The clock struck eight, she wasn't ready to go back to the dorms, she needed to vent

The clock struck eight, she wasn't ready to go back to the dorms, she needed to vent. Walking around the school, not sure where her feet was taking her, she found herself in a hallway that she had never seen before. Passing the doors, she tried to open one of them, but it was locked. Checking the rest of the doors, none of them could open, until she approached the last door. Turning the knob, she head the click, she was now in. Going into the room she saw that it was the kitchen, the stoves were there, with the kettles, pots, and pans, along with spices, vegetables, bread; everything was there to cook for a school of thousands. It was a big room, but from the outside it looked rather small. Charlie gave a big sigh, "These walls are still full of mystery." she said to herself.

Suddenly she was felt someone tug her skirt from behind, quickly turning she saw that it was a house elf, jumping at the sight of her, "I'm sorry! I'm didn't mean to-" telling her, but the house elf was quick to respond, "You need not be sorry Misses! I'm the one that should be sorry!" Charlie was taken back by her comment, "You? But you didn't do anything. Besides, this is your place and I'm kind of barging in on It." telling the elf with modesty. The house elf just shook her head, "No! No! You can stay here! I can't say anything- You can go wherever you want! If misses wants food, we can give you food! Misses is hungry?" the house elf asked her, "Um, not really. Though I wouldn't mind having something sweet." she told her. The house elf stood frozen as if he was scared to move, Charlie closed in, "Are you okay?" The house elf strained the words, "You have to command us!" Charlie didn't understand, "Command you? To do what?" again, the house elf said it, "You have to tell us what to do master! You are master!"

"But I'm not!"

"But you must! It's the only way we elf's follow our orders."

"Um, okay . . . Elf, I command you to get me a slice of blueberry pie?" she said unknowingly.

"Yes, master!" said with glee.

"And don't call me master!"

"Yes, master- I'm mean, forgive me maste-"

"Just call me Charlie." trying to reassure her.

"But we elves never call our masters by their first-"

"You know what? I order you to not call me master and that you call me Charlie!" telling the elf without loosing her cool.

"Yes, Charlie!"

"And one more thing,"

"Yes, Charlie!"

"What's your name?"

"My name?"

"Yes, your name."

"I don't have a name. The other elves just call me elf.

"Wow, well . . . let's give you a name."

"You're giving me a name?"

"Why not? I don't want to just call you elf. How about . . . wait, are you a boy or girl?"

"I'm a boy sir."

"How about Rufus?"

"Rufus? Rufus it is Master! I mean, Charlie." he walked away and made his way to the rest of the elves. Charlie in the mean time looked around to see if there was a spot to sit down. There were small benches, Charlie wouldn't be able to fit in there since she was too big, and so she sat down and leaned on the wall. Rufus came back with a slice of blueberry pie, handing her the plate, "Thank you Rufus!" she told him. Then in an instant, his big eyes started to fill up with water, "What's the matter?" she asked him, "I'm just glad to be serving you!" Rufus exclaimed. Charlie frowned at his comment, "You don't need to cry about it." she told him, but his tears were coming down, "But I must! But I must!" Charlie was getting a little uneasy about him acting like this, "Rufus, it's not necessary-" but now he was crying like a baby. Rolling her eyes she said out loud, " I command you to stop crying and relax!" suddenly he stopped crying, "Yes, misses! I'm sorry misses!" he said while wiping the tears away from his face.

Taking a bite of the blueberry pie, she could feel her inside warm up and calm. Exhaling from the bite, she smiles and looked at Rufus, "This is really-" she tried to tell him, but she took another bite. It was hard for her to say the right words, but she kept stuffing her mouth with pie. Feeling herself become more and more relaxed, she leaned back on the wall, feeling herself fall into some sort of trance that she liked. Rufus just stood there watching her eat the pie, "Does misses like it?" he asked her. Charlie didn't even say a word, she just looked at him, and with a big smile she nodded her head. Again Rufus just stood there, "Would misses like some more?"

