As the Sister of Harry Potter

JENNIFER

I woke with a start, cold sweat pouring down my neck. But it just kept coming, and it took me a moment or two to realize Fred and George were pouring ice water on me. “ACK!” I yelled, jumping up. I snatched up my wand and with a flick, their glass refilled itself, became two, and poured themselves on their heads. “You keep forgetting I can fight back now,” I told them matter-of-factly.

“We tried shaking you, but you didn’t wake up,” said Fred.

“Then we went for the water,” George added.

“So happy Christmas, Jen,” they finished together, grinning. I rolled my eyes and dove for my small stack of presents.

I went straight for Mrs. Weasley’s present, which was the usual sweater (navy blue this year) and some fudge. I got some excellent defense books from the Lupins and Blacks. Harry had found me a new pair of Chaser gloves, (my current ones had a lot of Spellotape on them) and Ophilia had gotten me some more broom handle polish. Dobby had knit me a pair of socks, one read with yellow lions, the other gold with scarlet G’s. Sarlanda’s gift was a flower that seemed to be made out of pure silver with a stem as black as Harry’s hair. The tag read, “It’s an Everlasting Moon Flower, very rare. My mum grew them in our garden. Enjoy and Happy Christmas, Sarlanda.” Finally, Fred and George had given me an assortment of their Skiving Snackboxes.

I opened the lid to these gingerly. “Are these safe?”

“’Course they are Jen, we wouldn’t give them to you if they weren’t,” said George.

I raised my eyebrow and snorted. “What about that time first year you two fed me Acid Pop?”

“Hey, we weren’t mates back then,” Fred said, grinning. “Yes, everything that’s safe is in there. We’re still having a bit of trouble with the Fever Fudge though, but it’s not in there..”

Twenty minutes later, the three of us were tiptoeing downstairs for breakfast in our new sweaters. Lurking in the hallway by the front door was none other than Cedric. After much snickering and near-silent cussing, I was left alone with my boyfriend.

“What’re you doing here?” I whispered.

“I’m inviting you to breakfast at our house. I’ve already checked with Mrs. Weasley, so if you want to come…” his voice trailed away. He seemed to think I’d much rather stay here. I smiled and pointed my wand up the stairs.

“Accio cloak,” I whispered, and Cedric beamed as I pulled it on. We slipped out the front door and onto the snowy street. Cedric made to turn on the spot, an action I recognized as Apparating. I grabbed his arm and stopped him. He raised his eyebrows at me.

“What?”

“I—er… haven’t passed my test yet…” I mumbled, examining my shoes.

Cedric grinned and held out his arm to me.

“Well, side-along is faster than walking,” he said, and I took his arm. He turned on the spot.

Everything went black and it felt like being sucked through a tight tube. Apparating was not my favorite way to travel, but it beats Floo Powder and is a hell of a lot better than Portkeys. We came out on a little hill covered in snow. Below us on one side was Ottery St. Catchpole. Off on the other side of the village, very distant, was something sort of a black tower. To the right and again distant was a grove of trees I knew concealed the Burrow. And down the hill to where Cedric was looking was… nothing. Just an empty space of land with a few trees.

Before I could question, Cedric pulled me down the slope and started explaining.

“We Fidelius Charmed the house so we could stay in one place. Once I take you in the boundaries, you should—ah.” He cut off was we walked inside the charm’s range.

Cedric’s house was small, but quite charming. The front garden wasn’t as wild as the Weasley’s, but much more exotic than a Muggle garden. As we walked in, the wonderful smell of fresh muffins and bacon washed over me.

“Mum, Dad! Jen’s here!” Cedric announced as he kicked off his shoes and walked into the kitchen. I took off my own trainers and set them against the wall. Comparatively, mine looked like they belonged to a homeless person. I hadn’t bought new shoes in ages, nor had I had any Muggle money to buy any with.

“Ah, Jennifer! Pleasure as always,” greeted Mr. Diggory as I walked into the cozy kitchen. He and Cedric were already seated around the round table.

