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.
"H-hi," Hermione breathed out, addressing him as if the two had been the only ones sat at the table.
Even before the kiss, Hermione had felt an immense amount of butterflies in her stomach whenever she was around him. However, now that they had kissed multiple times, the feelings she was getting were stronger than ever, making it very hard to maintain her self-control. Hell, it got to the point where if he simply smiled in her direction in a certain way, she was extremely tempted to lean across the table and pull him in for a passionate snog in front of the entire Great Hall —
"Hey Charlie," Ginny smirked, looking at him with a curious expression, that made the boy tense, "I never did get to ask — did you have a good time at the Yule Ball the other night? You know, I didn't see you near the end. I can only imagine what you must've —"
Before Ginny could even finish her sentence, Hermione had kicked her hard underneath the table — apparently, Ginny Weasley doesn't understand the concept of a secret...
Charlie's eyes had widened at the red-haired witch. He wasn't surprised that Hermione had told her what happened, but he was shocked that Ginny was taunting him about it in front of Ron and Harry.
"I — uh y-yeah," Charlie stuttered, turning back to Hermione who had bitten her lip in anticipation of his answer, "it, uh, was good — great, in fact. I'd definitely do it again — I mean — if another dance were to happen, I would, you know, go..."
Hermione bit down on her lip harder to stop herself from squealing out loud due to excitement, but the heat that rose up to her cheeks was unavoidable. She knew that he wasn't just talking about the dance, but more specifically, their kiss. Hermione couldn't explain it, but Charlie saying that, he'd definitely do it again, had her on the edge of her seat, already counting down the moments until they could talk... alone.
"Oh, I bet you would," Ginny smirked devilishly, which again, earned a kick from Hermione.
Then, as if sensing the awkward tension, a flock of owls came soaring above the heads of the students. It was the Daily Owl Post, of course. Packages and letters were dropping seamlessly onto the tables, and then, to Charlie's surprise, a new copy of the Daily Prophet had landed in front of him.
"Oh god, what's she saying this time?" Hermione said quickly, trying to change the topic off of the Yule Ball.
Charlie unravelled the newspaper and read aloud to his friends, who's ears had all perked up:
DUMBLEDORE'S GIANT MISTAKE
Albus Dumbledore, eccentric Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has never been afraid to make controversial staff appointments, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. In September of this year, he hired Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, the notoriously jinx-happy ex-Auror, to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, a decision that caused many raised eyebrows at the Ministry of Magic, given Moody's well-known habit of attacking anybody who makes a sudden movement in his presence. Mad-Eye Moody, however, looks responsible and kind when set beside the part-human Dumbledore employs to teach Care of Magical Creatures.
Rubeus Hagrid, who admits to being expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, has enjoyed the position of gamekeeper at the school ever since, a job secured for him by Dumbledore. Last year, however, Hagrid used his mysterious influence over the headmaster to secure the additional post of Care of Magical Creatures teacher, over the heads of many better-qualified candidates.
An alarmingly large and ferocious-looking man, Hagrid has been using his newfound authority to terrify the students in his care with a succession of horrific creatures. While Dumbledore turns a blind eye, Hagrid has maimed several pupils during a series of lessons that many admit to being "very frightening."
And yet, Hagrid has no intention of ceasing his campaign of intimidation, however. In conversation with a Daily Prophet reporter last month, he admitted breeding creatures he has dubbed "Blast-Ended Skrewts," highly dangerous crosses between manti-cores and fire-crabs. The creation of new breeds of magical creature is, of course, an activity usually closely observed by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Hagrid, however, considers himself to be above such petty restrictions.
As if this were not enough, the Daily Prophet has now unearthed evidence that Hagrid is not — as he has always pretended — a pure-blood wizard. He is not, in fact, even pure human. His mother, we can exclusively reveal, is none other than the giantess Fridwulfa, whose whereabouts are currently unknown.
Bloodthirsty and brutal, the giants brought themselves to the point of extinction by warring amongst themselves during the last century. The handful that remained joined the ranks of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and were responsible for some of the worst mass Muggle killings of his reign of terror.
While many of the giants who served He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named were killed by Aurors working against the Dark Side, Fridwulfa was not among them. It is possible she escaped to one of the giant communities still existing in foreign mountain ranges. If his antics during Care of Magical Creatures lessons are any guide, however, Fridwulfa's son appears to have inherited her brutal nature.
