Like We're Oceans Apart

[Charlotte Owens]

When Charlotte signed up to start dating like the rest of her friends, she didn't realise how intense it was going to be. Originally she imagined it would be full of happiness and warm feelings which were hard to explain whenever she saw the particular person, but instead it was full of worry and regret and lots of confusion. The whole incident happened last semester but the fourth year had been thinking about it for a very long time. She obviously still liked James and had even invited him to her own house for the holidays, but something was deeply bothering her and she wasn't really sure what. The Slytherin found herself up in the North Tower, far away from her common room or from anyone that would bother her and her thoughts. Usually the girl liked spending her time with other people, but now was different and she knew that the only way to clear her head was to separate herself from others.

As Charlotte sat on the cold concrete and looked up at the afternoon sky, she began to wonder if she was going to be able to handle anything else much longer. Her OWLs were coming up soon and she didn't know if she would manage her love life along with them. The Slytherin wanted to do her best in her studies but with such a distraction she was unsure how it was all going to work out. She wanted James to be in her life forever, but was that really going to happen? Charlotte sighed, an unusually doleful look on her face illuminated by the sun. She would be able to handle it but was just unsure how.

 

[Daniel Rosemary]

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<COLOR color="black"><FONT font="Georgia">Dan hadn't been spending enough time with his sister lately. He missed catching up with her, but she had been spending her free time with her boyfriend that he hadn't seen her for days, except for in the hallways and during meals - even then, he'd never had the time to have a serious conversation with her. If he had to admit the fourth year didn't know what it felt like being in a relationship, all he knew about were crushes which came and went, and was nothing too serious. Dan had decided that it was time to talk to Amy because he couldn't wait much longer, and therefore he was going to send her a note. That way, if she ignored it she couldn't say she hadn't received it. The Slytherin sighed, muttering to himself while trudging up to the north tower. At least Daniel was friends with the guy, although that did not necessarily make it any less awkward. He glanced up as he arrived and almost turned around because someone was there, and he thought she wanted some private time but when he double checked who it was, couldn't just ignore her. Before he could wonder whether to leave her alone or to go to her, Dan took a few steps forward and found himself to be a few feet in front of Charlotte. "​

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Hey...you okay?" He couldn't help but be concerned for his friends, especially Charlotte as she seemed down. Dan didn't like seeing others unhappy and he did want to help the girl, he just needed to see if it was something personal or not.​

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[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte's overwhelming thoughts were interrupted when she heard the sound of a familiar voice. For a moment, the fourth year was hoping it was Cairo. She had missed him this semester, especially since they didn't have as many classes together, and he was always able to cheer her up. Instead, it was Dan and Charlotte smiled slightly at him. He wanted to know if she was okay but she didn't really know how to respond. Her problems didn't have to be his too, but she figured she'd rather enjoy his company nonetheless, and so she looked up at him warmly and spoke. "Hello Dan." she said, her voice barely audible. "Would you be able to sit with me for a little bit?" She gestured to the space next to her, hoping Dan would oblige. The girl was actually quite glad no one else had walked in. After all, if James or Maddie was there she wouldn't know what to do. It wasn't like Charlotte to hold grudges but, after everything that had happened lately, she wanted to be able to talk about it with someone who wasn't involved before jumping to conclusions.

 

[Daniel Rosemary]

Dan raised his eyebrows at Charlotte's quietness, which somehow struck him as odd but sat down next to her anyway, wanting to know what was going on but keeping his mouth shut. At least for now. The Slytherin had been kept out of Amy's friends lives the past few weeks, maybe months - and he guessed they were his friends too, so he didn't know how to make Charlotte feel any better. "School can be overwhelming, can't it," he sighed, before glancing over at Charlotte but her gaze was firmly fixed somewhere else. Dan's observing eyes didn't miss how down she seemed, more so than he'd ever seen anyone else. He narrowed his eyes, not out of accusation but concern. Was it that bad? "So, what's been going on?" Dan hated asking so soon but he needed to know. If it involved any of his friends, or Amy's, then he definitely needed to know what was up.​

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[Charlotte Owens]

Even with Daniel just sitting beside her, Charlotte felt somewhat better. The comment about school being overwhelming she agreed with. Despite this, her eyes stayed fixated on the ground in front of her, deciding how she should tell him how she was feeling. She wanted to be able to tell him everything right from the start when Maddie told her about her first kiss with James and about how Charlotte felt when James bought her a necklace and asked her to be his girlfriend, but she figured he was not going to be interested in that and the story was much too long. Charlotte just wanted Daniel to know where she was coming from without sounding like she was overthinking things.

