As the Sister of Harry Potter

Two days before school started, we FINALLY got our letters. Fred came in and threw George and I ours. I had just finished kicking his butt at chess, so he was glad for a distraction. I ripped mine open. There were only three books I needed; Standard Book of Spell, Year 7; Arithmancy for the N.E.W.T. Student; and Defensive Magical Theory. George raised his eyebrows at the Defense book. “Defensive Magical Theory? How boring does THAT sound?”
“Very,” said Fred, yawing slightly.
“I bet it’ll make a great pillow,” I joked. George snorted.

I went to chuck the envelope in the rubbish bin when something fell into my hand. It was a golden badge. “Oh GREAT,” said Fred sarcastically, “Jen’s been made Head Girl.”
“Nope,” I said, holding up the badge for them to see, “Quidditch Captain.” Sure enough, the badge had a red lion in front of two crossed broomsticks and read GRYFFINDOR QUIDDITCH CAPTAIN. Fred and George lept to their feet, fists pumping.
“Yes!”
“I KNEW you’d get it!”
“Yeah, no WAY I could be Head Girl!” I said joyously, and we ran downstairs to the guy’s room.

All the fifth years and Ginny were in there. I entered first, holding my badge proudly. “Quidditch Captain,” I said, ecstatic.
“Well done,” Harry said, and Launa grinned.
“Aw! Ickle Ronnie-kins is a Prefect!” said George.
“Gonna give us detention?” Fred asked Hermione, who also had a Prefect badge.
“I’m surprised ‘Arry didn’t get it,” commented Launa.
“Nah,” I said, “no way. You’ll get Captain after I’m gone though,” I told him. Harry smiled.

It was then that I noticed Hyden. He was holding a brand new black Gibson Les Paul electric guitar. “Whoa…” I said, coming over to him. “Dude! Where did you get that?”
“Late birthday present from my dad and Lupin.”
I dug a couple Galleons out of my pocket. “Here. Go buy yourself an amp and I’ll rig ‘em to run off magic.”
He grinned. “Thanks Jen.”
“No problem. But you have to play rock music and write good songs.”
“Will do,” he said, saluting me.

That evening, there was a party for Ron, Hermione and myself. Sirius and Lupin were both glad for me. “You really are James’s soul in Lily’s body,” said Sirius, grinning.
“Yes, except Jennifer gets away with a lot more than James ever did,” commented Lupin, eyes twinkling.
“I have your old map, you know,” I told Sirius in a hushed voice. “Fred and George stole it from Filch our first year.”
“Really now?” he asked, interested. “Filch never figured out how to work it?”
I snorted. “Of course not. Got dung for brains, that one…” We chuckled. “How did Filch get it anyways?”
“Confiscated it from us our last week of 7th year,” Sirius said grimly. “Ruddy git. Wormtail was the one who suggested we made a map, believe it or not. Remus, James and I made the magic work, and bang! The Marauder’s Map was born.”
“You guys missed the Room of Requirement,” I said, smiling.
Sirius frowned. “The Room of what?”
“Requirement. It appears on the 7th floor across from that troll tapestry.”
“Really now?”
“Yeup. But it only appears when you need it.”
“Ah, no wonder I never found my Fanged Frisbees.” I looked at him curiously. “I hid my stash of Frisbees in a room at that location in 5th year, but when I came back to get them, the room was gone.”
I laughed. “If I ever find ‘em, I’ll bring you your Frisbees.” Sirius winked.

There was a knock on the front door and Mrs. Weasley sprung to action. “They’re here!” she said, and rushed out of the kitchen.
“Who’s here?” Ron asked.
“You’ll see,” said Tonks, grinning, her hair bubble-gum pink today. “You’ll be quite pleased, I imagine…” she added.
‘Who could be here?’ I wondered as Mrs. Weasley came back, leading four people.

