Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for characters I created, like Charlotte.

Chapter 6

"Be careful," My father, Remus Lupin, said to me as we stood on Platform nine and three quarters.

Other students were pouring into the Hogwarts Express. Dad hugged me again, and I didn't want to let go. Last year, Dad was a teacher at Hogwarts. This year, everybody knew what he is. A werewolf. That's why he lost the job…and every other job before now. It's not fair! Dad would never hurt anybody! At least not on purpose.

The final whistle rang. Dad let go of me and I looked at him. His scars were more prominent lately, and he also looked more worn out than usual. I grabbed my last trunk and we started walking towards the train. Dad hugged me one last time and then kissed my forehead.

"I love you," Dad said. "Stay out of trouble, and don't bother Snape."

"Yes Daddy," I replied.

"I'll see you in December," Dad told me. I nodded and stepped onto the train.

The train started moving a few minutes after I got onto the train. I found Cedric, Ali, and Sean in our usual compartment. Ali jumped up and squealed the second she saw me. She hugged me and started talking really fast. Sean and Cedric looked very amused.

"I was so worried at the Quidditch cup!" Ali exclaimed.

"Me too," I replied.

"Have you seen Neville?" Cedric asked me.

"No," I replied. "Have you seen Cho?"

"Nope," Cedric replied.

I hugged him and then I hugged Sean. I sat down next to Cedric, while Ali sat down next to Sean. They were talking about who knows what. I leaned on Cedric and closed my eyes.

"How's your dad?" Ali asked.

"He's good," I replied. Ali nodded. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too," I replied.

"Oh my gosh!" Ali exclaimed. "My sister's getting married next summer!"

"Congratulations!" I exclaimed. "You must be happy!"

"I am!" She said. "And her fiancée is cute."

"Ali, he's going to be your brother in law and what about—" I couldn't finish my sentence because Ali covered my mouth.

"We'll talk about that later!"

"Oh, fine," I replied when she took her hand off my mouth. Cedric and Sean were looking at us like we were crazy.

"What?" We asked at the same time.

"Nothing," Sean said, looking amused.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm going to go look for somebody."

"Neville?" Cedric asked.

"Oh shut up!" I said blushing.

As I left the compartment, I walked looking for Neville, or Ginny and Luna. I finally found Ginny and Luna's compartment. They were sitting with Colin Creevy, and another small boy sitting next to Colin. The two were talking so fast that I could barely understand what they were saying to each other.

"Charlotte!" The two of them exclaimed.

"Hi, guys," I said. "I've missed you."

"We missed you too!" Ginny and Luna said.

"Hey Colin," I said to the blonde boy.

"Hi Charlotte! This is my brother Dennis."

"Hi," I said to the smaller boy.

"Hi, what house are you in?"

"Hufflepuff," I replied. "What house do you want to be in?"

"Gryffindor," He said. I nodded my head.

"What did you do at the World Cup?" I asked. "You know…when the Death Eaters came?"

"I was with Fred and George," Ginny answered.

"My father apparated us back home."

"Where did you go?" Ginny asked.

"I stayed with Cedric."

"How is he?" Ginny asked.

"He's good," I replied. "Have you guys seen Neville anywhere?"

"No sorry. He might be with Seamus and Dean," Ginny responded.

"Thanks," I replied. "I'll see you at Hogwarts."

"Okay," Ginny replied. "We have to see each other more this year." Luna nodded in agreement.

"Definitely," I responded. "I'll see you guys later."

I walked out of their compartment and made my way farther down the train, trying to find Neville's compartment. We wrote letters to each other all summer, but I really missed him. He always makes me feel better. I wasn't paying attention while I walked, so I suddenly felt myself bump into something. I felt myself fall, and when I looked up I saw Harry standing above me, a grin on his face.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

"Yeah," I replied. Harry put his hand out and I put mine in his and he pulled me up. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Harry replied. "We all know you're a total klutz," Harry grinned.

"Oh, thanks," I said sarcastically.

Harry laughed. "How's your dad?"

"He's good. He said to say hi to you if I saw you," I told him.

