Patterns
Below him, the sky boiled with activity. Splashes of colour darted and swerved and intersected with each other in bright blurs of burgundy and green, occasionally fanning out to the edges of the pitch but always, inevitably, flowing back towards the center.
Charlie hovered just above the action, waiting patiently for the Snitch to appear. His job wasn't that exciting, really. Soon he was caught up just watching the flow of the game, the calligraphy of flight: painted symbols shifting and weaving together, never the same twice.
He stuck out like a sore thumb - red hair blazing in the sunlight, immobile in a sea of orderly chaos. As the game wore on Charlie found himself staring too long, trying to interpret the patterns in the tumult beneath him. It made him feel hypnotized, and slightly seasick. When the Snitch finally showed he very nearly missed it. Just in time he dove, he feinted, he grabbed, and the House Cup belonged to Gryffindor.
It was no surprise to anybody, because Charlie was the best Seeker in the history of Hogwarts.
Charlie is worried by Ginny's pale face and the way her hollow eyes follow Harry Potter everywhere he goes. Charlie has no advice for Ginny, no big-brotherly words to tease a blush back into her cheeks. He tries not to watch her watching, even though he tells himself he's just looking out for her. It's his duty, after all. It's what big brothers do.
Not that he blames her at all. Harry is good looking and charming, athletic and brave, and flies like he was born for nothing else. He's surprisingly calm, Charlie thinks, for a boy caught in the middle of an impending war.
Charlie feels a decade younger as he watches Harry chase Ron and Fred between the treetops over the back yard. Harry is uninhibited in the air, swooping and dodging with natural grace. Bill comes to stand by him, pokes him in the ribs. "Remembering your glory days, eh?" Charlie manages a smile at the teasing, but the lump in the back of his throat prevents a reply.
"You'd make an excellent dragon-keeper," Charlie tells Harry one summer afternoon, just before he goes back to Romania. Harry trims his broom while Charlie stitches a torn gauntlet. "After the war, I mean."
"I'll keep that in mind," Harry says quietly. For the first time, Charlie notices Harry's eyes are hollow too.
It saddens him that he has no advice for Harry, either.
The war itself will not leave England, though Charlie will have his hands full keeping dragon eggs from being poached by Death Eaters. He will patrol the beaches and cliffs of the Black Sea Coast every day, looking for nests on foot because flying is too dangerous when there are protective mother dragons about. He will clamber over abandoned rock walls and squint into the sun, one hand on his wand at all times. He will watch the skies anxiously for signs of Pigwidgeon or Hermes bringing news from home.
One day, they will not come.
He will not realize they haven't until he sees a flash of white in the distant sky, slowly taking the shape of Hedwig winging her way over the hot sands. He will sit down hard on the ground and stare at the torn and tear-stained parchment for an hour before unrolling it.
He will not go home again because there will be no home left to go to.
When it's all over, Harry will come to Charlie. The Burrow will be a pile of smoldering rubble, just like the Dark Lord, and Sirius's body will be buried at Godric's Hollow. Harry's hands will be rougher then, with burn scars on his wand arm that mirror Charlie's. He will ask if Charlie still thinks he would make a good dragon-keeper. Charlie will say yes, and not just because he's been in love with Harry since he first saw him fly a broom.
They will share a bottle of whiskey. Soon after that they will share a bed. Charlie will soothe Harry through occasional nightmares. Harry will remind Charlie how to dodge raindrops when he flies.
Harry's eyes will be empty sometimes, and Charlie won't feel so much older than him any more.
They will go to visit Ginny, but only once, because when they come she will not know them. She will scream and cry and cling to Charlie and throw things at Harry's head and call them both by the names of people long dead. Finally the staff will usher them out and ask them politely not to come back for a while, to avoid upsetting the patient. Harry will write to Neville and Neville will promise to owl them with updates after his monthly trips to visit his parents.
Before they return to Romania, they will go to what's left of Hogwarts to pay their respects.
A flock of birds will rise unexpectedly from skeletal black outlines of trees, all that remains of the old forest. Wheeling above the ruins of Gryffindor Tower, they will spiral upward with an eerie fluidity and then dive suddenly, a dark wave cresting just to fall back toward the earth. They will break apart and come back together for another upward spin, drawing black designs on the grey canvas of the evening sky.
Harry will lean his head against Charlie's shoulder. Charlie will put his arm around Harry's waist. They will stand in silence, watching. "Do you know," Charlie will ask, "what Ornithomancy is?"
"Divination by studying the flight patterns or songs of birds," Harry will murmur. He will tell Charlie all the different methods that Professor Trelawney used to use to foretell his death. Charlie will listen and nod, laughing quietly in the appropriate places.
Eventually Harry will lift his head and turn to look at him, green eyes still haunted, but increasingly hopeful.
"Tell me my future," Harry will say, as they turn to go.
Charlie will show him instead.