Disclaimer: JK owns HP
1989
Chapter 9
Before Hermione knew it, it was September 19th; her birthday. She knew her ten year old self was currently running around Barnard Adventure Playground in London with her parents, but that memory still did not make today feel like her birthday. Her nineteenth birthday still should have been months away, not the mere weeks it had been since she'd arrived in the past.
She sighed into her oatmeal as she diced up a fresh peach directly into the bowl.
"You're looking a bit depressed today Jean. What's going on?"
Hermione looked up to see Charlie slipping onto the bench in front of her, his bag clanking to the floor as he dropped it carelessly. He was looking at her worriedly as he started to assemble his own breakfast.
"It's going to sound stupid." She grimaced as she poured a small amount of cream into her bowl before giving it a good stir.
"I promise not to judge." He said sincerely as he began to mash his fried eggs with the back of his fork, a morning ritual she had made fun of him for several times over the past two weeks.
She sighed again before dropping her spoon into the bowl. "It's my birthday."
"Your birthday?" Charlie let out one small laugh before catching himself. "Birthdays are supposed to be fun and happy days. There has to be more to it than that?"
She shrugged her shoulders knowing she couldn't tell him that she was upset because it wasn't supposed to be her birthday today. "I usually get to spend my birthday with family or friends. I guess I'm just a little sad because it doesn't really feel like a birthday without them."
"And here I thought I was a friend." He said, faking being offended to cheer her up. "You sure know how to make a guy feel appreciated."
"You know what I mean." She rolled her eyes, but finally grinned a little.
"Yes, I do." He flashed his usual snarky grin at her as he took a bite of his breakfast. "So how old are you anyway?"
"Ten." She said facetiously.
"Oh, ha ha." He fake laughed. "Funny."
Hermione only grinned before shoving her spoon in her mouth.
"So since you didn't really answer me, I am going to assume you are eighteen."
"Now I know your mother taught you never to ask a lady her age, Charles." She scolded him.
He groaned at her use of his proper name. "Please, for the love of Merlin, do not ever call me that again. I absolutely loathe being called Charles."
"Thanks for the heads up. I'll remember that for the next time you get on my nerves."
"If that's your intention then be warned, the next time you call me that I will literally tickle you until you can't breathe." He stared her down in such a way that she knew he was completely serious.
Hermione gulped before taking another bite of her oatmeal. "Fine. I won't call you Charles then."
"Good." He said as he poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice. "Now I think I have just the thing to cheer you up and make it feel more like your birthday."
"Oh, Charlie no!" She backtracked, almost mortified. "You really don't need-"
"I want to." He cut her off. "No one should feel forgotten on their birthday."
She sighed but nodded, knowing she couldn't exactly claim that it wasn't really her birthday after all. Also the idea of getting to spend more time with him didn't exactly make her want to decline his offer. "Alright. It'll have to wait until this evening though. I have another meeting with Dumbledore at one."
"You're not going to be leaving are you?" He suddenly got serious, remembering her saying goodbye to him just in case before the last meeting she'd had with the headmaster.
"No." She replied, flattered that he cared so much. "At least I doubt it. At best I'll just receive news about when I can go home."
"Oh. That's good I guess." He said after a short pause. "So, just out of curiosity, where is home?" He asked, realizing he didn't know all that much about her. "Are your parents there, or are they in trouble too?"
"My parents are safely hidden in Australia." She revealed, giving him at least a partial answer. "Are you sure though, don't you have quidditch practice keeping you busy today?"
"Yeah, I'm sure." He agreed, though shifted around uncomfortably from her lack of a full answer. "I have the pitch reserved from eleven until three. Want to meet me outside the entrance hall at seven?"
"Sure." She said as she began to pack up her things. "I'm looking forward to it."
"Me too." Charlie said as he reloaded his now empty plate. "Happy Birthday Jean."
Hermione stood and placed her beaded bag over her shoulder with the intention of heading to the library until her meeting with Dumbledore and Mr. Harper. "Thanks, Charles." She bid him, running off before he could carry out his threat from earlier.
XXXXXXXXXXX
"Good work everyone." Charlie shouted at his team from his broom. "You're all looking really good out there. I think we can call it a day."
The seven players touched down to the ground and ran towards the sidelines to parch their thirst. Still in mid-September, it had been too hot of a day for the level of physical activity the captain had put them under.
"Two practices like this per week and that cup is as good as ours." Charlie smiled as the rest of the team began to gather their things.
Two by two the other six players headed toward the showers, while Charlie turned toward the castle with the intention of washing up in the prefect's bath instead. They had his favorite soap stocked in there that he really wanted to use before his, dare he call it, date with Jean.
