𓏲 . THE BOY WHO LIVED . .៹♡
                                           CHAPTER SIXTEEN
─── FLOURISH AND BLOTTS & THE WHOMPING WILLOW 

As expected, the boys' journey to the Burrow took them well into the next morning. They successfully landed next to a tumbledown garage in a small yard and Charlus couldn't help the gentle smile as he looked out for the first time at Ron's house.

The house looked interesting. It looked as though it had once been a large stone pigsty, but extra rooms had been added here and there until it was several storeys high and so crooked it looked as though it was held up by magic (which, it probably was). Four or five chimneys were perched on top of the red roof.

The six of them got out of the car before they quietly snuck into the house through the back door. Fred, George and Ron wasted no time in eating the cookies that were on the kitchen table. Alistair noticed, however, that the note he had left was no longer there, which meant that someone in the house was awake and knew they weren't in their beds. As for Charlus and Harry, they were just admiring the Burrow. They had never been in a wizard house before.

The dishes in the sink cleaned themselves and clinked quietly in the background. The clock on the wall opposite them had  nine golden hands with pictures of the individual family members on them and no numbers at all. Written around the edge were things like Home, School, and Work.

As they walked over to one of the chairs, they saw a set of needles moving on their own and needling a scarf. Then they turned to look at Ron, who was watching them almost nervously, as though waiting for their opinions. "It's not much, but it's home." he said with his mouth full. But Harry and  Charlus grinned widely, "I think it's brilliant."

Before he could say anything back, an older woman with red hair, which Charlus assumed was Mrs. Weasley, came storming into the the kitchen and then came to a halt in front of them. Her hands were placed on her hips, staring from one guilty face to the next with a disappointed look plastered on her own, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?"

"Good morning to you too, Mum." George said, in what he clearly thought was a jaunty, winning voice.

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" Mrs. Weasley said in a deadly whisper.

"Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to —"

All three of Mrs. Weasley's sons were taller than she was, but they cowered as her rage broke over them, "Beds empty! No note! Car gone—could have crashed—out of my mind with worry—did you care?—never, as long as I've lived—you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy—"

"Perfect Percy." Charlus could hear Fred mutter and unfortunately for him, Mrs. Weasley heard him too.

"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" Molly yelled while she prodded a finger in Fred's chest. "You could have died, you could have been seen, you could have lost your father his job —"

 It seemed to go on for hours. Mrs. Weasley had shouted herself hoarse before she turned on Charlus and Harry, who backed away. "I'm very pleased to see you, Charlus and Harry, dears." she said

Then she turned to Alistair, "And you, Alistair, dear, thank you for being the only responsible one enough to leave me some sort of note! I don't blame you or Charlus or Harry for this at all, let that be known."

Molly gave her three sons one last disappointed look before she turned back to her three guests, who were uncomfortable with the whole situation, "Come on now. Time for a spot of breakfast."

The six young boys each took a seat around the table as Mrs. Weasley placed plates of bacon, sausages and eggs in front of them. At that moment, a little red-haired girl came barreling down the stairs, "Mum, mummy, have you seen my jumper?"

"Yes, dear, it was on the cat."  Mrs. Weasley replied to her daughter and when the girl dared to look to her left, she spotted Charlus and Harry. "Hello. " they greeted her politely, but she just looked at them with wide eyes and red cheeks before she retreated back to her room swiftly.

Fred and George laughed quietly while Ron and Alistair looked after the girl with amusement. "W-what did we do?" Harry asked in confusion as he turned to them.  

"Ginny." Ron said in an undertone to Charlus and Harry. "My sister. She's been talking about you both all summer. Especially you, Harry. A bit annoying, really."  "Somebody's got a crush." Charlus teased with a grin but caught his brother's eye and began to eat without another word.

"Morning Weasleys!" a voice said out of nowhere behind Charlus. The boy turned and caught sight of a older man with red hair, which he assumed was Mr. Weasley, while the others greeted him back. "What a night! Nine raids! Nine!" he told them and put down his bag and coat.