In a bizarre twist, Hagrid is reputed to have developed a close friendship with the boy who brought around You-Know-Who's fall from power — thereby driving Hagrid's own mother, like the rest of You-Know-Who's supporters, into hiding. Perhaps Harry Potter is unaware of the unpleasant truth about his large friend — but Albus Dumbledore surely has a duty to ensure that grandson, Charlie Hawthorne, along with his all of his students, is warned about the dangers of associating with part-giants.
"Wait, what?" Harry inquired with a raised brow, "Hagrid's a half-giant?"
"Well yeah," Charlie said in an obvious tone, "what? You thought he just had a mishap with an Engorgio charm, did you?" — this earned a cheeky laugh from Ron — "But that doesn't matter. I just want to know how that horrible Skeeter woman found out. Hagrid hardly ever tells anyone about it."
"Why?" Harry prompted. "What's the problem with giants?"
"Well, they're... they're..." Ginny struggled for words, "...not very nice."
Charlie frowned at the comment; Hagrid was perhaps the nicest man he had ever had the pleasure of meeting. Hagrid being a half-giant shouldn't reflect on his character.
"You don't think Hagrid could've told her?" Hermione suggested.
"No," said Harry, putting his fork down, furious. "He never even told us, did he? I reckon she was so mad he wouldn't give her loads of horrible stuff about the Triwizard champions, she went ferreting around to get him back."
"Not to mention," Ron added, "she's not supposed to come into school anymore, Hagrid said Dumbledore banned her..."
"Maybe she's got an Invisibility Cloak," Harry suggested. "Sort of thing she'd do, isn't it, hide in bushes listening to people."
Charlie shrugged, "I guess so, yeah —"
"Oh Merlin," Ron huffed through a mouthful of eggs, peering over Hermione's shoulder towards the doors once again, "it's way too early in the morning for this..."
Charlie followed his friend's gaze towards the doors, and just like Ron, his face fell at the sight of Viktor Krum barrelling his way over towards their table.
"Herm-own-ninny!"
"Bloody hell," muttered Charlie, shaking his head in frustration, causing Ginny to look at him weirdly once more.
"I haff been looking for you!" Viktor beamed as he reached the table, standing in front of Hermione, "I vos vundering if you could join me for a valk? I vanted to talk about vot happened —"
"Viktor!" Hermione squeaked quickly, cutting the boy off, "I, uh, actually have plans today, but maybe some other time?"
Charlie's ears had perked up slightly, looking between Viktor and Hermione curiously — something didn't sit right with him knowing that Hermione had cut the Bulgarian off so quickly.
Viktor had glanced at Charlie with a slight glare, "Right, another time then..."
And with that, Krum had walked away, heading for the Slytherin table to meet up with the rest of his Durmstrang friends.
Instantly, Ron raised a brow in Hermione's direction, "What was that?"
"Nothing," the bushy haired girl said quickly, "I just didn't fancy him lurking around all day, did you?"
Ron simply grunted in response, turning his head back down towards his food. Charlie, on the other hand, had noticed Hermione's sudden avoidance of his gaze — something was definitely going on.
"Right then," Charlie said, getting up from the table, "I'll see you guys later."
"Where are you going?" Harry inquired, throwing the newspaper back down.
"I'm going to see Hagrid," Charlie said simply. "I want to see how he's doing after the article."
"I'll come with you!" Hermione said with a smile as she moved to stand up.
"No, it's fine," Charlie spoke flatly causing Hermione's face to fall, "you've got plans, remember?"
And as harsh as it may have sounded, Charlie left the Great Hall without a second thought.
———————————————
After retrieving Ludo from his dorm room, Charlie set off towards Hagrid's Hut. He walked through the gates flanked by winged boars, and up through the grounds to the cabin.
The curtains were drawn, and he could hear the barking of Fang as he approached.
"Hagrid!" Charlie shouted, pounding on the front door, "It's Charlie! Open up! I know you're in there! Nobody cares if your mum was a giantess, Hagrid! You can't let that foul Skeeter woman do this to you! Hagrid, get out here, you're being —"
The door opened. Charlie stopped, very suddenly, because he had found himself face-to-face, not with Hagrid, but with his grandfather, Albus Dumbledore.