He'd only made it twenty paces or so when he heard his name being called from behind him. He turned to see the sixth year he had regrettably snogged after last year's final game. Inwardly, he groaned at the thought of having to let her down easy once again.
"Lilac?"
"Hey." She smiled vibrantly, as she finally caught up to him. "Looks like this year's practices are going well."
"They are." He replied, curious as to where exactly she was going with this. "I'm hoping to win the cup again this year. Go out on a high note since it will be my last."
"I was just hoping for the same thing." Lilac grinned flirtatiously as they walked. "Maybe if you do we can celebrate the same way we did last year."
Charlie stopped dead in his tracks at her insinuation, cringing at his previous self's lack of judgement in his post victory celebration. "Yeah I'm sorry about that by the way. I shouldn't have kissed you last year."
Her happy mood seemed to sour a little at his apology and she moved to stand in front of him; causing them both to come to a halt. "No need to be sorry Charlie. I quite enjoyed it. In fact, I was hoping we could do it again sometime." She stepped in a little too close for his comfort, resting her hand on his shoulder. "Now if you'd like."
He grabbed her hand gently, and removed it before putting some more space between them. "This is exactly what I was worried about. I gave you the wrong idea."
"What do you mean?" She asked, now looking hurt.
"I was high on adrenaline after that big win last year. I wasn't thinking properly when I initiated that kiss. You were the first girl I ran into that seemed interested, and I went with it." Charlie tried to explain. "I really am sorry if I led you on, or made you think that it was something more than a one night thing."
"It's that new girl isn't it?" Lilac practically spat in her newfound anger. "Jean?"
He paused at her accusation. He grit his teeth as he tried to keep this from escalating. "Who I like doesn't change the fact that I'm not interested in repeating what we did last year."
"She doesn't even like you, you know!" Her voice raised at him. "She told me herself. She said she has someone waiting for her back home, and she'd never risk losing him for some fling with a jock like you!"
Charlie's face paled. He knew Jean was hiding something big and that she had joked that she wasn't single, but he hadn't imagined that she would speak about him like that, and to Lilac of all people.
"Be that as it may, I meant what I said. I'm sorry if I led you on, but I have no interest in you. Romantic or otherwise." He tried to drive his point in hard this time. "We aren't, nor will we ever be together in the way you imagine. Now leave me alone."
He pushed past her in a hurry, wanting to wash not only the dirt and sweat away, but his newfound bad mood down the drain with it.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Hermione let the hot water drench her from head to toe in order to wash away all of her own frustrations from today. Her appointment had not gone well and she was now looking at another eight months as an undercover student in this time. After the disappointing news, she was now looking forward to whatever it was Charlie had planned to cheer her up. She had decided to take a shower in the prefect's bathroom to get ready while she waited.
Her mind wandered to the meeting she had just left as she continued to rinse the shampoo from her thick hair. Mr. Harper had met with his former colleagues and after much searching and deliberation over the past two weeks they had finally come up with a plan to get her home. They had tried to find usable replacement parts, but they could only duplicate the missing knob. Luckily the broken spinner had been repaired without needing new parts, but the real problem lay with the hourglass. It had been shattered beyond repair and lost too much time sand to be usable. Being the rarest and most temperamental part of the time-turner it was too risky to duplicate from another device. Only a bit of spellotape was placed on the crack to keep the remaining sand inside.
All of this meant that they could not repair her time-turner enough to get her back to a specific date of choice. With the timeturner in it's current state, they could only send her forward in time by year; not by month, date, or time of day. The Department of Mysteries solution was to wait it out until the exact day and time that she had left from. Presetting the dial and the spinner, while using a specific spell and ritual would allow her to travel exactly eight years into the future. It was her only hope, and all she could do now was wait until just after midnight on May 3rd to be reunited with Harry and Ron.
A creak suddenly pulled Hermione out of her thoughts as the door to the prefect's bathroom swung open and then shut back again loudly. The sound of footsteps let her know that someone else was now in the bathroom with her, and from the sounds of it they hadn't yet realized that she was there too.
'Crap.' She cursed to herself. She could have sworn she'd locked the door when she'd come in, but she must have been too distracted to have done it properly. She also wasn't even supposed to be in here since she technically wasn't a prefect yet, but the password of 'pine fresh' hadn't changed in over a decade and she didn't think anyone would be using it in the middle of the day anyway.
Carefully, she peeked her head out of the glass shower door, and saw her only found friend of this time pulling his Quidditch Jersey off over his head. She just barely got a glimpse of his pale chest before she jerked her head back into the shower and closed the door. She had never been so thankful for frosted glass before.
