Madame Pomfrey insisted on keeping Harry in the hospital wing for the rest of the weekend, much to the boy's disapproval. The only time Charlie, Ron, and Hermione would leave Harry's side would be at night when curfew dawned upon then.
Harry was itching to talk to Charlie about the Grim that they both saw during the Quidditch match, but failed to be able to since he never wanted to bring it up in front of Ron or Hermione. Simply because he knew Ron would panic and Hermione would say it was rubbish.
If he was being honest, Charlie had thought about the Grim a couple of times since that day. There was no denying the fact that it had now appeared twice, and both appearances had been followed by near-fatal accidents; the first time, Harry had nearly been run over by the Knight Bus; the second, he had fallen a hundred feet from his broomstick.
Was the Grim actually going to haunt Harry until he died?
Was Ron right when he said that the danger that was coming for Charlie would be a result of him protecting his best friend?
For goodness sake, was Trelawney actually telling the truth?
And then there were the Dementors.
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The dammed Dementors that sent a shiver down Charlie's spine at the mere thought of them. Granted, he didn't have an experience quite like Harry. The brown eyed boy still couldn't believe it when Harry had told him that he was hearing the last moments of his mother's life. The moments in which she saved him from Lord Voldemort as he did nothing but laugh as he murdered her...
Charlie couldn't imagine what his best friend was feeling, and he knew that he wouldn't have been able to do anything to help him.
What are you supposed to say when your best friend tells you something like that?
Imagine the relief to return, with Harry, Ron and Hermione, to the noise and bustle of the main school on Monday, where he was forced to think about other things, even if he had to endure Draco Malfoy's taunting towards him and Harry about Gryffindor losing the match.
It didn't matter, however, because, on a happier note, Professor Lupin was back at work. It certainly looked as though he had been ill. His old robes were hanging more loosely on him and there were dark shadows beneath his eyes; nevertheless, he smiled at the class before teaching as though he never left.
As for Quidditch, Ravenclaw ended up flattening Hufflepuff in their match at the end of November, which meant Gryffindor weren't out of the running for the House Cup after all. Wood became repossessed of his manic energy, and worked his team as hard as ever in the chilly haze of rain that persisted into December. Charlie saw no hint of a Dementor within the grounds. His grandfather's anger seemed to be keeping them at their stations at the entrances.
