Closed Matched

[Charlie Madison]

It felt bizarre to Charlie, entering the Great Hall with Phoebe, that they had been dating now for close to a year. Charlie's life had changed a lot in the last year, with Phoebe as part of it, and a new member joining her family. It almost felt overwhelming to look back on how different she felt now. The year certainly hadn't been all good, struggles with her studies plaguing Charlie's academic life, and the fights she had gotten into last Valentines had put a significant damper on her good mood, but overall, Charlie felt great about the direction her life had taken in the last year. As much as she always hated to admit when Emily's meddling was for the best, Charlie couldn't help but think her sister had outdone herself this time, matching Charlie up with Phoebe. Charlie couldn't help stealing glances at her date as they made their way into the Great Hall arm in arm. Phoebe was always beautiful, but as much as she hated dresses on herself, Charlie always thought Phoebe looked incredible all dressed up for formal events. Looking around the room for a moment, Charlie turned back to her date, wondering what Phoebe was thinking. "What do you want to do first?" She asked, squeezing Phoebe's hand lightly.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe found it hard to believe only a year had passed since she had met Charlie, but it was impossible to refute. They had met at the yule ball last year because of their sisters meddling, and had started dating soon after. Now they were here again, together. Charlie looked amazing as she usually did at these events, and Phoebe couldn't help admiring her outfit slightly. Phoebe herself had a very casual style in her day to day life, but for these events she dressed up a little. She hardly ever wore dresses, but at a dance it was pretty nice to wear one, though she could also understand why Charlie didn't want to.

The great hall was decorated the same way it usually was, with a very winter-y theme. Phoebe wondered if Professor Alicastell was ever going to change it up and surprise them, though she doubted it. She glanced at her girlfriend as she squeezed her hand, considering her question. "I kind of want to try mixing every different drink together and see what sort of disgusting concoction we can make, and maybe see if we can get one of our sisters to try it." She said with a grin. "I don't really have plans besides that, I'll let you entertain me for the evening." She teased.

 

[Charlie Madison]

Charlie always felt a little clumsy dancing, and though she was willing to give it her best shot for Phoebe if she wanted to, she was overwhelmed with relief when Phoebe quickly proposed something much more fun to do. It was things like this that Charlie loved about Phoebe, though every time it had come to her mind to say the word something had held her back. Even though she trusted Phoebe like she trusted few other people, being vulnerable made Charlie nervous, and though they had been dating a long time, saying the word still felt a step too far. It relieved Charlie that Phoebe hadn't made any attempts to say it either, though part of her wondered if the older girl was waiting for her to make the first step. It worried Charlie to think about, but pushing those thoughts aside, she was able to focus on having fun at the dance with her girlfriend. "That sounds perfect." She grinned. "Emily will drink anything pink, let's try to make something pink."

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe knew Charlie wasn't the biggest fan of dancing, and she didn't like it that much herself. So she was happy to spend their time at the dance in some other, more fun way. Hopefully, they could get some kissing in, as she did like that quite a lot. Phoebe grinned back at Charlie, glad that she was going along with the plan. "Awesome." She said happily. "And no wonder Emily and Alice are friends, Alice loves pink." She shook her head, as if disappointed by this predictability of her sister. "Let's try it." She said, taking Charlie's hand and leading her over to the drinks table. Phoebe let go of Charlie's hand and grabbed a few cups and glanced at her girlfriend. "Let's make it even more interesting. A competition." She said with a grin. "Whoever makes the most disgusting drink wins."

 

[Charlie Madison]

Charlie returned Phoebe's grin, the thrill of having something exciting to do filling her. "Oh yeah, they're totally on the same girly girl wavelength." She said, with a small laugh. Charlie didn't share her mother and sister's enthusiasm for girly things at all, but the fact that Emily could be so girly one minute, and so tough the next was one of her favourite things about her. She laughed and followed Phoebe over to the drinks table, her girlfriend's hand warm in hers. When they got there Charlie grabbed a cup, laughing at Phoebe's idea. "You're on." She grinned. "Three, two, one, GO!" Charlie split off from Phoebe at once and started looking for things that would make a terrible pink drink. A slice of ham was the first thing she dropped into the cup, followed by a splash of tomato sauce and some mayonnaise. Gross. Charlie topped it up with some lemonade for fizz, and threw in a couple of heart shaped sweets and a candy cane for good measure. That was sure to beat whatever Phoebe came up with.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe grinned back at Charlie. "Not just the girly girl wavelength they're also both nosy and meddlers." She teased. It was the reason they were together now, after all. The fact that Charlie was totally in made Phoebe even more happy to be dating her, and her mind filled with sappy thoughts that she quickly pushed away. There was no time to be sappy, there was a competition to be won here. Once Charlie counted down, Phoebe started thinking of a plan. She raced off to a different snack table and grabbed a cup. She poured all the different drinks in it, mixing it up. Then she threw in a handful of Bertie Bott's, picking out the ones she felt most likely to be disgusting. She grinned as she watched the beans dissolve a little into the liquid. She scraped the icing off a cupcake and mixed it in as well to make the drink pink. Then she turned to look for Charlie, and headed over to her. Seeing what Charlie had in her cup gave Phoebe pause, and she knew that she probably had lost. She quickly scrambled for a way to turn this around. "You know, you won't win if your sister won't drink it. And there's literal ham floating in yours." She pointed out quickly, hoping Charlie wouldn't remember she hadn't actually specified that rule. She would argue it had been implied.

