'Hey guys,' Don dropped by the Gryffindor table to talk to Charlie and Annie. 'Myron, Kirley and I got permission from Flitwick to use his classroom for our band's first gig.'
'That's great Don!' Annie applauded, giving him a quick congratulatory hug.
'So we'll finally get to hear you guys play?' Charlie asked. The three band members had been rather secretive about their music. Even when Charlie and Tonks had crept outside the music room to sneak a listen they found that the room had a sound-proofing charm on it, so they couldn't hear a thing.
'Yeah, I just came by to give you these flyers. If you could hand them out to as many people as possible, we just want to see what people think of our music right now.'
And leaving his pile of parchment behind, he headed back to the Hufflepuff table.
Charlie took a look at the topmost flyer. It was purple with a silver, handwritten font proclaiming The Weird Sisters at the top. Charlie read on. Charms Classroom 2E, Tonight at 7pm, EVERYONE WELCOME.
'Looks like fun,' Charlie piped, handing flyers out to those closest to him.
That night Charlie, Annie, Buck and a couple of other Gryffindors made their way down to the Charms classroom. Charlie spotted Bill as soon as he walked into the room, the Weasley red hair was rather distinctive. Bill was with Charlie and Buck's teammates, Jon Roberts and Joey Jenkins.
Looking around, Charlie spotted people from every house packed into the classroom. Quiet chatter was everywhere.
'Hey, Charlie!' Tonks found her way over to Charlie with Robin and Alex. 'So glad I found you,' she dropped her voice, 'these two don't know anything about music!'
The lights dimmed soon after, 'Ladies and gentlemen!' Myron's gruff voice boomed out of the magical speakers on either side of the stage that had been erected in place of Professor Flitwick's desk. The chairs and desks were piled up against the walls of the classroom. 'Thank you all for coming!'
There was applause as the three band members stepped on stage.
'Thank you!' Myron called again. He had switched his Hufflepuff robes for some tight dark jeans and a long baggy vest; he had confidence on the stage that was evident in his cocky smile as he surveyed the crowd of students. 'We are the Weird Sisters, and this is our first gig! We've got a couple of old hits for you tonight, as well as some originals from us!'
More applause from the crowd.
'And without further ado – let's rock!' Charlie cheered as the atmosphere in the room switched from curiosity to enjoyment as everyone jumped and danced around to a song by the Hobgoblins. Tonks was having a whale of a time as her now shoulder-length pink hair flying in all directions as she head-banged to some of the most popular wizard rock songs of recent years.
'You're amazing Hogwarts!' Myron cried as they brought another song to its end. 'Now, some of you may already know who we are but for those of you who don't it's time for a little introduction!'
'Who are you?' Joey heckled.
'Good question!' Myron pointed at the Gryffindor Beater. 'I, wizards and witches, am Myron Wagtail, lead vocalist of this motley crew!'
'Boo!' Bill jeered at his friend amidst the cheers of the spectators.
'Shut up Weasley!' Myron called back, enticing a couple of chuckles from the crowd.
'To my left, on lead guitar, Mr. Kirley McKormack!' More cheers for Kirley. 'Some of you may have heard of his mother,' Myron allowed himself a cheeky smile, 'No, not like that you filthy lot! His mother, of course, captain and Chaser of the Pride of Portree!'
Judging by the response from the crowd a lot of people didn't know that. Charlie only knew because Kirley had been over his house a number of times. Kirley looked stonily on, his sister Meghan yelled loudly.
'GO KIRLEY!'
Once Kirley's reception had died down Myron continued.
'To my right, on bass…'
'Oh, that's what that thing is,' Rose Almeidus whispered.
'Donaghan Tremlett!' Charlie and the gang cheered for their lives as Don waved to the crowd.
'And if any of you out there can play an instrument we're looking for someone on percussion or anything else really!' A few people cheered.
'I think it's now time for our first original number of the evening – This is the Night!'
Charlie whooped and clapped as Kirley started a slow riff and Myron joined in a moment later on vocals.
'When all is dark and there's no light…'
All in all it was a brilliant opening gig for Don and the band. The three guys rode on their success for the next couple of weeks. As Halloween approached the trio could be found enchanting some of the suits of armour around the castle to sing their songs or promote their next gig in November.
