Charlotte Weasley

Chapter 7 - Boredom

When Charlotte awoke that morning with Victoire jumping on her bed it felt like she had only slept for a few minutes. Which may have been true-- upon hearing the news, she couldn't catch a wink of sleep. 

"Wake up! Wake up!" Victoire cheered gleefully from the air above her. 

"You know something?" Charlotte asked, annoyed. 

"What's that?" Victoire asked, grinning widely.

"You are the most annoying cousin at nine o'clock in the morning."

Victoire laughed. "Don't you want some breakfast? I've been up for two hours now and Molly made breakfast at least an hour ago. Who knows how much is left at this point.." 

Charlotte lept out of bed and ran down the stairs, two at a time and flew into the kitchen where Mrs Weasley was tending to some sizzling bacon. 

"Wow there, slow down a bit. I'm not even done making breakfast yet."

Charlotte gasped for breath. "Oh... Victoire said there wouldn't be any yet."

Mrs Weasley smirked. "And you actually believed her? Wow, I thought after all these years with George and Ron you would have learned by now. We Weasleys will say just about anything to get what we want."

Charlotte sighed, she had been very gullible. She trudged her way all the way up to her bedroom where Victoire was laying on her bed, a smug expression on her face. 

"Well you're up now!"

"Har har har." Charlotte said in an unamused voice. 

"Come on, maybe we can convince Molly, or Ginny to take us to Diagon Alley today."

Suddenly Charlotte's entire mood changed completely. "That's true. I'm going to Hogwarts!" And then Charlotte ran around the fourth floor cheering excitedly until George opened his bedroom door, one floor below, and yelled for her to shut up.

"Wow, what a spoil-sport." Victoire shook her head. 

When Mrs Weasley finally called that breakfast was finished, Charlotte and Victoire were starving and Charlotte's bubbly mood was beginning to wear away. When they came downstairs it appeared that no one else was in a great mood either. Apparently Harry had spread the news from last night. 

Mrs Weasley set the plate of bacon, sausage, and pancakes onto the middle of the table with a false smile on her face. Ron and Harry held a muttered conversation at the end of the table, ignoring the food on their plates. When Ron ignored food, you know there was something up. 

Hermione was sitting in an armchair in the corner, her face deep into a book who's cover was facing down so she couldn't see what it was. Ginny and George were attempting to make cheering conversation with the younger kids and Arthur had already left for work. 

"Mum," Ron called from his end of the table. "Harry, Hermione, and I were planning on taking off  early for work."

"I thought you had a few days off?"

Ron gave her a look. "We have to go in."

"Alright. See you later then." 

The three of them stood up, disregarding their breakfasts and apparated to the Ministry. 

Victoire stopped eating her pancake. "What's going on with everyone? Everyone seems so... Depressed."

Ginny smiled, "Nah, we're not. Harry, Ron and Hermione are just annoyed they got called into work."

Charlotte knew this was the biggest lie ever but it seemed to work on Victoire.

"Alright then, do you think we can go into Diagon Alley today?"

"What a wonderful idea, Victoire!" Mrs Weasley smiled at the chance to take their mind of the current situation but then thought about it for a second. Undoubtedly she realized that it would be unwise to go into Diagon Alley with a bunch of underage wizards without some extra supervision. "But how about we go tomorrow? Then maybe Ron or Hermione or Harry can come with. Maybe even Teddy Lupin!"

"That works too, I guess." Victoire agreed.

The two girls spent the entire day counting down until the next day when they could go into Diagon Alley. They didn't get to go there that often and when they did it was a special treat. They sat in the living room, working on moving puzzles, staring at the magical clock, trying to get Hermione's old cat, Crookshanks, to do tricks. Then they went into the garden and annoyed the garden gnomes and flew around on the broomsticks. Quidditch games aren't very fun with two people and they realized that very quick. 

When the sun began to set, and Harry, Ron and Hermione still hadn't returned from the Ministry, the two girls decided to go to bed for an early night.