"Really?" The urchin thought she had a chance, but it still took her by surprise to hear the ministry witch agree so quickly. She was well-enough used to grown-ups who would rather play nice than work hard, particularly when it came to helping anyone less fortunate than themselves. And a good one or not, Viola still made it out of the gutter where Charley was still struggling. Sure, she had a job and a place to sleep, but that could just as easily change today or tomorrow.
She leaned forward on the table, with wide eyes and an eager grin. All the mournful woes were forgotten in an instant, and the urchin was sure the spark of butterbeer was hitting her now. Brimming with a confidence she had been looking for since sitting down, Charley let the ideas tumble from her mouth. "See, my Pa leads this acting troupe, an' writes the plays for 'em. So we'd move around a bunch, did our act for towns then move on when folks got bored or quit buyin' tickets."
Charley didn't talk about this part all that often. Her traveling days had taught her well, enough to make her feel at home in any place with more windows than doors in it. The first year at Hogwarts, and the one after it, she had tried her own hand at writing plays to pass the time. Most of those wound up as firestarters to keep the urchin warm on winter nights, and passing dreams of being a playwright amounted to just as many ashes.
The buried wounds of her past weren't enough to keep the urchin from laying out the common cities that her troupe would make rounds to. By the time she was done talking, Viola was going to know more about Charley's early whereabouts than she'd ever wanted to, and Charley would probably need another butterbeer. She wet her dry lips with her tongue, feeling as if she'd just finished the longest exam ever taken at school, and added simply, "See, I en't too sure where they'd be now. Thought they'd be writin' more when I was in Hogwarts, 'cept that part stopped after Christmas."
She had always guessed they had gone out of the country somewhere, maybe even to America to make their fortune. And when they came back, Charley could go back to school without any worry for the money to pay for it. "Gonna use those real big owls to find 'em? The sort that cross oceans or summat?"
She leaned forward on the table, with wide eyes and an eager grin. All the mournful woes were forgotten in an instant, and the urchin was sure the spark of butterbeer was hitting her now. Brimming with a confidence she had been looking for since sitting down, Charley let the ideas tumble from her mouth. "See, my Pa leads this acting troupe, an' writes the plays for 'em. So we'd move around a bunch, did our act for towns then move on when folks got bored or quit buyin' tickets."
Charley didn't talk about this part all that often. Her traveling days had taught her well, enough to make her feel at home in any place with more windows than doors in it. The first year at Hogwarts, and the one after it, she had tried her own hand at writing plays to pass the time. Most of those wound up as firestarters to keep the urchin warm on winter nights, and passing dreams of being a playwright amounted to just as many ashes.
The buried wounds of her past weren't enough to keep the urchin from laying out the common cities that her troupe would make rounds to. By the time she was done talking, Viola was going to know more about Charley's early whereabouts than she'd ever wanted to, and Charley would probably need another butterbeer. She wet her dry lips with her tongue, feeling as if she'd just finished the longest exam ever taken at school, and added simply, "See, I en't too sure where they'd be now. Thought they'd be writin' more when I was in Hogwarts, 'cept that part stopped after Christmas."
She had always guessed they had gone out of the country somewhere, maybe even to America to make their fortune. And when they came back, Charley could go back to school without any worry for the money to pay for it. "Gonna use those real big owls to find 'em? The sort that cross oceans or summat?"
![[Image: bZbZdaH.png]](https://i.imgur.com/bZbZdaH.png)