"Ouch!"
As Charles reached for his third apple pie, he heard Harry let out a painful groan, clutching his forehead.
"What's wrong?" Charles asked, glancing up. "Did the candles on the ceiling start dripping wax again?"
His words immediately made the surrounding first-years glance up nervously. The floating candles, which had seemed so magical and spectacular just moments ago, now looked a lot more threatening.
Harry shook his head, feeling the sting in his scar fade. "It's nothing."
Charles didn't bother with him, his eyes wandering over to Quirrell and Snape at the staff table before he returned to devouring the last piece of his apple pie.
Fred said with a grin, "Finally finished, huh?"
George chimed in, "If you're still hungry, we could always sneak into the kitchens and get you something else."
Charles waved them off. "No need, I'm good, just finished up."
Fred, looking a bit wary, added, "Good thing you're not one of our siblings."
George nodded sagely. "Otherwise, Ron would be starving by now."
Ron, who overheard, turned around and shot them a flat stare.
As the food disappeared from the tables, Dumbledore stood, and the room fell into a hush.
The headmaster gave his usual announcements, but when he mentioned the Forbidden Forest, he shot a look at the twins—and by extension, Charles—who ended up caught in the crossfire.
Charles, now proficient in singing the school song to the tune of the "Funeral March," followed Percy and the other first-years to the Gryffindor common room.
They made their way to their respective dormitories, with Charles greeting his roommates, including Seamus Finnigan.
Charles glanced at his bed, then pulled out his wand, casting a "Clean Up!" spell on the bedding.
Seamus raised an eyebrow. "Why are you doing that?"
Charles shrugged casually. "I'm a bit of a neat freak. Not sure how long those blankets have been here or if they've been washed."
Seamus, looking concerned, also pulled out his wand and tried the spell. "Clean Up!"
Thirty seconds later, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall appeared in the doorway, staring at the perfectly clean beds for a moment in stunned silence.
"Mr. Finnigan," Dumbledore said, turning to the "African student" beside him, "Can you tell me what's happened here?"
Seamus, looking sheepish, grinned. "I thought the blankets looked a bit dirty, so I used a cleaning charm I saw in a book. I've seen my mum use it, so I figured it'd work. Guess I overdid it a bit."
Charles, not wanting to throw Seamus under the bus, decided to keep quiet about the fact he had taught him the spell. He didn't want the headmaster coming after him.
Dumbledore, having seen it all before, pulled out his wand and aimed it at Seamus. "Here's how it's done. Watch closely."
"Clean Up!"
With a careful, slow wave of his wand, Seamus was instantly transformed back to his regular self—he was white again.
Just then, McGonagall joined in, raising her wand. "Restore to Original!"
However, the room full of cotton and shredded fabric didn't show McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House, any respect. It stayed stubbornly frozen in place.
Two seconds later, all the chaos in the room disappeared, and Seamus's bed was perfectly made, the bedding pristine and looking as if it had just been replaced.
Charles pretended not to notice the look Dumbledore gave McGonagall, which screamed, "Aren't I impressive?" He even clapped and marveled, "Wow! Professor McGonagall is amazing!"
He thought to himself, Dumbledore's really something. A silent, no-wand, instant cleaning charm combined with the Levitation Charm—except this one was the advanced version, where the objects just appeared in an instant.
Before leaving, Dumbledore casually reassured Seamus, "Don't worry. The bedding here at Hogwarts is always very clean."
Once the two professors had left, a swarm of students rushed in, eager to ask questions. The explosion of activity had apparently been loud enough to be heard in the common room downstairs.
Charles slipped out of his bedroom and pulled Harry into his own room. They'd agreed on the train that he could borrow Harry's owl for a letter.
As Charles began to write, he asked, "Should I let Mrs. Dursley know you're safe?"
Harry shrugged. "She'll be disappointed."
With that, Charles ended the letter with: "Please give Mrs. Dursley the bad news that Harry has safely arrived at school."
Hedwig took the letter and flew out the window, disappearing into the night.
Harry then said, "You shouldn't have told Mr. Smith about what happened on the train. He can't get involved in wizard business, and it'll just make him worry."
Charles merely smiled and didn't say much more. Instead, he changed the subject. "You know, owls can fly pretty fast when delivering messages. It'll be at Privet Drive before long."
Harry looked genuinely surprised at this.
The commotion Seamus caused was over as quickly as it had started, and the exhaustion of the day soon set in. Many of the students began yawning.
The good students of Hogwarts didn't have much of a nightlife, and the twins weren't about to go into the Forbidden Forest on their first night.
Charles tossed and turned in bed for a while, glancing at the mechanical clock on the bedside table. It was only just after 10 p.m.
He considered looking for the Room of Requirement but decided against it, closing his eyes and beginning to count sheep. However, the more he counted, the more awake he became. Finally, he gave up on counting and dozed off, drifting into a light sleep.
The next morning, after leaving the common room, Charles bumped into Nearly Headless Nick and asked him to guide him to the Great Hall.
Hogwarts's staircases were always shifting, and the route that worked the day before might not work today. The only way to navigate was to ask the ghosts or the portraits on the walls.
Charles managed to get it right and arrived early. The long tables were just being set with breakfast.
He hurried to sit down, eager to finish his meal before the owl with his letter arrived.
He grabbed a plate and ordered several slices of toast, two fried eggs, two grilled tomatoes, a plate of bacon, and some sausages. Afterward, he ordered a bowl of porridge with plenty of sugar.
After last night's dinner, everyone had gotten used to his enormous appetite. Only Dumbledore seemed to be contemplating whether he should start charging him extra for his meals.
Charles couldn't help it—it had always been this way. He'd eaten more than most people since he was little. In fact, the old man had even used Legilimency on him to check if he was really hungry or just eating out of habit.
He'd once wondered if the reason he was sent to the rubbish bin was that he ate so much they couldn't afford to feed him.
However, the old man later discovered that when he ate magical creatures, his appetite returned to normal.
This was something Charles could never tell anyone. For one thing, there were no precedents. For another, many witches and wizards would surely think it was some kind of eerie phenomenon.
Just as over a hundred owls swooped into the Great Hall, Charles finished his meal.
To his surprise, Hedwig had returned, carrying a letter from Jack. The round-trip journey must have been around 1,600 kilometers.
Charles gave her some bacon as a treat and started reading the letter from the old man.
The letter mostly contained reminders to study hard and take care of his health, except for one note about how loud the thunder had been last night.
At that moment, there was a stir at the Slytherin table, with several students holding newspapers and heading toward Draco Malfoy.
Little Malfoy's face seemed even paler than usual, and the hand holding the newspaper was shaking.
Charles had also subscribed to the Daily Prophet, though his owl was a bit late.
The headline of the day's paper was a report on an explosion that had occurred the previous night at the Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire, England. The accompanying GIF showed an aerial view of the scene, where the walls were still standing, but the roof had been blown off.
The Daily Prophet reported that, after the explosion, the Ministry of Magic had taken the matter very seriously. Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge had immediately issued a directive, ordering the Auror Office, the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, and other departments to mobilize and manage the site, investigate the cause, and hold the culprits accountable. They were also coordinating rescue efforts and taking steps to prevent similar incidents in the future. The manor's owner was described as being emotionally unstable.
Shortly after, a visitor entered the Great Hall—a man who looked like a lion. He walked briskly up to Dumbledore, whispered something to him, and then turned to Snape and spoke quietly to him before rising and leaving with Rufus Scrimgeour.
(End of Chapter)