Do I wanna know?

In the morning, Charlotte felt better than she deserved.
She skipped the breakfast because, to be completely honest, she wasn't sure that she will be able to look at the food.
She tried to realize how she felt.
It wasn't bad as she expected. Just a headache, but that will pass after few pills. Maybe it was really good idea to went this party when she did, she would be much worse if she continued with that game.

Charlotte tried to recall everything that happened before and unwelcomed redness cover her cheeks once when she realized she actually kissed Christian Zabini. She really did that.
Molly would be proud.

Since she felt really bad she decided to skip first classes. At least first two.
It was something really unusual and new for her but again, she felt really bad.

@Molly Weasley

Molly's plan had been the same plan she had the night of the party. Stay out of it. She had no stakes involved in anything that had happened the night before. It didn't involve her, she had no responsibility over anyone but herself. She knew this. She had lived her entire life with this mantra, with this comfortable distance between herself and the rest of the world, and she had always enjoyed the invisible veil between her and everyone else, keeping her from reaching out and feeling like she was apart of the living.

But she had been bothered.

She found herself disappointed in Apollo, angry with Margo, unsettled by Christian, guilty about Charlotte. The guilt, that was the bit that was strangest of all. She had accepted her strange loyalties to the twins, and no one could deny her intimacy (as much as she could have) with Margo. But her relationship with Charlotte had always been one-sided and reluctant, and the few times she worked to make it a mutual acquaintanceship had been more to humor Charlotte than because of actual driving emotion.

So why did she feel guilty?

She wasn't responsible for Charlotte. The other girl was grown, she could have said no to alcohol, and if she knew she didn't want to lose control, she could have skipped the party. She was always going on about her school record and wanting to be Little Miss Perfect - why had she even been there? And she certainly wasn't responsible for Margo. Margo being insensitive to what was best for the people around her did not reflect on Molly.

But she still felt so shameful when she ran into the Jericho boy.

She had skipped breakfast and gone to her first class early, trying to finish up an essay before classes began. The signs of the hangovers were heavy in some of her classmates, especially Julian who seemed to be more than happy to bear the signs of a successful party. Molly didn't look around, glad when Apollo Zabini sat next to her before Margo could - who seemed more than happy to force her way between the Yaxley brothers.

But it did strike her that Charlotte wasn't there. She glanced around and almost asked Christian if he knew where she was - but she swallowed the question, feeling ill at ease when she did so, and instead asked one of their dormmates.

"I think she's still in bed. She didn't go to breakfast."

Molly had been really good about not skipping class. Not because she felt any sort of moral obligation to attend classes (having ditched almost half of her classes just the year before) but because she enjoyed the excuse to be left alone in class, to be spared the dribble and gossip usually laid against her ears when she chose to do something else.

So why was she considering abandoning that chosen peace to track down Charlotte Waldorf, who would almost certainly guarantee her a headache.

And yet, while her classmates turned towards the dungeons for Potions or the grounds for Care of Magical Creatures, she headed upstairs for the common room, answering the riddle with a murmur, and slipping inside.

There was Charlotte, sitting in the common room. Molly immediately dropped her gaze as she crossed to take a seat in an armchair, reaching into her bag for a book, doubt trickling into her head.

She didn't know what to say. She never had anything to say.

"Hey."

For some time, Charlotte was just looking through the windows in Ravenclaw's common room without actually paying attention to anything at all. Everything she was able to think about was last night.
Even if she tried to force her brain to stop thinking about that, memories from the night full of alcohol were somehow able to break walls in her head and find their way back to her minds.

Charlotte realized that she actually surprised herself more than anyone last night.
Drinking for her wasn't something strange, but that was something she was doing with her real friends back in the Muggles world and even if she promised herself that she would be the best student ever, she got drunk at the first party she actually decided to go.

Getting drunk don't necessarily be the bad thing.
The truth was, if she wasn't drunk she would probably never kiss Christian and because one lead to the other, he would never find out what she really feels about him.
And if she didn't do that, she would never realize that he likes her as well.

