5th Year
Charlie Weasley lay on his bed in Gryffindor tower, staring at the Chudley Cannons poster on the roof of his four poster bed, playing with the dragon charm hanging on leather around his neck and thinking of her. She had given him the charm for Christmas in first year and he'd barely taken it off since then. She'd been up in his room again this afternoon before dinner, she usually came up with Tonks (their mutual best friend and her fellow Hufflepuff) to do homework together on the days that they took Care of Magical Creatures together, he had even more books on his favourite subject than the school library did. He could still smell her perfume in the air and let his mind wander free to thoughts of her.
On Charlie's second day at Hogwarts he had woken up late. He and his dorm mates had been up late the night before getting to know each other, telling silly jokes and showing off as 11 year old boys will do when they make some new friends. Bill (Charlie's older brother) had banged on the door half an hour before lessons started on his way back from the great hall to the 3rd year boys dorm to grab his books for class, having not seen his brother at breakfast. Charlie was a Weasley so skipping a meal was never a good idea. He grabbed his book bag, threw on his new uniform, tying his tie as he went, and legged it down the stairs and out the portrait hole in the hopes of grabbing some toast to eat on the way to Transfiguration, his first ever class at Hogwarts.
As he ran down the last flight of stairs he passed a pair of first year Hufflepuff girls giggling as they made their way up them. Before he knew what was happening he found himself flat on his back at the bottom of the stairs right in front of the doors to the great hall with something heavy on his chest. Groaning, he looked down to see a mess of bright purple and dark blonde hair and felt vibrations through his body as his ears filled with the sounds of a loud guffaw, laughing snorts and tinkling giggles. The purple hair disappeared first, the weight on his chest lessening, and a girl dressed in Hufflepuff robes with unnaturally pink cheeks and purple hair stood over him snorting with laughter and apologising profusely.
"I'm so... so sorry" She squeaked in between snorts of laughter.
"What happened?" He asked in reply gazing down at the other girl who was still laying on his chest, seemingly incapable of standing due to another bout of giggles.
"I tripped and fell into Ashlynn who fell into you…" the purple haired girl replied, her cheeks going even more pink with embarrassment, even though he really didn't think it were possible to go that colour.
"I… I picked her up… out the water yesterday when she fell out the boats too…" the blonde girl on his chest managed to squeeze out between giggles as she propped herself up on his chest looking directly at him.
Charlie's breath hitched as he gazed into the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen. Hazel with dark greens and muddy brown swirls like a dense forest and flecks of gold more sparkling than the sun.
"I'm Ashlynn and this is my new best friend, Tonks" she continued as she got control over her giggles and pushed herself up to stand by her 'new best friend, Tonks'.
Charlie took a couple of seconds to bring himself out of his stupor from her hazel eyes before quickly jumping up and offering them each his hand.
"Hi, I'm Charlie!" he grinned. "It's so great to meet some more first years. So far I've only met other Gryffindors but I'm guessing you're both in Hufflepuff?" He checked, shaking their hands like he'd watched his father do when meeting new people. They giggled at how formal he was being and he was once again entranced by the tinkling sound the blond girl made.
"We've got to get to Transfiguration now but it was great to meet you too Charlie." The girl he now knew to be called Tonks replied, smiling kindly back.
"That's what I've got first too, can I walk with you?" he asked with a clear note of hope running through his voice.
The three of them had been inseparable ever since, he'd learnt about Tonks' metamorphic abilities and fallen hard for Ashlynn, even though he still wouldn't admit it out loud to anyone, even 4 years later. He had prefect rounds with her tonight and was anxious to be spending time with her in private, Tonks was usually around as an unknowing chaperone that kept any wayward thoughts in order.
"Knut for your thoughts?" Charlie's older brother Bill asked as he appeared, tall, ginger and smiling in the 5th year boys' dorm room doorway sporting his shiny new Head Boy badge.
