CHAPTER FOUR:

Third Person P.O.V.:

Hermione furiously knocked on Hagrid's front door as Harry and Charlie helped keep Ron standing.

"Ron," Charlie addressed the boy before Hagrid opened the door, "You're my mate and all, but if you throw up a slug while I'm holding you up, I may be forced to drop your thick head on the ground."

Harry laughed slightly as Hagrid appeared, "Bin wonderin' when yeh lot was goin' ter come and see meh. How can I 'elp yeh?"

As soon as the half-giant caught a glimpse of Ron's ill state, he ushered the four of them in the house quickly. Hagrid didn't seem perturbed by Ron's slug problem, which Harry hastily explained as he lowered Ron into a chair.

"Better out than in," the half giant said cheerfully, plunking a large copper basin in front of him. "Get 'em all up, Ron."

"I don't think there's anything to do except wait for it to stop," said Hermione anxiously, watching Ron bend over the basin. "That's a difficult curse to work at the best of times, but with a broken wand—"

"So tell me," Hagrid began, jerking his head at Ron.
"Who was he tryin' ter curse?"

"Malfoy. He called Hermione something — it must've been really bad, because everyone went wild, especially Charlie." Harry explained quietly.

That was when Hagrid caught sight of Charlie's bruised up fists, "O' boy, what did yeh do?!"

The half-giant was quick to retreat to his fridge and pull out a bag of peas so that the brown eyed boy could put his hand on some ice.

"Nothing that didn't deserve to happen," Charlie said angrily, taking the bag and putting it on his knuckles, "Malfoy called her a 'Mudblood,' Hagrid —"

Ron dived out of sight again as a fresh wave of slugs made their appearance. Hagrid looked outraged.

"He didn'!" he growled at Hermione.

"He did," The bushy haired girl said quietly. She was clearly upset and trying her hardest to fight back tears.

"Can someone help me out here?" Harry asked, slightly confused, "I don't know what that means. I could tell it was really rude, of course —"

"It's about the most insulting thing he could think of," gasped Ron, coming back up from the basin.

"Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born, you know, non magic parents.
There are some wizards — like Malfoy's family and my father — who think they're better than everyone else because they're what people call pure blood." Charlie explained, still completely outraged by the whole situation.

Ron interrupted as he gave a small burp, and a single slug fell into his outstretched hand.

He threw it into the basin as Charlie continued,
"I mean, there are a lot of us who know it doesn't make any difference at all. Look at Neville Longbottom — he's pureblood and he can hardly stand a cauldron up the right way."

"It's codswallop! A load o' rubbish! What type of wizard yeh 're don' mean nothin'! Don't yeh listen to that Slytherin, Hermione! They haven't invented a spell yeh can' do," said Hagrid proudly, making Hermione go a brilliant shade of magenta.

"It's still a disgusting thing to call someone,"
said Charlie, as he watched Hermione intently, "Dirty blood, see. Common blood. It's ridiculous. Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn't married Muggles we'd've died out."

"Well, I don' blame yeh fer tryin' ter hurt him, Char," said Hagrid loudly over the thuds of more slugs hitting the basin. "Bu' maybe it would've been more 'ffective if yeh let an adult handle the situation. 'Spect Lucius Malfoy is gonna come marchin' up ter school 'cause yeh gave his son a broken nose. Yeh 're bound ter be in loads of trouble."

That was when Hermione turned to the brown eyed boy with her mouth agape, "He's right! Charlie, do you have any idea the amount of trouble you'll be in because of what you did for me?! You should have just-"

"Just what?" The boy countered, "Let him insult you in front of me? And then just sit back and do absolutely nothing? I couldn't care less about the consequences! I did what I thought was right. And I'd do it again. In a heartbeat."

Hermione went to protest, but Charlie cut her off once more as he walked over to her and looked into her eyes, deeply, "No, I'm not going to argue with you about this anymore. Hermione, you're my best friend! So, don't you dare think for a second that what I did wasn't worth it. You are more than worth it to me."

