Charlotte Weasley

Chapter 16 - Lazy Day at Hogwarts

"You guys came back already?" I asked Lacey, surprised.

"Yeah, well, Valerie got scared of the squid and sprinted back up to the castle in record time," Lacey shrugged then plopped onto her bed. I sat on my bed and fished out my wand from my pocket.

I twirled it in the air saying a spell that mom always said at home "Confringo!" I pointed my wand at the fireplace. A weak little spark shot out of my wand. I sighed, "I guess practice makes perfect." 

"Well do you guys want to go out and sit on the lawn? I can get us a jug of pumpkin juice," Lacey asked the room at large. We all agreed and decided to meet at the big beech tree next to the water. 

The air had a nice, comforting warmth to it and coupled with cooling breezes made the weather very pleasant. Valerie sat down in the grass and stretched out, staring up at the clouds. I had taken some parchment and quills with me, and we had stopped at the owlery on the way as well so I could get Ophelia. I sat next to Valeria and began to write a letter to my parents:

Dear Mom and Dad,

School is very nice - we are starting classes tomorrow. But Harry was right when he was telling me about how many injuries people get here. I hit my head at night when trying to locate the bathroom - we were sleeping in the great hall. But luckily Jacob was there to help me. I was in the hospital wing this morining but was discharged at lunch. The Gryffindor common room is AMAZING. Andrew - oh yeah, he got in Ravenclaw (I was very surprised) - said that the Ravenclaw common room is also very nice. The other first year gryffindors include, Britt, Lacey Fogg, Valerie Knight, Jacob Wright, Peter Godfrey, and Arnold Groby. 

How is it at home? George doing better? I really miss all of you and I can't wait to see you, 

Sincerely,

Charlotte

I finished the letter, sealed it with some twine and attatched it to Ophelia's leg. I patted her wings gently and she nipped affectionatly on my finger and took off into the air, her wings flapping gracefully as she flew out of sight. 

"Letter home?" Lacey asked.

"Yeah, I miss them already but I can't think about it too much or I won't enjoy myself here!" I responded.

"Ah, got the pumpkin juice and some glasses," she handed me the flagon of juice and began to pour out ice cold glasses for everyone. 

We sat in silence for a while and I took out a book out of my bag labeled, "Hogwarts, A History". Brit had checked it out for me from the library while I was in the Hospital wing.  I flipped open the cover and skimmed the author's note. It was written by a woman named Bathilda Bagshot who had died around ten years ago - someone had placed a sticky note at the end saying that she had passed away some day in december ten years ago.  The other girls where looking at magazines and reading other books that they had checked out. I was actually rather interested to see the library. 

"I think I'll go visit Hagrid's" I mentioned to the girls who grunted in response, too absorbed in their books to pay much attention. I grabbed my bag and walked around to the other side of the castle to where Hagrid's hut was, a thin trail of smoke coming from the chimney- alerting his presence in the hut. I knocked on the door and an enormous man opened it - Hagrid. 

"Ah, you must be Charlotte!" He grinned a toothy smile, "Come in, come in! I just put a pot of tea on so you can sit down," Hagrid hurried around his kitchen, a flowery apron tied around his vast stomach. I suddenly got the urge to laugh so I passed it off as a hacking cough. 

Hagrid came back over and placed a steaming tray of freshly baked rock cakes. Harry had warned me before I left about these. He told me that they can knock your teeth out. I decided to ignore Harry's warnings and grabbed one, taking a large bite. 

He was right, Hagrid's rock cakes literaly were rock cakes. I left it sitting there on my plate, not daring to take another bite, when Hagrid came back over with two steaming mugs of tea, "Thank you Hagrid!" 

"Yer welcome, so how are ya liking 'Ogwarts?" The afternoon went on with Hagrid telling me stories about Harry, Ron, and Hermione when they were at school and the triwizard tournament. Hagrid's old dog, Fang, walked up to me and rested his head on my knee. I t was an old dog, but I figured Hagrid had somehow done something to make him live longer. Fang drooled all over my bare legs (as I was wearing shorts) and his droopy eyes were fixed on a raw steak on Hagrid's counter. 

The sun was beggining to set so Hagrid sent me back up to the castle to go to dinner. I found Brit in the courtyard with  Valerie but Lacey was nowhere to be seen. I caught up with them and we headed off to dinner. 

"Where is Lacey?" I asked them. They both shook their heads.

"I don't know actually, she was with us all afternoon but then somewhere we got separated. Oh yeah, it was when we saw Peter and Jacob outside the Transfiguration class room. I don't know where she went after that." Brit explained to me. 

Thoughts of Lacey were soon out of our minds when the smells of dinner wafted out of the entrance to the great hall. "I am hungry!" Valerie exclaimed and her stomach growled loudly. 

They took some seats about halfway down the gryffindor table and waited for the food to appear. More and more students flooded into the hall and soon the table was almost filled up, but they didn't see Lacey anywhere.

"That's odd," I said, digging into a meat pie, "I don't see Lacey anywhere." The others looked around and frowned. "Hmm.." 

"Don't tell me she got lost, too!" Valerie cried. 

"Wait, I see her, she is coming in at the end of the hall with Jacob," Brit said, pointing at the entrance. Lacey was walking down to where we were sitting, a broad grin spread across her face.

"Why are you so happy?"  Valerie asked suspiciously.

"Oh, no reason," Lacey responded, her grin spreading. 

What does she know, or what did she do.... I thought to myself.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

YEAH, SORRY THIS IS  A KIND OF BORING CHAPTER, IT IS JUST A FILLER, SO YEAH... KEEP READING! :)