A/N: Lovely Julian Bennett is not my own OC
The conversations with Orion and Skye kept gnawing at Lizzie over the next few days. In their own ways, both of them had made it clear to her how important it was to get back on track; not only for herself, but for the general good of their team as well.
Thinking about what they had said, Lizzie realised how much of an open door they had been pushing; there was nothing she wanted more than things to return to their normal state, so she could have all of her friends back. And if making amends would help increase her performance, all the better.
There wasn't much she could do about either Rowan or Orion at this point, so Lizzie had started thinking about how to get back into Charlie's good books.
Skye had suggested a gesture of goodwill to make him listen to her and after contemplating her advice for a few days, an idea had started to form in Lizzie's mind.
After sending a few owls back and forth, she now found herself in the hallway of the Eastern Tower. She had been standing in front of the portrait hole hiding the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room for quite some time now, engaged in a heated discussion with the Fat Lady, the occupant of the picture guarding the portrait hole.
"I really don't see the problem," Lizzie rolled her eyes; she had forgotten just how many times she had done this in the last half hour. "I don't even know if he's in. Can't you just go inside and have a look? Or ask another portrait for all that it's worth?"
The Fat Lady huffed indignantly, fluffing herself up to an even greater volume than she held anyway. "And leave my post unguarded? No way, young lady. I still don't understand what a Hufflepuff is doing here in the first place."
She gestured at Lizzie's attire dismissively. It was the evening before the match and the pre-match party was scheduled to start immediately after dinner. Lizzie was already dressed in her yellow jersey from last season and a black letterman jacket bearing her name and number on the back; it had been a combined birthday gift from her friends back in November.
Lizzie buried her hands in the pocket of her jacket now, feeling the rough parchment of the letter she was carrying. "I told you, I'm looking for Charlie."
"From what I hear, you have a match against my House tomorrow," the Fat Lady squinted down at her suspiciously, "you have no business here."
"Your House?" Lizzie asked with an amused undertone. "You're a portrait, you are just guarding the entrance."
"Careful missy," the portrait puffed and slung her pink feather boa over her shoulder; it made her look like an inflated bird of paradise. "I've guarded this Common Room a lot longer than you are around; these are basically my children!"
Knowing that a fight wouldn't help her much, Lizzie hung her head and sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way," she tried a different approach. "I really just want to apologise to my friend."
Lizzie pinched the bridge of her nose; this was taking a lot longer than she had anticipated. The sound of approaching footsteps caught her attention; Percy was walking down the corridor towards them, his arms stacked with way more books than what looked comfortable to carry.
"What are you doing here?" he barked at her haughtily; Lizzie had to stifle a laugh at the show the little boy she'd known for ages by now was putting on. He had always been a little bit more stuck up than his brothers, but this new persona he was putting on since coming to Hogwarts certainly wasn't the most pleasant one.
"Hey Perce," she greeted him sardonically. "You've been to the library?"
"I asked you a question," Percy insisted. The way he was acting up was too comical for Lizzie not to chuckle; angry red spots appeared on the boy's pale cheeks.
"This is the Gryffindor Common Room," he pointed out unnecessarily. "Last time I looked, the Hufflepuff Common Room was down in the dungeons."
Shaking her head, Lizzie rolled her eyes at Percy. "You don't say, Percy. Do you know if Charlie's in there?" She pointed her thumb towards the entrance.
Percy sniffled at being laughed at by her. "No, I don't know if my brother is in the Common Room."
Slowly but surely, Lizzie was getting annoyed by the constant delay. "Well, could you go and have a look please?"
"What business do you have with him anyway? I don't think he wants to talk to you."
Lizzie crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at Charlie's younger brother. "Don't you think that's best for him to decide?"
Percy opened his mouth to shoot back but got cut off by the familiar figure of Julian Bennett approaching them. The Gryffindor Beater raised his eyebrows at the unusual gathering in front of him.
"Hey, Lizzie," he greeted her with a pat on the back. "I didn't expect to see you here; isn't the pre-match party going down soon?"
Julian's casual demeanour felt awkward to Lizzie; they hadn't really talked to each other since her falling out with Charlie, but she was glad for it all the same. It was nice to see a friendly face that was wearing crimson-and-gold for a change.
"Julian, thank Godric you're here; finally someone with a bit of sense." Her eyes were shooting daggers at Percy, who shuffled his feet uncomfortably. "I've been looking for Charlie for some time now; do you know where he is?"
"What do you want from him?"
"There's some things I wanted to get out of the way before tomorrow." She ran her finger along the edge of the letter in her pocket.
Julian nodded. "I see; let me see if I can round him up."