"Raids?" Charlus asked in confusion. "Mr. Weasley works in the Ministry of Magic, in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office." Alistair explained to him with a small smile.  Ron nodded in agreement before he said,  "Yeah, Dad loves Muggles, thinks they're fascinating!"

Mr. Weasley gave his wife a kiss on the cheek before he took a seat at the table with the boys. As soon as he noticed the new  boys at the table, he was immediately puzzled, "And who are you two?"

"Oh, sorry, sir. I'm Harry, sir. Harry Potter." Harry introduced himself and then pointed to his brother. "And this is my brother Charlus ."  "Hello." Charlus greeted him nervously. "Nice to meet you."

"Good lord." Mr. Weasley said with wide eyes and a smile. "Are you really?" Harry and Charlus nodded slowly. "Well, Ron's told us all about you , of course." he continued. " When did they get here?"

"This morning." Molly explained to him. "Your sons and Alistair flew that enchanted car of yours to Surrey and back last night! What have you got to say about that, eh?" "Did you really do it?"  Arthur asked eagerly. "How did it go?"

The boys were all talking excitedly, but Mrs. Weasley  slapped her husband's arm and he quickly shook his head before he changed his tone, "I mean, that was very wrong indeed boys! Very wrong of you!"

Arthur then turned to Charlus and Harry, "Now, Charlus, Harry, you two must know all about Muggles. Tell me, what exactly is the function of a rubber duck?"

Charlus tried to find a suitable answer, but then they heard the screeching noise of an owl. "Well, that'll be Errol with the post." Mrs. Weasley announced and everyone looked at the owl, which flew towards them with the post in it's peak, but instead of flying through the open window, it crashed face first into the closed window next to it and fell down. Everyone flinched at the sight of the old owl.

"Fetch it, will you, Percy, please?" Mrs. Weasley asked the oldest at the table, who immediately nodded and stood up. "Errol?" he asked the owl at the window, who flew up again and handed him the letters. "Oh look, it's our Hogwarts letters." he explained to them and sat back down with them. "And they've sent Charlus,Harry and Alistair's as well."  "Dumbledore must know you're here, boys. Doesn't miss a trick, that man." Mr. Weasley said and shook his head in amazement.

Charlus smiled down at his Hogwarts letter and stared at it for a moment before he opened it to read it. There was also a list of the new books he would need for the coming year.

SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2by Miranda Goshawk

Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart

Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart

43 Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart

Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart

Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart

Charlus burrowed his eyebrows and a frown curled at his lips as he was confused by the list. That Lockhart fellow must be incredibly intelligent to have written all of the books required for school except one.

George, who had finished his own list, looked at his parents. "This lot won't come cheap." he said to them. "The spell books alone are very expensive."

 "We'll manage." Mrs. Weasley reassured them and let out a small sigh as she was going through Harry's list of book. But then she looked at them with a small smile. "There's only one place we're going to get all of this... Diagon Alley."

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After a hearty and delicious breakfast, the Weasleys and their guests had prepared for a visit to Diagon Alley. Charlus changed into a comfortable white T-shirt and casual blue jeans.  Over  this outfit  he pulled his Slytherin coat, which he tied up around his neck. When he did, he noticed the gold chain locket that Hermione had given him last Christmas. He smiled for a second before he tucked it back into his shirt.

Charlus tucked his wand and a few Galleons safely into his coat before he made his way to the fireplace, where the Weasley family, Alistair and Harry already waited for him.

Mrs. Weasley took her flowerpot with floo powder inside it.  "Right." she said before she turned to the youngest Potter. "Here we are, Harry. You go first, dear." "But Harry and Charlus are never traveled by Floo powder before, Mum." Ron explained to her.

Harry and Charlus exchanged a surprised look. "Em," Harry started to say while Charlus looked to Alistair for help. "Floo powder?" they asked at the same time.

"Alright then." Mrs. Weasley said before she urged her youngest son forward. " You go first, Ron, so that Charlus and Harry can see how it's done. Yes."

