At Last We Meet Again ((Phaedra))

[Charlie Weasley]

Charlie was on his way back to Diagon Alley. He needed to look for some more supplies before heading back to Romania. He had to have more of his favorite snacks, and some new parchments and quills and what not. Charlie loved going into Diagon Alley even now that the better part of the war was over. The Order was still picking up a few run-aways here and there, but there were rarely any attacks on anyone since Harry's unfortunate accident while destroying Voldemort. Even the name no longer brought fear to everyone. Just those that had once served him. Most of the Death Eaters were either dead or in Azkaban now. And Azkaban was being gaurded now with both dragons and Fluffy, Hagrid's three headed dog.

Charlie knew that the wizarding world was safe for a while until someone got the notion to try to rise to power like Voldemort did. Hopefully they too would face the same fate. He hummed as he stepped out of the Burrow and apperated to Diagon Alley. Charlie decided he would stop in and see Fred and George while he was there. Walking over toward their shop, he encountered a younger girl whom said that he had once rescued her from a rogue dragon attack. Charlie knew that he had rescued so many from when the Death Eaters had gotten their hands on a dragon. This girl was particullary pretty and sparked a bit of interest in Charlie. There had been dozens of guys at every rogue dragon attack, so how was it that she could remember him out of all of them there. He shook his head knowing that it was the red hair that made him so unforgettable. He stood talking to the girl, not really flirting but being more attentive than usual. He couldn't help it.

Suddenly he saw a kitten in the street staring at him, and it made his mind wonder to Phaedra. He hadn't been able to see her since the last attack, when Harry had lost his life, but he still thought about her everyday. Moving the girl toward his brothers' shop, his only thought was to get out of the gaze of that kitten. He stopped the girl just short of the door, but was not planning on taking her through the door to be teased by Fred and George.

((it's a bit crappy, but with how I have been feeling the past few days, I hope you understand)

[Phaedra Goldwin]

Phaedra purred as Tsuyoshi scratched her behind her ears as he was carrying Phaera to the Diagon Alley as Phaedra was in her animagi form. Her being an animagi was a very well kept secret with almost no records on it as this allowed Phaedra in her kitten form to sometimes get close and listen onto plans. It had been just today as well when they had tracked down a fled Death Eater. They had found him and Phaedra had managed to catch a couple of snippets so that they might find a couple with this information in a few days which put both her and Tusyoshi in a good mood. “Take care of yourself now,” Tsuyoshi told Phaedra as he bowed and put the kitten on the ground in the middle of Diagon Alley before he apparated off with a pop. Phaedra stretched herself and took a moment to fix the small blond fur on her tiny cat-chest. Phaedra was a small kitten, quite light with colour – actually it was the exact tone of her hair. Phaedra’s mind flickered to Charlie and she found herself smiling In though wondering the irony how he had always called her a kitten and now here she was in cat-form.

But Phaedra knew what was expected of her. The aurors who knew of Phaedra animagi form had long ago decided she needed a sanctuary to hide if things got bad and in Diagon Alley the Weasley twins shop had been chosen for it. Aurors used quite many of their products so it had been an easy choice and it was sure that those two were on the good side. So Phaedra always made sure to visit the shop frequently in her cat form as the twins didn’t know about her being the kitten and usually the aurors slipped some order for some of their products to be delivered to Gringotts to a certain vault under the small blue collar Phaedra-kitty wore. One of those messages was under it now as well so Phaedra set off at a trot towards the Weasley twins store.

The day was quite nice really so Phaedra enjoyed herself. Until she saw a sight that froze her heart. Charlie was there but in the company of a girl. Phaedra’s first instinct was to jump and scratch the girls eyes out but he squished the idea. It wasn’t as if she had any claim on Charlie. Even if Phaedra felt as if a big piece had just been chipped off her heart as she stood there frozen, one paw still up. Charlie’s eyes fell upon her and Phaedra shivered once before admonishing herself a moment later. Charlie could go and kiss and be with other girls all he wanted and it wasn’t as if he could see through the fur and see that it was actually her not a random kitten. Phaedra hissed once and turned away form the sight with her tail held stiffly up as he trotted towards the door and slipped in through the slightly opened crack of the door and headed straight towards the twin standing at the counter. George as Phaedra noted. She had learnt how to tell the difference of the twins a while ago as George had a birthmark right at the root of his nose that Fred didn’t have. A small detail but Phaedra was never wrong with looking at this sign.