The first was Sarlanda Malfoy. There was a slight shadow under her stormy gray eyes and her long brown hair was messy. She wore a forest green cloak, and a black shirt and jeans. Her boots were made of black dragon skin and she gripped her wand tightly in her left hand. I jumped to my feet and hugged her. “Sarlanda!” I said excitedly. She gave her lopsided smile and hugged me back.
“Jennifer. Good to see you, but you should probably save your hugs for…” Her voice trailed away and I looked over her shoulder. There was Mr. and Mrs. Diggory, looking tired but smiling. And next to them was… “Cedric,” Sarlanda finished. I released her and rushed Cedric, throwing my arms around his neck. He swung me around.
“Good to see you too,” he said, chuckling. His voice was heaven for my ears.

Someone cleared their throat, so I let go and we all sat at the table. There were a lot of people here. I was wedged between Cedric and Fred across from George and Sarlanda. “So Sar,” I asked, “what kind of work have you been doing?”
“Can’t really say, but me and Snape have been spying on the Death Eaters.” Fred, George and I made a face at the mention of our least favorite professor. “Mostly I’ve been at home collecting info except fro when I have guard duty and today when Dumbledore asked me to pick up the Diggorys.”
“Wait, what about when we go back to school?” Fred asked, magicing his spoon to feed him mashed potatoes.
“I’m basically Cedric’s bodyguard, hence this,” she said grimly, pulling out a silver badge. It had a green serpent on it and read HEAD GIRL. Our jaws dropped.
“So I guess pranking is out of the question?” I asked gloomily.
“On the contrary, it makes a wonderful cover and excuse from being up late,” she said, beaming.

“So then you’re Head Boy?” George asked Cedric, who nodded.
“That and I’m Captain again.”
“Git,” I muttered, playfully nudging him in the ribs.
“It’s gonna suck. I’ll have Head Boy duties, N.E.W.T. homework, plus I’ll have to run a Quidditch team,” he said moodily.
“Yeah, that and your team won’t stand a chance again mine,” I added.
Cedric grinned. “We’ll see…”
“Anyways, you know of any other badges?” Fred asked.
“Yeah. Draco’s been made Prefect and Lance is Slytherin’s Captain.”
I gagged. “Great…”
“Yeah,” Sarlanda agreed, “so Rodger Davis will probably be Ravenclaws’ again.”
I grinned evilly. “I can’t wait to see everyone’s faces when the team lead by a GIRL wins the Quidditch Cup…”

When dinner was over, Mrs. Weasley addressed the Diggorys. “Amos, I have the drawing room all set up for you and Polly. But Cedric…”
“He can stay with us,” I said suddenly. “Me and Fred and George. I’ll sleep on a couch or something.”
“Yeah, sure,” said Fred. George shrugged.
“OK, Jen and I’ll go set is up for him,” said Sarlanda, and she dragged me out of the room before Mrs. Weasley could say anything else.

We went up to my shared room on the third floor. With a flick of her wand, Sarlanda organized the room. She smirked when she was the Whizbang boxes. She then turned to the wardrobe into one of those beds that fold down. “Impressive,” I said, examining her handiwork.
“Thanks,” she muttered, and sat on Fred’s bed. Worry was plastered all over her face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, concerned. Sarlanda hardly ever looked (or was) worried.
“Lance came home yesterday.”
“What do you mean?”
Sarlanda frowned. “He left a couple days after term finished in June and came home yesterday. I haven’t seen or head anything from or about him all summer.”
“So?” I asked.
“Jen…he’s different. More cocky. And I sense greater power coming from him…” she paused, looking at me hard. “Point is Jen, he’s changed, and has more power. Cedric isn’t the only one I’m supposed to be protecting; you and Harry are on my list too.” I scrunched my eyebrows together and she continued. “That’s not all. I think he’s been branded with the Dark Mark. I mean, I’m not positive, but it wouldn’t surprise me. And he’s been wearing long sleeve shirts 24/7.” Sarlanda sighed and laid down. “This is going to be one hell of a year. For better or worse.”