AN: Hello everyone! This chapter is longer than the last one (by about 1,000 words haha) and I think a lot happens, even if the plot doesn't move forward too much. This is not really a filler chapter, even if it sort of reads like one. In the next chapter, the action will begin! I guess you'll just have to see who's in the TriWizard Tournament!
It'll be fun... For me.
Enjoy my chapter (hopefully)! Oh, and read the AN at the bottom please?
Charlie sighed, leaning her head on Harry's shoulder in the Common Room. They were sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace, huddled under a blanket.
"Harry?"
"Hmm?" He responded, sounding tired.
"I hope you know, you're still my brother. No matter what." Charlie smiled to herself. "I just can't remember if I told you that already."
"Love you, sis." Harry smiled slightly, before extracting himself from the couch. "I think I'm going to head to bed."
"Goodnight, then."
"Night Charlie." She watched silently as he walked up the stairs to the fourth year boys' dormitory.
She heard a faint giggling sound coming from the girls' staircase and looked over to see two first years girls. The blond one spoke first, "are you two dating?"
"Me and Harry?" Charlie looked disturbed.
"No," the girl with sandy brown hair clarified. "You and Krum."
"Oh," she blinked, at a loss for words. "No. I don't really know him all too well."
"Sure," they both giggled before growing serious. "Can we see your scar?"
"Lydia!" the brown haired one sighed dramatically. "What have I told you about asking people personal questions?"
"Oh, shut up, Bix. If she's bothered, she'll say so." Lydia turned back to Charlie, Bix rolling her eyes. "Are you? Bothered, that is?"
"Not at all. But you've got to come down here if you want to see it. I'm too comfortable to get up." Charlie smiled slightly as they scurried down the steps. She'd never been a fan of having a lightning shaped scar, but she was thankful her's wasn't on display all the time, like Harry's.
The two girls reached the couch and Charlie motioned for them to sit by her. Pulling her hair into a high bun, she pointed behind her right ear to the scar.
"Why is it there?" Bix asked. "Harry's is on his forehead because the curse hit him there. But surely You-Know-Who didn't fail twice?"
"Look who's asking personal questions now?" Lydia smirked at her friend.
Charlie smiled at the two. "Volde… You-Know-Who," she corrected, "shot both Harry and I with the same curse. We shared a crib that night, I think, and the spell split into me and Harry. It hit me behind the ear, and hit Harry in his forehead."
The two girls giggled again. "Goodnight, Charlotte Pheonyx Potter Black."
She grinned at the sound of her full name. Sirius had put the name 'Phoenyx' as one of her middle names after she turned a year old and her mother died. Potter had been her middle name since birth.
It may be a mouthful, she thought as she reached her bed in the dorm, but it's all I've got.
"It's not going to work!" She said in a sing-song voice. She was sitting next to Hermione in the Great Hall during a free period, watching as the Weasley twins hatched a plan to get across the Age Line Dumbledore set up.
"Oh yeah?" George asked, a smile on his face.
Fred's expression was identical. "And why is that?"
Hermione closed her book, looking up at the two redheads. "Because Dumbledore cast the Age Line. Do you really think he didn't think of an aging potion?"
"But it's genius! Use something so simple, that it tricks the line!" Someone said, and the tins responded with a grin.
Fred and George both stepped into the circle, pausing for a second to high-five each other, but as soon as they tried to put their names in, they were thrown backwards. Charlie giggled, "look at yourselves! We told you… It's Dumbledore we're talking about."
Fred looked disgruntled. "Fine! If you're so clever, how would you enter?"
"I wouldn't, being clever and all. While the adventure aspect sounds thrilling, I have absolutely no desire to die young. That being said, I would get someone of age to enter my name or simply levitate my name into the goblet. You said simplicity might work, so that would be my idea." Charlie saw that Hermione went back to reading.
"Brilliant idea, C!" George grinned. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
He floated his and Fred's names over the Age Line. When nothing happened, he slowly placed the names in the fire.
