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Author: Kalarien Story: Charlie Weasley and the Mountain of Dragons Rating: Young Teens Setting: Pre-OotP Status: WIP Reviews: 0 Words: 18,389
Chapter 3: Past and Present His head hurt when he woke up. His first thought was to wonder what pub could have drinks strong enough for a hangover this severe, before deciding that he must have tried to drink the whole place dry. He opened his eyes to a beautiful face peering down at him. One thought ran through he head as he considered the meaning of this. Mum is going to kill me. After a moment or two he came to enough to check out his surroundings, and breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that it was snowing. It had all come back to him. The Graphorn and his fall and Liz jumping in front of him... Oh my God! Liz! He looked around himself frantically. If she'd been hurt because of him...he heightened his search, his movements hurried. "You're awake!" a rough voice exclaimed, sounding very much like it didn't belong to either of the other men. He turned to see Liz just emerging and he flooded with relief. "You're safe!" he returned, looking up at her. He studied her features carefully and realized that hers was the face that he'd woken up to. To wake up to that face every morning...wait I didn't think that (Freudian slip, huh?) After a moment or two he realized that he was staring. "Er...right, so where's the Graphorn." "Liz got rid of it," said Nils, with the air of a proud lover (not making Charlie's headache feel any better). "Two flicks of her wand, a bit of Latin and poof! No more Graphorn." Charlie glowered at him, as Wilhelm started into the conversation. "Yes, I've been meaning to ask you about that, my dear. How did those spells work? I was under the impression that the Graphorns hide is too thick for magic to work on them." "Oh, er, just something I worked out at University," she answered, turning a rosy shade of pink. "It's nothing really, just a quick spell to weaken the hide, then another spell to make them disappear. It doesn't even work most of the time. Usually there isn't enough time to get the second spell out, and even with the hide weakened you have to hit at a sensitive place for the second spell to work. I was just lucky." She was immensely beautiful when she blushed, Charlie decided, then kicked himself. I'm over her, I'm over her, she doesn't like me, never will, and it's best if I just forget about my little crush.( Ha! Like that would ever happen!) "Well, that was some luck!" Nils exclaimed. "That thing could have run you over and you be nothing more than red spot in the snow." "Thanks for the vote of confidence," Liz remarked dryly, and Charlie's heart sank. He could recognize flirting when he saw it. The fact that Nils was strutting around like a peacock didn't help him any. "I suggest that we get moving," Wilhelm recommended wisely. "We still have a long ways to go before we get to the dragons, and the longer we wait here the longer we have to travel." Nils grunted as he shouldered his bag. "Why couldn't we have just Apparated to the top? Not that I don't enjoy trudging through the snow." "What happened to your Minnesotish spirit?" Charlie spat. "What happened to kids running around in parkas on Halloween?" Nils turned on him. "First of all, it's Minnesotan, not Minnesotish, second of all, snow is a necessary evil, that doesn't mean that we have to like it." Wilhelm intervened before a fight between the two men broke out. "Apparation is active magic. That only angers the dragons. We're in their territory. Which is all the more reason to move on as quickly as possible. When you dispensed of the Graphorn, my dear," he turned to Liz, "you risked the dragons coming out to find us. I'm not saying that I'm not glad that you did, but there is a risk, and I'd like to move on as soon as possible." *** Charlie was really confusing her. Really. One minute he was staring at her and she thought that there might be some inkling of...but then he started asking about the Graphorn, not asking if she was all right...after all she had jumped in front of him. That should warrant some concern, right? But no, he just started off on a conversation and totally ignored her, leaving her hanging. If that's what love was about, then who needs it? (ah, but what about the staring, my dear, you enjoyed that) Before The peanut gallery makes any more observations, I wasn't saying I loved him, just making a general remark. (Who said anything about loving him? Oh wait...) Liz decided that this train of though was entirely useless and started concentrating on the path ahead of her. Not so much a path, but