CHAPTER TWO:
Third Person P.O.V.:
As expected, the boys' journey back to the Burrow took them well into the next morning. They successfully landed, parked the car, and left it as they found it, but now it was getting into the house undetected that was the challenge.
The five of them quietly snuck back into the house through the back door. Fred, George, and Ron wasted no time in eating the freshly baked cookies that were on the kitchen table. Charlie, however, noticed the fact that the note that he had left, was no longer there, meaning, someone in the house was awake and knew that they weren't in their beds. As for Harry, well, he was just admiring the Burrow — just like the brown eyed boy had done the previous evening.
Before anyone could move another muscle, Mrs. Weasley came storming into the the kitchen and then came to a halt in front of them. Her hands were placed on her hips, staring from one guilty face to the next with a disappointed look plastered on her own, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?"
"Morning to you too, Mum," said George, in what he clearly thought was a jaunty, winning voice.
"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" said Mrs. Weasley in a deadly whisper.
"Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to —"
All three of Mrs. Weasley's sons were taller than she was, but they cowered as her rage was scarily profound, "Beds empty! The five of you missing! Car gone — could have crashed — out of my mind with worry — did you care? Never, as long as I've lived — you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Jack or Percy —"
"Perfect Percy," muttered Fred.
"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" yelled Mrs. Weasley, prodding a finger in Fred's chest. "You could have died, you could have been seen, you could have lost your father his job —" It seemed to go on for hours.
Mrs. Weasley had shouted herself hoarse before she turned to Harry, who backed away.
"I'm very pleased to see you, Harry, dear," she said.
Then she turned to Charlie, "And you, Charlie, dear, thank you for being the only responsible one enough to leave me some sort of note! I don't blame you or Harry for this at all, let that be known."
Molly gave one last look of disappointment to her three sons before turning back to her two guests, who were standing there uncomfortable with the whole situation, "Come on now. Time for a spot of breakfast."
The six young boys each took a seat around the table as Mrs. Weasley placed food in front of them. It was then that Ginny came barreling down the stairs. As soon as she saw Harry, however, she retreated back to her room swiftly. The little girl's obvious crush on his best friend simply made Charlie laugh softly.
"Morning Weasleys!" said a voice from behind Charlie. The boy turned to be met with Arthur Weasley's face smiling down at him, "What a night! Nine raids! Nine!"
"Raids?" Harry inquired.
"Mr. Weasley works at the Ministry," Charlie explained.
Ron nodded in affirmation, "Yeah, in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. Dad loves Muggles, thinks they're fascinating."
Arthur gave his wife a kiss on the cheek before taking a seat at the table with the boys. As soon as he spotted the new face at the table, he was puzzled, "And who might you be?"
"Oh sorry, I'm Harry, sir," The boy said nervously, "Harry Potter."
"Good lord," Mr. Weasley said with a smile, "Are you really?"
Harry nodded slowly.
Mr. Weasley continued, "Well, Ron's told us all about you, of course. When did he get here?"
"This morning," Molly explained, "Your sons flew that enchanted car of yours to Surrey and back last night!"
Arthur was stunned, yet intrigued, "Did you really? How'd it go?"
This earned a hit on the back of his from Mrs. Weasley which caused him to change his tone, "I mean, that was very wrong indeed boys! Very wrong of you!" Arthur then turned to Charlie, "So, Charlie, still interested in talking with me about Muggles?"
The brown eyed boy nodded with a smile before engaging in a long conversation about various Muggle things with Mr. Weasley such as; rubber ducks, the Tooth Fairy, and Santa Clause.
In the middle of the conversation, however, the Weasley's owl, Errol, had face planted on the window while trying to deliver the daily post. It was, of course, the students' Hogwarts letters. As they examined their needed textbooks, the boys noticed how expensive their supplies would be.
Molly waved them off before saying, "There's only one place we're going to get all of this... Diagon Alley."
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After breakfast, the Weasley household and their guests had prepared to make a visit to Diagon Alley. Charlie wore a scarlet t-shirt and black jeans before accenting the entire outfit with his Gryffindor cape, which he tied up around his neck. As he did so, he noticed his family pendant that his father had given him last Christmas. He gulped once before tucking it back into his shirt.