The bushy haired girl blushed furiously before she gave the brown eyed boy a big hug. Charlie melted into her embrace and held her tightly as she cried in his chest. After everything that happened, it was the only thing that they both needed in that moment.

Hagrid and Harry smirked at one another as they both subconsciously agreed what was happening between the boy and girl before them. Instead of watching too much, however, they simply turned their attention back to Ron.

It was then that a loud knock on Hagrid's door broke Charlie and Hermione apart. The bushy haired girl wiped her eyes as Hagrid got up to answer the door.

The front door flew open and there stood Mr. Filch, who quickly looked inside and caught sight of the brown eyed boy standing behind Hagrid. He smiled devilishly as he pointed his finger at Charlie, "Just the boy I was looking for. You're coming with me. You have a visitor who wishes to speak with you immediately."

The brown eyed boy looked at his friends. Hermione grabbed Charlie's hand immediately out of fear for him, while Harry and Ron were confused. A visitor? The brown eyed boy gulped, he knew exactly who it must be.

Hagrid gave the boy a small nod to confirm his suspicions.

Fenwick Hawthorne had just arrived at Hogwarts and wished to see his son.

Immediately.

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Charlie walked through the castle with Mr. Filch before they stopped at Dumbledore's office. The brown eyed boy could hear the yelling of his grandfather and father on the other side of the door.

He could only imagine what was going to happen to him when he walked in that room and he was dreading every second of it.

Mr. Filch noticed Charlie's hesitation and scoffed, "You better get in there! I am not getting reprimanded because of your bloody cowardice!"

The brown eyed boy simply rolled his eyes before opening the door and walking in the room, leaving Mr. Filch in the corridor.

When the door shut behind Charlie, it made his presence in the room known. Suddenly, there was silence. The boy looked forward and saw his grandfather stood at his desk, looking rather cross.

Then he shifted his gaze to his father. Charlie couldn't remember the last time he had saw the Minister of Magic. Fenwick had grown out his beard slightly, but still looked rather put together. The boy's father stared daggers at him. The Minister was definitely angry.

"Hello father," Charlie said quietly, trying to avoid Fenwick's direct eye contact as much as possible.

"Hello?" Fenwick was offended already, "Is that all you have to say to me?!"

"Fenwick," Dumbledore warned.

The Minister snapped his head towards the Headmaster, "You stay out of this Albus! I will talk to my son in any way I damn well please!" Fenwick then turned towards Charlie and started walking towards him furiously, "Do you have any idea how ashamed of you I am?! When Lucius told me about your run-in with him and Draco at Diagon Alley, I assumed he was joking when he said you've been associating with muggle-borns and blood traitors. Imagine my surprise, when I find out that not only was he telling the truth, but that somehow you managed to completely disregard the decree of underage wizardry with said, blood traitors!"

"How did yo—"

Charlie was quickly cut off as his father raised his hand towards him, "SILENCE! How I found out is not a matter of discussion! I thought that would be the most I would reprimand you for. However, what I did not expect was upon my arrival here tonight, I was approached by Mr. Draco Malfoy, whom of which was clutching his BROKEN nose, that you inflicted! WHY?! Because he had offended one of your MUGGLE-BORN friends!"

Dumbledore stepped forward, "Is this true, Charles? Did you get into a fight this evening?"

Charlie raised his head for the first time and nodded, "Draco called Hermione a mudblood and I lost my temper is all."

Fenwick had nearly lost it at his son's admittance, "So, you mean to tell me, that you thought it was in your best interest to defend a filthy, little mudblood instead of ignoring the situation entirely? You might as well have set fire to our entire reputation yourself!"

Charlie snapped, meeting his father's gaze for the first time, "With all due respect father, how dare you say such things. You have no idea who you're talking about."

"How dare I?" The Minister spoke so calm all of a sudden, that it was terrifying. Then his tone change in a matter of seconds, "HOW DARE YOU! You have single handily put our ENTIRE family name to shame with your recent actions. And for what? A silly little muggle-born friend of yours that shouldn't mean anything to you to begin with?!? The Hawthorne family is one of the few famous and noble pureblood families alive today. We strive with the fact that we are the superiors and we bond with those who believe the same! But you! You don't know a THING about what that means!"