 

[Charlie Madison]

Charlie laughed at Phoebe's accurate impression of both of their sisters. "Too true." She grinned. "Destined to be friends." Emily was the absolute definition of a meddler, and though she had that to thank for her relationship, and a lot of friendships and fun activities over the years, Charlie wouldn't hesitate to poke fun at her little sister for it at times. Once Phoebe returned with her drink, Charlie couldn't hold back her grin. She had won for sure. Phoebe's drink looked sickly sweet, but Charlie's just looked plain sickly, with chunks of ham and blobs of mayonnaise floating through it. Her face fell though, as Phoebe added a stipulation to the rules. "Hey, no fair!" Charlie said, dismayed. "That wasn't in the rules, it's just the grossest!" Even as she protested, Charlie's mind began whirring. She was pretty sure she could get Emily to drink this, if she went about it the right way.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

"Well, maybe we were destined to meet as well, if you put it like that." Phoebe said with a slight shrug. She had almost said 'destined to be together', but that sounded unreasonably sappy. Charlie never really said sappy things like that, so Phoebe didn't think she would appreciate it too much. Once they were comparing drinks, Phoebe shuddered at the sight of Charlie's, but she didn't like the triumphant grin on her face. "Don't be so sure yours is worse, there's at least two vomit Bertie Bott's in here, I'm pretty sure." She said, lifting her chin. "And it was an implied rule." She added haughtily, though she had no idea if Charlie would bite and go for it, or declare herself the winner anyway. Part of Phoebe wanted to just let Charlie win, but her competitive nature wouldn't allow her to go down without a fight.

 

[Charlie Madison]

Charlie couldn't quite help the smile that sneaked onto her face at Phoebe's comment, but she looked away quickly. Times like this, it seemed clear to her that Phoebe felt the same, but Charlie still couldn't bring herself to say the words. She let the subject drop with a smile, hoping Phoebe would forgive her for not saying something sweet back. Charlie rolled her eyes at Phoebe's assertion. "Whatever, I bet ham juice is still grosser." She said confidently, as a plan began to form in her mind. "Alright, I bet I can get Emily to drink this, come on." She grinned and grabbed Phoebe's free hand, dragging her around the room to where Emily was hanging out further down the snack table. "Hey Em, I win a bet if you drink this." Charlie grinned confidently, holding out the drink. "It's super gross, but I told Phoebe you're tough enough."

 

[Emily Madison]

The Yule Ball was quickly becoming one of Emily's favourite times at Hogwarts. The weather was the closest New Zealand ever got to nice, despite the fake snow in the hall, and there was just something special about a time where everyone got together and dressed up their nicest. Emily didn't think she would ever get tired of looking around at all the beautiful dresses everyone wore to these dances. It felt like the whole school had become a fairytale overnight, and she always had fun. All of Emily's friends were busy at the moment, so she was lingering by the food table for the moment, hoping someone would be free to hang out and maybe dance soon, when her sister approached. Emily could never hold back a grin when she saw Charlie and Phoebe together - that had to be one of Emily's absolute best meddles of all time, frankly. As much as Charlie hated to admit to anything, Emily could tell her sister was happier than she had been in a long time, dating Phoebe, and she was pleased to have had a part in making that happen. There was no time to gush about what a cute couple they made today though, Emily's eyes widening as Charlie blurted out what was happening, and a different kind of mischevious grin spread across Emily's face. She and Charlie had always been partners in crime, and she was glad Charlie knew she would immediately be down for whatever today's plan was. The cup Charlie was holding looked and smelled revolting, but Emily wasn't gonna be the reason her big sister lost a bet, so she grabbed it, grinning brightly. "You got it." She said cheerfully, pinching her nose as she threw back as much of the drink as she could. Emily nearly gagged as she realised the chunks floating in it were some kind of meat, but she swallowed a large mouthful before looking at Phoebe with a triumpant grin, teasing the older girl. "Ha ha!" She grinned, and high fived Charlie.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe shrugged. "I guess we'll never know." She said confidently, as she was sure Charlie was never going to get her sister to drink something with ham in it. But then Charlie said she could, and grabbed Phoebe's hand. Phoebe followed, frowning slightly. It was easy to find Charlie's sister, though Alice was nowhere nearby. Phoebe's mouth dropped open as Charlie told her most of the truth, and she started to shake her head to protest. "Wait, that's not what we agreed-" she started, but before she could say anything else, the blond girl had downed part of the drink. Phoebe had to cover her own mouth for a moment in disgust, and shuddered. "Ew." She said, shaking her head. "I didn't say you could tell her what it was for!" She then argued, shaking her head again. "I can do that too." She looked around for Alice, but already knew it was a lost casue. "Actually, probably not. Alice stopped taking most food items from me after the second time I got her to eat a cockroach cluster. I don't think she would drink this even for a bet." She had always found that story funny, but now she cursed her past self. "Whatever, I guess you win but you still cheated."