Here Right Now | Charlie Weasley

Chapter 28 : Compromise

LEAH walked into the Great Hall, her eyes drawn to her friends. She was pretty angry at Charlotte for not being on the train. She needed to unwind and vent from her horrendous holiday. Trying to prove yourself to your family is exhausting work and not having her friend to complain to, made it just that much worse. 

The stars from the Great Hall's ceiling twinkled, as she strolled to her house table, feeling a pair of eyes burning in her back. She wanted to look back, but knew that they needed to be in private and not in this public setting.

"Hello gits." Leah drawled, pushing herself to sit in between the two. 

Charlotte gave her a hug and Hunter smiled in greeting.

"Have a good Christmas?" Charlotte asked.

"As good as it could've been I suppose. Yours?" She grabbed a baked potato, eyeing Charlotte with a knowing smirk. 

Charlotte looked away, swallowing slightly.

"It was good at first but I left early." Her reply was quick and vague.

"Why?" Leah asked, curious now.

"Did your boyfriend go to your family's house?" Charlotte asked, desperately trying to avoid the subject of Christmas.

Hunter was smirking at her, offering no help. She wanted to hit him but refrained from it. She didn't want Leah to ask too many questions and she didn't want to give her more reason to. Luckily, Leah had been teasing about having a secret boyfriend and both of her friends have been pushing her to tell them who it is. She was getting desperate about revealing her boyfriend but this caused their last fight, so she has refrained from spilling her guts.

Hunter had an idea, but he wanted to draw it out for longer. Somehow he knew that Charlotte wouldn't handle the truth very well. Betrayal, lies and distrust was too much of a presence in her life.

"Oh no, he had already made plans with his family, but that fell through at the last second. By then it was too late for him to come too, so he spent it alone." Leah shrugged, her face contorted in sympathy for the mystery boy.

"That's a shame, poor guy." Hunter said, finishing his dinner. 

He was leaning on one elbow, facing the two as they ate and spoke.

"Yeah, I think my family would've liked him. It's a shame. Though we seemed to hit a rough patch before school broke up so I hope he doesn't hate me still." Leah admitted, showing a rare moment of vulnerability. 

Charlotte gave her friend's hand a squeeze.

"I'm not sure how long we'll last after school anyway, it just started off as something fun. We had a ton of chemistry and that burns out very quickly." She was now cold, her eyes on her food to hide her true emotions.

"You didn't keep in contact with him?" Hunter's question caught Leah off guard, Charlotte now looking thoughtful.

"No, the fight was pretty bad. Are you guys ready for school?" Leah was done with the conversation, just hungry and wanting to avoid the hurt that happened before Christmas.

"Stop deflecting. He's in school too right?" Charlotte asked, now done eating too.

"Yes, you won't know what school he's from until I'm ready to tell you. We're done speaking about this now." She dismissed the conversation, holding her hand up to stop Charlotte and Hunter from continuing their line of questioning.

"Are you guys ready for the N.E.W.TS. ?" Leah asked, her mouth pulling into a grimace.

"That's at the end of the year, Leah." Charlotte admonished.