A Day Out
Charles
"Hey, Harry!"
Charles entered his brother's room loudly, purposefully being obnoxious. There was a simple reason for it: he was, again, bored. He hadn't noticed before how lonely he was without Lyra, and had taken it for granted. Now that he'd lost his best friend, he missed her presence dearly. His friends wouldn't be back for another two weeks, leaving him with not many options.
It was uncanny how alone he felt, with the house being so full. The Blacks and Remus were all staying at Potter Manor these days; James and Remus hadn't wanted Sirius and Jéricho to be alone at a time like this and had insisted they all stayed together. Charles suspected that James wanted his best friends there because they'd both be teaching at Hogwarts together, and he may not be able to meet them as much.
Harry didn't even look up. "Knock, Charles. What is it?"
Charles jumped on Harry's bed and then sprang back up, peeking over Harry's shoulder. "Whatcha up to?"
He could only make out the first two words before Harry hid the parchment with his hands. "Charles, it's rude to peek into other people's stuff without their permission!"
Charles ignored Harry, making a face. "You're writing a letter to Celeste Stacey? That chick we met last summer?"
Harry frowned in annoyance. "Yeah, we're pen-pals. Now get out, will you?"
Charles gave a long-suffering sigh, but exited the room. That was when he heard his mother calling for him, Harry, and Jéricho, and entered the dining room, where all the adults were seated. A minute later, all the children entered too (Effie, Monty, and Lyra just along for the ride).
Lily handed the three boys a letter each. "Harry, Ech, your school letters were a bit late."
Charles looked down at his letter with confusion when he saw the Nott family crest on it. Before he could open it, though, he heard a small commotion and looked up. Harry was gaping like a fish at the small badge in his hand...
"No way!" Jéricho exclaimed, a badge in his hand as well. "We're both prefects!"
Harry, however, shook his head vehemently. "This must be a mistake!"
"Yeah, I mean, Ech's understandable," James frowned, "But who in their right minds would make Harry a Prefect?"
Sirius dramatically wailed. "No! My son and godson have sullied my name, my reputation! The future generation of Marauders has betrayed us!"
Remus grinned and rolled his eyes. "We're proud of you both, kids. Even Padfoot."
Sirius pouted. "From now on, my new favorites are Lyra and Charles. You both won't disappoint me, would you?" he turned to the said children, his eyes wide.
Lyra just snorted while Charles smiled. "Sure, Sirius."
Still, Charles was a bit annoyed and incredulous. How on Earth had Harry gotten Prefect? He was one of the most troublesome troublemakers there were! But then, if Charles really thought about it, the answer was pretty obvious. No matter how many pranks Harry played or how many rules he broke, he helped the teachers out whenever he could. He helped the younger ones and was very kind when needed. He was also a model student - at least academically. And he was sort of a natural leader, too.
Besides, it's not like they had many options. Seriously, Fred, George, and Lee were all incapable of being Prefects, so...
"I wonder who the female prefect would be." Harry mused.
Jéricho smirked. "Definitely Sera for Ravenclaw."
Harry shrugged. "You're probably right."
Charles, upon congratulating them, left for his own room. He quickly opened his own letter and read it.
Charles Potter,
I write this letter to officially thank you for saving my life from the chamber. I now owe you a life debt, along with your brother Harry, and the Ancient House of Nott will forever be in your debt.
Would you like to meet me at Diagon Alley? At the Leaky Cauldron, preferably. You may respond at your convenience and, if your answer is yes, then inform me of the timing of our meeting by return owl.
Yours sincerely,
Theo Nott.
Charles was surprised, to say the least, as he read. He hadn't really expected a letter from Nott requesting a meeting. Thinking quickly, Charles hurried downstairs and cornered his mother in the kitchen. "Hey, mum. You remember the ban you lifted on my birthday? Well, I didn't exit the house then, so can I do it tomorrow evening?"
Lily narrowed her eyes. "What for?"
