Chapter Text
Clothes sprawl around the floor and resemble a familiar room that Astrophel has seen before. He walks over to the ball of a blanket sat on Charlie’s bed and nudges it. A long, low groan releases from the cocoon.
“Charlie,” Astro begins, “You have to get up.”
She had been awake for a few minutes when she heard everyone else bustling around the common room, but she hadn’t moved.
“I dun’ wanna,” Charlie whines and, still, she hasn’t moved.
Astro was prepared for the struggle of Charlie waking up since he’s handled it for years before. He snatches the blanket and unravels Charlie, which causes a childish whine to erupt from her. She looks up at him with a frown and he tosses her robe onto her face, along with the rest of her uniform. Charlie watches him leave and lazily dresses herself.
The door opens and Charlie exits her room, fastening her tie. She yawns and then says, “Green isn’t actually a bad color. Lucky me.”
Astro rolls his eyes as he collects his and Charlie’s things, “Yeah. Lucky you.”
When Charlie slips her shoes on, she walks with Astro to potions. Since Charlie took an excessive amount of time to wake up and get ready, she would’ve been late to any other class. The only thing she actually likes about potions so far is that it’s close. She doesn’t have high hopes for her professors, mostly because of what Sirius has said about some of them. Though, Remus had other things to say. The stone arch stands tall, intimidating nobody; at least after you walk in and see the dark and gloomy room. If someone with zero expectations walked into this classroom, they would think it was for torture.
Astro walks with Charlie to a table and leaves when she sits down as a feeling of anxiety overwhelms her. Then, the professor gracefully walks in. Charlie looks up at his face from her seat and instantly has to cover her mouth when she lets out an obnoxiously loud snort.
“Is something… funny,” he asks slowly, “Ms. Potter?”
Charlie inhales deeply and holds her breath, “Not at all, Professor Snape.”
He looks down at her with a distasteful expression that causes Charlie to take subtle deep breaths. He stares at her and seems to grow more disgusted by the second, which makes it even more of a struggle for Charlie to keep her composure.
Charlie hugs herself tight in an attempt to calm down. Professor Snape introduces himself to the class and explains what they will be doing, learning, and other stuff that Charlie isn’t entirely interested in. His explanations are brief and hardly memorable, so Charlie hopes she doesn’t break any of his rules. Though, no matter what she does, she would upset him. Would it be better to just do whatever?
Professor Snape dismisses everyone and Charlie exits, seeing Astro walking towards the classroom to meet with Charlie. Charlie walks with him and they both stop when Snape’s voice bellows, “Potter. Stay.”
Astro stares at Charlie wide eyed, concerned that she had already caused a problem the moment the class had started. She suppresses a groan and turns to the classroom again, forcing a polite smile on her face as Snape looks at her the same he did when class had begun.
“I’d hope you could keep your composure during class,” he declares. “I wouldn’t want to see you humiliate the Slytherin house.”
Charlie keeps her smile up as she tries not to frown and at the very least shout. She keeps a polite demeanor and face as she says, “Of course, professor. I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Snape is still unimpressed as he turns around, which Charlie finally rolls her eyes to. She rushes out of the room with a tortured atmosphere. She groans as she begins walking with Astro.
“What the bloody hell did you do?” Astro’s eyebrows are furrowed as he looks at her displeased.
Charlie sighs and grips her things against her chest, “It’s… hard to explain. Are all the classes going to be that bad?”
Soon, they arrive at the charms class and Astro smiles slightly, “I think this class will be better. Professor Flitwick used to duel, I think you’d like him.”
Charlie’s face lights up and she nearly shouts every thought she has. “Dude, why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t anyone tell me? That’s so cool! Does he still?”
Astro cups Charlie’s mouth to make her stop and instantly pulls his hand away, perturbed by the idea of her licking his hand again. He then presses his hand on her shoulder, “Ask him. After class, though. Don’t disrupt.”
Charlie smiles wide and spins into class as Astro walks to his. She finds a seat and notices Draco Malfoy sitting across from her. In response, she groans, his own presence bothering her intensely. The short professor, Flitwick, cleared his throat to gather the attention of all the students. Everyone gazed at him and he began to explain the levitation spell. Charlie could only think back to the times when the spell was used on her toys as a baby and her as a toddler, though Remus would kill someone if he found out Sirius did that. It isn’t like Charlie has copied the spell; she only just got her wand, which Ollivander claimed to be “extraordinary”. She doesn’t know what’s so extraordinary about a wand with cedar wood and a phoenix feather core. It sits well in her hand, being 10 inches long, but it doesn’t feel like anything special. She’d never felt something wondrous, excluding her first try with it. Remus said that wands are something extremely connected to the witch or wizard holding it and Astro said his feels like an extension to his being. Charlie wants to feel that too.
