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swimwriter · 5 years

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Bathbombs and Soaps

Pairing: Charlie Weasley x Reader

Warnings: None

Notes: None

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This is agony. A total disaster. How are you supposed to decide? There are literally thousands of options! And you must find the perfect one. Nothing else will do!

Maybe the one with lavender? But then again, he is not exactly a lavender person.

Rosemary? Or is that too cliché? But it has a nice, earthy scent and that is more his thing.

Mint? No, that is just implying things you do not want to imply, especially with the prank and the reason you are standing in this shop anyway.

So what? What’s it gonna be? This is so stressful, not even the choice of a dress for the ball was this nerve-wracking.

Then again, there Andre only gave you three options and now you are here, in front of this wall full of soaps and don’t know which to pick. This is the wo-

“What are you doing?” You jump up on the spot, freeze in mid-air and almost fall flat on your face. Penny is standing behind you, smiling bemused and behind her, you can see Barnaby standing in front of the bath bombs with what looks suspiciously like a full mouth and foam coming out of it. You flush a bright red and avoid her eyes as best as you can. She bends down until she can look at your face again.

“Hello, earth to our resident infamous curse-breaker. What are you doing here?” She smiles, brightly, or as brightly as she can muster with the weight of her sister being trapped in a portrait on her shoulders. You mumble something and shuffle on your feet. Penny leans in your direction.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.”

“I said I am searching for a gift for Charlie!” A few people turn in your direction and give you a funny look before going back to their own shopping. Barnaby saunters over to you, looking entirely too innocent. Penny smiles at you, a little bigger now.

“Is it because of that rumour about you letting loose a horde of frogs in the prefect’s bathroom and him getting caught in it?”

“It was frog spawn soap. A lot. A whole lot, oh Penny! I was so hoping it would be someone I can’t stand but it had to be Charlie. How is he ever gonna forgive me for this?” You bury your face in your hands and are this close to just hex a hole into the ground to swallow you up.

“I thought you already had your explanations and forgiveness done?” Barnaby cocks his head to the side and uses the back of his hand to swipe some foam from the corner of his mouth. You give a frustrated sigh and nod your head.

“Yeah, but I want to do something nice for him, as an additional apology.” Penny gives you a sly little grin.

“Also, because she likes him.” If it is possible, you get a shade darker. Your affection for the younger Weasley is very apparent, at least to all your friends. Well, except himself. And you are not exactly a forward person with your innermost feelings.

Barnaby makes a gesture to the bath bombs behind him.

“You know, they have ones that are shaped like dragon eggs, I bet he’d enjoy this.” You had already seen those and almost bought them, before you remembered that he would actually have to bathe with those and that was just a recipe for unwanted memories. So, you got stuck with the soaps.

But Penny was already shaking her head and looked to be deep in thought, before her face practically began to glow with how much she was smiling.

“I have an idea! But it might take time to get it right and a lot of trial an error, are you up for it?” There was a determined look on her face, but it was Penny, you would trust her with your life. And were this close to losing your shit, you would try about anything at this point. So, you nodded, and she stepped next to you.

“First, we are finally gonna choose one of those. Don’t worry about the shape, just think about the scent. What do you think he’d like?” She gives you an encouraging smile and you slump your shoulders.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out for the last hour.” It’s a little pathetic to think that you already spent an entire hour stuck here because you can’t decide. Barnaby nudges your shoulder.

“It’s not that complicated. What smells good? What reminds you of him? Things like that, like this one for example.” He picks up the rosemary scented one that you toyed with earlier and you make a vague gesture with your hand. It is good, but not quiet right.

“I think we can rule out sugary sweet things. But herbs and the like? That is a good starting point.” And so your two friends help you spend an entire afternoon in a magic shop that sells actual bath bombs, soaps that change colour and never-ending shampoo to find the perfect one to give to the redhead whom you gave the shock of his life.

*********

A few days later you are sitting in an abandoned bathroom, a small cauldron and a fire lit underneath in front of you. Next to you lie a semi-sharp knife, a nice wooden box and a variety of earlier tries that did not go as perfect as you hoped. Penny sits down next to you with another batch of melted and then reshaped soap and hands you the oval containers.

“My mother used to do this as little gifts for all her friends. She’d either make soap or just melt it and then press it into other shapes or cut them to a certain size.” And so here you were, trying (and failing) to make the forest scented soap look like a miniature dragon egg. It was more complicated than it should have been. You already nicked your hand more times than you can count and so far have produced one decent egg.

You carefully crack open the first container, take out the soap and grab the knife lying next to you. Carefully, you start making scale-like shapes in the soap, modelled after the picture of the egg of a Hungarian Horntail in the book lying next to you. This one seems to be a decent one as well and you are almost finished, when a voice asks, “What are you doing?” behind your back. Shocked, you almost jump up and drop the fake egg which chips when it smashes into the ground. Duncan is floating behind you and looking over the little station you and Penny have set up with great interest.

“Trying not to drop the soap when ghosts scare us!”, is what you throw back at him, a little miffed, while Penny swings her wand and the fruit of your labour is whole once more. Duncan has the decency to look a little sheepish, but then he tilts his head to the side and narrows his eyes.

“Why are you making soap?”