(A/N: similar to what Draco is wearing... is it called a cape? idk)
Charlie safely tucked his wand into his cape along with a few galleons before joining the Weasley family and Harry by their fireplace.
Molly picked up her pot of floo powder, "Alright then," She turned to Harry, "Come on, you go first."
"But Harry has never travelled by floo powder before, Mum," Ron explained.
"Oh," Molly said quickly, but then urged her son forward, "Alright then, Ron you go first and show him how to do it."
The ginger haired boy took a step into the fireplace, grabbed some floo powder in his hand, and yelled "Diagon Alley."
In a big gust of wind with green fire, the boy had disappeared. Charlie laughed at Harry's shocked expression, "Come on mate. You're next."
Molly helped Harry into the fireplace and gave him some floo powder, "Now, don't forget to speak very, VERY, clearly."
Harry gulped before yelling, "Diagonally!"
With that, the boy with the glass disappeared just as Ron had. The brown eyed boy silently facepalmed at his friend's incapability to say the simple location.
The Weasley's were still in shock, so Charlie took a step forward, walked into the fireplace, and grabbed some floo powder, "I'll go after him. I reckon he didn't go far — Diagon Alley!"
Soon enough, he was engulfed in flames, and with a quick poof — he was transported to his location with ease.
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Charlie Hawthorne was transported outside of Diagon Alley's Flourish and Blotts bookshop. He smiled at the sight. He always had like the bookshop, it was a place where could get lost for hours, but still thoroughly enjoy himself.
As he went to make a start towards the shop's door, his body collided with another. His brown eyes darted down to be met with a familiar pair of eyes staring back him. He smile widely, before softly saying, "Hermione."
With that, the girl moved forward and engulfed the boy in a tight hug, "Charlie!"
They stood there contently for moment, before they were interrupted with the sound of a cough, causing the two to pull away slightly. Charlie looked to his left to see a man and woman awkwardly staring down at him and the girl.
The young boy was very confused.
"Mum! Dad!" Hermione spoke with a slight blush flushed over her cheeks, "This is Charlie Hawthorne. He's a really good friend of mine from school."
Charlie smiled up at the adults before sticking his hand out to the man, "Pleasure to meet you. Hermione talks about you all of the time."
The man shook the boy's hand with a smile, "Ah! The boy with the letters! Pleasure to meet you as well. I'm Wendell Granger, and this is my wife, Monica."
Charlie released Wendell's hand before taking the hand of his wife and shaking it as well, "Pleasure."
Mrs. Granger beamed at the boy, "Please, the pleasure is all mine! I've been wanting to meet the boy that my Hermione speaks so fondly of."
"Mum!" Hermione scolded, her cheeks growing redder.
"What?" Monica asked obliviously, "All I'm saying is that I agree with you. He is very handsome for a young boy, dear."
Hermione groaned in embarrassment, "This cannot be happening."
Charlie chuckled, "Don't worry, I'm flattered really. Mr. and Mrs. Granger it truly has been lovely to meet you, but I'm afraid I have to go find a friend of mine. He's buggered off somewhere."
"Of course, dear, we look forward to reconnecting at a later time." Monica said before going to link arms with her husband and turn away from the boy.
The two adults then walked into the bookshop, leaving Hermione and Charlie outside.
The young boy looked at his friend with an amused, yet playful smile.
As if she could read his mind, she scolded quickly, "Not another word about this."
He laughed once more, "Wouldn't dream of it. Anyways, I have to go find Harry. That tosser can't use floo powder correctly yet."
Hermione nodded, before looking down Diagon Alley, "There he is there! With Hagrid!"
Charlie followed her gaze and smiled at his two friends walking up the Alley. Charlie and Hermione ran towards Hagrid and Harry.
"There you are!" Charlie said, relieved.
"Sorry," Harry spoke quickly, "Apparently, I failed to say my location clearly."
"That's an understatement," The brown eyed boy said with a small laugh before he turned to Hagrid, "How's Ludo?"
