Charlie was seated between Buck and Annie at the Gryffindor table. It was the last day of term and the hall was decked out in scarlet and gold.
'As it should be,' Bill nodded with approval upon seeing the décor. The hall quietened as Professor Dumbledore stood up.
'Another year is ended,' he told the hall. 'And so the House Cup needs awarding.'
Charlie shared a grin with Buck – Gryffindor had won two years in a row.
'In fourth place, with 463 points, Ravenclaw!' The other three houses politely applauded the glum-faced Ravenclaws. Charlie saw Ellie comforting Lucy halfway down the table.
'And just ahead in third place, with 471 points, Hufflepuff!' More polite applause. Tonks and Don shrugged at the score.
'Yeah Hufflepuff!' Myron hollered.
'In second place, and winners of the Quidditch Cup, with 551 points - Slytherin!' The table on the far right cheered loudly. Charlie was slightly repulsed by the faces of Rowle and Gibbon as they celebrated.
But then he forced his eyes away from them as Dumbledore started speaking again.
'Which means...' Charlie waited, tense, for the headmaster's announcement. 'With 604 points, the winner of the 1985 House Cup is GRYFFINDOR!'
Charlie didn't even care how stupid he looked as he and the rest of his house table jumped up and down, yelling and cheering at their achievement.
The following day Charlie hurriedly crammed all his clothes into his trunk as he, Buck, Reg and Fergus packed for the return journey to London.
Down outside by the castle gates, the four boys waited for one of the horseless carriages. Professor McGonagall handed them a slip of parchment warning them not to do magic over the summer.
'Do you think if they forgot to give us one we'd be able to do magic outside school?' Reg wondered.
'Doubt it.' Fergus sighed. 'Come on, that one's free.'
They all heaved their trunks in and piled into the carriage, waiting for it to magically move away once they were all seated.
Once the carriage had deposited them at Hogsmeade Station and moved horselessly away once more, the Gryffindor boys split up. Buck and Charlie headed off to find Tonks, Don and Annie, who were far more organised and had probably been on the train ready to go for the past half an hour.
Sure enough the three of them were in a compartment, Scabior was there too.
'How do you think Filch gets all the trunks from the train to the school at the start of term?' Don wondered, watching four first years attempt to get a trunk onto the train.
'Magic, obviously.' Charlie shrugged. A fifth year helped the first years with their struggle.
'But have you ever seen Filch do magic?' Tonks asked him. 'I mean, he's forever going on about having to clean floors and stuff, but if he used magic then they'd be easily sorted.'
'Maybe he's a squib.' Scabior suggested.
'A what?' Annie and Don asked.
'A wizard that doesn't have magic.' Buck explained. 'Like the opposite of a muggle-born.'
'That can happen?' Annie looked surprised. 'That must be awful.'
'It would explain why Filch is so bitter all the time.' Tonks growled. 'I still don't think my arm's recovered after all that polishing.'
Overhead the train whistled and the engines started to chug. They were on their way back to London once more.
'Charlie!' twin eight year olds Fred and George squealed as they saw their older brother disembarking the Hogwarts Express.
Charlie led the way to the Weasley clan, where Tonks', Buck's, Annie's and Don's families were also gathered. Scabior parted ways with them to find his own parents.
As soon as he had gone Charlie got the other four in a huddle. 'I'll ask my parents if you guys can come over again this holiday.'
They nodded. But Tonks looked over at Scabior. 'What about Will?'
'Ummm... He's busy.' Charlie lied. 'Come on, I'll ask Mum now.'
Charlie pretended to ignore the pointed look that Annie was giving him and made a bee-line for the mass of bright ginger hair that was his family.
'Oh Charlie!' Molly cried, wrapping her son in a massive hug. 'There's Bill!'
Bill dragged his trunk over and deposited it on the trolley that Arthur had supplied. He ruffled Ron's hair and pulled Ginny up onto his shoulders for a piggy-back.
