Anon x Charlie [One shot?][Write Prompt]

Anon Ymous wiped a fogged up mirror and looked at his reflection. He inspected every millimetre of his face. He had shaved his soft downy weak facial hair that was an eyesore and didn't cut himself even once. A tiny scratch now would've ruined his morning.
He was turning his face around and pulled his hand along his chin and poked his lower lid. No eyebags. He had taken care of his skin, more than he ever cared before.
He stepped back and inspected his upper body. He was flexing his muscles a bit, not quite as muscular as Barnaby, but he never aimed for that either. He was fit, but he wasn't bursting out of his robes.
"What are you?" He asked himself trough the mirror.
He then hit his chest hard, making a noise that echoed in the gryffindor bathroom.
"YOU ARE A DRAGON!" He said convincing himself and baring his teeth and flexing his muscles.
"And what does he like?" He asked smiling and wrapped a towel around his midrift.
"He likes dragons..." Anon smiled at the mirror, he was ready to walk out. He had injected himself with confidence.
Anon walked out of the bathroom with just a towel and a smile covering him, he walked up to his locker and picked out an outfit that was in best condition. Most his clothes were a bit torn and fixed from all the vault hunting and other dangerous activities. Then again, he wouldn't mind. He runs out to the forbidden forest often and his clothes aren't in all that great condition.
"Good morning, Anon..."
Anon turned out to look at Rowan who had just woken up on the bed next to him.
"Good morning, Rowan!"
Rowan rubbed his eyes and picked up his glasses from the nightstand and fell back on his bed.
"Why are you up so early, I heard you go to the bathroom like... An hour ago."
Rowan looked like he was trying to gather strength to get up.
"I woke up after a nice rest and getting out of bed was easy, so I did."
Anon was picking underwear, he decided to go with his slightly tight polka dot boxers. He bought them as a joke, since he liked muggle references. Also they were really comfy, despite him having grown a bit out of them.
Rowan finally got up and lurched towards the bathroom.
"I envy your attitude during mornings..."
Anon smiled and looked at his long time friend.
"You'd wake up better if you didn't read all night."
Anon turned back and finished dressing up, he looked at himself from the mirror on his locker door.
"A dragon..." he whispered to himself to boost hist confidence and tried flexing his muscles. He was pretty happy about how his pecs filled the shirt and made the buttons tighten in a pleasing way.
He combed his hair one more time and walked out to the gryffindor common room. He was first person there, so he sat on his favourite chair and spread his legs trying to look confident. He alligned his package and just sat there waiting.
And waited...
Some gryffindor girls showed up and wished him good morning, smiling at him. He smiled radiantly back at them and went back to looking at the doors leading out the boy's dorms.
Finally Rowan came out and walked to Anon and sat on the chair next to him, still yawning.
"You ready to go for breakfast?"
"Not quite yet, I am relaxing a bit, you go on ahead if you're hungry."
Anon looked at Rowan and smiled before going back to look at the dorms.
"No, I am fine, are you waiting for someone?" Rowan looked at Anon lounging with his legs spread out.
"Oh, not really... Or well, actually... I was going to ask Charlie about a book, now that you mentioned it."
Anon was trying not to raise suspicion, he kinda felt silly going behind Rowan's back like this. He was sure he'd understand if he just told him the truth.
Rowan just rubbed his chin and started pulling on his weak beard.
"We could ask someone in his room, or wait till magical creatures class?"
Anon thought about it, it was probably best to wait till the magical creatures class, or just hope to run into him during breakfast or other classes.
"Alright, I'll wait for care for magical creatures. chances are, he has the book with him then."
Anon got up and shook his leg a bit.
"Let's go."

Anon and Rowan were walking to the great hall, past some slytherin girls, who turned to Anon and actually smiled at him. Rowan watched it jealously.
"Dude, Anon, how can you be so popular with everyone?"
"Come now, Rowan, how do you not know they weren't smiling at you?" Anon laughed.
"You know damn well they were smiling at you..."
"CONFIDENCE!" Anon bellowed at his friend and put his arms around his neck.
"You need to be confident." Anon slapped his friends chest, lightly.
"Suck your stomach in, take a deep breath and ooze confidence. Also it would help if you shaved your moustache."
Rowan flustered out of annoyance.
"I don't want to shave my moustache, I took great care growing it."
"Then be confident about it!" Anon laughed and let his friend go.
The two of them continued to walk towards the great hall and Anon noticed Rowan trying to copy his confident way of walking, it was damn cute.