Again, nothing happened. Fred and George grinned like idiots. "We love you, Charlotte!" They both came over and tackled me into a hug, planting funny little kisses all over my forehead.
"Merlin, I hope neither of you is chosen." Charlie muttered, leaving for the library.
"Why on Earth did you help them?" Hermione asked when they reached the library.
Charlie whirled around; she had no idea her friend was following her. She sighed, handing Madam Pince the book she'd finished and went to the Transfiguration section. "I honestly didn't think it would work, 'Mione."
"You've got to tell Dumbledore. He'll know how to fix this."
"Hermione, once someone's name is entered, it stays in there until the drawing. If the name is chosen, that person is bound by a contract and therefore has to compete."
"That's barbaric!" Charlie nodded at Hermione's words. She thought that maybe, had she been old enough, she would've entered her name. She had no death wish, and no need for money, but she wanted an adventure that was planned out. One that she could control.
Not finding a book about Animagi, Charlie went to a different section and picked up a book called Quidditch: A Complete History, Let the Games Begin. She'd read it once in her first year, when she learned Harry made the House team, and decided if she couldn't watch Quidditch her fourth year, she should at least be able to read about it.
She was about to go check it out from Madam Pince when someone cleared their throat behind her. She turned around, thinking it was Hermione, and was faced with two Bulgarian guys. Hermione gave Charlie a look and a smile before leaving the library.
"Um… Hello, I am Aleksandur and zis is Radimir." The taller of the two began. "Ve vere just vondering if you vould show us around Hogs-meed?"
"Viktor could join us too," Radimir added, smiling nervously. "If zat vould make you more comfortable."
"Of course," replied Charlie, barely needing to think about it. "Do either of you like reading?"
"I do," Radimir smiled. "But Aleksandur does not."
"Great. Would it be alright with you two if I invited a friend to come along?"
"Of course, Shar-lot." Aleksandur smiled kindly. "It is your day."
Charlie grinned. This is going to be fun.
She grinned at Viktor as they walked into Hogsmeade. Behind her, Hermione and Radimir were discussing their favorite classes and books. Ahead of her, Aleksandur was discussing something with another Durmstrang boy they'd run into on the way. She and Viktor were silent, and it was nice.
They'd exchanged pleasantries when he met the group outside, and had talked of Quidditch a little when they began walking, but the silence had quickly ensued — neither of them uncomfortable enough to break it.
She spotted two redheads up ahead and called out, "Oi! Weasley!"
The two turned, identical grins on their faces. One of them called out, "what do you want, Black? On a date?"
Charlie blushed on instinct, wondering why she was blushing in the first place. Viktor leaned down and whispered in her ear, "zees are your friends? Why call each o-ter by surname?"
"It's a joke," she breathed. When he had whispered in her ear, his breath tickled her scar and she felt it tingle pleasantly. They reached the twins before she could read much into it. "I'm not on a date, fools."
"Not on a date she says, eh Freddie?" George grinned at his brother.
"Don't know if I believe her, Georgie. Looks like a date to me."
"It's not a date." A female voice said behind her. Hermione. "Radimir and Aleksandur asked Charlie if she could show them around Hogsmeade. I'm here to help."
"Herm-y-own is correct," Viktor smiled slightly, but it seemed a little forced. "I am here to explore ze area."
Fred and George gaped. Apparently they hadn't noticed it was Krum, Charlie was walking with. "You… You…"
"Well, we'd best be off. Lovely to see you two." Charlie tried to slip past the twins but Fred grabbed her elbow.
"Aww, where is our favorite girl going? Georgie, she didn't even get her kiss!"
"Since when did I become your favorite — hey!" Charlie wiped her gloved hand over her forehead where the twins had given her equally sloppy and wet kisses. "Gross!"
"How come Shar-lee is your favorite girl?" Viktor asked, confused but smiling at the twins' gimmick.
"She helped us enter the TriWizard Tournament!" Fred laughed and turned to his twin. "We'd better go, Forge, before Granger over there throttles us."