Hagrid smiled, "He's been havin' loads o' fun runnin' 'round the grounds."
"Good," Charlie said contently, before turning back to his other two friends who were currently catching up, "We should get going. Mrs. Weasley is probably wondering where we've buggered off to."
With that, the three of them waved goodbye to Hagrid and walked a little before entering the bookstore. Inside, it was packed of people who were clearly waiting for something. Molly, Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy were all waiting together in line. As for Arthur, he was busy talking to Mr. and Mrs. Granger about their Muggle ways. That man truly is fascinated with his work.
As Molly spotted the two boys enter the bookstore with Hermione, she was relieved, "Oh Harry! Charlie! Thank goodness you two are alright!"
Before the two could even speak, someone addressed the crowd in a very loud voice, "Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart."
Suddenly, the whole bookshop broke out into applause and cheers as a blonde man stepped out from behind the curtain wearing flashy and flamboyant blue robes.
Ron nudged Charlie and nodded towards Gilderoy, "Mum fancies him."
The brown eyed boy chuckled slightly before Hermione had caught his eye. She, too, was gawking at the author now in front of them. The boy rolled his eyes, "Yeah, well, apparently she's not the only one."
"Make way!" A photographer said as he pushed through the crowd, "Excuse me! This is for The Daily Prophet!"
It was then that Gilderoy caught a glimpse of both Harry and Charlie standing in front of him, "Oh my days. It can't be, Harry Potter and Charlie Hawthorne."
The entire room's gaze shifted to the two boys who stood there uncomfortable. The photographer gasped and pulled them forward to stand with Lockhart, "This will look great on the front page!"
Gilderoy's ear perked up at this comment, and so he pulled the two boys closer on either side of him,
"Nice, big smile lads, together we'll be brilliant."
Charlie gave the camera a closed smile before the flash went off. This is clearly not what he had envisioned when he thought he was to be buying his school books.
"Ladies and gentlemen, what an extraordinary moment this is," Gilderoy spoke, now addressing the crowd, "When the young boys, Harry and Charlie, stepped into Flourish and Blotts this morning to purchase my autobiography, Magical Me..."
He trailed off as the crowd erupted into applause once again, causing Charlie to rolls his eyes again. Especially when he saw Hermione excitedly clapping along with them.
"...which incidentally," The author continued, "Is currently celebrating its 27th week at top of The Daily Prophet's Best Seller list, they had no idea, that they would in fact be leaving, with my ENTIRE collection of books. Free of charge."
Harry and Charlie then had an abundance of books shoved into their hands as another flash went off. Books in hand, Charlie moved back to where he was previously standing, "Here, Mrs. Weasley, take these. I'll get my own."
Harry had done the same and Mrs. Weasley gratefully thanked the two young boys as they removed themselves from the line of people waiting for autographs.
Now heading for the door, Charlie and his friends were blocked as Draco Malfoy descended from the second story of the bookstore and spoke aggressively towards Harry, "Bet you loved that, didn't you Potter! Hell, you and Hawthorne can't even walk into a bookshop without making the front page!"
Draco came to halt when a snake head cane came into contact with his shoulder, "Now, now Draco, play nicely."
Charlie looked up and saw Lucius Malfoy staring down at him and his friends. This can't be good.
He directed his first comment to Harry, "Mr. Potter," He then pulled the boy closer and used his cane to push back Harry's hair to get a better view of his scar, "Forgive me, your scar is legendary. As is the wizard who gave it to you."
"Voldemort killed my parents." Harry said in an angry tone, "He was nothing more than a murderer."
"You must be very brave to mention his name," Lucius said with a smirk, "Or very foolish."
Hermione piped up, "Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself."
Lucius shifted his gaze to the bushy haired girl, "And you must be Miss Granger. Yes, Draco's told me all about you... and your parents. Muggles, aren't they?"
Then he moved to Ron and his family, "Let me see. Red hair, vacant expressions, tatty secondhand books. You must be the Weasley's."