Charlie shook his head as he gritted his teeth, "Careful father. Your supremacy is showing."

With that, Fenwick lunged forward, grabbed the boy by his shirt collar, and hoisted him up in the air aggressively, "Now, you listen to me, you stupid, pathetic little boy. You will get your act together, or so help me God—"

"That's enough, Fenwick!" Albus yelled, pointing his wand at the Minister, "You release that boy this instant. I will not tolerate this kind of behaviour in front of my very eyes!"

Fenwick released Charlie reluctantly. The young boy was startled. That was the first time his father had been that aggressive with him. Out of all the ways this could've gone, that was not what Charlie was expecting.

The older Hawthorne turned to look at Albus and he laughed, "We all know you have an inability to tolerate repercussions, Albus. Why do you suspect the boy acts the way he does? I blame you for that boy's failed potential. You have turned him into nothing more than a muggle-born loving joke."

The brown eyed boy's heart sunk at his father's coldness. He expected him to be mad, but seeing him this way? That was something he never could of fathom. Was he a failure? Was he a joke?

Albus noticed the boy's frightened state and then snapped, "Look at him, Fenwick! Look at him! That is your son! A twelve year old boy! Has it ever crossed your thick skull that the reason the boy acts the way he does, is because he doesn't want to end up exactly like you? A monster to everyone. Even his own family. Charles has seen it first had, and I believe my daughter saw it too, which is why she left you behind all those years ago."

"You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, Albus," Fenwick spat angrily, "Charles would be a fool not to follow in my footsteps. Whether you want to believe it or not, I have his best interests at heart. Which is why, I want him to be great. Which is why, I will reprimand him if he is far from his jurisdiction! If Julia were alive today, she would have agreed with me wholeheartedly."

"Not like this, Fenwick," Dumbledore spoke once more, pointing to Charlie's fragile state, "You'll destroy everything good about that boy. His fear of you will get the best of him. You see that, don't you?"

Fenwick looked to Charlie and noticed the boy cower under his gaze. Albus was right. The brown eyed boy was frightened of his own father.

"You can't just show up whenever is convenient for you, Fenwick," Albus said, calmly, "That boy dreads the moments he spends with you, and why? Because all he's ever known from you is consequence. Not once in the past five years, have you shown up here with something good to say about him. He is always a disappointment and you're always ashamed.That's no way for a boy to live."

Fenwick shrugged Dumbledore's comments off and kneeled down to his son, who was now cradling himself on the floor out of fear.

As Fenwick approached him, Charlie flinched.The Minister raised his hands to signal peace, "I'm sorry, Charles. Please understand, I just — I want you to be great one day. I want you to make me proud."

Without another word, Fenwick grabbed his briefcase from Dumbledore's desk and left the room.

That was perhaps the scariest thing about Fenwick Hawthorne. He could be aggressively angry one minute and then incredibly calm the next, as if nothing had happened. What made it sad is the fact that Fenwick will go forth as if this encounter never even happened.The only one that was haunted by these encounters, was his son.

Albus looked down at the boy on the floor and his heart broke as a single tear fell down Charlie's face, "Char—"

"Don't," the boy croaked out, "Please."

For the first time, Dumbledore didn't know what to do. So, he simply knelt down and comforted his grandson with a simple hug.

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After Fenwick's appearance at Hogwarts, the next couple of days were hard for Charlie as he tried to forget what had happened. His mind kept replaying his father's remarks over and over in his head, and when he closed his eyes, he swore he could feel the firm grip of his the Minister's hands around his neck.

Charlie stayed in the Headmaster's quarters while he was recovering. He also didn't go to any of his classes. This ultimately left Hermione, Harry, and Ron extremely worried. Their minds kept coming up with the worst things that could have resulted in their friend's disappearance.

Albus didn't know how to talk to Charlie about what had happened. His grandson hated talking about his father. The brown eyed boy had this mindset of ignoring it until it'll eventually go away, but it never did.

