Harry Potter Hogwarts Caretaker

Chapter 2: Charlie

Harry and Neville got off the train and stopped to admire the view of the castle just like they had 16 years ago when they'd first come to Hogwarts.

Harry smiled at the sight of the only home he'd ever known. He was coming back! If only he didn't have to face all the people he'd disappointed, all the sad memories.

The castle still looked exactly like he remembered it. Nothing seemed to have changed at all.

"They sure patched it up well, after the war." commented Neville. "I can hardly see where they fixed it."

"I don't see any difference at all. Are you sure the castle was damaged?" Harry asked him.

"Of course it was. They had to rebuild the whole north tower and there were large holes in the walls. This whole side of the walls was blackened by fireball spells. They tried to draw our forces to this side, you know, while they blew the holes into the other walls to get in. The north tower collapsed on top of them when Albus destroyed Voldemort. But they still killed so many of us. It took us days to dig all the bodies out. Some were found alive, like Albus, but most of them were dead."

Harry stared at Neville. The calm with which the once so timid boy pronounced the name Voldemort! Then it hit him. 'It took US days' Neville had said.

"You were there? You were one of the defenders of Hogwarts?" and where had he been. Harry felt so terribly, desperately ashamed talking to an actual war hero.

"Well, they needed all the help they could get. I sort of felt obliged to help protect the people. All those muggles were absolutely helpless without magic. If we hadn't been able to stop Voldemort they'd have been slaughtered. So I volunteered. Albus knew of course that I wasn't a fighter. I'd never been one for duelling. He told me to help with the evacuation of the students. Take them into hiding and guard them, calm them down while the battle was raging outside. I'd have died to protect them, but we never were found. We returned to the school when it was all over and helped with the digging. I wasn't a hero, but I'd like to think that I did give the heroes a little hand. Maybe one more life was saved, because there was one more pair of hands digging and maybe my presence in the hideout helped the kids a little bit to get over the fear."

"But you were there and you were willing to die for all those people. Just because it never got that far doesn't make you any less of a hero. I bet those children really looked up to you." Harry said. Clumsy little Neville had done all this. Done everything he could and he didn't even think much of it.

"I only did what everybody would have done. Yes, maybe some of the little ones did look up to me, but not like they did to the real heroes like Albus and Severus and Draco. They still do, you know. Especially Severus. Without him it would all have been in vain."

Harry looked up at the castle once again trying to find the places Neville had pointed out to him. The places where the stone had been fixed. Albus, Severus ... and Draco? The heroes of the war.

Albus Dumbledore of course had been the one to destroy Voldemort. No other wizard alive would have had the power to do so. Few others would have even dared to get in his way. Yes, Albus Dumbledore was someone kids should look up to. He always had been a hero.

Severus Snape? Nobody had risked more in the fight against Voldemort than Severus Snape death eater turned spy. Harry had grudgingly learned to respect him over the years as he'd gotten to know more and more of his story. Yes, Severus too was worthy of admiration, even though he wasn't as much the shining hero that Dumbledore was. But maybe that made him even more of a hero, that he'd originally gone wrong, then turned and made up for his mistakes. He'd been willing to pay with his life. Had even expected it, but it seemed it had never happened. Severus Snape against all odds had survived. Yes again, that was a feat worthy of admiration.

But Draco? Draco Malfoy? He remembered the day Draco had turned the dark lord down. It had surprised everybody. But Draco had said that he'd remain neutral. He'd seemed to be in favour of the dark side, just unsure if he wanted to chance the risk involved. Why had Draco Malfoy then cast his lot with the forces of light at the very moment it seemed that the dark was winning? It seemed Harry and all the world had completely misjudged the last Malfoy.

"Draco Malfoy war hero?"

"Yes." said Neville without a hint of sarcasm or wonder. "He broke with his family, his friends, with everything to fight the man he was raised to serve. He's one of the greatest men I've ever met and I have met many." he smiled. "He's that and a good friend."

"A friend?" Harry thought of all the times Draco had hexed Neville in school. It was hard to believe.

"I thought that Ginny was eventually gonna marry him, but now that you're back I'm no longer sure."

"Oh, she'll certainly do better with a war hero than with me." Harry tried to laugh it off, but the thought that Ginny might still like him ...

"First years, down to the pier! First years!" came a voice that was somehow familiar to Harry.

He turned. A big redheaded man was walking up towards them with a happy smile on his face. Every few steps he stopped to direct a few first years towards the pier. Harry blinked. He thought he knew Hagrid's successor.

