It's Charlie's Second Year at Hogwarts!

And this chapter of Dungbombs, Drinking and Dragons is the celebratory chapter announcing that this story is on the Favourite Stories list of 25 readers!

Thank you to everyone who has read this story, and an even bigger thank you to those of you who have stuck with it this far! I hope you still like this fic and will carry on reading it.

If there's anything you want to see happen to Charlie at any point in this fic then let me know in a PM or a review and I'll try and fit it in (unless it doesn't fit with my story plan, of course).

Anyway, enough of me... back to Charlie.


'Can we go on the train yet Mummy?' begged seven year old Fred Weasley as he and his twin brother clutched Charlie's hands.

'You two are lucky I even let you come today,' warned Mrs Weasley. She was still simmering over the Acid Pop incident where Fred had found a sweet in Bill's bedroom and tried feeding it to little five year old Ron. Almost a month had passed and the hole in Ron's tongue was completely healed, but Mrs Weasley still hadn't forgotten. Charlie joked that she had a better memory than an elephant when it came to her children. Charlie also wouldn't be forgetting his mother's worry as she rushed Ron to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries any time soon – it was simultaneously the angriest and most worried that he'd ever seen her.

'But where would we have gone?' George asked quietly, not wanting to enrage their mother any further.

Charlie crouched down until he was level with the twins and whispered dramatically.

'She could have left you at Aunt Muriel's!'

The horror on the twins' young faces was worth framing as they glanced back at their mother, eyes wide and mouths gaping.

'Come on boys,' Mr Weasley urged, 'let's get onto the platform. Bill, you go with Percy.' Bill and Percy pushed Bill's trunk-laden trolley towards the magical barrier between platforms 9 and 10 of Kings Cross Station. The Muggles all around rushed past to catch their trains, little knowing that hundreds of wizards and witches were doing the same.

'Charlie, you and the twins next,' Charlie lifted the twins and sat them on top of his trunk before pushing his trolley towards the barrier. The twins squealed as the wall got closer, but after a moment of darkness they emerged onto platform 9 ¾ and Charlie's ears were battered by the chatter of those on the platform.

Charlie Weasley was twelve years old, and had grown a bit over the summer. He was still stockier than the rest of his family, but there was now just a head's height of difference between him and his two years older brother, Bill. Both Charlie's and Bill's hair had grown over the summer, but had been brutally shaved a few days previously, so that they now had identical buzz-cuts. Charlie hated it.

He wheeled the trolley around beside Bill's and waited for his mother and Ginny to come through the barrier, closely followed by his father and Ron.

'Charlie!'

Charlie scanned the crowd to see who had called his name. It was difficult as the steam from the Hogwarts Express made everything a little bit foggy, but he managed to spot his friends in the crowd. Buck, Annie, Don and Tonks were all congregated together not too far away from the Weasleys. Charlie had only spotted them because of Tonks' signature violet hair, currently spiked up and short.

'Go on,' Arthur nodded to his second oldest son, 'we'll find you before you leave.'

The twins hopped down from Charlie's trunk and Charlie wheeled his trolley through the crowd over to his friends.

'Wotcher Charlie,' Tonks said when he reached them, 'what happened to your hair?'

Charlie ran a hand through his short red hair.

'Mum got to it, said she had one daughter and didn't need a son who looked like one,' he winced at the memory of being sat down on a stool and sheared. 'Bill didn't escape either.' Both brothers had spent a large amount of their time since complaining about having short hair.

'Shame you can't do this,' Tonks laughed, screwing up her face and morphing her spiky hair into shoulder length red hair like Charlie used to have.

'Aw, that's mean,' Annie said, trying to keep a straight face. Tonks morphed back to her previous hair.

'Shall we grab ourselves a compartment before they all go?' Don suggested. They pushed their trolleys to the Hogwarts Express and loaded on their trunks and other belongings.

'You've brought your broom?' Charlie asked Buck as he passed the long, thin Cleensweep to Annie who stacked it on top of Buck's trunk.