Which is why, Charlie decided it was time to get back to his life and not let what had happened consume him. Today, he was to serve detention for the flying car incident and he was persistent on seeing it through.

The young boy walked through the castle and tried his hardest to avoid the looks and whispers from the other students. He kept his head low as he walked to the Gryffindor common room.

As he walked through the portrait door, he hadn't even had time to raise his head before Hermione engulfed him in a hug. The girl had been worried sick about him over the last couple of days. It also didn't help that she felt guilty about the whole situation.

"Charlie," she whispered softly. She was almost in disbelief that she was holding him at that moment, it almost felt like a dream.

Harry and Ron had got up from the couch at their friend's arrival. They joined in on the hug as a way of welcoming their friend back home.

As they all pulled away, Harry spoke up, concerned, "We've been worried sick about you, mate."

"Yeah," Ron affirmed, "Where have you been?"

Hermione simply looked into Charlie's eyes and noticed that they were different than usual. There was sadness in his eyes, and only Hermione seemed to notice.

"I stayed with my grandfather for a couple of days," The brown eyed boy lied, "He thought it'd be best for a break, given the fact that I've gotten into a lot of trouble recently."

Ron and Harry nodded in understanding. However, Hermione wasn't buying it, "And the visitor?"

Charlie turned his head and met the girl's gaze. He knew that she knew something was wrong, but he simply shrugged it off. He didn't want to tell his friends what really happened. He didn't want anyone to know.

So he thought of something quickly, "Hagrid was right. Guess it didn't take long for Draco to go running off to his father. Mr. Malfoy wasn't exactly happy about his son's broken nose."

"Of course," Ron said angrily, "Bloody Malfoy."

Charlie chuckled as he turned away from Hermione, "It's alright. Anyway, I was supposed to come and get the two of you," he said, now pointing to Harry and Ron, "We have detention."

The two young boys nodded before collecting their stuff that was on the coffee table in the middle of the room. Charlie watched them as they did so, simply to avoid the concerned eyes of Hermione that he could feel piercing the side of his face.

When Harry and Ron were ready to go, they bid farewell to the bushy haired girl before walking out of the portrait door. The brown eyed boy stayed back for a moment so he could look in Hermione's direction once more.

He flashed her a small smile to put her mind at ease in regards to him. The girl reciprocated his smile and watched as he followed behind Harry and Ron out of the door, leaving her in the common room.

She knew that smile was fake. Hermione knew Charlie better than anyone, but she didn't want to pressure him. He would tell her what really happened when he was ready.

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The three boys had barely set foot in the cold hallway when a voice rang out, "There you are, Potter, Weasley — Hawthorne." Professor McGonagall was stunned to see the brown eyed boy in front of her. Dumbledore had told her about his circumstances of course, and so she thought he would have been excused from detention.

Charlie avoided eye contact as much as possible. He didn't want anyone to see through his facade of pretending to be alright.

"What're we doing, Professor?" said Ron, nervously.

"You will be polishing the silver in the trophy room with Mr. Filch," said Professor McGonagall, turning towards Ron. "And no magic, Weasley — elbow grease."

The ginger boy gulped. Argus Filch, the caretaker, was loathed by every student in the school.

"And you two, Potter and Hawthorne, will be helping Professor Lockhart answer his fan mail," said Professor McGonagall.

"Oh god — Professor, can't I go and help out in the trophy room, too?" said Charlie desperately. After everything that's happened, the last thing the brown eyed boy wanted to do was deal with Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Certainly not," said Professor McGonagall, raising her eyebrows. "Professor Lockhart requested the two of you particularly."

Harry groaned while Charlie lowered his head. McGonagall escorted Ron to the trophy room, leaving the two boys to go find Lockhart.

Harry and Charlie arrived outside Gilderoy's classroom and reluctantly entered after sighing to one another. As they entered, the author ushered them in quickly. He gave them a stack of letters as they each sat on the opposite side of his desk with him sat in the middle.

