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16Chapter 2: Falling - Chapter 2

The next morning at breakfast Charlie was glaring at his food like it had personally offended him. His dorm mates sat around him chatting about the latest quidditch news and betting on the next day's league games. Fridays were Charlie's least favourite day for lessons but even that wouldn't usually put this much of a sour face on him.

"What's up Charlie boy?" Graham nudged him with his elbow after a while, as he reached for another sausage and shoved it in his mouth "Worried about the Cannon's game tomorrow? Worried they'll lose to my mighty Appleby Arrows?" Trying to bring some humour back to Charlie by jumping to his feet on top of the bench and pretending to fire a bow and arrow at Snape's end of the teachers' table. He was worried about his friend as Charlie had been in this mood since returning from rounds last night and it was so unlike him.

"It's nothing." Was Charlie's snapped response.

"Come on mate, it's not all bad. Maybe Snape will have actually washed his hair today, who knows, miracles can happen after all!" Kenny laughed from across the table, trying to help Graham in easing the tension surrounding his dorm mates.

"Seriously whatever's up, we're all here for you, you know." Jake added from Charlie's other side with a simple pat on the shoulder.

Charlie was born during the first wizarding war so the birth rate was low and his dorm was small, however he and the three lads he was sat with at breakfast had filled the large room with all their junk and quidditch gear within days of arriving in first year. Gryffindor was the house most affected by the low birth rate during the war as so many ex-Gryffindors were fighting at the time or had perished in battle, but the rest of the year group couldn't be described as big either. The three boys had instinctively surrounded Charlie at breakfast in the hopes of drawing him out of the foul mood he was in. Charlie was usually so bouncy that it was difficult for them to know how to help him out of this grim mood.

"I said it's nothing." Charlie snarled through gritted teeth as he pushed his breakfast around his plate with a fork, not really feeling very hungry.

A tinkling laugh echoed across the hall catching Charlie's attention and drawing his eyes up for the first time since arriving at breakfast. His mates followed his line of sight and sighed as they saw Ashlynn sat at the Hufflepuff table cuddled up next to Jamie Kelling, with him laying sloppy kisses all over her cheek as she wriggled and giggled in his arms.

Pushing his plate away harshly, Charlie grabbed his school bag and stormed off, heading straight to his first class of the day, Potions with Professor Snape.

…

Charlie's friends had chased him down before he made it to the classroom but weren't able to calm him enough for Snape not to wind him up enough to give him detention for 'being rude'.

"I'm only saying that if you're way is so damn great then why is it not in the textbook?" Charlie had asked in frustration at the lack of continuity between the textbook's instructions and those that Professor Snape had written up on the black board for them to work from.

By the end of classes for the day the grey cloud following Charlie had simply grown thicker rather than blowing away so he took himself to bed early to brood.

As he lay in bed staring up at his favourite Chudley Cannons flying around their bright orange poster on the roof of his four poster bed, the breeze from a nearby open window wafted past his quidditch jersey floating the sweet floral smell of Ashlynn's perfume, clinging to it from rounds the night before, straight over to him. Charlie groaned deeply as his body rebelled against him. He buried his face in his pillow and begged his mind not to develop any inappropriate thoughts about one of his best friends.

Thankfully for Charlie's sanity a loud banging on the dorm door brought him out of his thoughts of Ashlynn and her exposed midriff as she removed his quidditch jersey.

"Oi loser let me in!" Tonks bellowed through the door as she continued to pound her fist against it.

Charlie got up stiffly and opened the door for her to enter, trying to put on a fake smile for her benefit. He didn't want news of his bad mood getting back to Ashlynn, she was pretty smart and he didn't want to risk her joining the dots and dumping him as a friend.

"Get that lie off your face" Tonks demanded as she strode over and plopped herself down on the window seat next to his bed. "Jake told me you were having a bad day." She spoke calmly with sympathy clear on her face.

"I guess" he grunted in response, before face planting his bed as he was hit with another waft of Ashlynn's perfume from his jersey.

"What happened?" she probed.

"I reeeally can't talk to you about this..." he responded after a long, dragging silence.

"It's Ashlynn and the man-mountain whose lips were all over her at breakfast isn't it." Tonks stated rather than questioned and the lack of judgment in her voice shocked Charlie.

