The chilly September breeze danced by a hill, between the woods, and died around a humble cottage where a red-haired man prepared his dinner. Only if a cheap imitation of his mother's homemade strawberry ice-cream was considered as dinner, of course. The sun was an inch from disappearing behind a mountain not so far from his home. A sudden burst of wind blew, this time, against his house. Even he looked up from his exhausting cooking. Footsteps were heard making their way up the front stairs and into his front porch. It distracted him a bit, thinking about how he had rarely ever seen one of those in any houses back at his old home, but he hadn't thought of it twice when he saw that cottage on sale. It was perfect because of how well its location. Work was close and he had the pleasure of living in that warm and cosy place. A soft knock on the door brought him back to reality.
He walked slowly to the front door, wondering who had been able to find that place. It wasn't that easy to find, really. Especially since the wood outside was the exact same colour as the trees around, which were a lot since it was almost the heart of that forest, which added another difficulty level to finding that place. It couldn't be his parents, since they were probably sending off his siblings back to school. Another soft knock, this time a more urgent one, made him realize how much time he took to get to the door. He also noticed how he was already nose-to-nose with it. His hand grasped the doorknob and he turned it, opening the door slowly. A tall female figure stood before him; long brown hair falling around her shoulders, a loose skirt covering her thighs and knees, a white long sweater against her torso and arms, and a pair of white shoes looking cleaner than the ordinary.
''Hello, Charles,'' her tender voice interrupted him from his strange distractions. It took him another whole second to take in who it was that was visiting him.
''What the hell are you doing here, Em?'' Charlie chuckled.
She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, ''Is that really the best greeting you can give me?''
''It was implied,'' he rolled his eyes and hugged her. ''But excuse me for wondering what you're doing here when terms started yesterday''
''Oh, that,'' she sighed and walked inside, looking around. ''Hm...''
''What?''
''You turned this place around. Whoever knows you as much as I do and walked into this place would have no doubt in their right mind that it would be you who lived in here''
He laughed at how right she was. Everything about that place screamed his name. The couched were all made of different Dragon skins, the coffee tables and end tables were all filled with family photographs with smiling Weasleys. The walls all had hanging Dragon portraits that spit harmless fire. The windows had brown and red curtains stopping light from coming in while a hanging chandelier in the middle of the room brought all the light, surprisingly, to the whole house. Charlie watched as she realized it was made of, who would've known? Dragons with light bulbs on their tongues making it look as if they were spitting fire. A lightened fireplace to the right seemed to have caught her attention. There were even more family portraits around it, all except for three, which stood right in the centre. The first to the right was a photograph of Charlie and Bill with their arms hooked around each other's neck while they laughed up to her, bright smiles covering their faces. She seemed to have jumped to the one to her left instead of looking at the one in the middle, afraid of what she might just see. This one was Charlie and Tonks, both of them with a broom. A low laugh escaped Emmeline's lip, even Charlie laughed while he stood next to her, watching each portrait. Tonks had failed at her first attempt of flying a broom and that picture was taken just after it. In the photograph, her hair changed from vivid red, to black, and then back to red while a deep shade of red covered her cheeks and a smile spread on her lips.
The centre portrait had three people laughing at each other, having the time of their lives. They sat underneath the tree near the Lake at Hogwarts. Tonks had her head falling backwards as she held her stomach and laughed hysterically, Charlie, who sat in the middle, was cleaning tears that rolled down his cheeks as he laughed as greatly as the two girls next to him. It was when she saw herself staring at the camera with a bright smile lightening up her face that made Emmeline look away.
''Our last year together at Hogwarts,'' Charlie whispered. He looked at her intently and watched as she slowly looked up to him with troublesome eyes. Charlie frowned slightly and said, ''Don't pretend you forgot my question''
''I just came to visit you. Is that so wrong?'' Emmeline grinned. She glanced down at the fireplace and moved her hand graciously over it, watching as the fire burst out of nowhere and bringing warmth into the small cottage. She looked back up at Charlie and it was her turn to frown.
''What are you really doing here, Em?''
... ... ... ...
The clumsy boy ran through the corridors with his books almost falling down from his hands, his robes tempted to get underneath his heel. He was just about to slam himself against the portrait but was fast enough to walk past a couple of students that were walking in. He fell right inside the Common Room and gave a relieved sigh.
''We'll get you next time, Longbottom!'' one of the three Slytherins that followed him shouted as the Fat Lady's portrait closed.
''Neville!''
''Are you alright?''
Hermione and Alicia hurried over to him and helped him up. He couldn't help but blush. ''I'm – I'm fine'' he mumbled.
''You should tell a Prefect, Neville! This is our second night here and they're already taunting you this much-''
''It's alright. They'll only make more fun of me if I do tell,'' he said standing up and cleaning his robes. ''It's nothing, really. I'm already used to it'' Neville said miserably.
