Disclaimer: JK owns HP: Always
1989
Chapter 15
It was late. Almost eleven at night to be exact.
For the sixth night in a row Hermione was sitting in the chair closest to the portrait hole; waiting for Charlie to return to Gryffindor Tower for the night.
It was official; he was avoiding her. Just as he had been all week.
On Halloween morning he had gathered all the quidditch players for a mandatory day long practice beside Hagrid's hut; the strange location due to the pitch already being reserved for the day by Slytherin. The rest of the week had basically been the same, with a practice every night right up until curfew. In fact, even at meal times he had surrounded himself with teammates, leaving her with no opportunity to talk to him.
She flipped the page of her book in annoyance as she checked the portrait of the fat lady again in an attempt to see if any of the quidditch players were back yet. There was no such luck.
With a loud snap, Hermione closed her book and stood from her worn and ratty armchair. If he still didn't want to talk to her, well then she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of catching her eagerly awaiting his return. So with a huff of frustration, she stomped up the stairs to her dorm for the night. Maybe it was time to just let him come to her.
Once in her dorm, she was greeted by Laura and Sarah, who were both busy pampering themselves before bed. Both of their faces were a pale green and pasty from the facial masks they had apparently just applied, and were dawned from head to toe in luxurious bathrobes.
"Still no Charlie?" Laura asked, as the pair joined her on her bed.
"Hmm?" Hermione asked in an attempt to act as if she had not been waiting for him, but then remembered that they had both caught her multiple times over the past week. "No." She finally admitted with a sigh.
"Well I'm sure he'll get his head out of his own arse eventually." Sarah said. "But what is it the two of you are even having a spat over in the first place?"
"Sarah!" Laura scolded her for cursing with a glare.
"What?" Sarah feigned innocence. "His head is up his own arse if he won't even talk to her. Would you like to join us Jean? We still have plenty of the mask mixture prepped." She changed the subject, causing Laura to roll her eyes.
Though Hermione was not usually one to partake in superficial rituals of vanity, she decided to let the two girls apply the green concoction to her face while they gossiped away. Sarah and Laura had been nothing but nice to her since she met them two months ago, and it seemed like a good distraction. A distraction that was working quite well until a very frustrated trio of girls walked into the room, all of them covered from head to toe in sweat and dirt.
"Gods the three of you look a fright." Avery snarled grumpily as she caught sight of their appearances.
Sarah turned to look at the all female team of chasers. "I could say the same about you three."
"Yeah, well this is due to wind, bludgers, and a very cranky team captain." Avery gestured to all the sweat and muck covering her robes before rounding on Hermione. "And speaking of our cranky captain, I'm not sure what it is you two are fighting about Jean, but the two of you better make up soon, alright? Because I am not going through his moody monstrous training routines for a week straight ever again. My private training sessions with my cousin Gwen last year weren't even this rigorous."
Hermione looked a bit surprised but remained calm. "What makes you think his training tactics have anything to do with me? Why can't he just be pushing you guys for a win?"
"Because I've known Charlie for seven years now, and I've never seen him as cranky or as hard headed as he has been this week." She said accusingly. "In fact he's been in a foul mood ever since he left Hogsmeade early to go find you."
"Sorry ladies, but I've actually been trying to talk to him all week." Hermione admitted, knowing she'd been caught. "He's been using you guys as a shield."
"Well why didn't you ask us for help earlier?" Jasmine butted in, looking just as frustrated as Avery. "The three of us will get him alone for you. We'll do it tomorrow, just after the game at the victory party."
"You think you can?" Hermione asked skeptically. She wasn't sure they'd be any better at getting him into a room with her than she'd been.
"I can talk Devon into helping." The other chaser named Ivy Blanchard said. "As backup, he is just as frustrated with these training sessions as we are. In fact, as Charlie's best friend, he is probably getting the brunt of his bad mood. I'm sure he'll help us."
"Alright. I'll take all the help I can get." She sighed. "But what if we lose?"
"Ha, like we are losing after all the insane practices this week." Jasmine scoffed.
"Seriously." Ivy added. "Those Flint boys better bring it, because we are going to kick their arses tomorrow."
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
(Saturday. An hour into the game. Gryffindor leads 180-70)
The obnoxious announcer, who also happened to be a Slytherin, was going to drive Hermione insane. His voice was dripping with arrogance, his words were condescending and rude, and if it weren't for the fact that Professor McGonagall could be heard screeching across the pitch at him to remain unbiased, she would have marched over to his section herself and jinxed him for the awful things he was saying about her new friends.
"Is that poor third year still out cold?" Laura asked Hermione, who was busy looking out her omnioculars at the student announcer. She had found them hidden in her bag that morning and decided to bring them last minute.