Charlie then watched the long haired man slip a book into Ginny's cauldron quickly, almost as if he hadn't wanted anyone to see. He thought it was strange, yet the boy didn't question it.That's when Lucius caught his eye, "Charles Hawthorne. My word, I haven't seen you since you were little..."
He then extended his hand for Charlie to shake, but the boy just continued to stare at him with an angry expression as he had just belittled his friends in front of him.
Lucius smiled, but still forcefully pulled the boy close just as he had done with Harry, "...what a pity who you've chosen to associate with. Someone of your caliber would have been great, just like your father. Yet, here you are, associating with Muggles and Blood-Traitors. I can only imagine how ashamed your father must feel. However, I can only assume, that you've failed to mention it to him."
Lucius watched the boy's face fall at the mention of his father. Mr. Malfoy gave the boy a sinister smile, "I guess that's my answer. You should really start to reevaluate the life choices you're making for yourself Charles, before it's too late." He then turned to his son, "Come now, Draco."
The Malfoy's swiftly left the bookshop, leaving the group of Gryffindors flabbergasted. Charlie could feel the concerned gaze of Hermione staring at the side of his face, and yet, he didn't dare pull his eyes away from the door. He didn't want anyone to know that Lucius' comments had cut him deep.
"Charlie," Hermione spoke softly as she went to interlock their hands as a way of comfort.
The boy pulled away quickly, "It's fine. Forget about it."
With that, the boy turned on his heel and disappeared back into the crowd.
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It had been a week and half since their visit to Diagon Alley, and now it was time for Charlie and his friends to return to Hogwarts. The boy had thoroughly enjoyed his time away from the castle, but truth be told, he was happy to be going back. He missed his grandfather, Ludo, and all of his Professor friends.
They all walked into King's Cross station and grabbed trolleys to help with their bags. Charlie, who only had his trunk, just carried his stuff by hand. The lot of them were running a bit behind schedule, and so they were rushing through the station.
"10:58! Come on! Come on!" Arthur shouted.
"The train will be leaving at any moment! Fred, George, Percy, you first!" Molly said frantically.
The three boys obliged and disappeared through the wall that signifies Platforms 9 and 3/4. Molly and Arthur followed behind their three sons with Ginny, leaving Ron, Harry and Charlie behind.
This was going to be the first time that Charlie had walked through the entrance to the Hogwarts Express platform, and to be honest, he was thoroughly excited.
"Let's go." Harry said to his two friends before he started to run towards the wall with his trolley in front of him. Charlie and Ron were quickly to follow. What the three weren't expecting, was for them to collide with the wall instead of passing through.
With a loud thud, all three boys ran into the wall and toppled over one another. Their things were everywhere. Charlie swore he banged his head off of Ron's trolley at some point.
The brown eyed boy stood up holding his head, "Uh, is that always meant to happen?"
Ron and Harry were quick to shake their heads in confusion. As the three of them went to pick their things up off the ground, a conductor had approached them, "Oi! What do you three think you're doing?"
Harry and Ron were at a loss for words, but Charlie spoke up quickly, "Sorry sir, lost control of the trolley."
The conductor shook his head. He seemed to give up on the topic as he turned on his heel and walked off.
"Why couldn't we get through?" Harry said to Ron, rubbing his arm gently.
Ron shook his head before touching the wall, "I don't know! The gateway sealed itself for some reason!"
It was then that the clock bellowed through the train station to signal to everyone that it was now 11:00 in the morning.
"Great," Charlie said,throwing his hands up in frustration, "The train leaves at exactly 11:00! We've missed it!"
"Wait!" Ron shouted nervously, "If we can't get through, what if my mum and dad can't get back?!"
Harry shrugged, "Maybe we should just go wait by the car?"
That's when Ron got an idea and smiled widely, "The car!"
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When they got back to the car, they quickly loaded everything back into the vehicle. Ron got into the driver's seat, while Charlie took the passenger, which left Harry in the back with Hedwig. Before Harry or Charlie could question anything, Ron pressed the button that made the car fly.
"What are you doing!" Harry shouted.
"Just trust me!" Ron countered.