"Charlie." She called out loudly, before turning the water off. "There's someone already in here."
Charlie, who had been running through his conversation with Lilac over and over again in his head, had not only not heard the sounds of the water, but he hadn't seen the clothes or bag on the bench beside the shower either. He had been completely unaware that he had company at all until he had heard the sound of his name being called yet again.
"Jean?" He turned around toward the sound of the voice. "What the hell are you doing in here?"
"I should think that was obvious." She called out to him with a hint of humor to her voice, not yet realizing he wasn't very happy with her.
"How did you even get in here?" He asked, unable to stop the malice from coming through his tone.
"The password wasn't exactly hard to guess." She lied. "But do you think we could have this conversation after I put some clothes on?"
"Oh." He said dumbfounded, as he hadn't yet realized she was completely naked in the shower he was wanting to use. "Um, yeah?"
Hermione snorted at how uncomfortable he sounded. "I left both my clothes and my towel out there, could you turn around so I can fetch them please?"
"Sure." He answered, still frozen in place.
She opened the door a crack to make sure he wasn't peeking, but it turned out that he was still standing there shirtless and facing her direction. "Charlie? Can you at least pretend you aren't trying to get a good look."
This seemed to pull him out of it, and he immediately both turned around and covered his eyes.
"Sorry." He called out bashfully.
While stepping out to retrieve her things, she kept her eyes on him to make sure he stayed put. She could just catch the sheen of sweat dripping from the slight ripple of muscle that he had over the expanse of his back he waited nervously for her to go back under the cover of the shower. She could easily admit that he was quite good looking, but also knew he was practically a stick compared to the last time she had seen him just months ago when they were both at the burrow to attend Bill and Fleur's wedding.
Hermione shook all thoughts of an older version of Charlie Weasley from her head, and wrapped her towel around herself. 'These aren't appropriate thoughts to have about Ron's older brother,' she reminded herself, before picking up her clothes.
"How'd your meeting go?" He finally broke the awkward silence at the same time she finished closing the door back behind her.
All he heard was a loud groan. "Not good." She replied as she pulled her underwear on. "The problem won't be rectified until May."
"Now I'm probably going to sound stupid." Charlie said, unable to stop himself as he turned back to face the shower. "But that makes it sound like you don't really want to be here. You don't, do you?"
Finally taking the hint that there was something wrong with him, she answered carefully. "It's not that I don't want to be here per say, it's just that I don't belong here, and there are people who need me back home. I'm actually quite eager to get back and make sure everything's okay."
"That wouldn't happen to be a boyfriend that you're eager to get back to, would it?" He asked accusingly.
Hermione paused, stunned. "Boyfriend?" She asked, as she pulled her shirt over her head. "Not to mimic your answer from a few weeks ago, but I don't have a boyfriend."
Charlie almost breathed a sigh of relief, but remembered Lilac's exact words. "Than why did Lilac tell me that you said, and I quote, 'you have someone waiting back home and you'd never risk him on a jock like me.'"
Hermione exited the shower, finally dressed and understanding what had him in such a mood. He looked at her expectantly, and like all he wanted was for her to tell him that it wasn't true.
"I'm not going to lie, there was sort of someone back home." She wanted to be honest, but seeing a small flash of hurt cross his eyes at those words almost made her want to take them back. "But it was never official, and it was never serious. I was attacked and forced to come here before anything could ever come of it."
"So he is the reason you're eager to get home?" Charlie asked, still sounding accusatory. "You want to pick up where you left off."
"No, he really isn't." Hermione replied, still being honest, as finishing the war was the real reason she was eager to get back to Harry and Ron. "And as for Lilac, it seems we have both played right into her hand. When I said that, it was because she was being a right bitch and telling me to stay away from you. And now it seems she's used what I said when I was upset to get you riled up against me in return."
"Oh." Charlie paused to think about what she had just said before answering. "So you don't mind being here?" He finally relaxed and smiled a little, realizing she was right about Lilac trying to throw a wedge between them.
"I wouldn't necessarily say that." She returned the smile to let him know that they were on good terms again. "I miss home terribly."
"Oh." He looked crestfallen again.
"But." She continued in hopes that she could cheer him up again. "I have just been given word that I am stuck here for another eight months and the only reason I'm not completely dreading it is because of you."
He lit up like a kid on Christmas as he closed the distance between them. "So, you enjoy my company do you?"
Hermione snorted at his need for verification. "Do you really think I'd have agreed to spend my birthday with you if I didn't?"
