The Ugly One *Charlie Weasley*

Missed

Charlie's fingers tapped the table hard as his gaze was set on the clock at the front of the hall. He had five minutes until he was to go back to work and his lunch was hardly even touched. 

"Oi, Charlie what's going on with you?" Dan asked, sitting beside his mate. 

"Nothing," Charlie breathed, tearing his eyes away to meet Dan's, finger still tapping on the table. 

"You came home last night crabby, you've been on edge all morning, you've hardly eaten anything. Sure there's nothing wrong," Dan rolled his eyes and Charlie shrugged. Dan was his best friend, but telling about what had happened between himself and Saffron he just wasn't sure. 

"Is Lenard giving you a hard time again?"

"No," Charlie shook his head, eyes turning back to the clock. 

"Is it Saffron then?"

"She was supposed to meet me for lunch," Charlie blurted. "It's her day off, and we have things to talk about and she's not showed up."

He was surprised she hadn't come or even come to see him at breakfast that morning. He was sure he would see Saffron walk in the dining hall in the morning, march straight over to him and demand they speak. It might have made him feel better if she had. 

But not showing up to lunch frustrated him. He wanted to talk to her about it and yet it almost seemed as if she didn't care, despite her eagerness to speak about it last night. 

He became even more suspicious of Curtis and his relationship with Saffron as he hadn't seen him all day. It would have been good for him not to see 

him, but not seeing Saffron concerned him. 

"Maybe she forgot?" Dan asked. 

"It's not like her," Charlie said, watching as the second hand practically ran around the clock. "She's been getting friendly with Curtis too."

"Ah, Curtis is an asswipe. Saffron seems smarter then to go for a tosser like him, especially since shes the one in the relationship with you."

"I know, but it's not like Curtis to leave a pretty girl alone," Charlie sneered. 

"I'm sure Saffron's smarter than that and if you think she is skipping meeting with you to hang out with Curtis you've got another thing coming," Dan laughed. 

"You're right, I -'

"Am just jealous. Yeah, I got that. We got to go though mate. Smithson will pummel us if we're late, come on," Dan said trying to drag Charlie up to follow him. 

Sighing Charlie got up and the two went on their way back to work. 

"What happened between the two of you though?" Dan asked. 

"I don't even know," Lied Charlie. But he knew the time they hadn't spent together had distanced them. The new friends Saffron had made, made Charlie feel like she didn't need him as much. Furthest thing from the truth of course. But he couldn't realize that. 

Meanwhile, Saffron was finally able to toss her gloves down for a moment to get a quick bite to eat. They were up to their ears in work since Tia from the east wing accidentally knocked over a tray of potions and medical supplies meaning that they had to prepare new potions to make up for those lost until new ones came in, and the amount of cleaning was inconceivable.