Beauxbatons [Charlie Weasley]

Doglife

Bucket and Clara turn out to be the definition of little menaces, just as Isabelle suspected. Their favourite thing seems to be ruining all Charlie's hard work in the garden, up until the point where Charlie had to build proper fences around his fruits and vegetables and cover them all in nets.

Because the pups love digging so much, Isabelle has dedicated them a spot in the yard where they can do just that. It's almost like a sandpit, but instead of sand it's dirt and instead of children playing in it, it's dogs digging in it. They love it more than all their toys, love to bury their bones in it and trot back into the house with their dirty paws.

Buddy, who they found out is only five years old — not nearly old enough to be retired from the shelter — is the best boy they could have dreamed of. He's seemed to adopt both Bucket and Clara as his younger siblings, or perhaps his children, and snaps at them whenever they do something wrong. With Buddy's help, the pups are learning fast, and soon know to wait for either Isabelle or Charlie to clean off their muddy paws before they dirty up the house.

Ever since they brought their three new family members back home, Charlie seems to have become a different person entirely. It's almost like he's entered dad-mode; he treats them all like his children, always makes sure he's giving them enough attention and enough discipline alike, and always tries to smuggle them extra treats even after Isabelle's said no.

Now, even Isabelle has to admit, Charlie's behaviour is endearing, but at the start, the first couple of weeks of being dog-owners, Isabelle was panicking. She's only ever owned a cat before, and a dog is a whole different ball park. It's a whole new lifestyle Isabelle knew was coming but still didn't fully expect, and she struggled a lot with the new standards of house cleanliness.

Without Charlie being there as the level-headed one, with apparent infinite patience, she's not sure she would have lasted or gotten used to the abrupt change. She has now, of course — it's been about a month since they first brought their pups home — and she loves them even more than she thought she would at the beginning.

When Charlie can't find Isabelle anywhere, he goes out to their stretch of land behind their fruit trees and veggie patches, and there she'll be, without a doubt, throwing a ball for all three dogs to scramble after. They race each other, Bucket and Clara determined to be the one to fetch it, but Buddy always takes the cake, his longer legs for the win.

Obviously, the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Now that Voldemort's return has been made official by the Ministry of Magic, it seems the Dark Lord doesn't care about hiding anymore. Every morning, when Charlie and Isabelle sit down together for breakfast, they snatch up the Daily Prophet as soon as it arrives and quickly scan the pages for mention of anyone they might know.

Charlie's in contact with his family more than ever now, making sure that they're taking all the necessary precautions and abiding by Ministry rules. It seems the whole Weasley family are taking this very seriously, except for the twins.

Fred and George have apparently started up a joke shop in Diagon Alley, filled with all their own products and inventions. Isabelle thought it a brilliant idea until Charlie reminded her that they're just drawing attention to themselves. Indeed, a picture of their joke shop was in the Prophet, and it is exceptionally extravagant. A bit of worry gnawed away at Isabelle's heart at that, but she assured Charlie and herself that they would be fine. They know how to take care of themselves.

France is obviously a safer place to be right now than Britain, but Isabelle has been in contact with her old friends and adopted family, and apparently things aren't all sunshine and rainbows there, either. Mass riots are breaking out not only in France, but all over Europe, Dark wizards keen to show their support for Voldemort.