"Good afternoon," he said pleasantly, smiling down at his grandson.
"Grandad," Charlie breathed out, "I, uh, just wanted to see Hagrid."
"Yes, I surmised as much," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "Why don't you come in?"
"Alright..."
Charlie and Ludo went into the cabin; Fang launched himself upon the young boy the moment he entered, barking madly and trying to lick his ears. Charlie had to fend off Fang for a moment before the two dogs took notice of one another, and began playing mindlessly.
Hagrid was sitting at his table, where there were two large mugs of tea. He looked a real mess. His face was blotchy, his eyes swollen, and he had gone to the other extreme where his hair was concerned; far from trying to make it behave, it now looked like a wig of tangled wire.
"Hi, Hagrid," Charlie said softly.
Hagrid looked up.
"'Lo," he said in a very hoarse voice.
Charlie quickly took notice in his friend's voice and tried to cheer him up, "Hagrid, you can't possibly think anything that Skeeter cow — sorry, grandfather," he added quickly, looking at Dumbledore.
"I have gone temporarily deaf and haven't any idea what you said, Charles," said Dumbledore, twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling.
"Er — right," Charlie said sheepishly, stifling a laugh. "I just — Hagrid, how could you think anyone would care what that woman wrote about you?"
Two fat tears leaked out of Hagrid's beetle-black eyes and fell slowly into his tangled beard.
"Living proof of what I've been telling you, Hagrid," said Dumbledore, still looking carefully up at the ceiling. "I have shown you the letters from the countless parents who remember you from their own days here, telling me in no uncertain terms that if I sacked you, they would have something to say about it —"
"Not all of 'em," said Hagrid hoarsely. "Not all of 'em wan me ter stay."
"Really, Hagrid, if you are holding out for universal popularity, I'm afraid you will be in this cabin for a very long time," said Dumbledore, now peering sternly over his half-moon spectacles. "Not a week has passed since I became headmaster of this school when I haven't had at least one owl complaining about the way I run it. But what should I do? Barricade myself in my study and refuse to talk to anybody?"
"Yeh — yeh're not half-giant!" said Hagrid croakily.
Dumbledore stood up, clearly not willing to entertain this self-pity any longer.
"I refuse to accept your resignation, Hagrid, and I expect you back at work on Monday," he said. "You will join me for breakfast at eight-thirty in the Great Hall. No excuses. Good afternoon to you."
Dumbledore left the cabin, pausing only to scratch Fangs ears. When the door had shut behind him, Hagrid began to sob into his huge hands. Charlie gave him a pat on the arm, and at last, Hagrid looked up, his eyes very red indeed, and said, "Great man, Dumbledore... great man..."
"Yeah, he is." Charlie said proudly. "Say Hagrid, you wouldn't happen to know how Rita Skeeter even found out about your condition, would you? Have you told anyone recently?"
"Well, I tol' Olympe 'bout it at the Ball..."
Charlie breathed slowly, taking a moment to think about how he was going to word this next bit.
"And Madame Maxime... y-you don't think that —"
"Codswallop!" Hagrid roared, "She 'ould never!"
"Okay!" Charlie raised his hands to signal peace. "I'm sorry I even brought it up."
Hagrid seemed to relax after that, as if reminiscing on his 'romance' with Madame Maxime.
Then, he looked at Charlie for a moment and said, very seriously, "Yeh know what I'd love, Char? I'd love yeh ter win this 'ournament! Really, I really would. It'd show 'em all... yeh don' have ter put others down ter be successful! Yeh don' have ter be ashamed of what yeh are. It'd show 'em Dumbledore's the one who's got it righ', lettin' anyone in as long as they can do magic. How you doin' with that egg, Char?"
"Great," Charlie lied, unable to ruin such an inspiring moment for his friend. "Really great."
Hagrid's miserable face broke into a wide, watery smile, "Tha's my boy... you show 'em, Char, you show 'em. Beat 'em all."
———————————————
Charlie went back to the castle later that afternoon with Ludo, unable to banish the image of the happy expression on Hagrid's whiskery face. The incomprehensible egg weighed more heavily than ever on Charlie's conscience that evening, and by the time he had got into bed, he had made up his mind — it was time to focus on the second task, but the problem was... he had absolutely no idea where to start.
