CHAPTER ONE:
Third Person P.O.V.:
Charlie spun faster and faster, elbows tucked tightly to his sides, blurred fireplaces flashing past him, until he started to feel sick and closed his eyes. Then, when at last he felt himself slowing down, he threw out his hands and came to a halt in time to prevent himself from falling face forward out of the Weasleys' kitchen fire.
The tiny kitchen exploded with cheers upon his arrival. Charlie looked around and saw that Ron Harry, and Ginny were sitting at the bowing wooden table with Mrs. Weasley standing there behind them, beaming at the brown eyed boy.
"Oh Charles, dear! How are you? My goodness, you've grown like a weed since the last time I saw you!" said Mrs. Weasley, moving forward to pull Charlie from the fireplace and into a large hug.
The boy chuckled slightly, amused by Molly's mother-like instincts towards him before answering, "I'm very well, thank you. How are you?"
"Oh, just peachy dear!" Molly said quite sarcastically. "Fred and George have been driving me up the wall!"
Then, as if on cue, a small explosion — BANG —could be heard from the living room, followed by the roaring mischievous laughter of Fred and George. Mrs. Weasley sighed. She gave Charlie one last smile before excusing herself and stomping towards the room with a scowl —
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TWO TO NOT —"
She was cut off as Fred and George had come running back into the kitchen.
"Hiya Charlie!"
"Great to see ya —"
"Be with you in a moment —"
"Little problem we've got to take care of —"
The twins had to dodge out of the way as Mrs. Weasley had came storming back into the kitchen, this time, carrying a broom. Charlie couldn't help but laugh as she flailed the broom about, trying to catch Fred and George on the behind as she chased them back out the door.
As they left the room, Charlie had turned to Harry, Ron, and Ginny with an amused smile.
"Same old Fred and George," he said happily. "Good to know that hasn't changed over the summer."
Ron and Harry joined him in a laugh before they walked over to him and embraced him a hug — the three brother-like friends were now reunited.
"It's good to see you, mate." Ron beamed.
"Good to see you too," Charlie said as the three of them pulled away before he focused on Harry, "When'd you get here?"
"About a fortnight ago," Harry explained with a smile. "If you think Fred and George are bad now, you should've seen what they did to Dudley!"
Charlie could only imagine, "Now I bet that was a sight."
"It was wicked!" said Ron. "Fred gave him some Ton-Tongue Toffee, you should've seen how long the great bullying git's tongue got!"
Harry laughed, "Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!"
"What are Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" Charlie asked with a furrowed brow.
The tiny kitchen exploded with laughter.
"Mum found this stack of order forms when she was cleaning Fred and George's room," explained Ron quietly, being mindful of whether his mother would reappear. "Great long price lists for stuff they've invented. Joke stuff, you know. Fake wands and trick sweets, loads of stuff. It was brilliant, I never knew they'd been inventing all that..."
"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things," said Ginny as she joined the conversation. "We thought they just liked the noise."
"Only, most of the stuff — well, all of it, really — was a bit dangerous," said Ron, "and, you know, they were planning to sell it at Hogwarts to make some money, and Mum went mad at them. Told them they weren't allowed to make any more of it, and burned all the order forms... She's furious at them anyway. They didn't get as many O.W.L.s as she expected."
"And then there was this big row," Ginny explained further, "because Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop."
Just then footsteps were heard descending the the stairs, and a face poked out wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a very annoyed expression.
"'Ello Percy, you alright?" said Charlie as he turned.
"Oh hello, Charlie," said Percy. "I was wondering who was making all the noise. I'm trying to work in here, you know I've got a report to finish for the office — and it's rather difficult to concentrate when people keep yelling down here."
"We're not yelling," said Ron irritably. "We're talking. Sorry if we've disturbed the top-secret workings of the Ministry of Magic."
Charlie gritted his teeth slightly, "What's my dear, old dad got you working on this time?"