The ginger haired boy took a pinch of glittering powder out of the flowerpot, stepped into the fireplace, and yelled, "Diagon Alley!" Charlus' eyes widened as the boy disappeared in a big gust of wind with Slytherin green fire.

Because Harry was next, he walked towards the fireplace and  ducked his head as he stepped in. Then he took a handful of Floo power.  "Now, don't forget to speak very, VERY, clearly." Mrs. Weasley told him.

Harry looked nervous, but yelled, "Diagonally!"

With that, the boy disappeared just as Ron had only moments earlier. The green-eyed boy silently facepalmed as he realized that his brother had pronounced the simple location in a weird way. This can't be good.

"What did he say?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she glanced back at her family, Alistair and Charlus.  "Diagonally." Alistair snorted, half amused, half worried. "I thought he did."

The Weasleys and Alistair were still shocked, so Charlus took a step forward, went to the fireplace and picked up some Floo powder, "I'll go after him. I don't think he's gone far - Diagon Alley!"

With that, he was engulfed by the green flames, and with a quick poof he was transported to his location.

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Charlus Potter was thrown forward and fell face first onto the cold stone floor. He stood up roughly and rubbed his face before he looked at his surroundings. He realized he was outside of Diagon Alley's Flourish and Blotts bookshop.

"Charlus!" he heard a very familiar girl call out. He turned around and saw Hermione running towards him. Her bushy hair bounced in the wind, while her face was lit up by a bright smile. Before Charlus could move towards her, Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight hug.

The boy was  startled at first, but soon enough, he returned the hug. He buried his head against her shoulder and smiled widely  as he wrapped his arms around her waist and squeezed her tightly.

"I missed you." she whispered so lightly that he could only hear. "And I missed you too, Hermione. " he replied just as lightly.

The two stood there for a second and enjoyed the moment as the world seemed to stop around them. Not long after,they were interrupted by two identical coughs, which caused the two of them to pull away a little. Charlus  looked to his left to see a man and woman smirking down at him and the girl.

The young boy was very confused.

Hermione took a step to the side. "Mum! Dad!" she said as her cheeks took on a slight red blush. "This is Charlus Potter. He's a really good friend of mine from school."

Charlus smiled up at the adults. He was really happy to meet Hermione's parents. He stepped forward and  held out his hand to the man, "Pleasure to meet you,sir. "

The man took the boy's hand and shook it firmly. "Pleasure to meet you as well, Charlus." he said with a warm smile. "I'm David Granger, and this is my wife  Jean."

Charlus let go of David's hand before he took his wife's hand and shook it as well, "It's a pleasure, ma'am."

Mrs. Granger looked at the boy with a smile,"The pleasure is all mine! I've been wanting to meet the boy that Hermione talks about so often. And to be honest, I can understand why she likes you."

"Mum."  Hermione scolded as her cheeks grew even redder, but her mother continued talking incessantly,"You don't look too bad for your age." 

"MUM!" Hermione groaned in embarrassment,  while Mr. Granger laughed and side-hugged his daughter. 

Charlus couldn't help but giggle as he blushed slightly, "Don't worry, I'm really flattered. Mr. and Mrs. Granger, it was a pleasure to meet you, but I'm afraid I must go and find my brother now." 

"Of course, my boy, we look forward to meeting again later." Jean said, before she linked arms with her husband and turned away from the boy. The two adults then walked into the bookshop, leaving Hermione and Charlus standing outside.

The young boy couldn't help but look at his best friend with an amused but playfule smile. The young girl, who seemed to read his mind, immediately scolded him, "Not another word about it."

Charlus laughed softly and nodded, "Wouldn't dream of it. Anyway, I have to go and find Harry before he gets himself into trouble.  The jerk can't even speak without mumbling. I don't know where the Floo powder has taken him. "

Hermione nodded in understanding before she looked around Diagon Alley, "There he is! With Hagrid!"