“Why, we have a quest,” George called merrily in greeting as Phaedra rubbed her side against his ankle as she physically couldn’t reach any higher as George bowed and picking Phaedra up placed her on the counter. “Cat-mail, Gred!” Even as he called this George was already busily fishing out the note from under Phaedra’s collar and read it through before placing it on the counter and petting Phaedra’s head lightly along with Fred who had appeared with a small saucer of milk for Phaedra. The twins never fed anything suspicious to Phaedra-kitty luckily so Phaedra pushed her nose into the saucer and drank a little bit. Even if her posture was still quite stiff and then it came.

“Oh, aren’t you a little adorable dear!” came the voice and Phaedra jumped forward towards the twins barely escaping the hand of the girl who had been flirting shamelessly with Charlie. Phaedra tried to takea swipe at the girl’s hand with her claws extracted and that as well as Fred’s frown and a warning not to touch the kitten the girl decided to leave her alone even if she was making stupid faces and noises to Phaedra trying to invite her closer. Phaedra hissed and getting a sudden idea pounced and dragged one of the candies placed on the counter near-by closer pushing it towards the girl with her nose while trying to appear sweet and innocent. The girl seemed to buy it as she cooed once more how cute Phaedra was accepting the candy and eating it. Only to howl in fury a moment too late as the candy took effect transforming her skin into a nice deep purple. Fred and George burst out laughing and Phaedra pulled her lips pack over her small teeth as well in laughter as the girl howled like a furia before storming out of the store.

“Nice going!” Fred said praisingly and Phaedra likced her paw for a moment before jumping off the counter having to pause and sahke her head after landing as for a kitten the counter was very high. Her tail moving stiffly from one side to an other once again Phaedra towards the exit only to find herself flying through air a moment later. Wriggling wildly Phaedra didn’t have much success in getting loose however as she was turned around and Phaedra saw that it had been Charlie who had picked her up. But Charlie had been with an other girl. Right. Never mind then. And Phaedra started struggling against his hold once again trying to claw his hand to get loose. Even if she threw a couple of quite nervous glances towards the floor as she did so. Charlie had never seem quite as tall and far away from the floor as now when Phaedra was in kitten form. She wanted to get loose but at the same time she didn’t want to be dropped.

[Charlie Weasley]

Charlie looked oddly at the kitten as it swooped through the door to his brothers' shop. It had been watching him, and now it was going into his brothers' shop. Such a strange behavior for a kitten. The coloring of the kitten looked so familiar. Charlie thought that maybe he had seen it on another kitten somewhere. Charlie continued talking to the girl for a moment more and then turned to go into his brothers' shop, just to find that the girl was close on his heels. Charlie was getting frustrated and began to wonder what Phaedra would think if she saw this girl and him together. He closed his eyes for a moment to try to push out the thoughts of what he knew she would think.

Charlie noticed the strange kitten on the counter in front of Fred and George the moment he walked through the door. Could it be that the twins knew this cat. It appeared as if they did. It made no matter to Charlie though. This girl that was following him bothered him a bit more than usual, so she deserved what ever that the twins gave her. The strange kitten jumped back toward the twins when this girl whom had introduced herself as Angelika had tried to pick her up. Charlie looked closer at the kitten, there was something familiar about it. Something peculiar. Charlie just couldn't figure out what at the moment.

Suddenly the kitten became a bit more friendly and offered Angelika a candy. A very recognizable candy to Charlie, but before he could stop the girl from eating it she had already began to turn that lovingly shade of purple that Charlie had spent so many months being. As the girl ran out, and Fred and George laughed, Charlie's mind lingered on the kitten. Chasing it toward the door, he caught it. The kitten put up a good fight, but Charlie continued to hold it as he walked out the door of the shop and around the corner so that the kitten and himself were now behind Fred and George's so that they couldn't be seen.