"Tell him we'll miss him this year. He was the best Defense against the Dark Arts teacher ever."

"I'll be sure to tell him when I write to him."

"So, have you heard from, uh, you know?" Harry asked me. I understood what he meant immediately. Sirius.

"Um, dad wrote to him the other day. As of today, he hasn't responded, but he might later."

Harry nodded. "I wrote to him the other day too."

"That's good," I responded. "How are Ron and Hermione doing?"

"They're doing well. Have you seen Ginny?"

"Yeah. I just went to her compartment actually."

"Why don't you come with me to say hi to Ron and Hermione?"

"Um, sure," I replied, letting myself be dragged off to Harry's compartment.

I know Cedric, Ali, and Sean are probably wondering where I went, I've been gone for an hour or so, so Cedric must be starting to worry. He always worries. It's kind of sweet but at the same time annoying. I don't really feel like hanging out with Harry and his friends, but after last year it's best to just talk with Ron and Hermione for a little while at least.

Harry opened the door to his compartment and Ron and Hermione smiled at me.

"Hi," I said to them.

"Hi Charlotte," Hermione said. Ron nodded at me.

Harry sat down on the chair opposite Ron and Hermione. I sat down next to him, and he started talking about the Quidditch World Cup. That seems to be the only thing anybody wants to talk about. I can understand why, of course. It's because of the Death Eaters who showed up.

"Is it true that the ministry thought you conjured the dark mark?"

"Yeah," Harry replied. "Somebody used my wand to cast the spell."

"Somebody? I thought Barty Crouch's house elf did."

"I saw a man say something, and then he disappeared before the officials got there."

"That's strange," I replied. "Did you tell Sirius?"

"Yeah," Harry responded.

"That's good."

I stayed in Harry's compartment until around three. When I left, I walked back towards our compartment that Cedric, Ali, and Sean should be sitting in. When I got there I saw that Cedric was gone, and Ali and Sean were talking quietly.

"Um…am I interrupting something?"

"No," Sean said. "Where have you been?"

"I went to Ginny and Luna's compartment and then I ran into Harry and he dragged me off to his compartment."

"So you still haven't seen Neville?" Ali asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "Where's Cedric?"

"Prefect meeting," Sean replied.

"Oh," I replied. "Is he coming back?"

"Probably not, but he was worried about you," Sean said.

"That's not unusual," I said laughing. Sean and Ali laughed and nodded.

"When are we getting to Hogwarts?"

"About an hour or so," Sean responded.

I nodded and sat down on the chair across from them. I opened my trunk and took out a muggle book dad got me. I pushed my black hair out of my face and started reading. I love reading. Dad says that mom hated to read, but I probably got my love for reading from dad. I remember when I was little dad would read to me when I couldn't sleep.

It was pouring and thundering out. I was six and it was around midnight. I crept down the steps, to find Daddy. He was in the kitchen, writing a letter to somebody. Our owl, Romulus, was sitting on the window sill. It thundered and I cried out and covered my ears. Dad looked up at me and frowned slight

"Honey what's the matter?"

I pointed to the ceiling, trying to get my dad to understand I was scared. It thundered again and I covered my ears.

"Come here sweetie," Dad said putting his quill down. He opened his arms and I went over to sit on his lap. "Are you afraid of the thunder?"

"Yes," I responded. It thundered again and I hid my face in Daddy's chest.

I heard him chuckle. "Honey, thunder can't hurt you."

"It's so loud and it sounds mad. Why?"

"Because the gods get angry, and they fight by making thunder."

"Why do they have fights?" I asked curiously.

"Because they have disagreements about things."

"Like what?"

"Like what to do about little girls who are to curious for their own good," Daddy responded smiling. He stood up, still holding me.

"Daddy will you read me a story?"

"Ok," Daddy said. "Let me finish writing this letter and then I'll be up in a few minutes. Tuck yourself in, ok?"

"Ok daddy," I responded. Daddy put me down and I walked up the stairs. It thundered again, but I didn't get so scared, now that I knew why it thundered.