"Right you are, Gred."
And they left as quickly as they came.
"You helped zem enter? Aren't zey underage?" Radimir looked up from the book he was holding, one Hermione had lent him.
Aleksandur and his friend drew closer. "Vhat is happening?"
"Charlie didn't know it would work, if that's what you're wondering. She just had a guess and it was right." Hermione answered for her. "I honestly don't think we should talk about it much more, or else everyone will swarm us and ask us how to do it."
"Perhaps I should tell Dumbledore that hypothetically it could work. That way no one else can do it?" Charlie looked at Hermione expectantly.
"That sounds smart, Charlie. We don't want an eleven year old as Hogwarts champion."
"We don't want the twins, either," she mumbled under her breath. "Viktor and I are going to look at the Shrieking Shack."
"I think I'm going to show Radimir around a little and head towards the Three Broomsticks." Hermione smiled. "Maybe we could all meet there around noon?"
"Sounds great." Charlie turned to Aleksandur. "Did you two want to come with us?"
Aleksandur glanced at Viktor before shaking his head vigorously. "No, Darian and I vill be at Honeydukes zen will meet vit Hermio-nay and Radimir at ze Broomstick place."
Charlie smiled and grabbed Viktor's arm turning him around. "And then there were two."
He smiled down at her and for a moment wondered why Aleksandur had been adamant about not going with them. He had looked at Viktor… Did Viktor not like Aleksandur?
She decided to ask. "Do you and Aleksandur have some sort of conflict going on?"
"Vhat? No." Viktor must have seen the questioning look in Charlie's eyes because he continued, "I simply vanted your help vit some-ting."
They reached the wire fencing that circled the Shrieking Shack. "Viktor, what is it? What's wrong?"
"No-ting, I guess I just need advice." He turned to look at Charlie and she almost sucked in a breath. They were close, very close. If Charlie wanted to kiss him, all she would've had to do was lean forward a couple inches. She could feel his breath on her face and took a small step back. As comfortable as she may feel with Viktor, that was too close.
"Okay," she said, looking at her feet. "What do you need help with?"
He took a deep breath and turned to look at the Shrieking Shack. "I vant to enter the TriWizard Tournament."
"Why?" Charlie said without thinking. She was shocked. "I mean, er, what advice can I give you for that?"
"I do not know. I guess I vas hoping you t-ought it vas a good idea."
Charlie thought for a moment before responding honestly. "If you really want to do it, and I mean really, then I think it's a great idea."
He smiled at her before turning back to the shack. "So vhy is it called 'Shrieking Shack'?"
She grinned before joining him at the edge of the hill, facing the shack. "Well, there's this legend that…"
"You're ten minutes late!" Hermione screeched when they finally arrived at the Three Broomsticks. "I thought we agreed on noon, or was two hours not enough for you?"
Viktor looked a little ashamed, but Charlie just grinned. "We went to Honeydukes and Zonkos before heading here but had a quick run in with Malfoy and —"
"She punched his face," Viktor said, trying to hide his smile. "Zat boy is not nice."
"Unbelievable!" Hermione said, rolling her eyes. She scoot over in the booth, Aleksandur following suit. On the other side of the booth, Radimir and Darian did the same.
Charlie quickly sat down next to Darian. "What do you mean unbelievable! I swear we ran into him!"
Hermione just shook her head. "I leave you in good hands for two hours and you go and punch Malfoy? And on top of that got Krum —"
"Viktor," he interrupted, sitting next to Alexander.
"— Viktor, to think it was okay! You can't just go around punching everyone!"
"It vas a good punch," Viktor supplied, shrugging. "I am not a huge fan of violence but vhen called Shar-lee a —"
"Viktor," Charlie interrupted quickly. "Could I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure." He got up from his seat and walked towards the door.
"I'll meet you outside!" she called, and he walked out the door. "We're going to go play some Quidditch. See you Hermione!"
Charlie quickly ran to the door as Hermione shouted at her from the booth, completely locked in. "But wait! What did he call you?"