'Say goodbye to your friends now, we're off.' Arthur told Bill and Charlie as he led the way off the platform with the trunk laden trolley. Molly, Percy, Fred, George and Ron followed.
Bill waved goodbye to his friends, Ginny on his shoulders doing the same. Charlie promised Annie that he would write and said bye to Tonks and Don. Buck and his parents had vanished as soon as Connor had joined them.
Charlie waved again as he passed through the barrier between Platform 9 3/4s and the Muggle world. He caught a glimpse of Ellie and her parents not too far away.
It was a few weeks later when Charlie was down in the kitchen of the Burrow with Percy and Ron, helping their mother with a few chores around the house after breakfast. Well, Charlie and Percy were helping. Ron was attempting to help.
Outside the window they heard a squawk and a thud. A moment later Bill came in from the garden with a ruffled looking Errol in one hand, a thick wad of letters in the other, and a package under his arm.
'No wonder Errol crash landed,' Bill said, depositing the shattered looking bird on his perch, 'Pedro sent me something.'
Pedro was Bill's penfriend in Brazil. He had asked Bill to go and stay with them that summer, but as the Weasley's didn't have a lot of money they couldn't pay for Bill to go.
'I guess he must be alright with you not going to stay then.' Charlie commented, finishing off a bit of Ron's left over toast crust.
Bill slid a slightly thicker than usual Hogwarts letter over to Charlie. Percy looked up hopefully despite having another year to wait until he received his first Hogwarts letter.
'It's a hat!' Bill exclaimed, opening the parcel first. He pulled out a sleek velvet wizard's hat and tried it on. 'Hey Mum, look at my hat!'
Bill grinned and posed with the hat that covered his ears. 'It's a bit itchy.' He added.
'Lovely dear,' Molly smiled. 'What did he say about you not going to stay there? Is he okay with it?'
Bill turned his attention to the letter from Pedro while Charlie read through an additional slip of parchment with his standard book list. Ron tried to grab at the letter.
'Mum, can you sign this Hogsmeade permission form please?'
Molly fetched a quill. Bill unfolded the letter from Brazil, it was written in poorly worded English as Pedro was trying to learn English through his letters to Bill.
'"Hello Scumbag" Uh-oh, I don't like the sound of that. "So you do not want to come to my country when we speak for months. I hope your toes are fed to a hungry Chimera. Enjoy my gift. May it curse your ears off. Pedro."' Bill yanked the hat off his head and ran to the mirror.
Charlie burst out laughing, Percy gasped, Ron yelled (why not?) and Molly screeched.
'BILL YOUR EARS!'
Bill, however, was calling Pedro every name under the sun as he stared at the shrivelled ears of his reflection.
'Watch your language William Weasley!' Molly warned, whipping out her wand and forcing Bill to sit back down so she could fix his ears. Ron carried on yelling until Percy shushed him.
Bill's ears were raw and furiously red, the same colour as the rest of his face. But his ear lobes and the tops of his ears were crumpled and withered like a drying out plant.
As Molly consulted one of the vast volumes of books on their shelf, Bill opened his own Hogwarts letter. A small red badge fell out of the envelope.
Bill and Charlie stared at it.
'A prefect?' Bill said incredulously, holding up the scarlet badge to eye level.
'Oh Bill! That's the first prefect in the family!' Molly was back at her son's side, ears forgotten, congratulating him and promising anything he wanted as a present.
'Well done Bill.' Percy said quietly. Ron made a grab for the badge in Bill's hand.
'Um, well to be honest I'd really like my ears to be back to normal.' He reminded his mother. Molly happily resumed searching for a counter-curse for him.
Charlie sniggered. 'That badge matches your ears.'
Bill pushed Charlie off his chair.
'Bill!' Molly scolded. 'What sort of example does that set to your brothers?'
Percy huffed and Ron laughed at Charlie on the floor.
