Stolen Jellybeans

Charles Gaunt POV

Charles heard muffled voices as he walked up to the compartment door, which he had been told only had two people on the other side. In his hurry to get away from Hermione and Neville, he opened the door and stepped inside, forgetting to knock.

Immediately, he saw two boys staring at him confusedly, he did just randomly barge in after all. Charles calmed down a little, seeing their surprised faces. 'I should have knocked, but I didn't, and now they're wary of me.' He knew he had to get them to put their guards down. Otherwise they might not let him stay there.

"Sorry for interrupting," Charles did his best to appear and sound passive, but he wasn't sure if it was having the desired effect. One of the boys stood up to face him and Charles could see his hidden nervousness.

"Who are you?" he asked.

It was then that Charles noticed that he had seen the boy before. Black hair, a bit short, wearing glasses and a checkered shirt, this was the person who Emily nearly crashed into at the station. Before he hadn't really been able to see his face but now that he had clear view of him and his thin face, what stood out were his eyes behind his round spectacles. They were a startlingly green, and so bright it almost seemed unnatural.

"I'm Charles. Didn't mean to startle you guys, I was just looking for a place to sit. The compartment I was in was full of girls and it was awkward." They seemed to relax at his words, but the tense mood wasn't completely gone, they needed an extra push. "Usually I would have knocked but I was sort of running away from someone I ran into as I was looking around."

The other boy, who had a head full of bright red hair, got up from his seat, "It wasn't that Hermione girl was it? Because of it was I really couldn't blame you." When Charles nodded the boy sighed, "I really hope I'm not in her house, looks a nightmare to be around. I'm Ron by the way, Ron Weasley." Ron then held his big hand out to shake.

Charles thought Ron was being a bit too harsh on the girl, especially as he ran away because he thought himself the issue. Still, the tense atmosphere was finally gone, and Charles wasn't about to bring it back. So he shook his hand and left it at that.

They all sat down, and Charles took note of all the sweets, that were messily spread on the table. He even had to swipe off a pile of wrappers where he went to sit.

The skinny boy introduced himself. "Harry Potter," he said, "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Hermione and Neville had said something about Harry being famous for defeating whoever 'You-Know-Who' was, and while he was curious about the matter, he judged it was not the best time to ask. He had the rest of train ride to ask and a bit of patience wouldn't hurt him too much.

For Harry, who had been receiving everyone's praise and worship when he introduced himself recently, this was a welcome change. "Ron was just telling me about Quidditch, says it's the best game in the world…" Harry stopped and laughed dejectedly, "But I guess you already knew about all that."

"Never heard of it, actually I'm pretty new to all this wizard stuff." There was no point hiding it, he knew far too little to be able to convince people otherwise. "I didn't even know about magic until just a few weeks ago."

Harry relieved to finally see someone in the same situation to him. Ron was born into a family of wizards and Hermione said she could already cast a few spells. Hell even the Dursley's, minus Dudley, seemed to know more than he did.

"Same here," Harry smiled, "Luckily Ron's been explaining a bunch of things to me. He's been really helpful."

Ron blushed and tried to hide his small grin. "Just a little about Quidditch and some things my brothers have told me about Hogwarts. I don't know much else, really."

"Your brothers went to Hogwarts?" Charles asked.

"Yeah all five of them," he groaned, "I'm number six. Bill and Charlie already graduated, and Charlie even works with dragons in Romania nowadays."

The more he spoke about his brothers, the prouder he sounded, and as Charles didn't like the jealousy he felt creeping up, he changed the subject.

"You mentioned Quidditch. What is it?"

Ron was happy to tell him, and Harry was eager to listen. Ron spoke enthusiastically about the game and its rules, often bringing up his favourite team, the Chudley Cannons, attempting to get the two to support them as well. Charles wasn't convinced on the team, but Harry ate up whatever Ron told him and beamed when Ron suggested they go watch a game together sometime in the future. Truth be told, while he wasn't sold on Ron's Chudley Cannons propaganda, the game itself intrigued him.

'I wonder what flying on a broom's like?'

As the three of them talked, they heard loud footsteps outside the door. They turned their heads just before the door was slid open and a pale faced boy with slicked back hair the same colour as Charles' stepped inside, an entourage of two mean looking boys, one fat and one thick, behind him. It wasn't hard for Charles to guess who the heavy footsteps belonged to.

"Is it true?" the pale leader of the group asked. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment." His gaze inspected the three of them, his eyes immediately dismissing Ron and stopping for a moment on Charles, then finally resting on Harry. "So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," said Harry, looking at the boy's henchmen.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this s Goyle," the boy said carelessly when he noticed where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." They were strange names, Charles thought.

Ron coughed slightly, which was more than likely hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasley's have red hair, freckles and more children than they can afford." Draco turned back to Harry, "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He held out his hand out for Harry to shake, but Harry didn't take it.