"No." He admitted, as he stepped a little closer with a slight gleam of mischief to his eyes. "But now that I've calmed down I seem to remember a certain someone calling me an unmentionable name, and then running away before I could reprimand them for it."
Her eyes widened in fear, remembering his threat from this morning. "Don't you dare Charlie Weasley!" She scolded as she backed away from him.
"I gave you fair warning." With a cheshire grin, he lifted his hands up, wiggling his fingers to mock the tickling he intended to do as he followed her towards the back of the bathroom.
"But you're all sweaty... and I just got clean!" She screamed as she attempted to run around him.
"Doesn't matter." He said as he chased her, fingers dancing as they ran. "I'm going to get you for calling me you-know-what."
Hermione finally made it to the door, but she had not been quite fast enough as he turned her around and pressed her back to the door.
"You're in for it now." He grinned as he dug his fingers into her ribs.
"Stop it!" She screamed through her giggles. "You're getting your disgusting quidditch grime all over me."
"Then tell me you're sorry and that you'll never use that vile name again." He laughed as he continued his assault on her.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She laughed while trying to pry his hands away from her ribcage. "I'll never call you Charles again!"
He chuckled as he ceased his attack, placing one hand on the door beside her head instead. "Promise?"
"Promise." She agreed, trying to catch her breath. "No matter how annoying you might be."
He placed his other hand on the other side of her head, caging her in. "Don't push me Walters."
Hermione suddenly smirked, placing her hand against the middle of his bare chest, causing him to shiver slightly from the contact.
"Actually, I think I will." She said before gently pushing him back.
Intrigued, he went willingly, stepping a few steps backward to give her some space. With her left hand still in place on his chest, she grabbed his wand out of his back pocket with her right and used it to accio her things. All the while Charlie watched her silently..
"So, I'll see you at seven?" She asked as she adjusted the strap of her bag over her shoulder.
"On the dot." He confirmed, as she slipped his wand back into his pocket without breaking eye contact.
"Can't wait." Hermione grinned before removing her hands from his chest and making her exit.
When she was gone, Charlie was left grinning like a fool alone in the prefect's bathroom. It wasn't until ten minutes later, when he finally made it into the shower himself that he realized he'd had her alone and naked in the same room as him, and hadn't even tried to make a move.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Curious as to why he had chosen to meet outside, Hermione exited the castle just before seven. She could see the sun slowly going down in the distance, hovering just over the tops of the trees. Luckily, the blazing heat from earlier in the day had finally cooled as a mild breeze blew in from the north.
"I see you made it." Charlie called out as he came up from behind her.
Hermione turned, surprised that he had come from that direction. She had expected him to exit from inside the castle, as she had.
"Ready for the best, last minute birthday celebration you'll ever have at Hogwarts?" He asked as he held out his arm to escort her.
She slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow, enjoying the warmth he seemed to radiate. "I'd argue that you couldn't possibly know that." She replied, trying to goad him playfully as they began their track down the hill. "But then again you seem to have covered all your bases, as this will be my only birthday here. So technically you're not wrong...though by that logic it will also be my worst birthday at Hogwarts as well."
"Do you always have to be so skeptical about everything?" He scoffed, though still smiled his usual grin. "Couldn't you just say, 'why yes Charlie, I am ready for the best birthday I've ever had.'"
Hermione snorted, as they walked. "We will just have to see about that." She said as she wrapped her cloak a little tighter around her neck. "Where are we going anyway?"
"Just a little further." He said as they passed Hagrid's cabin, the sounds of Fang's booming bark coming from inside.
Seeing nothing but the treeline in front of them, she raised one eyebrow at him. "You aren't taking me into the Forbidden Forest are you?"
She had definitely been in there more times than she preferred already, and had no plans of letting him drag her in there on her birthday; fake or not.
Charlie laughed. "No, I'm afraid we'll just have to wait for my birthday for that excursion."
"Well you can count me out of that one." She replied to his sarcasm.
"Contrary to what you believe Jean, you are absolutely no fun." He said as they came closer to his described destination. "I have a nice little surprise set up just before the forest though, right where the treeline meets the lake and the grounds end. It's probably my favorite spot in all of Hogwarts."
"You really like the outdoors don't you?" She asked, trying to get to know him better, though already knowing he was quite the outdoors man based on things she'd heard over the years.
"I'd have pitched a tent and slept out here years ago if I could." He answered. "But McGonagall threatened she'd have my hide if I didn't stop trying to sneak out. There was also the incident where I transfigured the window ledge of the boy's dorms so it was large enough to fit a sleeping bag."
