Son Of Riddle

Chapter Fourteen - Charlotte part 2

James walked into his first class with Charlotte in his robes hood. His first class was charms which just so happened to be shared with hufflepuff. Amonst the blurred faces and robes of yellow and green, James noticed the strange girl from the night before sitting alone in the back of the classroom, looking at the charms spellbook, but also looking incredibly lonesome. Solitude seemed to follow her.
  'By now I bet she regrets talking to me.' James thought bitterly, seeing all the other students seemed to be avoiding her.
  He was fairly surprised when she caught his eye and her face lit up and she waved ecstatically to him. James looked around behind him to make sure she wasn't waving to someone behind him.
  She did appear to be waving to him.
He awkwardly waved back and walked over to her.
  "Hiii!" She effused enthusiastically, despite her happy expression looking forced. No one else would have noticed, but James had been trained to read facial expressions since he was small, so it was clear as day to him.
  "Hi...Lucy, yes?" he said back as sat next to her at the conjoined desks.
She nodded, a smile on her face.
  "Do you mind telling me what's bothering you?" He asked. He had a pretty good idea of why, but she seemed like she needed someone to ask her.
  Her eyes widened. "Oh...nothing...especially important." She laughed nervously and looked down into her lap."How did you know? Can you read minds or something?"
  "Not minds, facial expressions."   
  "Oh...It's really nothing...I just feel kinda like a freak. Being the only one in my family who's not a super genius and naturally talented at magic I get made fun of and called stupid or a freak because of it and I had hoped Hogwarts would be different but...I guess not."
  James was silent for a moment. 
  This caused Lucy to panic. "Oh sorry!" She said, eyes wide, a remorseful and scared expression on her face. "I didn't mean to make you listen I should have just said I was fine. I guess you're not the best person to complain to about feeling like a freak." She looked back down into her lap.
  James stayed silent for a few seconds before he spoke. "Do you know why they are avoiding you?"
  Lucy looked back up at him. "The other kids?" She asked, the question half rhetorical. "...I don't know. I just assumed they thought I was weird."
  "It's because they saw you talking to me." James said bitterly.
  Lucy seemed caught off guard. "Well that's...kinda stupid." She said. "Why do they hate you so much? I don't understand. You can't control what other people did around you."
  James nodded in agreement. "And yet, somehow they still hate the both of us now."
  Lucy looked down. She then looked back up, a smile on her face. "Well, if we have to be freaks, we can be freaks together, just like yesterday." She said in a genuinely happy and silly tone.
  James almost smiled. She didn't hate him.
Then he felt a rustling in his robes hood. He hoped no one noticed, but Lucy appeared to have.
  "...What's in your hood?" She asked, he head tilted in curiosity.
  James hesitated, still not certain he could trust her, then reached back and pulled Charlotte from his hood.
  Lucy couldn't contain her exitement. She covered her mouth with her sleeves, her hands hidden inside them as a cause of them being too long.
  "Its so cute!" She said in a hushed awed tone. Her green eyes turned from Charlotte to James. "...Can I hold it?" She asked. James smiled and held out Charlotte. Lucy tenderly took her and started to pet her. He was fairly surprised she let her.
  "Does it have a name?" She asked.
  "Charlotte." James answered.
  Lucy was silent for a moment. "...please tell me that's a reference?"
James nodded, smiling.
   Lucy audibly stifled a laugh.
A voice behind them startled them. "Hey look, the freaks had a kid!" A loud first year Slytherin boy shouted to the class. "It's almost as ugly as you." He said, looking at Lucy. She looked incredibly hurt and looked down into her lap, unable to retort.
  The students all quickly flocked to where James and Lucy were sitting. James put Charlotte in his lap underneath the desk.
  The students were all laughing and poking fun at them. "No ones surprised you picked up a spider, you disgusting rat. Did you find it where you live, in the sewer?" One second year Slytherin yelled. The rest of them laughed.
  James was finding it harder and harder to not blast them all into the black lake.
   "I don't think the professer would like you having a spider in here, freak." One slytherin girl said.
  James stood up. He had heard enough. "Oh yeah? Then take her from me." He challenged. Immediately all the chants and insults from the students silenced.
  One spell flew from the back of the crowd of people and James blocked it with his hand and sent it back to he sender. A shrill yelp of pain told James the spell had hit it's target.
  James took a step forward and all the students backed away.
   Just then, the charms teacher, a very old and wizened professer flitwick, strode in the room. He noticed the students all gathered at the back of the classroom and guessed what was going on. He shot a firework spell to get their attention.
  "Professer, Riddle brought a spider." A whiny hufflepuff boy yelled.
   "Mister Riddle, please don't bring livestock to class in the future." Flitwick said, hardly a glance in his direction. "The rest of you, back to your seats, we do have to learn today."
   The students all reluctantly retreated to their previous seats.
  Lucy looked at James with a look that seemed to be a mix of awe and fear, her eyes still sad from the array of insults. "How did you do that thing with your hand?" She asked in a hushed whisper.
  "It doesn't matter." He said. He still didn't fully trust her yet.
  The rest of the day pretty much went like that. Endless taunts, endless proving his superiority to the other students. He spent more time with Lucy but still wasn't sure if he could trust her yet. She hid and supressed her feelings too much, until he asked her about them. Not to mention she still seemed far too trusting. He never knew what she really wanted to say. He would decide after a few days. He didn't hate her. That was something. She had a habit/hobby of making colorful fuzzballs. She made Charlotte a hat and a little fuzzy sweater with them. She even decorated her spellbooks with them. She was a strange one.
 
   After the day was over, James took some food from the tables at the great hall and went to the chamber of secrets with it. He ate in silence while doing some of the homework he had been assigned and let Charlotte run free.
  After about an hour, Charlotte came scuttling back to him. She had somehow managed to shake off the hat and sweater Lucy had made for her but James noticed how she was acting was slightly different than normal. Like she needed to do something urgently.  She kept moving back and forth between him and a tunnel, like she wanted him to follow her.
  Finally he complied and followed her down the tunnel. She took a lot of  turns and any normal person would have gotten lost.
   After about ten minutes of walking, Charlotte scuttled into a dark room and James reluctantly followed. There was something in the room with her but It was too dark to see clearly.
  "Lumos" James said. His fingertip lit up and he pointed it to the lump Charlotte was so eager for him to see.
  It was an egg.
A bassilisk egg.
And it was hatching.