September 1975 (part 2)
Chapter 2 : September 1975 (part 2)
To be so Lonely, Harry Styles.
The Marauders were sticking to their friend group and never left them alone until the Hogwarts Express arrived at the station. Charlie quickly got annoyed by their presumptuous attitude, he thought it was all a joke. The others didn’t seem to be bothered like Charlie was, perhaps that was due to his lack of social skills, or his trust issues. Could you really blame him ?
So, when the train finally arrived at 11:10, Charlie thought he would get rid of them and his friends and him could finally be together again. But that’s not what happened. Their whole group settled with them on one single carriage. Charlie and Isaac had to sit on the floor since there was no place at all. Darcy sat on Tara’s lap, and Sirius Black laid his whole body on his friends and his head was resting on Remus’s thigh. Suddenly, the door of their carriage opened on a red-head girl, she was already wearing her robe and her metal pin meaning she was a prefet, just like Charlie was. She took a look at each of them individually and her face turned red with anger when her eyes fell on James Potter.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you, boys ! I thought you missed the train !”
She entered their carriage, pushed Sirius legs away and sat at the edge of the chair.
“Yeah sure get in, like we’re not already full…” Tao rolled his eyes sarcastically. “Why don’t we invite the whole school in here?”
“Seriously ?” James gasped, eyes wide opened.
“No.” They all replied at the same time, before staring at each other and started laughing.
Charlie felt so out of place, he was sitting there, on the floor, looking at the void space, convincing himself that this wasn’t even happening. He did not hate the Marauders, but their jokes, he never forgot. Isaac seemed to be the only one relating to him as he gave him a recomforting smile.
“ I should go back with Mary and Marlene-” The ginger girl stood up but James grabbed her waist and sat her back in her place.
“Tell the girls to come in here.”
“James, you never know when to stop, do you ?” Lily slapped gently his cheek before stooding up at once.
“No Lily, wait !” James reached her arm dramatically but she already left. He fell back into his chair desperately.
“You’re down bad, mate.” Sirius commented half laughing.
After he’d finished that sentence, James made the black haired boy roll around and straight-up eat the floor. Even Charlie couldn’t hide his chuckling.
“Rude.” He said, sitting on the floor next to Charlie. “Hey I know you.” He pointed his finger at him as Charlie’s face was full of confusion.
“You do ?”
“You share your dorm with my brother, no ?”
“Regulus ? Yeah…”
“Oh…” Sirius seemed to realise now. “Sorry about the itching powder I put on your bed last year…I thought it was Reg’s bed.”
“That was you !” Isaac suddenly closed his book. “It wasn’t Charlie’s bed, it was mine ! Did you know how many weeks it took for the itching to fade ?”
“In my defence…It was kind of Remus’s idea.”
“Such a great friend.” Remus lifts his thumb up ironically. “Look lads we didn’t know what bed it was so don’t take it too personal, okay ?”
Are you kidding me ?
“Yeah…Whatever.” Charlie grumped, bringing his knees closer to his body.
“Excuse him, Charlie can be a bit cheeky sometimes.” Elle forced a smile.
“They’re students just like us, not the fucking Queen Elizabeth.” Charlie felt anger consuming him as he stood up and left the carriage to run towards the toilets. On the way, he bumped into a familiar red haired girl called Lily.
“You’re Charlie Spring, aren’t you ?” She asked, clipboard in hand with a pen behind her ear.
“Yes-”
“Perfect, come with me. We have a prefet meeting before the school year officially starts.”
“I don’t…I mean I’m not…”
Too late, she had taken his hand and was dragging him to a new carriage. All the people there were already wearing their robes and badges. They sat like perfect students.
“...Hi.”
“Where is your badge ?” Regulus asked directly. Charlie didn’t know he had been named prefet too, it almost seemed like the Black family made it happen.
“I left it in my carriage.”
“Nevermind, as prefets of this school, we must respect each other but also guarantee peace and the respect of the rules.” Lily started before getting cut off.
“That’s why your boyfriend doesn’t respect any of them ?” Regulus sneered.
She suddenly turned red. “H-He’s not my boyfriend !” She cleared her throat and opened her notebook. “Anyway, I suggest we all read the three hundred rules of Hogwarts in order to be fully prepared for this year.”
A few sighs could be heard as Lily started reading at loud every rule, rules that even the professors themselves had forgotten.
The meeting lasted during the whole journey, by the end of rule 286, the train had stopped and all of the carriage ran towards the exit.
The sorting ceremony got more and more boring over the years. It was always the same thing over and over again, the new slytherins seemed to be even worse than the others that came the year before and before again. Besides, with the cold climate of war and secret societies within the Wizarding World, nobody really felt safe in Hogwarts anymore, no matter what Dumbledore would say.
As they were eating at their usual places among their houses, Charlie couldn’t help but watch from afar his friend group, surrounded by the popular ones and the Marauders. That marked the end of what their friendship used to be and Charlie never felt so scared to be alone again.
“What’s up, mate ? You’re being weird.” Isaac noticed pushing him with his shoulder.
“I’m just completely knackered to be honest.” Charlie forced a smile.
“You sure ?”
“Yeah.” He sighed, nodding.
Charlie looked at his plate, still untouched and stirred the soup slowly with his spoon. He wasn’t hungry after all.
Dumbledore suddenly stood up, glass in hand and demanded everyone’s attention. The whole room went silent, waiting for more.
“Dear children, these are troubled times we’re living but don’t forget that when there is darkness, there is always a way to find light.”
“Every fucking year.” Regulus murmured to himself but everybody around him heard.
“Hogwarts has guaranteed safety for all its students for centuries now. And it is now more than time to help each other and to respect one another. Now, I would like to introduce you to your new professors : Mr Ajayi, master of muggle studies and Mr Farouk, whose herbology has no secret for him. This week, you will be able to explore the different classes and lectures organised by our fellow teachers but also different extracurricular activities that you might want to join. It may help everybody fit in and do things they really are passionate about. Any questions ?”
A high hand raised up among the ravenclaw table. “Why didn’t we have this last year, or even the year before ?”
“We have been through some inclusion issues these last few years. We want all the best for our students, this was a good alternative to modernising our school and promoting inclusion.”
The girl nodded sympathetically as Charlie’s stomach made one turn.
“I can’t believe our school is changing its way of teaching like that, my parents didn’t put me in here so I can do whatever I want.” Harry complained to his two other friends.
“I think it’s pretty cool.” Ben disagreed as Charlie surprisingly stared at him. “What are you looking at ?”
Charlie put his eyes down and pretended he didn’t hear anything.
When the dinner was finally over, as a prefect Charlie had to show around to the 1st year and brought them to their dorms in the basements of the castle. Once it was done, he did a last patrol that he was assigned to do with Regulus Black. Fortunately, the two boys were quite silent and efficient. Charlie somehow found it peaceful.
“Good night.” Charlie said to Regulus before starting to climb the stairs leading to the Gryffindors quarters.
“What are you doing ? It’s curfew.”
“Are you gonna rebuke me ?”
Regulus rolled his eyes nonchalantly and turned heels. As for Charlie, he whispered the password and silently entered the lion’s den.
Once inside, he couldn’t believe what he just witnessed.