As the Sister of Harry Potter

FEBRUARY FOURTEENTH

For the next two months, all it seemed to do was snow. We found ourselves in over six feet of it, which made for some really fun snowball fights. I got the Twins and Ophilia back, that’s for sure.

The second school started up it seemed, whispers followed me like bees to honey. Rumors were flying all over the school about Diggory and I, mostly that we were “seeing each other” and “dating.” We are definitely not dating, we just… see more of each other and get along now. Last time I checked, that was not the definition of dating.

The morning of Valentines Day, Ophilia and I were taking a different route to breakfast because a couple of third years were blocking the shortcut we usually took. We were just going down the staircase to the sixth floor by the Ravenclaw common room when we were stopped by Chang and her little gang.

“So Potter, the rumor’s true?” Brittany asked, her brown eyes slits.

“What rumor?” I asked grouchily.

“You and Diggory are dating. Is that true?”

“No, we’re not dating. We’ve just been hanging out a lot.”

Brittany rolled her eyes. “Potter, that’s called dating. Honestly, how thick are you?”

“Well, I was under the impression it didn’t matter. We both know you and your sister have been fawning over Diggory for ages, so I guess to you, it’s his opinion that matters, eh?” Brittany’s face was pale with shock, and her eyebrows shoved together in rage. Ophilia grabbed my arm and whisked me away before a full-out fight could break out.

“Just ignore her Jen, you were right, she’s jealous,” Ophilia said happily after we made it down to the third floor.

“I guess,” I responded. But honestly, what was there to be jealous of?

Ophilia and I chatted as we continued down to breakfast. The second task was only two days away, and we were discussing what might go down.

“Well, they all did fairly well on the last one. But I’m not too sure about Fleur,” Ophilia said as we sat down at the Gryffindor table.

“Yeah, I’m betting she won’t do so well,” I said, picking through the breakfast items on the table. Multitudes of hooting and wing beats filled the hall as the mail arrived. Two owls swept down towards me. The first was a small gray owl, and I opened that one first. It read;

Jennifer,

Since Harry’s telling me of his dream involving Voldemort and the events that unfolded afterwards, I have decided to come back. Don’t worry; I'm in a very safe place. Send me back the date of your next Hogsmead visit and I’ll get back to you.

Hoping you’re well,
Snuffles and Beakey

“Hey Sophia, when’s the next Hogsmead visit?”

“Uhh… next weekend I believe,” she said, looking over the top of the paper.

“Thanks,” I said, pulling out my quill and scribbling on the back of the note.

Snuffles,

I can’t believe you’re coming back. Very irresponsible. But our next visit is next weekend, and today’s Valentines Day. So, see you then!

Love,
Jennifer

I gave the note back to the owl along with a strip of bacon. It hooted contently and flew off once it was finished.

“Ugh, I can’t believe this!” said Ophilia, throwing her copy of The Daily Prophet down in disgust.

“Hmm?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

“This!” she said, pushing the paper towards me. Harry was on the front page, along with an article about him by Rita Skeeter. As I scanned through it, my jaw dropped in shock. “She’s been attacking Hagrid and Hermione as well,” commented Ophilia, pulling the paper away from me when I finished.

“Who is this woman?” I asked, appalled. Was it her fault that there were all these disgusting rumors going around?

“Jen, do you read the paper?” Ophilia asked, stunned.

I shook my head. “Never have, ‘s a bunch of lies.”

“Well… half and half. Rita Skeeter is a horrible journalist, but if you read between the lines, you can get some truth out of the paper.” I gave her a skeptical look and picked up my next letter, or rather, box. I opened the note first. Written in fancy handwriting was a Happy Valentines Day. The box was filled with my favorite sweets. I gave the box a small smile, slipped in into my bag, and set off to meet Sarlanda and the twins for Potions.

I sat down by Sarlanda at our usual potions table of her, Fred, George and I. Peering over into my bag, Sarlanda saw the box and note. “Getting some already?” she commented.

I stuck my tongue out at her. “I don’t even know who it’s from.”

“Obviously Diggory, Jen. I mean honestly,” said Fred, rolling his eyes.

“Well, that’s what I thought at first, but I don’t think he would,” I replied, continuing to scan over the directions. This potion was so confusing.

“Well, it would make sense. Aren’t you two dating?” George questioned.

“No, we’re not.”

“Sarlanda told us you were,” he said, slicing his moonbeans carefully.

“Sarlanda!”