'Yeah, I thought I'd try out for Chaser this year because Hunter's left now, hasn't she?'

'Yeah, and Rawlins,' Don added, now a big Quidditch fan since his first year at Hogwarts, 'and Birch from the Ravenclaw team,' Charlie remembered the Gryffindor team party after they won the Quidditch cup last year. He entertained the thought of trying out as Gryffindor Seeker.

'What's this?' Buck asked Don, passing a weirdly-shaped and heavy case to Charlie, who helped Annie put it on a shelf.

'It's a bass guitar,' Don answered, 'a magical one. I was talking to Myron about them last year and I talked my grandparents and my parents into getting it as an early birthday present for me.'

'So the band thing is going ahead this year?' Tonks asked, 'good for you guys!'

'Yeah, me, Myron and Kirley owled each other over the summer. The Weird Sisters are going to get started for real this year.'

'Well Filch'll probably break his back lifting it down from this shelf,' Charlie groaned as he and Annie pushed the instrument onto the top shelf.

'We can only hope,' Buck smirked, 'it might get him off our backs for a couple of months at least.'

'And then he comes back and hates us even more?' Tonks pointed out.

'I don't think he could hate you even more Tonks,' Annie interjected, 'not after the frog guts thing.'

Charlie grinned at the memory of Filch finding him and Tonks in the process of covering his office desk in frog guts from potions. 'Good point.'

The whistle blew to announce the imminent departure of the Hogwarts Express. Charlie and his friends quickly left the train to say goodbye to their parents. Charlie found his family already saying farewell to Bill.

'Will you be back for Christmas?' Molly asked her sons as she hugged them both.

'I'll owl you to let you know Mum,' Charlie replied, giving his father a hug.

'I might Mum,' said Bill, picking up Ginny and spinning her around.

'You two be good for Mum, okay?' Charlie told the twins. Their faces split into identical gap-toothed grins.

'Okay Charlie,' they chorused. Somehow he wasn't reassured.

The whistle blew again. Charlie hurriedly gave Ginny a kiss on the cheek and ruffled Ron and Percy's hair.

'Don't!' Percy protested, 'I'm not five!' He was now nine years old.

'See you soon!' Charlie and Bill called as they boarded the train. Tonks dodged through the crowd and hopped on beside them. The train engines fired up and the Hogwarts Express belched another barrage of steam over their heads. Charlie and Tonks headed a separate way to Bill back to their compartment and waved to their families from their window as the red-headed Weasley clan shrank into the distance.

'Here we go again,' Charlie said, settling himself down in the seat beside Tonks.


Charlie and his friends spent most of the journey from London to Hogwarts planning their next plague of pranks to unleash on the school. Despite not being a prankster herself Annie was very useful in suggesting things and pointing out flaws in their plans.

Before they knew it they were changed into their robes and gathering their left over sweets into their pockets as the school train pulled into Hogsmeade station.

'We have arrived at Hogsmeade Train Station. Please leave all of your belongings on the train; they will be taken up to the castle separately.' The overhead speaker buzzed as the conductor spoke, 'Thank you and have a good year. We'll be back for you in the summer.'

Charlie followed Tonks and Buck off the train. There was a brisk wind that was made even more evident by Charlie's short hair.

'Firs' years, over 'ere!' Rubeus Hagrid's familiar voice boomed over the crowd of students.

'Hey Hagrid,' Charlie waved as they walked past the giant to exit the station, following the rest of the school.

'Alrigh' Charlie?'

'Buck! Buck!' A squeaky voice called.

'Hey Connor,' Buck said, 'guys, this is my brother Connor. He's starting this year.'

'Why are you going over there Buck?' Connor asked. He looked just like Buck except shorter and skinnier.

'We're going to the castle; you're going a different way.' Buck told his brother. 'I'll see you up there in a bit.'

'Bye Buck!' Connor called after his older brother as Buck and Charlie walked away.

'I didn't know your brother was starting this year,' Charlie commented.

'Yeah, he's been bugging me all summer about it. Dead annoying really.'

Charlie chuckled at how he'd bugged Bill for so long about going to Hogwarts.

