Their verbal victory did not spark any cheers among the boys. Instead, the atmosphere at the Ravenclaw table grew noticeably frosty. Nobody truly enjoys a pointless argument, even if they happen to win it. The previously cheerful mood was thoroughly ruined.
After about two minutes of heavy silence, Anthony sighed and rubbed his face. "I lost my temper. I apologize."
Charlie did not agree or disagree. In truth, this was the very first time he had ever seen the perpetually optimistic and outgoing Anthony look genuinely furious.
"Hey, Charlie," Anthony mumbled. "Are you going to go comfort her?"
"I suppose someone ought to," Charlie nodded, though he did not immediately stand up.
Anthony fell silent for another moment before leaning in close, lowering his voice. "Apologize to her for me, will you? But seriously, as her friend, could you also find a subtle way to tell her that her way of speaking is incredibly grating?" He looked at Charlie, a bit conflicted. "Does that make sense? Or is that asking too much?"
"No, I understand completely," Charlie replied smoothly. "She has a terrible way of delivering her thoughts, and you got provoked into saying harsh things in return. Both facts can be true at the same time."
"I will see you all at the Astronomy Tower," Charlie said, clapping his hands together and standing up.
Stepping out of the Great Hall, he immediately bumped into a familiar face. It was Lavender Brown, a Gryffindor girl from their year.
"Good evening, Lavender. Have you happened to see Hermione?" Charlie asked.
"Good evening, Charlie. Hermione? I just bumped into her on the second floor. Why? Did you upset her? Her eyes were awfully red."
"Let us just say I am part of the problem," Charlie said with a helpless, self deprecating smile.
"That is a shame. I remember during the Start of Term Feast, she was going on about how disappointed she was not to be sorted into the same House as you."
That was a tricky conversational thread to pull, so Charlie simply smiled, stepped around her, and offered a polite word of thanks.
"You are welcome! You should hurry and find her!" Lavender called back.
Locating one specific student inside the massive, shifting labyrinth of Hogwarts was nowhere near as simple as it sounded. After wandering aimlessly for quite some time, Charlie finally resorted to a much better strategy.
"Excuse me, ladies. Did you happen to see a girl with bushy brown hair run past here?" Charlie asked a portrait hanging in the second floor corridor.
The painting depicted three young girls in ballet tutus. The dancer in the center rose on her tiptoes, raising her arms elegantly as she performed a flawless pirouette. A moment later, she stopped spinning. The three girls moved in perfect unison, extending their arms gracefully toward the far end of the hallway. They sang in harmony, "She came in a hurry, she left in a flurry. She took a sharp left, and vanished, quite blurry."
"I thank you in a hurry," Charlie nodded, quickly making his way down the indicated corridor.
At the next corner, he addressed a painting of a medieval courtroom. The prisoner in the dock threw his hands up dramatically. "Oh, I confess, Your Honor! I admit it all! She went right up those stairs heading to the third floor!"
"Excellent. I pardon you of all crimes," Charlie replied solemnly.
Stopping and starting along his route, Charlie relied on the endlessly quirky portraits of Hogwarts to point him in the right direction. About twenty minutes later, his makeshift tracking system led him to an empty, unused classroom on the fifth floor, situated just down the hall from the library.
Charlie pushed the heavy wooden door open. Immediately, the muffled sound of sobbing drifted through the gloom.
"Has anyone in here seen Hermione Granger?" Charlie asked loudly, projecting his voice across the dark, empty space.
In the shadows, Hermione raised her head, looking toward the silhouette standing in the doorway illuminated by the torchlight from the hall. Charlie stood tall, his chin raised, radiating an air of complete arrogance that perfectly matched his mocking tone.
"Oh, are we shedding tears, then?" Charlie spoke briskly, his words sharp and clipped. "Let me see. You lost a simple debate, so you retreated to a dark room to cry about it. If I were you, I would not let myself be so easily offended. If you cannot win an argument, it simply proves your academic knowledge is insufficient."
"Oh, stop it," Hermione sniffled, her voice thick with misery. "Why are you treating me like this, Charlie? You are being incredibly mean."
She stared at him, her eyes brimming with hurt. From the very beginning of the term, she had considered Charlie to be a genuine friend. Yet, during the argument downstairs, this supposed friend had not offered her a single word of support, not even a sympathetic glance.