“Potter! Five points from Gryffindor, and it’ll be more if you don’t keep quiet!” Snape snapped at me from over his desk. I rolled my eyes and went back to my potion making.

“What, was I not ‘sposed to tell?” Sarlanda asked.

“There was nothing to tell! We aren’t dating!”

Sarlanda laughed heartlessly. “That’s not what it looks like to me. If only you could see yourself with him in the Library…”

I shook my head and bent over my book. It really wasn’t worth it.

As soon as the bell rang, I booked it out of Potions. I shivered and pulled my robes tighter around myself as I came into the Entrance Hall. Winter was not the season to be stuck in the dungeons for Double Potions. I meandered through a group of Durmstrang boys who looked interestingly at me. I shoved through up them and up the Grand Staircase. I really needed the peace and quiet of the Library, where I could at least block out whispers with books.

-

I left Transfiguration that afternoon wishing nothing more than to go pass out. N.E.W.T. level was so much harder than O.W.L., and I swear I only made it into the class on pure luck. I walked by myself through the crowd, checking over my shoulder every now and then. That prickly feeling of being watched or followed was making me jumpy, and on the second check my stomach flipped. Lance was staring at me, walking swiftly and pushing people out of his way. I turned back around and tried not to run. What the hell did he want this time?

“Whoa, hey, Jennifer!”

A hand grabbed me and I spun around into Diggory. “What? Oh, hey Diggory.”

“Come on,” he said happily, and pulled me off through the crowd. I caught one last look at Lance before I was dragged around a corner. He had stopped with people swarming around him, his teeth bared in rage.

“This isn’t the way to the Great Hall,” I commented as we entered an emptier corridor.

“I know,” he replied.

“But I’m hungry. I’m going to go eat.”

He just gripped my arm a little firmer. “That’s just what we’re doing.”

“What? Where’re we going?”

“You’ll see.”

I huffed. There really wasn’t any reasoning with him, was there? At least he had gotten me away from Lance.

We ended up in the hallway that housed the little-known Room of Requirement. Sarlanda found it our third year, and the group of us had been using it for prank planning since then.

“The Room of Requirement?” I asked as he paced. The door appeared and he just smiled and pulled me inside.

It was a large, circular room (probably a tower) with a huge balcony taking up a good portion of the outer wall. On the balcony was a table for two set up, complete with candles and steaming food. The dying sunlight bathed the tower in an orange light, and snow drifted down lightly outside. I cleared my throat.

“Wow, this is erm, pretty cool,” I said, looking around.

He raised his eyebrows. “I only get a ‘pretty cool’?”

I raised one of my own red eyebrows. “Well, I guess it’s borderline impressive,” I said a bit teasingly.

“Good, now let’s eat.”

We sat down and my jaw dropped. There was all my favorite food here. “Alright, how did you know?” I asked, helping myself to the roast chicken.

“Know what?”

“All this. I mean, come on, peanut butter filled chocolates? Roast chicken, French bread, and pasta? What do you do, stalk me?”

“No, I had some inside help.”

“Who?”

“Ophilia. I became friends with her last year, and when she found out I liked you, she decided to hook us up. She’s been helping me with all this, and a lot of other things.”

I sighed. “Damn that girl, I should have guessed. This explains so much… wait, did you cook all this?”

Diggory snorted. “Honestly? No, I can’t cook to save my life, she talked the house elf – uh, Dobby was his name? – into cooking for us.”

I laughed. Dobby would have cooked all this, I could just hear him now…

“It’s alright, I used to be horrible until I moved in with my aunt and uncle.”

“How did that change it?”

“Well, they hate Harry and I, so we do most of the cooking and cleaning when we’re there… slaves, kind of like…” I said nonchalantly. Well, it was true. We were either slaving away, or locked in our room, which we had to share, by the way.

Diggory’s fork stopped inches from his mouth.

“They make you do what?”

“Oh, it’s not that bad. The worst they’ve done to us was - fourth year was it? Yeah - summer before fourth year the padlocked and barred us into out bedroom and the Weasleys had to come rescue us in that flying car of theirs.”

Diggory frowned at his green beans. “That’s not right at all, why would they do that to you?”

“Well, I suspect it’s because they hate anything and everything with an imagination.”

There was silence until I thought up another question. This conversation thing was getting hard.

“So… you gonna give me any hints on what the second task is?” I asked hopefully and completely out of my own curiosity.