The kitten continued it's struggle to get free, but Charlie had no intentions of letting it go until he had a chance to figure out what was so familiar about the kitten. The hair color was no help, and it had no special markings, nor did the pretty blue colar have a name tag or anything distinguishing on it. Charlie continued to look at the kitten for he could feel that there was something different about this kitten that most kittens didn't have. Then he found it. He got a glimps of the kitten's eyes, and that made him want to study them more. Finally after looking into the kittens eyes one more time, it hit him. The kitten was his Kitten.

"Phaedra, will you please calm down?" He said hoping that the kitten would listen. "I'm afraid I might drop you if you don't stop trying to bite me. I don't want to drop you." He wondered what had her so upset. "I need to tell you something anyway."He said hoping that it would help.

[Phaedra Goldwin]

Phaedra fought as bravely as a kitten’s body allowed against Charlies hand that was restraining her freedom but that didn’t have much of an effect. Phaedra didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about it. Who could have predicted this sort of a situation where she desperately wanted to get away from Charlie out of all the people? Life could be so lousy from time to time. And right now Phaedra most certainly didn’t appreciate irony especially as Charlie dragged her out of the store. Oh fine, it didn’t consist much of dragging but rather just holding her with one of his hand, but sometimes a woman wanted to be dramatic. Phaedra would have sighed if kittens could sigh as she continued trying to twist her body enough so that she could scratch Charlie’s arm. One perk of being a kitten – she got sharp claws that could come in handy at times.

It was quite tiring for a kitten to fight against a man though. Especially if the said was a gorgeous idiot who was used to handling dragons who were much bigger creatures than kittens. It was unfair! Really! It honestly was! And Phaedra had already had a long day behind her. Well, long for kitten standards so she really was tired before and the unsuccessful fight only worn her out more. Panting quite loudly with her legs dropping for a little while as Phaedra tried to rouse some more energy even as a yawn was fighting it’s way out. Phaedra glared at Charlie for a good measure even if she knew that a glare from a kitten doesn’t phase people. Yet Phaedra froze in shock when Charlie used her name. How had he known? No one knew but a few aurors and everyone was warned off from spreading this as this animagi form had proven to be a very useful secret. HOW had Charlie known? It would be nice to think that he knew him so well to know her even in this form, but that was hardly possible anyway. They were just friends after all, no matter how much Phaedra had grown to dislike that word lately.

It didn’t matter. He didn’t have any proof of it but Phaedra made a mental note to tell Mad-Eye about this as he had came up with the idea in the first place and he would need to know. I was trying to claw, not bite you, idiot Phaedra thought quietly at Charlie’s next words reaching out a paw and trying to claw at Charlie’s wrist once more just out of spite even as she sent a glance downwards. For a kitten it was high drop and being an animagi Phaedra did not always fall on her paws. For a moment Phaedra imagined herself dropping onto the hard stones and imagined herself splattered over the ground in an bloody mess. Not that it would most likely happen as the fall wasn’t that high but a shiver ran through Phaedra’s body none the less. Turning her head upwards Phaedra glared at Charlie. Was he expecting her to change back to human shape? Tough luck, Phaedra wasn’t going to blow her cover that badly, besides considering her position on Charlie’s hand changing back to human form right now might be… ah… awkward. Besides didn’t the big buffoon really understand how silly he must have looked talking to a little kitten who was trying to get away. Besides Phaedra wasn’t sure at all she would want to know what Charlie wanted to tell her. Right now she wanted to go home, curl up on the couch, read Daddy-Long-Legs or watch some sappy romance movie and eat ice-cream straight from it’s package so she squirmed one more time just for good measure.

[Charlie Weasley]

Charlie sighed as Phaedra-Kitten continued to fight. He had already admitted that he knew that the small kitten was her. “Phaedra, Will you please give up? I know it’s you, and I’m not letting you go no matter how much you fight. You really shouldn’t get caught by anyone whom can tell you by your eyes. But then I imagine that there aren’t too many people that know you well enough to do that are there?” Charlie knew that Kitten was getting tired and a bit worried about being dropped for she kept looking toward the ground and then up at Charlie. “Don’t worry, for no matter how much you fight, bite or scratch me, I will not drop you, Kitten.” Suddenly, Charlie realized how ironic it was that he had called Phaedra “Kitten” all these years and now here he stood holding her in kitten form.