Hermione gaped at him. "You did not try to transfigure a window ledge so you could sleep outside!"
"I did so." He claimed. "Third year. But Miles Stanguard told on me. He was worried that it would collapse or disappear if I put any weight on it... turned out he was right."
"It's a good thing he did! What if you'd rolled over in your sleep and fallen off?"
"I totally could have. Surprised I still made prefect after that to be honest." They both laughed at his memory. "Anyway, we are here."
Hermione took her eyes off of her companion and looked ahead once more. By the looks of it, he had set up a cozy little fireside picnic; though there were no flames lit in the firepit yet. There was a cushioned bench set up just in front of the nearest tree, facing the water of the Black Lake. She could see why this would be his favorite spot as it had a nice view of the castle, but was secluded enough for a bit of privacy.
A large red balloon had been tied to the right hand back corner of the bench, with a pile of fluffy throw blankets leaned against the side. There was also a basket filled with what looked like lots of food items sitting just underneath the bench, almost begging to be dug into. She smiled at the sight of it, just as Charlie sent some flames at the logs in the pit with his wand.
"I know it's not much." He spoke up again once the flames began to flicker. "But it's the best I could come up with on short notice."
"Don't sell yourself short." She said, as she let go of the crook of his arm to step in front of the warmth of the fire. "It looks wonderful."
"Oh, okay. Good." He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. "But to be safe I am going to take this down."
Charlie walked around to the back of the bench and untied the ribbon keeping the balloon in place, setting the string under a nearby rock instead. Her side of the bench looked much less festive now.
"To be safe from what?" She asked with one eyebrow raised. "It's just a balloon."
"Yeah. About that." He answered as he continued to make sure the balloon was secure. "I may not be as good at transfiguration as it seems in class."
"Really?" She asked, crossing her arms. "Everything you transfigure in class seems to come out as perfect as mine. How did you get through O.W.L.S and on to N.E.W.T level if you're not as good as it seems? McGonagall only accepts E or higher."
His face turned a little redder. "Yeah, I'm really good at the assignments. Transfiguring things into specific other objects isn't the problem. My issue just happens to be that what I transfigure doesn't seem to want to hold it's new shape for very long. That's why Miles snitched on me. He knew as soon as I put weight on that window ledge it would revert to its original state and I'd end up plummeting to my death."
"Ah, the unspoken rule of Gryffindor." She said, trying not to laugh at him. "Only snitch on each other if it's life or death."
"That's exactly why I never held a grudge against him." He nodded. "Owe him my life I do."
Hermione's laughter broke through at that as she tilted her head back "So what was the balloon before?" She asked as she finally took her seat on the right side of the bench where the balloon had been tied.
Charlie plopped down on the bench beside her, a bashful grin gracing his lips. "A rock."
Hermione only laughed louder, covering her mouth with one hand.
"That's why I took it away to be safe." He said, laughing with her. "I didn't want it to hit you on your pretty little head when my spell wore off."
His hand came up to tuck one of her stray curls behind her ear, before letting his fingertips slide down her cheek to her chin. The combination of his words and his touch made her cheeks turn pink, just as his' had been moments earlier.
Giving her time to recover from his obvious flirting, he leaned forward to grab the basket before rummaging through it for a minute. Hermione took a deep breath to try to calm the sudden butterflies that had begun to flutter in her stomach. 'Maybe it wasn't a good idea to be alone with him after all.' She thought to herself as she busied herself by grabbing the topmost blanket from the pile and smoothing it over her lap.
"Thirsty?" He asked as he finally held up a large burgundy colored bottle.
Hermione's eyes widened as she realized that he was not holding up a decanter of pumpkin juice. "You're not supposed to have that!"
Charlie scoffed at her good-naturedly. "You do know we are of age right?"
"Yes, but it's still against the rules to have alcohol on the grounds."
"You sound like Percy." He snorted as he poured two goblets half-full of the wine. "Legally, there is nothing wrong with us sharing this lovely bottle I confiscated from one of the Slytherin's last week."
"Using your patrolling powers for good instead of evil I see." She joked, though did take one of the glasses he extended to her.
He stuck his tongue out at her playfully before holding his glass up. "Happy Birthday Jean." He wished her as they clinked their goblets together.
"Thank you Charlie." She said, before taking her first sip. "For everything really. You've really made my stay here much more pleasant than I thought possible when I first arrived."
"Of course." He answered as he handed her a red cloth napkin. "Wouldn't want you spending your birthday with anyone else would I? Now, I couldn't sneak a whole fully prepared dinner down, so this will have to do."
