Just a kind of quirky little series which I've been thinking about for a bit. Wanted to throw out a test run chapter, to see how things go. And obvious homage is obvious.
The following fanfiction is about Unsolved Harry Potter Mysteries. Whenever possible, the actual witches and wizards involved have participated in recreating the events. What you are about to read is not a news broadcast.
Charlie's Curious Quidditch Conundrum:
Creepy eerie music plays. A grim looking, but quirky blonde woman, wearing a trenchcoat appears in front of the viewing audience, dressed in a pair of nice slacks and a button up shirt.
"I'm Luna Lovegood," she said. "And tonight, we look at one of the most baffling mysteries ever to take place in the magical world. Charlie Weasley was a legendary seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team before going off to Romania after his Hogwarts days to work with dragons. While Charlie Weasley is not dead or even missing, contradicting information about exactly when did Charlie Weasley play Quidditch at Hogwarts and how old this young man has been presented. Just what is going on with the second oldest Weasley sibling and his Quidditch career?"
Luna stared at the camera with an unblinking, soulless stare.
"Join me tonight and perhaps you can help solve a mystery."
After the credits roll, Luna stares grimly at the camera.
"We do know that Charlie Weasley is the second oldest of seven children of Arthur and Molly Weasley," Luna commented. "Brother Bill is the oldest, then Charlie, then Percy, followed by twins Fred and George, then Ronald, and last, but certainly not least, the baby of the family, Ginevra. To unpack this baffling mystery, we must first go to the first of seven books. Chronicled by squib author Joanne Kathleen Rowling, and beloved by Muggle children the world over for nearly twenty-five years, the Harry Potter books, named after the central character, the famous Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter. In the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first mention of Charlie Weasley comes from his younger brother Ronald."
Cut to two actors playing Ron Weasley and Harry Potter.
"So, what do your older brothers do?" Harry asked him.
"Well, Bill works for Gringotts, the magical bank," Ron said. "Charlie, he was a Quidditch Captain before he left, but he decided to work with dragons in Romania."
"The first mention of Charlie Weasley, but it won't be the last," Luna narrated. "The next mention of Charlie Weasley occurred during a conversation between Minerva McGonagall and Oliver Wood, after Harry Potter caught Neville Longbottom's Remembrall after Draco Malfoy stole it."
Cut to the actor playing Harry Potter hanging out awkwardly in the corner, the actor playing Minerva McGonagall, and the actual Oliver Wood portraying his fifteen year old self, hamming it up for the camera.
"He caught it off of the fifty foot dive!" McGonagall practically gushed. "Amazing. Not even Charlie Weasley did so himself."
Oliver grinned ear to ear.
"Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?"
"This conversation demonstrated that Oliver Wood should have been familiar with Charlie Weasley's quidditch prowess and implies he had a long career," Luna remarked. "This further conversation between the Weasley twins and Harry demonstrates things further."
The actors playing Fred, George, Ron, and Harry were having a conversation.
"We haven't won since Charlie left," Fred said.
"It's going to be amazing," George said.
"You must have been, given how Wood was practically skipping when he saw you!"
The twins started to bounce around in an overly hammy manner, as Luna talked over them.
"The implication was that Charlie had a long career and Gryffindor had a long drought of not winning the cup Further backed up due to the narration of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which implied that that had been seven years since Charlie Weasley left. Given Harry Potter's third year would be during the 1993-1994 school year, based on the evidence of Sir Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington's Deathday Cake in his second year, we must assume the following based on the evidence present in the actual books. Charlie Weasley must have finished Hogwarts during the 1986-1987 school year."
Luna just smiled.
"But, there are other sources to discuss," Luna said. "The noted squib scribe, Joanne Kathleen Rowling, stated out of the book which Charlie Weasley was two years older than his brother Percy. Which would have put Charlie Weasley's seventh year, during Harry Potter's first year which is not possible. She amended it in a further statement to three years older than Percy. But this raises several baffling questions regarding exactly when Charlie Weasley went to Hogwarts and played Quidditch."
The image shifted to that of Oliver Wood, sitting in an office surrounded by Quidditch memorabilia. Prize among them was a picture of the Gryffindor Quidditch team of the 1993-1994 school year, after winning the cup. The grinning forms of the team waved, with Oliver beaming down at his seeker, Harry Potter, with like a proud older brother.
"Well, Charlie Weasley's legend has only grown in time, and there have been many heated arguments," Wood chuckled. "He was one of the best, until Harry Potter blew him out of the water. And for the record, I still send Draco Malfoy a fruit basket for Christmas every year. Because, without his little theft of the Remembrall, I wouldn't have gotten Harry on my team and we wouldn't have won that game in my final year, which secured my spot on the Puddlemere squad. And I really hope that Harry reconsiders his decision not to play Professor Quidditch, because we could use a seeker of his calibre and it would be an honor to fly alongside him once again."