"Come to check up on your new prefect, have you chief?" Charlie grinned back at his brother, still fiddling with the charm in the shape of a Romanian Longhorn dragon around his neck, the charm was currently crawling around his fingers and thumb as he rubbed it gently.
"Just reminding you to head down to the entrance hall if you don't want to be late for your first prefect rounds" Bill replied easily "wouldn't want to keep her waiting." He added with a knowing smirk playing on his freckled lips.
Charlie's cheeks blushed deeply around his own smattering freckles as he quickly tucked the charm back under his t-shirt and jumped in front of the mirror to check his hair.
"What.. what are you talking about?" he stuttered nervously, hoping his feelings for Ashlynn weren't too obvious to everyone around him. He wasn't ready for her to know yet and worried he was even more of a mushy git around her than he thought. 'What a Gryffindor I am, I can't even tell a girl I'm in love with her' his thoughts mocked him silently.
"Oh you know" Bill's smirk grew wider as he checked the room was empty other than the two of them and pulled the door shut behind him "Ashlynn Bird's your prefect partner for the year. That is the same Ashlynn you were moaning about in your sleep all summer right?" Bill's smile grew impossibly wide as Charlie's blush spread down his neck and the mottled pink covered his shoulders "Oh Ashlynn...love...Ash my love...kiss me…"
There was a loud thud as Charlie tacked his brother to the floor.
"You tell no one" he said through gritted teeth "she doesn't know, no-one knows and no-one will know, okay. She's...she's way out of my league anyway. She deserves someone better and I can't lose her as my best friend." Charlie's ferocity died as he spoke, his eyes filling with pain. The smirk fell off Bill's face as he wrapped his brother up in a heartfelt hug.
"You are an amazing guy Charlie. You're a prefect, you've been playing seeker on the house team since second year and are the best we've had since at least before I started school. You're kind, intelligent and passionate about so many things, especially your animals and magical creatures." Bill stated firmly and he moved to grip Charlie's shoulders and looked deep into his eyes trying to show him the truth in his words. "She'd be lucky to have someone as great as you. But you stand no chance at all if you leave her waiting on you in the Entrance Hall to start rounds, so up and at 'em Charles Septimus Weasley!" he ruffled Charlie's thick red mess of hair and shoved him out the door grabbing Charlie's quidditch jersey and prefect badge for him on the way.
…
Ashlynn was rushing up the stairs from the Hufflepuff common room having been lounging by the fire playing wizard's chess with one of her two best friends, Tonks, for the past few hours. She liked chess well enough and played a little with her mother back home on the farm, but wizard's chess was far more fun. She and Tonks often used the game to take out their frustrations and after their first run in of the school year with the hated Professor Snape that afternoon they had plenty of annoyance to take out on the poor chess pieces.
"Hey! Ashlynn! Ash, wait up!" She heard a voice calling from behind her in a low octave. Skidding to a halt just before the last set of stairs she turned, a small smile breaking out across her freckled face.
"Jamie, hi. How are you?" She responded sweetly to the muscular seventh year prefect in front of her as he slowed to a jog and she tried to banish her threatening blush. She wondered what someone like him could want to speak to someone like her about as she straightened her top and hoped it covered her curves a little.
"All the better for seeing your beautiful face." he replied smoothly, lifting Ashlynn up into a tight bear hug and spinning her round several times.
"Jamie put me down!" She squealed in response as she started to get dizzy, her blush threatening even more to flourish at any second "Put me down now, please Jay."
Gently lowering her to the floor Jamie Kelling kept his hands resting on her waist and took a deep breath before asking
"The first Hogsmeade weekend is coming up soon, I know the date's not been released yet but I was hoping you might want to go with me?"
"Oh...do you mean with you and your friends or…" Ashlynn trailed off stealing a timid look up at Jamie through her long eyelashes, the blush no longer only threatening but spreading brightly across her cheek bones.
"I mean as a date." Jamie replied quickly, releasing his grasp on her waist and nervously awaiting her response.
