Little Memories

“Jackson,” Charlotte said as soon as the Common Room wall shut behind the last student, she plopped down beside him on the couch, pulling the parchment out of her pocket. “You didn’t happen to see who slipped this into my pocket whilst I was in Draco’s office, did you?” She asked. Jackson pulled a face and took the parchment, unfolding it and reading over the words before frowning slightly and shaking his head.

“No one was over near your things, Charlotte,” he said as he refolded the note and passed it back to her. Charlotte took it from him with a small ‘humph’ and her brow furrowed. She sat back against the couch crossing her arms across her chest. “There’s always the possibility that someone slipped the note in your pocket another time.” The blonde let out a heavy sigh and shook her head, pulling her long golden curls roughly out of her hair tie and let them fall over one shoulder.

“I really don’t need to hear that. That means that my suspects are more than just those who were in the locker room today,” she murmured, flipping the note over in her fingertips as she stared down at it. “And you didn’t recognize the handwriting?” Jackson merely shook his head, looking over at her curiously. “Damn it,” she murmured, letting out a heavy sigh. It had plagued her mind all dinner that someone on the Quidditch team wanted to meet up with her, but now Jackson had opened up the possibility to anyone in the school who was brave or desperate enough to slip a note into her pocket.

“It’s an odd note, don’t you think? I mean, for a summoning to a meeting on Valentine’s Day,” Jackson commented softly and Charlotte looked up from the note and over to him.

“I don’t know if I’d want to meet up with some loser on Valentine’s Day, Jackson,” she murmured, shaking her head. “If it’s not Draco, then I don’t want to spend the day with anyone and I know his writing like it was my own.”

“You should still go though,” he urged softly. “I mean, it could be someone wanting to say something important to you.” Charlotte pulled a face, a bit on the fence about that idea. Who in their right mind would pick a day like February 14th to tell her something important? “Or…” Jackson continued with a crooked grin. “Daphne could want to tell you how she secretly pines for you. Maybe that’s why she was a bitch to you while she was dating Draco.” Charlotte merely shot him a playful glare, a small smile curling her lips despite the subject matter.

“Shove off, you,” she growled jokingly as she softly pushed his shoulder, causing them both to laugh lightly.

The rest of the week managed to drag on forever, it seemed. Or at least if felt that way to Charlotte. There were no more notes, no hints or clues she could use to figure out who gave her the note, nor were there any other suitors that wanted to have her attention for Valentine’s Day. If Draco wasn’t going to ask her, she may as well not be alone. Thursday, two days before that fateful Saturday, passed by like any normal Thursday for Charlotte. She was herded from class to class, then into the Great Hall for lunch, then back to classes accompanied by a few study halls, and then dinner. When she was finally allowed the solace of the Slytherin Common Room, she immediately went over to Jackson, as what she normally did, except this time, her mood was different.

“Jackson,” she asked as they simultaneously had a seat on the couch. He looked over at her for a moment, his expression expectant. “You know how Valentine’s Day is coming up-”

“Haven’t let me forget about it,” he cut in with a fond smile and a small shake of his head. Charlotte rolled her eyes and let out a soft sigh, shooting him a soft look that also told him, very subtly, that she was not in the mood for playing around.

“I was just wondering if you would want to just hang out with me the whole day. It’d prevent us from being alone. It wouldn’t be like a couple’s thing…we could just…do like we normally do.” Jackson’s expression suddenly turned apologetic and slightly apprehensive.

“Oh, come on, Jack. I don’t want to be left alone…”

“I’ve…sort of…alreadymadeplans,” he finished quickly. Charlotte’s brow furrowed a bit as she cut her eyes at him slightly.

“What?” She asked sharply.

“I said, ‘I already made-’” Charlotte let out an agitated sigh and shook her head.

“No, I heard you. I was just…vocalizing my inner turmoil,” she said lowly, crossing her arms over her chest angrily. “It’s with that mystery girlfriend of yours, isn’t it?” She asked after she took a moment or two to calm herself down.

“Yep,” Jackson replied, nodding his head a bit as silence enveloped the two of them once more. Charlotte slowly looked over at him, her features wrought with curiosity. She drew in a deep breath of air before speaking.

“Am I ever going to meet this girl…or are you going to keep her a secret from me forever?” She asked, staring hard at Jackson. He merely chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck as he looked away from the intimidating woman beside him who was clearly not in the best of moods.

“I plan on introducing you eventually,” he murmured. Charlotte pursed her lips together for a moment before managing a small smile for him.

“Well, let’s introduce us sooner rather than later, yeah?” She commented softly, nudging her arm playfully against his. Jackson merely nodded in reply, smiling over at her. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s thoughts swung between her mystery admirer, who could have been anyone and this girl that Jackson was hiding away so desperately. Decided that she’d had enough of sitting in the Common Room, she stood and turned to Jackson. “I think I’m going to turn in early…or at least just go in my dormitory for a while.” He merely nodded a bit, grinning up at her.

“Alright, night, Charlie,” he said softly.