The fourth year looked up at Daniel and began to speak, not really sure where she was going with it, but just letting herself talk. "James left me at the Yule Ball without telling me where he was going and then almost got himself killed... He lied to me." she said. Saying it out loud had made it seem even more real, but she continued to speak, not making any eye contact with Daniel incase her eyes began to water. "And then, when I saw him in the Hospital Wing, Maddie was already there holding his hand." Charlotte took a deep breath. "I still have feelings for James, but I don't know if they're the same kind of feelings anymore."

 

[Daniel Rosemary]

When Dan had asked Charlotte what was going on, he hadn't expected that. He had no idea so much had been happening around him and he hadn't even paid attention which was unusual for him, as he was the type of person to notice whether something wasn't right. If it concerned him, he wouldn't let others get involved but if it concerned others, people he considered friends, then it was going to become a problem and something that Daniel just had to fix. If it meant talk to James about it then so be it. He observed Charlotte as she spoke to him, squinting as he thought over about what she just told him. He frowned. "Wait, did you just say he almost got himself killed? What...happened?" The whole thing was getting absurd. The Slytherin wondered how hurt Charlotte was by the entire situation, she wasn't looking at him which was suspiciously like somebody who was not just 'not okay' but a lot more than that.

"Oh. Has Maddie even spoken to you about it, or at all? Maybe you should try talking to her, or something. I don't recommend talking to James until you're sure what's going on between those two. By the sounds of it, they're both...into each other," he said the last sentence carefully, not wanting to upset Charlotte even more than she already was. Daniel wasn't liking this, or where it was going or how it would end. He needed to do something - anything useful - to help Charlotte and fix this mess. Now, he knew what was up which meant he was kind of involved. He was not going to let it go this easily. ​

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[Charlotte Owens]

For a second Charlotte wondered whether she should just leave the conversation there and get up and walk away in fear that she was saying too much. What if James found out she was saying these things about him and then he'd get angry and he won't let her be friends with either him or Maddie anymore? Charlotte didn't know what she'd do without Maddie, especially after everything they've been through, but was it really worth it now that Charlotte knew the truth? She knew James was her first kiss but she never thought Maddie would ever do this to her. "He went outside to fight with his older brother, Ezra, who just so happened to be going with Maddie to the Yule Ball just to tease him." she replied. "James was fighting for Maddie, not me." Charlotte sighed. She didn't know whether or not she wanted her theories to be correct but it was the only reason she could come up with. Why else would James want to seriously hurt his own brother? The whole idea involving Maddie seemed more believable the more she thought about it.

Daniel's next words took a while to sink in. It made perfect sense that they were still into each other, even though they were dating other people. Despite this, Charlotte didn't want it to be true, not that she could control the way two people felt about each other. "Maddie didn't really seem to want to talk to me ever since I started dating James. Did you know they were each other's first kiss?" She looked at Daniel this time, her eyebrows raised, waiting for some kind of response from him. The Slytherin really hoped he wasn't going to tell Maddie she told him that. She didn't want to make matters any worse. Luckily, both James and Maddie probably supposed everything was fine now, especially after the Christmas break, and so as much as Charlotte disliked doing it, she could always just keep pretending. But would she be able to survive much longer keeping her feelings a secret? It was the reason why she was glad Daniel was beside her. Telling him meant it was not a secret anymore and it definitely managed to get a lot of things off her chest.

