AN: Hello everyone! This is a long overdue chapter but there is some action so... Hope it's good? I honestly don't even know at this point.
Next chapter will continue where this leaves off (most likely) and will have first task (maybe second and Yule Ball too?) then there will be the 'fun' chapter... Then the conclusion! If the next chapter does not include the second task and Yule Ball, then this story may be six chapters instead of five.
Enjoy?
"Hmm?" Hermione mumbled as she slowly woke up that morning. Charlie almost felt bad for waking her, but quickly shoved the thought out of her mind. "What time is it?"
"Half past four."
"Charlie!" she whined, rubbing her eyes groggily. "That's too early, even for me!"
"You were going to get up in an hour. You'll live." She waited for Hermione to wake up a little more before continuing, "I have something to tell you."
Immediately Hermione sat up straighter.
"Malfoy and I… Well, he… He…"
"Oh, Godric! Don't tell me you two are dating!" Hermione burst, momentarily forgetting to be quiet. She quickly covering her mouth with her hands, eyes wide.
Charlie glanced at the three other girls in the room. Parvati and Lavender hadn't stirred, but Alix was sitting straight up, a wide grin settled on her features. "Charlie's got a boyfriend? Did Krum finally ask you out?"
Before Charlie could ask why on Earth she thought Viktor Krum would ask her out, Alix hurriedly got up her bed and sprung towards the two girls, landing on Hermione's bed with a soft giggle. "Tell me everything!"
"It wasn't Krum," Hermione corrected. "We're talking about Malfoy!"
"Bloody hell! You're dating the slick git?" Alix almost forgot to whisper. "Why in Merlin's name would you do that?"
"I'm not!" Charlie hissed. "Look, 'Mione, Ali… Malfoy didn't ask me out, and if he had, I would've said no."
"But then why… What did he do?"
Charlie paused. She hadn't planned on telling Alix about their arrangement right away, knowing that the girl would tease her constantly about it. Even so, Alix was the closest she had to a best friend, save Hermione of course.
"He asked me to be his friend."
"Oi, Georgie! Look who's hungover!" Fred cried out at breakfast a couple days later, smirking slightly at Charlie.
She continued piling chocolate chip pancakes on her breakfast plate, ignoring the moans of the friend beside her.
Alix was, in fact, hungover.
"Freddie, you couldn't possibly mean our little Ali?" He wore an identical smirk to Fred's. He sent Charlie a quick wink before sliding himself to the seat across from Alix. Just before he could do anything funny — most likely speak loudly — Alix looked up sharply.
"I'll have you know, that if you even so much as look at me the wrong way this morning, I'll hex you into next Tuesday," she growled.
George simply grinned at her. Alix quickly stood up and grabbed him by the ear, dragging the poor boy out of the Great Hall. Charlie tried to hide her smile, but when she saw Fred doing the same, she grinned broadly.
Fred smirked at her again, scooting closer to her on the bench. "Alone at last."
She decided to play along, smiling coyly. "Yes, I thought they'd never leave."
"Well darling," Fred continued, scooting even closer to her. "I don't suppose that we could… Oh, I don't know… Eat?"
"Oh, you mean in peace?" Charlie looked thoughtful for a moment. "I suppose now that they're gone, it's quite possible."
Fred grinned and resumed shoving sausages in his mouth, quickly moving from her side to chat with Lee Jordan about something.
For the first time that morning, Charlie wondered where Harry and Ron were. She knew Hermione was in the library looking into House elves, and she'd just seen Alix run off with George…
"Charlotte?" A male voice called softly in front of her.
Startled, she looked up quickly to see Cedric Diggory standing in front of her, a shy smile on his face. "Um… Hi."
Needless to say she felt like an idiot. 'Hi'? Really?
"Well, I was wondering if I could speak with you?" He paused, looking at the Gryffindors around them that suddenly grew very quiet. "Alone?"
"Sure, Cedric." Charlie got up from the breakfast table and finally saw Harry and Ron walk into the Great Hall. She waved them over. "I'll see you two later."
Walking out of the Great Hall with Cedric, Charlie could feel people's eyes on her. Once she and Cedric reached the other side of the doors, he stopped.
"What's this about, Cedric?" Charlie asked, confusion written on her features.
"Professor Sprout told me you're struggling in Herbology and that she was looking for someone to tutor you. I said that I'd help, as long as you were okay with that." Cedric looked a little nervous, but his eyes still held their kind smile.
"Of course, that'd be great." Charlie grinned. "With your help I may actually pass with something other than a Dreadful."
Cedric laughed, "we can start tomorrow, if you like? When's your free period?"
"Right after lunch," Charlie replied.
"Me too. Maybe we can work together after lunch two times a week and after dinner once a week?"
"Sounds great." Charlie smiled at the sixth year in front of her. She always did have a tiny crush on him, but that's all it was: tiny. She had a feeling she'd be over that fairly quickly.
But she wasn't over it yet.
"Has anyone seen George?" Hermione asked, sitting by the Black Lake with Charlie, Alix, Fred, Harry, and Ron. Fred had recently stopped by, wanting to know what Charlie and Cedric talked about that morning.
"No," Fred replied, a frown on his face. "Haven't seen him since breakfast."
"You probably won't see him till next Tuesday, remember Freddie?" Alix smirked as a look of pure horror flashed across the older boy's features.
"Merlin's beard woman!" He yelled as he ran back to the castle.