When the annual Hogsmeade trip came around, Charlie had his mind preoccupied with the task, despite his mind wandering to the fact that Hermione had volunteered to show Krum around the small village.
Charlie couldn't allow his jealousy to be a prominent issue at the moment, he had more pressing matters to attend to. Neither him or Harry had found out the answer to the egg yet, and the second task was approaching quicker than it seemed.
However, his thoughts on the egg had been cut short as when he went into the Three Broomsticks with Harry, Ron, and eventually, Hermione, he was bombarded with perhaps, the person he hated the most — Rita Skeeter.
"Charlie!" she said, beaming. "How lovely! Why don't you come and join — ?"
"I wouldn't come near you with a ten-foot broomstick," Charlie said furiously. "What did you do that to Hagrid for, eh?"
Rita Skeeter raised her heavily penciled eyebrows.
"Our readers have a right to the truth, Charles. I am merely doing my —"
"Who cares if he's half-giant?" Harry shouted in his friend's defence. "There's nothing wrong with him!"
The whole pub had gone very quiet. Madame Rosmerta was staring over from behind the bar, apparently oblivious to the fact that the cup she was filling with mead was overflowing.
Rita Skeeter's smile flickered very slightly between the boys, but she hitched it back almost at once; she snapped open her crocodile-skin handbag, pulled out her Quick-Quotes Quill, and said, "How about giving me an interview about the Hagrid you know, Harry? I would love to hear all about your unlikely friendship and the reasons behind it. Would you call him a father substitute?"
Hermione stood up very abruptly, her butterbeer clutched in her hand as though it were a grenade.
"You horrible woman," she said, through gritted teeth, "you don't care, do you? Anything for a story, and anyone will do, wont they?"
"Sit down, you silly little girl, and don't talk about things you don't understand," said Rita Skeeter coldly, her eyes hardening as they fell on Hermione.
"Let's go," said Hermione, "c'mon, Charlie — Harry — Ron..."
They left; many people were staring at them as they went. Charlie glanced back as they reached the door. Rita Skeeter's Quick-Quotes Quill was out; it was zooming backward and forward over a piece of parchment on the table.
"She'll be after you next, Hermione," Ron said in a low and worried voice as they walked quickly back up the street.
"Let her try!" Hermione shouted defiantly; she was shaking with rage. "I'll show her! Silly little girl, am I? Oh, I'll get her back for this. First Harry, then Charlie, now Hagrid..."
"You don't want to go upsetting Rita Skeeter," said Ron nervously. "I'm serious, Hermione, she'll dig up something on you —"
"My parents don't read the Daily Prophet. She can't scare me into hiding!" said Hermione, now striding along so fast that it was hard to keep up with her. The last time Charlie had seen Hermione in a rage like this, she had hit Draco Malfoy in the face — best stand back as a precaution.
As they went back to the castle, the four of them were heading back Gryffindor Tower, but halfway up the staircase Charlie heard someone calling him.
"Charlieee!"
It was Fleur Delacour, accompanied by her good friend, Elaina Dumont. Both of them were staring up at him from the corridor below.
Charlie turned and raised a brow in their direction, but Elaina simply said, "Can we have a word?"
"Uh, yeah, sure," Charlie said quickly before looking back to his his friends, saying, "you guys go on ahead, I'll catch up."
The brown eyed boy then descended the stairs again, Hermione watching him curiously before she was urged up the stairs by Ron.
"What's up?" he said as he reached them.
Elaina looked to Fleur, who seemed to be extremely hesitant. The brunette had urged her friend with a slight nudge of the arm.
"You know zat golden egg?" Fleur said softly, "Does eet wail zen you open it?"
"Yeah," Charlie said simply, "why?"
"Seemply..." Fleur gulped, "take a baz, okee?"
"What?" Charlie said dumbfounded, "A bath?"
"Take a baz... take ze egg with you, and... just mull zings over in ze hot water. It'll help you zink..."
Charlie stared at her before shifting his gaze to Elaina who simply nodded her head as if to tell him that Fleur was telling the truth.
"Okay," Charlie breathed, "but why are you helping me?"
