By the time Charlie Brown had stopped feeling sorry for himself, the summer holidays had already begun. And although Charlie Brown was delighted that school was over, he couldn't escape Joe Agate and Thibault who took every opportunity they could to terrorize him. This was why Charlie Brown spent as much time inside the house as possible and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope.
In September, he would be attending a secondary school across town from his two bullies, meaning for the first time in his life, he would be free from them. No more Joe Agate and Thibault for Charlie Brown.
One day, Aunt Pat and Uncle Neil left Charlie Brown and his sister in the care of mad old Mrs Figg while they went out shopping by themselves. However, when Charlie Brown and Sally returned home, they saw nothing new or anything in the cupboards-they were as bare as before. The only thing different was that Snoopy had a black collar on instead of a red one.
Charlie Brown, however, didn't dare ask about it. He simply went to his bedroom and lay awake thinking about his parents.
That next morning, however, Charlie Brown was awoken by a horrible smell emanating from the kitchen. When he went down to investigate, he was greeted by what looked like rags swimming about in a metal tub inside the sink.
"What's this?" He asked Aunt Pat.
"I'm just dyeing a few things, Charlie." Aunt Pat answered. It may have just been Charlie Brown's imagination, but ever since the boa constrictor incident at the zoo, his aunt and uncle had both seemed a bit short with him.
"Oh." Charlie Brown grunted. "Okay."
Uncle Neil and Sally walked in and wrinkled their noses. The smell from the dye was really bad. Uncle Neil sat down at the table and picked up the paper. "Barack Obama's making a visit over here." He muttered before the usual click of the letterbox and the thudding of letters on the floor.
"Sally, go get the letters." Aunt Pat said.
"Make Charlie get it!" Sally complained.
"Get the post, Charlie." Aunt Pat said.
"Make Sally get it." Charlie Brown complained.
"One of you, go and get the post right now." Uncle Neil looked up from his newspaper. Charlie Brown huffed and went to go and get the post, which Snoopy was looking through.
A postcard? Who sends postcards in this day and age? What's wrong with email? Snoopy thought.
Charlie Brown snatched the post from his dog. On top was a postcard from Uncle Neil's sister, Carolyn, who was on holiday in the Isle of Wight. Underneath was a brown envelope that looked like a bill and a letter for Charlie Brown. A letter for Charlie Brown?!
Charlie Brown stared at it. The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment and the address was neatly written in emerald green ink-but there was no stamp. Turning the envelope over, Charlie Brown saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms-a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake-all surrounding a large letter 'H'. There was no way was this letter from one of his pen pals.
Charlie Brown went back to the kitchen, still staring at the letter. He handed Uncle Neil the bill and postcard and sat down to open the envelope. Uncle Neil opened the bill, shook his head in disgust and flipped over the postcard.
"Carolyn's ill." Uncle Neil said. "Ate a funny whelk..."
"That's not from your pen pal, Big Brother." Sally said suddenly, prompting Uncle Neil to look up.
"Charlie, hand over the letter." Uncle Neil snapped.
"But it's addressed to me." Charlie Brown protested.
"Don't make me repeat myself."
Charlie Brown reluctantly handed the letter over to his father. "Thanks a lot." He grumbled.
Uncle Neil turned white as a ghost. "P-P-Patricia!" He gasped, handing the letter over to her. Charlie Brown and Sally looked at them curiously, while Aunt Pat looked like she might faint.
"Neil! Oh my goodness, Neil!" She said, making a curious choking sort of noise.
"I want to read the letter!" Sally said loudly. "What if it's Charlie getting a letter because our parents died!"
"I want to read it too!" Charlie Brown said furiously. "It's my letter!"
"Get out, both of you." Uncle Neil said, panicking as he forced the letter back into the envelope.
"I want to see the letter-"
"It's my letter-"
"OUT!" Uncle Neil roared. Sally and Charlie Brown ran out of the room as fast as their legs could carry them and Uncle Neil slammed the door behind them.