When I got into my room, I crawled into my bed. I looked around my room, but everything looked different at night. My usually purple walls were darker, and my dresser cast a shadow all around my room. My closet door was shut, like I liked so it didn't scare me at night. My night light was turned on.

Daddy walked into my room and smiled at me. He pulled the blankets tighter around me and then sat down.

"What story do you want me to tell you tonight?" Daddy asked.

"One about Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," I replied.

"Okay," Daddy said. "Years ago, four friends, a stag, a dog, a rat, and a werewolf—"

"Like you daddy?"

"Yeah, Charlotte, like me," Daddy said. "They were the best of friends. They called themselves the marauders. They lived in the dark woods, in a cave. They loved to cause trouble for anybody who came in the forest…"

"Charlotte?" Sean asked.

"What?" I asked.

"We're almost at Hogwarts…we need to change into our robes."

"Oh, right, sorry," I said standing up.

Twenty minutes later, the Hogwarts express pulled into Hogsmeade station. Sean, Ali, and I gathered our things together and then we made our way off the train. When we got off the Hogwarts express, we started walking towards the carriages. While we walked, I scanned everybody to see if I could find Neville. I saw Cedric walking towards us. He was stopped at least ten times by students saying hi to him. He, being the polite person, talked to anybody who talked to him.

"Oi! Diggory!" Sean shouted at him. He looked over at us and motioned that he'd come over in a few minutes. "Let's find a carriage. He can catch up with us when he's done being a people's person."

"A what?"

"I don't know, my dad said it once," Sean replied. Ali and I laughed as we got into a carriage.

A few minutes later, Cedric slid into the seat next to me. He smiled at me and Sean shook his head. "Where have you been?" Sean asked.

"Oh, nowhere," Cedric replied grinning.

I rolled my eyes. "With Cho again?"

"Just to say hi, is that so bad?"

"Whatever you say Cedric," Ali said.

Ten minutes later, we were sitting at the Hufflepuff table. Ali and Sean were sitting next to Sean and I was sitting next to Cedric on the other side. Cedric kept looking over at the Ravenclaw table to catch a glimpse of Cho Chang. I only scanned the Gryffindor table once, when I saw Neville wave to me. I wasn't really paying attention to the sorting. It's boring and I'm so hungry. I ate a little on the train, but that was hours ago.

Cedric nudged me. "What?" I asked.

"Sortings over," Cedric replied. "Foods here."

"Oh, yay!"

Cedric shook his head and laughed. Sean was piling food onto his plate, while Cedric followed his lead. Ali and I started calmly putting food on our plates. Cedric and Sean were talking about Quidditch, of course, while Ali and I talked about what we did over the summer.

When everybody was done eating, Dumbledore stood up to give us the usual welcome speech.

"So! Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle," Dumbledore said. He listed the objects forbidden. Cedric, Sean, Ali, and I rolled our eyes at the list. He started talking about rules that second years and up knew already.

"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the inter-house Quidditch Cup will not take place this year," Dumbledore told us.

"What?" Sean and Cedric called out in outrage. Horrified cries came out from every house table.

"This," Dumbledore started over the outrage throughout the Great Hall. "is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy—but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts—"

Just then, the ceiling crackled with thunder, and the Great Hall doors banged open. A man stood in the doorway. He started walking down the Great Hall, all eyes on him. He had a wooden leg, his face was scarred, and it looked like he had a chunk of his nose missing. One of his eyes was small and dark, while the other one was huge and it kept zooming around, going into the back of his head.

"That's Mad-eye Moody," Cedric whispered to us.

"May I introduce our new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody."

Dumbledore and Hagrid clapped, but quickly stopped when they realized nobody else in the Great Hall was clapping, they were too focused on his face.

"As I was saying, we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

There was a rumble throughout the Great Hall. Everybody started talking at once. Cedric and Sean both looked at each other and grinned. I felt my heart sinking as I understood what they were planning. To enter the Tournament.

AN: Sorry for the extremely long wait for this chapter. I made this chapter longer to make up for it. Please review so I know that people are reading this story!