"A report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation," said Percy smugly. "We're trying to standardize cauldron thickness. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin —leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year —"
"That'll change the world, that report will," said Ron, sarcastically. "Front page of the Daily Prophet, I expect — cauldron leaks."
Percy went slightly pink.
"You might sneer, Ron," he said heatedly, "but unless some sort of international law is imposed we might as well find the market flooded with flimsy, shallow- bottomed products that seriously endanger —"
"Yeah, yeah, all right," said Ron, and he pulled Harry and Charlie towards the stairs; Ginny following quickly behind them to which Percy scoffed.
As they ascended the stairs, they walked all the way up to the top of the house where Ron slept, and Harry was staying.
The room looked exactly the same as it had during last summer; the same posters of Ron's favorite Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons, were whirling and waving on the walls and sloping ceiling, and the cage on the windowsill, which had previously held a traitor in disguise, now contained the tiny gray owl that, Charlie recognized, as the owl the had brought him Ron's invite to The Burrow. Pigwidgeon, Ron's owl, was hopping up and down in a small cage and twittering madly, and next to him was Hedwig, Harry's owl, who seemed to be sleeping soundly.
Charlie wasn't surprised to see his trunk of clothes and Ludo's cage already stationed in the room on a spare cot — his grandfather had sent them, o course. The little German Shepard perked up as he saw his owner enter the room, causing the boy to walk over and let him out of his cage. Instantly, the dog began to run around happily.
"So," Charlie said curiously as he sat down on his cot when Harry, Ron, and Ginny entered the room after him, "What have I missed?"
The four of them spent a good hour catching up on things that have happened in the period where they hadn't seen one another.
Harry had came to visit the Weasley's at the beginning of the summer, and him and Ron haven't been doing much besides playing pranks on Fred and George, ignoring Percy, and talking about Quidditch — both of them couldn't wait for the World Cup. As for Ginny, she hadn't been doing much either, besides joining her brothers in their conversations about Quidditch or helping her mother around the house.
When it came for Charlie to share his summer experiences, he really didn't have much to say. He spent a lot of time with Hagrid, as expected. Other than that he practiced some spells, taught Ludo some new tricks, spent quality time with his grandfather, and wrote some letters —
"Letters, huh?" Ginny said with an amused smile. "Written to Hermione lately?"
The brown eyed boy gulped at the mention of the bushy haired girl's name. Ron had looked at him with a curious expression, wondering what Ginny was insinuating, while Harry had already began to laugh slightly.
"Not recently," Charlie furrowed his brows in Ginny's direction. "Why? She say something to you?"
"Oh, she said a few things," Ginny smiled mischievously, as if she knew more than he did — which apparently, she did.
"Wait, what?" Ron said, utterly lost. "What's going on with you and Hermione?"
Ginny's eyes widened, "You don't know? I mean, it's obvious, isn't it?"
Charlie rolled his eyes at the younger witch before answering Ron, "Nothing, I don't know what your sister is on about."
"You are so full of —"
"Ginny." Harry breathed out, trying his hardest to muffle a laugh. "Don't spoil the fun. Let them be oblivious."
The ginger haired girl laughed slightly as Charlie shot a glare in Harry's direction. Then, without further mention of Hermione, Ginny got up, smirked at Charlie once more, and left the room.
Ron watched his sister leave, absolutely dumbfounded, "What the bloody hell was that all about?"
"Don't worry about it." Charlie said instantly, wishing to move on from focusing on his and Hermione's relationship. Harry simply laughed at Ron's obliviousness.
The truth was, Charlie and Hermione had significantly talked less over this summer than they ever had before. Both of them obviously harboured feelings for one another, but were unaware of how to express themselves. They would write to each other, but their letters were very bland and awkward.
Talking about their feelings was something, they both felt, was something too personal to not talk about in person. Which ultimately, left them in this limbo between friends and more than friends over the summer...