Charlie's mindset was to finish writing as quickly as possible, so that he could get in and then get the hell out.

Gilderoy certainly had other plans as he tried to engage in conversation, "Boys, boys, boys. Can you possibly imagine a better way to serve detention than by helping me answer my fan mail?"

"Not really," Harry said with a compliant smile.

"I'd rather listen to Snape talk painfully slow about the aspects of a bezoar." Charlie muttered.

Lockhart didn't seem to hear him as he continued, "Fame is a fickle friend, boys. Celebrity is as celebrity does. You'd do best to remember that."

The brown eyed boy simply rolled his eyes before focusing on the stack of letters in front him.

After a while, Harry heard something — something quite apart from the spitting of the dying candles and Lockhart's prattle about his fans.

It was a voice, a voice to chill the bone marrow, a voice of breathtaking, ice cold venom.

"Come... come to me... let me rip you... let me tear you... let me kill you..."

Harry gave a huge jump, which startled the brown eyed boy sitting opposite him.

"What?" The boy with glasses said loudly.

"I know!" said Lockhart. "Six solid months at the top of the bestseller list! Broke all records!"

"No, not that," said Harry frantically. "That voice!"

"Sorry?" said Charlie, looking puzzled. "What voice?"

"That — that voice that said — didn't you hear it?"

Both, Lockhart and Charlie were looking at Harry in high astonishment.

"What are you talking about, Harry?" The brown eyed boy inquired.

"Perhaps you're getting a little drowsy? Great Scott — look at the time! We've been here nearly four hours! I'd never have believed it — the time's flown by, hasn't it?" Lockhart rambled.

Harry didn't answer. He was straining his ears to hear the voice again, but there was no sound now except for Lockhart telling him he mustn't expect a treat like this every time he got detention. Feeling dazed, Harry left the room. Charlie watched his friend leave before excusing himself to Lockhart and chasing after his friend.

As the brown eyed boy furiously searched the halls for his clearly disturbed friend, he nearly ran directly into Ron and Hermione.

"Charlie!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Woah, easy there, mate!" Ron said, cautiously.

"Have you seen Harry?" The boy asked, frantically.

"No." His two friends quickly replied in unison.

"We have to find him," Charlie said, as he began to run down the hall. Hermione and Ron followed without having to be asked to.

When they had asked what was going on, Charlie quickly explained how The Chosen One said he had heard a voice that nor him or Lockhart could hear and then he left the room in a frantic panic.

They finally found the boy with glasses as he was tapping on the walls in a random corridor. Ron, Hermione and Charlie all looked at one another confused.

"Oi!" Charlie said, trying to get the boy's attention, "You alright?"

Harry looked up at his friends, "It's moving. I think it's going to kill."

The boy then took off down the hall.

"Kill?! What's going to kill?!" Ron yelped.

Hermione and Charlie shrugged before running after Harry. Ron followed closely behind them.

"Harry, wait! Not so fast!"

They came to a halt at the end of a hall as Harry and his friends took noticed of a trail of spiders leading out of the castle window.

"Strange," said Harry.

Charlie spoke up, "I've never seen spiders act like that."

"I don't like spiders." Ron said nervously, to which Hermione simply rolled her eyes.

It was then that the four of them caught a glimpse of the writing on the wall in front of them.

"What's that?" Ron inquired.

Hermione read the words carefully, "'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir...beware.' It's written in blood."

Charlie was startled at the blood on the wall, but he managed to move his gaze to the left slightly. His eyes land on something he hadn't wished to see, "Oh no. Look, it's Filch's cat."

There she was. Mrs. Norris. Hanging upside down on the nearby post. The poor cat wasn't breathing.

That was when the corridors began to fill with students returning from dinner in the Great Hall. Gasps broke out amongst the crowd as everyone came to acknowledge the scene that fell before them.

"Enemies of the heir... beware?" Draco Malfoy questioned as he made his way to the front of the crowd. He turned his head in Hermione's direction, "You'll be next mudbloods."

Charlie took a step forward. He was about to lunge at the blonde haired git once again before Hermione grabbed his hand and pulled him back, "Don't."