"I'd love to" she grinned back at him. Being nearly 6ft tall and curvy, Ashlynn didn't get much romantic attention from any of the boys in her year (or so she thought). She was taller than many of them, well she wasn't taller than Charlie, he was short for his family at 6ft 2 but still a little taller than she was. She was thoroughly self-conscious of the way her curves flowed softly outwards either side of her pinched waist but the boys in her year loved them, most of them considered her to be unattainable and therefore were too nervous to ask her out.
"Great, you're on your way to your first set of rounds right? Have fun and I'll catch you in the common room later." Jamie kissed her sweetly on the cheek and grinned, backing down the corridor as though he never wanted to stop looking at her.
After taking a moment to gather her composure, she turned and darted up the last few steps just in time to see Charlie skid effortlessly into the entrance hall, jumping the last few stairs on his way down the main staircase from Gryffindor tower.
"Hey love" Charlie breathed, swooping her up in her second bear hug of the evening and releasing another set of tinkling giggles from the girl.
"Hey you, let's get going yeah?" she replied, after her breathing had calmed again, and grabbed his hand in hers as he set her back on her feet.
With Ashlynn pulling him along they completed the first half of their rounds quickly and with very little trouble. They were on their way up the astronomy tower when he first noticed her shivering, the crisp September air was blowing in through the open windows now that the sun had fallen behind the nearby mountains. Tugging off his jersey Charlie pulled Ashlynn towards him and unceremoniously plopped it over her head. The jersey fell loosely around her shoulders and she pulled her arms through instinctively.
"Where's your jumper you muppet?" Charlie teased.
"I was playing chess by the fire with Tonks, it was so warm I forgot it wasn't the same around the rest of the castle" she mumbled blushing before noticing what jersey she was wearing and shouting indignantly "Hey! This is a rival quidditch jersey, no chance I'm keeping this on!" she tugged at the arms trying to drag it back off her body as Charlie held down the hem, chuckling at her vivid sense of house pride.
"Well, next time bring your own then" he countered simply, regrasping her hand and pulling her stumbling along behind him still as she continued to try to pull herself free of the red and gold fabric.
She was prevented from arguing any further, however, when they stumbled upon a pair of sixth year Ravenclaw's snogging in an alcove, her leg hooked around his hips and his hand up her skirt.
"Always the Astronomy tower" Charlie grumbled releasing Ashlynn's hand as they approached the amorous couple "10 points from Ravenclaw you two, and use all that intelligence to come up with somewhere more creative to go next time." He scolded, with a much more commanding air than would be expected from the fifth year if you hadn't met his younger brothers, and the pair scurried back down the stairs arm in arm, their faces flushed at having been caught, especially by younger students.
The sun was well over the mountains when Charlie and Ashlynn had finished making their way to the top of the tower. The pair stepped out onto the very top of the tower, the rise and fall of the battlements encircled them, each rise was still low enough to rest their elbows on and each dip large enough for two to sit snugly side by side. The sky was pink and gold over the lake with tiny flecks of light just beginning to show stars and nearby planets.
Ashlynn jumped up onto the wall immediately, kicked off her well worn dark blue vans, plonked herself down on top of the cold stone and swung her miss-matched socked feet to dangle over the edge. Charlie's mind was jerked back to the last week of summer at the sight of her feet dangling precariously so high above the shadowed grounds far below.
Ashlynn and Tonks had just arrived at the Burrow from Tonk's Mum's house and, as usual, fallen onto the floor of the den in a graceless heap of purple and dark blond hair, snorts of laughter and tinkling giggles filling the ears of anyone on the ground floor of the house. The pile soon grew when Fred and George, Charlie's 10 year old identical twin brothers, leapt over the back of the family sofa to join the fun and started a wrestling match. The twins always lost against these two girls, who were strong and feisty, but that didn't stop them having tons of fun in the process. The twins' mother, Molly Weasley, soon appeared in the open doorway wearing a flour dusted "world's best Mum" apron, to find out what all the fuss was about and to make sure the twins weren't causing too much of a mess before Charlie's friends arrived.