Charlie sighed again, realizing that Phaedra had been the kitten he had noticed staring at him outside of Fred and George’s shop when the other girl had ran up to him. This confused Charlie just a bit. It seems like Phaedra is only upset with me. But surely she's not upset because of that girl. I mean as far as I know Phaedra only wants to be friends. FRIENDS. That's all we have ever been. Is that all we will continue to be? And if I admit my true feelings, will that ruin the relationship we have already? Charlie thought to himself while continuing to fight with Phaedra-kitten. The thought of just being friends with Phaedra made his stomach turn. He knew that there was a chance of him only being her friend for the rest of their lives, but he wanted so much more. His feelings were starting to boil on the surface.

Charlie realized how crazy and ignorant he must have looked to anyone whom could actually see behind Fred and George’s store. Standing there fighting a kitten and talking to it like it was human didn’t exactly come off as normal. But then Charlie had never really been Normal now had he. He knew that any normal person wouldn’t have given up a quidditch career and the chance of being famous just to play with dangerous dragons day after day. Charlie shrugged. He enjoyed playing with the baby dragons, and the mothers were just as amazing as they tried to protect their young. Charlie wished now that he was fighting a dragon, instead of the animagus of the woman whom he cared for so deeply. It would be a bit easier to fight something that could just scorch you if you made the wrong move, than it was to fight someone who could tear out your very heart. It just seemed so much easier.

Charlie began to wonder if Phaedra would ever calm down so that he could talk to her without fighting her. He was sure that she was upset enough to continue fighting so he began talking. “Phaedra, listen. I know you saw that young girl and I talking. I must be honest and admit that I don’t even remember her name. She claimed that I had saved her from a rogue dragon attack, when the war was still going. I honestly don’t know how she could have remembered that I was the particular keeper to rescue her for my entire group was there, and there is another red head in the group. Yes, she was pretty and yes I was more attentive than I would have been with any other girl.” Charlie let his voice trail off for just a moment as he gathered his courage. “But she would have meant no more to me than it would have if Hermione or Ginny or any of their friends had have been the ones coming up to me.” Charlie sighed at the mention of Hermione. He should have been there to help attempt to save her, but he hadn’t been. He hadn’t even been notified of the on goings at the time. Taking a deep breath and pulling Kitten up to where he could look her in the eyes, he finally admitted what had been on his mind for many years, “It’s you I love Phaedra. I would have liked to have told you this with you being human instead of feline. But you have to know and I can’t keep it bottled inside any longer. I have loved you since the night that I asked you to attend the Yule Ball with me.” Charlie took a deep breath and was glad that his feelings were out in the open. His only thought now was would the feelings be returned or would he have to continue forever as just her friend. Cuddling Kitten back into his arm, he started to make his way back around to the front of the shop.

[Phaedra Goldwin]

Phaedra panted tiredly. Being in kitten form allowed her to ran faster or at least sprint faster but she had proportionally little energy and strength as a kitten. And sometimes it was just such a bother. Her eyes. Phaedra blinked. She didn’t have that distinctive eyes, did she? And besides her eyes looked like those of any other kitten. Most people didn’t stare into an animal’s eyes for long enough to start hesitating that there was a slightly stronger brain behind the eyes than a kitten should have. And to be quite truthful Phaedra hadn’t wanted to get caught. Even if that was already arguing just to argue, nothing more. Yet it was still a relief to hear that her splattering all over the floor – would she change back into human form at such a case? – wasn’t very likely to happen.

Charlie explained and Phaedra would have shut her ears if she could have. She didn’t really want to hear. But at the same time maybe she did. Charlie’s words pulled up different emotions however. What he said made sense at the mind’s level, but that didn’t mean Phaedra had to like it. Yet, Phaedra did feel a bit spiteful. If she was hurt, then he should hurt too. Yet as soon as the thought flashed through her mind Phaedra felt hot shame. If she had been a human Phaedra would have still snapped at Charlie, because hopefully his sister coming up to talk would mean more to Charlie as someone random, but she felt herself mellow a little at the mention of Hermione. Phaedra knew that Charlie must have felt guilty about it as well. A lot of people did, but really what could have been done? The girl made her own choice. And then Charlie took the breath out of her. Love. Such a simple little words, sometimes overused. Yet as powerful as ever. Phaedra raised her head slowly and looked at Charlie. He was as firm and strong as ever, his eyes were a bit expectant and the slight smile on his lips calm. But his heartbeat Phaedra felt all of her body as Charlie held her close wasn’t. His heart-beat wasn’t calm and steady and that told Phaedra more than words could.