He began to pull some sliced bread, meats, cheeses and fruit out the the basket; laying them out on a platter he had set to hover between them. Hermione's eyes lit up at the sight of the steam still coming off the bread.
"Stop selling yourself short." She said as she dug in. "It looks so good."
"Glad the time I spent preparing for this evening wasn't completely wasted." He claimed, as he started to assemble a cheese sandwich for himself. "So what's up with you and food anyway?"
"What do you mean?" She asked confused, though unable to help the moan that escaped as she savored the taste of the warm buttery bread she had just taken a bite of.
"Every time I see you with food you look like it's the best thing you've ever had in your entire life. Or like you haven't seen proper food in years and you can't wait to devour what's in front of you." He tried to explain. "And don't take this the wrong way, but the look you get just before taking a bite sometimes borders on the lines of becoming erotic."
Hermione turned to face the lake instead of him as her eyes widened. She was embarrassed by how she knew she must look, but also worried that her actions would clue him in on how deprived of food she really had been for so long.
"I told you not to take it the wrong way." He tried to backtrack. "I think it's cute, really. How much you seem to love food I mean. Most girls act like it's a crime for them to adore eating."
"Well not me." She claimed as she shifted back to her previous position; stuffing more bread into her mouth. "Especially when it comes to baked goods."
He laughed and relaxed against the backrest of the bench. "I just realized that I don't really know that much about you. I seem to tell you a lot about me, but you never seem to share facts about yourself in return."
"Yeah...Sorry." She said nervously. "It's just that I'm supposed to be keeping a low profile is all."
"I'm not asking for your life story, or even where you were before you came to Hogwarts." He said. "I just want to know what you're like. Interests, hobbies, even dreams maybe. Whatever you feel like you can share. I just want to know that this friendship isn't completely one sided."
"It's not Charlie." She tried to reassure him. "I really do enjoy your company."
"Alright then Miss Walters." He said taking the bait. "Then what did you like to do before you came here?"
Hermione pondered the question for a moment to see what she needed to leave out. "Well, I love to read."
He snorted at her. "Oh, really! I hadn't guessed." He said sarcastically, causing her to smack his arm. "What else?"
"I enjoy knitting."
"Knitting?" He smirked a little. "Okay, mum."
She smacked at him again, but laughed. "I'm going to take that as a compliment."
"Okay, so I know you hate Quidditch, but what about flying in general?" He asked, trying to find out more things about her.
"Ugh." She voiced her dislike. "Not even a little bit."
"Oh, come on!" He grounded, flabbergasted as he refilled his goblet with the wine. "How can you not like flying?"
"I don't like heights."
"Maybe you just need someone experienced to ride with." He suggested, hoping that maybe he could get her to fly with him sometime.
"Been there, done that." She continued to snack on the food he'd brought. "I still don't like it, and it's not just brooms. I genuinely dislike all forms of flying."
"And how often have you rode anything that wasn't a broom?' He asked disbelievingly.
"Let's see." She held up her fingers to count them off. "Hippogriff, Thestral, Thestral again, and most recently a dragon."
"You what?" Charlie asked, suddenly sitting straight up. "No you didn't. There's no way!" He sputtered in disbelief.
Hermione began to brush some of the breadcrumbs off her robes. Maybe she shouldn't have told the biggest dragon lover she ever knew about that last one. Especially when it wouldn't even happen for another eight years.
She decided she would finally give the poor guy some of the answers he was looking for, but not before grabbing another one of the throw blankets from the ground and snuggling underneath it. "Would you like to hear how it happened?"
"Of course I do." Charlie topped his wine back off, before refilling hers. "I have a feeling I'm going to need a bit more alcohol for this one though."
Hermione laughed. "Alright well it was actually just the day before you met me."
Charlie's eyebrows raised to a comical level. "Really?"
"My two best friends and I were trapped in this underground...place." She said, deliberately not revealing that it was Gringotts. "There was this poor blinded and chained dragon down there, it must have been kept there for years because it was so skinny and so pale."
Charlie was on the edge of his seat, looking both enthralled by her tale and angry at the condition the dragon had been kept in.
"My guess is that it was supposed to deter us from escaping, but we knew that if we stayed where we were, we would end up dead anyway. So we broke the chains keeping it a prisoner, jumped on its back, and rode it out of the tunnel system surrounding where we were being kept."
He looked as if he had a thousand questions, but being borderline obsessed with dragons he asked the most obvious one first. "So how did you get off the dragon without it roasting you?"
"We kept very still on it's back so it wouldn't notice us and finally after several hours it got thirsty. When it flew close enough to the surface of the water we made a jump for it."
