The "victory" in the argument didn't exactly inspire cheers from the boys. In fact, the atmosphere grew significantly colder.
Nobody actually enjoys a pointless argument, even if they end up winning it.
After all, the lighthearted, friendly mood from earlier was completely ruined.
About two minutes later, Anthony let out a long sigh and slapped his own cheeks. "I lost my temper. Sorry, mates."
Charlie didn't agree or disagree. In truth, it was the very first time he had ever seen the endlessly optimistic, perpetually outgoing Anthony look genuinely angry.
"Hey, Charlie, aren't you going to go comfort her?"
"I think you're right." Charlie nodded, though he didn't immediately stand up.
Anthony stayed silent for a moment before suddenly leaning in closer, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Apologize to her for me too, yeah? But, bloody hell, since you're her mate... could you maybe gently point out that the way she talks to people is incredibly grating?"
He looked at Charlie, seeking validation. "Does that make sense? Or is that too hypocritical of me?"
"No, it makes perfect sense. The way she speaks to people is abrasive, and you got triggered and said something excessively harsh in response. Both of those things can be true at the same time."
"See you lads at the Astronomy Tower." Charlie clapped his hands together and pushed himself up from the table.
Stepping out of the Great Hall, he immediately bumped into a familiar face—Lavender Brown, a Gryffindor girl in his year.
"Evening, Lavender. Have you seen Hermione?" Charlie asked.
"Evening, Wonka. Hermione? Yeah, I literally just bumped into her on the second floor. Why? Did you upset her? Her eyes were all red."
"We'll just say it was me," Charlie smiled helplessly.
"That's a shame. I remember during the Welcoming Feast, she was genuinely gutted you didn't end up in the same House as her."
That was a dangerously awkward conversation topic to engage with. Charlie just smiled, stepped past her, and said, "Thanks for the help."
"No problem. You'd better go find her."
Finding a single person inside a massive, sprawling castle was nowhere near as easy as one might think. After wasting a significant amount of time wandering aimlessly, Charlie finally hit upon a brilliant solution.
"Excuse me, ladies. Have any of you seen a girl with bushy brown hair walk past here recently?" Charlie asked a painting hanging on the second-floor wall.
The painting depicted three girls dancing ballet together. The girl in the very center was up on her tiptoes, her arms raised high above her head with her fingertips touching as she spun gracefully.
A moment later, her spinning stopped. The three girls perfectly synchronized their movements, extending their arms to point down the opposite end of the corridor, and began to sing softly:
"She came in a hurry, and hurried away. She turned to the left, and vanished away."
"I thank you in a hurry," Charlie nodded, quickly making his way down the corridor.
At the next corner, he stopped in front of a painting depicting a tense courtroom trial. The prisoner currently on the stand answered him eagerly: "Oh, Your Honor, I confess to everything! She went straight up those stairs heading toward the third floor!"
"Excellent. I hereby pardon you," Charlie nodded.
Stopping and starting along his route, the various portraits—each with their own unique personalities and quirks—used their own methods to point Charlie along Hermione's path.
Hogwarts portraits were absolutely everywhere. About twenty minutes later, Charlie finally arrived outside an empty classroom on the fifth floor.
The room was situated right next to the library. Charlie pushed the door open aggressively and immediately heard the sound of quiet sobbing.
"Has anyone seen Hermione Granger?" Charlie asked loudly, his voice echoing from the doorway.
Inside the dark, empty classroom, Hermione lifted her head and looked toward the silhouette standing framed in the light of the corridor.
He stood with his chin raised, an expression of total nonchalance on his face. Combined with his demanding tone, he looked incredibly arrogant.
"Oh, having a little cry, are we?" Charlie said, his words firing off rapidly.
"Let me guess: you couldn't win a debate, so you decided to hide in here and drop a few tears in secret? If I were you, I wouldn't let it get to me like that. If you can't win an argument, you can't win an argument. It simply means you lack the requisite knowledge to back up your claims."
"Oh, that is quite enough," Hermione muttered unhappily.
"Charlie, why are you treating me like this? You're being incredibly cruel."
Hermione stared at Charlie, completely baffled and deeply hurt. From the very beginning, she had considered Charlie a good friend.