Hermione turned her attention from the obnoxious Slytherin across the pitch, to the sidelines where they had dragged Oliver Wood's unconscious body two minutes into the game. After a bludger had hit him in the head, Devon had taken over as keeper. He was doing a good job considering Gryffindor was winning by over one hundred points.
"Looks like it." Hermione informed them as she watched Madame Pomfrey continue to care for him on the sidelines.
"Bad luck." Sarah said. "Poor guy will probably never live that down."
Hermione wanted to say that he would do just fine, as she knew he'd end up playing for Puddlemere after Hogwarts, but her and her new friends all ended up forgetting about poor Oliver. They scoffed and rolled their eyes as the announcer's voice continued to call out the play by play of the game in a very sexist manner.
"DAWSON DIVES UNDER THE YOUNGER FLINT AND PASSES TO THE EXOTIC AND FULL FIGURED-"
"TALMADGE!" McGonagall screamed. "I've told you time and time again to keep it clean. One more offense and you're out!"
"Sorry Professor." The announcer responded. "AND BLANCHARD DODGES A SECOND BLUDGER, PASSES BACK TO DAWSON WHO FLIPS AROUND THE SAME BLUDGER HIT BY WARRINGTON. SHE KEEPS CONTROL OF THE QUAFFLE." He continued in the same manner as before. "DAWSON THROWS IT. IT'S GOING IN...AND SHE SCORES." Talmadge was clearly annoyed at his house team for letting another quaffle in. "AGAIN." He added. "WHICH BRINGS THE SCORE UP ONE-NINETY TO SEVENTY."
Avery swooped across the field giving both her fellow chasers high fives along the way. The three girls immediately went into defense mode as the three Slytherin chasers made their way across the pitch to where Devon was currently guarding the three Gryffindor hoops.
"LETS HOPE HIGGS FINDS THE SNITCH SOON, BECAUSE THREE MORE GOALS BY GRYFFINDOR AND IT WON'T MATTER IF HE CATCHES IT OR NOT."
Hermione turned her omnioculars toward Charlie, who was busy searching for the snitch. She was still hoping he would catch it before Slytherin's seeker. Even though she was still cross with him for ignoring her all week, she still wanted him to be in a good mood for that evening. She also wanted to be able to shove a win in that jerk of an announcer's face.
He dodged two bludgers hit from different directions before skyrocketing upward to get a better view of the pitch. Hermione couldn't help but focus on him. The way he moved showed off how skilled he really was on a broom.
Hermione zoomed the lenses in further so she could see him more clearly. His eyes were constantly moving in different directions in his search for the snitch. It was clear that he was determined to be the one to catch it. His brows were furrowed in concentration, which made her realize that his attention was completely on the game. She felt a small pang in her chest when she realized that she was just as far from his thoughts as everything else non game related.
'It must be nice to have something to distract himself with.' She thought, before realizing that she should have spent her week doing the same, and focusing on her mission. It was much more important than boys anyway, so she shouldn't have let herself become so absorbed by her feelings for him in the first place. She was on a deadline, and in only six months she would have a war to win.
"Does he have sight of the snitch yet?" Laura asked.
Hermione was taken off guard by the question. She didn't like that she had been caught watching him so closely.
"Um, no." She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "But he is definitely on the hunt. I don't think I have ever seen him this focused."
"Good. I'm sure once he catches it he'll be in a much better mood." Laura replied.
"Oh Definitely! He should even be in a good enough mood to make out-" Sarah coughed as Laura elbowed her harshly. "Make-up! I meant make-up...Jeeze!"
Hermione ignored the comment, not wanting to get her hopes up that he would ever kiss her like he had last Saturday again. "I'm going to take this one victory at a time. The other girls still have to succeed at getting him in a room alone with me first."
"AND JASMINE WINTERBOTTOM SCORES FOR THE THIRD TIME THIS GAME." The Slytherin announcer continued. "AND SPEAKING OF BOTTOM. HOW DOES SHE PLAY SO WELL WITH ONE AS ROUND AS HERS, LET ALONE SIT ON A BROOM-."
"THAT IS IT TALMADGE!" Everyone in the stand could hear Mcgonagall shout. "I HAVE WARNED YOU TIME AND TIME AGAIN TO KEEP IT CLEAN AND I HAVE OFFICIALLY HAD IT!" She emphasized had and it with a pause between each. "YOU ARE OUT! I WILL FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN TAKE THIS PRIVILEGE SERIOUSLY!
"I can do it Professor!" An excited voice could be heard in the distance from the microphone over the loudspeaker.
"You are still a bit young Jordan." The entire stands could hear the conversation. "I usually let one of the older students-"
"I won't make rude comments, I promise!" An eleven year old Lee Jordan claimed. "I'll call the game like I see it without showing preference. Plus, I don't even like girls like that yet, so you won't have to worry about me talking about bottoms."
