Hidden || A Harry Potter Story [Book 1]

Chapter 2: Eleven Years Later

Nearly eleven years had passed since Sirius left Charlotte at Remus' cottage. He never came back like he promised to Remus; the next day he had gotten arrested for a terrible crime. Sirius was sent to Azkaban Prison for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and twelve muggles and for giving the whereabouts of James and Lily Potter which lead to their death. Remus was enraged that one of his best friends would betray the Potters and leave the orphaned Charlotte in his possession.

With the years that passed since James and Lily's death, Remus and Charlotte became very close to one another- like family. Remus raised Charlotte and introduced her to magic the way he was. Charlotte was fascinated by magic and was always begging for Remus to show her more of his, which was much better than she could make which included summoning her toys that were too far from her reach and flickering the lights in the house on and off at will. Remus had always felt a slight discomfort when Charlotte would ask of her parents; he didn't want to upset the child by telling her how brutal their deaths really were. Remus told Charlotte only once of how they died after she had constantly attacked him with her questions when she was eight; however, his answer was quite short and vague.

Throughout the years they were happy. Charlotte had lived with Remus for as long as she could remember and was used to traveling village to village every other year. She had never really understood why Remus would make her stay at his father's house for a few days every month; she didn't like it there, it smelled of moldy cheese and moth balls.

Charlotte grew up lonely, never having enough time to make friends with the local village children before she and Remus moved again. By the time she was ten she had stopped trying to make any at all and sat by the window sill every day. "Charlotte, darling, go outside and play with the girls over there." Remus said one hot morning in July; he had noticed her staring out the living room window after he came in with his tea and newspaper.

"It's no use, Remus," She replied, watching the girls across the street skip along the chalked sidewalk. "We're going to leave anyways."

Remus' face fell with disappointment as he moved his eyes back on his paper and said no more to the girl. She continued to look at the window and after a while, when the girls had gone back home, she magically made dust bunnies dance in the palm of her hand.

Her days were long and boring: she woke up, ate, looked out the window, ate, looked out the window, and then went back to bed just to repeat the same thing the next day. The moon came out after the long day of watching out the window and Remus kissed her goodnight as she got into her bed. She laid in bed for a long time, listening to Remus' loud snores through her bedroom door. Charlotte finally closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.

"Charlotte, breakfast is ready!" Remus shouted the next morning, loud enough to awaken Charlotte from her dream. She slowly got out of bed and went into the kitchen where Remus was cooking bacon on the small stove. The kitchen was very cramped, only able to fit a small table with two chairs into its vacant space; its papered walls were starting to peel at the ceiling and the appliances were well out of date. "Ah, Good morning, darling." He said as Charlotte scooped a small pile of eggs on her plate and sat at the table.

"Good morning." She said back and took a drink of her water. Remus sat down and they began their usual morning breakfast. "I had a wonderful dream last night." She said after a short while of silence.

Remus looked up from the muggle Sunday newspaper and looked at Charlotte, "Oh?"

"Yeah, it was at night and I was lying on my back and I was up in the air and there was this loud rumbling noise, like the sound of an automobile motor. I was looking up at the sky and it was beautiful, it was a dark blue color and the stars shone out like diamonds." She told him. She thought the dream was rather odd because she could have sworn she had seen it before.

"Oh- what an... interesting dream that is." Remus said, taking a moment before he responded. He opened his mouth to say something right before there was a pecking noise at the kitchen door. "Charlotte, would you get that for me?"

Charlotte nodded and proceeded to get up from her chair and walk towards the door. She turned the knob and in came an owl; it perched on top of her chair and screeched, holding out its leg which had parchment tied to it. Remus put down his paper and reached for it, untying the string and with a hoot the owl spread its wings and flew back out the door. Charlotte had always been fascinated by the wizards' post and loved how the birds all responded differently.

She sat back down across from Remus and glanced at the Sunday Prophet that he was now reading. The front page was showing what appeared to be a man and his wife smiling at each other then turning to look at Charlotte. Charlotte only caught the name of the article which said 'Nicholas Flamel Dies at Age 665' before Remus pulled the paper together to open up the next page. She looked down from the paper and on to the table where she noticed a letter.

The yellowed parchment was held together by a purple seal with a coat of arms; an eagle, a snake, a badger, and a lion all surrounding an H. She picked the envelope up from the table and flipped it over; her eyebrows furrowed as she read her name in green ink.

Miss C. Potter

The Second Bedroom

18 Windfay Way

Holt Fort 

Chesham 

She looked up at Remus, who was still reading the Prophet, "Remus, there's a letter here... for me." Remus quickly put the paper down and turned his head at Charlotte, clearly just as surprised as she was. He reached his hand out and Charlotte handed the heavy letter to him.

Remus studied letter before he smiled, "It's here, your Hogwarts letter," She was given the paper back. "Go ahead, open it." He said, enthusiastically.

"But I'm not even eleven yet; you said they came when you turn eleven." Charlotte said. Her birthday wasn't but a month way, she was curious on how the letter came early. Did something go wrong?

"Well, you have a late birthday. The owl needs to be sent before August so they send yours before, so that they will know that you will be attending." He explained. She nodded and looked down at the letter; she started to rip the paper from its purple seal. She pulled the letter out and read:

Dear Miss Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

"Congratulations, darling," Remus said with a big smile. "We will get your supplies close to your birthday." Supplies she thought, the letter mentioned nothing of supplies. She looked through the envelope again and noticed a smaller piece of parchment; she gazed at its writing, Uniform, cauldron, a wand, Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart. Now that she looked at her book list, almost all of her books were written by this 'Gilderoy Lockhart'.

"Remus, who is Gilderoy Lockhart?" She asked, showing him her supply list. He looked at it for a moment then sighed.

"That ol' bloke, He thinks he's something, that's for sure." He sat the paper on the table and cupped his chin with his hand before he mumbled something to himself.