CHLORINE
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Thump. Thump. Thump.

Charlotte grabbed yet another rock from the ground and flung it, just as Harry opened the window and had to jump out of the way in order not to be hit. It was the middle of a hot night, the streets were sepia toned and the moon was brighter than usual in the sky (when she had looked out of her window earlier, she had mistaken it for a spaceship) and Charlotte Cardleman had a mischievous feeling of adventure within her.

"Lottie," Harry gasped, before picking up the rock and throwing it right back out the window. Charlotte squealed and jumped out of its way, even though it was nowhere near her and she knew he would never really aim for her.

"Hi, Harry," she answered. "Glad it's you, I was afraid I was knocking on your godfather's window for a moment."

"What are you doing here?"

"Hang on," she grinned before jogging over the the doorstep, and picking up the vase she had brought him, full if her favourite roses. "I brought you those flowers I promised."

The smile on Harry's face made her heart melt as she help up the vase, and took the moment to admire his appearance, as sleepy and dishevelled as it may have been.

"Give me a second," he said, finally. "I'll let you in. But you have to be quiet, alright?" Charlotte rolled her eyes and nodded. "No, I'm being serious, everyone's in bed- even I was before you got here!"

"Oh, well then I suppose I'll just leave if I'm causing so much trouble, Romeo," she replied, with a faux sigh, turning her back to him as if about to walk away.

"No, wait, I didn't mean it!"

"Thought so," she cackled, turning back around. "Come on then, I'll hop over the garden fence but you'll have to open the back door."

"Aren't I supposed to be the one throwing rocks at your window?" Harry contemplated five minutes later, after he let her into the house, and they had both flopped down onto his bed. "Me being Romeo and all."

"I don't have a balcony, so either way it wouldn't be completely accurate," she said, looking over at him with a grin. They were lying side by side, connected by two earphones, which were linked to her MP3 player and blared out an Oasis tune. "And you don't know where my window is."

"Maybe you could show me," he proposed. The light was off and the curtains were open wide, in came street and carlights, which illuminated the room dimly. "Just before I leave tomorrow."

Charlotte stomach tightened at this, and she swallowed. "Maybe." Harry glanced at her but she looked up at the ceiling, hoping that would hide her glossy eyes. She could sense his hand creeping closer to hers, but he did not move to take it, only brushing his little finger against her own shyly, before breathing deep and grabbing hold of it.

It was strange, at that moment she had a sudden flashback to her childhood, a time when she and Marilyn were sorting a Cinderella jigsaw puzzle, while Theodore ane her father played, when she began to become impatient, ADHD running wild. Marilyn has simply waved her wand to solve it quickly, much to young Charlotte's delight, but one of the pieces was trapped between the floor and the rug upon which the pair were sat. Charlotte had freed the piece and it had joined the others, and she had experienced an immense satisfaction at how well it fit.

This was how she felt at that moment.

"We should do something," she said, suddenly. "This is our last night together, and I want to make sure that Saturday 31st of August is one we won't forget."

"What do you suggest?" Harry teased. "I mean, if you wanted to give me a send off, maybe you should've came along when it was still Saturday. Midnight passed ages ago."

"Let's go for a swim," Charlotte suggested, suddenly brightening.

"Oh, okay," Harry spoke, sarcastically. "Let me just grab my swimming trunks and we can get in the bathtub."

"Firstly, we can just go in our underwear there'll be nobody but us," Charlotte shrugged with a cheeky wink. "Secondly, I will not get in the bathtub with you Romeo, I'm not that kind of girl."

"It's not like we have a pool in our backyard," he laughed.

"No, we don't," she sighed, dramatically, before smiling. "But my school does."

"Are you joking?"

"C'mon," she cackled. "You're the Boy Who Lived! So live a little!"

"I don't remember ever saying I wouldn't do it," Harry replied. "I'm just a little surprised is all. You're full of surprises, Charlotte Cardleman."

"That's what you like about me, Harry Potter," she answered, before taking his hand and pulling him away into the night.