He turned to the Fat Lady. "Gryphon," he told her the password, much to the dismay of Percy. But Julian simply ignored his complaints and vanished behind the portrait.
"Was that so hard?" Lizzie couldn't help but mutter under her breath.
Only a few moments later, the portrait swung aside again and Julian emerged with a scowling Charlie in tow.
Still miffed at the situation, Percy made no move to leave, so Julian simply shoved him back into the Common Room to give Lizzie and Charlie some space.
When they were alone, Charlie looked her up and down dismissively. He raised his chin defiantly. "What do you want?"
Lizzie glanced at the portrait of the Fat Lady, who seemed to be awfully interested in her fingernails all of a sudden. "Could we go someplace more private?"
But Charlie merely crossed his arms in front of his chest. "No," he brushed her off brusquely. "Listen, I've got to prepare for tomorrow; say what you came to say or leave me alone."
Lizzie tried not to be discouraged by his resentment; she couldn't even blame him for it. If she were in his place, she probably would have acted the same way.
"Tomorrow is what I want to talk to you about, in a way," she sighed, inherently hoping he would listen to her apology. "We've never faced each other on the pitch while fighting, we were always seeing eye to eye. I don't want to start this now."
Charlie's arms were still crossed but Lizzie could see a bit of tension leave his shoulders; maybe there was a bit of hope to set things right.
"So?"
She drew a deep breath. "I know I acted like a total idiot and I want to apologise; I should never have doubted you and your intentions and it was very wrong of me to lash out at you for trying to cheer me up when I didn't even tell you how upset I really was. I was hurt and confused and none of this is your fault and for the record, I'd happily play with all of the magical creatures for the rest of our time here with you because without you, it's not the same."
The words had stumbled out of her mouth in a quick rush without giving her the opportunity to breathe in between her sentences; she was too afraid to forget something.
After she was done, Charlie just stood there with an unmoving expression on his face. The longer he didn't say anything, the more scared Lizzie got that he wouldn't accept her apology.
But then, the smallest of smiles tugged at Charlie's lips. "Did you rehearse that?"
Lizzie blushed slightly as relief that he didn't dismiss her right away washed over her. "Maybe," she admitted sheepishly. "Listen, Charlie, I'm sorry for how I behaved; I miss you. I miss spending time with you, I miss all your random dragon facts you're throwing at me and I miss you setting my head straight when I need you to. I don't want to go out and play against you tomorrow when we can't look each other in the eye."
Charlie's freckled features went soft at her admission. "I'm sorry, too."
"I know you'd never use me or my feelings for your own advantage; it was wrong to assume that."
He inclined his head. "Thank you for saying that." He looked at her for a moment, contemplating. "I can't say what I said was a lie, though. You did change a lot this year. But that's not what rubbed me the wrong way," he quickly added as she winced.
"What stung was the fact that you were trying to hide these changes," he explained. "You didn't trust me enough to be honest with me."
"I was scared to tell you because you know me better than anyone else does," Lizzie replied quietly. "I was afraid you'd call me out and tell me all the stuff I didn't want to hear."
"Oh, I certainly would have," Charlie confirmed matter-of-factly.
"Of course you would have," Lizzie sighed. "Who knows, maybe the outcome would've been better if I had been honest with myself in the first place."
Charlie shrugged. "Maybe, but we're not going to find out now. What's done is done; no use fretting over the past, like my mum always says. But in any case, I'm glad you plucked up the courage to acknowledge your mistakes. Perhaps there's still more of the old Lizzie in there than I thought after all," he said with a small grin.
It lessened a little as he continued, "Just don't lie to me again, please. If you can't even trust your friends, you're truly in a really bad place."
Her eyes were serious as she placed her hand on his forearm. "I promise, no more lies; you can trust me, I'm done running from my problems."
She reached into the pocket of her jacket and procured the letter she had kept hidden. Smoothing the slightly crinkled envelope for a second, she held it out to Charlie.
"See, I even brought you a present."
Charlie took it from her with a surprised face. He turned the heavy envelope around, raising one eyebrow as he discovered the logo of the Ministry of Magic printed on the back of it.
"What is that?"
"That," Lizzie grinned broadly, "is my official offer of peace."
Charlie looked at her sceptically.
"That was Skye's idea," Lizzie added with a shrug. "She thought you'd might give me a chance if I bribed you with something nice."
Charlie shook his head as he broke the red wax seal. "Just when I thought I'd seen it all... "
His voice trailed off as he started reading the contents of the letter. Eyes wide and mouth hanging slightly open, he read the letter two more times.
"Is that... " he started croaking before clearing his throat. "Is that what I think it is?"
Lizzie tried her best not to look smug but she couldn't help the wide grin that had appeared on her face watching Charlie read the letter.
