Charley Effie Black

Chapter 1 - How's Your Mum?

Charley grinned as she waved goodbye to her mom in a wheelchair and her Uncle Moony from her compartment window. As they faded from view the door to her compartment opened. 

"Puddlemere United is way better, Perce!" A boy exclaimed. Charley quickly turned around and faced them. 

"No!" Another boy shouted, but both boys froze as they saw Charley. 

They were both older than Charley by several years. One boy was shorter, he had brown hair, dark brown eyes, and faint freckles across his tan skin. The other was much taller with red hair and a lot of prominent freckles. 

The shorter one stepped forward, "I'm Oliver Wood," he introduced himself, "And this is Percy Weasley," he added, looking up at the taller one. 

"What's your name?" the boy named Percy asked. 

"I'm Charley. Charley Black," Charley softly said. 

"Oh, Merlin! I have pictures with you when we were younger! Like there's one with all of us at a wedding..." Percy began to ramble while Oliver stared at Charley in a daze. 

"How's your mum?" Oliver softly asked. 

Charley turned her attention to Oliver, "My mum?" she repeated. 

Oliver nodded, "Daisy?"

"You know her?"

"Everyone does, Love. Tragedy what happened. But my family used to be close with yours," he explained. 

"Really?" Charley asked. 

Oliver nodded, "I was still pretty young when everything was happening, but I remember bits of when we'd go over to your house."

Charley grinned, "Mum is good. She is still at St. Mungos most of the time. But sometimes we can take her home and let her spend the day with us," she brightly said. 

Oliver nodded, "Dad tells me she was brilliant at quidditch. Have you played?"

Charley nodded, "A few times with my Uncle Moony."

"Are you going to try out this year?"

Charley shrugged, "I don't know. I'm not very good, plus I'm a first-year."

Oliver shrugged, "I think you'd be brilliant! What position do you play?"

"Usually I play Chaser." 

The rest of the train ride was full of lots of talking and laughter from Charley while the other boys joked around and got to know her.

Finally, however, they got to Hogwarts. Charley went off with the other first-years while Percy and Oliver went somewhere else. She got in a boat with two girls (Katie Bell and Cho Chang) and a boy named Cormac McLaggen.

"Black, Charley!" The stern, Scottish woman said at the front of the Great Hall. Everyone fell silent as Charley made her way through the other first-years and made it to the front of the hall. Charley swore she saw the Scottish woman dab her eyes as she sat up on the stool. She glances around the hall and saw an older woman near the entrance, crying into her hands, then the sorting hat fell over her eyes. 

"Interesting..." a voice said in Charley's head. 

"Very brave but I also see a lot of loyalty, determination, and patience... Just like your mum..." 

Charley sighed in relief as she was compared to her mom. She loved when people said they were alike and hated when she was compared to her traitorous father.

"Must be..."

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted. 

The hat was taken off of Charley's head and she looked over to where Oliver and Percy were sitting. They grinned and clapped for her happily. Next to them were two more red-heads who were also grinning and clapping for her. Charley smiled and walked to the Hufflepuff table. She took a seat beside a boy with brown hair. 

"Cedric Diggory," he introduced himself.

Charley grinned, "Charley Black."