~

"I'm all for breaking and entering," Harry said, as the two of them stood beside the school pool, which Charlotte had had to spend time powering up. "But skinny dipping?"

"It's not skinny dipping if we're not buck naked," she groaned, shrugging off her hoodie. "Come on! What happened to daring, nerve and chivalry?"

"I dunno, maybe you're more Gryffindor than I am," Harry laughed, and she rolled her eyes, before taking off her vest and tracksuit bottoms.

"I sure am," she replied, before making a run up and jumping into the pool with a loud splash. She turned around, casually staying afloat. "Come on! Join me."

Harry's hesitated for a moment and she could've sworn she saw his eyes roam her torso and she bobbed up and down in the cold water. Then he undressed leaving himself in black underwear and came diving to her side.

"You could have told me it was freezing!"

"It's not that cold," Charlotte giggled. "Maybe we could do a few laps to warm up. Five."

"It's a race," Harry grinned, before jetting off and Charlotte gasped.

"Cheat! You got a headstart," she shouted, but swam after him anyway. Harry tired around the third lap and Charlotte swiftly overtook him, watching as he swam back to her after his final go. He took her hands and they rotated in the water, slowly, gracefully and her heart leapt.

Charlotte looked at Harry and sighed. He looked beautiful, hair soaking wet and eyes bright. "I want to pause this moment," she blurted. "Right here. I want you to stay."

"I want to stay too," he answered, quietly. "This summer... I've remembered a lot."

"Like?"

"What it's like to be normal," Harry sighed. He turned away from her and leaned his arms over the edge of the pool, resting his chin on them, and closing his eyes. She mirrored his movements, watching him as the chlorine water sploshed around them."When I'm at Privet Drive, I'm this terrible thing with terrible blood. When I'm at school, I've constantly got eyes on me. I've remembered what it's like not to be the Chosen One. You help me forget about all that, and... When I'm with you, Lottie, I'm not The Boy Who Lived. I'm just Harry."

He opened his eyes and turned to look at her; their gaze locked for several moments, emerald and sapphire, and Charlotte found herself moving her hand towards his face, wiping away the droplets of water on his glasses. She wanted him to see her- all of her. She wanted nothing more than to tell him what she felt. So she did.

"And you make me feel magical," she replied, slowly raising a hand to caress his cheek. "The very essence of me, even though I'm not. So... What are we waiting for Romeo?"

Harry took a shaky breath, slender hands reaching for her waist before pausing, and taking her remaining hand in his instead.

"Just because you make me feel normal, it doesn't mean I am," he said, and she understood. "Everyone I love is in danger, because of me."

She knew what this meant. "I wouldn't mind being in danger if it meant being loved by you."

"Don't be silly," Harry sighed.

"I mean it, Romeo," Charlotte confirmed. "I really do."

Harry looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn't. She wanted to say that being loved by him was all she really wanted in that moment, and that for the longest time she'd wished for someone to love her the way her father had loved her mother, and Theodore's mother, but had never found someone who she wanted to love her, until now.

"There are some things that just grip you," he said, quietly, in a casual manner she assumed was imposed to throw her off his scent. It wasn't working. "Enthral you. There are some things you want so badly you'd do anything for them, but you know you can't have them in your arms because if you did they would likely crumble into nothing at your touch."

She noticed how his words went from "things" to "them". From addressing objects to people.

"Like what?"

"Like..." Harry frowned, and she could hear the cogs turning in his head she brought herself closer to him. "Like, newborn kittens for example. So endearing they make your heart hurt and all you want to do is scoop one up and keep it forever. But you can't look after it, protect it at that point, because it's in danger of cold, and disease and starvation. You don't have the skills necessary to keep it warm, and healthy and feed it. You can't have something so vunerable. So you have to wait until it's not."

Charlotte wondered if he deemed her as a newborn kitten, something that needed protection and looking after. Charlotte wondered whether, if he did see her that way, it was due to her lack of magic. Charlotte wanted to ask him how he did see her. If he found her endearing, enthralling. If she made his heart leap the way he made hers, his mind clear from everyday stresses, if she made him feel free.