Twenty minutes later Charlie walked out of the kitchen with a box, with a big smile on her face. As if she had forgotten about her troubles and reminded her self about the good things. Walking back to the dorms while humming a song, she hadn't felt like this in years. There was something about the blueberry pie that made her feel so childish. Suddenly she was halted when Cedric turned the corner, Charlie continued to hum. Cedric was surprised to see Charlie walking around at this time, especially in a good mood. Charlie didn't say a word to him; she just nodded her head and passed him. Tempted to tell her something, Cedric opened his mouth, but closed it when he realized that she was humming a familiar song. It stopped him from breaking her concentration of happiness and continued on for the rest of the night.

Weeks had passed and the Halloween ball was in two days, everyone was ready to take a break from the book and on to something more fun. In the mean time, they had to study for the upcoming OWLS; the Professors were heavy on the homework. Though there were a few exceptions to some teachers, for instance Professor Valence, let the students off easily; with a catch of course, when they come back it was double the work.

Cedric was back to his old self again, ever since he pissed Charlie off in the library a few weeks ago.

"Go, she's not looking!" said Matt to Cedric and his gang of friends. Cedric wore a sadistic smile on his face, walking slowly to his prey, with precise, and with silence.

Charlie was on the ladder searching for a book, when she heard someone from below sniggering. Ignoring it at first, she continued to read at the book titles, when she heard the sniggering again. Smart and sly as she was, she slowly averted her eyes downward and found a boy looking up at her . . . literally looking UP under her skirt. Clinching her legs casually, she slowly grabbed a big book waiting to get a good sight of the boy. But he moved when she moved a bit, so she hurled it down at the boy with great force. Hitting the boy in the face that he knocked out. Realizing that it was Cedric, she yelled at him, "CEDRIC! YOU BASTARD! HOW LOW CAN YOU REALLY GET?" then she heard a roar of laughter from the other side of the row. Charlie removed the books to see who it was, Matt and his gangs were too busy laughing to notice, "MATT! YOU'RE GONNA GET IT!" yelling at him, grabbing her wand she yelled, "PATRIFICUS TOTALES" but she missed when they started running.

Running after them, she managed to catch up with Matt by grabbing his collar, then his tie. Matt was still laughing when she had captured him. Quickly flinging him against the bookcase, she grabbed his tie and wrapped it around his neck but not too tight, just enough to get him scared. Apparently it worked since he stopped laughing and he wore a look of fear, "You idiot! I can't believe you! You put him up to this?" she asked him, but he just shook his head, she pulled his tie more; eventually he nodded his head, "Yes!" he said. Charlie shoved him to the ground, "What kind of a person are you? Leaving your friend behind?" she said to him. Matt was confused, "What?" he wasn't sure if he had heard her right, "You have him pull off that stunt, then you should be the one to clean it up." she said in an angry tone, "One more thing," she told him as she grabbed him by the tie and yanked him towards her, "you tell anyone what had happened to Cedric, I will tell everyone what you did. And I swear, I will make a spectacle out of this, if you open your mouth." walking away from him.

Matt slowly got up as he watched her walk away, just then she turned around, "By the way," she said in a matter-a-fact tone, "I'm wearing shorts!" lifting her skirt up to him to show that she was indeed wearing shorts; shrugging her shoulder, "What a waste of time."

Charlie didn't know what had happened after, but she knew that Cedric was back to the old grumpy, strict, and cautious, person that he was. Though Cedric didn't know about the incident because Matt was smart enough to tell him the truth, except that a book fell on him.

It all came down to this, Charlie and Cedric had other things on their minds; it was as if they had drifted away. They started to look away as they walked passed each other, they wouldn't make eye contact in class, they wouldn't acknowledge the other person's presence. Charlie was in her world of her own; she was either busy studying or hanging out with Faye. While Cedric was busy doing his own work or concentrating on Quidditch, after all the game was coming up in a week.

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Next chapter gets a little bit mischive. Head up. I would really love some reviews.