Charlie Brown and Sally both listened to their aunt and uncle talking at the crack between the floor and the door.
"Neil, what should we do?" Aunt Pat asked. "Surely we shouldn't tell them already?"
"I don't know, Pat. Maybe we should." Uncle Neil replied. "We've let it go far enough as it is."
"Think about Sally, she's still so young."
"She and Charlie are both 10 now."
"I wasn't expecting it to roll around so soon."
"Neither was I." Uncle Neil let out a sigh. "We should..."
After that, Uncle Neil spoke in more of a whisper, leaving Charlie Brown and Sally to only guess what he was saying.
That evening when he got home from work, Uncle Neil visited Charlie Brown in his bedroom. Charlie Brown lowered his book and looked up at him.
"Where's my letter?" Charlie Brown asked. "Who was writing to me? And why did you and Aunt Pat panic when you saw it?"
"Nobody was writing to you. It was a mistake." Uncle Neil snapped.
"It was Joe Agate writing me a death threat, wasn't it?" Charlie Brown said sadly.
"Does Joe Agate send you death threats?" Uncle Neil sounded surprised.
"Not at the moment." Charlie Brown shrugged. "But what if he's started?"
"It wasn't from Joe Agate, Charlie."
"Thibault?"
"Or Thibault." Uncle Neil added. "Everything's fine."
Charlie Brown nodded, not inclined to believe his Uncle Neil.
The next morning, everyone was quiet and Uncle Neil and Aunt Pat kept exchanging glances. The usual click of the letterbox had Uncle Neil agitated and he practically jumped out of his seat before collecting the mail.
"Pat! There's another one!" Uncle Neil shouted out.
With a strangled cry, Aunt Pat leapt from her chair and dashed down the hall with Charlie Brown and Sally following closely behind. Just as they tried to look at the letter, Uncle Neil held it closely to his chest so that they couldn't.
"Charlie, Sally, go to your rooms." He said calmly. But the sort of calm that was mixed with both terror and fury. They did as they were told and Snoopy followed Charlie Brown to his room.
Charlie Brown paced around his room with Snoopy following. Someone knew that he didn't get his first letter. Or maybe they were trying to antagonise him by sending him more.
"I have to find out why Uncle Neil doesn't want me to see those letters, Snoopy." Charlie Brown said determinedly. "And I've got a plan."
That next morning, Charlie Brown's alarm clock went off at six o'clock. Charlie Brown turned it off and got dressed quietly in his usual attire-black shorts and a yellow t-shirt with a black zigzag. Taking care not to wake his aunt, uncle, sister or dog, Charlie Brown crept downstairs. His ingenious plan was to wait outside for the postman and collect the post directly from him.
So he opened the door and sat out on the doorstep. It was still dark outside. Charlie Brown closed his eyes briefly, but when he opened them, the sun was shining, birds were tweeting and the neighbourhood kids were playing. His eyes darted towards his watch-11:24am. He'd fallen asleep on his doorstep! What would his aunt and uncle say?!
Charlie Brown stood up and knocked on the door, shaking like a leaf. Uncle Neil answered it and as soon as he saw who it was, threw his arms around Charlie Brown. The happy reunion didn't last long, however, as Uncle Neil called Aunt Pat over. Both of them shouted at Charlie Brown for worrying them for around half an hour... And then the post came with three more letters addressed to Charlie Brown.
Aunt Pat and Uncle Neil spent that afternoon watching Sky News, sending Charlie Brown and Sally to their rooms again.
The next day was Friday and no fewer than twelve letters arrived for Charlie Brown. Not all of them though had come through the letterbox. Some had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides and even forced through the window of the downstairs toilet. Uncle Neil stayed home from work again and again he and Aunt Pat watched the news wordlessly.
