CHAPTER FOUR

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★★★

"We invent our own little games, in our idle town

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"We invent our own little games, in our idle town."

★★★

"I can't believe this. What am I supposed to do as a prefect?"

Chip, the one and only resident drama queen of Hufflepuff, was miraculously chosen as a prefect. 

"I don't even have time to fold my own clothes, how in hell to they expect me to patrol once a week for half the night?"

Despite her over-the-top personality, Caitlyn was actually quite brilliant at her school work. She grew up with two wizarding parents who paid for the best tutors money could buy, so that probably had something to do with it.

Charlie, on the other hand, was constantly struggling with his grades. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to understand any of the concepts laid out before him. Maybe he could leech off of Chip's tutors during the summer. 

She threw herself dramatically across an arm chair in the Hufflepuff Common Room, groaning as Charlie stared off into space, not worried about anything going on around him. He was still amidst his crisis, thank you very much.

"You okay?" Chip questioned, seemingly forgetting about her situation.

"Dunno. Don't think so."

"Wanna talk about it?" she softly asked, not used to seeing the boy so sullen. It was a new experience for the both of them, really.

"Maybe after lunch. I'm starving." Charles straightened up his back and cracked his neck (Ew! Chip complained,) as they made their way towards the Great Hall.

"Okay, but you're not getting away from this conversation so easily, Mister."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Chip," Charlie grinned thankfully as she skipped alongside him, her brown ponytail swaying as she did while their robes billowed out behind them.

The Great Hall, as its name foretold, was absolutely fantastic. Food lined the tables and it's smell filled the air as students glide around in their robes, laughing and studying their new coursework. The two took a seat at the yellow lined table, immediately digging into the food set out before them. 

Charlie typically got mashed potatoes, ham, greens, etc. It reminded him of home, even though Alabama was thousands of miles away and his parents and Lauren seemed even farther from him.

He's thought about telling Lauren about his identity crisis, but she'd probably tell him to 'suck it up, buttercup! The world has got bigger issues than your pity party!'. But hey, maybe that's what he needs to hear right now. He'll try to write to her later. 

"Minerva, darling, I've got a question!" Sirius sang, bringing all of the attention in the Great Hall to him.

"Mr. Black, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times," 

"This one is a real one, I swear! Would I lie to you, Minnie?"

Sirius had taken it upon himself to annoy Professor McGonagall as much as possible, and the school year had only started yesterday. James was standing behind him, giving McGonagall puppy dog eyes while Peter laughed along, bumping Remus' shoulder in an attempt to get him to join.

The Lupin boy had always perplexed Charlie. One moment, he was witty, sharp-tongued, and funny, and the next, he was entranced by a book in his lap and wouldn't speak a word to the outside world. It was entertaining to look at the way his dark eyebrows furrowed together at certain passages, or how he would smile to himself randomly while daydreaming about it (the way his lips would curl up more on the left side than the right would make Charlie smile softly, too).

The thing that confused him the most was his scars. They littered his body, marring the smooth skin and never seemed to go away, despite there being an in-school nurse who could fix them with a flick of her wand. A rather large one traced from the top of his ear to the corner of his soft looking mouth, and Charlie briefly wondered what it would be like to run his fingers across it.

(Yes, Charlie also knows that friends aren't supposed to think other friend's mouths look soft. He's in denial, and he's in a crisis. God, give him a break!)

"Huh." Chip wondered aloud, staring at Charlie.

"What?" He said, breaking out of his trance, digging into his potatoes with a slight pink dotting his cheeks.

"Nothing." She gave an all-knowing smile and continued to eat, a plan already forming around the corners of her mind as she watched Finn and Andy enter the Hall. 

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a bit of a short one, but the next few are longer!

-a.d.


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