1 : IMPERIO

CHAPTER 15: LOVE FOR DRAMA

Word Count: 4336

TW: Quite strong language

"It was you!!" was the first thing Charlotte heard which was accompanied by a hug. Not knowing who the person was, she let it happen and waited. "Wasn't it?" asked Ron as soon as he let go of her, and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Never, in the run of two years she knew him had he hugged her. It was weird and quite sweet.

"You saved Buckbeak" said Hermione hugging her next. Being the lunch time, they stood near the entrance of the Great Hall, and she saw Harry leaning on the wall, hands folded over his chest with a small smile on his face. Charlotte wanted to punch it off.

"I'm happy he's saved" she replied diplomatically, as the three made their way towards the Gryffindor table.

"But you did it!" said Ron. "How did you do it? Hagrid told us that Malfoy didn't press charges on him or the Hippogriff"

"She talked to Malfoy's father of course" Harry chipped in sitting beside her. The other two stared at her for confirmation, but Charlotte nudged Harry hard in the ribs, making the boy cry out in pain. "What was that for!"

"For acting as if your own me" she hissed and the lunch continued. "And keep your fucking mouth shut. Dray doesn't know about any of this, I'd like to keep it that way"

"Keeping secrets from your best friends Char?" asked Harry amused raising a teasing eyebrow, Charlotte raised her own in challenge.

"You're the one to talk"

"You asked me to!" he said eyes wide, and realising what he had let slip, tried to cover it up by changing the topic. "So, how's it going with you and Malfoy?" he asked.

"How's going what?"

"Oh, come on –" his sentence fell short as Charlotte stood up abruptly. Her eyes roaming around the Slytherin table, and saw her friends looking equally cautious. Well, all but Draco, who was talking to Pansy.

"Ah, fuck." Without giving the Gryffindors any explanation, she strode towards the Slytherin table. "What is it?" she asked settling beside Blaise, who was literally glaring at Pansy. Since the ritual, their internal intuition about something wrong had been a cooperative and coordinative work. All five of them usual knew when something was wrong with one of them. They only way Charlotte kept her secrets privet was because she occluded most of the times, at least when in the same room with any one of the four.

"Parkinson again" Theo said. He had his wand out, discreetly pointed towards Pansy.

"Theo, don't. Teachers will know if they check wands."

"I'm not going to kill her."

"Still might get you into problems." She whispered. "Just watch, and don't react, okay?"

"Are you sure Crawford?"

"Just watch Bulstrode."

Charlotte raised her hand little over the table, and towards Pansy.

"Stupefy" she whispered under her breath, and Pansy dropped her head instantly, her body going limp. Draco looked around a little confused, and his eyes finally settled on Charlotte with a lazy smile and confusion.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh well," she stood up with a smile, as the other three in the group stared at her horrified.

Snape had been teaching her non-verbal spells, but she herself had been practicing wandless in her free time. Till that point, she'd only done three spells. The unlocking charm, the wand-lighting charm, and the stunning charm.