ago now and still, nothing."
"Well promise me something?" Cass asked, and Poppy sighed but tilted her head to indicate 'yes'. "If he doesn't write, don't let that stop you from taking that job at the Sanctuary if you want it. And… and if it gets to Easter or even the summer and you're still feeling like this is all unresolved, I can help you draft something?"
Poppy smiled sadly and walked over to Cass to give her a tight hug. "Thank you," she whispered, and Cass laughed in reply.
She received an owl on the next day confirming her application to the Auror programme had been received, much to her delight, and then another on Tuesday from Gringotts, asking her to attend an interview on Saturday (meaning that she would once again miss a Hogsmeade weekend).
And by the time she reached the weekend, she still hadn't had a letter from Charlie, but it didn't hurt quite so much as it had just a week previously.