Anon looked at the gryffindor table and realized Charlie was already there, did he spend all night in the forbidden forest? He had fresh scratches on his amazing cheeks and his hair was a cute mess.
"There he is, he must have woken up earlier than even you did, Anon." Rowan said as the two were walking towards Charlie.
Anon sat down infront of Charlie and reminded himself that he was, in fact, a dragon.
"Good morning, were you up all night?" Anon said trying to sound confident an a little distant, while picking up sausages and eggs on his table.
Charlie smiled at Anon in a confident way and laughed.
"Good morning! What tipped you off, Ymous? I tried to be covert about it."
Anon stared at Charlie's smile, and immediately turned to look down to his plate and blushed.
You're not a dragon, you are a mouse... A weak squeaking mouse. A mouse he wouldn't give a second glance at, he thought to himself.
Rowan was looking at Anon and realized something was going on.
"Hey, Anon mentioned some book you might have, that he's interested in. I was thinking we could go study together in the library after classes."
Anon turned to look at Rowan, who smiled back at him radiating confidence. Bless this man, this friend of mine!
"Yeah! I have some stuff I want to study, what do you say, Charlie?"
Charlie smiled at the two boys and ate his muffin.
"Yeah sure, let's do that."

Anon was elated the rest of the day, he didn't even know if elated was a word or if he was using it in the right context. But it didn't matter, he breezed trough the classes. Charms, potions he even had a little scuffle with Merula, but the girl probably noticed he was half-assing his insults and just gave up.
Finally the care for magical creatures, he loved those classes. He wasn't as good at the subject itself, he was decent. But not as prodigious as the redhead he had been staring all day.
He was about to walk to Charlie, who was talking with Professor Kettleburn. When he was stopped by another redhead from Slytherin who poked his chest.
"You took my advice"
"Oh, hey Barnaby... Yeah, your tips have been great."
"I think I know what you're going for here, keep it up."
"I will, thanks."
Barnaby patted Anon on the back and walked away.
Anon turned to look at Charlie, who was busy with Kettleburn. Anon decided he would just focus on the classes and gather confidence for later.