The five friends piled into a horseless carriage outside Hogsmeade Station.

'This is weird,' Tonks muttered as the carriage lurched forward towards the distant Hogwarts castle.

'Do you think it's magic or is something invisible pulling it?' Annie wondered.

Charlie leaned around to the front of the carriage. 'If there is something there then I can't reach it.'

'It's probably just magic then, like the boats were last year.'

Charlie rocked from side to side as the carriage rolled closer to the school over rocky ground. When the carriage finally came to a halt in front of the castle gates they were ushered up to the castle by Professor Flitwick and Mr Filch. Filch glared at Charlie with his yellow bulging eyes as he walked by.

'I don't think Filch likes you very much either.' Annie whispered as they climbed the steps to the castle.

'Nymphadora, do something with your hair!' Professor McGonagall barked as Tonks walked past her in the Entrance Hall. Tonks rolled her eyes and screwed up her face. Charlie held back a snort of laughter as Tonks' cropped purple hair became dark and greying and tied up into a bun, just like McGonagall's.

'Risky move,' Charlie grinned, nudging her arm. Professor McGonagall hadn't seen Tonks' cheeky response as she had moved onto scolding a sixth year for having a mark on their black wizard's hat.

Charlie, Buck and Annie split up from Tonks and Don as they entered the Great Hall and headed to the Gryffindor table on the far left of the hall. Tonks morphed her hair back to violet and sat down at the Hufflepuff table.

'Hey Charlie!' called Fergus Finnegan from the Gryffindor table. Charlie took the vacant seat opposite the Irishman.

'How was your summer?' Charlie asked him as Annie greeted the other Gryffindor girls.

'Ah not too bad, I stayed with me aunt and me cousin for most of it. Little Seamus can say me name properly now. He used to just call me Fugs,' Fergus grinned. 'How about yours?'

Charlie told Fergus about his summer while Reg Cattermole joined them. Soon after Professor McGonagall returned to the Hall and spoke quickly to Professor Dumbledore.

'Remember us a year ago?' Reg asked as McGonagall strode from the hall.

'Yeah, I thought I was going to be sick,' Buck recalled, 'I think Shunpike actually was sick.'

The doors of the Great Hall swung open and the students within fell silent as Professor McGonagall led the new batch of first years into the Hall. Charlie spotted Buck's brother Connor towards the back of the line, he was staring open mouthed at the enchanted ceiling which was currently cloudy.

The line of first years stopped in front of the old wooden stool, on top of which sat an even older frayed Wizard's hat – The Sorting Hat. A few moments later a rip near the brim opened like a mouth and the hat began its song:

'Each year that comes, I'm bound to Sort…'


When the hat finally finished its song it bowed to each of the four tables it had just mentioned and froze upon its stool. The cheers died down and Professor McGonagall unrolled her scroll of parchment.

'When I call your name,' she told the first years, 'You will step forward and sit on the stool, I will place the Sorting Hat upon your head, and you will be Sorted into your house.

'Argyle, Mary!'

A mousy haired girl stepped anxiously forward and sat down on the stool. The Sorting Hat fell down to her nose. The Hall was quiet as they waited.

'HUFFLEPUFF!' cried the Hat. Charlie saw Tonks applaud Mary as she sat down at the Hufflepuff table beside Oliver James.

'The hat sang a different song last year,' Buck commented as the 'Bason, Lucas' stepped up to the hat.

'I guess it changes every year,' Charlie replied as he applauded the new Ravenclaw boy.

'Not much else to do when you're a hat, I suppose,' Reg shrugged.

'Barbary, Heathcote!' Professor McGonagall called and a boy with spiked up black hair stepped forward.

'GRYFFINDOR!' The hat roared. Charlie cheered along with the rest of his house as Heathcote joined the table.

'Well done mate!' he called down to the shocked looking kid.

A couple of people later and Buck's brother Connor also joined them at the Gryffindor table. Buck groaned from beside Charlie.

'Don't you get on with your brother?' Charlie asked, thinking it a very foreign concept considering how close he and all of his siblings were.

