Here Right Now | Charlie Weasley

Chapter 9 : The Hippogriff and the Phoenix

CHARLOTTE walked down to the field near the keepers cottage, where her Care of Magical Creatures class was being held. She was the only one in Slytherin who had chosen to do it in seventh year and from what she could see, there was only about four students in the class. Including Charlie. 

His red hair stood out against the two brunettes next to him. She groaned internally, she didn't want to be in such close proximity to him.

"Ah Miss Jet! Welcome to our class!" Professor Kettleburn smiled, limping on his wooden prosthetic to move around. 

He was pretty odd looking, especially because he only had one and half limbs left. He was jovial, excitable person and she immediately liked the man. She walked up and stood next to Charlie. 

Charlie glanced at the brunette, trying not to stare too much. He was usually a kind person and didn't quite understand her attitude towards him. It made him curious about her. This was noticed by his friends and he spent half of the weekend trying not to be annoyed by their constant teasing.

He knew Charlotte was the daughter of a well known magizooists and well known herbologist and it made him much more interested in her. 

He felt himself go red when he saw her looking at him, staring at her. She was raising her eyebrow at him, her face annoyed and quickly looked away from her. He cleared his throat and went back to paying attention to the Professor.

"Today, we will be doing some catch up work from sixth year. Then, as a prerequisite for your N.E.W.T.S, you will be doing a group project. The project will consist of two partners raising two magical creatures until they are adults and are ready to either go in the wild or be adopted out to suitable candidates. No dragons." He wagged the end of his stump at Charlie, who was visibly disappointed, after perking up halfway through Kettleburn's speech.

"Professor Dumbledore has forbidden dragons, especially after my 62 prohibitions'. I think that Aarush and Chin shall pair up." He gestured to the two students. 

They smiled at each other, obviously pleased to work together.

Aarush grabbed Chin's stuff, holding her bag as she gathered her things that were spread around her. They had been sitting on the grass before class, going over their new class work. Professor Kettleburn pointed at the two remaining students with a big smile.

"I think you two will work very well together. Charlotte here has impressive reviews from her professor at Uagadou. Charlie, you will enjoy working with Miss Jet." The professor smiled at him and Charlotte felt herself go a little pink at the praise. 

Charlie glanced at her again and she glanced at him at the same time. They looked away from each other, Charlotte with a scowl on her face and Charlie now annoyed. She was already a hot topic in his group of friends and when they find out about the two working together, he was never going to hear the end of it.

Charlie grabbed his stuff and waited for her to gather her things. She gathered her things slowly, sighing in annoyance. He rolled his eyes at her childishness and left her as he went to a tree on the line of the Forbidden Forest. She followed, albeit a little more slowly. Sitting down next to him, she opened up her textbook and started thinking of the animal she wanted to choose.

"So I choose something, you choose something?" Charlie asked. 

She nodded absentmindedly, biting her lip in thought. 

He glanced at her, to see her reaction since she didn't say anything. She was deep in thought, not seeing the world. He didn't know how to act around her since she was so different to the girls he usually interacted with. This something that perplexed him, as he was an easy going guy and got along with mostly everybody.