"How was Quidditch, sis?" Harry asked when Charlie walked into the Common Room. "Have fun?"
"Yeah. Cedric and Cho were down at the field already, so we asked if they wanted to play with us. Viktor and I won 210-40."
"Wow… Quick game."
"Yeah, maybe ten minutes." Charlie shrugged off her jacket and threw it on one of the chairs. "I guess Hermione told you? About Quidditch?"
"And some."
Charlie sighed before picking up her jacket, beginning to head for the dormitory.
"Were you not going to tell me?"
"About what?" She stopped, and tried acting innocent.
"That you're being bullied by Malfoy!"
"I'd hardly call it 'being bullied', Harry. Besides, I can handle myself. Broke his nose." Charlie faked a grin, but grew annoyed when Harry continued glaring at her. "Look, I'm fine! Viktor was there with me, so I had protection, if that's what you're worried about."
"I know you can handle yourself, Charlotte," he shouted. "But that doesn't change the fact that you didn't tell me! That's what I'm upset about."
"I'm sorry, Harry." Tears welled up in Charlie's eyes. Not because she was hurt about what Malfoy said to her, but because she had disappointed her brother. "I'm sorry."
With quick strides, Harry reached her and wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her in his familiar scent. She relaxed slightly as the tears stopped threatening to spill over. She may not say it often, but she was grateful for having Harry. Hugging him back, Charlie never wanted to let go.
Bloodtraitor… Bloodtraitor… Bloodtraitor… BLOODtraitor… BLOODTRAITOR… BLOODTRAITOR… BLOODTRAITOR!
Charlie sat up in bed, strands of hair plastered to her forehead with sweat. When thinking rationally, she knew the word 'bloodtraitor' would have no effect on her. This wasn't due to masking emotions but because Charlie really didn't care what others thought. If one of her friends had said something mean however…
The dream really hadn't been much. It started in Hogsmeade with Viktor and Malfoy, when he'd called her that word. Nothing too emotional. She'd spit back, "You act like your opinion matters to me."
She recalled that in real life, Malfoy's smug look had faltered before he started dissing her friends and family. That's when she'd punched him.
In the dream, however, his smug look stayed and he simply said, "but doesn't their's?"
He'd pointed behind her and Charlie, utterly confused, had turned around to see everyone she cared about chanting 'bloodtraitor' again and again.
It was silly, really. In hindsight, Charlie should've known it was a dream. Molly Weasley would never shout words like that at her.
Scrambling out of bed as quietly as possible, for she didn't want to wake the other girls, Charlie threw on a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie (of Dudley's to her chagrin), and tiptoed out of the girls' dormitory and into the boys. She glanced at the time when she neared Harry's bed.
Three o'clock in the morning.
Splendid, she thought, mentally cursing herself. I thought it was around five.
Either way, there was no point in going back to sleep. She reached into the trunk under Harry's bed and grabbed the invisibility cloak.
She was going to the Astronomy Tower.
She should've looked.
She really should've looked.
Looked to see if someone was already on the Astronomy Tower.
And in Charlie's defence, she usually did look, but on the way there the tears had started falling and she hadn't bothered to notice anything or anyone.
So when she took off the Invisibility cloak and saw Draco Malfoy, the tears just flowed faster. Not thinking straight, she sunk to her knees and let out a strangled sob, the platinum blond haired boy turning around in surprise.
"Black," he acknowledged, seeming uncomfortable with her crying.
Charlie tried to stop, she really did, but the dam broke and everything was being released.
"Black," he said again, firmer this time. "If you're going to be out here and crying, at least stand up."
She did as told, for once not arguing with the boy. That was likely when he really knew something was wrong.
She tried to calm herself down and felt her breathing stabilize a little, but the tears kept flowing, completely silent. She leaned against the railing desperately, trying to get as much oxygen into her lungs as possible.
Finally calming herself down enough to speak, she turned to the Slytherin standing beside her, refusing to look at him. "Hello."
