XXXII

Something was off with the Hufflepuffs Harry thought. He knew they and the Slytherins had their first lesson of Defense Against the Dark Arts earlier that day, and naturally, he expected Professor Lupin to do the same thing he had with the Gryffindors on Friday. Harry was still disappointed that Professor Lupin didn't give him a chance to fight the Boggart himself, but even he knew that it was an amazing first class. He still remembered the disaster that was Lockhart's classes the year before. And Professor Quirrell in his first year had Voldemort in the back of his head – although at least he was a competent teacher. In comparison to those two, Professor Lupin was amazing.

Of course, Harry had assumed, the Hufflepuffs would like him too. He didn't care what the Slytherins thought, because – who cared about them, anyway? And Draco had already started making fun of Lupin's shabby robes before today's class. But the Hufflepuff's…Harry got along okay with most of them. They were a bit boring, he thought, and last year, they thought he was the Heir of Slytherin, but his own Gryffindor classmates aside, he got along best with the Hufflepuffs.

However, at lunch, he saw nothing of the excitement Lupin's class had caused with his fellow Gryffindors. All Friday evening, Harry and his friends had barely talked about anything else. And now…

The Hufflepuffs entered in one big group, all together. It wasn't just that they weren't excited, they were barely even talking. Instead, they looked among each other as if they were searching for something.

"Didn't they have Lupin's class just now?" Harry asked confused.

"They did." Hermione knew everybody's schedule much better than the rest of them. "Why?"

"Just wondering. I thought they would be more excited. Lupin's class was amazing last week. I can't wait for the next one."

"True," Ron agreed. With narrowed eyes, he watched the Hufflepuffs. "You think they didn't get to fight the Boggart?"

"I guess it's possible," Hermione shrugged.

"I bet Snape made Lupin get rid of the Boggart. He'd enjoy ruining a fun class." Ron snorted.

"Why would Professor Snape do that?" Hermione disagreed. "I mean, he's horrible, but he wouldn't get involved in another teacher's classes." She sounded certain, but Harry didn't believe her. He knew Snape was vying for the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for years. Surely, it wouldn't be beneath him to sabotage a rival to get there. Short of murder, he thought Snape capable of pretty much anything – and the only reason, Harry was willing to exclude murder, was because he had somewhat embarrassed himself with such an accusation before.

"Maybe they screwed up, and it didn't work out," Ron suggested with narrowed eyes.

Harry glanced at the Slytherin table, where Draco arrived at that moment, looking his usual arrogant self. "Or maybe the Slytherins ruined it," he guessed.

"Possible." Ron shrugged turning back to his bread and gravy.

"I'm going to ask," Harry announced quickly finishing his own plate and standing up. "Are you coming?"

Ron shook his head. "Is it really that important?"

Harry had to admit, that it probably wasn't that important. The whole situation just seemed off to him. The mood at the Hufflepuff table was as if somebody had died. Stepping closer, he saw that something else was off.

"Where's Charlie?" he asked.

Justin who normally sat next to Charlie during meals shook his head. "No idea. He ran off after the whole Boggart thing. If you see him…"

Harry hadn't seen Justin Finch-Fletchley look so disturbed ever since the Heir of Slytherin hunted down Muggleborn students in Hogwarts. Maybe that was the reason… "What's going on?" he asked looking from Justin to the other Hufflepuff's and back at Justin. "Did you see a basilisk?" He hadn't really considered that, but it would make sense.

The way Justin ducked his head shamefully made Harry almost convinced, he had guessed right, but then Hannah shook her head. "No," she said. "It's Charlie's Boggart."

Harry frowned worriedly. What would be so bad about Charlie's Boggart? "What was it?" he asked, both anxious and curious.

"I have no idea," Justin said, looking to Hannah for help who could only shrug as well. "I mean, it looked like a ghost. A bit like Peeves."

"A Poltergeist?" Harry tried to connect the dots, but it made no sense. Sure, Peeves had thrown a cake after Charlie on his first day, but it hadn't seemed to bother the boy that much.

"Maybe," Justin said vaguely. "I don't know."

"I don't think it was a Poltergeist." Susan leaned forward a bit and continued in a more whispery voice. "I think it had to be a dead person. Who knows, maybe his home is haunted – a ghost from the past – or some nightmare creature."