"Wow." He commented in excitement. "What was it like? Touching it I mean."
Hermione strained to remember. She had been so frightened, yet so relieved to have escaped capture by the death eaters again that she hadn't thought that much about it.
"Magical." She finally put a word to it. "I could almost feel it's magic humming just below the scales. It was wondrous, beautiful, and frightening all at the same time."
Charlie looked at her in awe. "You don't know this about me, but dragons are my absolute favorite creatures. I'm kind of obsessed with them really. I hope I get to touch one someday. To feel what you felt."
Hermione smiled a very Mona Lisa smile at him. "I'm sure you will."
He smiled back before reaching into his inside robes pocket and fidgeting for something. "Well speaking of dragons." He handed her a poorly wrapped package. "I obviously didn't have a chance to go shopping so I decided to give you something of meaning instead."
She took the rectangular package out of reflex. "Oh, Charlie, you didn't have to get me anything. This was already more than enough." She gestured around to the fire and the basket.
"I know." He admitted. "But I wanted to. Now open it."
He grabbed her free hand and placed it on top of the ribbon binding the paper together.
Hermione undid the bow and let the paper fall open. Revealed was a thin book titled The Pygmy Dragon's Princess that looked as if it had been read at least a half a dozen times. The cover showed a small green dragon napping on a girl's lap, while little puffs of smoke floated out of its nostrils, and a castle sat in the background. It was clearly a children's book.
"What's this?" She asked curiously, opening the cover carefully to the front page.
"My favorite book from when I was a kid." He explained, finally getting chilly enough himself to steal some of the blanket she was under. "I knew you liked to read so I figured I'd pass this on to you. I've read it enough times by now."
"I can't take this." She said uncomfortably, trying to hand it back to him. "It means too much to you."
He moved his hands away so she couldn't give it back to him. "I want you to have it. Please. I think you'll really enjoy it."
"Alright. If you insist." She said, finally laying it down in her lap. "So what's it about?"
He grinned, clearly excited to reveal the plot. "So you know how in lots of fairy tales the prince slays the dragon and saves the princess?"
"Yes." She couldn't help but return the grin.
"Well in this one, it's the opposite. The dragon is her pet she keeps in the woods, until one day her parents decide to marry her off to some far away prince. So the dragon, who misses his princess, travels to the far away land, defeats the prince, and saves the princess so they can live happily ever after."
Hermione laughed. "I love it. I can't wait to read it and tell you what I think."
"I hope you enjoy it as much as I always have." He said, draping one arm over the back of the bench behind her, trying to snuggle a little closer to her under the blankets. "So tell me about your friends that you rode the dragon with. What are they like?"
Hermione was sure she must look very uncomfortable, though she wasn't sure if it was just from his question. "Trouble." She finally answered.
He looked at her curiously. "Are you going to elaborate on that?"
"Well I've never really gotten along with other girls very well." She admitted. "So my two best friends are actually boys. We've been best friends ever since our first year and even though I adore them I'm the responsible one who usually has to tag along on their adventures to make sure they don't get into too much trouble."
"So is that how you ended up here?" He asked, trying to piece the puzzle of her life together. "You followed them to someplace dangerous and got into too much trouble?"
Hermione had to pause again; technically he wasn't wrong. "Sort of. This time we didn't have a choice. We either had to be proactive and make a move, or the group of bad people would come for us instead."
Charlie stared at her, finally realizing that the trouble she was in was more serious than he suspected. "So if you got away, what happened to your friends?"
Hermione sighed, taking another drink of the wine. "I got separated from them. As far as I know I was the only one who almost got captured."
"Is that why you are so eager to get home?" He asked, even more curious than before. "You don't know for sure if they are okay or not?"
"Pretty much." She admitted solemnly, looking down at her hands that were fidgeting with her glass.
"Sorry I brought so much of it up." He said, trying to change the subject now that she was looking as glum as she had at breakfast this morning. "I know it must be hard having to pretend everything's okay when it clearly isn't. I'm just really curious about you is all."
She forced a smile as she let her eyes meet his once more. "I get it. I'm just not ready to tell you everything yet."
"Say no more then." He squeezed her knee once through the blankets before reaching down to rummage through the basket again.
As he did, Hermione took the time to look up at the view again. The sun was now setting, casting the most beautiful glow of fall colors that danced against the surface of the lake. Now, even more than before, she could tell why Charlie loved this spot so much.
Taking the opportunity to not only start up a new conversation, but also embarrass him a bit, she turned to Charlie with a newfound cheesy grin. "So does this tactic usually work on all the other girls you bring here?"