Charlie and Buck were quickly swept up in preparation for the opening Quidditch match of the season – Gryffindor versus Slytherin, as always.
As the second weekend of November approached Charlie had no time for anything but Quidditch practice. Reg and Fergus got a shock one morning when Gwenog Jones burst in to wake her two newest players for an early morning practice.
But when the day of Charlie's Gryffindor debut dawned Charlie and Buck were whisked away from the rest of the school after a meagre breakfast.
'Good luck Charlie!' he couldn't work out who said it, but it made him feel all the more jittery.
The nerves took over when Charlie pulled on his scarlet and gold Gryffindor robes, emblazoned with a bold WEASLEY on the back.
He heard the cheers of the waiting crowd build as the stands filled. He felt butterflies break out in the pit of his stomach and flutter about impatiently. Charlie ached to get out onto the pitch, to stop waiting, to do something.
'How are you two feeling?' Gwenog asked, sternly looking over Buck and Charlie.
They both nodded, 'alright,' Charlie stuttered.
'Good. You'll feel better when you're out there. Remember Weasley, stay out of the way until you spot the Snitch.' Gwenog cleared her throat. 'Right team, this is it. The first game of the season, let's make it a good one. We won the Cup last year, let's do it again! Gryffindor!'
The six other players roared in reply, 'GRYFFINDOR!'
They lined up at the entrance to the pitch. Charlie was third from the front and he could see Madam Hooch in the centre of the pitch with the crate of Quidditch balls.
'HERE COME THE SLYTHERINS! SPOKES! PARKES! DI PIETRO! CARTER! QUIGLEY! CONNINGTON! AAAAND KIELY!' The Slytherins flew onto the pitch as silver and green bullets.
'HERE TO DEFEND THEIR TITLE AS CHAMPIONS – PLEASE WELCOME THE GRYFFINDORS!' Myron announced to the stands.
'Let's go team!' Jones called from the front. They mounted their brooms and kicked off, shooting from the tunnel.
The wind whipped through Charlie's red hair and red robes as he sped off on a lap of the pitch with the rest of the team, flying on the roar of cheers.
'JONES! JENKINS! WEASLEY! COOPER! DENT! ROBERTS! AAAAND RYAN!'
They lapped the pitch as a team before settling into the starting semi-circle above Madam Hooch. Gwenog and her opposing captain landed and shook hands. The Slytherin team hadn't changed since the previous year, and they all looked like they were ready to win the game. Charlie swallowed hard remembering how the first game of the season last year had ended up for the Gryffindor Seeker – Quigley had hit a bludger and broken the Seeker's arm.
All at once Madam Hooch's whistle blew and Charlie took to the sky above the game, scanning and searching for the Golden Snitch.
'Pick up by Di Pietro and he shoots off towards the Gryffindor half. Slytherin in possession at the start of the match! Passes to Spokes, over to Parkes, back to Spokes – Spokes takes a distance shot on goal and misses! Rookie mistake from the experienced Chaser there.'
Charlie breathed a sigh of relief and continued to glance around for the Snitch.
'The Quaffle's in Gryffindor possession for the first time this match. Cooper, Roberts, Dent, Roberts again, intercepted by Parkes. Di Pietro, Spokes, Cooper steals the ball! Bold move from the new Gryffindor! The Slytherin captain won't like that, oh no he won't indeed.' Charlie allowed himself a little applause for Buck as his friend rocketed off below him.
'Cooper passes to Roberts, to Dent, back to Roberts! WHAT'S HE DOING? Parkes has locked broom handles with Roberts in an obvious attempt at blurting! That's a foul!'
Sure enough Madam Hooch flew in, whistle a-blowing, to break off the attack. Roberts had been dragged off course by the Slytherin Chaser but still maintained possession of the Quaffle.
'It's a penalty shot for Gryffindor! Roberts to take the shot!'
Charlie broke off his search for the Snitch to watch Jon Roberts take on the Slytherin Keeper. Charlie and the crowd groaned in dismay as the shot was deflected by Carter.
Charlie scanned the crowd, easily spotting Tonks with her cropped red hair. She'd felt the need to imitate Charlie's hair colour in honour of his debut.
Still no sign of the Snitch.
