The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley

Chapter 7 - The Lake Invitation

Charlie

As much as I enjoyed Christmas and all the snowball fights Tonks made us have after Nova told her how much fun she had with Bill and me, I was glad to see the first hints of Spring. It meant that I could go to Hagrid's and play with Fang outside. It meant sitting with Nova in the Courtyard, watching her draw while I play with Pip who would probably be offended for the 100th time why is she not drawing him.

It also meant that I could finally invite her to the Black Lake as I was so busy with all the homework that I still had the book Bill got me for Christmas to finish. I finished the one he gave me for my birthday and it was time to start with Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland. I already had it but this one was a new edition meaning it had 2 more breeds and lots more details in it!

I woke up on a sunny Friday morning and since Gryffindors had classes with Ravenclaws all day I decided to ask Nova to accompany me to the Lake in Transfiguration class where we sat together.

I put on my jumper, glanced at the snowball Nova gave me for Christmas – and was now placed on the desk next to my bed – and hurried down for breakfast.

We were still not practicing any spells in Defence Against the Dark Arts but we have learned about so many new creatures and as I was making notes I always made sure to circle those – professor Rakepick told us lived in the Forbidden Forest – so that I could go and search for them when Hagrid finally decides to take me there.

"What are you doing today after Transfiguration?" Asked Jae while munching on a piece of fries at lunch.

"I was thinking of inviting Nova to the Lake since it's finally warm enough to sit on the ground. Want to come with?" I stole one of his fries.

"Nah, I was going to invite you to sneak into the Kitchens."

"Why do you want to sneak into the Kitchens?" I asked puzzled.

"Well, the other day Tonks and Tulip were talking about it and were telling me all about how they got inside and I got curious. You know I like those sort of things." I chuckled. He did like to sneak around and lately Tulip and Tonks gave him quite some ideas.

"Unless you find a way to sneak into the Forbidden Forest, I'll pass." I took another fry from his plate and for that one, he slapped my hand.

It was kind of incredible how our friendships intertwined. Nova met the girls on the train. I met Nova when she saved me from those Slytherins, which by the way left me alone now. Penny told me later that Snape made them test potions students from years five and six made and that did the trick. Penny thus met Bill who she loved to study Potions with. She said that it was like taking advanced lessons, as she was copying from Bill's notes. Bill, however, didn't want to admit that even though he was in his third year, Penny was helping him with his homework.

Jae joined us for breakfast one morning and Tulip and Tonks immediately sensed that he likes to break or avoid rules as he likes to call it and they were already making a plan to do something with the brooms on our next Flying lesson which was the only class we had with Hufflepuffs.

Nova and I took every opportunity we could get to go to Hagrid where he told us tales from his youth. We liked to daydream with him about all the creatures each of us would like to have.

I know it's cheesy to say but I thanked Merlin every night for giving me such awesome friends.

Mum wrote to me more often each week as I didn't go home for Christmas and she missed me and Bill. I think she finally realized that we were pretty chill and behaved compared to Fred and George.