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19 - Afterwards
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Charlie awoke the next day in an unfamiliar bed. It smelt of chocolate and something distinctly male.
Where was he?
Charlie yawned and moved slightly, attracting the attention of the five other males in the room.
"He's awake." James hissed to Remus, who was sat on James' bed reading.
"He can hear you, he's not deaf." Kingsley said from where he was writing to his parents on his bed.
James rolled his eyes and mimicked Kingsley silently behind his back, making Peter giggle.
Charlie slowly sat up, his head pounding and his arm aching. The bedsheets fell off his body, revealing his crumpled tee shirt and messy bedhead.
"Hi." Charlie rasped, his voice much deeper than usual. Remus coughed slightly, his eyes glued to his book in a way that seemed extremely forced as his cheeks flushed red.
"How are you feeling?" Remus asked Charlie, ignoring everyone else and putting his book down.
"Awful." Charlie coughed, his voice scratchy. He looked around for some water but couldn't see any and was too shy to ask.
"Water?" Remus asked, stealing the glass of water James had been about to drink from and taking it over to Charlie, sitting down on his bed next to him.
Charlie glanced at James (who was now pouting because Remus stole his water), "That was James'..."
"It's fine. I didn't drink from it yet anyway." James said, glaring at Remus. "I'll just get a new one."
Charlie nodded and took the glass of water, taking small sips of it as he looked around the room.
Sirius was lying on a military neat bed next to the one Charlie was lying in, trying to enchant his transfiguration homework to do itself.
The bed opposite Sirius' was James'. His bed was extremely messy. James was sat on it drawing a picture to add to the wall behind him, which was covered in them. Charlie noticed a few of them were of Lily Evans, but most of them were of James and his friends apart from a few which were of two dogs - wait, one dog and a wolf, a stag, and a rat... that was slightly random, but Charlie wasn't judging because he couldn't draw to save his life.
Next to James' bed, was what Charlie was assuming was Peter's bed. His bed wasn't as messy as James', but not as neat as Sirius'. Peter was lying in it, not sleeping, but also not looking inclined to move anytime soon.
Next to Peter's bed, was a bed that was almost as neat as Sirius' bed. Charlie assumed that this was Kingsley' bed, as he was sat on it writing something.
But that meant...
He was in Remus' bed.
Charlie suddenly choked on the water he was drinking, making everyone look up from what they were doing and Remus panic before slapping him gently on the back.
"You ok?" Sirius asked, concerned when he saw how red Charlie's face had gone.
"Yeah..." Charlie replied.
Peace fell on the room again as Charlie slowly finished his glass of water, a rare happening in the Gryffindor sixth year dorm. The sound of Sirius muttering spells under his breath, Kingsley's quill scratching against parchment, and James' pencil gliding over the paper the only sounds in the room.
"Do you remember what happened?" Remus asked. He hasn't moved his arm from Charlie's back yet and Charlie was hyper aware of that fact - the heat from where his hand was resting seemed to burn Charlie's skin.
Charlie's face fell as he remembered what had happened the night before.
"Yeah." Charlie whispered again, drawing his knees into his chest and lowering his head slightly as his eyes suddenly grew watery.
Remus watched him sadly as he curled in on himself, as if trying to protect himself from a threat that was no longer there.
"Wait... what happened?" James suddenly asked, watching Charlie's reaction to Remus' question.
When no one replied, James frowned and straightened up.
"Was it Billy again?" He asked, making Charlie's eyes widen in surprise. He didn't think anyone knew about that... unless Remus told them about that night... or it could have been Sam, although that seemed unlikely.
"No..." Charlie said.
Sirius sighed and stopped trying to enchant his homework to do itself, instead giving them his full attention as he said, "It was Lauren—"
Charlie's eyes got even bigger, if that was possible, "—wait—"
"—she drugged him." Sirius ploughed on, ignoring Charlie. "She was trying to force herself on him, if me and Remus hadn't got there when we did..." He trailed off, not wanting to say it, and not needing to. They all knew what he was saying.