Feeling a bit insecure Phaedra slowly moved. Placing her front paws on Charlie’s shoulder she reached out and quickly nuzzled Charlie’s cheek with her nose, touching it lightly with her tongue once. But the words of love didn’t settle everything. They still had a lot to speak of and maybe Charlie had understood it as well as he had been heading towards the twins store once again. Good, Phaedra could change back in there. The moment the door opened again the twins chorused together: “Did you fix things with Phaedra, big brother?” Phaedra froze on Charlie’s hand gaping at the twins as much as a kitten could. Dear lord, how many people knew the “top-secret and classified information” about her animagi form! The twins seemed to understand it as they continued, throwing the sentence from one to the other with careless ease: “Oh, we were curious…” “…when a kitten started to frequently visit us.” “And she was smarter than most…” “… she often carried orders to be delivered to Gringotts…” “…the payment for this coming form the Ministry vaults…” “… so of course we wanted to know what’s going on…” “And after we got that one guy off your back we received a basket of ingredients…” “…ingredients so valuable that you can’t get them even from Knockturn…” “…but the Ministry most surely keeps some for the aurors…” “…so we slipped a tracking bug into the cast when we put it on….” “…so can you imagine our surprise when it led to the Ministry…” “…before going to Anglesey to a home of an auror we knew as Phaedra Goldwin?” “So did you patch your mess up, big brother?” Phaedra shook her head as she landed gracefully on the floor and hopped up a couple of stairs behind the door Fred opened for her before changing.

The transformation was quick and painless and a few moments later Phaedra shook her head, pushing her spread fingers through her loose hair as she looked up from where she was sitting on the stair-case that led upstairs where the twins lived as she knew. “You guys saved my life that day,” Phaedra told the twins softly, having to suppress a shudder as she recalled that evening. She had been spying upon a brute who was suspected to hide Death Eaters and being one himself… but he hadn’t liked kittens and had been drunk. It had been dark already so if Fred and George hadn’t happened to be here Phaedra most likely wouldn’t have survived that night. But the twins had stunned the man and taken Phaedra in and fixed her broken hind leg. And obviously traced her to her human form that way. “The basket of very-very rare supplies we received was thanks enough. We discovered almost half the stock of new pranks with those things,” Fred told Phaedra with a smile shaking his head, to show that they really didn’t need any more thanks. “Do you think we could get some more Japanese water-spirit hairs though?” George asked hopefully and Phaedra smiled lightly. She would see if she could get some for the twins, but she wasn’t planning on telling the twins that. Who knew what they would do with that bit of information.
“Mad-Eye’s going to kill me for telling the secret to three people in one night without approval,” Phaedra commented as she nodded to the twins, “I’ll come back tomorrow as I’m sure you have some questions about what has been going on.”

The twins nodded and only now did Phaedra have the courage to glance towards Charlie. She had been aware of his gaze for a long time, but had found numerous reasons to not look his way because she didn’t know how to react. Now she did though and the look upon his face sent a light shiver through Phaedra’s heart. “We need to talk,” Phaedra told Charlie softly. “I’ll get the popcorn!” “I’ll get the drinks!” came the agreement from twins and Phaedra smiled lightly and shook her head at their antics. No matter how fond of the twins she was, she wasn’t planning on letting them listen into this. “Presuming I’m not infected with something that helps them listen even from long distance – we can floo to my place as I have enough trouble apparating on my own, so trying to take someone along by side would most likely splinch us both. And try to smile a bit until then, would you?” Phaedra told Charlie as she stood and turned going the rest of the way up the stairs, knowing from the broken-leg-night-incident that there was a fireplace connected to the floo network there. Taking a handful of floo-powder Phaedra threw it in the flames and clearly stating home stepped into the flames.

