If This Ain't Love 《C. Weasley》

2nd Year

31st October 1985

"The newest additions to our Quidditch team, this year, are Charlie Weasley, Brooke Potter, and Jae Kim who would be playing as the seeker, chaser, and chaser respectively."

The Gryffindor common room burst into applause as Brooke, Jae and Charlie grinned from ear to ear. Rowan nudged Brooke again as she rolled her eyes at her friend. 

Brooke had become close friends with Rowan Khanna, her dormmate, Penny Haywood, her potions partner and tutor, and Nymphadora Tonks, the fun-loving prankster, from her year, and by the end of the first year, the four of them had become inseparable. Brooke had also grown close to Bill, as his brotherly antics towards Brooke always had a glimpse of James in them. But, all of this never stopped Brooke from spending time with her best friend, Charlie Weasley. The duo would spend most of their free time joking around, talking about dragons and other magical creatures, practicing spells, or having sleepovers with each other. None of Brooke's friends minded that, as Brooke also took out time regularly for her other friends and loved spending time in her vicinity.

Rowan had made a pledge to send a nudge to Brooke whenever she found Charlie staring at her, as the black-haired girl had made a note of the looks of admiration the duo shared with each other. 

Brooke was being forced to stay back and celebrate with her friends, but she was in no mood for rejoicing. It was the 4th demise anniversary of James and Lily and Brooke had been missing them today, a bit more than usual.

Brooke was unable to concentrate on her lessons, on her meal, or on anything in general. All she could think about was that it was that James and Lily were too young to be gone. There was nothing Brooke would've hesitated in giving up for seeing her brother and her sister-in-law for the last time, telling them how much she loved them, watching James' reaction to Brooke being selected as the chaser for her quidditch team, or at least even being able to send an owl to them and knowing that they had received it.

Brooke had also been begging Dumbledore for years now, to let her visit Harry. But Dumbledore had always shut her out by telling her that Harry was safe, although Brooke did feel that something was up.

McGonagall had made a note of the date and had also noticed Brooke's behavior. So, she told Brooke that she was excused from her classes for the day.

Brooke had locked the dorm and laid down on her bed, as she decided to spend the rest of her day in her dorm, writing in her journal. Rowan understood that something was up, so she decided to give some space to her blonde-haired friend. Rowan told her to let her know if she needs anything and left the room to go see Penny and Tonks.

But Charlie, on the other hand, was quite disturbed to not see Brooke throughout the day. Nonetheless, he had decided to wait for the Halloween feast, for seeing her. But when the girl hadn't shown up at the feast, Charlie stood up, collected a few of Brooke's favorite dishes, and left the Great Hall.

He practically begged Rowan to let him get to Brooke's dormitory, as the stairs were enchanted to turn into a slide if he tried. Rowan was skeptical about the idea of letting someone see Brooke when she needed to be given space and Charlie tried to argue. Rowan reluctantly agreed and asked Charlie to follow her. When Charlie reached the dormitory, he started frantically knocking at the door, only to hear a faint 'go away' from Brooke. Charlie sensed the sadness in Brooke's voice. "Brooke, it's me. I got you something to eat." Charlie called out. "I'm not hungry" Brooke shot back. But Charlie wasn't the one to back out. "Well, Brooke, you asked for it." Charlie spoke up and pointed his wand at the door, muttering 'alohomora' under his breath and stepping into the room.

Brooke was sprawled across her bed with her red and puffy eyes. 

Charlie didn't think twice as he ran to the girl and took her in his arms. Brooke sniffed and continued crying into his shoulder as he rubbed her back comfortingly. "I'm here for you, Brooke." Charlie whispered to her and she hugged him back. Brooke looked at him and gave him a faint smile.

Charlie encouraged Brooke to tell him what has been on her mind as Brooke found comfort in Charlie's presence and decided to tell him everything. Charlie listened to her very carefully, still not moving from her side and occasionally making her eat or take a few sips of water.

Once Brooke was done talking, her head felt lighter as she had just expressed all the emotions, pain, guilt, and agitation, that she had been piling up for the last 4 years.

Once they were done talking, Rowan entered the room and gave a brief hug to the blonde-haired girl, and said, "I'm going to Tonks and Penny's dorm. Would you like to join me?" to which, Brooke replied, "I think I'm gonna stay here with Charlie, but I'll see you guys tomorrow, alright?" Rowan smiled and nodded, as Brooke waved at her friend and Rowan left.

"So, another sleepover?" Charlie asked, intrigued. 

"Sort of" Brooke stated. "I had been looking all over the library for a few books and came across a few of these." Brooke handed him a piece of parchment, which consisted of books on Dragon training, discoveries of new species, identifying dragon eggs, dragon anatomy, and stuff. Brooke was aware that Charlie had been looking for these books everywhere, but had not been able to find them. So Brooke took the opportunity to get into the restricted section of the library after managing to get a note from Professor Sprout and fished these books out for him, used the doubling charm to create a copy of each book, and placed the copies at a secret location. She had also charmed the copies to not multiply on being touched.

Charlie looked at her bewildered as she motioned for him to follow her. They cast the disillusionment charm, sneaked out of the Gryffindor common room, and made their way to the seventh floor, left corridor.

"Brooke, why are we staring at a wall?" Charlie asked as Brooke breathed and blinked a few times. To Charlie's surprise, a door appeared out of nowhere. Brooke smiled and let Charlie in. The room was gigantic, as in the middle of the room, a huge table was located, with about 15 book copies of all the books that were mentioned on the parchment Brooke had given to Charlie.

"BROOKE... HOW? Are all of these for me?" Charlie asked, surprised and elated at the same time and Brooke smiled at her best friend and nodded. "I've got connections," Brooke smirked as Charlie threw her arms around her and hugged her tightly.