Chapter 2:
Hogwarts Express
A/N: Sorry this has taken so long to post. I've been living in my little euphoric, wonderful life, and writing is the last thing on my mind. However, I remembered that I forgot all about fan fiction, and I have a ton of ideas and other stories to finish. Pardon if updates take a while.
Katie
Charity gave a little gasp as she heard Matt's last name.
"Oh, you must be Harry and Hermione's son!"
Matt smiled softly. "Guilty."
Charity smiled and darted her eyes quickly towards the ground. She scuffed her toe softly against the wooden plank she stood upon and looked around, peering at the world beneath the hair that had fallen over her eyes. She gave a sharp glance at Matt, and upon seeing his eyes on her, turned a lovely shade of crimson before pulling her hair behind her ear. Matt couldn't help but guilty as he watched her like a trapped animal, feeling as though he had somehow caused her embarrassment. He smiled softly and got behind her in order to board the train.
"So, um, is your family a wizarding family?" Charity rolled her lip in an innocent way.
"Would you ostracize me if I said no?"
Matt gave her a befuddled glance, forcing his words to disguise his surprise.
"It's okay, really, being from a muggle family. My mom was a muggle, and she ended up being the top of her class."
"I know," Charity said; Matt could detect a smirk on her lips that made him think of a laugh held captive. "I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."
"You've read that?"
"Well, of course I have." She tilted her head slightly, letting her hair cascade behind her shoulder. The sun caught her eyes and made them shine brighter than a thousand suns. "Hasn't everyone read it?"
Matt shook his head. "I doubt it. I've only read it because Mom wrote the most recently revised edition."
"Oh. I thought everyone would have read it before coming." She gave a deep sigh and turned to Matt with a smile. "I'll still be behind everybody. I didn't go to Wizarding Primary School."
"Neither did I." Charity stopped so abruptly that the conductor gave her a ferocious glare. She mumbled an apology to him and shuffled down the train corridor. Matt followed her closely, very self-conscious of every time their bodies accidentally touched. They peered into the compartments as they walked along, their peers entering at various times and thinning out the crowd. After some time, only Matt and Charity remained. Matt discovered an empty compartment near the end of the car, and he opened the door carefully before stepping inside and jumping onto the red, velvet covered seats. He sprawled out on the seat, and got settled in… only to see Charity standing timidly in the doorway of the car.
"Are you going to come in?"
A smile erupted on her face and she stepped inside with a new confidence. She sat on the seat opposite Matt, straightened out her short, pleated skirt, and clapped her hands down onto the seat beside her.
"Thanks for letting me sit with you."
"It's…no problem?"
Charity looked to the floor and pulled back her hair. "Oh, well, it's really cool to me, because usually I'm just kinda invisible, and having someone like you wanting to sit with me is just amazing to me, and, well, Thanks." She blushed and put her porcelain hand to her mouth. "I'm sorry, I tend to talk fast."
"Well," Matt smiled. "Seeing as how this is a long ride, we'll be close friends by the time we get to Hogwarts."
Charity smiled and began to wiggle her ankle softly. "Do you know many of the students here?"
"Well, I…know a few." Before Charity could further her questioning, the glass door of their compartment was thrown open, and a group of giggling girls entered, instantly flocking to Matt. Scarlett Weasley, tall, red-haired, and porcelain skinned, led the group, threw her arms around Matt and began to talk in her loud, high-pitched voice.
"Why, it's Matthew Potter, finally coming to Hogwarts!"
"Hi, Scarlett." Matt grimaced at her turned head. She had always rubbed him wrong since his childhood. He couldn't help but notice that Charity had stiffened at the third-year's presence, too.
"All of the girls were just dying to meet someone like yourself! Ariel, Olivia, this is Matthew. Matthew, Ariel and Olivia." The short blonde girl, Olivia came forward and shook his hand vigorously.
"Hello, Scarlett. Nice to meet you, Ariel and Olivia. This is my friend, Charity Sullivan." Charity gave them a sweet little smile and extended her hand to Olivia, who stared at it before turning and walking out the door. Scarlett waved again to Matt and walked out with Ariel, slamming the door behind them. Matt averted his attention from the exiting girls to Charity, who sat deathly still with her hand still out in front of her.
"That went well." Charity sighed, leaned back into her seat, and turned her dazzling eyes towards Matt. "How do you know them?"
"Scarlett's parents are friends with my parents. And her brother, Rhett, is my age. He's a second year."
"Oh…" Charity's voice trailed and she averted her eyes towards the gently rolling landscape. After a few seconds, she turned back to him quickly.
