𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 | 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿

The Mermaid Song & Nothing's Wrong

CHAPTER ELEVEN:

Third Person P.O.V.:

The morning after the Ball had been interesting, to say the least, for Charlie. He hadn't had much time to comprehend what had happened the night before as he was busy indulging with Christmas festivities for the entire day.

However, as he woke up on Boxing Day, the memories of Yule Ball's events filled his head, still as vivid as ever, replaying over and over in a movie-like montage causing a wide smile to form on his face. It was perhaps, the best feeling in the world, knowing that he had taken things to the next step in his relationship with Hermione.

The fact that they had finally kissed, not once, but three times, made goosebumps appear all over his body — it was truly, the best night of his life. However, he couldn't help but wonder what would happen from this point forward...

Charlie had never been in a situation like this before. He felt vulnerable, yet comfortable all at the same time, if that made any sense. They never got the chance to talk about what had happened that night. Hermione had rushed off so quickly after the kiss and on Christmas, well, Charlie had only seen her briefly at dinner, which didn't help the boy's ability to jump to conclusions. One could only assume that, naturally, a sense of doubt had formed in Charlie's head, despite his attempt at trying to focus on the positive.

Did she regret it?

Was she confused?

What was she thinking?

Did he ruin everything by kissing her?

Or did she enjoy it as much as he did?

There were so many questions left open-ended and quite frankly, Charlie was completely boggled and confused. However, such confusion just fuelled his desire for answers. So, he quickly got up out of his four-poster bed, had a shower, brushed his teeth, and got dressed in the time that it took all of his friends to do so as well.

He met Harry, Ron, Neville, Dean, and Seamus down in the common room before they all headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. As expected, the halls were filled with newfound romances after the Yule Ball's festivities — nothing say hormones more than snogging in the halls.

The Great Hall had been returned to its original state; the House tables were back in rows, the banners that hung were of the signature Hogwarts crest, the stage had seemingly disappeared, and the mistletoe had vanished from the ceilings.

When the group of Gryffindor boys walked in, Charlie was quick to survey the room in search of one special girl in particular. However, he wasn't prepared for his heart to start beating rapidly as he caught sight of her. Hermione was sitting at the Gryffindor table with Ginny. Her hair was back to normal, and her back was facing the door.

Gulping slightly, Charlie followed behind Harry and Ron as they all walked over to join the two witches. Ginny saw them approaching over Hermione's shoulder and Charlie could've sworn she mouthed something that resembled, he's right behind you, to Hermione, which again, didn't help his ability to jump to conclusions.

"Morning," Charlie said softly as he sat down with Harry and Ron, both of whom, had began stuffing their faces with food upon arrival.

Hermione had turned hesitantly to meet his gaze. It was the first time officially seeing one another since their moment on the Entrance Hall steps, and to be honest, neither of them were expecting such awkwardness. They held an intimate gaze for a moment, acting as coy as possible around their friends, but the expression behind their eyes was if they knew a secret no one else did.