BREAK// Fred Weasley x OC

𝑉𝐼𝐼𝐼

It was the morning of the Second Task. Charlie was to sit with her brother and Theo, The group of Gryffindors coincidentally sitting behind them. Charlie's hair was long, she wore her Ravenclaw uniform and a light face of makeup. There was no one important to meet but her brother still insisted on the hair. It was for Charlie's own good, if her mother had found out...

The second task was in the black lake. The contestants had to retrieve a 'treasure'. To be completely honest, Charlie was bored out of her mind. "We've been sitting here for thirty minutes and all it's been is radio silence! We can't even see them." She complained to Theo. The slytherin boy huffed in agreement. From behind the two, Sophia rolled her eyes.

"Wow, some people can be so negative. Isn't that right Fred? I'm not talking about anyone in particular of course."

Fred smiled awkwardly, not knowing how to respond to the sarcasm. The redhead saw the way Charlie's fists clenched at her sides when Sophia began to speak. Theo looked up at the girl quickly, waving his flat hand back and forth across his neck as if to say 'cut it out'. He knew of the conflict. The boy had the pleasure of listening to both Sophia and Charlie rant about it.

From what he knew, Charlie wasn't mad, she was hurt. She had harboured feelings for Fred and guilt had been eating her up and neither her brother or best friend had thought to let her know that maybe she wasn't so alone. Even if she had forgiven her brother, Sophia had shown no effort to be forgiven. Not as much as an apology.

This was because in Sophia's eyes, she had done nothing wrong. She stated and I quote 'Charlies just jealous that Evan had the guts to rebel against his mothers wishes and she can't do the same with Fred because she's afraid.' This, of course, was wrong but Sophia didn't know Charlie's true feelings. She could only assume based on their most recent interaction. Which was, Sophia getting caught.

Theo thought the whole thing was stupid. It was all miscommunication but he knew by now, not to get involved. One time, in first year, Theo had tried to fix a small fight between the two girls, it had resulted in him being ignored for three weeks. The boy still didn't know what he had done.

Fred knew very well of the situation as well. He was good friends with Sophia and a potential love interest to Charlie. He was on Charlie's side 100%.

The thing about Charlie was, it was easier for her to say she had forgiven someone than it was for her to actually forgive them. She'd allow them back into her life but she'd never be able to forget the pain they had caused. It was much easier for her to forgive her own blood, Evan, than it was to forgive someone who could cut all connection from her at any moment.

The second task ended quickly, by that point Charlie wasn't even paying attention. Another task gone by.

Fred, George and Sophia went with the Gryffindors to celebrate while Theo and Evan went back to the Slytherin dorms. Charlie hadn't much to do, the rest of her day was spent in the Ravenclaw dorms, speaking with Luna as they shared a cigarette.

Once Luna had gone to sleep, Charlie spent a few hours re reading Jane Eyre although she mostly focused on Fred's annotations. She fell asleep to the feeling of her heart fluttering, as if it had grown wings and become a swarm of butterflies.

Weeks were going by faster than Charlie could keep up with. She had been spending every free minute she had with Fred and occasionally George and Theo would tag along.

Fred loved spending his time with Charlie, he really did but, Charlie really needed to reconcile with Sophia. Both Fred and Theo agreed. Enough is Enough. It was late March, more than a month had passed since their falling out.

"Wanna go on a walk around the halls? I need to stretch my legs." Fred looked up from his Astronomy project, they were still working on star charts.

Charlie nodded her head. "I was thinking the same."