1989

Chapter 6

Hermione actually ate breakfast in the great hall the next morning. Charlie had obviously been right about the way to introduce her, because no one really seemed to pay her any attention; not even people in the other houses. It seemed word of her arrival had spread fast.

She also couldn't believe how much she had missed meals at Hogwarts over the past year, and so she began to slather her favorite orange marmalade over a heavily buttered slice of toast. As she took her first bite, she closed her eyes to savor the salty sweetness of the combined flavors. A euphoric grin spread across her lips as she swallowed the delicious concoction.

She took a second bite, and then a third; feeling rather like Ron for the first time in her life as she overly enjoyed her breakfast. It wasn't until her fourth bite, that she felt someone slide onto the bench beside her. Expecting it to be Charlie she turned toward the figure with a pleasant greeting at the ready.

Her smile dropped instantly as it turned out to be the girl who had given her a nasty glare the evening before during Charlie's speech.

"Jean isn't it?" The girl asked.

"Yes." Hermione answered while trying to sound neutral. "And you are?"

"The names Lilac." She responded arrogantly. "Lilac Brown."

'Oh goodness' Hermione thought. 'This girl must be related to Lavender.'

"Pleasure to meet you." She tried to sound sincere even though she was incredibly annoyed.

"Likewise." Lilac smiled, though her tone did not meet her facial expression. "Now, I don't blame you for not knowing since you are new and all, but Charlie and I are kind of an item."

Hermione's throat dropped into her stomach. Charlie hadn't mentioned that he had a girlfriend. In fact, he had done nothing but flirt with and act interested in her since they met two nights ago. She had known indulging him would be a bad idea, since she was planning on going back to the future as soon as possible, but the jealousy that began to bubble under her skin made her realize that she had come to like him at least a little bit over the past couple of days.

She tried to stamp any emotion for him down. Not only was a relationship with him forbidden, but she was still incredibly enamored with Ron. They had just kissed for goodness sake! Plus, the fact that Charlie had hidden his girlfriend from her made her realize that he wasn't who she thought he was anyway.

"Oh. He never mentioned anything." Hermione recovered quickly. "But you have the wrong idea. We're just friends, and just barely at that."

Lilac's smile turned more villainous. "As I said Jean. I don't blame you. He's very good looking, and has obviously been very helpful the past few days while showing you around on Dumbledore's orders, but you just need to face the fact that he is already taken."

Her toast with marmalade dropped to her plate, only partially eaten. She turned the majority of her body to face the girl and gave her a stern glare. "And as I said Brown, you have the wrong idea if you think something is going on between us. You have nothing to worry about. I have someone back home waiting for me, and I have no desire to mess that up by having some casual fling with a jock. Now if you don't mind I would like to go back to enjoying my breakfast in peace."

The two girls seemed to share a bit of a staring contest for a few seconds before Lilac finally broke and stood back up. "Just as long as we are clear then." She said before stalking off.

"Oh I'd say we're crystal." Hermione called out to her retreating form before picking her delicious toast back up.

She took a few more bites while attempting to enjoy her breakfast again, but it had now been tainted by the thought of Charlie being with someone like that.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You sure are in a good mood." A brown haired, blue eyed boy by the name of Devon McCullough said as he sat down next to Charlie in History of Magic.

Charlie turned to look at his best friend. "Is it that obvious?"

"You've been grinnin like a fool since you got back from prefect duties yesterday mornin." Devon said through his thick irish accent. "That wouldna have anythin to do with that pretty new transfer student you've been followin around would it?"

"Godric, am I that transparent?" Charlie groaned. Usually he was a lot more suave when it came to the ladies.

"Like the minister's finest glassware." Devon confirmed. "You've got it bad mate."

"Nah, she's just new and interesting." Charlie tried to brush it off. "A bit odd though."

"Do you hear yourself Charlie?"

His brows crinkled. "What?"

"Odd? Interestin?" Devon sniggered at his friend. "Usually the only thing you're interested in with birds is getting a good snog out of em."

Charlie looked slightly offended. "No I am not!"

Devon glared at him with a smirk on his face.

"What?" Charlie tried to defend himself. "I like girls for more than snogging."

"Mhm." He nodded suggestively. "Sure you do."

Both boys snorted at the implication.

"But seriously mate." Devon spoke back up after controlling his laughter. "You callin dibs?"

"Yeah." Charlie sighed, reigning to admit the fact that he really did like Jean. "I'm calling dibs."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That night, Hermione decided to head to the Library to get a head start on all of the homework assigned the past two days. She was hoping she wouldn't be here long enough to need to turn it in, but wanted to be prepared just in case. Another reason she was doing it was because she wanted a distraction from thinking about the second eldest Weasley son and his apparent womanizing ways.