"Creature?" Harry shook his head. That made no sense. Charlie was from a muggle family. Why would his home be haunted? "You said it looked like a ghost, like Peeves. So, it was human?"

Susan cocked her head. "Yeah, I mean…vaguely human. But more like...half a human."

Harry had a sudden memory of Firenze explaining the effects of drinking Unicorn blood. A half-life, a cursed life. "What do you mean?"

"It had no eyes," Justin hissed. "No eyes and only one arm, and half the face was gone. It was deformed."

"You know," Susan whispered, "just half a human. Literally."

Harry shuddered but he couldn't quite imagine it.

"So, what was it?" he asked again, hoping they had at least a name for the creature.

Hannah shook her head. "I never saw anything like it. Or read anything about it…I mean, maybe Hermione knows?" They all glanced to where Harry had left her at the Gryffindor table.

"Didn't Charlie say anything? Or Lupin?" Surely, Lupin must have known what it was.

"It must have been something horrible. Lupin was frozen, like…I don't know, but when he caught himself, he jumped in immediately and then dismissed the class. Said nothing about it." Susan explained. "And Charlie just ran off. Lupin wanted to talk to him, but he left so fast, I barely saw it."

Harry rolled his eyes at the obvious exaggeration. "Okay, so you don't know where Charlie went to?"

This was an odd story, he thought. Of course, he had considered that maybe a Boggart if it showed somebody their greatest fear, might trigger something unpleasant…But he hadn't actually thought that it would happen to anybody but maybe himself. Maybe that was the reason, Lupin hadn't let him deal with a Boggart.

Once more, Harry thought annoyed. Once more they babied him when the teachers should have rather paid attention to Charlie who needed it more than him, clearly. Just like when Madam Pomfrey healed him before even looking at Charlie. He gritted his teeth.

"I'll go look for him," he announced.

"Lupin is already looking for him."

"I don't think he's gonna catch him, though. I tell you, Charlie was fast," Susan added.

"Wait Harry," Hannah called him back. "I think Charlie said something to it…The Boggart I mean. He called it a…a…Bito?" Seeking help, she looked to her friends.

"An Obito," Justin said. "He said Obito. And the Obito said something back that sounded like Kashmir."

Harry shook his head, uncomprehending. What was Kashmir supposed to mean?

"Not Kashmir," Susan disagreed. "It sounded more like Caucasus," she shrugged, unhappily. "Like that, but not quite."

Harry mulled this over. Obito, and Kashmir or Caucasus, or something similar. "Maybe they spoke Afrikaans," he guessed.

"Afrikaans?"

"It's his mother tongue," Harry said, confused why Charlie hadn't told anybody about that.

"I don't know," Hannah said thoughtfully. "I mean they spoke a different language, but it didn't sound like Afrikaans."

"The spoke a different language?" Harry asked annoyed that they hadn't mentioned that before. That had to have been Afrikaans then.

"Yes," Justin said as if he only remembered that part now. "The Boggart called him Kashmir" – "It wasn't Kashmir," Susan interrupted – "Charlie said 'Obito' and then the Boggart started yelling at him. No idea what they were talking about."

"But I don't think it was Afrikaans," Hannah said again.

"What do you know about Afrikaans?" Harry's eyes narrowed skeptically, because clearly if they spoke a different language, it would be Afrikaans. He knew a bit more about Charlie's life than most of the Hufflepuffs it seemed, so even though they were clearly confused, Harry was reasonably certain that it had something to do with his old home. Maybe a South African legend…Or maybe even a memory of his neglectful parents?

Hannah twirled her blond pigtails around her finger nervously. "I mean, isn't Afrikaans close to Dutch? I'm pretty sure, that wasn't Dutch."

Harry had no idea, if Afrikaans was close to Dutch, neither did the other kids on the table. Justin just shrugged.

"I'll ask Hermione about it."

When he arrived back at the Gryffindor table, he pulled Ron out of the bench immediately. This time, he wouldn't accept an excuse from him. He didn't know one hundred percent, that Charlie had a panic attack or something similar, but even just running off for no reason was dangerous. After all, Hogwarts was a big place and Charlie still didn't know a lot about it. He could easily get lost.

"Hey!" Ron whined, after gulping down his last bit of pumpkin juice.

"We're looking for Charlie!"

Confused Ron turned to look at the Hufflepuff table. "What do you mean? Where is he?"

