Roommates Were No Simple Matter

"Ouch!"

Charles was reaching for his third apple pie when he heard Harry clutch his forehead and cry out in pain.

"What's wrong?" Charles asked him. "Did wax drip down from the candles on the ceiling?"

At that, all the new students around them nervously looked up. The floating candles beneath the ceiling had seemed magnificent and magical just moments ago, but now they suddenly felt dangerous.

Harry felt the stinging pain in his scar fade away and shook his head. "It's nothing."

Charles ignored him, glanced at Quirrell and Snape at the head table, and continued eating the last apple pie of the evening.

Fred: "You finally finished."

George: "If you're still hungry, we can go to the kitchen and ask them to get you something."

Charles immediately replied, "No need to trouble yourselves. I'm just full."

Fred said timidly, "Good thing you're not one of our brothers."

George added, "Otherwise Ron would starve to death."

Ron heard them and turned around to stare at the two of them expressionlessly.

The food on the tables vanished, and Dumbledore stood up. The dining hall immediately fell silent.

The headmaster read out the rules, giving the twins a particularly pointed look when he mentioned the Forbidden Forest. Charles was caught in the crossfire as well.

After learning to sing the school song to the tune of Funeral March, Charles followed Percy to the Gryffindor Common Room with the other new students.

Everyone went to their respective dormitories according to the nameplates beside the doors. Charles greeted Seamus Finnigan and his other roommates.

He looked at his bed, drew his wand, and cast Scourgify on the bedding.

Seamus asked curiously, "Why did you do that?"

Charles replied, "Well... I'm a bit of a clean freak. I don't know how long this bedding has been here or whether it's been washed."

After hearing that, Seamus also felt that his bedding was dirty. He took out his wand and copied Charles's movements and incantation. "Scourgify!"

Thirty seconds later, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall appeared in the dormitory and stared blankly at the spotless bed frames for quite some time.

"Mr. Finnigan," Dumbledore asked the "African student" beside him, "can you tell me what happened?"

Seamus answered with a foolish grin, "I thought the bedding was a little dirty, so I used the Cleaning Charm I saw in a book. I'd seen my mum use it before, so I figured I could do it too. It seems I cleaned a little too thoroughly."

Charles decided this fellow was worth keeping around. He did not mention that Seamus had copied him, lest the headmaster take him away.

Dumbledore had seen this sort of situation many times. He took out his wand and said to Seamus, "This is how the spell is used. Watch carefully."

"Scourgify!"

He carefully and slowly cast the Cleaning Charm on Seamus, and Seamus instantly turned white again.

Professor McGonagall began casting as well. "Reparo!"

However, the cotton and scraps of cloth scattered throughout the room showed not the slightest respect for the Hogwarts deputy headmistress and Gryffindor Head of House. They did not move at all.

Two seconds later, the wreckage in the bedroom vanished completely, and a brand-new set of bedding appeared on Seamus's bed, exactly as it had been before.

Charles pretended not to notice Dumbledore later giving his best friend a look that clearly said, Am I not amazing? Instead, he clapped and exclaimed in admiration, "Wow! Professor McGonagall, you're incredible!"

Old Man really is amazing, he thought. He cast a wandless, silent, instantaneous Cleaning Charm, along with an Accio Charm—and that Accio Charm was an advanced version, too. The things he wanted were practically teleported over.

Before leaving, Dumbledore said to Seamus, "Don't worry. All the bedding at Hogwarts is very clean."

After the two school leaders left, a crowd of people came rushing in, asking question after question. The explosion had been loud enough for everyone in the Common Room downstairs to hear it clearly.

Charles slipped out of his bedroom and pulled Harry into his own. They had agreed on the train that he could borrow Harry's owl.

While writing the letter, Charles asked Harry, "Do you want me to tell Mrs. Dursley that you arrived safely?"

Harry shrugged and said, "She'll be disappointed."

So, at the end of the letter, Charles wrote: "Please tell Mrs. Dursley the bad news: Harry arrived at school safely."