After the classes Anon, Charlie and Rowan walked to the library. Anon walked behind the two boys, he tried to remind himself to be confident.
The three boys picked up a secluded spot. and sat down. Anon was sitting next to Charlie and Rowan sat opposite of them.
"Is this the book you wanted to see, Anon?"
Charlie put down a well read book about dragons on the table.
"Yeah, that's it, do you mind if I read it?"
"I can borrow it to you, if you want."
"No, this is fine, I'll just read it here." Anon said and covertly pulled his chair closer to charlie and started reading the book.
"You're usually just reading books related to the vaults, does this mean there might be dragons in them?" Charlie smiled.
"Oh, this is unrelated... But if there were dragons, I'd love to have you by my side."
"Wouldn't miss it..." Charlie went back to his book.
Anon glanced at Rowan, he realized he was neglecting his friend, but Rowan just looked up, tapped his nose and smiled.
Anon smiled awkwardly back at Rowan, he knew Rowan had realized something. He should've come clean to the boy ages ago.
Rowan closed his book and slammed his palms on the table.
"I'm sorry, I just remembered something. I need to be elsewhere or I might end up breaking a promise."
Charlie looked at Rowan.
"Alright, no problem." Charlie yawned and went back to his book.
"Yeah, me and Charlie are going to stay for a bit longer though."
"Right, I'll talk to you later." Rowan said to the boys, but pointed at Anon.
"Yeah."
Anon went back to reading the book about dragons. He spotted an ancient drawing of a dragon included in the book.
"Charlie, what is happening in this picture?"
Charlie leaned closer to Anon, and he could smell the boy's sweat mixed with the smells from the forest.
"Oh that, dragons need to blow fire in the eggs to keep them hot enough."
"I didn't know that..."
"Yeah, it's fascinating."
Charlie pulled his chair closer to Anon again and started going trough the tome infront of the two boys.
"Here, it explains it in more detail."
Anon read the page Charlie showed him and tried to think of what to do next. He had all these scenarios in his head ranging from casual to downright lewd. But he didn't really know what to do for the most important part... How does he explain Charlie his feelings and what would he do if Charlie just wasn't that kind of person or just didn't fancy him.
Anon snapped out of his daydreams by Charlie asking him a question.
"I'm sorry, what? I got immersed reading." Anon said quickly, feeling blood starting to gather in his cheeks.
Charlie just laughed.
"I know the feeling, I didn't know you were that interested in dragons, most of the free ttime you have, you spend with curses and the vaults."
"I uhh... I have found other interests too..." Anon said trying to sound confident, but failing miserably.
"Is everything alright?" Charlie turned to face Anon and looked at his expression.
"Y-yeah, why?"
"You're usually so confident, I've never seen you this nervous about anything. I mean you break curses and eat danger for breakfast."
Anon felt like he would rather be in a vault right now, breaking curses, but confessing to Charlie seemed like insurmountable challenge. Especially in a library like this, maybe if they were drinking butterbeers in hogsmeade he'd be more relaxed.
"Anon?"
Turned to look at Charlie and pulled his chair back and looked down on the book.
"I'm alright." He tried to smile, but the confidence Charlie had just praised was gone.
"Anon, speak to me, I hate seeing you like this."
Anon turned to look at Charlie, he sounded genuine. Maybe he cares, maybe it doesn't matter if he just admits his feelings. Even if Charlie doesn't respond the same way, maybe they can still be friends.
"Alright... I will, I will tell you the truth..."
Anon swallowed and turned to face Charlie.
"I've... Started to develop... Look, I need to start from somewhere..."
Charlie looked at Anon a bit confused.
"Right... let's start with the vaults, you know my obsession with them... You were so helpful with me every step of the way... Everything you've done has been helpful to me."
Charlie turned to look at the book in front of him.
Anon's heart dropped, he felt like he needed to stop right here before he said something stupid. But he kept going on anyway.
"Look, I... I'm just going to go ahead and say, this uncertainty is really sapping my confidence away, this is more difficult than anything I've faced during our adventures."
"Our adventures..." Charlie said smiling.
"Yes, our adventures... You're not just a sidekick to me, Charlie... I..."
Anon took a deep breath.
"I think I love you..."
"Wow, I was way off about you..." Charlie laughed scratching his neck.
Anon looked down at his legs demoralized. But felt Charlie grab his shoulder and pulled his head up.
"I didn't mean it that way, Anon..."
"No, I understand... I mean what would've been the chances..." Anon averted his gaze
"Yeah, what are the chances..."
Charlie was smiling he was looking at Anon in the eyes.
"Confidence, Anon, it's what I adore about you."
Anon's eyes got wide and he stared Charlie with his face completely red.
"...Wait you mean?"
"I am not against it... But this is... I didn't think it would be a rush like this."
Charlie said still smiling.
"Will you give me time, Anon? You've seem to have gathered your courage, while I never even started..."
"Of course, I'm sorry if my confession... But unnecessary pressure on you, please don't think of it that way. We can be friends still, I just needed you to know that I like you more than that."
"In that case, I will lend you this book. And come back to you when I have sorted my feelings out."
Charlie got up and turned to look at Anon.
"I am glad you came forward with your feelings, Anon..."
"Yeah."
Anon looked at the book Charlie left to him, he felt childish trying to be confident by telling himself he was a dragon. He was just a man... A boy... But he got his feelings out, and wasn't completely rejected. It was the greatest feeling in the world.