'Watch it prefect!' Charlie cackled from the floor. 'I'll have your badge for that.'
Charlie could see that Bill was tempted to throw the badge at him, but opted for an apple from the fruit bowl instead. Charlie caught it and took a bite as Molly started trying to restore Bill's ears.
'I'll have your father deal with that hat.' She muttered, tapping Bill's left ear lobe with the tip of her wand.
Charlie was still chuckling from across the table.
Days later it was time for Charlie's friends to arrive at the Burrow.
'Charlie! Someone's here!' Molly chimed.
Charlie tore through the house to look through the window in the kitchen.
'Merlin's pants! It's Ellie! I'm not ready! You'll have to stall them.' Charlie sprinted for the stairs, taking them three at a time in his hurry.
Molly was left staring stunned after her son. Bill wandered in from the garden where he and Charlie had been de-gnoming.
'Bill dear, who's Ellie?' Molly asked.
Bill shrugged. 'Some girl in Charlie's year, I guess. I think he said something about her helping him study.'
Molly's eyes narrowed at the father and daughter making their way towards the Burrow.
'Is Tonks here yet?' Bill inquired, picking an apple from the bowl on the table and taking a bite.
'No, not yet dear,' came the preoccupied reply. 'Go and hurry your brother up would you? And check on Percy, I haven't heard from him in a while.'
Bill chuckled. 'A galleon on the twins having tied him up.' He ruffled Ron's hair as he passed his little brother at the table.
Molly headed out to greet their visitors, herding chickens from the path as she did so.
Charlie had just had the quickest wash of his life and was hurriedly buttoning up a clean light blue shirt when Bill knocked on his door.
'So who's your girlfriend?' Bill smirked, settling himself on the corner of Charlie's bed.
'Shut up.'
That made Bill grin even more. 'How come I haven't heard about her before?'
'You have heard about her.' Charlie retorted, rooting around in the bottom of his wardrobe for a bottle of cologne that Aunt Muriel had accidentally given him for Christmas a few years back. Apparently cousin Lancelot had received some levitating bubblebath instead. 'She helped me study.'
'Yeah, but I haven't heard of her, if you know what I mean.' Bill winked.
Charlie ignored him.
'So who else is coming over?'
'Got it!' Charlie triumphantly held the bottle aloft before dousing himself with it.
'Woah Charlie! Steady on, you'll knock her out with that.' Bill coughed and waved his hand in front of his face to waft away the overpowering smell of cologne.
'Is it too much?' Charlie just wanted to look nice for Ellie and make a good impression with her Dad. They heard the front door open and close.
Molly called up the stairs. 'Charlie, Ellie's here!'
'It'll be fine Charlie, just don't stand too close to anyone,' Bill teased, his voice muffled by the t-shirt he was covering his mouth and nose with.
'Okay, I think I'm ready.' Charlie ran a wet comb through his almost shoulder length red hair and made to leave his room. He was stopped by Bill's hand on his shoulder.
'Hold on brother, you didn't answer my question. Who else is coming over?'
Charlie's ears flushed red and he shifted uncomfortably. 'Just Ellie and Tonks.'
Bill stared for a moment, sighed deeply and let go of his younger brother's shoulder. 'Well this week is going to be fun.'
Charlie pushed past Bill and headed down to greet Ellie. Bill went upstairs to check on Percy and the twins.
Downstairs, Molly was having a rather polite but strained conversation with Ellie's Dad.
'Ah, here he is.' She interrupted Mr Limus' talk about Gringotts' exchange rates when she heard Charlie's footsteps on the stairs.
'Hi Ellie,' Charlie managed, walking over to the table.
'Hi Charlie,' she beamed back.
'Why don't you go show Ellie where she can put her bags, Charlie?' Molly suggested.
Ellie kissed her Dad on the cheek, 'Bye Daddy!' she said sweetly, following Charlie from the room.