“It’s a present”

“For who?”

“I think you can guess.” He thinks for a moment before his mouth drops open in an exaggerated ‘O’ and his eyes widen.

“It’s for the redhead! Your unwilling victim of the frog spawn soap!”

“Correct.” You concentrate on the soap in front of you again, putting the finishing touches on it and setting it to the other one into the small box. Two out of three done. Duncan floats next to you with an interested look on his face.

“Why are they shaped like this?” he asks and tries to poke one of the eggs. You sigh and carefully extract the next one.

“It’s because he likes dragons, it’s practically all he talks about like, 80 percent of the time. He wants to work with them when he is through with school-“

“And she has a huge crush on him.” Penny throws in with a grin and you drop your head into your hands.

“Do you have to say that to everyone?” is what you mumble miserably, and she pats you on your back. Duncan’s head shoots up and he gives you a little grin, the one that you have seen before and that promises nothing good.

“Do you want me to get him? I’ll go get him! Charlie was it, right?” And before you can get a word in edgewise, he floats out at the speed of light, leaving you dumbstruck and Penny giggling.

“This is my nightmare. This is how I die!” you mumble and are contemplating how much work it would be to flush yourself down the toilet. Your blonde friend just gives you a clap on the shoulder.

“It won’t be that bad. How is the last one coming along?” With that you remember the object in your hand and start laying into it you’re your knife. The carving gets easier each time you try and by now the first few rows of scales get done quickly and beautifully, it’s the more delicate part an the top where they get smaller that you still have some problems with. And wile you try to make this one as perfect as possible, Penny leaving. You don’t notice the door opening again minutes later and footsteps approaching. What you do notice is someone leaning over your shoulder and therefore right next to your face.

“These look really realistic,” Charlie smiles, and you manage to cut yourself again! Seriously, what is it with you and sharp objects? He immediately curses and digs through his pockets to find a handkerchief and wraps it around your palm.

“Are you okay? Bloody hell, that looks like it hurts!” He exclaims and then stops when he notices all the other cuts on your hand. He gingerly takes it into his palm and turns it over to inspect all the other injuries.

“How did you manage to get so many of them?”

“I am not good with sharp objects. Jacob always made fun of me saying I shouldn’t even be allowed to eat with a fork and has never let me forget it.” You admit this between grit teeth as it really hurts. Charlie stands up and drags you with him from the bathroom floor to one of the sinks where he holds your palm under cold water. It becomes slightly pink before disappearing down the drain. With a quick flick of your wand your skin is slightly pink but good as new.

“Why are you making dragon eggs out of … what is this even, it smells really nice.” The redhead tilts his head and gives you his best impression of puppy-dog eyes. Merlin, how weak you are for these eyes!

“It is soap and was supposed to be another apology to you. For the other soap that ruined baths forever for you. They had bath bombs in the shape of dragon eggs and I almost bought those but, well, the bath thing …” You trail off when you see his slack jawed face and want to disappear into the ground.

“But you already apologized! You didn’t have to give me anything else.” He looks at you as if you are a marvel and it make you feel as if your cheeks are on fire. Charlie seems to realize that he is essentially still holding your hand and while a blush spreads from his ears down under his shirt, he still entangles his fingers with yours. You notice and blush an even deeper shade of red, almost rivalling his quidditch robes.

“Want to show me how it’s done?” He asks with a little smile on his face and you manage a nod, before you drag him over to your little work station and sit down cross legged across from him. Then you hand him one oval soap egg and Penny’s knife that she left on the floor.

Between the two of you, various re-melting and re-shaping trips and some cuts on the redhead’s hand, you manage to get ten eggs total. He looks really happy as you give him the box of soap. After you two clean up the bathroom he stops you before you leave and holds out the last egg he made.

“But why?” is all you ask as you gingerly take it from him and almost press it to your chest. He shyly rubs the back of his neck and looks anywhere but you.

“Well, you were so nice to make me these and put all the work into it, so I thought you deserved one too.” It’s so sweet that you just can’t anymore – your eyes go wide; your mouth falls open a little and then you make the single most impulsive decision of your life. You shuffle closer and lean up on your tiptoes to reach his cheek on which you plant a kiss.

For a moment time seems to stand still. Everything is fuzzy around the edge and then you have to drop down onto your feet. Charlies looks dumbstruck. He is absolutely red in the face, his eyes are wide as saucers and his mouth opens and closes rapidly. In a millisecond, your brain supplies you with a thousand ways this scenario can go now. What it certainly doesn’t come up with is Charlie looking determinately at you before he sets the boy in his arms down, takes your egg and lays it on top, before he puts one hand on your waist and the other on your shoulder and leaning down to kiss you.

Your hands manage to find purchase on his shoulders and then slide up to his jaw, while his slides to your neck. Now the world completely falls away from you and only when you are sure you are about to suffocate do you separate from each other. You can’t suppress the big grin on your face and Charlie laughs, before dropping his forehead to yours.

“You are absolutely forgiven for the disaster in the prefect’s bathroom. But if this is what I get every time you play a prank on me please, never stop.”

#hogwarts mystery #hogwarts mystery x reader #charlie weasley #charlie weasley x reader #charlie weasley x mc #swimwriter

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