Professor Flitwick explains that the spell has a procedure as simple as its pronunciation. All one has to do is say, and mean, “wingardium leviosa” as one swishes and flicks their wand. Seeing a floating feather isn’t a rare sight, all it needs is a breeze to seem like the spell. Charlie grasps her wand and mimics the gesture gracefully. She does it again, but when she does, the feather begins rising up. It doesn’t lift all the way, as if resisting flight, but Charlie stares with wide eyes. She hadn’t said anything yet, not a single word had come from her. The wand sits in her hand and she can somewhat understand what Astro meant by an extension of himself. As everyone around shouts and mutters, Charlie weakly maneuvers her wand and says, “Wingardium Leviosa.”
Hesitantly, the feather floats up and stills in the air, sitting majestically like a cloud. Charlie smiles and glances up at Flitwick.
“Extraordinary!” Flitwick studies the sight of Charlie’s wand supporting the feather in air. She smiles at him and he passes 5 house points in response to her wit. Everyone else continues to shout out and jut their wand towards the harmless feather. Charlie lowered the feather onto the surface before her and sat quietly and nervously, unsure of what to do as the students around her yelped.
After a longing class full of shouting and frustration, Charlie exits and sees Astro walking up to the room. She smiles wide and begins to walk by his side as he has a troubled look on his face, which Charlie doesn’t notice as she explains her time in Charms class. As they walk, she chats to him—despite his silence—and when she glances up at him, the look of misery is more than prominent on his face.
“What happened?” Charlie asks as she stands in front of them, stopping some of the flow through the hall. People glare at her and utter complaints, but she ignores it and awaits an answer from Astro.
“Nothing,” he says. “Doesn’t matter.” He frowns and Charlie is unimpressed.
“Tell me,” Charlie whines and pouts with exaggerated desperation, which Astro can’t help but smile in response. He pushes his hand to her face and rolls his eyes, grinning.
“Quit it, Charlie,” he starts, “You look stupid.”
She scoffs in response as she drags his hand down, “Hey! That’s offensive.”
“Stay offended,” Astro says, behaving uptight as he holds his head high and walks away. Charlie follows after him and they walk to her next class.
Astro stops at the training grounds with Charlie and she looks out at the vast area before her. She begins gleaming up at Astro and he grimaces.
“Don’t die. Please,” he begs before he wanders away to his own class.
All the students line up as Madam Hooch walks towards them. Charlie can hardly stand still, waving her intertwined fingers as she taps her foot. Excitement doesn’t begin to describe the feeling Charlie has right now. Learning to fly means being the best Quidditch player, and being the best Quidditch player is exactly what James Potter was, from the stories Sirius had told.
Everyone, standing beside an unsightly broom, holds out their hand. They listen to the instructions provided and shouting is heard from everyone once more, which causes Charlie to grimace since she already had to listen to it before. Charlie copies her order and she barks out a stern “Up” and, after almost four failed attempts, it shoots to her hand and causes her to stumble back. She stands upright, stopping herself from plummeting onto the grass. She looks up and smiles wide at Hooch, who is focused on the other line of students. Charlie frowns and awaits her orders as the other students gather their brooms.
When everyone manages to accomplish their task, they walk over and Madam Hooch explains flying as people mount their rough sticks, which felt improper to give students. She taps her foot impatiently as Hooch rambles on. Charlie never particularly cared for the history of anything. This, obviously, excluded her dad, but that didn’t count anyway. The only thing that mattered was the present and the future, so she doesn’t want to be better than her dad; he was the best player before. Charlie is going to be the best player every year she attends this school.
Madam Hooch steps to the side and students begin to guide their knobbly brooms up, trying to take flight. Charlie smiles wide and pushes herself up and forward, but not enough to throw herself onto the ground. Forcefully, she lunges forward, taking multiple hops to hoist herself into the air, but every attempt fails. Charlie groans as her legs grow tired, hardly unable to leap again. There are few students in the air, trying to sit stable on their unflattering brooms. Charlie thinks back on things that Remus had told her; he’s said that things are simpler and come easier when you relax.
Though the advice isn’t entirely helpful for Charlie, a ball stuffed with energy and possibly a bit of genetic drugs, she takes deep breaths and closes her eyes. As she does, her feet begin to elevate off of the ground and she pouts, realizing there was nothing extremely exciting about lift off.
Madam Hooch declares that everyone had successfully completed their task and Charlie sighs as she drags her broom with her, lying it on the grass in the way it was before. She wanders over to the side of the castle and leans against the wall, groaning in annoyance and boredom.