She had avoided him all day during classes. She didn't want him to know she was upset with him because she knew deep down she didn't really have a right to be angry. He hadn't actually done anything wrong other than omit the fact that he had a girlfriend. For all she knew he could just be overly friendly and was trying to make her feel welcome. But the fact was that she just couldn't help feeling that familiar sting of betrayal. It was the same way she had felt when Ron had snogged Lilac's younger cousin just last year.

"There you are Jean." Charlie's voice called to her as he came upon her hiding spot.

'Speak of the Devil.' She thought as she attempted to ignore him.

"Oh Jeeeean!" He said in a sing-song voice to get her attention as he plopped down next to her. "I've been looking all over for you."

"And why is that?" She asked as she kept writing, though she did mock his sing-song voice in an attempt to keep her annoyance hidden.

She could practically hear his grin, he obviously hadn't noticed she'd been avoiding him all day and now she was even more annoyed with him because he was so happy. I mean did he ever stop smiling?

"I missed you." He seemed serious. "I haven't had that chance to bug you all day."

Hermione had a sudden desire to slap him, but resisted the urge. Why was he seeking her out when he should be spending time with Lilac? It was no wonder the girl was trying to get her to keep her distance.

"You know you sure do like to flirt a lot for someone who has a girlfriend." She attempted to tease, but she knew it had come off rather accusatory.

"Girlfriend? What?" Charlie's smile dropped instantly as it was replaced with confusion. "I don't have a girlfriend."

Hermione's heart skipped a beat at his clarification. So he wasn't seeing that daft cow after all. She shouldn't care if he had a girlfriend or not, but she couldn't help it, she was glad the girl had lied about him. He really was a good guy after all, or at least one with taste.

"Lilac Brown said that you two were together." She clarified. "She wants me to stay away from you."

"Oh no. Not again!" He rubbed his face with his hand. "Jean, I'm sorry if she was rude to you, but whatever she said wasn't quite true. I haven't had a girlfriend since fifth year I promise, and it definitely wasn't her as the girl I dated had been a seventh year."

"So you haven't been attempting to play the field?" She raised one eyebrow at him.

"Definitely not, I am most definitely single." He assured her, his grin reappearing. "Unless you'd like to be my girlfriend?"

Hermione scoffed at his intensified flirting. "I'm going to pretend you didn't just ask that...You dated a seventeen year old when you were fifteen?"

He suddenly flashed her a larger grin. "She was eighteen actually. What can I say, I like older women."

She began to laugh at him, having forgiven him instantly after learning Lilac had lied about a relationship with him. Her laughter was mostly because he seemed to like her and she was more than six years younger than him in the real timeline.

"Really? That's good to know."

"But seriously, I really am single." His grin still hadn't faded. "And aren't you slightly older than me?"

Her face turned red at his forwardness, but she decided to pay him one back. "You may be single, but I never said I was."

Charlie's face blanched. He hadn't even considered that she might have a boyfriend elsewhere. "Oh...American boy?"

"No." She decided to mock him with the truth. "One of your brother's. But we haven't made it official yet."

"Ha, ha." He nudged her shoulder with his before attempting to tickle her on the sides in retaliation. "You are so hilarious."

"Your words. Not mine." She smacked his hands away as she laughed. "Now why does Lilac think you two are an item?"

"Oh, shit. I had hoped you'd forget all about that." He grimaced. "Ugh, alright. I snogged her after a quidditch game last year, and she's been a bit clingy ever since."

Hermione once again felt just like she had when Lavender had kissed Ron after the Quidditch game in her own sixth year. A realization that she was starting to actually like Charlie romantically flashed through her mind, but she stamped that down as quickly as the thought had arrived. This was too fast and she was supposed to still be falling for Ron. It felt like they were finally going to get together once the war was won, and now here she was ruining it by catching feelings for his much older brother.

"Oh." She tried not to look or sound jealous.

"Yup." He admitted. "The regrets of a hormonal teenage boy."

She couldn't help but nod. "You're at least much more self aware than your brother. He did much worse than that last year."

Her face paled at her momentary lapse in judgement, and she clapped one hand over her mouth once she realized what she had said. She was becoming much too comfortable around this particular Weasley and had temporarily forgotten who she was talking to. It was becoming harder and harder to keep her time travel a secret from him.

"And which brother would that be?" He suddenly seemed to have lost his good mood as he turned to glare at her with narrowed eyes. "The one you haven't officially made your boyfriend yet?"

"Gotcha?" Hermione tried to backtrack unconvincingly.

"You're not even going to try and explain yourself are you?"

She attempted to get back to work on her homework before answering. "There's nothing to explain."

"You know what?" Charlie stood slowly. "I have tried to be your friend, but this is getting ridiculous. If you have some secret you aren't comfortable sharing then that's fine, but stop dropping me strange hints and then backtracking. I'm not one for playing games."

And with that he left her alone; feeling worse than she had since arriving in the past, and wondering what it was about him that made her want to share all her secrets.