บท 5: I don't want Ice Cream

Charles Gaunt POV

Charles sat on the floor, reading a purple hardback and trying to focus as rain from the downpour outside hit loudly against the window of his room. 'A completed forgetfulness potion should appear grey, with a smooth texture.' He went through the recipe in his mind again, having memorised it.

Charles closed his potion book and sighed, it was time for a break. He was having a harder time understanding his new coursebooks than he anticipated. This was his third time going through this one and though he could remember the words, the process was difficult to imagine in his head. The recipes contained ingredients from herbs and animals he would have never heard of if he hadn't already read through, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them first.

Still, Charles felt appreciative of how connected all his subjects were. With each book he read, he felt his understanding of magic would deepen and Charles wondered how far behind he would be, once he got to Hogwarts, compared to the students from magic families.

Charles really wanted some other books about the wizarding world history. Hermione was right, the first-year course books didn't cover enough for his appetite. Hermione had promised to lend him some of hers but unfortunately, Charles would have to wait for September to get them.

There was a knock on the door. "Charles. Are you still reading?" Charles had grown familiar with the high-pitched voice, over the past few weeks.

"Yes." Charles responded quickly. Emily opened the door and peered inside, when she saw him sitting with a closed book in front of him, she frowned.

"No you're not." She walked in and lied on his bed as though it was hers.

"Come in," Charles said sarcastically. Emily ignored him.

"You've hardly left your room the last two weeks, all you ever do is study."

"I hardly left my room before that anyway," Charles countered. It was true, the only time he ventured away from his room was to go to school, dinner, or the toilet. It had been two weeks since the summer holidays started and two weeks since the visit to Diagon Alley. Charles looked to his bedside drawer, where he kept his wand and then back to Emily up on his bed. "And you're welcome to study with me whenever you want."

"You read too quickly." Emily brushed his suggestion off, sitting up. She had been going through her books for an hour each day and even that was torture to for her. "You're going to end up in Ravenclaw at this rate."

Professor McGonagall had told them about the four houses when she had taken them home. According to her, Gryffindor was home to the brave, Hufflepuff the hardworking, Ravenclaw the studious and Slytherin was for the cunning. He recalled a forced smile at the last one. "Ravenclaw sounds fun."

She turned her head away from him and muttered something under her breath. "Got something to share, Emily?"

"No." she replied, turning back to him, "Are you really going to study all day. I mean, it's your birthday, isn't it?" This time Charles looked away. Birthdays were supposed to be important, he knew that. At school, people would always let everyone else know about theirs, days, sometimes weeks ahead. They would visibly get more excited as the it came closer and closer, and with each day, that excitement would grow.

But still, he could never really find it in himself to care about his own. Charles couldn't help looking to the painting of his parents on the wall, before averting his eyes. 'There's not really anything to celebrate, anyway.'

"Sam tell you?" he asked.

The red head nodded, "You should have told me. I would have got you something."

Charles gave a her a mocking look, 'With what money?' he almost said. Instead he opted for something a bit less confrontational. "You can get me something at Hogwarts."

Emily must have liked the sound of that as her face lit up. 'Now she owes me a favour and a present!' Charles couldn't help but think himself slick at this moment.

The two talked for a little longer before they were called down for dinner. After their meal, Emily went to play with the other girls whilst Charles left for his room to study again. He felt tired when night came and went to bed earlier than he usually would.

---

September 1st

The last days of his summer went by quickly and uneventfully. He had gone over all of his coursebooks and while it would take further revision and notes to commit them fully to memory, he was feeling rather confident about his first-year. Charles was used to days of studying, he had to be in order to get the results he got at school, but even then, he had pushed himself harder than he was used to, and it was taking its toll on his body.

His eyes were sore from the constant strain of reading and writing. Dark bags laid beneath them due to his nights spent awake late and early mornings. When coupled with his naturally gaunt face and his somehow, despite having eaten no less than before, skinnier frame, the mirror reflected a rather haunting figure. He hadn't noticed until Emily had screamed loudly in fright as she passed him by on her to the bathroom, in the middle of the night, waking half the house up. He had only gone downstairs for a glass of water and though he wouldn't say it, Charles was feeling rather hurt by her reaction. Which is why he gave her the silent treatment the next day, before he graciously forgave her.

All and all he was tired and worn out and Charles had promised to himself, that he would take a break once he got to Hogwarts. He wanted to make a good impression on his fellow students after all and something told him it would be a lot harder to do that if they were running away.

Today was finally the day he would board the train that would take him to Hogwarts. Charles had woken up at six, which meant he had hours to wait until the train would leave. The train would leave at eleven, it said so on the ticket, and Charles was stumped at what he should do in that time. He was too excited to concentrate on his books, so he just laid awake on his bed, immersed in his thoughts until Emily woke up just an hour later. She usually got up closer to noon, but Charles wasn't the only one excited today.

They went over their suitcases, checking they had everything on the list, as well as anything else they thought they would need. Every time they closed their trunks and zipped up their bags and Charles thought they were done, Emily would run upstairs and return with another teddy she claimed as too important to leave behind. Charles counted at least five by the end.

By then, most of the household was awake and breakfast was soon made. At the dinner table, Charles and Emily struggled to dodge and misdirect all their questions about Hogwarts and were quick to escape once they had finished their meals.

Charles tried to go over some notes with the girl but that quickly devolved into a game of who knew more and then into chatter about what they would get up to at Hogwarts. They spent the remaining time doing such and soon, at ten, Allister arrived, ready to drive them to the station.

It would take thirty minutes to get to King's Cross Station and Charles had to push Allister out of the door to stop him from talking to Sam. "Hurry up! You're going to make us late!" Charles grunted as he pushed the man forward with all his might. Unfortunately, he wasn't making much ground. Eventually the man relented, and they manged to get their belongings into the car boot.

drive was going as planned until Allister suggested buying them ice cream each from a nearby corner shop. No doubt part of a ploy to get in Sam's good graces, Charles thought, against the idea. However, as Emily was in favour, the boy was outnumbered in the car and because of this, they had found themselves such in traffic, with melting ice creams in their hands. Charles would have laughed at Emily's apparent brain freeze but he was too worried about being late to notice.