She could hear the pain in her voice and mentally grimaced. She sounded pathetic.
Apparently Malfoy thought so too. "You sound pathetic."
"Sorry I don't aim for perfection," she hiccuped. "I'm also sorry I ran into you up here."
He sounded nervous for a second. "Am I… Did I make you cry?"
She looked at him, eyes wide, and noticed he hadn't gone to the Hospital Wing for his broken nose. She answered his question, "no… Well, not really."
She pulled her wand out of her pocket and he flinched. "Relax, I'm just going to fix your nose."
He looked at her, doubt in his eyes, but stayed still when she whispered, "Episkey!"
Nodding a thanks, he turned back to the railing, looking out over the Hogwarts grounds. "What did you mean 'not really'?"
"Why do you care, Malfoy?" It came out harsher than she intended, but she meant it just the same.
"I… I don't know." Charlie looked at the boy beside her. He seemed lost, like he was questioning everything, like he was recalculating everything in his head. Is there something going on between you and Krum?"
"No, we're just friends." She sighed. Malfoy was being relatively polite, and it most definitely unnerved her, but she didn't feel like questioning it at the moment. "What about you and Pansy? She hangs all over you all the time."
"No, disgusting." He said quickly, but Charlie could tell he was being truthful.
There was a long moment of silence, unlike the one with Viktor where she was comfortable. She decided to break it, "why didn't you go to the Hospital Wing? You had a broken nose that needed healing."
"I… I didn't want to go and have everyone know that you punched me."
"Why not? Embarrassed you were hit by a Gryffindor girl?"
"I mean, sort of… But I didn't want you to get in trouble." It seemed to slip out.
"Wait," Charlie's thoughts were racing. "What? Why not?"
"Because my father wants us to be friends!" He blurted. "And he's always disappointed in me whenever you get in trouble saying I should 'suck it up and not say anything'."
"What about Harry?" Charlie looked over at Malfoy and sighed when she saw he was upset.
"He hates Harry more than me. Something about a diary and freeing Dobby…" He sighed and turned to Charlie, grey eyes meeting grey eyes. "But you haven't done anything to him. Not really. That's why he wants us to be friends."
"He… What? Why does he want you to be friends with a 'bloodtraitor'?"
"I don't know, but I get lectured everyday of the summer by him because we're not." Malfoy sighed and turned back to look over the grounds. "Obviously not."
Charlie thought for a moment and the blond boy next to her. He seemed to be genuine about his father being controlling and from what Harry said about the man, she was sure it was worse that a lecture everyday. She saw how nervous his stance was, uncomfortable most likely, having said that much to her without calling her a rude name or shooting a spell at her.
Or maybe because he had divulged in her.
"I have an idea." He turned to look at her, his movements sharp. "You could tell your father that we're friends. At school, we don't have to be, not really as long as you don't provoke me like today. And during the summer we could owl a couple times to keep up the act. Basically do the bare minimum to convince him that we're friends… Or at least friendly."
"We'd have to meet in Diagon Alley next summer then. My father knows that I always meet my friends for school shopping. It'd only have to be long enough for him to see."
"Alright, then. Sounds like a plan." Charlie stepped away from the balcony railing, making sure to keep the Invisibility cloak behind her.
"Why are you helping me?" he asked.
"Because, Malfoy, as much as I may dislike you, no one deserves an over-controlling father that is cruel when he doesn't get his way."
"Black?"
"Yeah?" She was almost at the door.
"We can't keep calling each other by surnames… Even in public. My dad has eyes and ears everywhere."
There was a long pause. "Alright."
And she left. Once out of sight, she immediately slipped on the Invisibility cloak, rushing to the Common Room.
She had to tell Hermione.
AN: PLEASE READ! I have a question for you all... Should there be a love triangle, or do you want fourth year to be OCxKrum very simply. Because I love throwing curveballs, but I always think I overcomplicate things in my head... If you have an opinion, please review. Even if you don't, please review.
I'll try to update as soon as I can!
- Legend of Today