As the Sister of Harry Potter

So this was the current line up for the Yule Ball:

-Me and Diggory
-Ophilia and Fred
-Harry and Cho
-Ron and Parvati Patil
-Hermione and Krum
-Hyden and Launa
-Lee and Sophia
-Sarlanda and George
-Ginny and Neville

So far, only myself, Ophilia, Sarlanda, George, and Diggory knew who I was going with. Not even Harry could pry it out of me. I wanted it kept that way. Goodness knows I would deal with complete humiliation after the ball. I didn’t want that to happen any sooner than it needed to.

Break hit, and yet, the castle seemed to be fuller than ever. It was the first Christmas in my time at Hogwarts that the castle hadn’t practically emptied for the holidays. It seemed like most the school was going to be going to this bloody dance. Great.

A couple days before the ball, Sarlanda, Ophilia and I took the emergency trip to Hogsmead with a few other students to find dresses. Sar and I hadn’t planned on going, and Ophilia couldn’t find anything she liked in London. So it was a “shopping excursion” as Ophilia called it. We took our cloaks, waded through the almost waist-deep snow, and were off in the carriages to Hogsmead.

At Gladrags Wizardwear, we walked in to discover it was all decked out with everything one would need to be wearing for the ball. Sarlanda and I groaned as Ophilia immediately dragged us over to the dresses. She found herself a dress right off the bat, a knee-length purple one with straps that went around the edges of her shoulders. Ten almost furious minutes later, Sarlanda found a halter top dark green dress, a tiny bit shorter than Ophilia’s. Now they started looking for one for me. I could not find anything I liked. All the ones in my favorite colours were far too short, and any that were long enough were on my list of “Ew!” colours. Call me picky, because that’s what I am. Ophilia was going to throw a fit soon about it though, because she was supposed to be making me a princess or something, and that wasn’t working so well at the moment.

Finally…

“How ‘bout this one, Jen?” asked Sarlanda, holding up a long, scarlet, strapless one.

“Umm-” I started, but Ophilia cut in.

“Ooh, I like! Go try it on Jennifer!” she said, pushing me and the dress into a changing stall. I’m sure the other people in the shop were starting to get annoyed with us at this point.

I pulled off my plethora of clothing, and was on with the dress. There was a small slit at the top of the dress that showed some cleavage, (that was awkward) and the side slit went clear up to my mid-thigh. It fit snuggly, and it was a bit risqué for me, but it might work.

I walked out to show the other two. “Spiffy,” Sarlanda said, offering me a nod of approval.

“Spiffy? It’s wonderful on her!” exclaimed Ophilia, bouncing up and down.

“So I guess it’s this one,” I sighed, going back into the changing room and getting back into my warm, comfy clothes. Clothes shopping definitely wasn’t my thing, and I had never grown up with enough money to splurge on clothes. When I emerged, Ophilia dragged us over to pick out accessories and makeup for all of us. Sarlanda and I didn’t complain, because she really liked doing this kind of stuff, and if we had done it ourselves, we would have looked like idiots. She chose black makeup for Sar, gold for me, and purple for her. Then she found a set of bracelets of purple flowers and a crown of them for her hair, some black skull earrings, a matching hair clip and fishnet stockings for Sarlanda, and gold silk gloves and hair band to go with for me.

‘Always gotta have a bloody hair band…’ I thought, adjusting the starting-to-age black one I was wearing currently. I swear, I have worn that thing nearly every day of my life since Ophilia gave it to me for my twelfth birthday. At last, we got to our shoes; purple high heals for Ophilia; black lace-up cork sandals for Sarlanda; and gold lace-up sandals with little wings coming off them for me. We paid and left with our rather heavy bags for the Three Broomsticks. I got us some Butterbeer and we collapsed at a table.

“Thanks for all the help ‘Philia, I never would have gotten it done by myself,” said Sarlanda, sipping the warm beverage. “Would’a looked stupid too. Imagine me shopping for that stuff alone…”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Thanks.”

She grinned. “Oh, no problem. You two needed the kick in the arse.”

Suddenly, rudely, and without any warning, Sarlanda vanished my chair and I fell to the floor, slopping Butterbeer everywhere.

“Wha-” I started, but she kicked me.

“Lance alert!” Ophilia whispered, shoving my shopping bags under the table next to me. I groaned, both in pain and annoyance. Honestly, couldn’t Lance get a life and stop stalking me?