Madam Hooch made her way over to Charlie and stood over her like a tower, yet Charlie looked up and stood like a dome. She kept her gaze and Hooch’s lips curled up in a grin.
“Ms. Potter,” she began, “Are you aware of your father’s success as a Quidditch player and as a flier overall?”
Charlie grins back, wide and bright, “Yes, Ma’am.”
Still towering over Charlie, Hooch smiles and crosses her arms as she stares down at Charlie. Hooch stands beside her and Charlie swallows nervously, expecting criticism or even being told of Hooch’s expectations and how let down she was.
“You know,” Hooch began, “Despite being one of the best Quidditch players, he wasn’t one of the best fliers.” She glances down at Charlie with a knowing grin.
“Seriously?” Charlie practically shouts.
Hooch lets out a low chuckle and continues to smile down at her, “It took him almost two whole lessons to get into the air. But he still held his head up high and became an amazing Quidditch player.”
Charlie gazed up with twinkling eyes, full of admiration and hope, “The best.”
Hooch smirked and faced Charlie once more, “I’m sure you can do it, too. I can tell you have lots of power, Potter.”
Charlie lets out a squeeze of a sound and rushes into the castle. She pushes around and finds herself being shoved by the crowds of students. As she swims through the waves, Harry is standing beside the entrance to the Great Hall. Her eyes light up and she jolts through until she jumps up and forward.
“Harry!”
Harry’s eyes widen as Charlie jumps onto him, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck. She squeezes him, latching on like a parasite.
“Charlie,” he sighs as she releases him and lowers herself. “I haven’t seen you all day.”
Charlie protrudes her lip into a pout, “I know! I hope our other classes will be the same. I cannot meet new people.” She scowls and narrows her eyes at the people passing by them.
Harry lets out a low chuckle and fixes his uniform that Charlie had rumpled. “It kinda sucks you’re not a Gryffindor. At least I’d get to see you in the common room. We would get to talk more.”
“I’ll find a way.” Charlie beams up at him, determination shining in her eyes and showing in her smile.
Her care has infested Harry because he has already grown fond of her. They hardly understand each other, but they suddenly know everything. All Charlie had before was Astrophel. He was her cousin and her peer, Charlie didn’t have anybody else. Harry had been raised by people who never liked his family and even outcasted his mother. They already had something to bond over.
They walk together, babbling as they stride, and Charlie halts to a stop when Harry enters a classroom.
He stands in the doorframe, grinning. “I’ll talk to you during lunch.”
Charlie smiles, “Yeah.” He enters the room and a part of Charlie feels ripped away.
Will they ever have enough time? It seems they continue to be ripped away from each other. She hangs her head and walks through the halls, dragging her feet.
At long last, Charlie manages to enter her classroom, where a cat sits on the desk and no professor stands. She scatters to a seat, pushing her rear down. A collection of students make their way into the classroom and Charlie sits impatiently. This isn’t a class she’s been dreading, but she’s yet to find it interesting.
The cat presented in front of everyone steps forward, and suddenly, Professor McGonagall appears. Charlie marvels, along with everyone else, but it’s not a new thing for her to witness. Her legs kick beneath the table as she giggles, reminding her of how bad she wants to be an animagus. Sirius has been an inspiration to her and, if she’s an animagus, she could be around Remus when he transforms. Plus she would get to be an animal. Tons of benefits.
Transfiguration class is as uninteresting as Charlie expected. It’s obviously useful and there’s tons of pranks she heard about that she could also do, but truly, it didn’t interest her. Charlie was at school to be strong and accomplish every single thing. There’s not much else to it and there never will be because she has her life set out exactly how she wants.
Then, class is over. Everyone bustles out and heads to the Great Hall for lunch. At the entrance, Astrophel stands like a knight—similar to the ones in the wall—and Charlie runs up to him.
Astro looks down at her, “Did you get lost?”
Charlie rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, “No.”
“Then where were you?” Astro gives an incredulous look that Charlie trembles at.
“Y’know,” she begins, now behaving more poised and walking into the Great Hall, “You’re very hateful.”
Astro stumbles behind her and sits gracefully where they had in the morning. As he’s about to quip at her, Dumbledore stands up and everyone falls silent. He bellows thanks to the students for a splendid day with no struggles throughout. Everyone listens as he wishes them a fulfilling day and year. The professors and students begin to clap, few staying seated.
Charlie glances around at the students and finally looks at Astro. “Why do they applaud to every thing he says?”
Astro shrugs, “He’s the headmaster.”
“He’s not God,” Charlie huffs and then smiles. “That’s occupied by me.”
In response, Astro rolls his eyes and everyone sits. Finally, everyone gets to eat.