An Extraordinary Roommate

Chapter 12: Roommate Troubles

"Ouch!"

Just as Charles reached for his third apple pie, he heard Harry cry out, clutching his forehead.

"What's wrong?" Charles asked him. "Did a candle drip wax on you from the ceiling?"

At his words, the surrounding first-years all looked up nervously. The candles floating from the ceiling had seemed spectacular and magical moments ago, but now they felt dangerous.

Harry shook his head, the stinging on his scar gone. "Nothing."

Charles ignored him, glancing 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 kitchens and get you some more."

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

Fred said, a little fearfully, "Good thing you're not one of our family's kids."

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

Ron, hearing this, turned around and stared blankly at the two of them.

The food on the tables vanished, and Dumbledore stood up. The Great Hall fell silent.

The Headmaster announced some important notices, giving the twins a pointed look when he mentioned the Forbidden Forest. Charles also felt implicated.

After Charles learned to sing the school song to the tune of the "Funeral March," he followed Percy to the Gryffindor common room with the other first-years.

Everyone found their dormitories according to the nameplates above the doors. Charles greeted his roommates, including Seamus Finnigan.

He looked at his bed, took out his wand, and cast "Scourgify" on the bedding.

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

Charles replied, "Well... I'm a bit of a neat freak. I don't know how long these beddings have been here or if they've been washed."

Upon hearing this, Seamus also felt his own bedding was dirty. He took out his wand and mimicked Charles's gestures and spell: "Scourgify!"

Thirty seconds later, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall appeared in the dormitory, staring blankly at the clean bed frames for a good while.

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

Seamus replied with a foolish grin, "I thought the bedding was a bit dirty, so I used a cleaning charm I saw in a book. I've seen my mother use it before, so I thought I could definitely do it. It seems I might have overdone the cleaning."

Charles thought this guy was alright. He didn't mention that he'd learned it from him, to avoid being summoned by the Headmaster himself.

Dumbledore, having seen many such situations, took out his wand and said to Seamus, "This is how the spell is used. Watch carefully."

"Scourgify!"

He cast the cleaning charm on Seamus earnestly and slowly. Seamus instantly turned back into a white person.

At this point, Professor McGonagall also began to cast a spell: "Reparo!"

However, the cotton and rags filling the room gave no face to Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor, remaining completely still.

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

Charles pretended not to see Dumbledore give McGonagall a "See how awesome I am?" look and started clapping, exclaiming, "Wow! Professor McGonagall is amazing!"

He thought to himself that old Dumbledore was indeed impressive. He cast a wandless, silent, and instantaneous cleaning charm, followed by an Accio Charm. And this Accio Charm was an advanced version; the item he wanted teleported directly to him.

Before leaving, Dumbledore told Seamus, "Please rest assured, the bedding at Hogwarts is very clean."

After the two leaders left, a group of people rushed in, asking all sorts of questions. The explosion from earlier could be heard clearly even in the common room downstairs.

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

While writing the letter, Charles asked Harry, "Should I send word to Mrs. Dursley that you've arrived safely?"

Harry shrugged. "She'll be disappointed."

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

Hedwig carried the letter and flew out the window, disappearing into the night sky.

At this point, Harry said, "You shouldn't have told Mr. Smith about what happened on the train. He can't interfere with wizarding matters, and it will only worry him."

Charles just smiled and didn't say much, changing the subject instead. "Did you know, owls can fly very fast when delivering mail? They can reach Privet Drive in no time."

Harry looked quite surprised upon hearing this.

The commotion caused by Seamus came and went quickly. After all, everyone was tired today, and many were starting to yawn.

Good students at Hogwarts didn't have much of a nightlife, and the Weasley twins wouldn't be running into the Forbidden Forest on the very first night of the term.

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

He thought about it and dismissed the idea of looking for the Room of Requirement. He closed his eyes and started counting sheep, only to find himself getting more and more awake. In the end, he gave up counting and, before long, drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, after leaving the common room, Charles encountered Nearly Headless Nick and asked him to lead the way to the Great Hall.

The staircases at Hogwarts were always changing. The path from yesterday might not be passable today. To ask for directions, one had to bother the ghosts and the portraits on the walls.

He took the right path and arrived quite early. The day's breakfast was just appearing on the long tables.

Charles quickly sat down and finished eating before the mail owl arrived.

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

After last night's dinner, everyone else was used to his large appetite, and only Dumbledore was contemplating whether to charge him extra for his meals.

Charles was speechless about his peculiar physique; he had always eaten a lot since he was young. The old man had even used Legilimency on him to see if he was truly hungry or just forcing himself to eat.

He had even suspected that he was thrown into the trash can because he ate too much and the old man couldn't afford to feed him anymore.

It was only later that the old man made a new discovery: if he ate magical creatures, his appetite was normal.

Charles couldn't tell anyone about this. Firstly, there was no precedent, and secondly, many wizards would probably think it was a supernatural event and start investigating.

Just a second before over a hundred owls flew into the Great Hall, Charles finally ate his fill.

Hedwig had actually returned, carrying Jack's reply. The round trip must have been about sixteen hundred kilometers.

Charles fed Hedwig some bacon while reading the old man's reply.

The letter contained only instructions for him to study hard and take care of himself, with the only exception being that the thunder last night had been quite loud.

At this moment, a commotion arose at the Slytherin table, with several people holding newspapers and approaching Malfoy.

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

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

Today's front-page headline was about an unexplained explosion at Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire, England, last night. The accompanying GIF photo was taken from the sky, a 360° aerial view of the crime scene. The walls were still standing, but the roof was gone.

The Daily Prophet reported that the Ministry of Magic attached great importance to the explosion. The Minister of Magic, Fudge, immediately issued important instructions, requesting the Auror Department and the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes to organize elite forces to properly handle the scene, quickly ascertain the truth, and severely pursue the perpetrators. Rescue efforts were to be organized immediately, and preventive measures further strengthened to prevent similar incidents from happening again. Currently, the owner of the manor was emotionally unstable.

Shortly after, a visitor entered the Great Hall. He looked like a lion and strode purposefully to Dumbledore, speaking a few words to him in a low voice.

Dumbledore merely nodded, turned and said a few words to Snape, then stood up and left with Rufus Scrimgeour.