Bill had been elected Head Boy that year. One of his duties was to organize the evening patrols: all four Prefects were put to work but in pairs. And the plan that Bill and Penny and I had created was based on this.
A meeting was called so the Head Boy and Girl could choose who was to work with whom. The Head Girl unrolled a small piece of parchment she had held in her hands until that moment, then took a deep breath and called out our names aloud. Bill winked at me when I heard: “Astrid, you’re with Charlie”
I turned to him and smiled, hoping to see him do the same. But Charlie sat with his eyes fixed on his hands.
“Don’t demoralize yourself right now, sis” Bill whispered in my ear. “You have the whole evening to explain to him how things really are, and maybe, who knows, he’ll be the one you’ll marry after graduation”
I blushed and pushed him away.
A few hours after dinner, while the last students walked over to their Common Rooms, I found Charlie waiting for me on the first floor. He stood with his back against the wall, beside him the paintings yawned and got ready to go to sleep.
His ginger hair was always gathered in a low ponytail, his blue eyes fixed on the floor, the lips - so inviting - were slightly open. I told myself that if I had been silent enough, I could have stayed there to admire it, maybe I would have even taken a step forward to be able to count those wonderful freckles.
I cleared my throat and he jerked his head up. I realized that I could lose myself in those blue pools.
Charlie pushed himself off, soaked his lips and then said, “You go to the right and I go to the left”
Without even waiting for my answer, he began to walk. I frowned and stood still for a few moments, trying to understand what had just happened. When I finally recovered, with the sensation of having a boulder in the pit of my stomach, I snapped to the left and followed him.
“Charlie!” I called him over and over again, and every time he heard his name he accelerated the pace.
“Charlie, wait for a second!” I screamed at him, reaching out to stop him.
He stopped, and I nearly ruined him. I stopped in time, leaving between us just a meter away - which was too much for me.
“What do you want?” he asked me, sighing.
During the morning I had one hour and I had exploited it by throwing down what I wanted to say to Charlie. I wrote a perfect speech on the pergament, which I had even memorized, but at the moment all those words had vanished into thin air. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out.
Exasperated, Charlie shook his head and started to leave. Before he could even move a single step, I grabbed him by the wrist and looked him straight in the eye.
“You’re an idiot Charles Weasley!”
Charlie’s gaze fell for a second on my hand around his wrist, then he looked back at me. “What?”
“You heard me!” I exclaimed, letting him go.
“What do I owe this outbreak of anger?” he asked me, narrowing his gaze.
“You’ve been avoiding me for weeks and you haven’t even told me why! It was Penny who told me your stupid and childish motivation!” I replied, narrowing my gaze and crossing my arms to my chest.
“Stupid and childish?” he asked, raising his voice.
He took a step toward me, shortening the distance, but I didn’t move.
“Exactly!” I exclaimed, stamping my feet on the ground. “Bill thinks the same as I do”
“Bill here, Bill there!” he said angrily. “You’re always talking about him, Astrid. I would say that I really did well to distance myself, don’t you think?”
“You’re an idiot,” I said, pushing him and chanting every word at the same time. “All those times that it’s just you and me and you only remember the parts where I’m talking about your brother? What, you forgot maybe that time I supported you all the way when that wizard cheated us by selling us an Acromantula egg instead of a dragon egg?”
Charlie opened his mouth to reply, but I continued with tears in his eyes.
“Or all the times when I come to see your quidditch practice or the games? I cheer for you every time, even if it’s Gryffindor against Ravenclaw?” I swallow, the voice broken by tears. “And let’s not forget the times when I have to face one of the challenges that the Cursed Vaults subject me to Charlie, you’re the first to whom I talk about it, not Bill”
“Astrid…” Charlie closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath.
“Keep on believing in rumours that are absolutely fake, Charlie Weasley,” I mutter, wiping my tears hard with my palms. I pause to catch my breath, and when I finally see myself in the Gryffindor’s blue eyes, a fake laugh comes out of my lips. “And to say that it’s always been you”
Shaking my head, I waved to him and decided to do the patrol on my own. The next day I would have to tell Bill and Penny that the plan was not successful and that, most likely, I had completely lost my best friend.
At this point, I didn’t even mind the fact that I had confessed that I liked him.
I started walking, hugging myself and repeating in a low voice not to cry. Then I heard someone running beside me and two hands resting on my shoulders.
“Is not Bill? Was it never him?” Charlie asked me, his voice reduced to a sigh.
I shook my head and instinctively threw myself into his arms. “I only want you, stupid”
Charlie returned the hug, then took my face in his hands. He apologized in a low voice about how he had treated me, begged me to forgive him and murmured over and over again that he missed me so much. At each word, his face was closer to mine.
“I’m an idiot,” he whispered, just before his lips touched mine.