Charlotte smiled while thinking about that. She was happy because she was still able to recall everything that happened last night.
Well, at least almost everything. She didn0t really remember how she got back to her room but that didn't matter anyway.

The only problem now was the fact that her head seemed like it will explode at any second. She didn't have pills for the headache and she wouldn't go to the nurse for sure.
If she goes there, she would need to explain how she got such a bad headache and she wasn't ready to share what happened at the party.
Professors probably didn't know about the party at all.

That is why she skipped the breakfast and first two classes.
Well, she actually skipped the breakfast because she was still sleeping in that time but that wasn't important now. The point was that she skipped her classes for the first time in her life. And she felt really bad and ashamed because of that.

Charlotte wasn't sure for how long she was sitting there alone when Molly came and sat next to her.
Charlotte looked at her in surprise.
Molly never came to her first before. Charlotte was in the shock big enough to keep her mouth shut. She just wasn't sure how she should speak.
She knew that she was supposed to open her mouth but she just couldn't remember how.
What the hell is Molly doing here? She should be at the class right now.

"Hi" she finally realized how to speak again and her voice was soft, almost like if she was ashamed, which she probably really was.

"What are you doing here? Are you okay? Are you sick or something like that?" Charlotte asked curiously to find out what another Ravenclaw was doing here now. She certainly didn't come to find Charlotte, they weren't close friends enough to come here just for her for sure.

Charlotte was sitting by the window, and there was something strangely peaceful to her demeanor, a peace Molly had not seen in the halfblood girl before. She wasn't sure who to accredit this change to - whether a change had occurred within the tempestuous spirit of the Waldorf girl, or whether Molly was able to appreciate fully that she was a person with fears and hopes and troubles.

Molly hadn't realized she had ever taken that for granted.

But Molly was figuring out a lot she didn't know about herself.

Molly leaned back into her chair, trying to look comfortable in the seat, her expression falling back onto habit and staying blank as she thumbed through he book.

Charlotte was not so relaxed, immediately questioning the brunette's presence. Molly's dark eyes lifted to Charlotte's and she shook her head, lips rolling as she said, "No, I'm fine. Just... didn't feel like class."

She dropped her gaze to her book, staring at the words without actually reading them. Without thinking, she said, "I..." but her voice ran out, throat swallowing the sound, because she really didn't know what she would say. She cleared her throat, and swallowed, and if she had been bold enough to look up, Charlotte might have been able to see a rare look of shame on Molly's face.

But it was gone when she lifted her chin, her eyes set and withholding. "I shouldn't have told you what I told you. At the lake. I didn't know the whole story, so I shouldn't have said anything. I have no right to tell you how to live your life."

(Charlotte is actually a halfblood lol)

Charlotte was occupied with her own minds and that almost hurt. Her demons just didn't want to leave her alone so there she was, analyzing every step from the last night. Every thought to see if she could do something different, better. She was spontaneous, but people didn't know that here. Here she was just that strange girl with only Muggle friends and she liked it that way. And now everything will change.
Now she was that girl who was drinking for the first time here and yet managed to get absolutely, without any doubt drunk.

Charlotte looked at the Molly and other Ravenclaw looked like she was really interested in that book.
Normally, Charlotte would start the conversation but now she just wasn't strong enough to do even that small thing.
She wasn't sure what she would say anyway.

"Oh, okay" she felt for stupid for acting like this. If Molly didn't go to the class, it doesn't need to mean she is sick or something like that.
After all, Charlotte skipped two classes and if she manages to ignore her low self-esteem she had no problems in the moment.
So she just nodded and move her gaze to the windows again.
She needed peace. Or she needed talk perhaps? Or she needed to die? She wasn't sure.

Charlotte frowned and looked at Molly again.
"What the hell are you talking about?" she said almost shocked. She was more than confused, what did Molly say to her back at the lake? Nothing bad, Charlotte was sure in that.
"You don't need to apologize. Your advice actually helped me last night but, you are not the one who is responsible for me getting drunk. It was all my fault" she shrugged.

