Home - Charlie Weasley Fanfiction Series

BOOK ONE: CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Charlie... Bill... What are you doing here?"

"We could ask you the same question." Charlie didn't wait for an invitation. He pushed past her into the room, and Bill followed quickly behind him, whispering a soft 'sorry' as his brother invaded her privacy.

As they both looked around the room and took in the state of it, their suspicions were confirmed. She really had been living there the whole summer. The room looked lived-in; her trunk was in the corner, but there wasn't much left in it. Her clothes were all over the room, in folded piles on every surface. She had books, parchment and quills on the desk, as well as the table next to the bed. Athena's cage sat on the windowsill, with the bird sleeping peacefully despite the intrusion. There were no signs of other people staying in the room, specifically not parents because it would have been a lot tidier if there were.

Why had she been staying there alone all summer? Charlie wasn't sure, but he was going to get to the bottom of this.

There was a heavy silence that had fallen over the trio, and Veronica held her breath as she waited for them to say something. Bill had gone over and taken a seat at the edge of the bed, while Charlie stared out the window at the exact spot he had been standing in minutes ago with his family.

The Weasleys had arrived in Diagon Alley via floo powder, and Bill had been explaining to his parents that Veronica and her parents would be arriving the muggle way through the Leaky Cauldron and that they should probably meet them there and maybe grab something to eat first. Charlie happened to glance over at the windows of the Leaky Cauldron Inn just in time to see his best friend pace a few times in front of one of the windows before moving away and into the room. It was unmistakably her; he could pick her out of a crowded room easily. What was she doing?

Once his family was comfortable in the Leaky Cauldron, Charlie excused himself and Bill, claiming they needed to go to the bathroom. Bill had no idea what his brother was up to, but didn't say anything as he let him drag him away from their family. However, as Charlie dragged him upstairs towards the rooms of the Inn, Bill pulled them to a stop.

"What is going on, Charlie? Where are we go-"

"I saw Veronica," Charlie interrupted quietly. "I saw her in one of the windows of the Inn when we were standing outside."

"What? Why would she be staying at the Inn?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. Come on!"

Veronica watched Charlie stare out the window in silence. All her focus was on him as she waited for him to speak; she almost forgot that Bill was even there. With Bill, she could tell that he was concerned and worried about her, but Charlie was different. There was anger radiating off him, and that scared her. She didn't know how he was going to react.

Slowly, Charlie spun around and stared her straight in the eyes. "Veronica, I'm going to ask you this one time and one time only. If you lie to me, that's it. Our friendship will be over, do you understand me?"

Veronica's jaw dropped as she stared back at him in disbelief. "Charlie..." She couldn't believe he was putting their friendship up for ransom like that.

"No, don't 'Charlie' me." Charlie crossed his arms as he glared at her. It broke her heart to see this look aimed at her; he had never looked at her that way. "You've been lying to me this whole summer. You've probably been lying to me since I met you. Relationsh– Friendships are built on trust, and how am I ever supposed to trust you again after this? So I'm giving you this one chance to come clean and be honest with me. If you're able to do that, we can go back to the way things were. If not, then I can't be friends with someone I can't trust."