"It is," she confirmed. "Fresh from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. It arrived this morning."
One of the Christmas presents she had gotten from her father this year had been a special one; working for the Ministry, he had gotten wind of an internship place being open with some of the Ministry's dragonologists; they were supposed to conduct a study on the mating behaviour of Welsh Greens over the summer and were looking for helping hands.
Knowing her interest in Care of Magical Creatures, her father had put her name down without telling her, presenting her with the acceptance letter on Christmas Day.
Lizzie knew she owed her father big time for helping her realise her plan in such a short span of time; he had moved heaven and hell and deployed all of his Ministry contacts to make sure the name on the internship letter had gotten changed.
Charlie was still in a bit of a shock as he looked from the letter to her and back again.
"But this is your internship," he whispered hoarsely, "you have been talking about this for months. These spots are so rare; are you sure you really want to give it to me?"
Lizzie nodded in confirmation. "Yes, I am. This is my way of saying sorry; and you deserve this spot a thousand times more than I do." The way she smiled at him was uncharacteristically shy for her somehow. "Besides, after the career advice session I'm not sure I want to go down the magizoologist route anyway."
"You don't?"
A blush spread on Lizzie's face; admitting her career plans out loud for the first time sounded foolish to her ears. "I thought, I might perhaps want to try going for a professional Quidditch career." She strongly hoped Charlie wouldn't laugh.
But he only winked at her with an encouraging grin. "As far as I can say, you'd definitely have what it takes, chipmunk."
As he heard the stupid little nickname leaves his mouth, Lizzie's mouth curved into a brilliant, hopeful smile. "So you officially accept my apology?"
He waved the letter in her face. "You bet I do. I might even take you out for dinner now." He wiggled his eyebrows at her, making Lizzie giggle.
"Is that so?"
"Yes, I found this amazing new place the other day. It's called 'The Great Hall'; it's usually a bit crowded this time of the day, but I hear they have amazing sandwiches."
Lizzie felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders as they both started laughing at the same time. All the resentment that had been brewing between them had vanished in an instant and it just felt normal again; it was the best feeling Lizzie could have imagined.
"Do I get a hug now, or what?" Charlie laughed and opened his arms for her.
Without hesitation, Lizzie stepped into them and let herself be enveloped by one of Charlie's bear hugs she had missed so much.
"Good to have you back," he whispered against her hair, making her smile broaden until her cheeks hurt.
"Aw, look at the two of you," the dreamy voice of the Fat Lady, they had completely forgotten about, suddenly broke the atmosphere. "Young love, finally reunited again."
Charlie let go of Lizzie and they both stared at her reproachfully. "We're only friends!" they spoke out in perfect unison. Sharing another glance, they both exploded with laughter. Lizzie would say this sentence a thousand times and more if it only meant she had her friend back at her side.
The traces of laughter still hanging onto his face, Charlie stepped towards her and offered her his arm like a gentleman would to his lady; still chuckling, Lizzie took it.
"Now, milady, let's go get some food."
*
The Great Hall was already packed with students when they arrived. Lizzie's arm was still linked with Charlie's as they were laughing and joking with each like nothing had happened. She could have let go of him, of course, but she just enjoyed being back in his company way too much.
As they entered the Great Hall side by side, Lizzie didn't fail to notice the whispers and sideways glances they were drawing from several of their peers. Although the rumours had stopped when the frosty atmosphere between them had become public knowledge, they hadn't been set right either.
But Lizzie chose to ignore the raised eyebrows and scowls directed at them this time around; she straightened her back subconsciously as they walked through the space between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables and let it all wash over her. She was done bothering with what people who didn't even really know her would think; the ones she cared for knew the truth and that was all that matters. She had been worrying about other people's opinions far too much these last few weeks.
When they reached where the rest of the Gryffindor team was sitting, Charlie sat down with them, gesturing for her to join them, but Lizzie declined the offer. She was glad their fight was over, but she didn't want to push her luck; sitting with the players of the opposing team on the evening before the match maybe would have been a bit too much.
"Alright," he shrugged as he sat down in between his team mates. "See you tomorrow on the pitch then."
Lizzie smiled broadly. "I'm looking forward to it."
"Let's see if you still think so after I've caught the snitch," Charlie smirked. "But don't worry, you can have it afterwards, as a consolation prize."
The other Gryffindors snickered as Lizzie raised her chin defiantly. "Careful Weasley, pride comes before the fall." But her eyes were sparkling in anticipation of the challenge.
Leaving the Gryffindor table behind, she walked over to her own House Table. She had seen Penny and Rowan sitting a bit further ahead; Lizzie hadn't really sat with them during dinner in the last couple of days, especially not without Skye joining them, but her dark haired friend was nowhere to be seen.