"Theo Nott wants to meet up in Diagon. He just wrote a thank-you letter and said something about him owing me a life debt and that he wants to meet... I wanna give him a chance."
Lily sighed. "Look, Charles, no one knows what Regulus Black's motive for escaping is, but he may be after you because of the whole 'boy-who-lived' thing. He can also be after Sirius or Jéricho. You all need to lay low for a while."
"But mum!" Charles whined. "Please? I can take Harry along."
Lily seemed skeptical. "He's hardly older than you."
"Actually, mum," Harry said, entering the kitchen, munching on an apple, "I and Ech are going there tomorrow. Pads and Dad already gave permission. Black is hardly going to be hiding in a trash can ready to jump us, now, would he?"
Unable to find fault in the logic, Lily relented. "Fine, but I want you both in two hours after you leave."
So, Charles wrote back to Nott, and then the next day, he went to Diagon Alley with Harry and Jéricho, who quickly left, promising to meet back at the Leaky Cauldron in an hour and a half. Charles found Nott already waiting for him at the Leaky, and went to take a seat across from him. "Nott."
"Potter," Nott answered. "I didn't really expect you to agree to meet me."
"Yeah, well, I didn't either," Charles muttered. "So... what's up?"
Charles' only consolation was that Nott also seemed as uncomfortable as himself. Nott started with a thank-you again, and then they talked about random things. They didn't really have much in common. While both of them were Quidditch fanatics, Charles preferred to play it and Nott had more knowledge of its rules and statistics and just sat on the sidelines. Nott didn't have any siblings, while Charles had three. Nott lived with his father and their house-elf, but his father was very strict and he had basically been raised by his house-elf, Tinker. Perhaps that was why Nott seemed like a shy and friendless boy, while Charles was popular and extroverted.
Still, as the time progressed, Charles found himself liking the boy more and more. He wasn't Ron or Hermione, but he was cool in his own right. Finally, Harry and Jéricho came back, stating it was getting late. Theo smiled at them and stood up, gazing at his watch. "Well, I better be off then, I suppose..."
"Yeah, me too." Charles said, "I'd love to do this some other time, though."
Theo's face lit up. "Sure! You can owl me whenever."
Charles nodded. "Great, then. See you!"
Harry
Harry and Jéricho, in the meanwhile, had sneaked out to Muggle London and met up with Sera, Cedric, and Adrian at a coffee shop. They were just there to complete the final touches on their Prowlers Project A1, which they had yet to name.
It was a regular piece of parchment till you tapped it with your wand and muttered, "Scanner Requested for Access." Then a small drawn circle would appear, and one of them had to press their index finger on it and speak the name of the place they wanted a map of. There were several options: Hogwarts, the Hogwarts Express, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, and Knockturn Alley. They had wanted to add Gringotts but then had realized it would be impossible.
After that, the map of the desired destination would appear along with all its current occupants. If they wanted, they could tap on a particular person's dot, and it would show some of their basic descriptions. To test this out, they tapped at Harry's dot:
Name:- Harry James Potter
Age:- 14 years old
Parents:- Lily Evans Potter [alive] and James Potter [alive]
Siblings:- Charles Potter (age 13), Euphemia Potter (age 11), and Fleamont Potter (age )
God-parents:- Sirius Black [alive] and Melanie Black [deceased]
Birthday:- October 2 1997
Also, Harry and Jéricho had been working on a new spell, which was quite complicated. They had had many disasters with it at the start, but now they were finally finished with it. It was permanent, and it allowed the Prowlers to talk to each other through telepathy.
To test it, Sera closed her eyes and yelled, CAN YOU HEAR ME?
The thing was, though, that she didn't move her lips at all. And all the others felt a sharp pain in their heads and doubled over. Her voice had literally pierced their brains! Jéricho replied (in his head), No need to shout, Greengrass!
Just then Adrian burst out laughing, "This is insane!"