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Charlie Weasley didn't want to go to Hogwarts. Why would he? Bill was there and Bill was an insufferable prat and Mum was at home with no one to help with baby Ginny! Dad was always at work and Percy was always in his room and Fred and George weren't any help at all and Ron . . . Ron was just a year older than Ginny.
It wasn't fair! "Mum, I don't want to go! I want to stay home. Please, Mum? I can always go next year . . ."
"Yes! Yes!" His baby sister cried. Charlie thought she was the most adorable little thing on earth, cuter that all of his brothers combined. Especially ugly Bill.
Bill pushed trolley with one hand and pushed Charlie with the other. "Stop being such a baby. Let's go already. I want to get a good seat on the train and Melissa Bagins said she might sit with us this year."
"Bill, be nice to your brother. And Charlie, you can always write letters to us," she said looking around. "Bill over-"
"Yeah, Mum, I see," he interrupted.
Charlie held Ginny's left hand so that she wouldn't get lost in the crowd of witches and wizards.
"There you are, Molly, I was getting worried! It's almost eight o'clock." Arthur pecked his wife on the cheek.
Molly looked down at her second son. "Charlie lost his bag. Again. I wonder how it could have gotten into the dresser in the attic by itself," she said, staring pointedly at Charlie.
Charlie blushed and ducked his head. "Mum, I'm sure it'll be fine if I just go next year. I want to stay home with you and Ginny. Please? I'll even help you in the kitchen. And I'll clean my room, I promise!"
Arthur shook his head and sighed. "Come on son, let's go over to the train and chat, just us two."
They walked far enough away that Charlie couldn't see Ginny and longer.
Arthur squatted down to look Charlie in the eye. To Charlie's displeasure, his dad had to squat down a lot. "Now, why don't you want to go to Hogwarts? You'll have much fun there with kids your own age. And you can ask Bill for help. And you can always write us letters. Lots of letters. Every day, if you want. How does that sound?"
Charlie looked at the ground and tried to look as miserable as possible. That usually made his parents agree with him. "But who will help Mum with Ginny? What if she falls and hurts herself and Mum's too far away? What if she learns to play by herself and won't need me to be her dragon when I come back? What if she forgets me?"
"I didn't know you liked playing 'Dragon and Princess' with Ginny that much," Arthur said with a smile.
"I don't!" Charlie exclaimed, his face going red. "I just . . . I want to stay home! Can I, Dad?"
"No, you can't. I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were this against going to Hogwarts, but here's what you can do: write Ginny lots of letters, okay? Tell her all about your adventures at school. And I will write down her replies and send them to you, okay? It will be just like you're there with us." Arthur brushed Charlie's bangs out of his face. "And when you come back, you can be the best older brother Ginny could have. Agreed?"
"I really have to go?"
"Yes."
"And you're sure I'll have fun adventures?"
"Yes."
"And you'll read my letters to Ginny?"
"Yes. Send them on one of the school owls and it'll get to us in a few hours."
"And you'll-"
"Arthur, Charlie, it's time to go!"
Charlie watched his Mum and Ginny walk over to them.
"Are you two finished? Because the train is about to leave. Bill is already on it. He said something about meeting a girl and asked me to tell you goodbye. Charlie, are you good?"
"Yes Mum," he replied. He decided not to add that his mum should really go rest.
"Okay. Grab your bags and get on the train. Shoo. You'll have loads of fun." Molly handed him his bag and gave him a long hug. "And I'm sure you'll get into Gryffindor, my little boy. You'll love it there."
"No, I'll probably get into Hufflepuff. And then I won't have to see Bill."
The train tooted its horn.
"Okay, goodbye Charlie! Write letters and be good," his dad said. "Don't get into any trouble. I already dread the day Professor McGonagall meets our twins."
"Bye Dad. Bye Mum." He knelt down and hugged Ginny. "I'll be back really soon, okay? Christmas break will be here before you know it and you can help decorate the tree with me this year."
"Kay Charlie," she replied. Charlie knew she probably didn't understand what she was talking about.
He stood up and looked back at his parents. "You're sure I just can'y be home-schooled?"
"Go Charlie."
He trudged onto the train, dragging his bag on the dirty ground. Maybe if he lost it again he wouldn't have to go.
Alas, there wasn't enough room between his parents and the train to lose his bag. He slowly stepped into the train and stopped to look around. It wasn't that scary. But whoever decorated the train was an idiot, he decided. And a Slytherin. The carpet under his feet was a very dark green, almost black, and the walls and ceiling were painted a sea green. He wondered who cleaned the carpets and felt sorry for them, because he was dragging a lot of mud in. the bottoms of his shoes were caked with mud from the time he tried to hide his school bag in the garden.
He walked along the hallway and made sure not to walk into any of the bigger kids. All the cabin doors were shut and had noises coming out. The other late-comers looked older than him and already knew where to go.
When Charlie reached the end of the train, he sucked in a breath and just opened one of the doors. Inside was a girl around his age playing exploding pins with two guys. They all stopped playing to look at him.