There was a shocked silence.
Kingsley had abandoned his letter and was looking at Charlie with pity in his eyes. Peter was fully awake now, sat in bed with wide eyes and a surprised expression. And James? James looked like he was about to murder someone...
Charlie curled into an even smaller ball, the tears he had been holding back finally spilling down his cheeks. He felt weak, especially now he was crying in front of them all.
Remus' heart broke yet again at the sight of Charlie so upset. Why was it always him?
He drew Charlie towards him, using the hand that was still on his back to pull him into his chest and putting his other arm around his small body. Charlie's head was resting on his shoulder, his head almost in the crook of Remus' neck. Remus could feel hot tears hitting his skin as Charlie cried.
He rubbed Charlie's back, feeling his own eyes get slightly watery as he glared at Sirius. "You just had to say it in front of everyone, didn't you?"
Sirius glared back, although not with same intensity as Remus was glaring at him, "They were going to keep asking. And they're not idiots, they'd have worked it out eventually. You don't get bruises like that," He pointed at Charlie's arm, which was around Remus's back and on full display for everyone to see. There was a purple, hand shaped bruise on his wrist. Small, curved scabs had formed where Lauren had dug her nails into his skin, drawing blood without any of them realising. "Without someone doing it to you."
Remus sighed, holding Charlie tighter as the boy's tears started to lessen and his breathing became ragged and shallow. He gently stroked Charlie's hair in an attempt to calm him, very aware of the fact that Charlie was practically in his lap... and his four roommates were watching them interact with knowing expressions on their faces.
Charlie pulled away from their embrace and Remus reluctantly let his arms drop back to his side.
He caught Charlie looking down at his outfit from the night before, which was now crumpled from sleeping in it. "Do you want me to get you some clothes?"
Charlie blushed when he realised everyone was still watching them - apart from Kingsley, who had gone back to writing his letter but Charlie was sure he was still listening from the way his lips quirked up into a small smirk.
"Okay." Charlie said quietly, not making eye contact with Remus. "C-can I use the shower?"
"Course you can," James suddenly interrupted, the sound of the pencil scratching against paper pausing. "You don't need to ask."
"Right," Charlie blushed, "Thanks."
He climbed out of Remus' bed, the sheets falling over Remus' lap in a crumpled heap, and made his way towards the bathroom. He stretched and his tee shirt rode up, revealing the bare skin of his back.
Remus blinked a few times and looked away from Charlie towards Sirius, suddenly realising he was staring... again.
"Don't be too long, I wanna shower after you." Sirius said. He had gone back to trying to get his homework to do itself.
Charlie gave him a thumbs up before clicking the door shut. They all heard him turn the lock and then the shower start running.
There was silence for a few seconds during which Remus lay down on his bed. It now held the faint smell of Charlie. Cinnamon and the smell of the whatever he cleaned his clothes with.
James went over to Sirius and started whispering with him. Sirius smirked and nodded. Remus didn't even want to know.
About ten minutes later, Charlie turned the shower off and dried his hair using a towel. He then slipped into the clothes that Remus had given him. A pair of flannel pyjama bottoms that belonged to James (as he was a similar height to Charlie) and a knitted sweater that was slightly oversized on Remus, and therefore drowned Charlie. Remus had insisted that he take it because it was warm and had just been washed so it smelled faintly of lemons, which he insisted was calming. (That was definitely the only reason why he wanted Charlie to wear it.)
Remus looked up as Charlie came out of the bathroom, "Hey."
Sirius jumped up from his bed and rushed into the bathroom. "My turn!"
Half an hour later, Sirius finally emerged from the bathroom with his hair in a towel (Lily had taught him that), and another towel wrapped around his waist. The dorm was empty apart from Charlie and Remus.
James and Peter had gone to the kitchens because James was complaining that he was hungry, and Kingsley had just left to the Owlry to post his letter to his parents.
Remus was sat with his back against the headboard of his bed, Charlie was curled into his side, head leaning against his chest, and secretly trying to read Remus' book - which was in french.
