Little Memories

The week after Charlotte had been found out, but not disciplined, by Professor Snape and had practically broken all ties with Draco, was a quiet one. She spent her time with Jackson Harper and Theodore Nott when she was in the Slytherin Common Room, where they often laughed and talked with each other. Draco, however, went back to Gregory and Crabbe, and it felt like things had reverted back to the way they were in third year; Charlotte had nothing to do with him and Crabbe and Goyle followed him around. The only exception was the addition of Melody, who was clueless as to why Charlotte was no longer attached at the hip with Draco, nor why he suddenly wanted to talk to Gregory again. But despite being in Ravenclaw, the girl lacked common sense, and still hadn’t figured out the darker intentions of the group.

Quidditch practices were by far the hardest to endure, since Charlotte wouldn’t listen to any sort of tactics that Draco had and did things her own way. Granted, her own way was much better than any game maneuvers that Draco could conjure up, but he was her captain and she needed to listen. The rest of the team, however, found her witty, sarcastic one-liners toward the blonde Seeker when his back was turned quite funny. They noticed her lack of obedience, but since her way of doing things worked better than his, they paid no attention to it. Outside of practice, Charlotte didn’t even give Draco the satisfaction of such remarks, nor did she look at him. Secretly, every day, she grew closer to abandoning the team, but the love of the sport compelled her not to.

That Saturday, the Gryffindor team was scheduled to hold tryouts, so the already secured Slytherin team had no chance of practicing. It was no secret that Ginny Weasley had been picked as Captain and was going to play as Seeker, abandoning her station as Chaser upon Harry Potter’s lack of attendance at Hogwarts that year. Needless say, it was going to be a very stressful position for the youngest Weasley. She had only filled in as a Seeker before and to add on being Captain would seem insurmountable.

It was a mild weathered day, but it was very apparent that colder weather was on the horizon. The tryouts seemed to pass by seamlessly, even though Ginny couldn’t help but to think that her brother and his best friend, and consequently, sort of ex-boyfriend, should have been there. About halfway through the tryouts, Cormac McLaggen, who was trying out for Keeper in her brother’s stead, pointed out to her a solitary blonde in the Slytherin section of the pitch.

At first, Ginny was absolutely infuriated that someone like her would have the audacity to show up to Gryffindor tryouts. She thought that maybe she was spying on them to size them up, but then she noticed that the blonde in question had her eyes lowered the majority of the time, focusing on a book and a piece of parchment. Ginny had caught wind of a major, sudden split between her and Malfoy and suddenly thought of the possibility that she wasn’t spying at all. However, she had tryouts to host and not much time left to get them done.

Charlotte hadn’t moved once during the tryouts and even when they were concluded and the majority of students rambled off the field, she remained in her seat. Just as Ginny finished putting up the last of the extra broomsticks and protective equipment, she glanced over to the girl in confusion. They certainly hadn’t gotten along in the past classes they had together, but Harry had let slip to her that Charlotte had given something to him, a necklace. He also was bewildered that she mentioned she could be killed for giving it to him, but yet she still lived.

Ginny, curious to get to the reason Charlotte was at the pitch when Slytherin wasn’t practicing, marched over to her resolutely. It was only when Ginny stomped up to her noisily that the blonde girl finally looked up to her.

“What are you doing here?” Ginny asked brusquely, crossing her arms over her chest. Charlotte shrugged a bit and tucked the parchment between the pages of her book before closing it.

“It wasn’t a closed tryout, as far as I was aware,” she said, tucking an awry curl behind her ear as a cool breeze whipped past the two of them. Ginny merely stared at her for a moment, cutting her eyes at her.

“Answer the question,” she said abruptly, “and don’t lie.”

“I wanted to be outside and figured I’d watch you guys try out,” she said, shaking her head a bit as she looked up at Ginny earnestly. The redhead stared down at her for a moment, trying to figure out if she was indeed telling the truth. “You’ve got a pretty good team lined up this year.” Ginny scoffed and shook her head, managing a small smile of disbelief.

“So, Malfoy put you up to this, did he?” She asked, her mind jumping to one conclusion. Charlotte’s expression at the mention of Malfoy’s name, however, said everything that Ginny needed to know. She wasn’t spying, at least not for Malfoy. Ginny sighed and stared down at the blonde as she set her jaw, staring darkly at the empty seat in front of her. “Look,” Ginny said, causing Charlotte to look back up at her, her intense look fading slightly, “you sitting in on tryouts are fine, but I don’t want you watching us practice.” With that, Ginny turned and walked away, not caring if Charlotte had anything else to say. As far as Ginny was concerned, Charlotte was still very much an enemy to the cause her whole family was fighting for.

