The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley

Chapter 9 - The Bittersweet Goodbye

Nova

I couldn't believe that another year at Hogwarts has come to an end. Oh, listen to me, sounding like Dumbledore! We had only a few more days before Hogwarts Express was going to take us back home.

Unlike last year, when we could just do whatever we wanted the last couple of days – in Penny's opinion that was packing – we had 2 things to do this year.

First, was going down to the Quidditch Pitch and cheer for Charlie as he got a tryout invitation the week before exams started!

Apparently, the Gryffindor Charlie spoke to at the beginning of the school year was right about their Captain not picking Charlie just because of his little brother who cost them the Quidditch House Cup! The team was fed up with the Captain picking favorites as he blamed the rest of them for losing, so they kicked him off the team with McGonagall's approval. The Gryffindor Chaser that thought Charlie was better than the ex-captain's younger brother invited him to try out for Seeker again and it was all happening in a few days! Bill, Penny, Tulip, Tonks, Jae, and I decided to go and watch his tryouts and give him a confidence boost from the stands.

The other thing the second sears had to do was pick their Elective Classes for our third year. We had to choose at least two and we could pick between Muggle Studies, Divination, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, and Study of Ancient Runes.

The one subject I was sure to choose was Care of Magical Creatures but I was rather indecisive about the other one. Tulip decided to go for Ancient Runes and Divination. Tonks picked Divination as she thought it could be fun making up predictions with Tulip and she chose Care of Magical Creatures as well. Penny chose Arithmancy and Muggle Studies as she said that her dad would be proud if she would learn about his culture as well.

It looked like I wasn't the only one who struggled to pick their second subject as Charlie was first debating between Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies but the very next day at breakfast announced that he was thinking about Divination instead.

As I couldn't decide for several days, I decided to owl Bill and ask him for advice. He was more than happy to meet me in the Great Hall and he dragged Charlie along as he changed his mind to Muggle Studies again.

"I picked Ancient Runes, but as I want to become a Curse Breaker that was an obvious choice." I nodded as my dad, who was a Curse Breaker, took Ancient Runes as well.

"I wanted to stay far away from Divination and Arithmancy but later found out that both could help with my career too." He rubbed his chin.

"I was also thinking about taking Muggle Studies as my dad would just love that." He chuckled to himself, remembering how much his dad is interested in anything Muggle-related. "In the end, I decided to take them all as I was hoping I could learn as much as possible since you never know what I could encounter during my career."

"And you have time for all the subjects?" That seemed like a lot of work.

"It's...manageable," Bill said slowly and I had a feeling he had a trick up his sleeve for attending all the subjects.

"So, Ancient Runes it is," Charlie said, obviously not as ambitious as his brother. He just wanted the subject that would help him become a Dragonologist and that was Care of Magical Creatures.

"Charlie, really think this through." Bill frowned. "You are stuck with the subjects you pick until the end."

Charlie rolled his eyes. "And we are back to square one." I chuckled.

"I never thought this was going to be so hard. But I think I wouldn't be good at Divination or Arithmancy so it's either Muggle Studies or Ancient Runes." I scratched the top of my head.