She knew her best friends and she'd known that Charlie was madly in love with Ashlynn even before he knew. She didn't miss the longing looks he gave her, the fact he always went out of his way to make her days happy with even the smallest kind gesture, the way he fussed about his appearance a lot more whenever she was around, the way he always made her favourite flavour of cookies when they went to visit, the fact that he ignored the hoards of girls who flirted with him around school…

He was very attractive and he had a lot of female attention, not that he ever noticed. He was fairly tall already standing at 6ft 2, when he wasn't slouching in defeat, with a cute smattering of freckles all across his body (or at least across face, arms and legs, Tonks hadn't verified the rest and since Charlie was the closest thing she had to a brother she really never wanted to), slightly tanned skin from spending so much time outside looking after various animals and magical creatures, dark red hair that lightened in streaks in the summer sun, deep blue eyes with silvery swirls like the crest of a tumbling wave (or so she was told by many smitten fellow students, again as Charlie was essentially her brother she didn't spend too much time gazing into his eyes, however dreamy the other girls in their year deemed them to be), large hands which were slightly rough from all the extra work he did around the Burrow during holidays and with the school's groundskeeper, Hagrid, whenever he had a free period while she and Ashlynn were in class. Charlie was muscular but wouldn't be considered buff, his chest and abs were firm but not defined and his biceps didn't bulge in his t-shirts like Jamie. 'Not yet anyway' he thought, planning to get buff for Ashlynn, telling himself it was so he could protect her in case Jamie wasn't a perfect gentleman rather than so he could attempt to steal her affections from him.

He opened his mouth to deny Tonk's statement of Ashlynn's new boyfriend being the cause of his bad mood but caught the lie before it left his mouth when he felt himself welling up. Tonks wasn't pushing him or forcing him to talk. She clearly knew his deepest secret and she was still willingly sat there with him. She was still his friend.

"Oh Charlie" Tonks sighed at the sight of her choked up best friend and reached out to hug him.

He had never been more grateful to have a friend than then.

…

The next morning he woke up before his dorm mates, showered, dressed in ripped jeans and an old t-shirt displaying a muggle band called R.E.M. that Jake had given him for his birthday a few years before, and headed down for an early breakfast. As he was only up this early because he had a morning detention on the first Saturday of the first term he didn't expect to see anyone else in there with him but as he entered the great hall he froze with his breath caught in his throat.

The only other person in the cavernous room, under the early morning bright blue sky of the enchanted ceiling, was sat at the Hufflepuff table. Her eyes unfocused as she stared into nothingness and munched on a piece of french toast provided by the school's house elves. Her crazy curls hung past her shoulders and her side fringe fell into her hazel eyes getting caught on her long eyelashes darkened with mascara.

Charlie felt himself gravitating towards her and sitting down on the opposite side of the table to her before his brain could even register what was going on.

"Morning you" she smiled across at him warmly, clearly glad to have the company of at least one of her best friends at breakfast (the other was probably still snoring in her sleep back in their shared dorm room) "what are you doing down here so early?"

He felt his inside thaw as she smiled, the grey clouds floating around his head and heart since rounds on Thursday night finally clearing at the sunshine gold flecks in her eyes.

"Detention," he responded nonchalantly with a small shrug as he stole the other slice of french toast off her plate "I may have sassed Snape a little bit" he added with a boyish grin before taking a bite.

"Detention for me too" she replied with a tinkling giggle at his antics "nothing as meaningful as sassing Snape though, Jamie and I got caught in a broom cupboard. His detention is this evening so we 'don't get too distracted'." she chortled as she impersonated Professor Sprout's strict voice from the night before and rolled her eyes at the memory.

Simply at the mention of her and Jamie in a broom cupboard the grey clouds loomed over him once more.

"What do you even see in that dimwit anyway?" he demanded of her harshly "You're way too good for him. And seriously a broom cupboard Ashlynn, what were you even doing with him in there!?"

"I don't know if I should thank you for the sweet intentions you clearly meant to portray with your 'too good for him' comment or be angry at your choice of wording and that question?" she responded, taken aback at his harsh tone "Jamie and I are dating and if you must know, we were just kissing. Or what, is that illegal now? Surely this is seriously hypocritical of you anyway, I've seen all those girls flirting with you, you can't tell me you've not done worse!"

Charlie blushed deeply. He'd never actually accepted any of their advances and barely even noticed their flirting, instead was informed of it by his dorm mates afterwards. He only had eyes for one girl and she was clearly interested in a different boy.

Jumping up from the table in frustration, Charlie threw the rest of his food down on an empty plate and stormed off to Snape's room to get his detention over with.

...

Charlie stood with a look of intense concentration on his face, he was doing his hair in their dorm's bathroom mirror, trying to get ready to go to Hogsmeade on the first visit of the year. It was mid October in the highlands so he grabbed his Gryffindor scarf as he left the dorm, prepared for the Scottish chill waiting for him outside. Finally ready to go, he stepped out the door and promptly collided with Bill.

"Watch out mate" Bill chided as he grabbed his brother in a man hug "you look dressed up. Going somewhere nice?"