Sirius grinned at the sight, the two looked adorable together.
"Want to go get lunch?" Sirius asked as he got dressed.
"It's Saturday, right?" Charlie yawned, stretching as he pulled away from Remus.
"Mhm." Remus hummed in confirmation, his eyes still scanning his book.
Charlie's face brightened, "Yay! Chips!" He paused and looked down at his outfit. "Am I alright to go dressed like this?"
"Yeah, you look totally hot." Sirius grinned.
Charlie snorted and then frowned, self conscious. "I'm basically in pyjamas."
"Then I'll go in pyjamas too." Sirius grinned. "I sleep naked."
Remus chucked a pillow at him as he put his book down. Sirius dodged and then pulled on a bright red skirt he had borrowed from Marlene and not given back, along with a cropped tee shirt. "See? Don't worry about people
judging you, they'll be looking at me instead, I look goddamn gorgeous."
Charlie grinned, wishing he had that much confidence.
"Come on idiots." Remus rolled his eyes fondly, pulling Sirius and Charlie out of the dorm after getting bored of waiting for Sirius to style his hair.
They trio left Gryffindor tower, getting no odd looks despite Sirius' bold style, which told Charlie that this wasn't an unusual outfit for him to wear, and headed towards the Great Hall.
Charlie was tucked into Remus' side, he was still feeling fragile and kept jumping at the slightest unexpected movement or noise. Remus had his arm protectively around his shoulder. Sirius was humming and shimmying down the corridor a few steps ahead of them.
When they reached the Great Hall, there was a large crowd around the main doors, so thick that they couldn't see what was going on in the centre of the circle.
"What's happening?" Charlie asked quietly, curling into Remus' side even more. The large crowd was loud and it was unsettling him.
Remus was standing on his toes, trying to see over people's heads, but he still couldn't see. "Not sure."
"Oi! Move out of the way!" Sirius shouted, and started shoving through the crowd, Remus and Charlie following behind him.
They reached the centre and Charlie's jaw dropped in surprise.
In the centre of the large circle that had formed, was James Potter with a bleeding nose, his wand pointed at Lauren. She was pointing her wand at him as well, although her hand was visibly shaking and her eyes were wide. Lily Evans and Peter were stood just behind him, Lily had a hand to her mouth in horror and Peter looked pale. Billie was lying on the floor next to Lauren, curled on his side and bleeding. To Charlie's immense surprise, Regulus Black being hauled away (with immense difficulty) from him by Oliver and Sam, who were both looking murderous themselves. Regulus' knuckles were red and bleeding, his rings covered in Billie's blood. His usually neat hair was messy and his eyes were narrowed in anger.
"What the fuck?!" Sirius exclaimed.
Lily's eyes snapped towards them and landed on Charlie. "Oh!" She cried and then threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug and sobbing into his shoulder. "Oh Charlie! Oh I'm so sorry that they did that to you—"
Charlie flinched violently at the sudden movement as fear flooded him. She was hugging him so tight. He couldn't escape—he was stuck—Lauren... he froze when her words finally processed... what was she talking about?
Suddenly everyone's eyes on them felt heavy and judgemental.
His eyes widened as something occurred to him...
Surely James and Peter didn't tell? Surely they didn't... they wouldn't... would they?
"Lily." Remus said softly, carefully detaching the girl from a scared looking Charlie. "Give him some space."
"Is it true that you fucked Lauren?! I mean you wanted to right? Kirsty from Ravenclaw told me!" Someone in the crowd shouted.
Charlie's eyes widened even more if that was possible. James spun angrily towards where the voice had come from as Sirius hurried over to Charlie, who was completely frozen and white faced. He looked like he was going to faint.
And then he did, falling into Sirius as the world disappeared in front of his eyes.
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i finally updated, whoo!
okay so i know this chapter is pretty crap and pretty long... sorry
i'm dealing with a lot right now so updates probably won't be frequent for a while now... sorry!
hope you all enjoyed this chapter anyway
(thanks again for 6k reads)
love you all!
have a great day xx
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