CHAPTER THREE:
Third Person P.O.V.:
As they entered Professor Snape's office, Harry, Ron and Charlie looked at one another nervously. The long haired professor sat in front of them looking even more miserable than normal. All three of the young boys were waiting for Snape to snap.
After a moment of glaring, Snape finally held up a newspaper that read, Flying Ford Anglia Mystifies Muggles.
Charlie gulped, there was quite literally no way to get away with this one.
Professor Snape threw the newspaper down on his desk, aggressively, and then finally spoke, "You were seen by no less than seven muggles! Do you have ANY idea how serious this is? You have risked the exposure of our world! Not to manage the damage you've inflicted on a Whomping Willow that has been on these grounds since before you were born!"
Ron spoke up anxiously, "Honestly Professor Snape, I think it did more damage to us."
"SILENCE!" Snape shouted. He then got up and walked towards the three boys, now towering over them, "I assure you, that were you in Slytherin and your fate rested with me, the three of you would be on the train home. Tonight! As it is—"
"They are not."
Charlie turned around to the office door and spotted his grandfather standing there with McGonagall. The boy instantly smiled.
"Professor Dumbledore. Professor McGonagall," Harry spoke in a relieved tone.
"Headmaster," said Snape, calmly, before pointing a finger in the Gryffindor boy's direction, "These boys have flouted the decree for the restriction of underage wizardry! As such—"
Dumbledore cut him off once more, "I'm well aware of our bylaws, Severus. I did write a few of them myself. However, as Head of Gryffindor House, it is for Professor McGonagall to determine the appropriate punishment."
Ron grunted in sadness, "We'll go and get our stuff then."
"What are you talking about Mr. Weasley?" McGonagall inquired.
"You're going to expel us, aren't you?" Ron said, softly.
"Not today, Mr. Weasley," McGonagall said, causing Ron to look back at Charlie and Harry excitedly, "But, I must impress on the three of you; the seriousness of what you have done. I will be writing to your parents tonight, and the three of you will receive detention."
Charlie's face fell when McGonagall mentioned their parents. The boy was terrified on what his father would do, especially after his encounter with Lucius Malfoy a couple of weeks ago, "Please Professor, I must ask if there is any way I can serve my punishment without getting my father involved."
McGonagall looked into the boy's eyes and saw the fear in them, "I'm sorry Charles, but—"
"I'll take care of it, Minerva," said Dumbledore, calmly, "Charlie will serve his detention with Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, but I shall take over in regards to his letter."
Charlie looked at his grandfather and smiled softly. He knew. Dumbledore always knew.
"That is preposterous!" Snape snapped, "The boy should receive the same treatment as his fellow classmates! It is unjust to give the boy special treatment due to his relation to you, Headmaster!"
"Charles will not be receiving any sort of special treatment. He will be properly scolded, just as I assume Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter will be as well. While he is here at Hogwarts, Charles is my responsibility. I am his legal guardian, and so, I shall be the one to reprimand him. That is final." Dumbledore said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Snape just scoffed and walked out of the room.
Charlie turned to his friends who simply just nodded at him in understanding.
"Alright then boys," McGonagall said breaking the obvious tension, "Off to your dorms."
Harry and Ron left the room hastily, but Charlie stayed back a moment to speak with his grandfather, "I'm sorr—"
"Not now, Charles. We'll discuss this at a later time. Just go and get some rest." Albus said in a tone that Charlie identified as disappointment.
The young boy gave one last look to Professor McGonagall, who gave him a soft smile, before following his friends and going to his dormitories.
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The following morning, Charlie walked through the castle while on the way to the Great Hall. His friends had already left for breakfast, but Charlie stayed in a bed a little while longer. He had trouble sleeping last night. Everything that has happened over the last few weeks had haunted him. The thing he feared most, however, was that through it all, he still didn't know his outcome. He didn't know how his father would react to his encounter with Lucius Malfoy, or how Dumbledore would deal with his punishment. All of it frightened him.
He bid a small, 'hello' to Sir Nicholas and Peeves on the way into the Great Hall. As he entered, he saw the faces of all of his friends who he hadn't seen over the summer. He surveyed the room, before his eyes met Hermione's. She, of course, was waiting for him, so she could bombard him with questions as to what had happened. As he joined Hermione, Harry, and Ron at the table, he quickly explained to the bushy haired girl as to why the three of them weren't on the train nor were they at dinner the night prior.