Charlotte let out a heavy sigh and shook her head as she watched the youngest Weasley retreat into the Gryffindor locker room. ‘Ginny’s going to be the stubborn one,’ she thought to herself as she packed away her books and quills into her side bag, ‘but it was worth the try.’ She straightened up the deep teal cardigan she wore and pulled her sea foam green a bit to loosen it up a bit. She then leaned over and picked up her bag and slung the strap of it over her shoulder. ‘I’m just going to have to try again,’ she continued to think, ‘but getting away from Jackson and Theodore is going to be a tough feat to accomplish twice.’

The wind whipped at Charlotte as she solitarily crossed the school grounds, enjoying the sparse bit of alone time she got. Not that she minded having Jackson Harper and Theodore Nott around. They kept her as sane and as grounded as possible and their presence alone constantly reminded her that someone did care about her, if only just because she was one of the most infamous Death Eaters. For a moment, she stopped and looked up at the majestic building she called her school. She knew that things had changed dramatically for her last year, but that would be nothing compared to what she saw in the future for the school. Letting out a heavy sigh, she merely continued on toward the Great Hall, her stomach giving a protesting rumble since she had skipped eating breakfast completely.

She plopped down on a bench at the Slytherin table soon thereafter and let out a heavy sigh as she tied back her windswept mess of hair into a slapdash bun before looking at the food choices before her. Not long after she placed an apple and a bit of chicken onto her plate, Theodore and Jackson had sat down on either side of her. She glanced between the two of them and smiled warmly.

“Hello, you two,” she said softly, “did you have a nice morning?” Jackson merely shrugged and smiled before tucking into his lunch and Theodore let out a heavy sigh.

“This Transfiguration paper is killing me, Charlotte,” he said, shaking his head with a grim smile on his lips. “I’m never going to have it done before Monday.” Charlotte merely smiled to him and let out a sigh, knowing exactly what he was hinting at.

“Well…if you’re nice to me for the rest of the day, I’ll see what I can suggest to help you write,” she said and almost immediately a thankful grin curled his lips. He didn’t say another word as he was too preoccupied with the food in front of him. It wasn’t much unlike hanging out with Crabbe and her brother in all actuality, spare the fact that they both had much more common sense and intelligence than Crabbe had and neither of them seemed to possess the overprotective nature that her brother had. Charlotte glanced down the table and Pansy and Blaise and smirked inwardly. They both hadn’t so much as breathed in Charlotte’s direction since she had set them straight and it made her proud. Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted when a group suddenly sat across from her.

“Fraternizing civilly with a blood traitor, Goyle?” A ridiculously smug voice taunted from across the table. Charlotte slowly turned her piercing, steadfast gaze to the source and stared them down. The blonde boy that sat in front of her seemed to have gained back all his slimy, egotistic confidence back in the time they have been apart. “Really…how low have you sunk?” Crabbe laughed heartily at the girl, but her brother was shooting her the most venomous look she had ever seen him produce. The girl didn’t say a word in return to him, leveling her chin with the floor at merely staring at him. She wondered just how fast word traveled around the school or who had been watching her as she sat in on the Gryffindor tryouts and chatted with Ginny afterwards.

“Are you just going to let him talk to you like that, Charlotte?” Jackson hissed in her ear but she paid him no mind. The emotionless girl merely stared at Draco before snatching up an apple from the table and stood, swinging her book bag over her shoulder as she channeled at the disgust for Draco into that one look before glancing between Jackson and Theodore as if her own brother, Draco, and Crabbe hadn’t been sitting across from them.

“Jackson,” she said in a soft voice as she took her turn looking at each of them with a small smile, “Theodore, I’ll be out in the Entrance Courtyard if you want to find me.” With those words, she turned and left the Great Hall just as Theodore and Jackson took their turns to snap back at Draco. A smirk curled the girl’s lips as she heard merely clips and short sentences as she walked away. This was the reason she never said anything to Draco; she didn’t have to, because she knew that someone else would. She enjoyed the fact that she was equal to Draco. She had two people willing to do anything for her. But unlike Draco, she prized their friendship and definitely wouldn’t manipulate them like Draco did Crabbe and Goyle.