Hearing her tearful accusation, Charlie dropped his arrogant posture. His face returned to its usual calm expression, though the gentle smile he normally wore was entirely absent.
"Hermione," he said softly. "I was only imitating the way you sound to everyone else."
"Imitating me?" Hermione wiped her eyes, staring at him in confusion.
Charlie walked slowly into the room, stopping right in front of the dusty wooden chair where she sat.
"You can yank open a train compartment door without knocking, but only if you actually know the people inside," Charlie explained evenly. "You can hold yourself to the absolute highest standard of the school rules, but you cannot use them to command complete strangers. You can feel outraged about the barbaric history of the Golden Snitch, but you cannot force that righteous anger onto a group of people who just want to enjoy a game. Most importantly, when you speak to people, you act as if their thoughts and feelings do not matter in the slightest."
As he spoke, Charlie flipped his hand over. A piece of his special Sunshine Chocolate materialized in his palm. He placed the wrapped sweet on the desk in front of her and gently pushed it forward.
"I do not want to sound like a professor giving a lecture. I will leave you to think it over," Charlie said quietly. "I believe you are smart enough to understand exactly what I mean. I will see you at Astronomy class. Oh, and eat the chocolate. It will warm you right up."
Without waiting for a response, Charlie turned on his heel, adjusted the collar of his robes, and strode out of the classroom.
---
The Astronomy Tower was located far away from both the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor dormitories. It proudly stood as the third tallest structure in all of Hogwarts. The absolute tallest was the central spire of the main castle, and Charlie guessed the Headmaster's office claimed the second spot.
The Astronomy Tower did not hug the main buildings tightly. Instead, it sat entirely exposed on the southeastern side of the castle, offering an unobstructed, breathtaking view of the starry night sky.
However, it was late September in the Scottish Highlands. The castle was situated dangerously close to the freezing northern winds. Between the high altitude and the northern latitude, the moment Charlie stepped onto the open observation deck, an icy gale blasted right through him. His upper and lower teeth immediately began to chatter like castanets.
"Stop clattering!" Charlie muttered to his own jaw, clamping his mouth shut.
He turned around and noticed Anthony standing nearby, looking completely comfortable and entirely unaffected by the biting wind.
"Are you not freezing?" Charlie asked, shivering.
"Freezing? What do you mean?" Anthony looked confused for a second before realization dawned. He flipped open his collar, revealing a meticulously stitched family crest glowing faintly with golden thread on the inner lining. "My robes are custom made with warming charms. I completely forgot about the weather until you mentioned it."
Seeing Charlie hunched over with his shoulders practically touching his ears, Anthony started to unbutton his outer layer. "Do you want to borrow my cloak?"
"I must politely decline, but thank you," Charlie replied, his breath pluming in the frigid air. He flicked a piece of Sunshine Chocolate toward Hector, who was also shivering nearby. "We have our own methods of surviving the cold."
Charlie popped a chocolate into his mouth. Almost instantly, a radiant wave of heat bloomed in his chest, coursing through his veins and entirely banishing the Scottish chill from his bones.
Anthony watched this miraculous transformation, his eyes gleaming with undisguised greed. He stared intensely at Charlie.
"Alright, alright. I obviously brought more than two," Charlie laughed, tossing another piece of enchanted chocolate to his pureblood friend.
Clack clack clack clack!
A frantic, rapid series of footsteps echoed loudly from the winding stone stairwell. Whoever was climbing the tower was sprinting at top speed, their heavy footfalls practically vibrating through the ancient stones.
The three boys turned toward the entrance just as Hermione burst onto the observation deck. Her bushy hair was flying in every direction, whipped into a wild frenzy by the wind. She looked genuinely terrifying.
Startled, Anthony hopped two steps backward, hiding safely behind Charlie.
Just as they expected, Hermione marched straight up to the three of them. What they did not expect was for her to abruptly bend over into a perfect ninety degree bow.
Taking a massive gulp of air, she unleashed a torrent of words without taking a single breath.
"I am so incredibly sorry I was being completely self righteous and pushing my opinions on everyone without caring how anyone else felt and Quidditch history has nothing to do with playing the modern game and it is entirely my fault please forgive me!"
Her words flew out with the blistering speed of a brand new Nimbus Two Thousand, lacking even the tiniest fraction of a pause.