I took a seat and said, “Hello Mr. Diggory, thank you for inviting me over.”

“Incoming!” warned Mrs. Diggory, and a basket of muffins and a plate loaded with bacon floated onto the table. She took her seat and beamed at me. “Hello Jennifer.”

“Hello Mrs. Diggory. It smells lovely,” I said politely as I took a muffin.

“Thank you dear.”

I dug in. Her food was wonderful.

“So, how’s school going?” Mr. Diggory asked me.

“Erm… honestly? It’s horrible, Umbridge is a bloody nightmare,” I said, tearing into my bacon.

Mr. Diggory smiled grimly. “Sorry about that, she is quite a character, isn’t she?”

“Well, I think the year has been great,” commented Cedric casually.

I stared at him with my mouth half open. He was absolutely mad.

“I mean,” he continued, “these Marauders are making quite a joke out of her.”

“In our day,” said Mrs. Diggory, “the Marauders were what James Potter and his friends called themselves. Caused quite a bit of trouble, those boys did,” she added to me, her brown eyes twinkling.

“Well, these Marauders are taking up that mantle, because their pranks are bloody brilliant,” said Cedric. I held my breath, waiting for him to reveal what I was up to with the pranks, but he said, “I mean, before break, they charmed the armor to table dance and sing in the Great Hall. Whoever they are, they’re very good at magic.”

Mr. Diggory looked at me questioningly, but shook his head and went back to his muffin.

The rest of breakfast passed mostly with talk of Quidditch. I helped Mrs. Diggory clear the table, and then Cedric lead me down a hallway to his room. It was painted a soft gold colour. There was a large Hufflepuff banner and his dresser was untidy, but much better looking that my dorm at Hogwarts. On the walls were several pictures, one of which was Jared, Colin, and himself. In the picture, Cedric was holding his broom and new Captain badge, while Colin sported his Prefect badge. Another picture was himself, age eleven. He was holding out his new wand and grinning as wide as he could, showing off his lack of front teeth.

I sighed happily and flopped down on his bed. “I’ve broken a record.”

“How so?” Cedric asked, sitting backwards in a chair and resting his arms on top of the back.

“Well, to the day, we’ve been seeing each other for almost a year. You haven’t tried to kill, stalk, or blackmail me, and I haven’t sent to the Hospital Wing.” I thought about this for a moment, then said, “It’s a miracle.”

“Yeah, it kinda is,” he said. “I never thought I’d get a chance with you.”

I sat up and smiled at him. “I honestly could never have pictured us together myself. And speaking of pictures….” Out of my back pocket I pulled his Christmas present. “Thought you’d enjoy that.”

The picture was one Collin Creevey had taken and I’d managed to coax a copy out of him. Spinning around the Great Hall were a black and white Cedric and I, me blushing and stumbling, him smiling and practically gliding.

Cedric smiled. “Good times, eh?”

“For you. I have yet to hear the end of it from Ron.”

Cedric Spellotaped it to his wall and gave me a box.

“I’m not ready to marry,” I chortled as I opened it.

“Damn,” he said jokingly. Inside was a pair of earrings. They were like drop earrings, but instead of stones, there was a Quaffle, a set of Bludgers, and a tiny little Snitch.

“Excellent,” I beamed, pulling them on immediately. “These’ll please Ophilia, she whines that my Quidditch robes don’t flatter me and the like. She’ll be thrilled I’m accessorizing.”

-

After lunch, the four of us left for London. We were meeting up with the Order to visit Mr. Weasley again, drop me back off with the Weasleys, and get the Diggory’s new guard. The Diggorys could only stay for a little bit, so when we found everyone, they wished Mr. Weasley a happy Christmas and a speedy recovery, Cedric kissed me in front of everyone (my cheeks burned), and left with Kingsley.

Mr. Weasley looked a lot better than when we first saw him. Most of the colour was back in his face, and he looked rather cheery. That is, until Mrs. Weasley saw his bandages.

“Arthur, you’ve had your bandages changed a day early.”