But during the conflict earlier, this "good friend" hadn't offered her a single word of support—not even a sympathetic glance.
Hearing Hermione's words, Charlie lowered his head. The arrogant posture vanished, replaced by his usual calm demeanor, though his signature warm smile was absent.
He spoke softly. "Hermione, I was just imitating the way you speak to people."
"Imitating me?" Hermione lifted her head, staring straight at him.
Charlie slowly walked over to her.
Hermione remained seated in an old, dusty chair, watching him approach.
"You can absolutely rip open a train compartment door without knocking. But only if you actually know the people sitting inside.
"You can absolutely hold yourself to the strictest standards of the school rules. But you have absolutely no right to bark orders at a complete stranger and demand they do the same.
"You can feel deeply outraged by the historical cruelty of the Golden Snidget. But you cannot aggressively force that emotional burden onto a group of people who have absolutely nothing to do with it.
"Especially when you speak to people without ever pausing to consider how the stranger across from you might feel."
As he spoke, Charlie flipped his hand over. A piece of Sun-Lightning chocolate appeared between his fingers.
He placed the chocolate on the desk, pressed his finger against it, and gently slid it over to Hermione.
"I don't want to stand here and sound like I'm lecturing you. I'll leave you to have this space to yourself.
"I believe you're smart enough to understand exactly what I'm saying.
"See you in Astronomy class.
"Also, eat the chocolate. It'll warm you up."
With that, Charlie turned around, adjusted the collar of his robes, and walked out of the classroom.
The Astronomy Tower was located quite a distance from both the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor common rooms. It was the third-tallest structure in all of Hogwarts.
The tallest was the main spire of the castle itself, and Charlie guessed the second tallest was likely the Headmaster's office. The Astronomy Tower comfortably took third place.
It wasn't grouped together with the other two tall towers; instead, it sat alone on the southeastern edge of the castle. It offered the most breathtaking, unobstructed view of the starry sky.
It was nearly October. They were in the Scottish Highlands, practically brushing up against the Arctic Circle. Combining the high altitude of the tower with the high latitude of their location, the moment the wind whipped through the open windows, Charlie's teeth immediately began to chatter violently.
"Stop chattering!" Charlie aggressively clamped his jaw shut.
He turned his head and saw Anthony looking completely unaffected.
"Aren't you freezing?" Charlie asked, thoroughly confused.
"Freezing? What do you mean?" Anthony paused for a second before realization dawned on him. He flipped open his collar, revealing a family crest intricately stitched in gold thread on the inside lining. "These robes are custom-made. Honestly, I'd completely forgotten about it until you mentioned it."
Seeing Charlie huddled over and shivering, Anthony immediately started shrugging off his robes. "Do you want to wear them?"
"I respectfully decline, but thank you," Charlie said, shooting him a look before flicking a piece of chocolate over to Hector. "We've got our own way of staying warm."
Swallowing the chocolate, a sudden surge of heat bloomed inside his body, rapidly driving away the biting chill.
Anthony's eyes practically sparkled as he stared intensely at Charlie.
"Alright, alright, mate. Did you really think I'd only bring two pieces?" Charlie laughed, flicking another piece over to Anthony.
Clack-clack-clack-clack—
The sound of frantic, rapid-fire footsteps echoed up the stone stairwell.
Whoever was making that noise was sprinting at breakneck speed, their feet slamming heavily against the stone steps.
The three boys turned around, only to see Hermione charging straight toward them. Her bushy hair was flying wildly in every direction, making her look absolutely terrifying.
Anthony practically jumped up two steps to hide directly behind Charlie.
Exactly as expected, Hermione skidded to a halt right in front of the three of them.
But entirely completely unexpectedly, she immediately bent forward into a perfect ninety-degree bow and fired off a single, massive sentence without taking a breath:
"I am so incredibly sorry I was being completely self-righteous and just blabbing on about what I thought was right without ever considering how anyone else felt and the history of Quidditch genuinely has nothing to do with modern Quidditch so it was entirely my fault and I am so deeply sorry."
Her words fired off as fast as the latest Nimbus 2000, without a single microsecond of hesitation or pause.