 

[Daniel Rosemary]

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<COLOR color="black">The Slytherin had no idea how much something so small and simple could turn out into something this dramatic, enough to cause friendship problems. Dan definitely wasn't the type to get in the middle of things, so he knew that as soon as he'd asked Charlotte about what had happened he was already involved and would do something, anything, to help. "Oh...Ezra..." he frowned, something triggered in the back of his mind about that name. He remembered almost as soon as she told him. "I've heard stuff about him, Ezra I mean. He's not exactly in my good books." Far from it. He kissed Amy, his sister, almost as soon as he transferred at the school. Who knew what else the guy was capable of doing. Charlotte was sharing her part of the story, he might as well share what he was like. "Unfortunately he's in our house. But why would Maddie accept to go with him in the first place? Surely..." he trailed off and glanced over at Charlotte. "Oh," he said quietly, realising what he'd said earlier, about James and Maddie having feelings for each other. This whole thing was getting out of hand. "It's okay, you'll get through it," Dan smiled at Charlotte, hoping he was convincing enough and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. "I had no idea they were," he admitted. Maybe Charlotte should try to move on, as hard as it could be. He didn't say that to her though. It was still too early. As they sat there, it struck Daniel how much two people who were best friends could do this to each other, or at least as far as he knew Maddie was very impulsive and a little selfish sometimes.​

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[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte didn't know much of Ezra to judge, but based on Daniel's reaction after hearing his name, she knew he probably wasn't a good person. But how could someone as sweet and brave as James be related to a mean and selfish person like Ezra? Charlotte wanted to ask Daniel why Ezra wasn't in his good books but held herself back, not wanting to upset her friend even more. Whatever Ezra did, Charlotte would not want to affiliate herself with that and so she just kept her mouth shut, preferring not to interfere. Daniel's question about why Maddie would agree to go with Ezra to the Yule Ball made Charlotte think. Was Maddie perhaps forced to go with him? If so, Charlotte would never be able to forgive herself. She wanted to be there for Maddie no matter what but the girls were beginning to drift apart and so Charlotte didn't know what to do now.

As Dan placed a reassuring hand on Charlotte's shoulder, Charlotte smiled and placed her hand gently on top of his, not wanting him to let go. "Thank you," she said, giving him a friendly smile. "Thank you for being my friend, even when I'm like this." Charlotte giggled, using the sleeve of her robes to wipe her watery eyes. Dan had obviously made her feel much better and Charlotte came to the conclusion that instead of sitting back and watching everything unfold that she would go and talk to both Maddie and James and find out the truth about everything. After a moment of silence, Charlotte looked up at Dan and spoke. "Do you think Maddie was forced to go to the Yule Ball with Ezra or do you think she actually wanted to go with him?" Charlotte didn't want to keep talking about it but if she didn't ask for someone's opinion it was going to be stuck in her mind forever. Charlotte just wanted the truth and was willing to do anything now to get it.

 

[Professor James Cade]

The Yule ball had not been what James expected. He had wanted a quiet night with his girlfriend but what he got was a duel with his brother and a night in the hospital wing. Luckily he was patched up rather quickly and left the hospital wing the following day. Despite what Charlotte walked in on when she came to see him in the hospital wing the two seemed to be ok. They spent Christmas day together and it had been a good day, there was no hint that Charlotte was either mad or upset with him but he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right with their relationship.

Of James too couldn't ignore how he felt when he found out Maddie was the first to see him in the hospital wing. He was almost glad it was her but that thought only made him feel guilty. James decided that he needed to find Charlotte, he needed to see how she was, how they were, did she still want to be his girlfriend? Finally, James settled on the North tower which is one of the places he knew Charlotte to frequent. As he made his way to the top he could Charlotte's voice, and she wasn't alone. James followed the voice and found her with Dan Rosemary. He decided he didn't want to wait or listen, he made his way over to the pair but only focused on his girlfriend. "Hey Charlotte,"

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte almost jumped when she heard footsteps coming towards them. To her complete surprise, it was James and Charlotte wondered how long he had been standing there for, or if he was even standing there at all. He didn't seem to want to pay any attention to Daniel however and his eyes were simply on her. The girl stood up, taking her hand off of Daniel's. "James!" she exclaimed, not knowing whether or not she should be happy or angry that he was finally standing in front of her. The pair hadn't seen each other for what felt like a long time and there they were now, Charlotte not knowing how to feel. She looked over at Daniel, hoping he would be able to tell her what to do, but she knew she was on her own now. "Why did you try to kill your own brother?" Charlotte tried to keep her voice steady as to not give away anything. She didn't expect the situation to turn out like this, but there was no turning back now and she only hoped that her boyfriend had a suitable explanation for every single question she was to ask.