Hedwig carried the letter out the window and disappeared into the night.

Harry then said, "You shouldn't have told Mr. Smith about what happened on the train. He can't interfere in wizarding affairs. It'll only make him worry."

Charles merely smiled and said nothing. Instead, he changed the subject. "Did you know that owls can fly incredibly fast when delivering letters? They can reach Privet Drive in no time."

Harry looked extremely surprised after hearing that.

The commotion Simon had caused had come and gone quickly. Everyone was tired today, after all, and quite a few people had already begun yawning.

The good students of Hogwarts did not have much of a nightlife, and the twins certainly were not going to sneak into the Forbidden Forest on their very first night of term.

Charles tossed and turned in bed for a long while. After his roommates had fallen asleep, he glanced at the mechanical clock beside his bed. It was only a little past ten.

He thought about it, then abandoned the idea of looking for the Room of Requirement. He closed his eyes and began counting sheep, only to find himself becoming more awake the longer he counted. In the end, he gave up, and before long he drifted into a hazy sleep.

The next morning, after leaving the Common Room, Charles ran into Nearly Headless Nick and asked him to take him to the dining hall.

The staircases at Hogwarts were always changing. A route that worked yesterday might not work today, so if one wanted to ask for directions, one could only trouble the ghosts and the portraits on the walls.

He took the right route and arrived quite early. Breakfast had just appeared on the long tables.

Charles hurriedly sat down and finished eating before the owls arrived to deliver the mail.

He picked up an empty plate and asked for several slices of toast, two fried eggs, two grilled tomatoes, a plate of bacon, and a plate of grilled sausages. After finishing those, he asked for a bowl of oatmeal with plenty of sugar.

After last night's dinner, everyone else had grown used to his enormous appetite. Only Dumbledore was wondering whether to charge him an additional food fee.

Charles himself was speechless about his unusual constitution. He had eaten a great deal ever since he was young. Because of it, Old Man had even used Legilimency on him to see whether he was truly hungry or merely forcing himself to eat.

He had even wondered whether he had been thrown into a trash bin because Old Man could not afford to feed him anymore.

Later, however, Old Man made a new discovery: whenever Charles ate Magical Creatures, his appetite was no different from an ordinary person's.

Charles had no way to tell anyone about this. For one thing, there was no precedent for it. For another, if many wizards heard about such a strange event, they might be able to trace the clue.

Just before more than a hundred owls flew into the dining hall, Charles finally finished eating and drinking his fill.

Hedwig had actually returned, carrying a reply from Jack. That round trip had probably been around sixteen hundred kilometers.

Charles took some bacon and fed it to her while reading Old Man's reply.

The letter was full of reminders to study hard and take care of himself. The only exception was a note saying that the thunder last night had been quite loud.

A commotion suddenly broke out at the Slytherin table. Several people picked up newspapers and went to find Malfoy.

The young Malfoy's face seemed even paler than before, and the hand holding the newspaper trembled slightly.

Charles had also subscribed to the Daily Prophet, but his owl arrived a little later than the others.

The headline on today's front page reported that Malfoy Manor, located in Wiltshire, England, had suffered an unexplained explosion the previous night. The accompanying GIF showed the scene from above, a 360-degree aerial view of the site. The walls were still standing, but the entire roof was gone.

The Daily Prophet reported that the Ministry of Magic had attached great importance to the explosion. Minister Fudge had immediately issued important instructions, ordering the Auror Office and the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes to organize capable personnel, properly handle the site, quickly uncover the truth, and seriously pursue the culprit. Rescue operations were also to begin at once, along with further preventive measures to stop similar incidents from happening again. At present, the manor's owner was in a highly unstable emotional state.

Not long afterward, an outsider arrived in the dining hall. He looked like a lion and strode over to Dumbledore, speaking a few words to him in a low voice.

Dumbledore merely nodded, turned, and said a few words to Snape before getting up and leaving with Rufus Scrimgeour.