"I don't know. Hermione, are you coming?"

"Just a moment." She quickly pushed the book she had pulled out to read during dinner, back into her satchel.

"What's going on?" Neville asked from his side of the table. "You mean Charlie Major, right? What's with him?"

"He ran off after the Boggart thing," Harry explained quickly. "I don't know what exactly happened." Because really, the Hufflepuffs' explanation was very unsatisfactory.

"Oh dear," Hermione sounded worried.

"I'll help!" Neville hurried after them when they went to leave the Great Hall.

"Wait!" One of the Weasley-Twins caught Harry's sleeve, almost toppling him over when he pulled him closer. "You're looking for Charlie? We can help," Fred declared – or maybe George.

"Don't want him to get lost," George added.

"In his first week."

"We don't want him to pump into Filch unprepared."

"Or Peeves."

"Again."

"So, what happened exactly?" Hermione asked when all six of them left to where Charlie was last seen.

"He could've gone anywhere," Ron complained, standing at the door to the staffroom. He pirouetted around his own axis, looking down the corridor and up the nearest stairs.

"We should split up," Hermione suggested. "It'll take forever like that."

"And we don't need six people searching the same rooms," chuckled Fred. "I and George go this way." He pointed down the corridor towards the boy's lavatory.

Ron glowered at his brother. "Shouldn't you two split up, too? I could come with you, and Harry can go with George." He winked at Harry, an odd glimmer in his eyes. Harry grinned back at his best friend. If they went with Fred and George, surely, they'd learn about some secret passageways. Ron's twin brothers knew all about them.

"Nope," Fred said, flicking Ron's forehead. "Sorry, baby brother, I wouldn't know what to do without George."

"We'll meet you back here in an hour?" George suggested before he and Fred promptly took running off down the corridor.

"Idiots!" Ron rubbed his forehead, looking after them. "I guess we can just stay here. If they don't find him, we won't find him either…" He leaned against the wall. "They'll probably come around with Charlie in a few minutes."

"You're just a lazy bum," Hermione snapped at him, and grabbed his wrist, pulling him in the direction of the stairs. "We'll go searching the second floor."

Harry stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "Wait, Hermione. You know what I told you earlier – what the Hufflepuff's told me?"

"Yeah, I listened. But I never heard of an Obito. And whatever they mean with Kashmir or Caucasus…I don't get it. I mean Kashmir is a region in the Himalayas and Caucasus is a mountain range to the North of Turkey." She shrugged. "So, I don't know, Asian mountains?"

Harry huffed. That didn't help at all.

"They probably misheard the Kashmir-part, you said it yourself. I'll look in the library if I can find anything about an Obito later."

At that moment, the door of the staffroom opened. Harry almost jumped into Ron's arms from shock.

"And what might you be planning here?" Snape sneered down at them.

Harry glared at the Potion's master. What were the chances, that Charlie wasn't lost at all, but Snape had secretly murdered and eaten him? Snape reciprocated Harry's venomous stare equally hatefully. Ron grumbled annoyed, and Neville squeaked and took a step back. The squeak turned Snape's attention from Harry to Neville. His glare only turned sourer. Snape had never liked Neville, but clearly hearing the story of Neville putting him in his grandmother's dress and ridiculous hat hadn't endeared him to the boy.

"I thought you'd be at dinner," he hissed when none of them replied.

"We're look-looking for Charlie," Neville babbled out at once.

"So? Are you?" Black eyes turned from one to the other. His gaze eventually narrowed in on Harry. "I've already heard about it. Of course, Professor Lupin would scare a student away in the first lesson. I was told, Lupin is already looking for him. So, I don't see why you are here now. As far as I know, you were not even in Lupin's class today."

Ron growled angrily.

"As far as I know," Harry echoed his words, "it's not forbidden to be on the corridors before curfew."

"Careful Potter," Snape hissed. "Lounging around outside the staffroom. If I find only a whiff of a stink bomb today…"

Harry bristled.

"Professor, please," Hermione tried to calm Snape down, "we're just looking for Charlie."

Snape glared at her. "When you find him, tell Mr. Major that I expect his essay on the Sleeping Draught on my desk tomorrow morning at eight, sharp!" He jerked around and strode down the corridor with billowing black robes.