On Saturday, the number of letters for Charlie Brown had doubled. None of them made their way through the letterbox this time though. They were rolled up inside two dozen eggs that the confused milkman had left on the doorstep.
Aunt Pat and Uncle Neil were confused also-they didn't have a milkman. So the whole day Uncle Neil spent on the phone, looking for someone to report the rogue milkman to.
"I don't get it, Big Brother." Sally said, breaking the days long silence. "Who wants to talk to you this badly and why are Aunt Pat and Uncle Neil trying to stop it?"
Charlie Brown didn't know. But he wanted so badly to find out.
The next day was Sunday. No post day, as Uncle Neil reminded everyone cheerfully. He whistled as he buttered his toast at the table. It was short lived however, as around thirty or forty letters-all addressed to Charlie Brown-came pelting out of the fireplace.
"Charlie! Sally!" Uncle Neil shouted. "To your rooms!"
Neither sibling dared talk back to Uncle Neil. He looked furious. Instead they complied with his orders and dashed to their bedrooms without so much as a word. Any attempt to go downstairs that day resulted in a glare from Uncle Neil. However, hearty meals and hourly glasses of water were left outside their rooms. And they were allowed to enter each other's rooms and go to the bathroom, but they weren't allowed to go downstairs. They could hear their aunt and uncle talking in almost a panicked way.
This continued into the next day, the Monday. When they attempted to come down for breakfast, the Brown siblings were sent back upstairs with a firm "Back to your rooms." From Aunt Pat. Half an hour later, two breakfasts of beans on toast with a glass of orange juice were dumped outside their doors.
After a while, Sally walked into Charlie Brown's room, quite dramatically.
"Oh I can't stand it, Big Brother!" She said exaggeratedly. "What's going on with Aunt Pat and Uncle Neil? Are they going to send us off to live with Aunt Carolyn?"
"I hope not." Charlie Brown shuddered. That woman could eat and she was really fat. So however she could get anywhere-even between rooms in her house-was an absolute mystery to Charlie Brown.
"They've been talking since yesterday and those letters are really freaking me out." Sally sighed. "Are they going to send us away to a doctor family?"
"Adopted." Charlie Brown corrected. "And why would they? They've adopted us." He sighed. "I still think this isn't beyond Joe Agate and-or-Thibault-to send some kind of threat."
"Big Brother, if they were threatening you, they'd it online." Sally pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess." Charlie Brown shrugged and a thudding noise was heard from outside his bedroom door. And another. Charlie Brown got up off his bed and saw Aunt Pat about to place a glass of blackcurrant squash on the floor.
"It's dinner time." She said curtly.
Two dinners of jacket potato and cheese had been left on the floor. One for Charlie Brown and one for Sally. Sally walked over to the door.
"Is that for me?" She asked.
"I think so." Charlie Brown replied. He bent down to pick up the meals from the floor. Sally took the drinks glasses from Aunt Pat, who went downstairs immediately. Sally closed Charlie Brown's bedroom door with her hip and the two of them then ate in silence, listening to the muffled words of their aunt and uncle.
At teatime, two more meals had been left at Charlie Brown's door. Almost identical meals of chicken nuggets, mashed potato and spaghetti hoops. And two more glasses of blackcurrant squash. Charlie Brown looked over at his clock as he sat down on his floor to eat his meal. 18:34. This was almost like a prison-except from all the TV Charlie Brown watched, he was fairly certain that prisoners left their cells at some point. The only time he and Sally could leave their rooms was to go to the toilet or to see each other.
Sally took her meal to her room leaving Charlie Brown alone. After he'd finished his meal, he pulled out one of his baseballs and threw it against the wall, catching it. Over and over he did this until his aunt and uncle broke the silence at around half eleven at night.
"Charlie! Sally!" Uncle Neil shouted. "Come down here!"
Charlie Brown threw his baseball onto the bed and left his room. Sally left her room yawning.