Hermione simply took in all the information and shook her head at her friends' stupidity with the whole situation. Harry and Ron were too focused on taping up Ron's wand to care.
Suddenly, a blinding flash went off in Charlie's eyes. As the boy's sight returned to normal, he raised a confused brow at the blonde haired boy who now stood in front of him with a camera.
"Hi Charlie!" The boy said, very excitedly, "I'm Collin Creevey! I'm in Gryffindor too!"
"Hi Collin, nice to meet you," The brown eyed boy said with a small smile. He wanted to be polite.
"Say," the blonde boy began again, "Do you think your friend here, could take a picture of you and I standing together? You know, to prove I've met you. It's for my dad. He's a milkman, you know? A muggle. But he reads The Daily Prophet all the time and he's a really big fan of yours! I kept telling him that I have seen you around the school before, but my family just thinks I'm going mental!"
Charlie was taken aback by the boy's eagerness. Collin Creevey meant well, but he was a bit intense.
"Imagine that," Ron said with a sarcastic smile.
The brown eyed boy just quickly smiled for a photo before the blonde boy was on his way once again.
"Oi Ron!" yelled Dean Thomas from a little bit further down the table. The boy pointed up at the ceiling, "Isn't that your owl?"
Suddenly, there was a rushing sound overhead and Charlie saw the Weasley's owl barrelling towards their table at an incredibly fast pace. The poor owl was definitely not going to stick the landing.
"Errol!" said Ron, helping the bedraggled owl back to its feet after it face planted on the table.
Errol slumped over, clearly still dazed by his hard fall. His little legs were bent slightly and he had a damp red envelope in his beak.
"Oh, no—" Ron gasped.
Seamus Finnigan laughed from down the table across Dean, "Look everyone! Weasley's got himself a howler!"
"You'd better open it, Ron," said Neville Longbottom in a timid whisper. "It'll be worse if you don't. My gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and" — he gulped — "it was horrible."
Harry looked from Ron and Neville's petrified faces to the red envelope.
"What's a Howler?" Harry asked.
Charlie laughed slightly, "You'll see."
Ron's attention was fixed on the letter, which had began to smoke at the corners.
"Open it," Hermione urged. "It'll be over in a few minutes —"
Ron stretched out a shaking hand, eased the envelope from Errol's beak, and slit it open. Harry found it peculiar that Neville had stuffed his fingers in his ears. Then, a split second later, he understood why. A roar of sound fiIled the huge hall, shaking dust from the ceiling.
"—STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE —"
Mrs. Weasley's yells, that were a hundred times louder than usual, made the plates and spoons rattle on the table, and echoed deafeningly off the
stone walls. People throughout the hall were swiveling around to see who had received the howler. Ron sank so low in his chair that
only his crimson forehead could be seen.
"— LETTER FROM MCGONAGALL LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS! YOU, CHARLIE AND HARRY COULD HAVE DIED —"
Charlie had been wondering when his name was going to brought up. Still, he tried his best to drown out the incredibly loud screams of Mrs. Weasley.
"— ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED — YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK AND IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT! IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT HOME."
A ringing silence fell. The red envelope, which had dropped from Ron's hand, burst into flames and curled into ashes. The boys sat stunned, as though a tidal wave had just passed over them. A few people laughed and, gradually, a babble of talk broke out again.
Hermione closed the book she was reading and noticed Ron's embarrassed and frightened state, "Well, I don't know what you expected, Ron, but you—"
"Don't tell me I deserved it," snapped Ron.
"What've we got this morning?" said Harry, trying to hastily change the subject.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Hermione said as she pulled out her course schedule.
The brown eyed boy caught a glimpse at the paper in front of her. He reached out and grabbed it swiftly before he gave her a puzzled look, "Why on Earth have you outlined all Lockhart's lessons in small hearts?"
Hermione snatched the schedule back, blushing furiously.
Charlie scoffed, "You can't be serious."
The bushy haired girl rolled her eyes before looking at Charlie with a smirk, "You should know Charles, jealousy isn't a good look on you."
With that, she got up from the table with her things, "See you guys in class!"