“Night, Jack,” she murmured as she matched his grin before turning and walked out of the Common Room and down the long, cool and damp corridor to the Sixth Year Girl’s Dormitories. She pushed open the door to her empty dorm and frowned a bit at the single bed in the room. There was a decent-sized rectangular, deep red box with a bow sitting in the middle of her bed. A short, curious hum resonated in her mouth as she stepped further into the room, causing the fireplace to roar to life. As she neared her bed, she noticed there was a single, folded parchment on the top of the box.

“I’m getting quite tired of these notes,” she murmured to herself as she lifted it from the top of the gift. She flipped it open and immediately recognized the handwriting from the last note she received. It read two simple, yet commanding words: ‘Wear this.’ Charlotte let out a heavy sigh and tossed the parchment on her bed agitatedly. She looked at the box, slightly fearful of what horridness it must have contained. Curiosity overcame her and she reached forward, tentatively pulling at the loose end of the bow. She undid the knot and slipped the gauzy ribbon off. Pausing hesitantly, she pulled out her wand, just to be sure that this wasn’t some horrible trick. In one quick movement, she flicked the lid of the box open with her wand, immediately taking a defensive stance.

A sigh escaped her as she rolled her eyes, tossing her wand to the side when she noticed the navy blue, beaded shoulder, knee-length dress folded at the waist in the box. It looked to be a sheer, see through layer over a layer of thicker, opaque fabric of the same color. It would do nothing to keep out the cool of the night and the season if they were to be staying at the Astronomy Tower. She’d have to find a way to alter this outfit in a way that she wouldn’t freeze to death in the time that she was up in the open tower, however long or short that time may be.

Saturday night rolled around faster than Charlotte had expected it to, since she was somewhat dreading the meeting with her secret admirer. Still, she dressed up like it was a serious date. She put on a swipe of black eyeliner, red lipstick, and a bit of blush. She managed to find a jacket, hat, tights, and gloves that would coordinate with the dress, so she wasn’t worried about freezing. She was, however, suddenly aware that they weren’t allowed to be out of the Common Room after eight on the weekends. Charlotte figured she could break the rules though, being what she was.

As she entered the Common Room, it hushed a bit, a few couples turning to look at her wintry “ensemble” like she had grown an extra head. Charlotte, towering over the rest of them in her shiny black heels, set the room a stern look before leaving the Common Room amidst whispers and curious stares. The moment the wall shut behind her, she pulled her black, knit cap from her jacket pocket and pulled it over her soft curls. She bit her bottom lip and glanced around the dungeons, wary of someone watching her or an Auror spying her and sending her straight back to the Common Room. Despite her hesitance toward this date, she didn’t want to just leave the person, who had bought a dress for her, in the dark.

The task of getting from the absolute lowest part of the school to the highest part was not an easy task. Charlotte had lost count of the times that she nearly had a run in with Auror or a Professor and she had to hide behind a suit of armor or two to avoid being seen. She noticed though, that when she stepped into the stairwell to the Astronomy Tower, there was no Auror walking the wooden stairs. A frown bent her features at this lack of security and she quietly began to make her way up the stairs. Once she reached the highest point, she stopped and looked around.

The tower was empty, spare the flurries that flittering themselves onto the old wooden platform and the slightly swinging planetary model. Typical, Charlotte thought bitterly, that they wouldn’t show. She shook her head, feeling a bit downhearted that she had almost gotten her hopes up for this little meeting. A heavy sigh escaped her as she carefully walked over to the railing, not wanting to catch her heels in the cracks of the wood. Leaning her forearms on the rusted, metal railing, she looked out over the grounds, her breath rising in plumes of steam in front of her. She was going to wait a while, not because she thought that the person was going to show up, but because she wanted to take in the view while she could. The students very rarely got to take in the lovely change of seasons properly anymore, since they were scarcely let outside for any period of time.

“I knew you’d come,” a familiar voice crooned in her ear and Charlotte turned wildly, making an almighty racket with her heels against the wooden planks as she drew in a sharp breath of air. There, standing beside her with that signature, devilishly handsome smirk, was none other than Draco Malfoy. He was dressed in his normal black suit, his white-blonde hair parted neatly on one side. Charlotte merely stood there for a moment or two, looking over his smug expression as it registered in her mind that Draco had been behind all of this. Finally, her ability to speak and form coherent sentences returned and she looked over at Draco.

“But…it wasn’t your handwriting on the notes,” she said softly, looking over him critically.

“You’ll be amazed at how well Jackson is at forging signatures and the like,” Draco replied with a crooked grin. Charlotte’s red lips parted slightly in shock as she stared at Draco. “Yes, I had Jackson write those notes and slip one of them into your pocket. I know you two are close, so I had him lie for me and tell you that he hadn’t the slightest clue who wrote you the note. Now, the dress in your room, which I have yet to see on you since you’ve covered it up-” Charlotte scoffed and went to interject but Draco continued to talk “-was left there by one, believe or not, Pansy Parkinson. Apparently you’ve made her as frightened of me as she is of you, so she nearly tripped over herself to get it done.”

Charlotte merely stared up at him for a moment, slowly shaking her head at him. She drew in a slow breath of freezing cold air as Draco’s eyes locked onto hers.

“You’re absolutely unbelievable, Draco,” she said, a small smile curling her lips.

“Just you wait, the best is yet to come, Charlie.”