Diggory grinned. “Nope, you might go and tell Harry, and that wouldn’t be very fair, would it? Especially since I’ve already given him a hint myself.”

I looked at him, confused. “But—what? Why?” I knew Diggory was fair, but this was stretching it a bit.

“He told me about the dragons, so I figured this would be repaying my debt to him.”

‘Duh,’ I thought. “Well then,” I started, “are you ready?”

He shrugged. “I guess. What bugs me is I still don’t know what it is we have to ‘recover’. There’s your hint, we have to get back something of ours we cherish. I keep thinking the teachers are going to raid my dorm and take my broomstick…” he said, his eyebrows pushing together in thought.

I raised mine. “Wouldn’t put it past them, but I doubt they will… interesting theory though.”

We finished eating and the table cleared itself. Goodness I love magic.

Diggory stood leaning against the edge of the balcony, and I stood well away from the edge. It was now dark now, and the little sliver of moon showing wasn’t casting much light.

“Diggory, how long have you liked me?”

He shrugged. “I dunno, probably since first or second year I guess. I mean, I’ve liked other girls, but I just kept coming back to you… and would it kill you to call me Cedric?”

“Probably, Ce-Cedric,” I stuttered out. I hadn’t called him by his first name in forever. Seriously, I can’t remember the last time I said “Cedric” instead of “Diggory.”

I caught the shadow of a smile on his face, and he offered me his hand. I shook my head rather violently. “No way am I going near that ledge.”

“What, not scared of heights are you? You’re a Quidditch player!” he teased.

“Oh, I’m fine on a broom, but when my feet are still on the ground… I don’t know how I survive Astronomy, I hate it up there.”

Diggory gave me a very quizzical look before sighing. “So, Jennifer… where do we stand?”

“Um, in the Room of Requirement,” I pointed out.

“No, I mean… relationship wise.”

Ugh, he just had to bring it up. “Well, I’m not sure.”

“Do you like me at all?” he asked. He couldn’t have said it in a plainer voice.

“I—I think so… maybe. It’s really confusing, but I think I’ve decided that, maybe, you’re not as bad as I thought you were,” I said, feeling my face heat up. I had never been one of those emotion-spillers myself.

“Well, this is the deadline I set for myself. And I know you’ve been saying we haven’t been dating, but after tonight… could we maybe be dating now?” He was really hopeful and persistent. I’m not sure if that was good or not.

And now here it was, this chance for probably change in front of me… and I was scared. I was scared where it would take me, what lay ahead in store, waiting for me. Diggory was a nice guy, but was he the right guy?

Honestly Jennifer, you’re never going to get anywhere in life if you don’t take chances.

That was my voice and Ophilia’s words. Maybe she was developing some kind of mind control. I wouldn’t put it past her.

I snapped back to reality, and Diggory’s face didn’t have much of a smile on it anymore. He was closer, and I could see his features better now. Brown hair combed, thick eyebrows frowning, grey eyes sad, thin mouth loose. He was expecting a no. Considering my reputation to him, I guess that wasn’t such a lurid guess.

“I erm, guess I could… give it a shot,” I said, flushing again and scratching under my headband. I nearly knocking it off when Diggory pulled me into a rather strong embrace. I overcame my surprise and sort of hugged him back. It wasn’t half bad.

He pulled away and his hand caught my chin, bringing our gazes together. His eyes seemed to be like the moon…

“Wha? Di-Cedric, what are you—”

His lips touched mine. It was only for a second, but I think my heart spazzed and skipped a few beats. Diggory pulled away quickly, a little pink himself.

“Sorry, I uh, um… just h-have been wanted to do that for a wh-while now…”

I didn’t say anything, but my face continued to heat up. I don’t think I could have said anything without stuttering worse than him.

The booming bells chimed nine across the school grounds. “Erm, it’s kinda late, we should h-head back to our dorms before Filch gets us,” I said once I couldn’t feel the bell vibrations in my legs anymore.

Diggory released me and nodded. “You’re right. Well, kind of, I won’t get in trouble, but you might.”

We left in a hurry, and he stopped just around the corner. “Goodnight Jen.”

“Goodnight… Cedric,” I said, smiling at him. He smiled back, and then I was gone around the corner.

“Oh, so what’s the excuse this time?” the Fat Lady demanded.

“I was on a date. Balderdash.”

“I don’t believe it. With whom?”

“That is for me to know and you to never find out,” I said, climbing in the portrait hole as she huffed.