Anon spend the next few nights reading on the book, He glanced at Charlie during classes, but gave the boy space. He tried to stay confident, he knew Charlie wouldn't just start ignoring him, whenever he was ready he would tell Anon how he felt. And whatever those feelings were, there would be no regrets.
It was saturday, Anon was still eating breakfast, when an owl landed infront of him with a letter. Anon read it immediately.
Dear, Anon.
Meet me in three broomsticks, today.
*.. Charlie
"What's that?" Rowan asked.
Anon looked at Rowan a bit worried, but decided to tell him the truth.
"I think I have a date with Charlie. I hope, or he will turn me down gently with butterbeer."
Anon said while watching the owl drink water from his goblet.
"Anon, I am still miffed you never told me you liked Charlie that way."
"I'm sorry, Rowan, it wasn't easy to admit to even myself..."
Anon said wistfully and watched the owl fly away after it was done drinking.
"It's fine, you can confide with me with everything. Besides, this is good for me... Less competition from the most popular heart-throb in the damn school." Rowan laughed.
Anon smiled at Rowan an slapped his back.
"CONFIDENCE! I wouldn't have stood a chance if you were confident."
"I'll try my best." Rowan smiled.
"Then I shall strive to do the same."
Anon got up and walked off to go to Hogsmeade.

Charlie was sitting in the secluded corner the two often sat together. Anon swallowed and stopped to gather his confidence a bit.
"Hello, Charlie." Anon said sitting down infront of him.
"Anon." Charlie said formally and put a butterbeer infront of him.
Anon was a bit worried about Charlie's tone, his mind began jumped to the worst case scenario. He tensed up a bit out of nerves.
"Relax, Anon." Charlie smiled in a way that melted doubts.
Anon smiled at Charlie, no matter what happens now, it's fine... Even if nothing happens, that's fine too. Anon relaxed and just enjoyed the butterbeer with Charlie in a comfortable silence.
"I thought about it..." Charlie started.
Anon stared the boy's eyes intently.
"The more I thought about it, the more I loved the idea... What I am trying to say is, I want to give this... Us a try."
Anon felt like just jumping on Charlie, He didn't even care who would see. But he refained himself a bit, not to make a scene.
"You made me happy, Charlie."
"I love seeing you happy, it's what rewarded me most when I helped you out. There is something about you that drew me to you."
"Well, I just thought you were damn cute."
The two laughed and relaxed.
"I originally thought about asking you to meet me in the forbidden forest, since we've spent a lot of time together there..."
"I would've loved that."
"But, I think this is better, let's just relax a bit, get used to the idea first.. We have all the time in the world."
"I love that idea too..."
"I look forward to a intimate tryst in the forbidden forest though, just the two of us..."
Charlie smiled at Anon.


----------------------Epilogue-----------------------------

Anon kicked his trunk further down the trolley and tried to make room for the other case he had with him. The redheaded man that was with him just looked at him amused.
"This is it then, Charlie..." Anon said and turned to the man responsible for the happiest years of his life.
"Don't make this difficult, Anon..." Charlie smiled sadly.
"No, I came to terms with it months ago when you told me about it..." Anon said a little pained.
The two just stood there awkwardly looking at eachother.
"Romania then?"
"Yeah... I got the confirmation literally hours before we left Hogwarts."
Charlie looked at the red train they had taken, maybe for the last time in their lives.
"For a while I thought... Maybe I could... Find some place in Romania, some occupation... But, you know..."
Anon started, but felt Charlie grab his shoulders.
"Anon, they need you... This expedition is important, they begged you specifically to join them as a curse-breaker. You saved Hogwarts, the world loses if you stop doing what you're meant to do. Bill told me how important this is. I can't believe we're having this conversation again. You told me I needed to apply to work with dragons."
Anon smiled, he knew how important dragons were to Charlie.
"And this doesn't mean it's over between us, we'll meet again, we'll write..."
Charlie ran his fingers trough Anon's hair.
"I know... Neither of us were meant for a desk job and... Comfortable life..."
Anon put his hand on charlie's neck, trying to take in the texture of his hair.
"Just promise me that you will stay safe..."
Charlie laughed.
"I am the more careful of us two, you're the one who needs to reassure me."
The train let a puff of smoke as it was about to leave the King's Crossing. Anon and Charlie took it as a sign and kissed for what felt forever, both trying to make it a memory that would last them trough the lives they both chose.
When they let go of their embrace Anon smiled at Charlie and took his belongings.
"Alright, I need to get going..."
Anon walked next to Charlie and slapped his ass.
"I'll send you a postcard from Iceland, I'll see you around, Charles Weasley, my love."
Charlie laughed.
"I'll do the same from Romania."
The two parted on good terms.