The boy reluctantly complied to the girl's wishes as Mr. Filch came barreling through the crowd, "What's going on here? Make way! Make way!"

Argus stopped in front of Harry, "Potter! What are you—"

The man trailed off as he noticed his cat in its unusual state. He instantly grew angry, "You! Y-You murdered my cat!"

"No!" said Harry, pleading.

"I'll kill ya!" Mr. Filch said as he grabbed ahold of Harry's robes, "I WILL KILL YOU!"

It was then that Charlie's mind flashed back to his encounter with his father. He had forgotten about the whole ordeal since his detention had started, but suddenly it all came rushing back.

The boy immediately looked down and shook his head to try and remove the memory from his mind. Hermione took notice of this and squeezed his hand for comfort.

They hadn't unlocked hands since the girl stopped him from attacking Malfoy. With Hermione by his side, the boy was given the strength to focus back on the matter at large in front of him.

Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and Lockhart had now joined the crowd and witnessed the sight before them.

"Everyone," Albus addressed the crowd, "Proceed to your dormitories immediately —"

The crowd quickly began to move. Harry, Hermione, Charlie, and Ron even tried to disperse before they heard Dumbledore speak once again, pointing directly at them, "Everyone, except you four."

The four of them looked at one another as they turned back around to face their Professors.

The Headmaster spoke once more, this time to Mr. Filch, "She's not dead, Argus. She's been petrified."

"Yes! Thought so!" Lockhart chimed in, "It is so unlucky that I wasn't there! I know the exact counter curse that could have spared her!"

The three Gryffindor boys rolled their eyes, while Hermione stared at him in awe. Typical.

"He did it!" Argus said angrily as he pointed at Harry, "You saw what he's written on the wall."

"It's not true, sir!" pleaded Harry, "I swear! I never touched Mrs. Norris!"

"Rubbish!" shouted Argus.

Snape decided to chime in, "If I may Headmaster, perhaps Mr. Potter and his friends were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time —"

The four Gryffindors looked at one another in disbelief. Why was Snape defendi—

"However," Snape continued, "The circumstances are suspicious. I for one, don't recall seeing Mr. Potter or Mr. Hawthorne at dinner."

Spoke too soon.

"That was my doing, Severus," Lockhart explained, "You see, Harry and Charlie were helping me answer my fan mail."

Hermione added on, "That's why Ron and I went looking for them, Professor.  We wanted to make sure they ate something before curfew. We met up with Charlie first, Harry was a little far behind. We had just found him when he said..."

The girl trailed off.

Snape took note of this, so he pressed on, "Yes, Miss Granger?"

Charlie took notice of Hermione's stuttering state. She didn't know what else to say.

So, Harry spoke up, "When I had told them that I wasn't hungry."

Harry's three friends nodded in agreement.

Charlie even went as far to chime in, "We were just heading back to the common room when we found Mrs. Norris."

Snape sighed as he turned to Dumbledore for an answer, "Innocent until proven guilty, Severus."

"My cat has been petrified! I wish to see some punishment!" shouted Argus once again.

"She will not be petrified for long, Argus," Dumbledore spoke calmly, "As I understand it, Madame Sprout has a healthy growth of mandrakes that the second years have been working with in their Herbology class. When matured, a potion will be made that will revive Mrs. Norris. In the meantime, I strongly recommend caution to all."

With that cryptic message, Dumbledore turned on his heel and retreated back to his office. The remaining members of the group dispersed. The four young Gryffindors returned to their dorms.

It was the first time in a couple of days that Charlie would be sleeping in his own bed, but with all that has happened he didn't know whether to be happy or not.

He knew something bad was coming.

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Author's Note:
*this chapter was not proof read*

Hope you enjoyed this long chapter! Sorry it took so long for the update, it took me a long time to try and get the scene between Charlie, Dumbledore, and Fenwick perfect.

If you did enjoy, I'd appreciate it if you could vote comment, or share with your friends!

Until next time! Much love to you all!

xo, Selena