Charlus followed her gaze and smiled at the two of them, who walked down the alley while they talked. Charlus and Hermione ran towards Hagrid and Harry.

"There you are!" Charlus said with relief. "Sorry. " Harry said quickly, "Apparently, I failed to say my location clearly."

"That's an understatement." the green-eyed boy said with a small laugh before he turned to Hagrid, "Hello Hagrid. It's wonderful to see you again. Thanks for bringing this jerk back."

Hagrid smiled down at him, "It's no problem, Charlus. It's good to see you as well."

Charlus smiled briefly at the giant before he turned back to his brother, who ho had greeted Hermione, and it was only then that he noticed the state of his glasses, "What did you do to your glasses?"

Hermione sighed as she noticed this too, before she took her wand out of her cloak and pointed it at Harry's glasses . "Oculus Reparo!" she called out, which caused the crack in his glasses to repair itself.

Hermione seemed proud of herself while Charlus smirked as Harry inspected his glasses before he put them back on. "I definitely need to remember that one." he said with a small smile.

"You'll be all right now then,Harry?" Hagrid asked and the youngest Potter nodded at this. Then the giant glanced at his watch. "Right. I'll leave you to it."

The four of them said their goodbyes and Hagrid gave them a small wave before before he disappeared into an alley. Charlus then turned to the other two and grabbed Harry's hand.  "We should get going. Everyone's probably so worried about us."

With that,he started to pull his brother with him towards Flourish and Blotts, with Hermione running right behind them. When they entered the bookstore, they saw that it was full of people, who were obviously waiting for something. Alistair,Molly, Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy were all waiting together in line. As for Arthur, he was busy talking to Mr. and Mrs. Granger.

Molly turned around and saw the two boys coming to them with Hermione. "Oh Harry! Charlus!" she said with relief and started to fix Harry's cloak from the remaining dust. "Thank goodness you two are alright!"

Before the two could even speak, someone addressed the crowd in a very loud voice, "Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart."

Suddenly, the whole bookshop broke out into applause and cheers as a man with golden blonde wavy hair stepped out from behind the curtain.  He was wearing robes of forget me not blue that exactly matched his eyes.

Ron nudged Charlus in the ribs and nodded towards Gilderoy, "Mum fancies him."

Molly smacked her son on the shoulder slightly , while the green eyed boy chuckled slightly before he looked to Hermione. She, too, stared at the author, who was now standing in front of them. The boy couldn't help but roll his eyes, "Yeah, well, apparently she's not the only one."

A short, irritable-looking man was dancing around taking photographs with a large black camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with every blinding flash.

"Out of the way, there." he snarled at Alistair and Ron, trying to move back to get a better shot, causing  the black-haired boy to tumble into the redhead. "This is for the Daily Prophet—"

"Big deal." Ron said while he rubbed his foot where Alistair had accidentally stepped on it. He had put an arm around Alistair to steady him and the black-haired boy just smiled at his best friend, who smiled back.

In that moment, Gilderoy looked to the crowd again and caught sight of Charlus and  Harry. He stared at them. Then he positively shouted , "Oh my days. It can't be, Charlus and Harry Potter? The famous twins?"

The entire room's gaze shifted to the two boys, who widened their eyes. The photographer gasped before he grabbed them by the collar of their shirts and dragged them forward.  "Charlus and Harry Potter!" he exclaimed, and much to Charlus' dismay, he  pushed them forward to stand with Lockhart,  "Excuse me, Madam."

Gilderoy's ear perked up at this comment, and so he pulled the two boys closer to him for a picture. "Nice big smile, boys." he said through his own gleaming teeth. "Together, the three of us are worth the front page, quite the trio."

When the photos were finished, Harry just stood there, not knowing what to do. Charlus, on the other hand, tried to get away, but Lockhart threw an arm around his shoulders and clamped him tightly to his side.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what an extraordinary moment this is." Gilderoy said, now addressing the crowd, "When the young boys, Charlus and Harry, stepped into Flourish and Blotts this morning to purchase my autobiography, Magical Me..."