"Obvious, isn't it?" Elaina laughed. "Beauxbatons believe in a fair fight, and you're clearly desperate —"
"Woah, hey!" Charlie scolded playfully causing the two girls to laugh, "But — thanks, I appreciate it."
Fleur grinned, Elaina sent Charlie a friendly wink, and then they both hurried back down the hallway.
Charlie walked back to Gryffindor Tower alone — that had been extremely strange advice. He climbed into the portrait hole and to his surprise, Hermione had been waiting for him.
"So," she said simply, her arms crossed, "what did they want?"
"I think they just helped me with the next task," Charlie said, looking around, "Where's Harry?"
"He went down to the Quidditch pitch with Ron and Neville," Hermione said quickly, "but wait — what do you mean, 'helped you with the next task'? That's against the rules! Not to mention, you told me that you had figured out the —"
"I know! I know!" Charlie quickly defended, "But none of that matters right now — gimme a second."
The brown eyed boy quickly ran up to change into swimming trunks and a hoodie before grabbing the golden egg from his bedside table.
He returned to the common room a couple of minutes later, with the egg in his hands, and Hermione stood there still, dumbfounded, looking at the boy's change in wardrobe, "What're yo—"
"I've got to go figure this out," Charlie said, in a hurry for the portrait hole once again, "I'll see you at dinner —"
"No," Hermione said flatly, walking behind him, "I'm coming with you."
And before the boy could even protest, Hermione had led the way out the portrait hole, clearly not prepared to take no for an answer.
——————————————
When the two of them reached statue of Boris the Bewildered, a lost-looking wizard with his gloves on the wrong hands, Hermione looked at Charlie curiously.
"Prefect bathroom," he explained before leaning forward and muttering, "Pinefresh."
The door creaked open, and Hermione stood there looking at the brown eyed boy with an astonished gaze.
"How did you —"
"Cedric Diggory isn't exactly the best secret keeper in the world," Charlie laughed before slipping through the door, he stuck out his hand to guide the girl forward, "C'mon, then."
With both of them inside, the portrait door closed behind them. Looking around, Charlie could understand why most people wanted to become Prefects.
It was softly lit by a splendid candle-filled chandelier, and everything was made of white marble, including what looked like an empty, rectangular swimming pool sunk into the middle of the floor. About a hundred golden taps stood all around the pools edges, each with a differently colored Jewel set into its handle. There was also a diving board. Long white linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sat in a corner, and there was a single golden-framed painting on the wall. It featured a blonde mermaid who was fast asleep on a rock, her long hair over her face. It fluttered every time she snored.
Their footsteps echoed on the floor as they walked towards the side of the swimming-pool-sized bath. Charlie knelt forward and turned on a few of the taps before slipping off his shoes, and removing his hoodie to reveal his bare torso underneath, leaving him in just his swimming trunks.
"Wait! What're you doing?" Hermione shouted, aghast, shielding her eyes out of respect.
"What?" Charlie smirked, "You thought I'd be getting in there fully clothed, did you?"
Hermione sighed, removing her hands slowly, "Just — a warning would've been nice."
"It's nothing you haven't seen before," the boy laughed as Hermione began to turn red — of course he's caught her staring before... how embarrassing.
Then, when the deep pool was full of hot water, foam, and bubbles, which took a very short time considering its size, Charlie slid into the water as Hermione watched from the edge.
It was so deep that his feet barely touched the bottom. For a moment, Charlie enjoyed a swim in the hot and foamy water with clouds of different colored steam wafting all around him, and he even teasingly splashed Hermione a few times, just to see her reaction.
Her laughter and squeals filled the room.
"Stop!" she shouted playfully, "Charlie!"
The boy laughed as he swam back to the edge, leaning up slightly to be at her eye level, a smirk forming on his lips, "What're you going to do if I don't?"
Hermione looked at him curiously before an idea formed in her head — two could play at this game.
She leaned forward a little to tease him. It looked as if she was leaning in for a kiss, which threw Charlie off-guard completely, but he gladly closed his eyes anyway, and then, right as their lips were supposed to meet...
Hermione dunked his head under the water — yeah, he probably should've seen that one coming.
The boy resurfaced seconds later, slicking his wet hair back, only to see Hermione looking at him with an amused smile and the golden egg in her hands.