"Other girls?" He looked confused as he speared two oversized marshmallows on sticks. "Jean I've never brought anyone else here, except Devon maybe." He shrugged.
"Oh." She said, now the one embarrassed instead. "It's just that it's so beautiful and private, and with a sunset this romantic I figured it would be the perfect place to bring dates."
"I'll have to remember that." He joked before handing one of the sticks to her. "I've never really had to work that hard to get girls to pay attention to me though."
Hermione placed her marshmallow just over the fire so it could roast, as he did the same. "Oh, and why is that? Natural ladies man are you?"
"I guess." He laughed at her teasing as he used his marshmallow to push hers away from the best spot in the firepit.
"Well it is a nice place. I see why you like it so much." Hermione pushed his hand to the side so she could claim her marshmallow's spot in the fire back as she laughed at him.
"I like being surrounded by nature." He replied, finally accepting defeat and letting her have the perfect marshmallow roasting spot. "And this is the only spot in all of Hogwarts where you have the lake directly in front of you, and the forest directly behind you. So when you have both a sunset and a breeze on a night like tonight, it's like being touched by all four elements at once."
"Air, water, earth, and..." She turned her head to look at him, their eyes locked together. Somehow they had ended up shoulders touching, faces only inches apart.
"Fire." They both said at the same time.
They stayed perfectly still; continuing to stare at each other in the heat of the moment. But soon Charlie's eyes flickered down to her lips, as if silently begging her to let him kiss her. He hadn't even noticed that his marshmallow had fallen off the end of his stick, and was now lost to the flames below.
Hermione froze in place, unable to look away from him. She hadn't realized how much she wanted him to kiss her until he was seconds away from touching his lips to hers. As he leaned in slowly, she flashed back to her last kiss. The kiss she hadn't thought about in weeks, but had been shared with his much younger brother. She knew at that moment that if they kissed there would be no going back to being just friends. He would want more.
Hermione couldn't let him get that attached to her. Things were already too complicated, not to mention the fact that she was leaving in less than eight months.
Unable to read her train of thought, Charlie continued to lean in until their lips were only an inch apart. The closeness making them both almost dizzy from the tension.
"It's late." She said suddenly, turning away from him in panic.
Charlie was now the one to freeze in place. "Oh." He finally answered, clearly confused and slightly hurt from her sudden rejection.
"We should probably head back to the castle before Filch sees the fire and comes to give us detention." She dropped her stick to the ground, still feeling panicked about what had almost just conspired.
"Right." He commented, still obviously disappointed by her reaction. "Well, uh. I hope you had a good birthday after all." He added awkwardly.
Hermione felt horrible. He had just planned and done more for her birthday than Harry or Ron had done in years. And what had she done in return? Mucked it all up by leading him on.
"I really did." She said, trying to mend his now slightly bruised ego. "This was all very sweet of you."
"I'm glad." He said, throwing his portion of the blanket off himself and standing up. He clearly wanted to put some distance between them.
Taking a leaf out of his book, Hermione removed the two blankets from her lap and stood, folding them slowly one by one.
"You should go ahead and head back to the castle Jean." He suggested, attempting to sound friendly but his tone still dripped with disappointment anyway. "I'm going to clean up and stifle the fire."
"Oh." She said, unsure of what to say. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." He forced a smile. "Happy Birthday Jean."
She returned the forced smile with one of her own. "Thanks Charlie."
Charlie turned his back to her so he could gather everything back into the basket. She watched him for a moment before coming up with a plan of her own. Hermione didn't want to leave the wonderful night on a bad note, so she picked up The Pygmy Dragon's Princess and approached him again.
She tapped him on the shoulder from behind, and waited for him to turn around to face her.
"Hmm?" He asked, noticing that she was very close to him again.
"I just wanted to thank you for the book." She said, holding it up with a genuine smile this time. "It was a really thoughtful gift."
"Oh." He said, unsure of what to think with her mixed signals. "You're welcome."
Hermione knew that he was being sincere, and that he had gone to a lot of trouble for her tonight. So even though she knew that she couldn't lead him on, she also knew that she couldn't leave him with nothing either. So with both thoughts in mind, she leaned up on her tip toes and placed a soft slow kiss to his jaw.
"Goodnight Charles." She whispered against his ear softly, causing him to shiver.
Without waiting for a reply, Hermione made her exit and jogged back up the path that led to the castle.
And as Hermione disappeared into the night, Charlie couldn't help but think that maybe he didn't loathe being called Charles quite as much as he thought. At least not when it was whispered so sweetly in her voice.