''Nev-''
He ignored Hermione and walked over to a desk far from where the others sat, putting his books on the desk and taking parchment and quill out. The girls exchanged worried glances but chose to just let it go for now. Alicia plopped down on the floor next to Angelina and grabbed her Charms book back into her hands. Katie kept looking around with a deep frown on her face and said, ''Alright, you lot'' making everyone near her look up at her. ''Where is she?''
''Where's who?'' Luke Wimborne asked from the other end of the room.
''Emmeline!'' Katie said frustrated.
''Oh,'' he said, shrugging it off and looking back down to his book. Katie glared at him and then looked up to the twins.
''Well?'' she said crossing her arms. Fred and George exchanged looked and then frowned at her.
''Well what?'' they chorused.
''What did you do to her?'' She asked getting irritated by now.
''What makes you think we've anything to do with her not being around?'' asked Fred.
''Oh, I don't know, Freddie!'' she mocked. ''The fact that you loathe her to her core sort of gave it away, you know''
''I don't-''
''No, really, Katie, we haven't done anything'' said George.
''You haven't done anything?'' Lee asked incredulously.
''Not one prank so far'' Fred said.
''That only means...'' Lee silenced before continuing, but only shared a smirk with the twins. The girls looked at each other. Something big and terrible was definitely coming. Probably something smelly that won't be easy to wash off.
''Maybe Harry knows,'' Angelina shrugged. Katie bit her lower lip and nodded. She walked over to where the trio sat. Hermione had her head already buried into her copy of Voyages with Vampires while Ron and Harry played Wizards Chess. She cleared her throat, making the three of them look up at her. She hesitated but grabbed a chair and sat next to Ron, facing Harry.
''I er- wondered if you knew where Em was,'' she said hopeful. ''She wasn't on the ride here last night, and she wasn't downstairs at the Feast or at our lessons today''
''I don't know,'' he clearly lied. So badly even Hermione and Ron noticed.
Katie sighed and shook her head, ''You obviously do'' she said. ''At least tell me if we should we worry''
Harry hesitated greatly. He looked at Ron and Hermione, then back to Katie. His mind raced his heart, which felt as though was about to burst right out of his chest. He swallowed and shook his head slowly. Katie bit her lower lip and frowned. ''You do know where she is, right?'' she asked him. Harry hesitated once again but gave in and nodded slowly. ''Can you tell me? Is she alright? Is she breaking any rules?''
''I don't...know,'' he said, telling the truth this time. Katie sighed once again.
''Does Professor Dumbledore know?'' Hermione asked this time, taking every word out of Katie's head.
''I guess so-''
''I don't think Professor Dumbledore would've let her go just like that without his permission,'' Ron chuckled.
... ... ... ...
''You should've at least sent an owl telling me you were coming,'' Charlie said, placing the now finished ice-cream on the kitchen table.
''It would've given you time to put up your Dragon fence two miles away from here,'' Emmeline said, taking a spoon from the counter. ''I may be a girl, Charles, but I'm wiser than what I look''
''I believe you''
''Good'' she grinned, taking a spoonful of ice-cream to her mouth.
''No, but really. I could've at least prepared a room for you upstairs'' Emmeline remained silent, taking another spoon to her mouth. Charlie stopped moving and looked up to her incredulously. ''But you already took care of that, didn't you?''
''I hope you haven't forgot how fast I am too''
''Jesus, Em!'' He said shocked, slamming the spoon on the counter and shaking his head at her.
''I'm sorry! But you should thank me! If it wasn't for my surprise visit you would've been murdered or something like that''
''Oh, really?''
''Yes! You have no wards, Charlie! Imagine if your mum and dad came by and noticed that. They'd be the ones to kill you, then''
''I have wards set up, thank you,'' he said stubbornly.
''You call that wards? That piece of-''
''Don't insult my wards!''
''If they worked, an owl wouldn't be necessary to let you know I was coming,'' She stated, taking a big piece of ice-cream and slamming it into her mouth. She grinned mockingly at Charlie after he stuck his tongue out at her. They stopped for a second and looked at each other and a second later they were laughing like madmen. Charlie wiped a tear away and tried to catch his breath while Emmeline tried hard not to choke on the ice-cream she had taking in.
''It is only you and Tonks that make me crack up like that with just one look,'' he said smiling widely and shaking his head at her. ''Merlin, I miss those days''
''It's been around a year or so, not a lifetime''
''Feels like it, though''
It took them a long while to go back to eating and talking about Charlie's job. Charlie had gone upstairs to change into his pyjama trousers and shirt while Emmeline had stayed downstairs washing the dishes. He came downstairs about half an hour later and plopped down in front of the fireplace. Emmeline walked inside a couple of minutes later and sat down on the chair next to him. They stared silently at the fire as Emmeline moved her fingers graciously pointing directly to it, making the fire dance, twirl, and turn into different figures. Charlie's expression had turned completely serious once he looked up at her and asked, ''What is it that you're really doing here?''
Emmeline seemed to not have heard. Charlie was about to repeat his question when she looked at him and stopped playing with the fire. ''Something of mine was stolen many years ago. Something that belonged to my family,'' she whispered. 'I need it back and you will help me find it''