“Ah, yes… well, the assistant and I had an idea… it works very well on Muggles…”

“What does?”

“Erm, well… they’re called stitches…”

“We’ll be in the tea room,” announced Fred, recognizing the warning signs, and he and George marched me out the door. As we heard Mrs. Weasley explode, I shook my head.

“Stitches… honestly…”

We bought some tea on the fifth floor and started wondering the hospital.

“Be glad you weren’t here this morning, Mum was in a right state,” said George.

“Why, what happened?”

“Percy,” said Fred darkly.

“He sent his jumper back,” explained George.

“That git,” I said, agitated. “One of these days, I’m gonna hunt him down and jinx him silly.”

-

In a few days, the mood at Grimauld Place darkened. As term approached, Sirius grew more and more moody. I really wish I could have stayed with him, but it wasn’t possible.

On the night before we left, it was after dinner and I was leaving the bathroom for my room. I ran into Mrs. Weasley on the stairs. “Oh, there you are Jennifer. There’s someone in the kitchen here to see you,” she said before continuing on up. Puzzled, I tiptoed downstairs and into the kitchen. It was empty except for a woman I didn’t know seated at the table.

“Ah, Jennifer, how good to see you again.”

I sat down cautiously. She was petit with blue eyes, and her short brown hair might have once been shiny and curly, but it now hung limply around her face.

“Erm… do I know you?”

“You probably don’t remember me. Last time I saw you was when Harry was born. I’m Anne Murray, a friend of your parents.”

My eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yes ma’am, Lily was my best friend. You’re named after me, in fact.” I looked confused, so she said, “LilyAnne? Ever wondered where that came from?”

I blinked a couple times. "Alright, fair enough. But why haven’t I ever seen you?”

“I went abroad after I visited your mum and dad one last time. Death Eaters were looking for me. I came back when I heard the Order was forming again.”

I felt a surge of anger. "If you were such good friends with my parents, then why couldn't you have taken in Harry or me?"

"It wasn't my decision to make."

"You could have done something, something like, I dunno... staying in the country?" It looked as if I had finally hit a nerve, but I wasn't sure what that had accomplished. So, I just took a steady breath and asked, “Do you know who Roxanne and Elainea are?”

Anne smiled reminiscently. “Yes. They were also my friends. Roxanne and Sirius were married two years after we left Hogwarts, but Remus wouldn’t let Lainy marry him.”

“What happened to them?”

"Why?"

"They were in a photo of the old Order."

Anne frowned. "I’ll tell you what I know, but I don’t know if it’s the whole story…

“Well, you know that Sirius went to Azkaban shortly after your parents were killed. This left Roxanne with little money and a baby Hyden. When he was about eight, Roxanne died. The Ministry claims it was a freak accident, but I’ll bet my broomstick it was Death Eaters who had managed to wriggle out of Azkaban. Now Elainea… poor Elainea…” Anne’s eyes started to tear up, and she dabbed at them. “Sorry… anyways, when Launa was about two, some anti-werewolf activists turned up at their house. Remus was away, so they found Elainea. They wanted to know where the werewolf was, and when Elainea didn’t tell them…” Anne had to take a few moments to make sure she wouldn’t cry. “They tortured her, and finally just… just killed her. They l-left Launa screaming…

“So when Remus came home, you can imagine his grief. Since Elainea’s parents lived in France, Remus fled there and left Launa in their care. He couldn’t risk her life, too. It worked for about five years until Elainea’s father passed away after quite a battle with Dragon Pox. And then, of course, a year later Roxanne was killed. Remus had been named Hyden’s Godfather, which left Remus with two eight-year-olds. Old Mrs. Schist couldn’t keep up with two, so Remus took Launa and Hyden back to England.”

I continued questioning Anne until she had to go, and I went to bed dumbstruck. I had never imagined those fates for the two mysterious women, or for Launa and Hyden, for that matter. I considered telling Harry what I had found out in the morning, but decided against it. It was like with Neville and his parents - they would tell everyone when the time was right.