He trailed off as the crowd erupted into applause once again, to which Charlus couldn't help but roll his eyes along with Harry. Especially when he saw Hermione clapping with a dreamy look on her face.

"...which incidentally. " The author continued,giving Charlus a little shake. "Is currently celebrating its 27th week at top of The Daily Prophet's Best Seller list, they had no idea, that they would in fact be leaving, with my ENTIRE collection of books. Free of charge."

The crowd cheered and clapped and Harry and Chalus found themselves being presented with the entire works of Gilderoy Lockhart. Staggering slightly under their weight, Charlus managed to make his way to Hermione, who was standing next to her parents.

"You can have these," Charlus mumbled to her, tipping the books into her bag. "I'll buy a set of my own."

Harry handed the books to Ginny, and the two girls thanked the two boys with a bright smile as they  quickly made their  way out of the line of people waiting for autographs from Gilderoy Lockhart, who was signing his books.

On  their  way to the door, they were stopped when Draco Malfoy came to them, followed by his brother. " I'll bet you loved that, didn't you, Potters?" he said with his usual  sneer.  "Famous Charlus and Harry Potter. Can't even go into a bookshop without making the front page."

Before Harry could say anything back or Charlus could strangle him,Ginny  took a step in front of the two of them. "Leave them alone, they didn't want all that!" she said while she glared at him.

Draco looked amused at the red-haired  girl before he looked at  Harry. "Oh look, Potter ."  he said to him. "You've got yourself a  girlfriend."

Ginny started to blush madly while Adrian rolled his eyes.  "Draco! " he  said and hit his brother on the head.  "Shut up!"

Before he could reply, a snake head cane came into contact with his shoulder. "Now, now Draco, play nicely." a man said and pushed the boy slightly away before he stared down at them . 

He turned to look at the twins. " Charlus and Harry Potter, Lucius Malfoy." he introduced himself and offered them his hand, which they hesitantly shook. "We meet at last." He then pulled the oldest Potter closer to him.

Harry placed his hand on Charlus' shoulder in case anything happened, while the man used his cane to push Charlus' hair back to reveal the lightning-shaped scar, "Your and your brother's scars are legends. As, of course, is the wizard who gave them to you."

"Voldemort killed our parents." Charlus said in an angry tone and glared at the older Malfoy , while the group was then joined by Hermione. "He was nothing more than a murderer."

Lucius let go of Charlus and now looked at him in surprise. "You must be very brave to mention his name." he said with a smirk. "Or very foolish."

"Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself." the bushy haired girl then suddenly said and everyone turned to look at her. "And you must be Miss Granger." Lucius said while he looked at Draco and Adrian, who nodded in confirmation. "Yes, Draco and Adrian had told me all about you... and your parents. Muggles, aren't they?"

"Stupid jerk with his pure-blood mania." Alistair muttered loudly, which caused Lucius to turn to him. "Oh I know exactly who you are." he eplied with a self-satisfied grin on his lips.  "Alistair Black. Regulus's son, aren't you? I can tell because you look a lot like him. Except for your eyes. You've got these from this pathetic blood-traitor."

At the derogatory remark about his deceased mother, the boy just stared at him with an angry look , while the man now turned to Ron and his family. "Let me see. Red hair, vacant expressions..." he began to say before he reached into Ginny's cauldron and extracted, from amid the glossy Lockhart books, a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration. "... tatty, second handed book. You must be the Weasleys."

Arthur Weasley appeared besides them and placed his hands on his daughter shoulders. "It's mad in here. Let's go outside." he said to the kids with a forced smile on his lips.

 "Well, well, well, Weasley senior ." Lucius said with a  sneer. "Lucius." Arthur said and nodded coldly. The venom laced in his words clearly noticed.

"Busy time at the Ministry, Arthur, all those extra raids? I do hope they're paying you overtime, but judging by the state of this, I'd say not." he replied  to him while he  looked at Ginny's book in his hand. "What's the use in being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

Mr. Weasley flushed a deep burgundy. "We have a very different idea about what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy." he responded tightly.