"I expect his essay on the Sleeping Draught…babababah", parroted Ron after him the moment he was out of earshot. "Who does he think he is? Did he really make Charlie write extra essays on our first-year material? I don't even think Charlie has Potions tomorrow."

"It's a bit harsh," Hermione said ruefully, "but I guess, he has to catch up one way or the other."

"It's inhumane," Ron exclaimed furiously.

"It's demanding, Ron," Hermione corrected him. "Hardly inhumane. Do you even know what inhumane means?"

"Get off it!"

Harry could hear them bicker all the way up the stairs, as they left to search for Charlie.

"So, we go that way?" Neville pointed up the corridor opposite to where the twins had disappeared. Harry followed him when Neville led the way. "You think he's alright?"

Harry didn't really know. With anybody else, if they ran off and disappeared without a trace after seeing their Boggart, he'd be seriously worried. With Charlie too, but Charlie also just had this thing about him… To Harry, he seemed almost untouchable. He couldn't imagine Charlie being scared off by a Boggart when all the rest of their class was able to handle that easily. But wasn't it the same with the Dementors? Apart from himself and Charlie, Harry didn't know anybody else who was affected by them that badly. Was it similar with the Boggarts? Harry didn't really know. After all, he didn't know how badly he'd be affected by a Boggart, since Lupin had denied him the chance to fight one.

"I don't know," he said truthfully. "But I mean it's Charlie…He's pretty tough, isn't he?"

Neville agreed.

"Shame he isn't in Gryffindor, really," Harry added half-heartedly, more so to avoid talking about the Boggart. He didn't know much about that anyway. "Say, Neville, you were with him during the Dementor attack, right? Is it true that he tried to stab one?"

Neville squirmed a bit, shuffling with his feet. "I wasn't really there. When I came back from your compartment, it was already over. He was injured, but he didn't whine about it. And yes, the girls that shared our compartment, said he stabbed it."

"With his wand?" Harry dug deeper.

"A knife." Neville shook his head. "They said he had a small knife. I didn't see it."

Harry was fascinated by the idea. Could that work? Stabbing Dementors with knives? But it hadn't worked for Charlie, as far as he knew. After all, the boy had fallen unconscious anyway. "Did he say anything?" he asked. "Did he hear something? Like a person screaming?"

Neville's brows furrowed a bit. "You'll have to ask him."

Of course, Harry had asked him, but Charlie had denied it. Had he been honest about it, though? Harry never knew with Charlie.

Before they could continue their conversation, they heard a noise up ahead. A door closing shut and steps shuffling over the corridor. Hopeful, that it might be Charlie, Harry ran up ahead with Neville on his heels.

It wasn't Charlie. Instead, Professor Lupin stood in the middle of the corridor in ratty grey robes and with a face drawn in worry. He looked paler than usual. Harry hadn't seen him look that sickly since that day on the train.

"Professor Lupin!" Neville exclaimed when he came around the corner after Harry. "Did you find Charlie? Professor Snape said you were looking for him." Obviously, though, Lupin hadn't found Charlie, or the boy would be with him and Lupin would have no reason to look so worried.

"Ah," Lupin sounded a bit nervous. "Neville, Harry…" His eyes settled on Harry for a moment, then his gaze snapped back around to the next classroom. "No, I'm still looking. I see you heard about it?" He pushed the door to the classroom open and stepped inside. Harry and Neville followed him to the door. "I assume, you want to help?"

"Yes." Neville eagerly followed Professor Lupin into the classroom to search on the other side.

Harry didn't follow. His thoughts were occupied with the question he'd been wondering about the entire weekend. This was the first time he saw Lupin since their last lesson.

Why didn't you let me fight the Boggart? And only Neville was there to hear it.

"Professor?" Neville spoke up from the chalkboard. "What's an Obito?"

"What was that?" Lupin said distractedly as he checked behind the back row of desks. "A what now?"

"An Obito," Neville said.

"The Hufflepuffs said that was what Charlie called his Boggart," Harry informed confused, why Lupin didn't know. He must have been closest to Charlie when it happened.

"Did he, now?" Lupin turned around to them with a quizzical crease between his brows. "I was under the impression he was speaking a different language."

"They said that too," Harry nodded. "But they also thought he called it an Obito. The creature. You must have seen it. What was it, the Boggart?"

Lupin's lips pinched somewhat disapprovingly. "Don't you think that's a bit of a personal question that you should rather ask him yourself when you meet him?"