There was a jingling sound of the door being opened, then footsteps coming to our table.

“It’s no use, Sarlanda, I saw Jennifer with you.” said Lance’s low, menacing, and somewhat sexy voice.

“How do you know it was her?” Sarlanda hissed back.

“No one has hair like Jennifer Potter, and honestly, who else would you be in Hogsmead with? Now quit playing games sister, where is she?” he demanded. Ophilia nudged me with her foot, meaning I should probably get the heck out of there. I pulled out my wand and thought, ‘Flipendo!’ My silent knock-back jinx took him by surprise and Lance tumbled over.

I jumped out from under the table, leapt over Lance and three knocked-over chairs, and bolted out the door, hanging a left. I had meant to go for Honeydukes, but wouldn’t you know it? I had turned the wrong way. And I could already hear Lance trumping along behind me… or was that my heart? I didn’t dare look behind me. I ran as fast as I could through the snow towards the hill where the Shrieking Shack was, which was another dumb decision.

I had three choices:

A: Break into the Shack.

B: Run up the mountain or into the forest where I would surely get lost.

C: Face Lance.

I decided to chance it with my stalker. I heard the snow crunching behind me, and I turned around to see Lance there, smirking at me.

“Hello Jennifer.”

“What do you want?” I asked, throwing my gloved hands to the sky.

“Nothing much, I just thought I’d let you know that you’re going to the Yule Ball with me.”

“Bit late for that one, Lance,” I said, backing away until I hit a rock. Lance followed, and I gripped my wand tighter. There was about a foot of space between us now.

“Oh? You think so, do you?”

“I know so,” I said, raising my wand slightly.

“Then who do you think you’re going with?” he breathed, sending chills down my spine.

“None of your damn business,” I hissed, prodding my wand to his chest, forcing him back a step. Why didn’t I just hex him already instead of standing there like an idiot?

“Get away from her now, Lance.”

Lance spun around and I looked over his shoulder to see Sarlanda stalking towards us, wand drawn, face paler than usual in anger and lips drawn tight like McGonagall’s did when she was mad, yet her voice was as calm as ever. How the hell she pulled that off, I have no idea. She’s Sarlanda bloody Malfoy, that’s how.

Suddenly, Lance grabbed me from behind him and held me to his chest, wand pointed at my temple and his other hand forcing my wand to point at the ground.

“Oh sister, you come in at the most inconvenient times. How about you leave yourself?”

Sarlanda stopped moving a few feet from us. Her eyes were a mirror image of Lance’s, but hers were full of anger. Without warning, she yelled, “Relishio!” and I flew out of Lance’s grip and into the snow.

“Diffinda Corpus!”

A jet of purple burst from Sarlanda’s wand and hit Lance. At first, nothing happened, but then he yelled out in agony. His left sleeve was gone, and on his left arm, the skin was peeling away, layer by layer. I stood there, looking at him, mortified. What the hell had she done to him? Lance was groaning in pain and he started muttering spells, trying to reverse the effects.

“Come on Jennifer!” Sarlanda said, grabbing my arm and pulling me as fast as she could back to outside Honeydukes, where Ophilia waited with our bags.

“Tunnel?” she asked.

“Yes,” replied Sarlanda, and we all picked up our bags hastily. We snuck into the secret tunnel that was in Honeydukes cellar, and took off at a fast pace. A fair distance into the tunnel, I finally pried myself from Sarlanda’s grasp and stopped.

“What the bloody hell was that spell you used?”

“Pancake Curse,” Sarlanda said as if she were describing Flobberworms. “Invented it this summer. Didn’t think I would have to use it. Basically, it peels your flesh. Excruciatingly painful. Kind of easy to reverse though….easier than Sectumsempra, anyways…” I shivered slightly. Sarlanda was just downright scary sometimes. Even if her target was Lance…

Sarlanda sighed, agitated. “Mum and Dad are gonna kill me… I am so glad I’m seventeen in March…”

She stopped talking, tapped the wall with her wand, and said, “Dissendium.” The opening behind the one-eyed witch appeared, and we crawled out. “See you guys later,” said Sarlanda, picking up her bags and taking off to the Slytherin common room. Ophilia and I picked up our things and walked in silence up to our common room.

I loved Sarlanda, she was my best mate. But sometimes, I was terrified of her.

I hoped I never got on her bad side.