"Clearly."  Lucius confirmed and then glared at Hermione's parents while he shook his head. "Associating with Muggles." he said  in disgust before he stepped closer to Arthur and put Ginny's book back into her cauldron, though the potter twins and Alistair noticed there seemed to be an extra black book now. "And I thought your family couldn't sink any lower."

Arthur had to control himself, but not wanting to sink to the same level as Malfoy, he just nodded with his teeth clenched and put on a smile.

"I'll see you at work." Lucius said before he turned on his heel and walked out of the bookshop.  Adrian looked at them sympathetically and then left the bookshop as well.

Draco walked over to Charlus and Harry, who he looked at disdainfully. "See you at school." he said to them before he turned and followed his brother and father. "I'd hope not." Charlus whispered.

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Charlus spent the rest of the summer holidays with the Weasleys and on September first, it was time for him, his brother and his friends to return to Hogwarts.  For the boy, the month at the Burrow had been the best of his life, but to be honest, he was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts.

They all reached King's Cross at a quarter to eleven and Mr. Weasley dashed across the road to get trolleys for their trunk. Because they were running a little late, they hurried through the station. 

"10:58! Come on! Come on!" Mr. Weasley shouted. "Train will be leaving any moment. Fred, George, Percy, you first!" Molly said frantically. 

The three boys obliged and ran through the wall between platforms nine and ten,followed closely by Arthur. "I'll take Ginny and you four come right after us." Mrs. Weasley said to Charlus, Harry,Ron and Alistair before she grabbed Ginny's hand and set off. In the blink of an eye they were gone.

"Let's go all together." Alistair said to the others before he wheeled his trolley around to face the barrier. He bent low over the handles of his trolley and started to run towards the wall.

Charlus, Harry and Ron were quick to follow him, gathering speed. A few feet away from the wall, the four of them broke into a run, but what they weren't expecting was to crash into the wall instead of going through it.

With a loud thud, all four trolleys hit the barrier and bounced backward. Charlus and Harry were knocked off their feet and into each other.

The people around them turned to see what the crashing sound was and saw the boys, who were getting up.

As the four of them went to pick their things up off the ground, a station guard had approached them, "Oi! What  do you four think you're doing?"

Harry, Ron and Alistair were at a loss for words, but Charlus, who rubbed his left arm to ease the pain, quickly said, "Sorry sir. Lost control of the trolley."

The guard shook his head in disbelief. But he seemed to give up on the topic as he walked away from the four boys.

"Why can't we get through?" Harry whispered to the other three while he rubbed his left arm as well to ease the pain.

Alistair shrugged his shoulders before he placed his hand on the wall, "I don't know! The gateway sealed itself for some reason!"

At that moment, they heard the clock begin to ring through the station to signal to everyone that it was now 11:00 in the morning.

"Great." Charlus said in frustration. "The train leaves at exactly 11:00! We've missed it!"

"Charlus...Harry.. Alistair.." Ron said in horror. "...If we can't get through, maybe my mum and dad can't get back."

"But how do we get to Hogwarts?" Alistair asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Maybe we should just go and wait by the car." Harry suggested.

It was then that Charlus suddenly got a very stupid idea and smiled widely, "The car! We can fly it to Hogwarts!"

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"I'm not going to lie and say this  is one of our best ideas." Alistair said as they loaded their trunks into the back of the car. Ron got into the driver's seat, while Alistair took the co-pilot's seat, which meant that Charlus and Harry had to sit in the back  with Hedwig, Phoenix and Blacky.

"Can you fly it?" Harry asked from the backseat. He was a little nervous about this.

"No problem." Ron said before he turned the engine on. Then he pressed another button made the car levitate in the air. He urged the car into the sky and after a couple of moments, they flew over the city of London.

"Uh, Ron," Harry spoke up as he looked out the window to see a lot of people staring at them in curiosity and shock. "I should tell you, most muggles aren't accustomed to seeing a flying car."