"Now, let's not forget why we're here," she said with a small giggle, shoving the egg into his hands, "you figure this out, and maybe then, I'll reward you."
Charlie smiled widely, grabbing the egg and leaning forward again, their faces only centimetres apart, "What about a little inspiration beforehand..."
Hermione's breath got caught in her throat; he was way too hard to resist. She nodded slowly, and Charlie was internally beaming. They both closed their eyes and were about to kiss once again, when suddenly, a voice spoke, making them jump apart so quickly that Charlie nearly dropped the egg:
"I'd try putting it in the water, if I were you."
Charlie turned as Hermione peered over his shoulder, and they both saw the ghost of a very glum-looking girl sitting cross-legged on top of one of the taps.
It was Moaning Myrtle.
"Myrtle!" Charlie groaned in frustration, "We were in the middle of something!"
"I can see that," she said, glaring at Hermione through her thick spectacles before turning to the boy in the bath. "You haven't been to see me for ages."
Hermione scoffed.
"Yeah... well..." said Charlie, bending his knees slightly the water, so that Myrtle couldn't see anything but his head, "I'm not supposed to come into your bathroom, am I?"
"You didn't used to care," said Myrtle miserably, reminiscing on the time in second year when they were brewing the Polyjuice Potion. "You used to be in there all the time."
Hermione sent a glare in the ghost's direction, "He wasn't in there to see you!"
Charlie laughed slightly at the mere hilarity that Hermione was jealous of a ghost.
"Oh...I see..." said Myrtle, picking at a spot on her chin in a morose sort of way. "Well... anyway... I'd try the egg in the water."
"Right, thanks," Charlie said before lowering the egg beneath the foamy surface and opening it... and this time, it did not wail. A gurgling song was coming out of it, a song whose words he couldn't distinguish through the water.
"I reckon, you need to put your head under too," Hermione suggested to which Charlie nodded — she was always right, after all.
Charlie took a great took a great breath and slid under the surface — and now, sitting on the marble bottom of the bubble-filled bath, he heard a chorus of eerie voices singing to him from the open egg in his hands:
"Come seek us where our voices sound,
We cannot sing above the ground,
And while you're searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll surely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look,
To recover what we took,
But past an hour — the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
Charlie let himself float back upward and broke the bubbly surface, shaking his hair out of his eyes.
"Hear anything?" Hermione asked, curiosity evident in her voice
"Yeah... 'Come seek us where our voices sound...' and if I need persuading... hang on, I need to listen again...."
He sank back beneath the water. It took three more underwater renditions of the egg's song before Charlie had it memorized; then he trod water for a while, thinking hard, while Myrtle and Hermione sat and watched him.
"I've got to go and look for people who can't use their voices above the ground..." he said slowly. "Who could that be? Some sort of underwater creature?"
"Underwater...?" Hermione said slowly. "Myrtle... what lives in the lake, apart from the giant squid?"
"Oh all sorts," the ghost said, much to her dislike of the bushy haired girl. "I sometimes go down there... sometimes don't have any choice, if someone flushes my toilet when I'm not expecting it..."
Trying to remove that image from his head, Charlie said, "Well, does anything in there have a human voice? Hang on —"
Charlie's eyes had fallen on the picture of the mermaid on the wall.
"Myrtle, there aren't merpeople in there, are there?"
"Oooh, very good," she said, her thick glasses twinkling.
"Thats it, isn't it?" said Charlie excitedly. "The second task's to go and find the merpeople in the lake and... and..."
But he suddenly realized what he was saying, and he felt the excitement drain out of him as though someone had just pulled a plug in his stomach. He wasn't the best of swimmers; a couple of lengths of this bath were all very well, but that lake was very large, and very deep... and merpeople would surely live right at the bottom....
Charlie spoke slowly specifically towards Hermione, "How am I supposed to breathe?"
However, for the first time, Hermione didn't have an answer. She shrugged, and with a reassuring smile said, "We'll figure something out."
The boy nodded before he retrieved the egg from the bottom of the bath, and then climbed out. Hermione was holding one of the nearby stationed towels out for him, which he gladly accepted to help dry himself off. Charlie slipped his shoes back on and threw on his hoodie once again.