a generally uphill direction that was pretty free of large rocks and other impassable objects, it had a frosting of snow that made walking difficult. If she wasn't slipping on the ice that lay under the fresh powder, she was pulling her legs and feet out of three-foot deep fluff. The trees were getting more and more scraggly the higher they climbed. What had at the bottom of the mountain been enormous pines and giant elms, were now no more than glorified shrubs and bushes. This meant that there was a little bit of protection from the snow, though it did nothing to prevent her eyelashes from icing up with the condensation from her breath. Wilhelm had come back to talk to her, and was probably going on about his great grandchildren or something, she wasn't sure. Her mind was focused on her thoughts; nothing would break her out of them. I just don't know what to do. One minute he's staring at me, and the next he acts like I don't exist, or something...I don't know. I just don't want history to repeat itself...I don't want to end up like Mum... "Are you listening to me, dear?" asked Wilhelm. Not that I was hoping to stay out of a conversation, or anything... "You haven't answered my question." "Oh...er, I'm sorry Wilhelm," she stuttered. "What did you say?" "I asked if you had much family." "Oh, it's just me, my mother, and my sister. Just us girls." "Was your father killed in the war?" There was nothing accounting for the bluntness of the Swiss. "No." God, he's not going to make me talk about this, is he? "May I ask where he is?" Liz took a deep breath and let it all out in a huge sigh. If he's going to insist... "He's in the States somewhere, or in Canada. I really don't care. Just as long as he's away from us." "Wouldn't it be good to know where your father is? I'm sure you miss him." Wilhelm was pushing her, and if he didn't let up soon, she'd probably explode. She snorted derisively to let out some steam. "How could I miss him? I never even knew him..." "But wouldn't you like to get to know him?" "Like to get to know him? Sure, about as close as I need to get to punch him." She punched her own hand for emphasis. "I want to meet him about as much as we want to meet another Graphorn." "Surely you don't hate him?" "Is it possible to hate your father? Especially when you've never met him? I don't hate him," she dropped her head. "But I wish I could, after what he did to my mother..." "I sense a long hard story." "Got it in one. Too hard." Wilhelm seemed to look down at her (how he managed that when he was so much shorter than her she set aside for later analysis) in a fatherly way, in a way her father had never looked at her. "It may help to get it out, you know." "That'll help me like another conversation with our United States rep over there...no thanks. I can take care of myself." She straightened and pulled her head up as if to prove it to him. "I don't doubt that for a second...especially not after that Graphorn," he smiled at her as though he was talking to a small child. "But you need other people to get through times like these. I would be honored to be your friend." She looked at him for a moment, struggling to keep her tears from falling into frozen rivers down her cheeks. She was silent for a long moment. Then the words broke out of her, as though they'd been lined up behind a dyke and he'd cracked just enough of a hole in it for them all to come flooding out. "I was born at Hogwarts," she started, squeezing her eyelids closed over her eyes. "My mother and father had been going out for about, oh, say a month before they realized that I was coming along. Needless to say, Dad split with her right there, didn't want to hang around when there was a baby on the way. Mum finished school with me at her breast. After she finished, she got a flat, a job and she and I were on our own for fourteen years. "Of course this doesn't mean that these were easy years, oh no. Gran didn't like the fact that her baby had a baby before finishing school, but she didn't push us out into the cold, anyway. She took care of me while my mum was at work. She never let me play with the other kids, though, because she was afraid that I'd be called names because I didn't have a daddy. I spent most of my time drawing or singing to myself." Now came the hard part. She paused to give herself some time to prepare herself, and Wilhelm stayed silent, giving her her space. But soon enough her momentum caught up with her and she was spilling the words out one on top of another, not really knowing what she was saying. "Guess what happens when I'm thirteen years old? Dad comes and finds us. Only he's pissed beyond reason and he wants Mum