((This is what I get for jumping between posts xD))

Molly couldn't remember the last time she apologized for anything. She was certain she had plenty to apologize for, but she never actually felt bad enough to follow up. The way she saw it, everyone in this life had choice. She was one girl, and her encouragement or influence was nothing without the other party's choice - and how could she apologize for someone else's choices. She had never had a sense of responsibility, an obligation to the way other people felt.

So why was she starting now?

Because maybe she was beginning to recognize that she treated the world very differently from the people around her. Just because she could live her life in those neat little boxes didn't mean other people could. And the little she knew of Charlotte led her to believe that the girl would take the advice of one of her only friends much more seriously than someone else might. Molly couldn't make her do anything, but she had spoken out when she could have stayed silent.

She knew better.

That's what it came down to. She couldn't speak to anyone else's experience, but she, Molly Weasley, she knew better.

And she didn't act better for it.

Charlotte seemed shocked and Molly might have registered how heavy her own heart pounded in her chest if she wasn't so keen on seeming unaffected, and part of seeming was willful denial.

She wet her lips. "Not the drinking. I just mean... it wasn't fair for me to tell you any of that. It's- It was the sort of advice I'd give myself, but you're not me. Wasn't my right."

Seeing Molly apologizing for something that happened, even if she wasn't guilty at all, was really strange.
Charlotte was sure she had never seen Molly apologizing for anything, to anyone. So because of that fact, Charlotte Waldorf was able only to stare into other Ravenclaw without any clue what she was supposed to say.
"I..." she started, or at least hoped that she actually started something, but words just didn't want to left her mouth so everything stayed on that one word.

Charlotte was thinking about last night and everything that happened a lot. She felt guilty for few things. She got drunk. She kissed Christian. She started the terrible game and then just left the party.
So yeah, she made some really bad decisions last night, some of them would probably change her life forever. Everyone knew her as the hater but the serious girl who cares a lot about her grades and behavior.
Now she was just that one who got drunk, then kissed Christian in the closet and according to Clair's words, there is also rumor that she left with Christian to be someone where they can have... more privacy.
But Charlotte never, even for a second thought Molly was guilty of anything. It was all Charlotte's fault and she wasn't able to point finger at anyone except herself.

When Molly finally explained what she was thinking about, Charlotte was able only to stare at her with opened mouth.
The shock was written all over her face and in the end, she wasn't able to stop hysterical laugh which would probably kill her.
She wasn't able to stop even if she was afraid that Molly would become angry because, you know, Charlotte is laughing while other girl felt so guilty for something which was... just stupid.

"Molly, stop, please" once when she was able to control herself Charlotte took a deep breath and looked at Molly.
"It wasn't your fault. You know, when someone tells you something, it's totally okay, even more than welcomed to give some sort of advice. Stop blaming yourself for anything, you know, I am 17 years old, I can take care of myself and take the responsibility for my own mistakes." she said seriously in hope that molly would finally understand.

This was a difficult thing for the brunette to reconcile. Her entire sense of self was wrapped up in her detachment from other people – a phenomenon that almost made the idea of a sense of self elusive in itself – and here she was, willfully working against her character for an intangible purpose for someone she (as ashamed as she was to admit) had essentially looked down upon before. This was a great effort for her, a step into the unknown.

And Charlotte Waldorf was laughing at her.

Molly couldn’t think of the last time someone had laughed at her. She had never thought she had any of that Weasley pride, nor had she ever registered a feeling of superiority, but she supposed something of the sort must have developed at some point because she felt a flicker of fire within her. Was it because she had always considered herself off limits? She didn’t get involved, so her solitude earned her immunity? Or did she really think herself above other people?

And she noted that she was especially upset with Charlotte Waldorf for being the one to do it, a girl who while sweet in her own regard was admittedly ridiculous, a walking contradiction, a transparency. She might have been aloof and intelligent, but that was where their similarities ended. Charlotte wore her emotions on her sleeve, and everyone saw past her hateful words into the hurt psyche beneath. Charlotte was a broken heart just waiting to happen, begging for treatment.

And Molly Weasley didn’t have a heart.

Her throat had closed and her fingers were gripping the book with renewed force, her jaw locked shut as she maintained a placed expression.

