One month later!
Snow was falling.
It was mid-December, and when the students of Hogwarts woke up, they found the entire castle buried under several feet of snow. The Black Lake had frozen solid.
"Feels like that first snow was just yesterday. You guys up for another snowball fight?" Anthony turned to the other two.
Since that brief first snowfall, this was the first real heavy snow of the winter.
Made sense. They always said the big snow came around Christmas.
"Aren't you afraid of catching a cold?" Hector asked with a laugh.
He still remembered how, during the first snow, Anthony had washed his hair the night before and then gone out to play in the snow the next day. That same night he came down with a nasty cold.
Just bringing it up made Anthony look slightly nervous. The cold medicine from the infirmary tasted awful.
"Maybe we should skip it then. Or hey, Charlie, when are you gonna whip up some cold-curing chocolate?"
"I'll work on it," Charlie said with a smile. "But that's for later."
"I'll hold you to it." Anthony nodded. "You heading to the club this afternoon?"
"Probably. Depends whether the stuff I ordered from Diagon Alley arrives by lunch."
Lately, Charlie had been pushing himself to the absolute limit. Besides keeping up with regular classes, he had poured nearly all his focus into mastering the Undetectable Extension Charm.
After a full month of hard work, he had finally succeeded.
Of course, it wasn't all victories. He still hadn't figured out what the winter snow sand could actually do.
"Alright." Anthony nodded.
With that, the three of them got ready and headed downstairs for lunch.
On the first floor, just before they reached the Great Hall, they were blocked by a massive fir tree lying across the corridor.
From the other side of the giant tree, Ron's voice rang out.
"Hey, Hagrid, need a hand?"
"Oh, no, I've got it, thanks."
Charlie and the others ducked under the fir tree and spotted Harry and his group coming up from the dungeons.
"You guys just finished Potions—"
"Hey, could you not block the whole hallway!" Malfoy's drawling voice came from behind Harry and Ron.
"Weasley, what? Trying to earn some pocket money? Planning to be the gamekeeper after you graduate?
Makes sense. Compared to that shack you grew up in, Hagrid's hut must look like a palace."
The insult was vicious. Ron spun around, stormed right up to Malfoy, grabbed him by the collar, and raised his fist.
Right at that moment, Snape appeared.
"Weasley!" he barked.
Ron reluctantly let go of Malfoy's collar. Hagrid poked his head out from the branches of the fir tree.
"Someone provoked him first, Professor Snape. Malfoy just insulted his family."
Snape looked completely uninterested. He simply said in a light tone, "Regardless, fighting in school is unacceptable. Five points from Gryffindor. Weasley, you should feel—"
"He hasn't even hit him yet!" Charlie spoke up.
"What's this? Mr. Wonka playing the defender of justice again?" Snape said coldly, staring at Charlie. "Are you suggesting I should wait until Weasley actually makes a mistake before stepping in?"
Charlie raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "You make a fair point, Professor."
Snape let out a scornful snort, shot Charlie a disdainful look, and strode into the Great Hall. Malfoy and his two goons quickly followed.
As they passed Charlie, Malfoy gave him a smug glance. "No one's here to stick up for you this time. I heard you're not going home for Christmas. What, does your family not want you either?
Makes sense, I guess. No wonder you two get along so well—"
"That's enough, Malfoy," Charlie cut him off with a helpless smile.
"You brag about your family every single day, but there's nothing to be proud of. Everyone knows your dad used to be Voldemort's little lapdog."
The second that name left his mouth, the temperature in the corridor outside the Great Hall seemed to drop several degrees. Everyone froze, eyes wide in shock as they stared at Charlie.
Everyone except Malfoy.
"How dare you!" Draco's face instantly flushed bright red with rage. He charged straight at Charlie.
Charlie didn't dodge. He let Malfoy grab him by the collar.
At the same time, Anthony and Hector stepped up right behind him. Harry, Ron, and Hermione moved forward as well.
Charlie calmly raised one hand, signaling his friends to hold back.
"Hey, Professor Snape," Charlie called out.
Snape slowly turned his head. His entire face looked thunderous.
"What is it, Mr. Wonka?" He looked at Charlie, completely ignoring Malfoy who was still clutching his collar.
"Nothing," Charlie replied, the corner of his mouth curving upward. "You can go on in."
"Are you sure there's nothing?" Snape stared hard at him.
"Positive. Nothing at all, I promise." Charlie smiled calmly.
There was even a hint of eagerness in his eyes.
Eagerness for Snape to leave.
Seeing that smile, Snape's eye twitched. Unlike the other kids behind Charlie, this little bastard had zero respect for school rules or authority.
He knew that better than anyone.
"Malfoy, let go of him," Snape said with zero room for argument.
Malfoy ground his teeth but eventually released his grip with a trembling hand.
Before leaving, he glared viciously at Charlie. "You're lucky today."
Charlie just chuckled softly. He watched unhurriedly as Malfoy turned around, followed Snape, and as Snape continued walking toward the Great Hall.
Just as they were about to get far enough away, Charlie called out lazily, "You forgot to take points, Professor."
Snape turned around stiffly, glaring at Charlie with pure murder in his eyes.
Charlie met his gaze and slowly imitated that deep, drawling tone: "Regardless, fighting in school is unacceptable."
Snape's entire face twitched. He barely held back his fury. "Five points from Slytherin."
Charlie tapped two fingers lightly to his forehead in a mock salute and smiled. "Thank you for your fairness, Professor Snape."
Snape said nothing. He spun around sharply and strode into the Great Hall.
Charlie let out a slow breath, then looked around. He first turned to Hagrid. "Hey, Hagrid, you should get this tree inside before the professors start waiting too long."
Hagrid nodded a bit belatedly. "Oh, I think you're right, Charlie."
With Hagrid moving on, the corridor suddenly felt much wider.
"My God!" Hermione exclaimed. "How could you… you just…"
She was almost at a loss for words.
Anthony licked his lips nervously, then steadied himself.
"Good thing Slytherin doesn't have Potions with us, or Malfoy never would've dared provoke Charlie like that. He probably figured having Snape around made him untouchable.
Of course, we also didn't expect you'd actually say that name out loud…"
Hector was handling it the best out of everyone. He knew Charlie's personality and, coming from a Muggle family himself, wasn't particularly afraid of the name Voldemort.
He looked genuinely angry and whispered to Anthony, "Who the hell leaked that about Charlie?"
Anthony whispered back, "If we find out who it was, they're dead."
"Don't worry about it, guys." Charlie looked at them. "He probably just said it offhand."
"That wasn't just 'offhand.' That's not a small insult," Hector said, still upset.
"It's fine. Don't let it get to you." Charlie patted his shoulder.
"Alright, enough about that. Let's go see how the Great Hall is decorated." Charlie waved it off casually and led his friends into the Great Hall.