5.

6.6K 202 3
                                    

TIME AT THE BURROW PASSED QUICKLY

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.


TIME AT THE BURROW PASSED QUICKLY. The Weasley matriarch was hurrying them along Platform 9 3/4 before Carina knew it.

Ever the gentleman, Charlie carried her trunk for her. Ginny clung onto the girl tightly, cutting off the circulation to her fingers. Their summer was over.

"Alright now, children, you'd better start boarding," Molly sighed tiredly. The woman hugged each of her sons before crushing Carina in a tight embrace. "Watch after my boys, won't you?"

"Always," Carina promised. When she crouched down to Ginny's height, she noticed the girl's lip trembling ever so slightly.

"When are you coming back?"

Carina hugged Charlie's only sister like her life depended on it and gently wiped away a few rogue tears.

"I'll see you at Christmas. Won't I, Charlie?" Carina insisted. She looked up at the tallest Weasley, earning herself a sweet smile in return.

"I'll bring her home with me for holiday, Gin," Charlie laughed lightheartedly. "And I'm sure Rina will write to you."

Carina nodded in agreement, accepting Charlie's hand to pull her back up to her original height. With a final wave, the pair made for the train.

-

After a long nap on the train, Carina followed Charlie sleepily into the Great Hall for the sorting feast. It was not permitted for students to mix houses for this specific event, so they parted ways at the door.

Professor Dumbledore gave a quick speech, and the Sorting Hat gave them five new badgers. The command to dig in finally came, and mountains of food appeared before them.

Seated at the Hufflepuff table, Carina spotted Fred and George grinning at their own house table. It was a very specific kind of grin. That was the only warning she needed.

Her housemates loaded their plates with food from the center of the long table. Carina patiently waited until they had all taken their first bite and nothing strange occurred to do the same. Her eyes stayed trained on the badgers around her.

"What's your deal?" Nymphadora asked around a mouthful of mashed potatoes. Carina simply gave her an innocent smile.

Then the first student turned red.

It was a domino effect that followed as everyone around her was suddenly sporting Gryffindor red locks. Cries of outrage echoed all around her, and the twins loud laughter could be heard across the room. It seemed, aside from Carina, that they were the only two lacking the charm.

"You knew about this?" Dora hissed grumpily, trying to change her hair back to the bubblegum pink she was partial to. Apparently the twins figured out how to make their charm metamorphmagus-proof.

Carina scoffed, "Of course not." A cheeky smile stretched onto her lips at the glare on her sister's face. "I just wasn't very thirsty tonight."

Nymphadora whipped her head down to her goblet, huffing in aggravation.

"Fred and George Weasley, detention!" Professor McGonagall hollered over the noise in the Great Hall. Her eyes suddenly met Carina's and narrowed. "You too, Miss Tonks!"

Dora laughed at the shocked look on Carina's face. The girl in question threw a scathing look at the twins waving sweetly from their table.

Charlie faltered at the sound of his Head of House, his eyes darting back and forth between Carina and his brothers.

"You got Carina involved in another one of your schemes?" Charlie scolded.

Fred grinned, "She had no idea."

"She just knows us too well," George finishes.

Charlie sighs, "Mum'll love that."

The look of dread on his brother's faces made him laugh, and he turned to look at Carina across the Hall. She caught his gaze and gave him a helpless shrug.

It's good to be back.

ardently  •  charlie weasley Where stories live. Discover now