Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.
Challenges listed at the bottom.
Word Count - 753
A Little Shift
He'd been so excited to get his wings.
He'd waited, very impatiently, for his sixteenth birthday to arrive.
Charlie hadn't expected the pain of them growing, though as he writhed on the bed, he thought he probably should have thought about it, because it made sense. Wings growing out of his back was never going to be the most comfortable thing.
What he also hadn't expected, was the imbalance. He'd thought… well. Bill held them so naturally, and Charlie couldn't think of any time he'd seen his brother struggle with the added wait on his shoulders and spine.
His mum and dad, everyone else Charlie saw on a daily basis, all held them naturally too, as though they'd been born with them.
Not so much for Charlie.
He'd long dreamt of being able to glide alongside his elder brother in the setting sun, had waited and wanted for so long that he didn't know what it felt like to want that.
He was so clumsy with them.
It was ridiculous.
They smashed off door frames and walls and cupboards, each time causing pain to shoot up his back into his neck.
He even managed to trip over them once, with no idea how he'd managed it.
Why couldn't he do this? He spent hours in the garden of the Burrow, thankful that his birthday had come over the holidays, so he hadn't yet had to embarrass himself in front of his classmates.
He tried flapping them, to barely get even a draft of air. He tried holding them up and out the way Bill did when he was annoyed, only to have them hang limply from his shoulders.
He didn't understand.
He felt like he was broken, and he had no idea how he was going to fix this because he didn't know what the problem was to fix.
"You'll get the hang of it, dear," his mother said.
Fred and George and Ron all just laughed at him until their mother shouted, and Percy had tried to bore him to sleep with the physics of wings in an effort to help.
His dad had simply patted his shoulder and said he would be there to help in anyway he could if Charlie needed him.
Bill… Bill was at a loss and it was making him sad that he couldn't help his little brother. Bill spent hours trying to help Charlie learn his wings, but nothing helped.
One night, Charlie sat in the garden alone, frustration coursing through him. The new school year was drawing closer and closer and he didn't want to have people laugh at him everyday whenever he banged into something or fell over his own wings because what even was that anyway?
He read through his old favourite dragon book, trying to settle himself enough to get some sleep. The night air was warm on his skin, and he flicked the pages, his lips tilting despite himself as he watched the dragons fly around the pages.
He watched their wing movements, watched the joints and the way they moved. He wanted that.
As he watched, he shifted his own muscles, eyes widening when his wing shifted too. Paying more attention to the pages of the book, Charlie moved the way the dragons did, tiny movements, barely even noticeable on their wing joints.
…
"Bill! Bill!" he muttered, waking his brother up urgently.
"Charlie? What… what are you… it's four in the morning!"
Charlie ignored him, pulling him from his bed and down the stairs. Bill stumbled after him, rubbing at sleepy eyes.
"Charlie, what's this all about?" he complained, as Charlie pulled him outside. Bill's eyes widened when Charlie spread his wings and with a leap, took off, his wings holding him aloft as he swirled and twirled through the air.
"You're doing it," Bill whispered. "How? How did you get from… what you were like, to this?"
"Dragons," Charlie replied, a wide grin on his face. "Dragons, Bill."
Bill snorted. "Why didn't we think of that earlier? You've always been obsessed. Still though, I don't understand."
Charlie landed and picked up his book from where he'd left it lying on the bench. He held it out to Bill, pointing out the tiny movements on the joints.
"If I shift like this, I can control them," he said, his grin only widening. His eyes were alight and the excitement he'd lost had returned in full.
"I'm not broken, Bill!"
Bill softened, squeezing Charlie's shoulder. "You've never been broken, Charlie."
Written for;
Cheese Board - Bread - Sesame Seed - Imbalance
Pop Figure - Falcon - 1. Charlie Weasley / 2. Wing!Au
365. Glide
1000. 382. Wing!AU