The five remaining Gryffindors laughed, before Alix, too, stood up. "I should go make sure Fred doesn't trash the Common Room looking for his twin. I'll see you four later?"
"Sure, Ali," Ron grinned. "You'll sit with us for the Tournament name drawing?"
"Of course." She skipped away.
Charlie smiled at the girl before turning to three-fourths of the Golden Quartette (Ali was better friends with the twins). "Who do you think will be chosen?"
"VICTOR KRUM!" Dumbledore announced, sending the Durmstrang students into a loud applause.
"I think he's staring at you, 'Mione." Charlie whispered, a small smile on her face.
"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Charlotte." Hermione smirked. "He's looking at you."
"W-what?" Charlie's head snapped in the opposite direction to look at Viktor. When the two made eye contact, she gave an involuntary shiver. "Oh."
"The champion from Beauxbatons is… FLEUR DELACOUR!"
Cheering could be heard all around the Great Hall, especially from the other French girls, even if they did seem a little disappointed.
"Finally, the champion from Hogwarts is… CEDRIC DIGGORY!"
Charlie's mouth would have easily hung open had it not been for Hermione's hand gripping hers. Charlie was relieved it wasn't either one of the twins, but her friend… her tutor… her —
Cedric walked by the two Gryffindor girls and reached out to brush Charlie's hand with his fingers. Her eyes snapped to focus on him, but he'd already disappeared.
"Now that we have our three champions, we —" Dumbledore was cut off by the Goblet turning red once more.
Four champions, Charlie thought, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Aren't there only supposed to be three?
Dumbledore snatched the scrap of paper out of the air and slowly unfolded it. "HARRY POTTER!"
Hermione quickly shoved Harry into a standing position and Charlie could only watch as her brother walked towards their very angry Headmaster. The two disappeared to where the champions were gathered and immediately the Great Hall broke into whispers.
Charlie stood up, feeling numb. "I think I'm going to be sick."
Alix stood up and ran to follow her.
Alix Harris had been dead for a little over a week and all Charlie could do was go through the motions.
Even she didn't really know what happened. They had reached Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and charged in, but someone was already there, waiting for her.
He apparently hadn't counted on a third party. He'd quickly killed Alix with a flick of his wand and sent a spell in Charlie's direction, but she snapped out of it quick enough to dodge.
It was Peter fucking Pettigrew.
She desperately wanted to kill the bastard after her last year at Hogwarts, but knew he was more valuable alive.
Even after he killed one of her best friends right in front of her, she couldn't bring herself to kill the rat of a man.
All she could send was a simple, "Stupefy!" in his direction.
He Disapparated with a pop and Charlie screamed in frustration and sorrow.
Only Dumbledore, McGonagall, some of the Gryffindors, Cedric, Viktor, and oddly enough Draco Malfoy believed her.
She wished Alix hadn't followed her into the bathroom, hadn't been there to make her feel better. If she hadn't followed Charlie, she'd be alive.
Cedric told her to stop thinking like that.
Harry told her to not worry about him in the Tournament.
Viktor told her that he'd try to protect her.
She'd responded with, "I don't want anybody's protection."
Hermione said, "too bad."
Ron added, "you're stuck with us."
There was no homework for a week after Alix's death and Charlie was grateful. She knew she wouldn't have been able to keep up if they'd started up again right away. She wouldn't be over her death in a week, but she was grateful for the break.
It was her first day back in classes when Professor Snape called her into his office. "Dumbledore wanted me to teach you some ways of defending yourself, since you seem so keen on not relying on others."
"What, you think I should let everyone die for me? My friends are all I have left. You got my Godfather kicked out of the school. You know my dad, he's not around. My mom died before I could even know who she was… I don't even know her name! So I'm sorry if I don't want anyone to follow me somewhere and get killed!"
Snape looked at her calculatingly for a moment before muttering, "Nyx Zegwater."
"I- What?"
"Your mother's name was Phoenyx Zegwater… Can we move on now to the lesson?"
Charlie's mouth formed a perfect 'o' shape before she nodded vigorously. "Lesson?"
"I assume it was Mr. Lupin last year that taught you and your brother the Patronus Charm?"
Charlie nodded, thinking back to her cat Patronus.
"Cast it," came Snape's voice from the other side of the room.
Charlie nodded slightly and thought back to first year when she and Harry became friends with Hermione, Ron, and Alix. She didn't know if it was odd that her friends were her best memory instead of meeting her dad, but to Charlie, friends were family.
"Expecto Patronum!" Charlie closed her eyes as the corporeal Patronus slid out of her wand but when she heard her professor gasp, she opened her eyes.
"What?" She asked in disbelief, not staring at a Siamese cat like before. It was an animal that was completely different: a thestral. "I — I don't understand."
"I suppose it changed in light of recent events," came a gentle voice from behind her. She turned around to see Dumbledore, her Patronus slowly disappearing. "You really are something special, Miss Black. This Patronus shows that you do not fear death, that you want to protect others, that you are loyal to your friends and family. You and Harry may be Voldemort's greatest adversaries. But you especially."
"Professor Dumbledore… I… What?"
"I've come to tell you and Severus that it's time for dinner in the Great Hall. But before you leave, Miss Black, someone has come to visit you."
From behind Dumbledore stepped Remus Lupin, Charlie's third year Defence teacher and Godfather. "Remus!"
Snape quickly left the room, seemingly bothered by the werewolf's presence. Charlie didn't care.
Family had arrived.