They could hear McGonagall emit a large sigh. "Fine." She finally conceded. "But just for the rest of this game. If you do a good job we can talk later about you taking over in the future."
There was a bunch of rustling as Lee took the headset and placed it over his mop of hair so he could sit in front of the microphone.
"AND DAWSON HAS POSSESSION OF THE QUAFFLE." He announced. "SHE DODGES A BLUDGER. DODGES A FLINT. DODGES ANOTHER BLUDGER, BEFORE PASSING TO BLANCHARD. BLANCHARD IN POSSESSION NOW. SHE DODGES THE OTHER FLINT BEFORE PASSING BACK TO DAWSON. DAWSON FLIES TO THE LEFT. SHE'S IN POSITION…" Lee says acting excited. "AND SHE SCORES! BRINGING THE SCORE UP TWO HUNDRED TO SEVENTY!"
Hermione and the rest of the Gryffindors in her group all clapped and cheered loudly. Ivy had been right the night before; they were kicking Slytherin's arses.
"AND WHAT IS THIS!" Lee exclaimed, getting excited once more. "IT LOOKS LIKE WEASLEY HAS CAUGHT SIGHT OF THE SNITCH!"
Hermione pushed her omnioculars back in front of her eyes after discarding them under her arm earlier so she could clap and cheer along with her housemates. She scanned the sky for Charlie who was nowhere near where she'd last been watching him. In fact, he was now almost clear to the other side of the pitch. His right hand was stretched out in front of him as he continued to steer the broom with his left.
Though she could hear Lee Jordan's echoing voice in the background, she was not paying attention to the words he was saying as her entire focus was now on Charlie as he dodged a bludger hit his way by one of the Slytherin's beaters. Though he dodged it precisely, Charlie barely seemed to notice that it had been hit at him at all as he continued in his pursuit of the golden snitch.
"AND IT LOOKS LIKE HIGGS HAS FINALLY NOTICED THAT WEASLEY IS HOT ON THE SNITCH'S TRAIL. LET'S SEE IF HE CAN CATCH UP TO HIM IN TIME." Lee said, trying not to sound too excited by the lack of competence of the opposing team's seeker.
Charlie continued on, unaware of the excited hollering coming from the crowd. His mind was on one thing and one thing alone, and that was on wrapping his fingers around the golden snitch before Terrence Higgs caught up to him. Though he was already going as fast as his old cleansweep four could carry him, he seemed to slowly be gaining on the small winged ball.
A few seconds later, as if she had hit the slow motion button on her omnioculars, Hermione watched as he swung his upper body forward and reached outward. His hand finally closed around the evasive golden ball; Higgs still nowhere even close to his location on the pitch.
"AND WEASLEY GETS IT!" Lee yelled, unable to contain his excitement. "HE HAS CAUGHT THE GOLDEN SNITCH, ENDING THE GAME IN JUST OVER AN HOUR WITH A SCORE OF THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY TO SEVENTY. GRYFFINDOR WINS!"
Charlie did a victory lap around the pitch, with the fist still clenching the snitch tightly raised high above his head. As Hermione's eyes continued to follow him, she could have sworn she saw him look her way as he passed by, but almost as soon as his eyes seemed to lock onto her, he looked away again.
Had she imagined it? Or had he been making sure she'd seen his team winning catch?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The victory party was in full swing.
It seemed that Fred and George had already been putting the map to good use, as they had brought numerous snacks and beverages into the common room, claiming to have nicked them from the kitchens.
Though Hermione was happy that Gryffindor had won the game, her mind was clearly on other things. Everytime the portrait opened, her head would jerk upward to see who was entering. This time she wasn't looking for just Charlie though, this time she was looking for the three female chasers, and possibly Devon as well. Actually, none of the team members had gotten back yet, no doubt getting showered and changed in the locker rooms before joining the party.
She had been nursing her glass of non spiked pumpkin juice for twenty minutes when Ivy, Jasmine, and Devon finally burst through the portrait hole. Their sudden entrance caused another excited uproar of cheers from the crowd, leaving Hermione unable to approach them for several more minutes.
When the excitement of their arrival had finally calmed down a bit, Ivy and Jasmine joined her in the corner, having not forgotten about helping her in the glory of their big win.
"Where's the rest of the team?" Hermione asked curiously, now realizing they were still the only ones who had come back to the common room.
"Well Miles and Arnold left early to help Madame Pomfrey take poor Oliver to the Hospital Wing since he will have to stay there overnight." Ivy explained where the two beaters were. "I'm guessing they are still there."
"And Charlie and Avery?" Hermione continued to question them.