"Hogsmeade with Mary-Angela." Charlie grunted, wriggling his shoulders to get comfortable as he put on his coat. It was a bit tight now because he'd been using exercise to take his frustrations out ever since his first run in with Ashlynn and the man-mountain that was her boyfriend, seventh year Jamie Kelling.

"Ooh the busty Ravenclaw in your year?" Bill asked with a cocked eyebrow and tone of approval "Not chasing after Hufflepuffs anymore then?"

"Ashlynn is with Jamie. He has made that quite clear by picking her up after rounds every Thursday night and snogging her in broom cupboards all over school." Charlie grumbled.

"Sorry mate. She's missing out, Mary-Angela's a lucky girl." Bill patted his brother's shoulder sympathetically.

"Yeah, we'll see."

They continued chatting together, talking about schoolwork, house and league quidditch, what to get their family for Christmas and trading any new dirty jokes either had heard since they last spoke, all the way down to the courtyard where Charlie was pounced on by his date.

"Hey there handsome" she flirted brazenly, fluttering her thick eyelashes and pressing her breasts into his chest as she hugged him tightly.

"Hey Mary-Angela" he replied confidently, while she wasn't the girl he really wanted he knew lots of boys did want her and would be jealous of their date "ready to go?"

They joined the queue a few places behind Bill and, once they were signed off by Filch, headed down to Hogsmeade and straight into Madam Puddifoot's tea room. The room was full of pink lace and doilies, Charlie hated it immediately but Mary-Angela seemed to adore it so he tried to hide his repulsion at the sickly smell of turkish delight and cream. The pair had very little to talk about but Charlie was a Weasley gentleman so he sat patiently and listened to her prattle on about divination and the inner eye, as he tried not to be too overwhelmed by the tea room's garish assault on his senses.

Several hours passed in continuing dull conversation and after visiting both Zonko's and Honeyduke's, Mary-Angela suggested they head down to the shrieking shack to share the small stick of candy floss he had bought for her. Charlie dragged his feet through the fallen leaves on the path out of Hogsmeade, his hands shoved deep into his Jeans pockets.

When they arrived at the fence overlooking the tattered walls and broken windows of the dilapidated old building she made her move to kiss him.

"You're even sexier when you're brooding" she murmured as she gripped his belt loops and pulled her body closer to his, her eyes flicking up and down between his dreamy blue eyes and chapped lips.

"Hold on" Charlie said gently cupping her cheek and holding her face away from his "I'm not interested in a relationship. You're really pretty and I would very much like to kiss you right now but I'm not looking for a girlfriend anytime soon and I'm not looking to be exclusive. I just thought you ought to know before acting on our desires." He'd been working on this line with Graham and Kenny all week. He had decided that he wanted to play the field, get some experience and maybe even make Ashlynn jealous. However the lessons from his father on how to treat women respectfully kept echoing around his skull, he was still in love with Ashlynn and did not want to lead any other girls on by being in a relationship with them, it wouldn't be fair.

Shock coloured her face but was quickly overtaken by determination. She thought it added to his bad boy quidditch player charm and that she would be the one able to change his mind.

As Charlie moved his hand gently into her cropped brown hair she leaned forward brushing her lips against his. Their mouths moved in time and the gentle kiss soon became passionate and handsy. Pushing her against a nearby tree, Charlie growled as she arched her back, pushing her breasts against him once again. He rocked his bulging erection against her pelvis eliciting a small moan from her bee stung lips.

After about half an hour of lustful snogging the two pulled apart breathless and the pink candy floss laying forgotten on the floor.

…

From that evening onwards Mary-Angela raved about Charlie's snogging skills to anyone who would listen and over the next few weeks the two could be found in broom cupboards and secret passageways engaging in more heated snogging sessions. Their hands roamed and explored but always remained above clothes, however Charlie was becoming very successful at pleasing a woman without the need for skin to skin contact.

One Tuesday morning in November one of the Gryffindor girls in his year, Jainey Crow, was sat with him and the other fifth year boys at the Gryffindor table eating breakfast when she looked up to see Mary-Angela waltzing over towards them swaying her hips seductively. Jainey was not so secretly a little miffed at this as she had also found Charlie very attractive for years, even more so now he was bulking up and his chest becoming less and less untrimmed.

"Look alive, your girlfriend's on her way over" she pointed out, knocking Charlie's knee with her own.

"Huh…" he glanced up confused. Spotting Mary-Angela he clarified "Not my girlfriend" through a mouthful of bacon.

"You two break up?" Jainey asked, surprise evident in her tone, just as Mary-Angela reached them.

"Nope, I don't have girlfriends... No strings... I won't be exclusive." He answered between mouthfuls of breakfast, with a wink.

"He's talented enough that I don't care" added Mary-Angela with a smug expression and upturned nose "I'll see you after class today right Charlie?"