"What do they want, Big Brother?" Sally asked. She sounded almost frightened.
"I don't know, Sally." Charlie Brown admitted.
"I can't believe I missed all of Monday." Sally complained. "I could've been watching The Simpsons."
Of course-it was Monday. That meant that tomorrow was Tuesday-Charlie Brown's eleventh birthday. He couldn't believe he'd almost missed it. The two Brown siblings made their way down to the living room where they were greeted by a solemn looking Aunt Pat and Uncle Neil.
"We're so sorry we didn't tell you this sooner." Aunt Pat said gently. "But your parents are dead."
"What do you mean they're dead?" Charlie Brown questioned. Sally was too much in shock to say anything. "Is that what those letters are about?"
"Well... Yes." Uncle Neil nodded. "And no." He shook his head.
"W-what do you mean?" Charlie Brown asked.
"Your parents, kids, they died an awfully long time ago. Ten years ago, in fact." Aunt Pat sighed.
"Ten years?!" Sally screamed. "But we've had letters!"
"Old Mrs Figg wrote those." Uncle Neil muttered.
"So we weren't abandoned?" Charlie Brown frowned. Maybe they were saying that his parents were dead to be kind. But why would telling two ten year olds that they were orphans be kind? Unless their parents really were dead.
"Of course not, Charlie." Aunt Pat said. "Why would you think that?"
Charlie Brown simply gave a shrug in response.
"The letters coming reminded us of that and we wanted to keep your innocence for a little while longer." Uncle Neil said.
Charlie Brown looked over at the clock. In about ten seconds, he'd have his worst birthday ever. Three. Two. One.
BOOM.
"What the heck was that?" Aunt Pat asked.
"It sounds like someone's trying to break the door down." Uncle Neil frowned in thought.
BOOM.
There it was again. The loud noise.
"Kids, get behind me." Uncle Neil said bravely. "Pat, you go and call the police."
"Some birthday this is." Charlie Brown muttered.
Snoopy came running into the living room, dressed as the World War I flying ace and began punching the air.
Who is this guy? I can take him! I can take him! He thought.
SMASH!
It sounded like the door had either been broken in half or knocked off the hinges.
"Kids, stay here." Uncle Neil said, bravely walking to the living room door and opened it.
In the doorway stood a giant of a man, with a wild, tangled beard and a mess of shaggy hair covering almost his whole head and obscuring a lot of his face. Uncle Neil stepped back, Aunt Pat dropped the phone and Snoopy dropped to the ground at the sight of this giant.
Play dead. That way he won't get me. Snoopy thought as the giant squeezed his way through the doorway and into the living room.
"Couldn't get me a cup o' tea, could yeh?" The giant asked, looking at Uncle Neil and Aunt Pat in turn. "It's not been an easy journey." He strode over to the sofa and sat down. Aunt Pat nodded and ran out the door to the kitchen.
Charlie Brown and Sally exchanged glances.
"Charlie! Sally!" The giant said happily. "Lat time I saw you both, you was only babies, but I could never forget you two." Aunt Pat returned almost immediately with a cup of tea in a cup much too small for the giant, but he thanked her anyway. "Anyway-Charlie, a very happy birthday to yeh. As a matter o' fact, I got sommat for yeh." He reached into an inside pocket of his black overcoat and pulled out a slightly squashed box. "I mighta sat on it at some point-sorry 'bout that-but it'll taste alright." He handed the box to Charlie Brown.
Charlie Brown took it, albeit hesitantly, and opened it. Inside was a large chocolate cake, iced in pink icing with the words Happy Birthday Charlie written in green icing. There were bald patches in some of the pink icing as it had stuck to the side of the box. Charlie Brown looked up at the giant and meant to say 'thank you', but ended up mouthing it instead.
"Who are you and how do you know my children?" Uncle Neil asked.