"They were asked to stay behind by Madame Hooch." Jasmine answered. "None of us know why yet though."
"Don't worry." Ivy spoke up, seeing the apprehension in Hermione's face. "I think their delay will actually work for us rather than against us. It won't be as difficult to get him in a room alone with you now that we won't have to find a way to lure him out of the common room."
"So you think we should wait outside for him instead?" Hermione raised one eyebrow.
"Outside the castle?" Jasmine asked. "No. I think the two of us…" She gestured to herself and Ivy. "Along with Devon should wait on the east side stairwell."
"Exactly." Ivy chimed in. "That way they will have to run right into us to get back to Gryffindor tower."
"Makes sense." Hermione agreed. "So where will I be?"
"The third floor corridor. Second room on the right." Jasmine said. "We'll lure him there for you."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Hey Charlie! Avery!" She finally heard Devon call to his two very late teammates. "We are having a get together this way."
Hermione, who had been waiting impatiently in the designated room for almost 20 minutes now, perked up slightly at the news that Charlie had finally arrived. She straightened up from her current position of leaning against the back wall of the abandoned classroom, and took to looking toward the open door where the shadows of the quidditch players danced across the floor outside it.
After several seconds of shadows moving, and voices echoing off the walls, a figure finally appeared in the doorway. Charlie Weasley's eyebrows raised as he saw that the room he had been guided to by his teammates had been a trap, but they shoved him inside before he could protest and shut the door on him.
"Thanks for pushing us to a win today Charlie." Avery's voice could be heard from the other side. "But we have had enough of you for this week."
"Seriously!" Ivy's voice took over. "You aren't getting out of here until Jean is good and done with you, you hear?"
Charlie leaned the back of his head against the door and seethed into his hands before dragging them down his face. It was clear that he was annoyed.
"Sorry mate." Devon added, most likely knowing he would need to calm Charlie down at least a little if their plan was going to work. "But it's for yer own good ya know."
"Good luck in there you two!" Ivy added as both Charlie and Hermione heard their footsteps retreating from the other side of the door.
They were alone at last, making her count this as the second victory for the day.
Hermione opened her mouth to finally speak, but quickly shut it again. She hadn't been positive that the plan would even work, so now that he was finally alone with her she was at a loss for words. She wanted to tell him that she wanted him and not Ron. That he was the one who made her feel things she'd never felt before. But the problem was that she also knew it was a forbidden relationship that was doomed to end in only six months. The situation caused her to feel conflicted over which way to steer the conversation, so she stayed silent instead.
Before she could come up with anything noteworthy, he had pushed himself off from the door and stalked toward her. There was a predatory gleam in his eyes as he closed the gap between them.
His sudden movement startled her, causing her to back up into her previous position against the wall. Of all of the ways he could have reacted, this was far from what Hermione had pictured. She had expected him to either get angry and try to escape, or listen calmly to what she had to say before asking to be left alone again.
In a matter of seconds he was on her, kissing her just as fiercely as he had the weekend before. One of his hands had gripped the back of her head, and seemed more out of reflex than anything when her hands did the same.
Hermione let herself get lost in the kiss, scared that this might be their last. She had never felt quite like she did whenever he kissed her, so if this was her last opportunity to experience it she was going to let him, but only for five seconds.
All too soon, the five seconds she allotted for herself to enjoy the kiss was up. It would have been too easy to keep snogging him, but she knew they needed to figure out where they stood before things got any heavier. Hermione placed her palm against his chest and pushed, not unsimilar to how she signaled for him to stop the weekend before.
"Charlie, wait." She whispered.
"Why?" He growled into her ear before attaching his lips to her neck instead.
Hermione gasped in surprise. It felt good, and she wanted to give in and let him continue, but she also knew that wasn't the right thing to do. She placed her other hand on his shoulder and pushed harder.
"Because we need to talk." She said firmly.
"I don't want to talk." He growled. "I want to snog you."
He kissed her again. This time in a much more demanding manner, as he tried to shush her into complying. She was just about to give in when his next words brought her swiftly back to reality.
"Just for one last time." He whispered against her lips.
The meaning of his words hit her hard. It was like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her head. He was ending what had barely even started yet.
Hermione knew in that instant that nothing was going to be resolved that evening. It was obvious he needed more time to mull things over before they could actually have the unavoidable conversation properly. She shouldn't have pushed him into this when he clearly wasn't ready. So with a heavy heart she kissed him one final time before untangling herself from his embrace.
"If all you want is someone to snog, I'm not your girl." Hermione said sadly before walking to exit.
Charlie stared after her longingly. The look on his face was a cross somewhere between shock and sadness, along with what seemed to be a hint of regret.
Hermione turned the handle to open the door before twisting her head around to face him once more. "Come find me when you are ready to talk."