"Uh, right." Ron replied, and after he pressed a tiny silver button on the dashboard, the car turned invisible while they were still in the city

The four of them soared through the sky. "There are tracks!" Charlus said after a while as he looked out the window to see the train tracks.

Ron lowered the vehicle down and started to fly just above the tracks. "Okay," he began to say, "now we only have to find the train."

"Do you hear that?" Harry asked as they heard the sound of the train engine nearby.

"We must be getting close!" Alistair exclaimed, happy.

But the boys' smiles started to drop when they noticed the sound of the train was getting closer, but they couldn't see it in front of them.

"Hold on." Charlus said as he realized something. He dared to look behind him as Harry did the same, only to see the Hogwarts Express approaching them rather fast, ready to ride over them.

"Ron! Alistair! " Harry yelled, and the two boys looked over their shoulder. "It's behind us!"

"AAAAAHHHH!" they all yelled in panic, before Ron yanked the wheel roughly to the left, which caused the car to fly off the tracks, and then he positioned them alongside the train. However, in the midst of a sharp turn, the passenger door flew open with a crack, and before Alistair could react, he flew out of the car.

"Alistair!" the other three boys screamed for him when they saw the black-haired boy holding onto the door handle and trying to pull himself back up.

 In an instant, Charlus had unfastened his  seatbelt and climbed onto the front seat. He took the wheel while Ron reached out for Alistair's hand, "Take my hand,Alistair!"

The boy attempted to swing himself up and grabbed Ron's hand, but his hand slipped. "Hold on!" Ron yelled.  "I'm trying, you idiot!" Alistair yelled back at him. "But your hands are sweaty!"

Alistair tried again, and this time the boy got a better grip on Ron's hand.  As Charlus stabilized the car, Ron managed to get Alistair back into the car and they quickly closed the door. Charlus then climbed back onto the backseat and fastened his seatbelt once more, "I think we found the train."

After Alistair's near-death experience, the four of them decided it might be better to follow the train all the way to Hogwarts instead of trying to get on.

They continued to fly until they saw the Hogwarts castle appear in front of them. "Welcome home." Ron said with a wide smile, and the other three boys beamed in response, as they were now in the place they called their real home.

But the boys' smiles started to drop when the car begun to shudder and was losing speed.

"Come on," Ron said cajolingly, giving the steering wheel a lit tle shake, "nearly there, come on—"

The engine groaned. Narrow jets of steam were issuing from under the hood. Charlus found himself gripping the edges of his seat very hard as they flew toward a lake.

The car gave a nasty wobble. Glancing out of the window, Charlus saw the smooth, black, glassy surface of the water, a mile below. Ron's knuckles were white on the steering wheel. The car wobbled again.

"Come on." Ron muttered.

They were over the lake — the castle was right ahead — Ron put his foot down to hit the pedals multiple times.

There was a loud clunk, a splutter, and the engine died com pletely.

"Uh-oh," Ron said, into the silence.

The nose of the car dropped.  Ron took the gear stick as they were falling, gathering speed, heading straight for the solid castle wall.

"It's not working!" Ron yelled.

"Yeah, we see that!" Charlus screamed back.

"I'm glad your sarcasm is okay!"Ron shot back.

"Up! Up!" Alistair yelled.

Ron yanked the wheel desperately. They missed the dark stone wall by inches as the car turned in a great arc, soaring over the dark greenhouses, then the vegetable patch, and then out over the black lawns, losing altitude all the time.

At that moment, the ginger haired boy  let go of the steering wheel completely and pulled his wand out of his back pocket. "STOP! STOP!" he ordered and hit the dashboard and the windshield with it, but they were still plummeting to the ground.

"Mind that tree!" Harry bellowed.

Ron tried spinning the wheel but nothing worked

Alistair reached over and together they tried to spin the wheel, but it was too late. The car was heading straight for a tree on the castle grounds.