"Tell me about Hogwarts," Charlotte said, instead, realising she had let her hand linger far too long on his cheek, and moving it away, resuming their rotations. "The details. Things nobody else has told me yet."

"I don't know where to start," Harry chuckled. "I suppose the castle is beautiful. Majestic. There's so many cool things that you can never guarantee that you'll come across- like in my third year, I used a secret passageway to sneak out of the grounds, ended up smack bang in the sweetshop."

"You're lying!"

"I'm not!" Harry laughed. "What else... The food is wonderful- only treacle tart that tops yours is the ones the house elves make- no offence. The Christmas decorations are always wonderful, and the coats of armour sing carols in the corridors occasionally."

"I'd have duets with them all the time," Charlotte giggled and he rolled his eyes playfully.

"Gryffindor common room is definitely the best, even though I've only other one I've ever seen is the Slytherin one," he continued. "I'd say their's is ice, and ours is fire. Of course, there's no denying that Salazar Slytherin had good taste, but ours is a lot more homely, I feel. Obviously all red and gold, there's desks and sofas, and armchairs- there's this really squashy one I love, right by the fire. That's another thing, the log fires are so warm- I think they much be charmed because it's like a regular fire, but enhanced. You can hear every single crackle of the wood, and it gives the most wonderful glow."

"I could do with a fire, right now," Charlotte grinned."Tell me more."

"I can do magic there. Proper magic, not the kind of accidental thing you would've seen from Nott all those years ago. I wish I could do something for you now, perhaps glitter, or snowflakes, or coloured smoke-"

"That sounds great," Charlotte sighed, fondly. "As soon as you turn seventeen, I want to see that smoke."

"I could always get Sirius to show you some things-"

"No," she smiled. "I don't want to see it from the adults. I've seen Marilyn's stuff- I see it every day at the café. I'd rather wait, and see your magic. Probably tops everyone else's anyway."

"Definitely doesn't top my friend Hermione's, but alright, you can see mine- right now," he grinned back, swimming away and grabbing his jeans from where they were left by the ladder. Harry grabbed his wand and Charlotte laughed loudly, shaking her head.

"No! You'll get in so much trouble," she gasped, splashing him with water.

"Lottie Cardleman," Harry said, in mock solemnity. "You and I have broken into your school swimming pool. I'm already in so much trouble."

"No, really," Charlotte said, swimming towards him, and gently taking the wand out of his hands. "I will not let you be dragged to court because I wanted to see coloured smoke."

"Fine," Harry sighed. "It's not like the Ministry would do anything about it anyway- they've had nothing but good things to say about me since the department of mysteries."

"It's not a risk we're going to take, particularly since you've already been taken in for trial once," she laughed, before looking down at the long slender wood in her hand. Her smile faded without her knowledge. She turned away from him. "It's just wood for me."

"Here, let me help you," Harry spoke, putting his arms around her and placing his palms on top of her hands. "Now do you feel it?"

Charlotte tried, she really did. She concentrated with all of her might but to no avail. She felt a stick in her hands and a boy against her back and that was it. The only magic she felt were the butterflies in her stomach but whatever Harry thought might happen, wasn't happening.

"No, I don't," Charlotte said quickly, dropping the wand and shaking him off. "I'm nothing but a muggle."

"You're a lot more than a muggle," Harry replied, voice laced with genuine concern. "Lottie, you're spectacular-" he stopped paused, rewinded and flipped his words over. "Lottie, you're great."

"Yeah, whatever you say, Romeo," Charlotte laughed casually, although inside she was melting, and made her way over to the ladder and climbing out of the pool, bra and panties sticking to her skin. "I'm starting to prune up. Let's go someplace else."

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Hello everyone! Here's some fluff for you all to enjoy! I hope you liked this chapter and the feels I hope came with it!

qotd: how would you feel about the odd chapter in Harry's pov?

aotd: I may already have a little something prepared if you would like!

-Amber.