The car flew over the city of London and Charlie shook his head, "Oi! Something tells me that most Muggles aren't accustomed to seeing a flying car!"
"Uh, right." With that Ron pressed a button that turned the car invisible while they were still in the city.
The three of them soared through the sky before eventually coming up on the train tracks. Ron lowered the vehicle down onto the tracks so that they could look out for the train.
The three boys were confused. They couldn't see the train, but they could in fact hear it. How is that poss-
Harry, Ron and Charlie turned their heads towards the rear end of the car and yelled. The train was barreling towards them. Ron steered the car up off the tracks quickly and positioned them alongside the train.
However, in the midst of a sharp turn, the passenger door flew open and Charlie nearly fell to his death. Harry and Ron were screaming for him. The brown eyed boy grabbed onto the door handle like he was clinging onto life before he gathered the strength to pull himself back up and lock the door behind him, "Bloody hell!"
With Charlie's near death experience, the three of them decided it might be best to simply follow the train all the way to Hogwarts, instead of trying to board.
The flew alongside the train for awhile before the castle came into view. Charlie smiled, "Welcome home lads." The other two boys beamed in response.
As they approached the castle, the car seemed to begin to malfunction. It was wobbling and turning so bad and Ron couldn't control it any longer. The three of them were yelling and pulling on the breaks but nothing was working. At one point, the ginger haired boy tried to use his wand to stop the car, but it just broke in half. Before they could even say anything, they headed straight for a tree on the castle grounds.
When the car came to an abrupt stop, Charlie nearly bashed his head off the dashboard, but caught himself just in time.
Ron was staring at his broken wand with his mouth agape, "My wand! Look at my wand!"
Charlie shook his head in frustration, "Be thankful it's not your neck!"
At that comment, the car shook aggressively.
"What's happening?" Ron said in a high pitched squeal.
"I don't know." Harry chimed in, clearly startled.
Charlie looked out the window and gasped, "Uh, this isn't an ordinary tree, mates. This is the Whomping Willow and it isn't the friendlie—"
The boy was cut off when one of the tree's branches collided with the front hood. Again and again. It even managed to shatter the front window, causing glass to go everywhere.
"We're going to die!" Ron panicked.
"Shut up! We're not going to die!" Harry yelled.
Sure enough, the tree had hit the car so much that it managed to slip between the branches and fall to the ground.
Charlie turned to Ron with wide eyes, "Drive! Go!"
Ron put the car in drive and sped off before the branch collided with the roof once more. As soon as they got to a safe location, Ron lost control of the car again. It ejected the three of them out of the car, threw out their belongings, and then sped off into the Forbidden Forest.
"The car!" Ron yelled, "Mum's going to kill me!"
The three boys just looked at one another before Charlie spoke up still in disbelief, "What the bloody hell just happened?!"
Harry and Ron shook their heads quickly.
With that, they retrieved their things and went into the castle. Charlie guided Ron and Harry down a hallway that would take them to their luggage drop off location, while still remaining undetected.
The plan was to leave their stuff and then simply go and join the other students in the Great Hall.
This didn't end up happening as when they arrived at the luggage drop off, Mr. Filch was there waiting with a twisted smile on his face, "Oh dear. We are in trouble."
Filch grabbed hold of the three of them and dragged them to Snape's office, "Professor Snape will deal with you lot."
Harry, Ron and Charlie all gulped simultaneously. This can't be good.
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Author's Note:
*this chapter was not proof read*
Sorry for the wait! I was away from my phone all day yesterday so I couldn't update! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter nonetheless!
New chapter coming later today — most likely lol
Anyways, I don't know where any of you guys are from but in America at the moment there is prominent racism issue. A black man named George Floyd was murdered over the past week, and his death has caused the rise in protesting for Black Lives Matter.
If you're familiar with the story, I highly encourage everyone to strive towards anti-racism. Things are seriously getting out of hand.
I recommend the following resources:
• Colour of Change
• Black Lives Matter
• Minnesota Freedom Fund
• ACLUMN
• NAACP
The world needs more love and less hate.
Much love always.
xo, Selena