Charlie had thought about his relationship with Hermione significantly in their time apart, wondering how romance began to develop between them so quickly. He was blind sighted by the butterflies in his stomach whenever he was around her — up until last year, he thought their relationship was strictly meant to be platonic.
That was until, everything seemed to change — the brown eyed boy, without a doubt, had deep-rooted feelings for Hermione Granger — that part was obvious. However, there was a part of him that was beyond confused. He tried to see if Hermione felt the same as he did one night in the common room, and she blatantly friend-zoned him...
Imagine his confusion, when not even a week after that, they slipped back into their routined intimate moments as if nothing had happened. The whole thing was very confusing. Hermione was sending the boy mixed signals, and at this point... he genuinely didn't know if pursuing his feelings was worth the headache.
He couldn't go through the same heartbreak all over again if the bushy haired girl was to reject him like the last time. This mere thought alone placed an immense amount of doubt in Charlie's head —
Maybe he should just move on like he told himself he was going to...?
End things before either of them got hurt again...?
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Later in the evening, Charlie, Harry, and Ron were called for dinner by Mrs. Weasley — good thing too, they were starving.
The three boys wasted no time before looking at one another, scrambling to their feet, and trying to dash for the door. Each of them piling on top of one another, trying to be the first out of the room and down the stairs. Charlie was easily the strongest, after gaining muscle from working with Hagrid, so he pushed through his friends with a laugh.
However, as Ron and Harry got through and dashed down the stairs towards the kitchen, Charlie stopped as he noticed Ginny in her room with the door wide open. She too, was getting ready to meet her family downstairs for dinner, but the boy felt as though this might be the only time to question her about earlier.
So, turning from the stairs, Charlie moved down the corridor slightly, stopping in front of Ginny's room. As he approached, the ginger haired girl immediately met his eyes.
Cowering slightly, the boy said, "Uh — Ginny — about earlier —"
A familiar smirk had instantly appeared on Ginny's face as she looked into the nervous, cowering eyes of the boy in the doorway.
"Ready to talk about Hermione, are you?" she said.
Charlie nodded hesitantly, "What — what exactly did she say?"
Ginny thought for a moment — this could be fun.
"You know, us girls talk about everything," she laughed, teasing the boy playfully. "you'll have to be a bit more specific..."
"C'mon, you know what I'm talking about..." the boy said quietly, becoming very eager. "what did she say about me... about us?"
"She caught me up to speed on pretty much everything." Ginny said with a mischievous smile as she watched the boy's eyes widen. "She is a remarkable storyteller, you know? She made you two seem so adorable! Super cute you two are by the way, acting oblivious towards the whole thing. How could you possibly not see it? I mean, I've been calling it since your first year —"
Charlie's ears had perked up too early, ignoring the end of Ginny's explanation, "So, has she — you, know — told you exactly what she's feeling... because maybe then you could help me — I'm a little confused..."
"Are you really that daft?" Ginny said, completely astounded by the boy in front of her. "Does she have to spell it out for you? Or was the kiss — or near kiss, I should say — not clear enough for you?"
Charlie furrowed his brows — if Ginny knew the whole story, why was she acting like his confusion wasn't justified?
"She's rejected me before —"
"— and for good reason."
The brown eyed boy was taken aback, unaware of what to say; completely dumbfounded.
"Merlin, it's a good thing you're cute, Charlie," Ginny sighed, "because it's honestly no wonder how you weren't sorted into Ravenclaw..."
"Oi!" Charlie defended. "That's a bit harsh."
Ginny laughed slightly before she focused her gaze back on the boy in front of her.
"Listen, I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but since you are clearly incapable of figuring out the obvious," she sighed again, her voice a little lower than before, "Hermione has —"
"I could've sworn I called you two down for dinner ages ago!"
A voice said from behind Charlie.