Oliver just grinned, fond memories of his childhood.
"When asked about Charlie's Quidditch career, Wood had that to say."
"Well, the comparisons between Charlie and Harry are more spot on then people would think," Oliver said."Harry Potter only played in one Quidditch Cup final game. The same for Charlie Weasley. When they actually played, they were memorable. Harry had a tendency to go off and fight Dark Lords at the worst possible time. Charlie shared Hagrid's interest for...interesting creatures, which ended up landing him in the hospital wing at the worst possible time. And unfortunately, good seekers are hard to come by. And finding a replacement on such short notice. I was Charlie's deputy captain during that last year, and I had to pull ranks at the last minute. And Charlie's heart wasn't on the pitch during that final year, he discovered his passion for dragons. If Charlie kept his head on, like he did during his third year, from what I've heard, we would have had more Quidditch Cups and Snape would have been more miserable than usual."
"Oliver Wood has distinct memories of playing with Charlie Weasley, which would put Charlie leaving Hogwarts during the 1990-1991 school year," Luna summarized. "However, we must now speak to Penelope Clearwater who dated Charlie's younger brother Percy for a time at Hogwarts."
In front of a roaring fire, Penelope Clearwater sat, dressed in a professional set of dress robes and casually sinking on a cup of tea.
"I heard all about Charlie for years," Penelope said. "And it was in the past tense. Bill and Charlie both attended Hogwarts before Percy even stepped foot in Hogwarts. And I don't want to make light of a serious situation, but Oliver's had a few too many concussions and is confused. He did have an older brother, Richard. who played alongside Charlie for a time and an older sister, Holly, who joined the Holyhead Harpies as a chaser, who played underneath Charlie for a time."
Penelope just sighed.
"Oliver did go to Richard's games, and Holly's as well," Penelope said. "And he was just as fanatical about Quidditch as a child. And I don't doubt that Richard and Holly told Oliver more stories about how insane Charlie was. Percy told me quite a few. The comparisons between Harry and Charlie are on point. But Oliver could not attended Hogwarts at the same time as Charlie did, because Percy and I didn't, and we were all in the same year."
We cut back to Luna.
"Oliver Wood supports Charlie Weasley leaving Hogwarts during the 1990-1991 school year, with only winning one final to his name and a series of spectacular catches along the way which made him a Hogwarts legend" Luna commented. "Penelope Clearwater supports Charlie Weasley leaving Hogwarts during the 1986-1987 school year, with an illustrious career which left him a Hogwarts legend. Which one is it? Is Oliver Wood's recollections right, or are Penelope Clearwater's the clearest?"
Luna shifted herself and walked down a bridge.
"Or could both schools of thought regarding Charlie Weasley be somehow correct? Doctor Lisa Turpin has this to say."
A young brunette witch appears in front of a white board with several lines drawn across it. From the center of the picture, laid tacked on pictures of Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and a time turner.
"The truth is, up until my third year at Hogwarts, the 1986-1987 graduate timeline of Charlie Weasley applied," Lisa said. "However, at the end of the third year, thanks to a ripple caused Harry Potter and Hermione Granger going back in time to save both Sirius Black and Buckbeak the Hippogriff, they slid into a slightly divergent timeline. The changes are not obvious to the naked eye, although there are some who recall the initial timeline."
Lisa drew a line.
"In the world we exist now, Oliver Wood's recollections line up to this timeline," Lisa said "However, Penelope's is no less correct. Time travel magic can have ramifications. It's much like there is a certain group of Muggles who will swear up and down that Nelson Mandela died some time in the 1990s. The time turner combined with Harry Potter's unique magic split the time stream. It caused these Mandela effects for Muggles and the Charlie Conundrum for Magicals. Both timelines exist, with the original 1986-1987 timeline being left in the dust, for Harry's point of view, and thus Joanne's knowledge, to be picked up in the 1990-1991 timeline."
"One thing everyone can agree on, is Charlie Weasley was a legendary Quidditch player," Luna stated. "And he will be the subject of many tales passed down to generations from Quidditch fans alike throughout the world."
Cut back to Oliver Wood.
"I know what I remember," Oliver said. "I remember Charlie Weasley being a mentor to me and showing faith in me. I remember playing alongside him. I can't say anything about this alternate timeline theory, but my brain is not addled and I'm not confusing myself for my brother or my sister. Ask Charlie, and he will tell you the truth."
"Unfortunately, at the time of this broadcast, Charlie Weasley could not be reached for comment, nor could any of his siblings," Luna said. "Is it contradicting timelines causing contradicting memories? A scribe's struggles with math? Mass confusion caused by Wrackspurts? Or perhaps something else entirely that we will never know."
Luna offered a shadow of a smile when looking at the camera
"There are many mysteries out there which have yet to be solved. Someone out there has the answers. Perhaps that someone is reading. Perhaps that someone is you."
Luna looked intently at the fourth wall when the camera faded to black.
End.