"True." The giant chuckled. "I haven't introduced meself yet. Rubeus Hagrid-keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." He explained. "Bu' call me Hagrid, everyone does. Now, yeh'll know all about Hogwarts o' course."
Charlie Brown and Sally shook their heads and Hagrid looked shocked.
"We were just about to explain that to them." Aunt Pat said. Charlie Brown noticed that as soon as Hagrid said 'Hogwarts', his aunt and uncle seemed to relax.
"Alrigh'." Hagrid nodded. "Mind if I help?" Uncle Neil and Aunt Pat shook their heads. "You're a wizard, Charlie." Hagrid said.
"I'm a what?" Charlie Brown muttered.
"An' Sally, yeh're a witch."
There was a pause until Sally spoke up. "You mean I can do magic?"
"You and yeh brother." Hagrid nodded, before turning to Aunt Pat and Uncle Neil. "You really not told them nothing?"
"We didn't know how the kids would react." Uncle Neil sighed.
"An' yeh let the letters come, I see." Hagrid said, noting the letters on the table. He picked one up and handed it to Charlie Brown who opened it.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc, Chf Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr Brown,
We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
"What does it mean, they await my owl?" Charlie Brown asked, handing the letter to Sally.
"Oh, that reminds me." Hagrid said, pulling-from yet another pocket-a real, live-and rather ruffled looking-owl, a long quill and some parchment. He scribbled a note on the parchment which Charlie Brown could read upside down.
Dear Mr Dumbledore,
Given Charlie his letter.
Taking him to buy his things tomorrow.
Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.
Hagrid
Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, and walked over to the door-the one he had bust down. Then he threw the owl out into the rain. Hagrid was right-the weather was horrible. Then he picked up the front door and put it back into its frame with great ease.
"Why aren't I going to learn magic?" Sally folded her arms indignantly.
"Yer too young, Sally." Hagrid replied. "Yeh'll be going nex' year."
"So what's Hogwarts then?" Charlie Brown asked. "And what's going on?"
"Charlie, Sally." Uncle Neil placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "Remember how I said your parents were dead?"
Charlie Brown nodded. "Yes."
"Well, they were murdered." Uncle Neil continued. "By a very bad wizard."
"He wasn't just a bad wizard. He was as bad as you could go. No, worse. Worse than worse. His name was..." Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.
"Voldemort." Aunt Pat offered.
Hagrid nodded. "People are still scared o' that name, kids. Don't make me say it. Anyway, this wizard, You-Know-Who, about twenty years ago started looking for followers. Got some too. Some were afraid o' him, others just wanted a bit o' his power. He was getting that all right. Now those were dark days, kids. Dark days. Didn't know who ter trust and yeh didn't dare get friendly with strangers. Then terrible things happened and 'e started takin' over. O' course some stood up ter him. But he killed 'em horribly and one o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. He didn't dare try takin' the school-at least not just then anyway." He sighed.
"Why do you call him You-Know-Who?" Sally asked.
"Because people are afraid of this dark wizard, Sally, they say You-Know-Who so people are aware of who they are referring to." Uncle Neil explained.
"But that's silly. You-Know-Who could be someone you're planning a party for and you don't want them to know." Sally folded her arms.
"Right you are, Sally." Hagrid said. "Which is why some people call him He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
Sally frowned. "I think I prefer You-Know-Who."
"So h-how did he kill our parents?" Charlie Brown asked.
"Yer parents, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head Boy an' Head Girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before. Probably knew they was too close ter Dumbledore ter want anything ter do with the Dark Side."
"Like Star Wars?" Sally asked.
"Star what?" Hagrid raised an eyebrow. "Anyway, maybe he thought he could persuade 'em. Maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is he turned up on the village you was living in on Halloween night in 2005. Charlie was just over a year old an' Sally, not even half a year old. He came ter yer house and he... He..."
"He killed your parents." Uncle Neil said as Hagrid wiped his eyes with a large spotted handkerchief. "He tried to kill you too, Charlie."
