Never what it seems

Thanks for all the kind reviews. I love hearing how much you all enjoy this fic!

Here's another chapter with Harry's imagination stealing the show, once again :-)

Harry felt like he had been abandoned by everyone, including his best friends Ron and Hermione.

Ron was, at this very moment, in the room one floor above him with his brother Charlie. He had told Harry they had some kind of important family matters to discuss, declining to comment further despite Harry's probing.

Could he be blamed for using his new-found spell after that?

Harry took a deep breath before casting it. He was certain, after hearing Fred and George, nothing could be worse.

"Come on! Show me!" he heard Ron's voice say and there was a laugh. He assumed that belonged to his brother.

"Now, now, Ronnie", Charlie's voice had a teasing tone, "Be good and maybe I will".

Ron groaned in frustration and Harry gulped.

No! Surely not! He was beginning to think he was surrounded by sex-crazed wizards!

"Please, Charlie!" Ron's voice spoke again, "I've been waiting for ages to see! It was hard enough getting away from Harry without him suspecting anything. The least you could do is…" his voice trailed away and a moment later, Harry heard his shout of delight.

He assumed Charlie had relented and showed him…Harry shook his head. It really couldn't be!

"Oh, Merlin. That's…" he heard Ron gulp, his voice sounding suddenly hoarse and Harry couldn't deny it any longer.

Not you too, Ron! he thought as he heard Charlie speak again.

"You can touch it if you like. Gentle though", he said and Ron took a sharp intake of breath.

"It's…it's so smooth", Ron said after a moment, "If only I had one like this".

Charlie chuckled. "Ah, well. We're not all that lucky!"

Harry heard someone else come into the room.

"Oh…am I interrupting?" he heard Sirius' voice say.

"It's fine, Sirius", Charlie replied. 

"Wait..what are you guys…is that…?" Sirius began and he heard Ron answer, "Yeah. Wanna feel it?"

"Do you mind, Charlie?" Sirius asked and Harry assumed the older Weasley boy must have nodded his agreement as a few seconds later he heard Sirius say, "What a beauty! I've never felt one so heavenly. I could ride this all day!"

"You'd be exhausted!" Charlie laughed.

"Yeah but it'd be worth it, wouldn't it?" Ron said with a moan of longing and Harry stopped the spell.

His list of people to avoid so he could be spared further embarrassment had just grown by two.

As Harry buried his nose in the first book he could find (only mind-numbing boredom could make him forget this!), Charlie wrapped up the new broomstick they had all been admiring.

"What d'you reckon, Sirius? Think Harry'll like it for Christmas?" he asked, removing the package from Ron's jealous gaze.

"I hope he does!" Ron said, tearing his eyes away from the fastest broom of the decade, "Cause I've had a hard time keeping it a secret from him. I thought he might suspect when he caught me looking at the new brooms brochure!"

"He'll love it!" Sirius said, completely confident as he thought of the dark, hazel handle on the broom and its fine bristles, "This is going to be his best Christmas ever!"

If only they knew that so far, it was shaping out to be Harry's worst!

Which other characters/interactions do you want to see? Let me know in the reviews and I'll do my best to oblige :-)