Hidden || A Harry Potter Story [Book 1]

Chapter 7: Halloween Feast

The following weeks at Hogwarts became much easier for Charlotte. It was October and mud puddles filled the school grounds. Bryce had unfortunately gotten the flu and had been in the hospital wing for two days taking Madam Pomfrey's Pepperup potion. Charlotte brought both their homework to his bed so that he could help her write her transfiguration essay. She was very grateful to have a Ravenclaw as a friend. They all got their work done the day it was assigned, unlike her and her friends who got it done a couple hours before it was due.

Ginny had been acting rather odd around Charlotte; and had not spoken to any of the girls in their dormitories in days. She would close her curtains on her bed and isolate herself with a couple of books and not come out until dinner. Harry was acting strange as well, he would talk about hearing voices and that scared Charlotte. She also had met a boy in Harry's year who was very rude towards her, of course Harry had warned her that he was always like that.

"Do you need help with that?" Charlotte said to a boy in her year, Colin Creevey, who was carrying a lot of books through the portrait that lead to the common room and dropped one.

"Oh, do you mind?" He asked, looking at her. She smiled at him and picked it up, following him up the stairs to his dormitory. "You can set it on my bed over there."

Charlotte put it on the bed that had a camera set on the bedside table. "Why do you carry that thing around?" She asked, hoping she didn't come off as rude.

"It's for my dad he's a muggle, you see. I just want to show him what it's like here." He replied, throwing books into his trunk.

They talked for a while in the common room and she began to notice that he would ask a lot of questions about Harry. It was nice talking to someone who actually wanted to hold a conversation with her, she was getting along with the girls in her year but she felt that she didn't have a real friend to depend on besides Bryce. "Well, I'll talk to you later, Colin. I have to go, bye." She waved at him and went up to her dormitory.

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Bryce and Charlotte were the last ones to walk out of History of Magic and parted ways once they reached the Great Hall. Charlotte saw Jennifer already sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating a large amount of mashed potatoes. It had been storming all week and the Great Hall was dimly lit by the hundreds of candles floating under the ceiling. The ceiling was a dark blue covered in blackening clouds, Charlotte was surprised that rain wasn't falling from it and sogging the bread.

Charlotte was thankful that they got the afternoons off on Fridays and it was much easier to catch up on homework than on Sunday night. Ginny wouldn't say more than four words to Charlotte as they sat on a sofa next to the fireplace, no matter how hard she tried to hold a conversation with her friend. After a long period of silence she announced that she was going to the library, her friend simply nodded an continued to write in her book.

Charlotte brought her quills and parchment to the library and sat at one of the tables. "Charlotte? What are you doing in here?" She turned to find Harry walking towards her with a thick book in his arms.

"I needed to finish my transfiguration essay. It's a lot harder than I thought it'd be." She replied, putting her quill on top of her half finished parchment.

"They are," He laughed. "Where are your friends?"

"I don't know, to be exact." There was a pause of silence. "While you're here, can you help me on my essay?" She hoped he would say yes; Charlotte wanted to become closer to her brother, like how normal siblings would interact, like friends.

"I would Charlotte, I really would, but I've got detention tonight with Professor Lockhart." He could see the disappointment on her face so he added, "however, I'd much rather be here with you than with that bloke." They smiled at each other, and after he patted her shoulder he left.

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Halloween was the predominant talk of the next day. All of the older students Charlotte passed were going on and on about lives bats, pumpkin sweets, bogie beats, and so much food Charlotte couldn't believe it. Ginny's older brothers Fred and George even told her and Ginny about the vampires who would sneak into the feast and kidnap students then drink their blood as midnight snacks. The two girls promised each other that they would stick close to one another, which the twins laughed at.

As night fell, everyone filed out of the portrait hole and went down the staircases, filling the castle with loud laughter and noises. Charlotte and Ginny were much shorter than the other Gryffindors and when the rest of them 'oo'ed and 'awe'd as they reached the Great Hall, The two strained their necks to see what the excitement was about. Finally Ginny pulled Charlotte by the robe and brought to a spot to where they could see. It was magnificent, the Hall was lit by orange flames and pumpkins were carved into scary faces. they sat down at the Gryffindor table and the usual silver platters were replaced with gold.

The feast started and roll and potatoes lined the tables along with caramel apples and cauldron cakes. Charlotte was refilling her second plate when she realized that Ginny was no longer beside her. She asked the twins, who her on the opposite side of her, where she had gone, which they just shrugged their shoulders and went back to their conversation. Charlotte's attitude had grown sour and her appetite had gone as well, she was tired of one of her only friends constantly going missing. She decided to stop thinking about Ginny and her disappearance and enjoy the rest of the feast.

By the time the meal vanished and ice cream with toppings appeared on the table, Charlotte felt as if she was going to pop. She had eaten until she could no more. She felt foolish for listening to Fred and George, as no vampires came and took any children to devour. She did feel a little lonely, even though she had the twins to talk to. Ginny left her, Harry and his friends never came to the feast, she wanted to spend time with people she thought of as friends.

"I hope everything was to everyone's liking," Professor Dumbledore announced from his large chair. "I certainly did, I wish everyone happy dreams. Now off to bed." And with that the student body slowly rose to its feet and out it went the doors. Hall ways, through hall ways they went until suddenly they stopped. Whispers flooded the halls and much pushing occurred too.Charlotte maneuvered to the near front and was shocked to see Harry and his two friends. "You'll be next Mudbloods." A voice that belonged to the boy who called her names between classes one day. The boy Harry warned her about, Draco Malfoy. Charlotte looked at the bigger picture and saw that Harry was standing in a small pool of water and surprisingly in bold, red letters wrote, 'THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.'

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A/N poor Charlotte, her friend won't talk to her and her brother is always getting in trouble:(