Thank you, Socks and Sophie, for betaing.
International Wizarding School Championship
Round Three: St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries
Spell Damage
Mahoutokoro, Year 7
Main Prompt: (character) Charlie Weasley
Additional Prompts: (creature) Garden Gnome, (spell) Flippendo
Wordcount: 940
Spell Damage
Charlie rushed to the bathroom. He hid in the doorway checking the hallway before locking himself inside the small space. His arm clenched on his chest; it was painful. Letting the water run from the sink, he knocked the countless toothbrushes of his siblings off the sink.
A look at the mirror revealed a laceration on his temple where he'd crashed onto the icy ground. Charlie lifted the pullover his mom had knitted him for Christmas. His aching chest was covered with a large bruise. He took a wet towel and started to remove the blood from his forehead. He hissed because it stung.
Suddenly, the door opened. Panicking, Charlie tried to hide his injured torso, knocking more toothbrushes and the soap off the washstand. He didn't know what he was supposed to tell his mom. She would definitely be mad at him.
"Why are you hiding in the bathroom?" his older brother asked.
"Um, nothing, I, em, needed to… pee," Charlie said.
Bill eyes him with suspicion. "What did you do?"
"It was an accident," the younger brother defended himself.
He slowly showed his older brother his injuries. Bill sighed. "Wait here."
Charlie anxiously tapped his hands against the sink. Still scared of being discovered, he hoped that Bill would figure something out.
It was his first Christmas holiday since starting Hogwarts. He couldn't wait to get home to tell his parents all about his classes and the friends he'd made among his housemates. However, on that day, things didn't go as planned.
Since it was cold, none of his siblings wanted to de-gnome the garden. Charlie, though, didn't mind the weather, so he volunteered. Working with his own hands was satisfying and he liked it much better than doing his homework.
Stepping outside, he was immediately hit by a gust of wind. Charlie closed his eyes and flinched. Once the worst was over, he stepped further into the garden. Slowly, one step after another, careful not to slip on the frozen ground, he walked towards the garden gnomes' holes.
The boy had a hard time catching the little creatures as they were remarkably swift-moving despite the weather. On the plus side, once he caught one, he couldn't feel their bites through his thick gloves.
Charlie was almost done. There was just that one particular annoying gnome that kept running away. He had been trying for several minutes by the time he got tired of chasing it around.
He looked through the window behind him to make sure his mom wasn't in the kitchen and withdrew his wand. The ashwood wand with a unicorn hair core was his pride. Being old enough to carry one made him feel like a full-grown wizard.
Pointing it at the garden-gnome, he shouted, "Flippendo!"
There was a loud bang. The little creature quickly hid in its gnome-hole. The spell ricocheted. Reflected by the mirror-like ice it hit the window before bouncing back at him. Charlie's chest hurt and he fell onto the ground, hitting his head against the ice beneath.
It hurt like hell. He felt dizzy; getting up was hard and every breath he took felt heavy.
He looked around. Since nobody had come running or screaming, he reasoned he probably hadn't been seen. Not wanting his mom to find out that he used his wand outside of Hogwarts, he snuck back inside and hid in the bathroom, addressing his injuries.
Bill came back after a couple of minutes. The older brother was a good student and knew how to heal his wounds. He pulled his wand out of the book he carried to their small hideout.
Casting Episkey at his younger brother, he watched the spell work.
Charlie felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his chest and his head stopped pounding. Breathing became easier and the wound on his temple closed. He started to rub the dried blood off.
They heard the door close behind them.
Bill and Charlie looked at each other. Neither of them had thought about locking the door behind them. They ran outside and caught sight of Percy.
Rushing after him, they tried to catch him, but he was already too far away. By the time the two of them caught up with their oldest younger brother, he was already telling mom that he saw Bill use his wand.
She looked at her oldest.
"William Arthur Weasley! Do you have any idea how dangerous it was, what you were doing? You could have injured your brother severely! You should have known better! No magic outside of Hogwarts!"
Bill and Charlie wanted to defend themselves but decided against it.
"You two, as my oldest, should know better than anyone how hard it is to take care of all of you. You should support me instead of causing more trouble. I can't tell you how disappointed I am at you! For the rest of the holidays, you're on kitchen duty, Bill," Molly said and Charlie saw Percy smirk from the corner of his eyes.
Their mom turned around to scold Fred and George for cutting Ginny's hair. The twins claimed it was Ron.
Charlie pushed Percy away. "Thanks, snitch."
"Charlie! I saw that," Molly shouted.
Later that evening, he found Bill in the kitchen peeling carrots. Since they came from their kitchen garden, they were crooked and had softened over the long time in storage. It was tedious.
"Thanks for not telling mom," Charlie said to his older brother.
"Well, I'm not Percy."
They both laughed.
"Let me do it," the younger one offered.
Bill nodded and smiled at his brother.