The car finally crashed into the tree, and now steam was billowing from under the crumpled hood. Hedwig, Phoenix and Blacky were shrieking in terror. A golfball-size lump was throbbing on Alistair's head where he had hit the windshield. Charlus had caught his hand somewhere and it had begun to scar on his knuckles; and to his right, Harry groaned and rubbed his chest.

Ron let out a low, despairing groan, as he stared at his wand. "My wand." he said in a shaky voice. "Look at my wand..."

Alistair turned to look at him and saw that his wand had snapped in two due to the collision; the tip was dangling limply, held on by a few splinters. "Be thankful it's not your neck."

Charlus and Harry nodded in agreement. At that very moment something hit a side of the car with the force of a charging bull, sending a shudder though the car just as an equally heavy blow hit the roof.

"What's happening?" Ron asked in a high pitched squeal.

"I don't know." Harry said, visibly startled.

Charlus looked out the window into the darkness of the night and gasped as he saw a branch as thick as a python collided with the front hood of the car. The tree they had hit was attacking them. The front hood was hit again and again, with it even managing to  to shatter the front window, which caused glass to fly everywhere while the boys screamed in terror.

Ron had yelled a nasty groan as another branch then stuck itself through the back window, going right between the boys, before retreating. The back of the car was being hit next, which caused the back window to shatter,and then a branch as thick as a battering ram was pounding furiously on the roof, which seemed to be caving.

"We're going to die!" Ron moaned as the roof sagged.

"Shut up! We're not going to die!" Charlus yelled.

When the tree hit the back of the car so much that it slipped between the branches and fell to the ground. Suddenly the floor of the car was vibrating — the engine had burbled back to life.

Alistair looked outside and saw a branch retreating, ready for a final punishing blow to the car. Then he turned to Ron with wide eyes, "Come on! Go! Fast!"

Ron was able to drive the car  away from the tree. As they drove away, the tree was still trying to hit them. They could hear its roots creaking as it almost ripped itself up and tried to lash out at them, but all it hit was the ground.

As soon as the four of them got to a safe location, they sighed in relief. The car, however, had reached the end of its tether. With two sharp clunks, the doors flew open and their seats tipped sideways, which caused them all to fall out of the car and and hit the ground hard. Their trunks were thrown from the back of the car, and Charlus quickly caught Phoenix's cage.

"Scabbers, you're okay." Ron said as he looked at his pet rat, which squeaked at him.  "I'm sorry, Blacky. It was Charlus' idea." Alistair said to his owl, which earned him a playful glare from his best friend.

The doors closed again, and then the dented, scratched and steaming car started to drive away, its rear lights blazing angrily. "The car!" Ron yelled, and he, Charlus, Harry and Alistair put their cages down before they tried to run after it.

When they got to the front gate of the school, they stopped running and saw the car drive away. "Dad's gonna kill me." Ron sighed as the the car drove past Hagrid's hut into the Forbidden Forest with one last snort from its exhaust.

The four boys just looked at one another before Charlus spoke up,"Come on, we'd better get up to the school..."

With that, they returned to the spot where the car had left them. They picked up their things and went into the castle. Charlus walked with Harry, Ron and Alistair down a corridor that would take them to their luggage drop off location, while still remaining undetected. "See you, Phoenix." Charlus said to his owl as they put their things down.

"So a house elf showed up in my bedroom, we can't get through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, we almost get killed by a tree . . . clearly someone doesn't want Charlus and me here this year." Harry said to the other two as they climbed the stairs up to join the other students in the Great Hall.

Alistair was about to ask exactly why someone wouldn't want Charlus and Harry at Hogwarts, but the four of them stopped abruptly when they arrived at at the top of the stairs. Mr. Filch was waiting there with a twisted smile on his face. "Well, take a good look, lads. This night might well be the last you spend in this castle." he  said  in a surly voice while he petted Mrs. Norris, who was currently lying in his arms. "Oh, dear. We are in trouble."

Harry, Ron,Alistair and Charlus all gulped at the same time. That can't mean anything good.

━━ AUTHORS NOTE

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