Leaving Charlie to decide himself whether he was following or not Pahedra slipped into the kitchen to get some cookies and grabbed some juice before heading to the back-porch. Charlie might return her feelings? The concept was so… so amazing that Phaedra couldn’t really even fully fathom all it entitled. Scratching her kitten quickly Phaedra took a seat in the two-person porch-swing and curling her legs under her as she pushed herself to swing slowly, waiting and hoping that Charlie would follow so they could talk.

[Charlie Weasley]

((Sorry it's taken me FOREVER to reply to this. I hope you didn't think I had forgotten.))

Charlie wondered curiously what Phaedra and he needed to talk about. He had already poured out the only emotion in his heart at the time. What more was there to discuss? She hadn't answered him back after morphing back into a human, therefore Charlie was sure that his feelings weren't shared. It almost seemed as if Phaedra was going to tell him that she didn't feel the same way about him.

Deciding to follow her, Charlie stepped in the fire place after a few moments of shrugging at the twins. He wasn't sure what he had done, but his curiousity was getting the best of him. What am I going to do if she doesn't return my feelings? Charlie thought to himself as he landeded in a fireplace he only hoped to be Phaedra's. The house was beautiful, but Phaedra was not standing waiting to see if he had followed, therefore Charlie had to wonder through the house himself. His keen senses coming a bit in handy at this point, as he noticed seemingly ashy footprints leading away from the fireplace toward what he discovered to be the kitchen. He followed the same footprints through another part of the house until coming to the back porch. Stepping out onto the porch, Charlie looked at Phaedra. He tried to fake a smile, but knew that she would more than likely see right through it.

Moving a bit closer to the swing, Charlie found a pillar to prop himself against, he wasn't sure if he should sit down, or if the news was something that he would be able to handle at all without walking away. Charlie decided that he would keep standing that way either option would be made easy. If it turned out that Phaedra didn't return Charlie's feelings then Charlie knew that he would have to leave so that he could gather his own thoughts. A walk through Anglesay would be good for that, but if it turned out that his feelings were returned, Charlie would sit and the two could discuss what it meant for them now. Charlie couldn't bring himself to speak as he stood wringing his hands, and realizing that dealing with a Chinese Fireball seemed easier than admitting feelings and waiting to find out if someone returned those feelings. Charlie couldn't stand the silence but couldn't bring himself to speak, what would he say that hadn't already been said behind the Twins store.

[Phaedra Goldwin]

Phaedra curled one of her legs under her and pushed the swing moving slightly with the other one, as she tried to gather her thoughts. The man of her dreams had just declared his love for her and she was speechless. No word could come out of her lips and her mind was entirely blank. It was just so… unbelievable such a think could happen when Phaedra had already buried all the hope for it a long time ago. Perhaps already when Charlie left Hogwarts, whereas she still had an other year more. She heard the woosh of fire as someone appeared and barely dared to look up as Charlie came to the back porch just a little bit later. “Sit. Or no. Maybe not. I don’t know if I can put together a coherent word even the way it is,” Phaedra finally managed to make her voice sound, even if even she herself blushed at the feeble voice and words.

“I… I do love you. With all my heart, but I’m also very scared which is just silly as we’ve both just survived a big magical war. But I’m still afraid or perhaps shocked, because I’ve never dared to hope you’d ever love me back. Even at school I wasn’t brave enough to dream of it. Maybe I’m just afraid that you’ll shatter my heart when you leave again because I’m not sure I could survive it, if I had to say good bye to you again. I’m terrified,” Phaedra admitted, her eyes drinking in Charlie’s figure. The broad shoulders, strong hands, the face. She knew it all so well, but at the same time she could never get enough of that view. Phaedra felt her breath hitch slightly as she shivered slightly under Charlie’s gaze until she suddenly couldn’t take it anymore.

Standing up abruptly and scaring her kitten with the sudden movement Phaedra stepped forward to stand directly before Charlie. “But if you don’t mind me worrying and would like to try this, then there’s nothing I would desire more,” Phaedra whispered through her tears as she wrapped her arms tightly around Charlie, raising on her tiptoes to get closer to him. Her tears, pulled forth by such a mixture of powerful feelings, damping Charlie’s shoulder. “I love you,” Phaedra whispered into his neck. And when Charlies arms rose to embrace her back she finally felt peaceful and whole for perhaps the first time in her life.

((Sucks but. We had agreed on a new post.))