As Ginny's eyes widened, the brown eyed boy turned, only to be met with a confused-looking Mrs. Weasley.
"The food's getting cold, and to be completely honest, it probably won't last long with your brothers down there." She said with a laugh before turning to Charlie and focusing on him individually, "Come now, Charlie dear, I'm sure you're hungry from your travels."
With that, Molly had urged the boy down the stairs, cutting off the rest of what Ginny was going to say.
Charlie had quickly tried pleading with his eyes for the young ginger witch to finish her sentence, but she quickly shook her head at him as she followed behind Charlie and her mother.
Honestly, Ginny was kind of relieved that her mother came up to get them as she almost broke girl code — she almost confessed her best friend's feelings. She didn't know what she was thinking...
At this point, she thought, if Charlie is too daft to see what's right in front of him... then that's his problem. My loyalty has to be Hermione.
As Molly, Charlie, and Ginny reached the kitchen, Ron, Harry, Fred, George, Percy, and Mr. Weasley were already divulging. The brown eyed boy gave Arthur a quick greeting as he sat down next in between his best friends.
For the rest of the night, Mr. Weasley quizzed them on Muggle holidays, Fred and George teased Percy, Ginny gawked at Harry, Ron and Charlie talked about the Chudley Canons, and all while Mrs. Weasley stared in admiration — everyone was home.
Hermione thing aside, this may of been the best night of Charlie's summer so far. He was with his friends — his family — and he couldn't have asked for anything better in the current moment.
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Hermione Granger had been the last of the quartet to arrive that summer. She already knew that Charlie was at The Borrow, thanks to Ginny's warning letter, so she spent majority of her plane ride back from her annual vacation with her parents simply wondering and contemplating what she was going to say to him.
She was dropped off by her and mum dad about a week after Charlie had gotten to the Weasley's. It was very early, but she had already sent an owl letting Ginny and Mrs. Weasley know of her arrival — everyone else had no idea.
As she knocked on the door, it instantly flung open and Mrs. Weasley engulfed her in a hug as if she was her own daughter. Ginny waited for her mother to let the bushy haired girl go before she too, gave her a hug. When the pulled away, Ginny helped Hermione with her bags and ushered her into the house.
The living room of The Burrow was quiet for the first time when it came to Hermione's experiences. It appeared that only Ginny and Mrs. Weasley were awake.
"Hermione, it's so good to see you dear," Molly beamed at her, but in a hushed voice.
The bushy haired girl smiled, "Great to see you too, Mrs. Weasley. Thanks for having me."
"Of course! I'm glad that you're here now to put Ginny out of her misery. Dealing with her brothers is one thing, but add in Harry and Charlie..." Molly laughed slightly before continuing, "And she's more than outnumbered!"
Hermione's face had fell slightly as Mrs. Weasley mentioned Charlie's name. Ginny noticed this and smirked slightly.
"I can imagine." Hermione laughed softly. "So, what's everyone been up to?"
"Oh we've been great dear! Besides a little mishap with the Dursley's, but Arthur's sorted that out —"
"He's been asking about you, you know?" Ginny said, cutting her mother off as if this conversation couldn't wait until later.
It amazed Hermione that it took all of two minutes after her arrival for Ginny to bring up Charlie — this was going to be an interesting visit.
Hermione had turned to the younger ginger witch, taken aback slightly. She couldn't believe that they were going to have this conversation in front of Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh," she gulped, but she didn't do a very good job at pretending she wasn't eager to know more. "What did he say?"
But before Ginny could answer, Mrs. Weasley had furrowed her brows, glancing between the young witches.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. "who are we talking about?"
"Charlie." Ginny said instantly with a big smirk.
"Ginny!" Hermione scolded, but the thirteen year old had simply laughed mischievously.
Molly's eyes had lit up, "Oh, well, yes, I did see that one coming..."
Ginny's laughter had grown even louder as Hermione's eyes had widened at Molly.
"You did?"