The brown eyed boy watched as Hermione left the Great Hall. He was absolutely taken aback by her bluntness. Charlie Hawthorne wasn't jealous of Gilderoy Lockhart! That would be crazy...
The brown haired boy turned to face his friends. Harry looked at him, clearly amused by the situation. Ron, on the other hand, looked just as puzzled as he had. However, the ginger haired boy's confusion was directed at the brown eyed boy. What did she mean by jealousy? Was there something going on between those two?
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When they finished their breakfast, Harry, Ron and Charlie made their way to Lockhart's classroom with their textbooks in hand.
Hermione sat at the front of the room by herself, she was clearly waiting for one of the boys to join her. She smiled as she saw her three friends walk in, but she was secretly screaming on the inside. Were things to be awkward now because of what she had said in the Great Hall? She wasn't even thinking when she had said that! It just slipped out!
Harry sat directly behind the bushy haired girl, causing Ron and Charlie to look at one another, curiously. They were secretly wondering which one of them would move to sit next to the girl.
Before their staring contest caused too much attention, Charlie moved forward to sit beside Hermione, leaving Ron to reluctantly sit down next to Harry.
The girl smiled as she saw Charlie next to her. She assumed at that moment, that her comments earlier had no effect on the boy. Was that a good thing? Or a bad thing?
The brown eyed boy simply reciprocated her smile and then turned to face the front as the lesson was about to begin.
As if on cue, Gilderoy Lockhart made his grand entrance from the top of the classroom's staircase, "Allow me to introduce you to your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher; me." He said with a cocky smile, "Gilderoy Lockhart. Order of Merlin, Third Class. Honorary member of the Dark Force Defense League. As well as the five time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award. But I don't talk about that; I didn't get rid of the Banden Banshee by smiling at him."
The blonde haired teacher laughed at his own joke. All the boys in class rolled their eyes, but the girls were basically drooling over the fool.
Gilderoy scanned the desks of his students, "I see that you've all purchased a complete set of my books. Well done. Now, I thought we'd start today with a little quiz..."
Everyone in the class groaned, except Hermione, of course.
"...nothing to worry about, just to see how well you've read them." Professor Lockhart continued as he passed out the quizzes.
As he handed two to Hermione, she blushed lightly before saying, "Thank you."
When Lockhart had moved on, Hermione turned to give Charlie his quiz. All he could do was stare at her with a clear displeased expression before taking the quiz.
He looked down at the quiz and read the first few questions. It didn't take long to realize that the entire quiz was about Gilderoy Lockhart.
Charlie leaned back slightly, so that he could talk to Harry and Ron, "He can't be serious, can he?"
Harry laughed softly, "Apparently he is."
Ron groaned once again, "What a load of rubbish."
It was then that Hermione had nudged Charlie slightly and whispered, "Would you three stop? We're in the middle of a lesson!"
The three boys shared an unamused glance before Charlie moved forward once again. He wrote his quiz, but none of his answers were correct. In fact, more than half of the class had failed to answer any of the question correctly. Hermione was, of course, part of the half that did answer them correctly. Worse than that, she got the best mark out of the whole class. So, one could only imagine her blush when Gilderoy winked at her in congratulations.
Charlie was growing tired of rolling his eyes at this point, and so, he just sat there with his hands crossed on his desk. He even leaned forward to rest his chin on hands as well. The brown eyed boy was already sick of Professor Lockhart and it was only the first day. However, it did worry him that he didn't exactly know where all of his hatred towards the author had come from. It surely wasn't from his lack of teaching abilities, there was something else that he couldn't quite identify.
Gilderoy got up from his desk and addressed his class once again, "Now, be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to Wizard-kind. You may find yourself facing your worst fears while studying in my class. Know only that nothing will harm you as long as I am here. Now, please don't scream. It might provoke them!"
After his grand speech, Lockhart revealed a cage on his desk filled with little purple pixies. The class broke out into laughter.
Seamus even piped up from the back of the class with a slight laugh, "Cornish Pixies?"
Charlie laughed at his friend's comment before making a sarcastic remark, "How life threatening!" This comment earned a nudge from Hermione.
"Laugh as you will! But pixies can be devilishly, tricky little things. Let's see what you make of them." Professor Lockhart said with a smirk, as he opened the cage and released the pack of them into the classroom.