'Dent wins the Quaffle from Di Pietro! These Gryffindor Chasers are a bold lot this season! Parkes intercepts! Passes to Spokes, he fires on the Gryffindor Keeper and RYAN SAVES IT!'
'YEAH!' Charlie cheered from his bird's eye view above the game.
'Clears the Quaffle out to Cooper, he's having a terrific debut is Buckley Cooper, good friend of a friend's brother he is.'
'Wagtail! Don't make this about your social life!' Charlie had almost forgotten Professor McGonagall was in the commentary box with Myron, it was odd that he hadn't said anything which required scolding for so long.
Charlie focused on his job as Seeker, spotting only golden glints from watches in the crowd.
'Spokes takes a shot on centre hoop AND HE SCORES! The Quaffle just skimming Keeper Ryan's finger tips there! Spectacular shot from the Slytherin captain to put Slytherin ahead by TEN POINTS to ZERO and we're four minutes into the match!'
'How's your first game treating you?' Charlie's opposing number, Aiden Kiely, asked him, pulling himself to a halt near Charlie. Charlie hadn't realised before that Kiely was Irish, but it was now clear in his accent.
'Not bad,' Charlie replied, unsure why his opponent was talking to him.
His focus was distracted a moment later when Buck made a shot on goal and hit the side of the hoop. The hoop made a sound like a gong that echoed around the stadium.
'Oh if only that had been a couple of inches to the right!' Myron complained.
Spokes scored again a minute later and Parkes shortly after that to make it 30-0 to Slytherin.
'Jones' squad not really on form today, or maybe the Slytherins have found that extra bit of juice they've been lacking for the past couple of years.'
Gwenog called a time out and the Gryffindors flew in for a huddle.
'Okay team, I don't know what's going wrong, but whatever it is it needs to stop. We're three goals down, so unless Weasley spots the Snitch any time soon we're going to need to up our game. Roberts, you take point on shots, Cooper and Dent try to assist. Joey and I will try and take out any Chasers that get in the way, and Kiely,' she added to Charlie, 'I don't like that guy.'
About thirty seconds after time-out had ended Gryffindor had their first goal.
'Nicely set up from Cooper, over to Roberts and sails past Carter's outstretched hand! I don't know what Jones said in that team talk, but it certainly worked!'
The game progressed with no sign of the Snitch and Kiely trying to make conversation with Charlie. Charlie figured that he was just trying to distract Charlie from his search for the Snitch, and it almost worked.
Charlie had just turned, frustrated, to the Slytherin Seeker when he saw a flutter of golden wings to the left of Kiely. Unfortunately, Kiely had spotted something too, and the two Seekers sped off after the Snitch.
'It looks like Kiely and Weasley have found the Snitch!' Myron announced excitedly to the crowd. 'It's 70-100 to Slytherin here, so if Weasley can catch the Snitch Gryffindor can pull this win out of the bag!'
Charlie strained on his broom, willing himself to go faster. Kiely was ahead by half a broom-length, the Slytherin noticed and aimed a kick at Charlie's side. Charlie flew wide to avoid it, luckily the Snitch changed direction and Charlie was slightly ahead.
Charlie could only hear the white noise of the wind that drowned out the urging crowd. He stretched out his hand for the Snitch. Just a little further. He pleaded. YES!
'GALOPING GARGOYLES! CHARLIE WEASLEY CATCHES THE SNITCH! IT'S A WIN FOR GRYFFINDOR! 220-100!'
Charlie punched the air with his fist, a fist containing a struggling golden ball worth one hundred and fifty points.
'YES!' He roared as the Gryffindor team descended on him.
'WELL DONE CHARLIE!' Buck yelled, clapping him on the back.
'Nice one Weasley!' Gwenog smiled looking worn out but pleased.
Charlie landed with the Snitch still in his hand.
'GO GO GRYFFINDOR! GO GO GRYFFINDOR!' The crowd chanted as he held his fist aloft.
'Don't forget to check out the Weird Sisters' November concert, next weekend in the library!' Myron reminded the crowd.
'WAGTAIL! THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR YOU TO PROMOTE YOUR BAND!' Professor McGonagall reprimanded.
'You're invited too professor!'
'WAGTAIL!'