Molly didn’t know she could be hateful. But she wanted to tell Charlotte that if she really could take care of herself, why was she always whining at Molly about the stupidest problems. Lily Potter had almost killed herself and hadn’t once placed a burden on her friend’s ears.

But she knew she wasn’t being fair. She knew that Charlotte had a young heart, a naïve mind. Molly had opened herself up this very thing. She couldn’t be pissed at her.

But she also didn’t have to stick around for it.

“I’m glad to hear that,” she said coolly. “I just remembered that I needed to ask Professor Thorfinn something.” Her bag was slipped onto her shoulder with ease, the book closed as she stood. “Still. I’m sorry if that made things awkward with you and Christian.”

Charlotte couldn't swear she was right but she was almost able to see Molly Weasley being hurt. And Charlotte couldn't but think she was the reason for that.
Maybe the fact she was laughing? But it was so funny and to be honest, Molly didn't look like it bothers her earlier. It wasn't the first time Charlotte was laughing because of something Molly said. But it was definitely the first time Molly looked like it was something bad.

"Molly, are you okay?" not Charlotte actually worried about Molly. Charlotte never wanted to hurt her but the fact was that she was funny and that's it. It was funny and kind of sweet how Molly thought she was guilty of whatever she thought that happened to Charlotte. The thing Charlotte wanted Molly to understand was the fact that Charlotte is an adult, someone who can take a care of herself when is needed. And she was the one who should take responsibility for everything what happened to her.

Charlotte looked at the surprise when she saw that Molly was preparing to leave. And she sounds mad. Charlotte knew how to deal with quiet Moly, that was something normal. But this was the first time she saw angry Molly and she didn't know what to say or do to change that.
"Okay," she finally said realizing that now probably isn't the best time to speak with other Ravenclaw.

"Actually not. It didn't make things awkward. We are a couple now. It seemed that he liked me too after all" unwelcomed smile appeared on her face when she said that, she was still really happy every time she figures out that Christian actually likes her.

She was ready to get out of there, bag hanging from her shoulder, book abandoned, mind already travelling far away from here. She had spent sixteen years minding her own business and it had been working out for her. She couldn't understand why seeing Lily wrecked the way she had been had made those cracks in her, how her friendship with the twins had made her soft, how the little observations she kept to herself day in and day out went from secrets she liked to toss around in her mind turned into responsibilities that she was obligated to handle.

This was why she liked photography. She liked that thin layer of film and the cold husk of plastic between her and everyone else. It made life more livable.

Charlotte was looking concerned and that somehow felt worse than her laughter. Molly stood, slender legs unfolding beneath her as she adjusted the strap on her bag. "Yeah," she said, her speech clipped, but that wasn't out of the ordinary. She was simply returning to what she knew worked for her. "Just forgot something. Catch you later."

She headed towards the door and that was when Charlotte's next statement hit her, forcing her feet to come to a standstill. Molly stared at the door, trying to urge herself to keep going, to pretend as though she hadn't heard, or remind herself that she didn't have a reason to care. Because what Christian Zabini did had nothing to do with her. Nor did Charlotte Waldorf's love life have any influence over her own peace of mind. What did she care - the little things she had been noticing were obviously nothing if Christian was interested in Charlotte. A completely different type than- whatever. It didn't have anything to do with her.

But she knew. And by knew, of course, really she only suspected. And yet somehow knew. Suspicion alone was quite a jump for the people involved and Molly just couldn't shake that this was about to end badly. Not just from her own instincts that Charlotte and Christian were completely wrong for each other, but for the complications it would have beyond even them.

But it really really wasn't any of her business.

She turned around to look at Charlotte, and damn if Molly didn't see something worth photographing in her. That private twinkle in her eyes, the embodiment of a hope and promise for a future that could only look bright now that the solitude had been broken.

It was going to be a disaster.

"That's great," Molly said. "Glad it worked out. I'll talk to you later."

And she left the Ravenclaw tower, deciding a smoke by the lake was what she really needed, not class. Because when in doubt, Molly Weasley always chose what felt good rather than what was right.