CHAPTER THREE:

Third Person P.O.V.:

After spending a night at a hut to rest up, the half-giant got on his flying motorcycle as the two young wizards each got in a sidecar. With a large whoosh, the three were off into the daylight.

Charlie had a tough time sleeping the night before, as his mind was clouded with the memories of his birthday, whether they be good or bad. He was grateful to be out of the castle, but he was also scared of what returning to the castle could mean. Returning to Hogwarts meant preparing for the start of the term, and even though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, he was scared. Scared about what would happen at his sorting, scared of potentially failing his classes, and scared of trying to make friends.

All of these things scared him, but yet also excited him, as they were each things that he could look forward to and strive towards. He was pulled from his thoughts, as Hagrid gave him a little pat on the back to tell him to get up and follow.

Charlie groggily got out of the sidecar and caught up with Harry who had been reading off the items on the list that came with his letter, "Are you sure we can find all this in London?" He asked the giant.

Hagrid have him a quick nod, "Sure can. As long as yeh know where ter look."

Charlie smiled at Hagrid's comment as he knew that three of them would soon be walking through Diagon Alley, but his smile faltered as he realized that they first had to get to the entrance by walking through the Leaky Cauldron. The brown eyed boy was already dreading the attention he was bound to receive.

As the three of them entered the tiny, grubby-looking pub, Charlie took a minute for his eyes to adjust to the darkness inside. The low buzz of chatter had stopped as the three of them walked in, and Charlie suddenly felt uncomfortable because of the twelve or so people that were now staring at him with wide eyes.

He listened closely to the whispers from the crowd before him:

"Is that Hawthorne's son?"

"It's Charles Hawthorne!"

"What's he doing with the oaf outside of the castle?"

"Look at Dumbledore's grandson, all grown up!"

Charlie ignored them all and followed closely behind Hagrid as he made his way through the pub, but then stopped as Hagrid began talking to the bartender. He listened carefully to their conversation and the brown eyed boy was surprised when the bartender had directed a comment towards Harry instead of himself.

"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "Bless my soul. Harry Potter... it is a great honour!"

The Leaky Cauldron had once again gone completely silent before erupting into cheers, "Welcome back, Mr.Potter! Welcome back!"

Suddenly everything clicked in Charlie's head. Harry Potter was a legend within the Wizarding World, it was no surprise that everyone had been awaiting his return. He then looked towards Harry to see the boy standing there with a blank expression — he clearly didn't know what to say.

The brown eyed boy watched as the strangers had surrounded the boy with the glasses and bombarded him with praises. For the first time in his life, Charlie understood what it felt to be someone on the outside, looking in — and he thoroughly enjoyed it. Not the part about his new friend being surrounded by a crowd, but the part where they weren't concerned with him any longer.

Just then, a pale young adult man had made his way forward, very nervously. It didn't take long for Charlie to recognize the man as Professor Quirrell— twitching eye and all.

"'Ello there Professor!" said Hagrid, "Harry, this is Professor Quirrell. He will be yeh Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

Professor Quirrell glances nervously between Harry and Charlie before the older boy decided to break the tension, "It's good to see you Professor."

"G-G-Great to s-see y-y-you too, Ch-Charles," stammered Quirrell before shifting his gaze to Harry, "P-P-Potter, c-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you."

The crowd cut the interaction between the young boys and their professor short as they surrounded them both once again. It took quite a while for Hagrid to pull the boys away from the crowd and say, "Must get on, lots ter buy. Come on, boys."

Charlie made one last glance at the crowd before continuing to follow behind Hagrid, who was currently telling Harry about Professor Quirrell's teaching strategies.

The three of them then reached the brick wall which Charlie recognized as the entrance to Diagon Alley. He watched Hagrid tap on the bricks with his umbrella-wand before shifting his gaze and looking at Harry's confused state. The older boy laughed as the door to Diagon Alley had opened widely.

Charlie took in the sight of the infamous Wizarding street before him, "Welcome to Diagon Alley."

Hagrid and the brown eyed boy grinned at Harry's amazement, as the younger boy stepped through the archway. The two of them of them followed Harry, and Charlie could hear the entrance now closing behind him.

"First things first," Hagrid began, "We gotta go get yer money. Come on then, this way to Gringotts Bank."

As the two boys followed Hagrid to the bank, they would turn their heads in every direction as they walked up the streets. Even Charlie, who had been to Diagon Alley before, was fascinated by the shops, the crowds of people, and even the things within the shops. The only downside of Diagon Alley was that everyone knew who he was, and so he had to avoid holding gazes for too long.

The trio entered the goblin bank quickly and soon enough, Harry gave Charlie a little nudge on the arm. As Charlie turned to face him, the younger boy spoke in a whisper, "Charlie, what are those things?"

Charlie looked to see what the boy with glasses was talking about and said, "Well they're goblins Harry," he explained, "Clever as they come, but not the most friendly."

As they reached the counter, Charlie overheard Hagrid tell Griphook that he and Harry would like to make a withdrawal from their vaults. Then, he also overheard something about his grandfather and vault 713. Charlie didn't question Hagrid as to what was in the vault, but he did take a mental note of the vault number.