'Not really, I mean, he's alright sometimes but other times he just gets on my nerves.'

Charlie clapped again as a blonde girl went to Ravenclaw. By the time that 'Higgs, Terence' had gone to the Slytherin table half of the first years were left.

'Hopkins, Wayne!' Professor McGonagall called.

The next Gryffindor to join the table was 'Jones, Megan', who Gwenog Jones was loudly telling everyone was her cousin.

Eventually, as 'Wintringham, Herman' took a seat at the Hufflepuff table; Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and removed the Sorting Hat and stool from the hall. Charlie heard someone's stomach grumble loudly as Professor Dumbledore stood up, his silver beard glinting in the candlelight.

'Here we are, once more, at the beginning of another year of education at Hogwarts,' Dumbledore surveyed his students, 'I have some start of term notices, but they can wait until we've sunk our teeth into this delicious feast. Bon appétit!'

At Dumbledore's command the golden plates on each of the tables suddenly bloomed with food. Charlie dived for the plate of chicken drumsticks in front of him and started loading up his plate.


Full up with good food and good conversation Charlie and the rest of the hall fell silent as Albus Dumbledore took to his feet once more, beginning with the usual announcements.

'First years are warned that the dark forest in the grounds is strictly forbidden to all students. I repeat – all students. Mr Filch requests that you all be reminded again that magic is not to be used in the corridors, or anywhere else where he would have to clean up your mess.' Charlie looked over to Tonks who had caused a lot of extra cleaning for the grumpy caretaker.

'Also, I would like to welcome Professor Birch, who is taking over Defence Against the Dark Arts classes from Professor Kelly following a mishap while he was travelling in India over the holidays,' Charlie applauded politely along with the rest of the school. He'd liked Professor Kelly and loved the lessons, but from the rumours going around the school it was best not to get too attached to the Defence Against the Dark Arts professors.

Professor Birch was a man of average height with a bit of a beard. He had brown hair beneath a wizard's hat, with grey robes over a purple jumper.

'D'you think he's related to Brevis Birch, the old Ravenclaw captain?' Charlie pondered.

'Could be. How long do you think he'll last?' Reg asked as the new professor sat back down.

'With that jumper?' Buck said, 'until Christmas.'

'Finally, Quidditch trials will be held on September 14th. All those wishing to apply for a position on their house team should speak to Madam Hooch before the 13th.' The Headmaster slipped his wand from his sleeve indicating the end of his notices.

'Now, to make sure all that wonderful food gets to our feet, let us sing the school song!'

Charlie grudgingly got to his feet, as did the rest of the school.

'Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,' they sang as Dumbledore conducted.


Charlie and the other Gryffindors left the hall with the rest of the school and headed up the Grand Staircase to the Gryffindor common room.

'Does anyone actually know the password?' he asked his house mates as they climbed.

'Caesar,' Rose Almedius replied, 'I heard the new Prefect talking about it.'

'Who're the new Gryffindor Prefects?'

'That Twiddle guy, Mallory Twiddle. You know, the one who keeps asking people to join Charms club?'

'Oh yeah, he's nice.' Annie nodded, being a regular attendee of Charms club herself.

'And the other one?'

'Persephone Hiddleston,'

'The tall one?'

'Yeah, she's really into Herbology.'

'Interesting choice of Prefects there,' Charlie commented. They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady that marked the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

'Caesar,' he told the woman. She nodded and her portrait swung forward revealing the passageway into the common room. The room was almost empty, with only a couple of students lounging in the squashy armchairs by the fire.

'I'm going to crash out here if I don't get to bed soon, I'll see you guys tomorrow,' Reg yawned, trudging towards the boys' dormitory.

'I think I'll do the same actually,' Rose said, so she and Elveira Elkins went off to the girls' dorm.

'See you in the morning,' Charlie told Annie as she and Julia followed the other two girls.

Up in the dormitory Charlie stripped off his robes, shoes, tie, shirt and trousers and got straight into bed. He was snoring before Buck had even finished unbuttoning his shirt.


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