back. Well, she doesn't want him and they fight-in front of me. Then he rapes her when she doesn't submit willingly. In front of me." She stopped here, pausing for breath. It was a moment before she noticed that they'd stopped walking, that Charlie and Nils were far ahead of them. She shook herself and started walking again, Wilhelm jogging to keep up. "In front of me! I'm thirteen years old. I should be worrying about whether that boy in Ravenclaw likes me or not, about my grades, about little things, like my make-up, my clothes, and how mad I am that my mom wouldn't buy me that new hair potion. I shouldn't have to worry about that sort of thing." She sighed. "Well, Gran Apparated over and he split. Must have gone to America almost right away, because they went looking for him and his flat was empty, his stuff gone. Nine months later Tara, my sister, was born. She's at Hogwarts now." Wilhelm spoke after a moment. "I'm sure your mother finds more than enough joy in the two of you to make up for all the abuse." She turned on him, eyes flaming. "Does that make it right? Does that justify him using her, then discarding her when the slightest bit of responsibility comes along? Because if it does, I don't think that this world is worth living in." Wilhelm held up his hands in defense. "I'm not justifying anybody. I'm just saying that sometimes things work out in the end, in spite of all of those that try to ruin things for us. All we can do is live out our lives, dear god, that's all we can ask for in truth. And we need to learn to love others, to take advantage of any happiness that comes our way. Because that's the only way we can really live." "So are you saying that life is just a bowl of cherries? That there are ups and downs, or any other clichéd pieces of crap that don't really mean anything?" She was mad and she didn't care who saw it. "No," he replied. "I'm saying that you need to take advantage of the time you have. People won't wait forever," he continued, and Liz found her gaze shift to a shock of bright red hair that stuck out against the clean snow just fifty feet in front of them. "Sometimes you just need to prod a little." *** Charlie was annoyed. Life couldn't be worse. Nils was acting like he owned the world, which was nearly as bothersome as his new habit of picking up little pieces of junk and asking if he thought that Liz would like them. "What about this rock, Charlie? Do you think it's good enough? I mean, it's got these neat little patterns on it and..." he continued on this same thread for a long while, but Charlie started ignoring him. He figured he could always say that his hood was up and he didn't know that Nils was talking, in case he was quizzed later. Instead, he though about the turn his life had taken. He finally realized that he had some glimmering at least of his former feelings for the only female member of the group and she gets scooped up by the bratty American prat next to him. And Charlie was stuck walking with him, as Liz was getting what sounded like a philosophy lesson from their ancient guide. Why couldn't it be Nils getting the philosophy lesson, so that Charlie could walk with Liz? "Charlie?" That wasn't Nils's voice. He turned to see the soft green of Liz's eyes staring up at him. "Huh? Oh, er...do you want me to leave you two alone?" he asked, hoping beyond hope that she really wanted to talk to him. "Well, er...I actually wanted to talk to you..." Score! thought Charlie. "Nils!" Wilhelm called. "I would like the benefit of your advice on something!" Nils grinned. "Well, when you're popular...I'll be back" he headed off to the short old man. "What did you want to talk about?" Charlie asked. "Oh, well...I was just going to ask...er..." she paused and took a deep breath. "I was wondering if you were ...worried about the snow," she finished. Charlie blinked. He didn't know what he was expecting, but this was definitely not it. "Oh, well...I think it will be fine. It's not so thick yet, and we have the tents to use as shelters just in case." "Oh...er, all right then...er...Charlie...I..." Just then Nils came back. "Wilhelm just wanted to use my expertise on weather matters. It seems that the snow is getting thicker. I told him not to worry about it. Even if it is, we have the tents." "Nils..." Charlie growled. But by the time Nils had finished Liz had fled back to the old man, and was undoubtedly letting him know that she'd just talked to the boss about her concerns, and finding out that he'd said the exact same thing as Nils. Was there anytime that he could sound more intelligent, more anything than stinking Nils?
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