"Not tonight, I have quidditch practice" he replied coolly "maybe this weekend." Then he got up, grabbed his bag, winked again at Jainey and sauntered off to class.

"That good, huh?" Jainey watched him go before glancing at Mary-Angela with an interested expression.

"Yeah, that good." The Ravenclaw replied, the smug expression planted even more firmly across her face as she thought back to the orgasm Charlie had given her in a broom cupboard only a few days before, without even touching her skin directly.

…

Ashlynn, Tonks and Charlie always worked together during Care of Magical Creatures lessons and that Tuesday afternoon was no different.

"So I heard that you and that Mary-Angela girl aren't actually together anymore" Tonks probed as she attempted to keep their Bowtruckle placated with woodlice while Charlie and Ashlynn worked together on drawing and labelling a diagram of him.

"We never were" Charlie responded easily with a one shoulder shrug "she's nice enough for a snog but it would have to be someone pretty incredible for me to be exclusive" he elaborated looking pointedly at Ashlynn who was obliviously drawing on their diagram, her tongue poking out between her lips slightly and her brow furrowed in concentration, trying to get the lengths of the bowtruckles fingers and arms in perspective. 'What I would do with that tongue…' Charlie's thoughts drifted way off track.

Tonks sighed, she really hoped Ashlynn would realise soon. Ashlynn and Charlie would be the perfect couple, Tonks was convinced that the pair were soulmates but had vowed to try to get the pair to realise this on their own.

"How about you and lover boy, Ash?" Tonks asked nervously.

"We're good" she replied wistfully, her brow smoothing and a dreamy expression drifting onto her features "I need to talk to you two about something though, but later when we're up in Charlie's dorm."

The rest of the lesson passed easily for the two girls, while Charlie's insides were a ball of nervous excitement for the rest of the school day. Thoughts of 'what if she wants to break up with him, maybe she'll ask us how to do it, maybe she's realised he's not right for her, maybe she'll notice me instead' ran circles through his head all the way until they were seated in his dorm room with their homework laid out on the floor.

Ashlynn was lying on her front on Charlie's bed propped up on her elbows, looking through a book on magical creatures and wand making for their homework assignment, while Tonks gazed out at the lake from her place on the window seat and Charlie sat on the floor leaning against the bed and playing with an old practice snitch, while voicing all the facts he knew about dragons (his favourite magical creature) just in case any of it was relevant for their heartstrings used as wand cores. Charlie was determinedly sat facing away from his bed because Ashlynn lay like this every time they did their homework in here and not only did the position show off the curves of her gorgeous body perfectly, it put her already full cleavage even more on show and she had a beguiling way of tensing and relaxing her butt cheeks alternately as she read.

"I'm out" Ashlynn sighed after an hour, rolling over onto her back and letting the book fall to the floor at Charlie's side.

The other two looked relieved at this announcement and Charlie turned to look at her. His eyes grazed her body, mapping out the contours of her soft curves as she lay on his bed with one arm draped across her eyes. He desperately tried to control both his body and his mind from wandering thoughts. Thankfully Tonks had noticed and taken pity on him.

"You had a question for us earlier Ash. You ready to ask us now?" She asked with a pointed look at Charlie that clearly said 'Mind your boundaries, she needs her friends right now!'

Ashlynn propped herself up on her elbows once again and started tensing and relaxing her bum with nerves (Charlie's brain was trying very hard to mind his boundaries although this was not the only thing about him that could be described as 'hard' right now), she double-checked that they were alone and magicked the door closed with a wave of her wand.

"So I like Jamie a lot right…" she started tentatively "but he wants to do more than kissing and last night he started to feel me up…Charlie why have you gone red like that?"

"Did he push you into something you didn't want?" Charlie asked through gritted teeth, desperately trying to control his breathing and his temper.

"No! No, nothing like that!" Ashlynn replied quickly with a giggle that soothed Charlie right through to his heart "I actually really liked it but I'm enjoying taking it slow, he's two years older than me after all and I just don't want us to get carried away and… well… you know."

Charlie jumped up abruptly, unable to take anymore of the current conversation without either exploding in anger or imploding in misery. He grabbed his quidditch kit bag from the top of his trunk and ran from the room.

"Quidditch practice, sorry girls, I'll catch you later yeah?" He called back over his shoulder as he left the room.

"I want to wait for the right time, for someone special…" he thought he heard Ashlynn say as he ran down the stairs but he couldn't be sure.

...

Author's Note

Thank you for reading! Please leave me review if you have a minute spare, I would love love love to hear from you!

I've got a few chapters stored up ready to upload and am working on the rest so updates will be quick, several within the next week if wifi allows...

Wishin' girl x x x