The pixies went absolutely haywire. They were trashing the entire classroom, which caused majority of students to scream and hide under their desks. At some point, the pixies had even managed to pick up Neville by his ears and hang him on the chandelier.
Harry, Ron, Charlie and Hermione has made their way to front of the classroom by Professor Lockhart. The four of them tried to fight them off, but the pixies were causing absolute mayhem.
Charlie looked to Professor Lockhart to urge him to do something, but to no ones surprise, Gilderoy retreated to his office, thus making his students clean up his mess.
The brown eyed boy scoffed as their so called teacher had just left them, but still turned to his friends, "We have to do something! Anyone have any ideas?"
"Just one!" Hermione yelled from across the room. She then took her wand out and pointed it in the air, "IMMOBULUS!"
In an instant all of the Cornish Pixies froze in the air. Silence had overcome the room and the other students had begun peaking out from behind their desks. Everyone was wondering how Professor Lockhart had allowed things to go south so quickly, but that answer was simple; Gilderoy Lockhart had absolutely no idea what he was doing.
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The four Gryffindors walked through the halls towards their next class after D.A.D.A. had come to an end, and yet, the three boys were still upset.
"I can't believe him!" Ron roared.
"Seriously Ronald, it wasn't that big of a deal," Hermione defended, "He wanted to give us a more hands on experience and things didn't go as planned is all."
"Hands on experience?" Harry questioned, "Hermione, please don't tell me you actually think he's capable of teaching us things that are actually useful!"
The bushy haired girl was offended, "Of course he is! Have you read his books?! Do you know about all of the amazing things he's done?!"
"Or claims to have done," Charlie chimed in, which caused Hermione to frown, "Come on 'Mione, you're quite literally the smartest person I have ever met, and yet you're blinded by this facade! Think about it logically. What did we actually learn in the class? Absolute rubbish! His entire quiz was about himself! Now, what do you suppose that suggests? The only topic he knows anything about is himself!"
Harry and Ron nodded in agreement as Hermione simply walked off, clearly done with the conversation. However, Charlie knew that sooner or later, she'd come to realize he was right.
Nor he or Hermione had even acknowledged the use of her nickname. It was simply something that felt right. Best not to question it.
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On Saturday morning, Charlie was shaken awake by Harry. The brown eyed boy awoke with a start before his eyes focused on his best friend. He raised a brow towards him.
"Get up!" Harry said, "Wood has called for a Quidditch practice! We have to be down on the pitch in 5 minutes!"
Charlie groaned. For once, he would've liked to sleep in and simply forget about the entire world for a moment. However, that's not possible when you're Charlie Hawthorne.
The handsome young boy quickly got ready and left the dormitories with Harry. The two of them met up with Oliver Wood and the rest of the Gryffindor team in an empty classroom
Oliver addressed the entire team, "Listen up you lot! We should have won the Quidditch cup last year. We were easily the best team. But unfortunately — owing to circumstances beyond our control — that didn't happen."
Charlie looked down uncomfortably. He had been in the hospital during the last game of the season. So, Gryffindor had to play a player short. Apparently, it was the largest defeat in over five years.
"So this year," Wood continued, "We will train harder than ever before! Okay, let's go practice!"
Wood lead his team out of the classroom, through the courtyard, and then towards the Quidditch pitch. The team was excited to be back to playing the game they adored so much.
However, their excitement was short lived as Oliver spotted Marcus Flint and the Slytherin team all dressed in their Quidditch gear, heading in the same direction as they were, "I don't believe it."
The Gryffindor captain came to halt in front of Marcus, "Where do you think you're going?"
"Quidditch practice," Flint replied with a smirk.
"I booked the pitch for Gryffindor today." Wood retaliated quickly.
Flint laughed before handing a bit of parchment to Oliver, "Easy there. I have a note."
Oliver opened the parchment and read aloud; "I, Professor Severus Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker — You've got a new Seeker, who?"
It was then that Hermione and Ron had joined the group. They clearly knew trouble was brewing.
The Slytherins parted and out stepped their new Seeker from the back of the group.
Charlie groaned, "You've got to be bloody joking!"
Harry was in disbelief, "Malfoy?"