"How is it that you are a first year, but you're twelve? I'm not even turning twelve until April. And how did you not go to wizarding primary school? You're Harry and Hermione's son!"
Matt grinned and leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "Well, my parents thought it was best for me not to go to primary school. Mom home schooled me, but I didn't technically start school until it was a year too late. So…here I am."
Charity smiled and wrinkled her brow. She didn't really understand, but she wasn't going to press the matter. She saw something special in Matt Potter, something she couldn't place her finger on. She didn't know why someone special was interested in knowing her, but it made her feel more extraordinary than she had ever before felt in her life.
The two friends fell into the silence of shyness once again, not breaking it for several leagues. Charity gazed out the window in a dream-like trance, watching the sky above. A jet plane streaked across the sky, leaving a line of cloud substance behind it. She smiled, closed her eyes for a moment, and then continued watching the plane.
"It's a zipper!"
Of all the things Charity could have possibly said, this was the most random thing Matt could have thought of. "What?"
Charity gave him the look that an adult gives an ignorant child. "In the sky." She opened her eyes wide and gave him an almost pleading look.
"For some reason, I'm not quite following this. Please explain."
Charity smiled and perked up, pushing her shoulders back and her chin forward. "Well, when I was a little girl, my grandma died of breast cancer, and I really, really missed her."
"I know how that feels…" Matt whispered, eyes towards the floor in thought.
"Anyways, when I asked my dad what the thing in the sky was, he told me that it was a zipper to heaven, and that Grandma was there smiling at how proud she was of me." She finished talking and studied Matt's face. To her horror, he was smiling. "Oh my gosh, I don't know why I just told you that, it's so stupid and childish, I'm sorry." She turned back to the window; he could see from her reflection that her eyes were a shade duller.
"Twinkling stars are the people we've loved and who've died, putting on a show for us at night." Matt spoke quietly, but he saw Charity smile in her reflection. He knew she understood what he meant. She was a dreamer, able to understand what most girls could not, able to feel things others couldn't.
The food cart came by, and after properly stuffing themselves with chocolate frogs, every flavor beans, and pumpkin pasties, they sat down to continue talking as they had during the whole first half of the ride. Matt could tell he had found a bosom friend, though they hadn't known each other long. Charity knew all about him from the fact that he was of a high-profile family, but he had yet to learn about her. He watched as she ate her last frog, smiling at how comical she looked.
"What's your story, pre-Hogwarts? I mean, you know mine, well, most of it, just from books, but now I want to know about you."
Charity laughed. "There's not much to say about me. I am Charity Michelle Sullivan, youngest child of John Michael Sullivan and Donna Eveann Sullivan. Nobody previously in my family is magical. Dad owns a pizza restaurant and Mom is a musician."
"Are you?"
"A pizza? Or a musician?" Charity's eyes sparkled deviously. "Of course I'm not a pizza. But I do play the French Horn. I brought it with me, so I can keep playing, but I seriously doubt my roommates will be too happy. Anyways, I have two older sisters, who are cleverly named Faith and Hope. That's from 1 Corinthians 13:13, which says, `And now abideth faith, hope, and charity, these three…'"
"But the greatest of these is Charity." Matt finished in a soft voice, making Charity blush. She felt very warm suddenly, and didn't know why.
"I'm a Christian, too. My grandfather's a pastor."
"That's cool! I'm also a Christian."
"Well, that's cool! I'm really glad, because you are already the greatest friend I've ever had, and…" She was interrupted when a prefect came to the door and told the two to get dressed in their robes. Matt eyes Charity cautiously, very conscious of the fact that he was a boy and she was a girl. Charity flashed him a smile, stood up and opened her trunk, and grabbed her clothes from the top. Matt did the same, until they were just standing in the compartment, clothes in hand, staring bashfully at each other. Finally, they both slowly turned around to face opposite walls. After a few minutes they were both fully clothed and physically ready to get off of the train. Their muscles ached, their stomachs growled, and their eyes were weary from exhaustion. However, both feared leaving the train, feared the unknown that waited before them. Matt helped Charity get her trunk down, made sure the latch was tightened on his, and waited silently in the still car. He could barely hear anything over the beating of his heart, but he managed to hear the faint hiss of the pistons slowing.
"We're here, Matt." Charity smiled and cautiously looped her arm in the crook of Matt's arm. He was thankful for her presence, thankful that he had the comforting touch of a friend on his arm. He had a feeling that her personality was only suitable for Gryffindor material; he knew without a doubt that that was where she'd be sorted. His only fear was that he'd be stuck in a place like Slytherin or Hufflepuff, and she would be silently extracted from his life.
A/N: What do ya'll think about Charity's personality?
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