 

[Daniel Rosemary]

Dan smiled at Charlotte, her words getting to him. "You don't need to thank me for that, I'll always be your friend," he replied and was about to say more had someone whom Dan had not expected to approach them actually did come over. The Slytherin pursed his lips, not liking where James's friendliness was coming from. Was he pretending or did he really still like Charlotte? For some reason he didn't like the idea of them together after what happened, or what he was told had happened. It would only cause more drama that no one needed. Daniel saw Charlotte glance at him swiftly and he shook his head while his eyes met hers during that one second exchange. It was meant to be a warning, to tell her not to trust him, even though that might have seemed completely wrong and not in his place to say - after all, she knew James better than he did. Still, Dan didn't trust him, clearly he had feelings for someone else so what was the point. "What are you doing?" He spoke before thinking about what the response could be. The question had been directed at James, and the fourth year wasn't trying to be rude, he just wanted to know why he did what he did. He didn't want to make matters worse either, but if he was going to help someone out of this then he wanted to know.</COLOR></FONT>​

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[Diane Winters]

*Wrong account*

 

[Professor James Cade]

Charlotte seemed quite surprised to see James and quickly removed her hand from Dan's. At least he had achieved that goal. James was a little uneasy about Dan being there, he didn't know him and he had no idea how the conversation was going to go, after blissfully ignoring everything over Christmas they would now have to address their issues or they would posion the relationship. If there was still one to save. James kept quiet about Dan, if Charlotte needed the support then he wouldn't rob her of that. Charlotte drew first blood though he was a little shockdd at the venon of her question. "I didn't, I took him outside to talk to him, he drew his wand so I drew mine, unfortunately he has a little more practice with offensive magic than I do," He said hoping he had answered her question. "But I suppose you want to knoa the reason I went out there in the first place" He asked looking over at Dan for a moment. "I'll admit it was because of Maddie, she is my friend, she's your best friend and I know how my brother treats girls, I needed to get her away from him and that was the only way I knew how," James remained calm hoping that Charlotte would see hos actions for what they were, standing up for a friend, at least mostly.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

As James spoke, Charlotte didn't know what part of it to believe. The fact that James would stoop to that level, even if his brother may have started it, was extremely childish. She wanted to stop him in the middle of talking to ask why he hated his brother so much, until he began to speak about Maddie. Everything James did these days was because of Maddie and Charlotte did not want to believe his petty excuse that he was only protecting her because she was Charlotte's best friend. Were they even best friends anymore? When Charlotte first came to Hogwarts she believed she could trust everyone and now all that trust had somehow been tossed away and it was going to be very hard to get her trust back.

"But why couldn't you just tell me!?" Charlotte said through gritted teeth, trying to not let her anger overcome her. "There are better ways to settle an argument than taking out your wand." She paused for a moment as her hands turned into fists and she took deep breaths. The girl hated to have been shut away and when important information wasn't given to her, she couldn't help but become irritated. Charlotte waited until she was much calmer to ask more questions. "James... why was Maddie holding your hand in the hospital wing? How did she find out before me?"

 

[Professor James Cade]

James didn't understand Charlotte in that moment. What was she mad about? That he protected her best friend from his less than savoury brother? That somehow Maddie found out about his stay in the hospital wing before she did. James didn't control the school rumour mill, he was unconscious at the time it had nothing to do with him. "Charlotte, I'm sorry I didn't tell you where i was going, you're my girlfriend I should have been honest with you and I'm sorry, but the rest I can't help with," James hoped she took his apology to heart. He got so caught up in getting Ezra away from Maddie that everything, and everyone else had taken a back seat in his mind. Charlotte should have been an acception to that. "Ezra drew his wand first, should I not have tried to defend myself? And as for Maddie finding out first, I havd no idea how that happened,I was in the hospital wing I'm sorry she found out first but it wasn't because of me, I wanted you there," James said taking Charlotte's hand.