Mr Limus watched the two as they ascended the stairs.
'Um, you and Tonks are staying in Bill's room on the third floor.' Charlie started by way of conversation.
'Tonks is coming too?' Ellie seemed surprised.
'Yeah, is that alright?'
'Sure,' Ellie smiled again. 'So where's your room?'
'First floor, I'll show you when we go back downstairs.' Charlie offered. They reached the third floor landing and Charlie opened the door to Bill's room for Ellie.
'You can leave your bag here, then we can go check out the garden and the Quidditch paddock if you want?'
Ellie deposited her bag on the bed and looked around the room. Bill poked his head through the door.
'Aha! So this is the mysterious Ellie. Pleasure to meet you.' He would have gone to shake her hand but he had a twin on each arm trying to pull him to the floor.
'Hi Ellie!' They chorused. 'Come on Bill!'
Bill grimaced. 'I'd best be off, or these two won't be happy.' He nodded goodbye and was dragged away by Fred and George. At eight years old they were both rather strong and increasingly more mischievous.
'Come on Bill!' They urged again.
'So, aren't you going to show me the garden?' Ellie asked, cocking her head to the side as she looked up at Charlie.
At that moment, Molly called up from the kitchen. 'Charlie! Tonks is here!'
Downstairs, Molly and Ted were sat at the table talking, while Bill and Tonks were leaned against the kitchen counters.
'Hey Charlie!' Tonks waved, her hair its usual fuschia, her eyebrows raising a fraction when she saw Ellie behind him. 'Hey Ellie!'
'Hi Tonks,' Ellie replied sweetly.
'I was just going to show Ellie the garden, do you want to come?' Charlie asked Tonks.
'Uh sure, why not? Are you coming too Bill?'
'How could I refuse a trip to the garden?' Bill grinned.
'How's your holiday been so far?' Charlie asked Tonks as they headed out of the house. He ignored his mother's keen glance as the four of them walked past her.
'A bit boring to be honest, but that's not the real question here. The real question is what in Merlin's name are you wearing?' Tonks asked, scrutinising Charlie's shirt and trousers that weren't his usual summer attire. 'And what is that smell?'
Behind them Bill snickered.
Molly stuck her head out of the door and called to Charlie. 'Who else are we waiting for?'
'No one, it's just Tonks and Ellie.' Bill replied.
Molly shot a quick look at Charlie, whose ears flushed red.
'Annie and Don are skiing, and Buck's at the World Cup.' Charlie explained.
Molly sighed. 'Well if that's everyone I'll get started on the dinner. We'll eat outside tonight. Charlie, a word inside.' Molly said, heading back into the house. Charlie left Ellie and Tonks out in the garden with Bill.
'Yes Mum?'
Molly set her wand to peeling potatoes and looked sternly over at her second son. 'Don't you think it's a bit unwise to invite two girls over, dear?'
Charlie shook his head. 'No, why?'
Molly sighed. 'You obviously like this Ellie girl. Don't you think Tonks might get a bit left out if you and Ellie are getting friendly?'
'Ew, Mum!' Charlie recoiled, more to get his Mum off his back than anything. 'No one will be getting friendly! And why would Tonks be left out? She's my best friend.'
Molly shook her head and turned back to her potatoes, muttering, 'out of six boys please let me have one who understands how the female mind works.'
Charlie left his mother to her crazy female ramblings and headed back out into the garden.
'What was that about?' Bill asked when Charlie returned.
Charlie shrugged. 'Nothing. Let's go to the Quidditch paddock.'
But Molly's words bugged Charlie for the rest of the day.
Thanks to MoonDance721 and September And Summer for following and favouriting, and to emmettcullenlover7 for favouriting, and to September And Summer (again) for reviewing!
Second year is almost over folks, just another two chapters!
Don't forget to PM me, or review, if you've got anything you'd like to see happening in third year or above :)
LittleGuitar94