"That's right," Malfoy said with a evil smirk, "And that's not all that's new this year." The blonde haired boy finished, gesturing to his team's broomsticks.
They all had Nimbus 2001s.
Charlie chuckled lightly, "Let me guess, little gift from you father? And here I thought you might have actually achieved something on your own!"
The entire Gryffindor team erupted into laughter. Even Ron and Hermione couldn't help but laugh.
"Laugh all you want Hawthorne," said Draco, hushing everyone, "But my father thinks that the Slytherin team deserves the best. You wouldn't understand, I know, seeing as your father barely knows you exist."
Charlie didn't say anything, he just took a step towards Draco and towered over him. The brown eyed boy's nostrils flared with anger. The look in his eyes were so deadly that if Draco were to say one more word, Charlie wasn't sure what he'd do.
"Well, at least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," Hermione defended sharply, "They got in on pure talent."
Draco snapped his head in the girl's direction, breaking his staring contest with Charlie, "No one asked your opinion! You filthy little mudblood!"
That was it. That did it for Charlie.
It wasn't even a second before the brown eyed boy tackled Draco to the ground. The two Quidditch teams started to fight each other in the courtyard in order to defend their teammates. Charlie and Draco wrestled on the ground relentlessly, before the Gryffindor boy threw a punch directly at the Slytherin's nose, causing him to instantly start bleeding.
It wasn't long before Flint tried to rip the brown eyed boy off of Draco, but Charlie didn't care and easily shoved him off. He saw red. He threw punch after punch at Malfoy's head, before it was eventually his own team that pulled him off. They didn't want him to get in trouble and risk his absence in their first game back.
It took Oliver, Fred, George and Harry to successfully pull Charlie up from the ground, but even then the brown eyed boy still fought for his release, "Let me go! He deserves everything he gets! How dare you call her such profanity! You absolute spanner! Guys, please, let me go! Let me at him!"
It was then that Hermione moved in between the two teams and grabbed Charlie's face, causing him to look at her directly in the eyes. No words were spoken between the two of them, but he could tell that she was pleading for him to stop. Charlie came to a halt, which caused his teammates to release him instantly. The brown eyed boy looked down at his bruised knuckles before surveying the premises.
Draco was still on the ground, clutching his nose, while the entire Slytherin team stared daggers at him, and still, he couldn't care less.
The brown eyed boy went to turn and walk away before he heard Draco speak up once again, "My father will hear about this! You're going to regret this, Hawthorne! You're finished!"
It took everything in him for Charlie not to turn around and hit Draco again, but his thoughts were cut short as he heard the voice of Ron behind him.
"You know what Malfoy?!" Charlie turned to see Ron pull out his broken, taped up wand, "Eat slugs!"
A loud bang echoed around the courtyard and a jet of green light shot out of the wrong end of Ron's wand, hitting him in the stomach and sending him reeling backward onto the grass.
"Ron! Ron! Are you alright?" squealed Hermione.
Ron opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead he gave an almighty belch and several slugs dribbled out of his mouth onto his lap.
The Slytherin team were paralyzed with laughter. Flint was doubled up, hanging onto his new broomstick for support. Malfoy was banging the ground with the fist that wasn't holding his nose.
The Gryffindors were gathered around Ron, who kept belching large, glistening slugs. Nobody seemed to want to touch him.
"We'd better get him to Hagrid's, it's nearest,"
said Harry to his friends, and then, him and Charlie pulled Ron up by the arms.
"What happened, Charlie? What happened? Is he ill? Oh! What a wicked photo!" Collin Creevey had appeared out of thin air and was now taking photos of Ron's ill state.
Ron gave a huge heave and more slugs dribbled down his front.
"Oooh," said Collin, fascinated and raising his camera once again, "Can you hold him still, Charlie?"
"Not now Collin!" said Charlie angrily.
He and Harry supported Ron out of the courtyard and across the grounds towards the edge of the forest, while Hermione followed quickly behind them.
Draco's words replayed in Charlie's head, 'My father will hear about this.'
The brown eyed boy shook his head slightly as they walked. He was about to be in so much trouble, but he couldn't care. It was worth it.
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Author's Note:
*this chapter was not proof read*
Hope you all enjoyed! Things are heating up! I'm excited!!!
Much love to you all! Until next time!
xo, Selena