"I'm a mother, dear," Mrs. Weasley said in a sweet tone. "I see everything. And it's not like you two were trying to hide it either! I mean, shared glances across rooms, hand holding under the tables, you staring up at him in awe as if —"
"Okay!" Hermione cut Molly off as her cheeks began to flush with redness out of embarrassment. "I get it! Can we stop talking about this —"
But Molly hadn't stopped quite yet, in fact she was practically jumping up and down out of excitement.
"Oh dear, you two would be adorable together!" she beamed. "You know, Arthur and I started dating in our fourth year and —"
"Alright mom, that's enough." Ginny laughed, pushing her mom towards the kitchen before she could say too much. "I think breakfast might be ready."
Molly got the hint, and nodded reluctantly. "I suppose you're right —"
But then, Mrs. Weasley smirked slightly as an idea formed in her head.
She turned to Hermione, "Be a dear, go and wake up Harry, Ron, and Charlie, will you? Ginny, you go and wake up Fred, George, and Percy."
The bushy haired girl saved her breath when it came to protesting. Instead, she walked up the stairs with Ginny, disregarding the small snicker of Molly in the kitchen, before reaching Ron's room.
She opened the door hesitantly. As expected, the room looked as if a tornado had gone off; their were clothes everywhere, video games sprawled out on the floor, and each boy's pets had perked up at the sound of the door opening.
To the left of the door lay Harry, who seemed to be in a very restless sleep. His face was covered in sweat, he was mumbling, and he was breathing heavily.
Carefully, Hermione moved towards his bed first, and gently shook him awake, being mindful of startling him.
"Having a bit of a lie in, are we?" she said softly.
Harry bolted up, a gasp in his throat as he took in the sight of his friend, "Hermione! Bad dream — When you'd get here?"
"Just now." She said with a smile, "You?"
"A few weeks ago." said Harry, putting on his glasses that he had grabbed from the bedside table.
She nodded before turning to look at Ron, who was laying on his bed in a sound sleep, snoring loudly as his arms sprawled out.
"Wake up!" Hermione said shaking him, "Wake up, Ronald!"
The ginger groggily opened his eyes, but as his they focused on Hermione, he jumped.
"Bloody hell!" He yelled, pulling his covers up to cover himself.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Oh, honestly! Get dressed, your mother says breakfast's ready — Get up, Ron!"
Harry chuckled slightly as his two friends bickered beside him. That's when Hermione turned to the spare cot next to the window opposite of the door.
There Charlie slept soundly on his back pressed up against the wall, while Ludo took up majority of his bed. The covers had clearly been thrown off in the middle of the night, which left his bare torso revealed, rising slowly as he breathed.
It had been the first time Hermione had seen him since their goodbye at the end of last year, and she could visibly see how much the time had changed him. He had grown a few inches, making him about six feet tall, he had gotten a bit of tan working on the grounds with Hagrid, his hair had grown a little longer, making a single curl fall in front of his face, and his muscles were incredibly defined. The boy, overall, looked older than ever before.
God, it was good to see him. Hermione stood at the foot of the bed for a moment, taking in his appearance, blushing slightly at the realization that he wasn't wearing a shirt; all while trying to figure out what the hell she was going to say to him when she woke him up.
After a moment, she leaned down a little and shook him gently. The boy had came to almost instantly, being startled a bit by the abrupt wake up call. As his eyes focused on the bushy haired girl in front of him, he stared in almost disbelief — he honestly thought he was dreaming.
Hermione couldn't help the small smile on her face as he stared up at her, "Hi."
"H-hi." He responded, still coming to terms with the fact that he was actually wide awake and she wasn't just a figment of his imagination.
They stared at each other for a moment, not saying anything. The only thing able to pull them from their intense gaze was Ron rolling out of his bed with a hard thud.
