This is for THC/The Houses Competition

House: Hufflepuff

Class: Muggle Studies

Category: Standard

Prompt(s): [Word] Weasley

[Colour] Orange

Word Count: 1068

"It's orange," he stated, looking at the jumper in the box. Charlie had just unwrapped it, the brown paper sitting to the side along with the twine that had held it all shut. Luna peered over his shoulder. She'd stopped by to drop off some illustrations she'd done for Charlie. He's commented he liked how she drew the dragons, so she'd done a few pictures just for him.

"Hmm? Oh, so it is," Luna replied, reaching down and picking it up. She carefully unfolded it, taking a brief moment to marvel at the perfect little stitches, the way the yarn felt in her hands. She turned it and looked at the front. Like every other Weasley jumper, this one had a large white letter knitted on the front. Luna blinked, her face wrinkling in confusion.

"Your name doesn't start with an 'R', not unless you've changed it and forgotten to tell me. You haven't, have you?" she asked, giving him a wide-eyed look.

"I have not," Charlie answered, reaching out and taking the jumper. He shook his head.

"Good, because I can't think of a single name that starts with 'R' that suits you. Charlie fits you perfectly."

"It's obvious Mum put the wrong label on the package. Ron's the only one of us who would want something done in this ghastly color anyway."

"What's wrong with orange?" Luna asked. It wasn't her favorite color, but everyone had different tastes so it seemed wrong to insult something like a color just because you didn't care for it.

"Nothing, I guess. I just have never cared for it," Charlie said, folding the Weasley jumper and tucking it back into the box.

"Ron's favorite Quidditch team wears orange, don't they?" Luna asked, thinking back to what Ron had once told her while they were in school. That had been years ago, and Luna hadn't even thought much about Ron these last few months. She'd been helping Charlie at the reserve, taking some fascinating photographs of dragons, and working on writing several articles about the fantastical creatures. She wanted to show them in a positive light, not just as monsters. Of course, she made absolutely certain to tell people how dangerous they could be, and that they really did not make good pets.

"They do, probably why Mum decided to make his in this color. Doesn't mean they're not the worst team in the league."

"They might be, but Ron's allowed to support them if he wishes. What should we do with this, send it owl mail to Ron and hope he's got yours?" she asked.

"We could, or," Charlie paused, an idea sparking. "We could bring it with us when we go there for Christmas."

Luna blinked at him. She knew she was planning on going home for Christmas, she had told Charlie just that about a week ago. This was the first time she'd heard of him talking about leaving as well.

"I thought you weren't planning on going home for Christmas this year? Or did you say something about it and I missed it?"

"I didn't. I was planning on staying here since I knew you'd originally talked about staying."

Luna nodded. She'd only changed her mind about spending the holiday with her father recently.

"I did, but what does that have anything to do with things?" Luna asked, biting her lip slightly. It wasn't as if she and Charlie hadn't been getting closer and closer lately. They ate together almost every meal at this point. It had started as Charlie being the one who Luna had originally contacted about spending some time on the reserve. He'd been the perfect host, something Luna had found refreshing. He had made sure she felt safe here with the dragons. He'd made sure that even though she wasn't a trainer, wasn't one of them, she still was treated like she belonged. She had to admit they had so much in common that she wasn't surprised they'd started becoming friends.

"You mentioned wanting to go home and since you live practically next door, I figured I'd catch the portkey with you. No real sense in staying here by myself. And if you wanted to come over for Christmas, see the family, maybe put my mum's mind at ease that I'm not some lonely hermit-"

"You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend?" Luna asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Maybe not pretend," Charlie said softly, a faint blush starting to spread across his freckled cheeks. Luna noticed it, noticed the way he was looking at her hopefully. A small part of her heart jolted at the thought of spending the holiday with Charlie, of holding his hand under the table, of maybe kissing under the mistletoe, that was if it wasn't entirely full of nargles.

"Charlie Weasley, are you asking me to have Christmas dinner as your date?" she asked, wanting to make absolutely sure she was understanding him correctly.

"Only if you're interested, I mean, you don't have to, if you're not interested-"

Charlie's rambling was interrupted by Luna's soft laugh. It wasn't a mean laugh, not one making fun of him for the invitation. No, it was a laugh of mirth.

"I would love to come with you, Charlie and meet your family as your girlfriend. Did you want to owl them, or leave it a surprise? I find surprises are so much more fun. I'll owl my father though, let him know I won't be spending the whole holiday at home," she added, giving him a wink.

"Let's leave our coming as a surprise. Hopefully Ron does bring my jumper though, I would hate to be stuck with this one. Not only is it too small, I really do hate orange," Charlie muttered.

"I'm sure he will, or he'll send it owl post to the reserve, either way, I doubt he wants a Weasley jumper with a large 'C' on the front, probably in forest green since that is your favorite color."

"Ron hates green."

"Right then, you should probably get on with your rounds, I know the dragons won't understand you being late. I've got to finish this set of notes before we leave tomorrow."

"I'll see you at lunch?"

"It's a date," Luna laughed, giving Charlie a smile before heading off to get some work done.