Harry had to agree but he shook his head anyway. "It's not like any of our fears are personal anymore after the whole Boggart thing, right?" He conveniently left out the fact, that his own Boggart might maybe be the only one that wasn't out in the open now. Although he was angry about not being able to fight it, now that he thought about it, he might even prefer it that way.

Neville nodded along as Harry spoke. As far as Neville was concerned, Harry's statement held true at least. Everybody knew Neville's Boggart. The story of Snape in a dress with a dead bird on his head had spread around like wildfire.

Lupin sighed regretfully. Harry hadn't intended to make him feel guilty for it. He still thought it was their best Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson ever.

"I'm not sure, your Potions teacher will ever forgive me for it," he sighed, then he came back to the door. "He's not here. Come on Neville."

"Who are you looking for?"

Harry only barely missed the doorframe with his shoulder when he whirled around to the well-known voice.

"Charlie!?"

Where did he come from? Harry was certain he'd been alone in the corridor just a few seconds ago. Lupin and Neville were equally surprised as they came rushing from the classroom almost running into Harry in their haste to see Charlie.

"Yo!" The brunette raised a hand in greeting.

"Where did you come from?" Harry blurted out, looking the other boy over, but Charlie looked perfectly fine.

"Oh, thank Merlin," Professor Lupin exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

Neville remained in the background, watching the scene quietly. Charlie's eyes however seemed to find him first.

"Ah, Neville! I've been looking for you. I think this is yours." He reached into his sleeve and—

"Trevor!" Neville exclaimed excitedly, jumping toward Charlie to take the big toad from his hands. "Where did you find it?"

"Just outside the Great Hall."

"You weren't in the Great Hall," Harry said at once because that made no sense. They just came from there.

"Just outside the Great Hall," Charlie repeated with more emphasis.

"Semantics," Harry groaned. "It still doesn't make sense. You would've just barely missed us."

Charlie looked at him as if it was Harry who made no sense. "Then we just barely missed us," he parroted after Harry.

"You're alright?" Professor Lupin interrupted at that moment. "You stormed off after class. I thought…"

"I think the term is 'I heard nature calling.'" Charlie said in a flat voice.

Lupin looked as suspicious as Harry felt.

"But you're alright?" he asked again more emphatically.

"Of course." Charlie smiled. As he smiled, he did the oddest thing, as both eyes closed. Harry had seen that quirk a few times from Charlie, and it still always made him wonder. It wasn't just the instance it took to wink, instead, it was an oddly deliberate expression, that Harry slowly began to associate with Charlie.

"Then…," Lupin looked troubled. "If everything is okay, I'll leave you to it. Enjoy the evening and…I hope," his gaze bored into Charlie's, "that if something is the matter, you'd tell me."

"Of course, I would," Charlie said again, and this time Harry was certain nobody believed him, but they all let it slide. "Did you already eat?" The boy turned to the two Gryffindors.

"Yes," Harry said, "if you don't hurry you miss dinner. We need to…ehm…" He gestured back towards the staffroom, "tell the others that we found you."

Charlie's eyes followed the direction Harry was pointing at. "Okay. No worries, I can find the way to the Great Hall by myself." And he turned to leave.

"Wait," Neville called after him, sounding jumpy. "Charlie…Uhm…What's an Obito?"

For a moment, it seemed like Charlie was seriously thinking about the question, then he waved dismissively. "I think it's a bird."

Harry and Neville gaped at each other. Lupin also looked troubled. However, before any of them could think to dig deeper, Charlie had already vanished around the corner. Only then did Harry realize that Charlie walked in the wrong direction, taking the long way to the Great Hall, and he could've just followed Harry and Neville back to the staffroom.

When they arrived there, they already saw Fred and George lounging in front of the stairway, whispering to each other. They looked up when they heard Harry's and Neville's steps approaching.

"Guess you didn't find him?" they asked without preamble, not sounding surprised.

"No actually," Harry replied, "we did. He just left to eat dinner."

To Harry's bafflement, Fred and George seemed more surprised to learn that they had found Charlie than they had seemed disappointed when they thought they hadn't. Harry couldn't quite explain it, but when he started climbing the stairs to look for Ron and Hermione, he could've sworn that he heard Fred whisper:

"I swear he wasn't there when we looked at it. I wouldn't have missed that."