"Will you come and visit me in my bathroom again sometime?" Moaning Myrtle asked mournfully as Charlie headed for the door with Hermione.
"Er... I'll try," Charlie said, which earned a slap on the arm from Hermione, who was in disbelief that the boy would entertain such an idea. "Great seeing you, Myrtle... thanks for your help."
"Bye, bye." she said gloomily as the two young Gryffindors stepped out of the bathroom and into the corridor.
The sun had set since they had been in the Prefect bathroom, meaning that the corridors had been dimly lit with the torches that hung on the walls. Charlie and Hermione walked in a uncomfortable silence for a moment or two, reaching the deserted passageway located before the steps to the Fat Lady portrait, and that was when Hermione spoke, seizing the opportunity.
"Uh, Charlie?"
"Yeah?" The boy said quietly, coming to a halt so he could look at her properly.
"Are we..." Hermione trailed off slightly, as she too, came to a halt, "are we ever going to talk about what happened at the Yule Ball?"
"Well, y-yeah." Charlie stuttered, "I mean I've been wanting to talk to you about it, of course, I just —"
"I really enjoyed it." Hermione said truthfully, cutting him off, "I can't stop thinking about it..."
Charlie's heart began to beat faster. He hadn't expected her to come right out and say something like that.
"Yeah," he breathed, so much emotion pouring from his eyes, "I know the feeling..."
The words hadn't even left the boy's mouth before Hermione had moved towards him, wrapped a hand around his neck, and pulled him down into a kiss.
Thankfully they were out of sight from anyone because they lost themselves within that kiss in the corridor. In fact, it took all of the self-control Charlie could muster to pull back slightly.
"Wait, wait," he said, trying to catch his breath, while Hermione just stood there looking at him, confused. "We should probably talk about what this means —"
"Shhh," Hermione hushed softly, holding up a finger against the boy's mouth, "we can talk about that later. Right now, I'm rewarding you like I said I would..."
And with that, her lips found Charlie's again.
She couldn't help herself. For days now, Hermione had been counting down the seconds until she was able to kiss him again, and at this current moment, she wanted to make the most of the opportunity. Both of her hands had now snaked around his neck, pulling him closer, if that was even possible, to deepen the kiss.
God, how Charlie missed her lips. They slipped right back into the passion as if this wasn't their fourth kiss, but their hundredth. The brown eyed boy had to set the golden egg down on the floor, just so he could get comfortable and wrap his arms around her waist. Though, as much as the boy enjoyed what was happening, he couldn't help the voice inside of his head telling him to question Hermione about her behaviour towards Krum the other morning in the Great Hall.
So, despite Hermione's groan of frustration, Charlie pulled back again.
The bushy haired girl laughed slightly, "You know, you're ruining the moment."
"I know, I know." Charlie breathed, "It's just — I can't — what happened between you and Krum?"
Hermione's face had fallen upon the mention of the Bulgarian Quidditch player, causing her hands to fall back to her sides.
"W-What?" Hermione stuttered.
"The other day in the Great Hall," Charlie explained, a little confused by her tensed state all of a sudden, "you dismissed him so quickly when he was trying to talk."
"I didn't want him hanging around me all day, I told you that," Hermione said with a raised brow, "what? You didn't believe me?"
"No, no, I did! It's just —"
Hermione's arms had found their way back around his neck and she smiled widely as she looked up at him, "You are the only boy that I fancy," — she placed a quick peck on his lips — "and that is, without a doubt, the truth."
Charlie sighed out in relief before smiling down at her, "Okay."
"Okay." Hermione smiled once more before she moved her hand down to interlock with his, pulling him forward, "C'mon, everyone's probably wondering where we are."
After Charlie picked up the egg off the ground, he let Hermione pull him up the stairs towards the common room. The two of them were unaware what they were to one another at this point, but one thing was for sure, they definitely weren't just friends anymore...
Maybe it was time to make that official.
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Author's Note:
*this chapter was not proof read*
This chapter took so long because I genuinely didn't know how to follow up the last one lmfao.
So, this one is a little more basic just so we can lead up into the rest of GoF!
Your support on the last chapter was INSANE! Thank you so much, I'm glad we're all excited for the future of Charmione ;)
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I appreciate all of you so much! Thank you for over 6k reads <3
xo, Selena