After they had collected enough money for their school supplies, Harry, Charlie and Hagrid were once again among the crowd of Diagon Alley. The two young boys went from store to store with Hagrid following closely behind them, and bought the necessities for their first year at Hogwarts. Every once in a while, people would stop and stare at Charlie, but he would simply ignore them and continue on his way. When it came to getting Harry a pet, the brown eyed boy took it upon himself to go finish up his shopping while Hagrid took the younger boy to the owl store.

The final item that he was missing was his wand. So he confidently strode through the doors of Ollivander's. He was surprised as he seemed to be the only one within the store. He admired the shelves of wands and took in the smell that reminded him of fresh parchment for some odd reason.

He was startled when he heard a voice from behind the counter, "I wondered when you would come wandering into my shop, Mr. Hawthorne."

The older gentleman had then moved closer to the counter and looked down at Charlie with a big smile.

"You must be Mr. Ollivander," Charlie said as he extended his hand out for the man to shake, "Its a pleasure to meet you. You're famous around the Wizarding World."

Mr. Ollivander took Charlie's hand and gave it a firm shake, "Not nearly as famous as you Mr. Hawthorne, but I appreciate your compliment." The man with the white hair had then went to the shelf to his right and pulled a box off the shelf, "I have a feeling that this is the perfect wand for you."

The older gentleman took the wand out of box and handed it to Charlie. As the young boy grabbed it, he felt a sensation run through him. He gave the wand a wave and a bright light had appeared.

Mr. Ollivander gave the boy a large smile, "I thought that would be the one. The wood of your wand is Cypress, it seeks out the brave, bold and self-sacrificing in its user. Cypress wands are also often associated with nobility, which makes sense in your case Mr. Hawthorne," He took a breath before continuing, "The core of your wand is Phoenix feather, this core produces the greatest range of magic, and shows the most initiative. They are hardest to tame, and phoenix feather wands are often the pickiest when choosing its owner. Which makes it all the more miraculous that its brother wand was given to your mother."

Charlie held his breath at the mention of his mother, as no one really mentioned her around him. It was a very touchy subject because even though he couldn't remember her, his heart ached at any mention of her death.

The young boy still didn't have any words, and so he just barley managed to get out, "thank you," before the door to the shop had opened and Harry had walked in with a smile. Charlie gave Mr. Ollivander a closed smile before he put the money on the counter for his wand and quickly left the store. He met up with Hagrid and proceeded to wait for Harry, all while trying to shake the reminder of his mother's death that he had just received.

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After a long day of shopping, the two young children had brought all of their school supplies into the hut that they had stayed in during the previous night. Charlie collapsed on the sofa with a sigh and Harry took a seat beside him.

Hagrid lit the fireplace in front of them and took a seat on the chair next to the couch as he too, was tired.

Suddenly, the silence in the room was broken as Harry spoke, "He killed my parents, didn't he?" Charlie's eyes grew large as Harry continued, pointing to his lightning bolt scar, "The one who gave me this."

Hagrid and Charlie shared a look, and Charlie shrugged, unsure of what to say or do. The half-giant sighed but proceeded to tell the boy with glasses the story of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The brown eyed boy just sat still and listened carefully as Hagrid told the story, which he had always thought of as a fairytale until now. It all seemed to hit him at once — The Chosen One was real, and he was sitting right next to him.

When Hagrid finished the story, he made sure Harry was okay before getting up and heading off to the kitchen to prepare dinner for the three of them.

The two boys sat in silence once again before Harry turned to Charlie abruptly and asked, "So, what's your story?"

Charlie turned towards the boy his age and looked at him curiously, "I'm sorry? I'm not sure what you mean?"

"I guess I'm just curious as to how you are involved with Hagrid? Or how those people in the Leaky Cauldron knew who you were? Did you defeat a Dark Lord when you were a baby too?" Harry joked.

The brown eyed boy gave out a small laugh, "No. Not exactly," he began, "My father happens to be the Minister for Magic. So, he is basically the Wizarding World's Prime Minister."

Charlie watched Harry's reaction as the younger boy said, "Oh, that's cool!"

The older boy shook his head, "Not really. My father is not around much due to his job. So, I've  lived with my grandfather for majority of my life. Which, wouldn't be so bad, if he also didn't happen to be the Headmaster at Hogwarts."

"You've got to be joking!?" Harry exclaimed.

Charlie laughed, "Unfortunately, I am dead serious."

Harry couldn't believe that this entire time, this boy that had been accompanying him, was practically the closest thing to wizarding royalty that there was, "Does that mean you live at the castle?"

Harry watched as the brown eyed boy nodded his head before asking, "What's it like?"

For the first time, Charlie met Harry's gaze and smiled, "I reckon you'll really like the castle mate. It truly is miraculous. However,  I think it'd be best if I left that image up to your own imagination, so you can be pleasantly surprised when you finally get there and it exceeds your expectations."

Harry smiled widely at his new friend before turning back to the fire. It was Charlie's comment that made him all the more excited for his magic infused future.

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Author's Note:
*this chapter had not been proof read*

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Things are slow right now, but they will pick up once we get through the sorting in the next chapter! These earlier chapter are all about giving the audience an idea about who Charlie is, as well as building up his relationships with other characters.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask away! I'll answer them when I can!

Also, if you are enjoying this story so far, I'd really appreciate with if you could like, comment, vote, and share it with your friends!

Much love to you all!

xo, Selena