As they turned the ginger was on the ground with Harry laughing at him. Hermione giggled slightly as she looked to Ron who was trying to scramble to his feet, but she could feel the intense gaze of Charlie'a eyes on the side of her face — oh how he'd missed that laugh.
After a moment, he realized he was staring and shook his head slightly, sitting up before reaching over Ludo, grabbing his shirt and pulling it over his head. Hermione watched him intently as he did so, she couldn't help herself — her hormones were at an all time high.
With his shirt now on, Charlie ran his hands through his hair to move it from his face. As he did so, he noticed Hermione staring at him and simply sent a playful smirk in her direction. The girl's eyes widened in embarrassment before she turned to Ron, who stared at her and Charlie with a raised brow.
"Whenever you're done," he said grumpily, "we should go down for breakfast."
After that, him and Harry had walked out of the room, leaving Hermione alone with Charlie. He didn't say anything, however, as he got up out of his bed while Hermione stood up. They both stood there awkwardly, unable to talk, so they just looked at one another.
"It's good to see you, 'Mione." The boy said after a moment of silence.
Hermione's ears perked up at her nickname and she smile widely, "It's good to be seen... how are you?"
"I'm okay," he nodded. "You?"
"Could be better." she said simply, not even trying to hide the fact that their distant behaviour towards one another had been driving her crazy.
"Oh?" he raised a brow. "Everything okay?"
"Everything's fine, it's just..." she trailed off, trying to find the words, "I'm a little confused."
The boy laughed slightly, "Yeah, I know the feeling..."
"Charlie — about what happened —"
"It's okay, really. I know you probably didn't mean anything by it — it was a heat of the moment type of thing." Charlie said softly, almost as if he was sad. "Unless — unless I'm wrong? But I was under the impression that you didn't feel same, and if that's the case, I know how to take a hint —"
"Charlie, I didn't mean —"
"Yeah, thats what I figured," he cut her off, thinking she regretted the near-kiss, when it reality that wasn't the case; she regretted saying they were just friends.
"Wait, that's not what I —"
"Alright lovebirds, mom's wondering what's going on up here. She wants us to eat before we leave for the World Cup."
Ginny's voice interrupted them as she stared at her friends from the doorway.
"Right," Charlie said quickly as he wasted no time before walking past them and out the door, almost as if he was waiting for an excuse to leave.
He was, in fact, looking for an excuse to leave. In his mind, Hermione was about to reject him once again. So, out of fear of breaking down over his heartbreak once again, he ended things first. It was his own fault if he let himself get too attached, which is why he wouldn't set himself up for failure all over again...
The two girls shared a glance as he left. Hermione's face had fallen, and Ginny had furrowed her brows.
"What happened?" The ginger asked, taking in the sight of her friend's distressed face.
Hermione spoke softly, holding back tears, "He — he thinks that it didn't mean anything..."
"Oh, Hermione..." Ginny said sadly, engulfing her friend in a hug. "He's a prat, completely oblivious. But he's also scared — you know — that you'll reject him again."
"But, I wouldn't —"
"I know. Believe me, I do." Ginny said softly, "But he's vulnerable around you — he's never felt that way around someone before, and the first rejection didn't help. Just give the boy time, he'll realize soon enough that he can't be around you without wanting to place a huge kiss on that beautiful face of yours."
Hermione laughed slightly.
Maybe Ginny was right... maybe he'll come around...
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Author's Note:
*this chapter was not proof read*
Goblet of FIYA
aka
Harry Potter and the year EVERY boy forgot a haircut.
It may seem like I'm backtracking a bit with Charmione's relationship, but I have to set it up for the bittersweet story I have planned 😈
Also, let me know what I should start calling the core four of the story (Charlie, Harry, Hermione, and Ron) because Golden Trio obviously doesn't work lol — and Golden Quartet is horrible.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed!
Much love to you all! Thanks for 2k reads and 200 votes!!!! You guys are the best ❤️
xo, Selena