He shook his head. He shouldn’t be nervous. It was, after all, only Hufflepuff they were playing. Pushovers, he tried to tell himself. We should beat them easily.
He ignored the other voice in his head, the voice that was telling him there was another reason, entirely, for the butterflies that now seemed to be dancing.
He strolled into the Great Hall with his head held high as befitted the Gryffindor Captain and Seeker. He was cheered, as he sat down, by all in his House, and he grinned widely at everyone. A girl next to him, Verity Harper, offered to pour him some pumpkin juice, and then she began to butter him some toast. Charlie frowned slightly as she edged closer to him. She really wasn’t his type, but Charlie was too nice a guy to tell her to her face.
Charlie’s type, in fact, was sitting at the next table.
“Alexandria, you really must eat something,” urged Davey Snellson, the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain. “We have an important game today, and I don’t want you fainting through hunger.” He lowered his voice. “I’m relying on you to catch that Snitch before Weasley.”
“Fat chance,” spluttered the girl. “Me beat Charlie Weasley to the Snitch? That will never happen!” She sighed; she loved Quidditch so much, but in her first season as Seeker, she hadn’t managed a catch. Today was her last chance; if she failed then she was sure to be dropped next season.
“Lex,” sighed her friend Nymphadora, who preferred to be known by her surname, Tonks. “Will you stop putting yourself down? Weasley’s not so great.”
“Not so great!” exclaimed Lex. “Tonks, what planet are you on? Were you watching that game against Ravenclaw? The way he dodged the Bludgers in the second half, he was like a falcon. He was magnificent!” She cupped her chin in her hands and stared dreamily ahead of her. Tonks snorted.
“If you’re going to go all starry-eyed every time you think about him, then you definitely won’t see the Snitch. Come on,” Tonks said, and she pulled Lex up by the arm.
“Where are we going?”
“Anywhere away from the object of your desire,” replied Tonks firmly, as she grabbed a plate of toast and some bacon. “You can’t concentrate if you’re gazing at the back of Weasley’s head all the time.”
“Help, I’m being kidnapped,” shrieked Lex as Tonks frogmarched her out of the Hall.
“Be quiet or I’ll Silencio you,” hissed Tonks. She smiled to herself as she noticed Charlie Weasley watching her friend.
Charlie was standing in the dressing room, by a blackboard, trying to explain a complicated manoeuvre to his team.
“Charlie,” moaned Leander Bell, one of his Chasers, “is there really time to go through this? The match starts in an half an hour and, anyway, you don’t really seem to be concentrating. Is there something wrong?”
The sound of two girls singing could be heard coming from the Hufflepuff dressing room. He recognised one as that of Tonks and the other was their Keeper, Olivia Hutton.
“Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday, dear Lexy,
Happy Birthday to you!”
Her birthday, Charlie thought wistfully. Sixteen today. He had a sudden urge to run to Professor Sprout’s garden patch and pick the biggest snapdragons he could find. He remembered her saying, last week, how much she liked them, despite the fact that Professor Sprout’s blooms really did snap! ’Sweet Sixteen and never been kissed’. That’s a joke, I’m sure she’s been kissed before, he thought moodily.
“Charlie, get your mind out of the ‘Puff changing room and back to the game plan!” shouted one of his Beaters, a stocky boy called Paul Anderson.
“Oh, what’s the use?” Charlie sighed. “You’re all bloody brilliant. Let’s get out on that pitch and play our usual game; it is only Hufflepuff after all!”
“OY! Weasley,” yelled Tonks from just outside the dressing room, “I heard that.”
She turned to Lex, who was standing next to her, looking rather green. “Lex, if we don’t teach those arrogant Gryffindors a lesson... Oh, what’s the use, your mind’s not on the game, either?”
“Hmm, that’s right,” murmured Lex distractedly. She was looking at Charlie ahead of her and thinking that his hair reminded her of the inside of that most perfect snapdragon she’d seen in Professor Sprout’s garden. She smiled as she remembered meeting Charlie there, by accident, and the stupid conversation she’d initiated about the flowers.
“I love snapdragons,” Lex said. “They look so soft from a distance. There’s something about them that draws you in and then...” She held out a finger tentatively and shrieked in delight as the flower tried to bite her back.
Charlie laughed. “You like flowers that bite, Alexandria?”
“Uh-huh,” she replied. “I like things that have a twist, that aren’t all they seem. Don’t you, Charlie?”
Charlie blushed. “Uh, well I like real dragons, actually. I know where I am with them. This type of thing,” he made a gesture that seemed to include not only the snapdragons but Lex herself, “confuses me.”