"Hey, Charlie!" shouted Neville waving excitedly. "Over here!"

Charlie Weasley! That's who it was.

Charlie waved back happily and stopped again to talk to two more confused first years. The two girls' faces lit up at hearing the directions he gave them and they hurried off towards the pier.

Neville grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him over to Charlie's side.

"Charlie! Old friend! It is good to see you."

Charlie hugged Neville tightly.

"It's good to see you again too, Nev. I was so happy for you when Albus announced that you'd be the new herbology teacher. And you too Harry. So glad you decided to come back. You'll love it here. We're like a big family here at Hogwarts. All old friends."

Charlie glanced up and down the station while Harry stuttered out a nervous greeting. But there was nobody in sight.

"Seems like I got all the first years. Unless one of them took off with the older students again. Well, if that happens we'll catch the little stray up at the school. Do you two want to ride over in the boats with me and the little ones? There's enough room and I'd love the company. I haven't seen enough of either of you of late. Especially you Harry."

Neville happily agreed saying that he'd love to relive the memories of his first arrival at Hogwarts and Harry found himself dragged along before he could protest.

"What have you been doing all this time Harry?" Charlie asked happily while they walked down to the pier. "Nobody has heard of you in years."

"Oh I was exploring the muggle world. Travelling about, taking in the sights. Had some odd jobs here and there, but I never stayed long. There always was some place I still wanted to see." The lie was getting easier and of course it would sound convincing to a Weasley. They always had been curious about everything muggle.

"You'll have to tell me everything about the places you have seen sometime." Charlie smiled and turned to quickly count the children. "61!" he announced proudly. "That's all. We obviously haven't missed anybody."

He quickly sent them off into the boats, then invited Harry and Neville to join him in his own boat along with the last little boy. Harry saw the many boats that remained behind as the fleet took off. Back before the war all the boats had usually been full to bursting.

"What happened to your dragon studies in Romania, Charlie?" Harry asked to take his mind off the empty boats and the others' off his past.

"Oh well, when I heard about the war back at home I came back to lend a hand. I arrived to hear that Albus had collected all our forces at Hogwarts to meet the dark forces there and hurried over, but it was all over by the time I arrived." he shook his head sadly.

"Oh, did you see the defeated death eaters?" said the little boy obviously in awe.

"Sadly, no. I arrived when they had already dug most of the dead out of the debris and the death eaters had already been taken away to Azkaban." he told the boy. "But I did see all the destruction they left behind. At first glance I thought that we must have lost the battle so bad was the damage."

The boy stared at Charlie wide eyed.

"It was that bad?"

"Oh yes, it looked terrible."

"How did you know it was safe to show yourself then?"

"Well, I watched the survivors dig through the debris for a while and then professor Longbottom here came out and I recognised him. That's how I knew it was safe."

The boy directed his admiring gaze towards Neville.

"Then you were here and saw it all?" he asked with bated breath.

"I wasn't here during the battle." Neville smiled down at him. "I was one of those who were sent off to protect the students who were hiding in a cave away from the scene of the battle."

"But you did fight Voldemort's death eaters?"

"No, we were never discovered, but we did hear the sound of the battle."

"I'd have run and helped with the fighting!" the boy announced proudly.

"Ah, but we couldn't. We had to stay and protect the children. The death eaters never did find them, but we didn't know that then. We were there to protect them should they be attacked and many of them were crying and very much afraid. I stayed and told them stories to make them feel better."

The boy nodded exitedly.

"That was really nice of you."

"Well, I didn't get to do any fighting." Charlie continued his story. "But I saw all the destruction the war had left behind and so I decided to stay and help rebuilding. I missed the work with the animals though and when Hagrid got married and moved to France Albus offered me his job. That's how I got here."

Neville turned to the boy once again.

"Say young man, I believe you didn't tell us your name."

"Oh right." the boy blushed. "I'm Kevin Pattil."

"Ah yes, we went to school with your aunts Parvati and Padma. We were in the same year." said Neville indicating Harry and himself. "Parvati even was in the same house as us, Gryffindor."

"Really? Did you know her well?"

"A little. As I said she was in our house. What house do you want to be in, Kevin?"

"Why Slytherin of course!" exclaimed Kevin at once. "It's the best of all. Wouldn't you have wanted to be in Slytherin if you could have?"

Luckily Harry and Neville didn't have to answer that for they had reached the other side of the lake and quickly climbed ashore.

In the next chapter: we meet another teacher, learn more the first yers' opinions on the school's houses and meet er ... someone called Twichy.