Walking up to the two girls, her eyes drifted to the head of the table where Orion was sitting with McNully. She had seen him watching her when she'd entered the Great Hall with Charlie; she knew the fluttery feeling inside her stomach didn't solely come from the anticipation of tomorrow's match.
He and Murphy were undoubtedly discussing the last details for tomorrow, but as their eyes met for a split second, Lizzie offered him a small smile. It was gone almost too quickly to see, but she knew he'd caught it by the way the corners of his own mouth curved slightly upwards. He gave her the hint of an acknowledging nod before he turned his attention back on his and Murphy's tactical discussion.
Lizzie was glad he had encouraged her to make amends with her friends; not only because she wanted them back, but also because it made her feel closer to him again.
She braced herself for the next part; Charlie was done, so now onto the next.
Approaching Rowan and Penny, Lizzie put on a markedly cheerful smile, trying to mask the touch of apprehensiveness she felt at her next task. "May I sit with you?"
Rowan just looked at her silently, her eyes unreadable behind her glasses.
Penny however, immediately moved over to make room for her on the bench. "Sure, go ahead," she beamed up at her. Inwardly, Lizzie sighed thankfully; at least Penny seemed to be as eager to return to their normal state before the year was done than she was.
"We were just discussing if we might need something else for the pre-match party later," she explained, pointing to a checklist spread out between their plates. "You're coming, aren't you?" she asked somewhat hopefully.
"Of course I am," Lizzie smiled in return. "I've never missed one so far, have I?"
In truth, nothing was further from her mind than attending a party right now; the thought about being in a crowd that was working itself up in their excitement for the season finale made her stomach churn. But in a way, popping in to the pre-match parties had somehow become part of her own pre-match ritual; Lizzie wasn't really superstitious, but figured this maybe wasn't the best time to meddle with established routines.
Trying to take her mind off the prospect of the party, she poured herself some pumpkin juice. "Sounds like you're excited for tomorrow."
"You bet!" Penny beamed at her. "I can't wait for the match to start! Hufflepuff is playing for the Cup the second year in a row, it's time to bring it back where it belongs. Gryffindor is a really tough opponent, though; it will be a tough match, but you've trained so hard, I'm sure you'll come out on top..."
When Penny noticed her rambling, she blushed slightly and shut up. Lizzie watched Rowan from across the table; she had been remarkably silent since Lizzie had joined them.
"What about you, Rowan?" Lizzie asked quietly.
Rowan quickly looked up from her dinner. "What about me?"
"You're coming to the match, aren't you?"
"I don't know yet," Rowan mumbled evasively, pushing her food around her plate while avoiding Lizzie's eyes. "The O.W.L.s are so close now and I've still got so much more to study and revise."
But both of them knew, this was only partly true. The two of them had lived in some sort of tentative truce the last couple of weeks, each keeping her distance from the other in a way. But the Quidditch pitch was Lizzie's terrain; Rowan coming along would be a step back into a normality that Lizzie wasn't sure they would achieve again; but she sure was hoping so.
"Listen," she sighed. "I know it's been weird between us ever since... you know." Lizzie was struggling for words; she just couldn't bring herself to actually 'you caught me and Orion making out' out loud. It was a thought she'd probably never get used to.
"What I want to say is, it would mean a great deal to me if I knew you'd be there tomorrow. You never missed a single match, you were always there to cheer me on." She offered Rowan a weak smile. "I'm only half as good without you."
To her surprise, for the first time in ages, Rowan smiled back at her. "That's nonsense and you know it; you'll be brilliant no matter who is watching."
Lizzie grimaced, but secretly, Rowan's kind words felt like balm for her soul. "Please don't try to prove me wrong by not coming."
"Alright, I'll be there. But be damned if Gryffindor wins and my precious study turns out to be wasted," she added with a joking threat.
"Don't worry, I won't let you down!" A wide, relieved grin spread on Lizzie's face; she instantly felt a lot lighter. "Skye and I have been practising some new moves, the lions have no chance at all."
"Where's Skye anyway?" Penny now piped up. "I haven't seen her for some time now; I thought she was with you."
Lizzie's brow furrowed. "No, I haven't seen her since class, why?"
"She got a letter earlier and seemed really rattled while reading it. She went all pale and ran off before I had a chance to ask what's wrong; no one has seen her since."
Lizzie didn't like the sound of that at all. She was nervous enough as it was herself, Skye freaking out at the last minute was the last thing they needed. If she had been missing for quite some time now, there was no way to tell if she had worked herself into one of her states again and Lizzie had the very distinct feeling she should go and check on her friend immediately.
Luckily, she had a very good idea on exactly where to find her.