"Um, hi? May I sit with you?" He bit his lip, hoping they would.
"Yeah, sure, go ahead." The girl said this, then went back to playing.
Charlie sat down and watched them play. They didn't seem to care what he did as long as he didn't bother them. He felt awkward and young and alone and really, really bored. He wasn't used to doing nothing. At home, he would always be playing with Ginny or helping his mum in the kitchen.
Charlie tried reading one of his textbooks, but the history of stupid Hogwarts didn't interest him. Neither did the one about the different magical plants of Scotland and the one about potion brewing.
He was bored. He was really bored. So he got up and left his trunk in the cabin and went to walk around the train. He walked the length of the train twice before deciding that this wasn't any more interesting than sitting in the cabin.
He decided to see how much dirt he could get off his feet and ground his dirty shoes against the green carpet. To his surprise, the dirt vanished as soon as traces appeared on the carpet. He did it again and watched it fade to new.
"Having fun?"
Charlie looked up and saw a really short girl looking back at him. She must be really short, he decided, because he himself wasn't very tall. "Yeah. It's cool."
"Oh."
They stared at each other for a few moments. Charlie wasn't sure what to do. "My name is Charlie Weasley," he finally said.
"Tonks. Nymphadora, actually. But call me Tonks."
"Why?"
"Because I hate my name, and now that I'm finally here, I'm going to make everybody call me Tonks. So there."
"Okay."
Another pause followed. Charlie kicked his foot against the carpet. "D'you want to play exploding snap with me? I have a set in my bag."
"Yes!" She ran her hand through her hair and looked ashamed of her excitement. "I mean, sure. If you want. I'm free. And bored. Yes."
Charlie grinned. He wasn't the only bored and awkward person here! But he still wanted to go home. "Follow me." They walked in awkward silence to his cabin. Charlie opened the door, slipped inside, and grabbed his bag. The people inside didn't notice his intrusion. He slipped out and rejoined Tonks.
They sat down outside the door and set up the game.
"Are you a first year?" He asked, rubbing his nose.
"Yes. You are too."
"Um, yeah."
"Can I see your wand?"
Charlie grinned. He had a brand new wand, unlike his brother Bill. Everything else was second hand, but his wand was something he could be proud of. "Walnut, 10.5 inches, flexible, dragon heartstring. But it doesn't work when I try to do spells."
"I wasn't paying that much attention to Ollivander . . . but my want is bigger than yours! See?"
They compared wands and Charlie noticed that hers was at least and inch longer than his. He found it unfair that a smaller girl had a longer wand than him, and promptly told her so.
"It means I'm cooler than you. What house are you hoping to get on?"
"Everyone in a my family is a Gryffindor, but I don't think I'll get in. I'm not very brave."
"Oh. My parents are just hoping that I don't get into Slytherin, but I probably won't. I'm not evil. Or at least I don't think I am."
"Don't worry. Evil people are serious, which means they hate exploding snap. You're not evil."
"Good. Want to see a cool trick?" She didn't wait for his reply. She scrunched her nose and concentrated. Charlie watched, fascinated. Her hair was slowly changing color! It went from a mousy brown to a bubblegum pink.
"Awesome," he said, eyes wide. "Can you do it in red?"
A few seconds later her hair was firetruck red.
"Is it a spell? Can I learn? Does it hurt?"
"No, it's just something I can do. Daddy says people are born with it. It doesn't hurt, it just feels tingly." She paused. "But I wasn't supposed to tell anyone."
"Why not? It's cool."
"I didn't know why. But don't tell anyone, okay?"
"Okay. Are we friends now?"
"I want to be. And we now have a shared secret."
"Then we're friends. And now that we're friends, can I call you Nymphy?"
She looked at him as if trying to see if he was serious. "No. It's Tonks."
"But it's-"
"No."
They looked at each other and grinned. The awkwardness was completely gone.
Charlie didn't know how long they played exploding snap in the hallway, but by the time the train stopped and a Prefect came by and told them to leave their luggage and go, it was already dark. They stepped out of the train together and looked around. A lot of students were getting into carriages, so they began to follow the other students. Charlie grabbed Tonks' hand so they wouldn't be separated.
A gruff voice called out, "Oi, first years! Come over here, all o' ye."
Charlie and Tonks went over to a very tall man in an old coat. Charlie thought this man looked really odd in his huge coat and mangy hair. He wondered if anyone ever offer to cut it for him.
"Yer all here? Good. My name is Rubeus Hagrid. Call me Hagrid. I'm the groundskeeper here at Hogwarts. I'll take ye first years to the boats."
Charlie looked up at the big man. Hagrid looked down at him. "I like dragons," he said simply.
Hagrid smiled at him. Charlie decided Hagrid was good. "I like dragons too."
"Does Hogwarts have any dragons?"
"No, but we do have Hippogriffs. They're not as big or terrifying, but they're int'resting."
"Okay."
Charlie noticed he and Tonks were still holding hands and quickly let go. If Bill saw, he'd tease him about it. Bill was a prat. A big prat.