A/N: Thanks to my reviewers and everyone who has been reading. As usual, I own nothing, yada yada yada.
Chapter 8—The One With Their First Field Trip
Soon, it seemed, the entire school had found out that Charlie and Maya were dating. Most people were more shocked that they had just started dating than that they were going out. Ivy and Jenna were delighted. Bridgette and Gillian were annoyed, but soon set their sights on other boys. Charlie got teased by his dorm mates, who wanted to know whether she was a good snog. Charlie ignored their jeering as much as possible, but when it got to be too much, he admitted that Maya was a very good snog.
Gryffindor played its first quidditch game of the season against Slytherin on the first Saturday in November. Maya was targeted by the Slytherin beaters and when Charlie ended the game, winning for Gryffindor 210-200, he had to be restrained from punching the Slytherin beater.
The first weekend of December brought the first Care of Magical Creatures field trip of the year. Professor Kettleburn had told the students in the class to bring warm clothes, and their sketch books. They would be camping in the hills outside Hogsmeade. That Friday, after their classes ended, each of the students in the class went to their dormitories to collect their bags for the weekend. They would return on Sunday morning in time for breakfast. Maya collected her bag and met Charlie in the common room. "I'm going to snog you senseless in the woods," Charlie promised.
"That's quite ambitious," Maya teased, "since Professor Kettleburn will be there and we probably won't have time to snog."
"I'm very devious," Charlie said. "I'll find a way." He winked and grabbed her hand to lead her to meet the class. Charlie and Maya were the last students to arrive for the trip. Once everyone was there, Professor Kettleburn led them through the village and into the woods outside of town.
They reached a clearing where Professor Kettleburn stopped. He had brought some tents along and they put them up. Once the tents were up, Professor Kettleburn assigned 2 students to each tent. There were 6 tents as there were 10 students and Professor Kettleburn. Maya and the only other girl in the class, a Ravenclaw girl called Jocelyn Whitmore, were in one tent. The next tent housed Charlie and Ian. The other students paired up and placed their things in their tents.
Once everyone was set up, Professor Kettleburn had them all sit in a circle around a fire pit. With a wave of his wand, he started a small camp fire. He also had brought a mess kit and some food, which he started cooking while the students sat around the fire. Charlie sat on a tree stump and Maya sat on the ground in front of him. He massaged her shoulders as they listened to Professor Kettleburn's instructions for the weekend.
After dinner was finished, the students all told stories about their lives at home. When it was Maya's turn, she just said that she lived with her Mum in London. Charlie did not share any of what he knew about Maya's family and, though Professor Kettleburn suspected that she was leaving out the details, he did not push her either. The group went to bed soon after Maya's story. Charlie kissed her head as she headed into her tent. Professor Kettleburn was watching them too closely for Charlie to attempt to snog her, but Charlie was able to whisper to her, "Meet me out here at midnight." Maya nodded and went into her tent. She changed into her pajamas and pretended to fall asleep. She saw Charlie's wand light in the next tent and snuck out to meet him.
"What's going on?" Maya asked.
"I just wanted to make sure you were o.k. after the whole 'getting to know you' exercise," Charlie said. "How are you?"
Maya sighed and sat down. "I don't know," she answered, truthfully. "Mum says that we're going to split the holidays between them, but I don't really have a burning desire to spend time with my Dad and his girlfriend."
"You could come to the Burrow," Charlie offered. "Mum would love to have you."
"I can't leave Maggie," Maya said. "It's our first Christmas with 2 houses and she won't be allowed to leave. I'm certain that Mum won't let me go anywhere either and I'm not of age yet."
"We'll work it out," Charlie promised. "Now I also believe that I promised snogging in the woods." Maya smiled and let Charlie kiss her for a long while until Professor Kettleburn interrupted them and sent them to bed.
The rest of the weekend passed without any further incidents. The class spent the next day walking through the woods to find rare animals and identify them. Maya was impressed when Charlie was able to pick out a puffskein just by its tracks and to find the colony of bowtruckles. Saturday night, Professor Kettleburn again insisted that the students try to get to know each other better. This time, he asked them about their plans for after graduation.