"I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks," Harry said coolly, causing Draco to frown, a tinge of pink appearing on his pale cheeks.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents." Charles didn't know what he was talking about, but the situation was taking a bad turn.

'It will be annoying if they start fighting.' He was willing to stand up and help his new friends if he had to, but this Draco Malfoy looked like he had some kind of backing behind him and Charles wasn't sure he wanted him as an enemy. Plus both Crabbe and Goyle were huge.

Whilst Charles was thinking such, Draco, deciding he hadn't said enough, continued his speech.

"Your parents didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riff-raff like the Weasley's and that Hagrid and it'll rub off on you." He directed his sight to Charles, "And that goes to you as well."

Clearly Draco had gone too far as Harry and Ron both stood up, Ron's face almost the colour of his hair. Seeing them get up, Charles copied, though he stayed at the back.

"Say that again," Ron threatened.

"Oh you're going to fight us, are you?" Draco sneered back.

"Unless you get out now!" Harry said bravely.

"But we don't feel like leaving, do we boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have

some." Draco gestured towards the uneaten sweet on the table.

Goyle reached towards them. Charles couldn't blame him, they were magical sweets, each having their own special gimmick. He himself had swiped a few chocolate frogs and a couple packets of strange looking jellybeans when they weren't paying attention. He knew they probably would have given him if he had asked, but Charles didn't like asking for things. He preferred to do things himself, without help. Not to mention they had bought more than enough for themselves. If they had only bought a couple things each then Charles wouldn't have even considered taking any of their sweets, but as the pile was so large, Charles didn't feel too bad about filling his pockets.

It was their fault for buying too much.

Before Goyle could get his hands on a chocolate frog he had aimed for, Charles hit it away. Goyle gave him a nasty look and tried again more forcefully. Goyle screamed and jolted his hand back.

A rat was hanging off his finger, its sharp and little teeth sunk deep in his knuckle, drawing blood. Draco and Crabbe backed away as Goyle swung the rat round and round, howling painfully as he did. When he finally managed to send the rat flying to the window, he turned around high tailed it out of the compartment with his two friends.

"Scabbers!" Ron cried. Picking his rat up.

'Was there a rat in here this whole time?' Charles hoped Ron hadn't touched Scabbers before he ate, the boy could get sick.

Suddenly, Hermione was at the door. 'She must have heard Goyle screaming.' Charles chuckled.

"What has been going on?" she said looking around at the sweets and sweet wrappers scattered all over the floor.

Ron was picking up Scabbers by his tail, "I think he's knocked out. No – I don't believe it – he's gone back to sleep."

He looked to Harry, "Have you met Malfoy before?"

Harry told them about how he had met him at Madam Malkins Robes for All Occasions.

"I've heard of his family," Ron said darkly. "They were some of the firsts to turn back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they've been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go to the Dark Side." Ron turned to Hermione, who had been ignore all this time. "Can we help you with something?"

"You'd better hurry up and put on your robes on, I've just been up the front to ask the driver and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"

"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," Ron told her, scowling as he did. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"

"All right – I only came in her because I heard people outside behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," Hermione said with a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know? Bye Charles."

She gave Charles a small wave and Ron glared at her back on her as she left.

"She's right," Charles said pointing to the tip of Ron's nose.

"Whose side are you on Charles," he cried trying to rub off whatever they had seen.

Charles smiled back. 'It was a good idea to change compartment.' Harry and Ron were different from him, but they were nice, and that was good enough for them to qualify as worthy friends. "I should go back to my original compartment, I left my stuff there."

"Ok we'll see you later, yeah?" said Harry.

"I'm going to ink your nose in your sleep," came Ron's joking voice, making them laugh.

Charles nodded to the two of them before leaving. The train was starting to slow down and as he made his way to where Emily and her new group were waiting, a voice echoed through the train.

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage onboard, it will be taken to the school separately."

Charles groaned. 'I should have just stayed where I was. Should I go back?' But it was too late for that. Emily, who had her head peering out of her compartment, had already spotted him.

"Charles! Where have you been, its been ages!" she shouted to him. He made his way over.

"I got lost," he replied lamely.

Emily popped out of the compartment, dressed fully in her robes, and dragged him inside. Once inside he sat down and closed his eyes, waiting for her to complain about his response. He waited… and she said nothing, so he opened his eyes only to see her staring at him curiously.

"W – what!" he stuttered. When she once again said nothing, Charles looked around for answers. Lavender stared at him apologetically, Fay looked away awkwardly, and Isobel had her head in a book, her expression hidden.

Finally, Emily opened her mouth to speak but just shook her head, "There's just no way. Not a chance."

"Not a chance what?" he was starting to get annoyed.

"Look, we're stopping," Fay said, and Emily escaped off to the window.

Charles had no choice but to let her go for now. It was time to get off the train.