"Fred, George, what on earth… oh it's you two dears! Welcome, welcome! Boys get up and let the girls breathe." Molly admonished kindly. "Charlie's just popping some sweet treats in the oven - I think he wanted to surprise you with his culinary skills though so don't tell him I told you" Molly said with a wink as she grabbed the two girls and pulled them off the floor into a tight group hug.
"Hi Mrs Weasley, thank you for having us and letting us stay for the week" Tonks and Ashlynn responded in unison before being overcome with mirth again.
"It's so lovely to have your laughter fill the house girls, you know you're welcome any time" Molly said as she bustled them into the kitchen with their bags, calling out "Charlie dear, your friends have arrived."
As they entered the Burrow's large family kitchen they saw Charlie frantically trying to rub the flour out of his deep red hair, but instead only succeeding in getting more and more of the white dust in it from his messy hands. The sweet smell of cookies filled the air and the shouts of young children playing in the garden wafted in through the open windows above the double sink. 'It's good to be back' thought Ashlynn, smiling as the warmth of the love filled home filled her heart.
Later that evening the two girls set up their overnight stuff in Ginny's room, the Weasley's youngest child and only daughter had been moved to bunk with her brother Ron for the week. They were only 7 and 8 years old so were still best friends and were very excited to be allowed to have sleepovers every day that week. The girls stayed up chatting after being sent up for an early night by Mrs Weasley, but after a few hours Tonks was fast asleep snoring while Ashlynn stared up at the ceiling trying to clear her mind.
When she was sure everyone was asleep, Ashlynn crept out of bed, donning her favourite denim jacket over her strappy pajama top and booty shorts, and left their borrowed room for one of her favourite places in the world. However, despite visiting her place almost every night she'd spent here over the past five summers, she forgot about the creaking floorboard directly outside the room that Bill and Charlie shared. Her weight landed on it as she padded up the wonky stairs and it emitted a loud creak as she lifted her foot back up. Frozen in place Ashlynn held her breath waiting for someone to break the silence and get her in trouble with the Weasley matriarch on her first night here. When she was content that no-one had been woken she let out a relieved sigh and continued padding up the staircase.
…
Charlie was having trouble sleeping. He was excited to have his two best friends staying and was glad that they'd enjoyed eating the cookies he'd made for them earlier (white chocolate and macadamia nut, Ashlynn's favorite). Thoughts of Ashlynn in bed just one floor down plagued him no matter how hard he tried to push them away. The image of her snuggled in blankets with her hair mussed up on her pillow and a freckled leg, bare to the upper thigh in the booty shorts she usually came down to breakfast in during the summer, thrown over the covers filled his mind and he struggled to control his breath and his body. He was delicately fingering the tiny Romanian Longhorn charm crawling around his chest when he heard a distinct creak outside his door, followed a few seconds later by a soft sigh. Knowing it would be Ashlynn on her way up to the roof he quietly snuck out of bed, grabbed a t-shirt to go with his loose pajama trousers and followed her to the roof, careful not to wake Bill or step on the creaking floorboard as he went.
When Charlie had passed the rest of his family's rooms and reached the very top of the stairs, he put his foot against the banister and pulled himself up through the skylight and onto the terracotta tiles that were charmed to stick in place, even when you clambered on them. He saw her sitting on the edge of the highest roof of the burrow, her bare feet dangling over the edge as she idly swung them back and forth and her bare sun-kissed, sparsely freckled thighs and gold painted nails shone in the moonlight. After taking a minute to control his breathing Charlie made his way carefully across the tiles and sat down beside her close enough to hear her breath but far enough away from her so as not to be touching her skin, lest his mind wander dangerously again.
"Hey love" he whispered, trying not to break her peaceful aura.
"Hey you" she replied equally quietly, her eyes remained forward gazing out over the orchard down below, watching the fruit bats dance above the trees "it's truly breathtaking up here."
"Yeah" Charlie's voice was raspy as he couldn't take his eyes off how beautiful she looked "breathtaking's a good word for it."