"I plan to work with animals," Charlie said. "I'd hope to work with dragons."
"I think I'm going to Conservatory School," Maya said. "I play piano and violin and I'd like to study music and art." Neither Charlie nor Maya had discussed their plans after school and they were both taken a bit aback. They silently agreed to talk about it later.
Sunday morning dawned bright and early. Professor Kettleburn encouraged the class to keep working together and to spend their time at Hogwarts building their friendships. Then, he helped them take down camp and led them back to school. At breakfast, Charlie and Maya sat with the rest of the class, but when they had finished eating, they separated and went off to an empty classroom alone.
"You never said you wanted to study music," Charlie said.
"You never asked," Maya said. "And you never said anything about dragons. Are there any colonies in Britain?"
"No," Charlie said, seriously. "The closest place to study them up close, at the moment, is Romania."
"You plan to go to Romania when we graduate?" Maya asked. Charlie nodded. "Bugger," she said.
Maya started to walk away, heading back to Gryffindor tower to get some more sleep. Charlie caught her arm and stopped her. "What does this do to us?" he asked, looking scared.
"I need to sleep on it, Charlie," Maya said. She had never imagined that in a year and a half they'd be separated by hundreds of miles and she wasn't sure what she wanted to do. Charlie let her go, even though he would have preferred to figure things out. He followed Maya to Gryffindor tower and went to the boys' dormitories to catch a nap before lunch.
For the next week, Maya and Charlie did not speak much. They did their rounds together, and worked on homework together, but outside of school things, they didn't talk at all. The next weekend was the weekend before Charlie's birthday. He was turning 17, so his mates threw a huge party for him. They cleared the common room by 10:00 and started the real fun, with butterbeers and firewhiskey. Maya was quiet through most of the party and skipped on the alcohol.
She was starting up the stairs to the girls' dormitories when Charlie grabbed her arm. He turned her around and kissed her fiercely. She pushed him back and continued up the stairs, leaving him looking dejected. He went to bed on his own.
The next morning, Maya woke early. She noticed that she hadn't given Charlie his birthday present, and she couldn't keep it away from him. Charlie was not awake yet, so Maya snuck into his dormitory. She found him snoring in his bed and poked him in the back. "Wake up!" she said loudly.
Charlie shrieked and nearly fell out of bed. "What in the name of Merlin are you doing?" he asked.
Maya was laughing. Charlie's hair was sticking up at odd angles. "I came to give you your birthday present," Maya answered. "Be quiet or you'll wake everyone else."
"Too late," Ian grunted from the next bed.
"Go back to sleep," Charlie ordered. "And you," he turned to Maya, "come on in."
"Nope," Maya said. "Come down to the common room." Charlie nodded and watched Maya skip down the stairs.
Moments later, Charlie joined Maya in the common room. She had his present and a cup of hot cocoa. "So, does this mean we're o.k.?" he asked.
"Mostly," Maya said. "I'm still not sure what will happen next year, but I figure that we should just enjoy each other now and let next year sort itself out. And since it's your birthday, I thought you'd like your present."
Charlie opened the package that Maya handed to him. "The dragon book!" he exclaimed. "How did you know I wanted this?"
"It was hard to figure out, especially since you're so subtle," Maya teased. "Happy birthday, love." She kissed him softly. "Now, it's early and I'm going back to bed."
"No, you're not," Charlie said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her onto his lap. "We can nap right here by the fire." Charlie and Maya snuggled by the fire, but didn't go back to sleep. They chatted about Christmas plans. "Will you come to the Burrow?" he asked.
"I can't," Maya answered. "I told you before that I have to split the holidays between my parents. You could come and visit me."
"For New Years," Charlie promised. Maya's stomach gave a low growl. "Hungry?"
"Yeah," Maya replied. "I should get changed to go to breakfast."
"Meet back here in 20 minutes," Charlie suggested. Maya nodded and went back to the dormitories to shower and change. She met Charlie in the common room 20 minutes later, as promised.