Chapter 8
If they were all perfectly honest with themselves and one another, they should have known the peace wouldn't last.
Their first month and a half at Hogwarts had been quiet and calm, and they should have known better than to assume it would last until after Christmas holidays.
As it was, Harry hadn't turned up at lunch, and Chara was busy cursing themself and everything else that got in their way as they raced through the halls trying to find their younger brother, Frisk, Asriel, and Blaise following behind.
Of course, when they managed to find Harry - it took far to long to accomplish that, in the opinions of the other four students - it was to see Harry standing in front of a first year Gryffindor girl with a defiant look on his face as he faced down a couple other students.
Chara was thankful to see they were all first years, because they weren't prepared for a fight with anyone above first year just yet. As soon as they got close enough to hear what was being said, thought, Chara had to reach out and grab Frisk to keep them still.
Frisk glared at Chara, but stayed put for a moment.
Harry was doing pretty good, holding his own against an onslaught of verbal abuse. He almost smiled when he saw his siblings and Blaise hiding in the shadows in case he needed help. He slowly edged out of range of the Gryffindor boys, then coaxed the girl into running, Frisk being quick to grab the girl and pull her out of sight with them.
"I'll get Harry," Chara promised, giving a look back to Frisk. "Get her to the Hospital Wing,"
Frisk gave Chara a wary look, but nodded and disappeared.
Chara looked back just when Harry ducked under a punch from the red haired boy and took off running.
And if they hesitated, it was really no one's fault besides the moron's who decided to yell verbal taunts after the small raven haired boy.
As it was, Harry yelled out to Chara as he moved past them. "C'mon, not worth it,"
Chara threw a dark look at the Gryffindors before following after their brother.
When they got to the Hospital Wing, Asriel was sitting down with a notebook and pen, writing.
"What's going on here?" Harry asked with a small smile.
Asriel glanced up worriedly at Harry before he spoke. "Frisk suggested I write home to let Mom and Sans know what's happened. Sans would be mad if we didn't tell him about this, you know.."
Harry nodded, though he was frowning.
He moved to look at Hermione before he gave a smile. "You okay?"
Hermione gave him a wary look before nodding in agreement. "Thank you," she offered quietly.
"Don't worry about it,"
Chara shook their head as they watched Harry settle in to talk with the girl. Once Frisk was nearby, they settled to ask questions.
"Apparently Harry stumbled across the scene just as she took a hit." Frisk offered quietly. "I didn't ask why, it didn't seem important. I'm going to take it to McGonagall, though. Stay with them?"
Chara nodded in agreement with this statement.
When Frisk had disappeared, Chara's expression darkened quite a bit, turning almost deadly.
Asriel didn't notice, too focused on his writing, but Blaise did.
"What's that look about?" Blaise asked warily. "You look ready to kill someone..."
Chara raised red eyes to meet dark brown. "I thought about it," they remarked, voice icy.
Silence fell over the near empty room.
Harry was quiet before he sighed and spoke. "They aren't worth it, Chara." he said stubbornly. "They'll be taken care of, they aren't worth getting in trouble over."
Chara went to argue, but Asriel spoke up. "If you'd attacked them and Sans found out, where would it have put you? Where would you have gone, mentally, when he found out and wrote you about it?"
"Right back to his stupid judgment hall," Chara grumbled, scowling at Asriel.
The boy just smiled faintly in response to this look. "Are they worth facing judgment hall again?"
Hermione seemed confused, but didn't interrupt until Chara had shook their head in response.
"What's going on?"
Blaise gave a look to the siblings before he started explaining - he knew that they wouldn't be able to explain correctly in their states, so he could give the cliffnotes version of everything he knew.
Asriel got up halfway through it to go mail his letter.
Dear Mom and Sans
I hope this letter finds you both well but we've reached a problem here.
See, it's been calm up until now, but today we lost track of where Harry was and he didn't show up for lunch so we got really worried.
He's okay before you get too worried! We found him in one of the upper halls, protecting a Gryffindor girl from some of her Housemates. She seemed really shaken up, and had taken a few hits, but is okay
No one died, before you ask. Chara stayed behind to get Harry, but they didn't attack anyone. We made sure.
Love, Asriel
It took exactly a week to hear back from either of them.
And once they had, it was a set of letters being dropped in Chara's lap at breakfast. They were quick to separate them and hand them to their respective owners.
Chara smiled at their letter faintly, seeming quite happy with it.
Blaise noticed and spoke. "What's it say?"
"Sans said that he's glad I didn't attack anyone, even in defense. That he knew it must have been hard to ignore a threat to my family, but he's glad I did."
Blaise smiled at that, knowing it meant more to Chara than the other was willing to let on.
It took a minute before Frisk turned around with a package. "Mom sent pie!" they said happily.
Harry perked up at that, looking up from his own letter. "Pie?"
Frisk nodded in agreement.
They waited until they were out on the lawn near the lake to cut into the pie, giving Blaise and Hermione - who had decided to join them that day - a piece before anything.
Hermione seemed unsure. "You're sure it's good?"
"Mom's pie is the best," Chara commented with bright eyes and a smile.
Frisk smiled as well, and spoke up. "Here's a question, Chara."
Chara hummed in question as they settled with a piece of pie.
"Did you ever try Papyrus's spaghetti?"
Harry grinned at Frisk in surprise and Chara seemed startled before looking down and shaking their head.
"No. I...uh...I never got the chance to."
Frisk nodded in understanding. "Maybe for the best back then, but he's learned that glitter isn't edible."
Harry bit his lip, and Frisk smiled happily when they saw the hope in Harry's eyes.
"I guess...well...Sans said he's back to the bare bones, just experimenting."
Chara groaned, glowering at Frisk as Harry covered his mouth to muffle his giggles.
Blaise shook his head. "That was really weak," he offered.
Frisk gave Blaise a look. "What are you on about? Sans and Papyrus both are skeletons! It's not weak!"
Understanding lit in Blaise's eyes, then he shook his head again. "Please tell me Sans is better at puns than you are, Frisk."
"I'll have you know I'm amazing at puns!"
Asriel sighed, looking at Hermione quietly as this happened. "I'm sorry." he said quietly. "This is more normal than I'd like."
Hermione smiled fondly at the scene. "It's fine. It's nice,"