They sat together for hours, chatting about everything and nothing as the indigo sky turned to black and watching the fruit bats changed to watching the stars and moonlit clouds pass by on the summer breeze. He desperately wanted to kiss her then, to tell her how he felt about her; the way his heart stopped every time he saw her, how his breath left his body at the sheer mention of her name, the way his face lit up in a smile whenever she crossed his mind, how he never took off the charm she had given him in their first year. The fact that he was so completely and uncontrollably, head over heels, madly and irrevocably in love with her.
But his Gryffindor courage wasn't enough.
He wanted to kiss her that day on the tower too, the last of the evening's sun was hidden behind the mountains and he watched her face change colour as it glowed in the golden hues then pinks then blues of the darkening evening sky. He watched the soft movements of her rosy lips as she told him what she had learnt in astronomy about the stars she could see appearing above them and he felt the way her fingers tightened around his encouragingly when he told her about the new creatures he had read about that might be living in the lake or hidden in forbidden forest below them.
They finished their rounds hand in hand chatting about their day, throwing quidditch based trash talk at each other and laughing at the childish jokes they took turns telling. Ashlynn had a soft feminine figure that secretly hid strong muscles which allowed her to excel as a beater for the Hufflepuff house team while Charlie's long arms and disproportionately large hands helped him as Gryffindor's seeker (he looked a little like a puppy dog whose paws were too large for the width of their limbs, but like a growing puppy, Charlie's muscles were starting to fill out more and more). When they finally stepped back into the spacious entrance hall, off which the prefects' office could be found, on the way to complete their report for that night's rounds, Charlie was in the middle of telling her a rather rude joke he'd heard from Bill.
At the sound of her tinkling giggles Jamie looked up, he was leaning against the wall by the main doors with his arms folded across his chest, perfectly displaying the bulging biceps he used in his role as Hufflepuff's quidditch keeper. Charlie paused the telling of his joke at the strange sight of a seventh year prefect in the entrance hall this long after curfew.
"Hi James, everything alright?" Charlie asked with his hand still gently wrapped around Ashlynn's and a slight air of hostility towards the older boy.
"Just popped by to walk my Ash back down to the common room" Jamie replied confidently, pushing himself off the wall and striding across the stone floor to greet them both. "Hey beautiful" he sighed wrapping her up in a hug as her hand fell from Charlie's to reach up and wrap around his neck "what's with the Gryffindor jersey? Not abandoning your teammates so early in the year now are you?" he teased with a slight edge in his voice that only Charlie seemed to notice.
"Never" she grinned up at him "I forgot my jacket so Charlie leant me his. The rest of the castle's not as cosy as Hufflepuff's common room." turning to her best mate she pulled the jersey off over her head, accidentally causing her t-shirt to ride up with it and exposing her pierced belly button and lower ribs to the two boys "thanks Charlie, I'll try to remember to bring my own next time."
Charlie was slightly choked at the sight of her soft lower torso and a heavy blush flooded his skin. This, thankfully, went unnoticed by Ashlynn but, unfortunately for Charlie, not by Jamie who immediately wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders and glared harshly at the younger male who had been ogling the girl he was dating.
"Charles, you don't mind filling in the report for you two this week do you? I'm going to take Ash back to the Hufflepuff dorms for the night." Jamie had carefully chosen his words to trouble Charlie as much as possible, the suggestive tone of the term 'dorms' and the leer upon his charming face broke Charlie out of his stupor and the flexing of Jamie's muscles as a silent threat didn't go unnoticed.
"Sure. Yeah. Of course. No problem." Charlie mumbled in response, dropping his head and slumping his shoulders in defeat. Ashlynn clearly looked comfortable in Jamie's hold and he would never deliberately do anything to risk hurting her in any way or losing her as a friend. Even if she hadn't mentioned her new 'boyfriend' to him, despite them talking for hours. He watched forlorn as the pair waltzed down the stairs in the direction of the Hufflepuff common room, wishing it was his own arm wrapped around his beautiful best friend instead.