The Irreplaceable Charlie Weasley

Chapter 3 - Tonks' Explosion

Charlie

Second year wasn't as bad as I thought it would be when I first saw our packed schedule. It did mean that I had less time to spend with my friends something Bill was rather happy about as he could keep an eye on me as I did my homework in the Great Hall or the Common Room.

I thought the second year was going to be bad as I failed at Quidditch tryouts but I have to say that Nova and Hagrid cheered me up quite nicely. There's always next year and I promised myself I would practice so much over the summer that there won't be anyone better than me. Of course, I was already the best. At least that's what one of the Gryffindor's Chasers told me. She said that I only wasn't picked because the Captain wanted his little brother on the team. A bunch of rubbish if you ask me.

In November, some good news came at least when Nova and I were at Hagrid's, questioning him when will he allow us to go to the Forbidden Forest with him and he finally gave in and promised us he was going to take us after Christmas Holidays.

Of course, that was a mistake since from that moment on that was all Nova and I could talk about. The first couple of nights after that I was so excited that I couldn't sleep. Bill started to worry about me as I usually walked out of my dormitory looking as if I just rose from the dead. As they just made a Sleeping Draught potion in class he gave me some and that night I slept better than probably when I was a baby.

I mostly saw and spent time with Jae when we had classes together because on every other occasion he was spending his time with Tulip and Tonks. What those 3 were doing to the castle I have no idea. I was just hoping that the enchantments on the walls were strong enough to resist their damage.

I never thought I was going to say that but Transfiguration was one of my favorite classes. Like last year, I was sitting next to Nova and even though I failed to transfigure half of the objects it was just so wonderful to watch her have so much fun and see just how talented she is in class.

Penny, of course, insisted that this year we should start studying for our exams earlier and that we should practice our spell work immediately when we learned the spells, that way we would have more time for our theoretical parts of exams. As we all laughed at her that morning at breakfast when she came up with the idea, she put it to rest, which didn't stop her from studying every chance she got.

As much as I thought she lost her marbles by doing so, I couldn't help but admire her but at the same time wonder what the O.W.L.s will do to her if she is panicking about the end of the year exams in November in our second year.

—

One Thursday, I was late to Potions class as I ran down to Hagrid's for some tea and I wanted to say hi to Nova and the girls who had Potions before Gryffindors and Slytherins.

I heard them talking in front of the classroom when I walked through the dark corridor of the Dungeons. Nova spotted me and I waved at her, smiling back at me.

"Hi ladies, how..." But before I could finish my question something exploded in my face. I started to cough as I couldn't breathe through the thick layer of green gas. I took a few steps backward hoping it would help but didn't.

As my eyes started to water, I heard a voice.

"Bloody hell. Not another one! I wish I wasn't so clumsy." I heard Tonks say.

"Tonks, if you...don't stop it with...the dungbombs...you are going to kill...all of your friends." I heard Penny cough.

"What is the meaning of this?!" I heard Snape yell as a door, which I assumed was that of the Potions classroom creaked open.