They were standing very close now, and Charlie wondered what she’d do if he held her hand.
“Lex,” called Tonks as she walked round the corner. “Oh, hello, Weasley. What are you doing here?”
“Nothing, Nymphadora,” he replied, knowing the use of her first name riled her. “Just talking about dragons.”
“Helga! Were you and Hagrid separated at birth? That’s all he ever talks about too,” laughed Tonks. She took Lex by the arm and pulled her out of the garden. “Come on, Muggle-born, I want you to explain something about music to me for my Muggle Studies essay. Bye, Weasley!”
Charlie watched them leave. “If she looks back, I’m in with a chance,” he murmured under his breath. “Look back... Look back... Look back... YES!”
Charlie’s stomach swooped as Lex half-turned her head towards him and smiled that killer smile.
Charlie circled the pitch, his eyes continually scanning the sky for a glint of gold. Like a dragon’s eye, he thought. Snapdragons... Merlin, get a grip! You’re supposed to be looking for the Snitch, not thinking about the opposing Seeker.
He shook his head and cast a glance at the scoreboard. Gryffindor were leading by sixty goals to thirty. It should have been more but the Hufflepuff Keeper was playing out of her skin.
He also had to admit that Tonks, the scorer of all three Hufflepuff goals, was having a storm of a game. It probably hadn’t been wise to slate Hufflepuff in her earshot. He’d noticed her hair take on a reddish tinge when she’d been yelling at him. Still, all he had to do was catch that Snitch and then, maybe, he could console Alexandria afterwards. But, if he caught the Snitch, would she be angry? Would she refuse to speak to him? How about he let her catch... No! Absolutely not. He was not going to throw this game over a girl. That was just bloody ridiculous. He wouldn’t do it!
“Nice day for it,” sang a voice as Lex whistled past him.
Charlie looked up and straight into her eyes. He couldn’t quite decide what colour they were, bluey- greeny- grey, he supposed and grimaced. You’ll never be a poet, Weasley, that’s for sure. A poet would say her eyes were like faint storm clouds reflected in a shimmering sea.
“Nice day for what?” he replied as he flew alongside her.
“For all this.” Lex gestured. “For Quidditch, for flying , for being us.” She lifted her face to the sky, and he could see the sun picking out some reddish tints in her dark brown hair. “Who needs wings?”
“When we have brooms!” he completed her sentence and laughed with her. He noticed that she was blushing, just slightly, and thought now would be a good time to ask her out “ before the outcome of the game was decided. “Alexan...” he began but didn’t finish as suddenly she turned on her broom and sped downwards.
Taken aback at her speed, Charlie watched her for a split second before he realised exactly what she’d seen “ a flash of gold. The Snitch was dancing before their eyes. He began to gain on her as he urged his broom to go faster and faster. He had to make the catch. Gryffindor were only thirty points ahead and if she caught it first...
The crowd watched as the Seekers dove downwards, ever downwards, to the ground. Professors McGonagall and Sprout were shouting along with their Houses, urging their respective teams to victory. It was Pomona Sprout’s cheer that could be heard above the noise, a triumphant cry that spoke volumes about the pride in her House, and the utter bliss to have beaten Gryffindor “ just this once.
Lex grabbed the Snitch and clasped it to her chest. It’s mine, it’s mine, she thought exultantly. She turned round, expecting to see Tonks who had promised to change her hair canary yellow if they won. Instead, she was brought face to face with Charlie Weasley. Merlin! she thought. Perhaps I should have let him win... but, no, I’m not ever doing that, just for a boy. I caught the Snitch, my first ever catch, and we deserved to win today.
She smiled at him, half apologetically, half defiantly and then held the Snitch aloft.
“Well done,” he said simply.
“Thank you,” she replied, feeling a bit awkward.
“I guess now’s not the right time to ask you what you’re doing tonight, is it?” he said, blushing furiously.
“Err, well, um...,” she replied nervously. “I was just going to hang out in the common room with my friends.” She gestured to Tonks and Olivia who, surprisingly for them, were not rushing over to congratulate her. “It’s my birthday, actually.”
“Sweet sixteen, yeah?” interrupted Charlie.
“And never been kissed,” she blurted out and then reddened.
“Uh, well I could soon change that,” said Charlie. They were hovering just above the grass now, but Lexy wasn’t sure if her feet would ever touch the ground again, because Charlie Weasley, the wonderful falcon-like Charlie Weasley, had leant over, cupped her face in his hands and was kissing her.