Charlie Brown looked horrified.
"By then he was probably so dark, he just enjoyed killing." Aunt Pat shook her head.
Uncle Neil nodded in agreement. "But he couldn't kill you, Charlie. And nobody knows why. But that's where the scar on your forehead really came from."
Charlie Brown nodded because of course it did.
"That there, Charlie, ain't no ordinary scar. It's what yeh get when a powerful an' evil curse gets yeh. Once You-Know-Who decided to kill someone, nobody lived. He took care o' the Bones, the Armstrongs, the Rogers, yeh, mum, yeh dad an' even yeh house-but not you or Sally. The curse didn't work on you. An' that's why yer famous, Charlie. You was only a baby an' you lived."
"But what about me?" Sally asked as Charlie Brown thought about all Hagrid and Uncle Neil said.
"Well, after the killing curse didn't work on yer brother, You-Know-Who disappeared. Vanished. That's the biggest myst'ry, see. He was only gettin' more an' more powerful. So why'd he go? Some think he died. I doubt he 'ad enough human in him left ter die. Some people who was on his side came back ter ours from kinda like trances. Others say he's biding his time, waiting' for the right time to come back. What most of us reckon is tha' he's still out there, lost his powers an' too weak to carry on. Somethin' happened that night he tried to kill yer brother. He woulda tried ter kill you too, Sally. But somethin' about yer brother stumped him. An' he disappeared. You survived tha' night too. Yer famous as well, Sally."
"Me? Famous?" Sally smiled smugly, imagining the riches and having everyone knowing her name.
"There ain't no one in our world who don't know the names Charlie and Sally Brown."
While Hagrid had been speaking, Charlie Brown had been thinking. Thinking how could he possibly be a wizard? He'd spend seemingly his whole life being picked on by Joe Agate and Thibault-if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they tried to give him a swirly? If he really had defeated the deadliest sorcerer of all time, why had he always been used as their punching bag?
"You've made a mistake. I'm not a wizard." Charlie Brown sighed.
"Charles Brown, I can assure you with 100% certainty that you definitely are a wizard." Uncle Neil said. "Remember the boa constrictor incident? Pat and I have known long before that. We've known since the disappearing clothes incident. And Sally, we've known that you were a witch since the lightning from nowhere."
"That's magic?" Sally frowned, thinking magic was all about people pulling rabbits out of top hats.
"That's magic alright." Hagrid smiled back at the kids.
Aunt Pat looked over at the kids. "Alright, it's two in the morning. I know a lot of exciting things have happened today, but you have to go to sleep now."
"That's right." Hagrid agreed. "I hafta take you ter Diagon Alley in the mornin'."
"Diagon Alley?" Charlie Brown raised an eyebrow.
"It's like Oxford Street for wizards." Aunt Pat replied.
"Aunt Pat! How do you know about the wizard stuff and Diagonally?" Sally asked.
"Diagon Alley." Aunt Pat corrected. "And you forget my sister, your mother, was a witch-though I'm just a Muggle."
"Muggle?"
"It's what we call non magic folk." Hagrid said.
"Right come on, up to bed." Aunt Pat said, ushering the kids upstairs. "Hagrid, you can sleep on the sofa with Snoopy, do you mind?"
"Nah, sofa's just fine for me, Mrs Brown." Hagrid said. "G'night."
"Good night to you too, Hagrid." Aunt Pat left the living room to Uncle Brown fussing over the front door.
"I'll try my best to fix this when Charlie, Sally and Hagrid are out tomorrow." Uncle Neil sighed.
"But for now, to bed." Aunt Pat said.
A/N: Although it followed the book fairly well, I still squished two chapters in one. I wasn't sure what to do with it, really. Next chapter we'll meet some of the Peanuts and some of the Hogwarts students.
And Snoopy will have more to do-though we won't be meeting Woodstock just yet.
I don't own the Peanuts or Harry Potter.