As the Sister of Harry Potter

OCTOBER 30th

It had now been almost two months of school. It was great being back at Hogwarts. My schedule was a little full with me taking nine classes. McGonagall raised her eyebrows at me when she gave me my schedule, but I’m taking the classes I like. Well, except Astronomy. Ophilia kind of dragged me into that one. She tried to get Sarlanda too, but Sarlanda is extremely stubborn. More than I am, actually.

Speaking of Sarlanda, she was currently sitting across from me at the Gryffindor table. She sometimes did this when I got up late (and the Twins and Ophilia ditched me because I’m cranky in the morning) and there weren’t many teachers in the Hall. And by teachers I mean McGonagall and Snape.

Currently, I was playing with my scrambled eggs with a slice of bacon. I was taking out my irritation on the eggs, because you know, on your birthday, you really don’t want to wake up early and go to class. Sarlanda watched me kill my eggs with raised eyebrows.

"Gee, looks entertaining."

"It is," I mumbled, crumbling the bacon into my defeated eggs. "Makes the eggs taste better..." I said, shoving some into my mouth. Sarlanda's eyebrows bounced, and she set a bottle of ink in front of me.

"Happy sixteenth birthday."

I gave her a quizzical look. "Eh? Ink for my birthday? You've officially lost it more than Stacey or Ophilia, Sar..."

She rolled her eyes at me. "Oh, bloody hell Jennifer, it's not just ink. It's Jinx Ink."

"…huh wha?" I asked, now really confused.

"I made it myself. Just write someone's name and something about them with it, like 'Draco has pink and purple polka-dotted skin' and in a few minutes, Draco has pink and purple polka-dotted skin."

"Wow..." I said, picking up the bottle. "How long does it last?"

"The jinx effects last for twenty-four hours. The ink itself will last until you use it all up."

I whistled. "Genius you are, Sarlanda..."

"Yes, well, I'm trying to get the effects to last longer. And I know, I try.”

“Thanks Sar!” I grinned, pocketing the ink. Maybe this day would be good after al

-

That evening, I sat in an armchair by the fire, playing Sophia in chess. She had already kicked my butt in checkers, so I was kicking hers at chess. It was near eleven, and we were the only ones in the common room.

"Checkmate," I said as my bishop killed her king.

"Bloody hell, this is why I hate chess... to many pieces..."

"Plus, you're the queen of checkers."

Sophia grinned. "Well, consider this my birthday present to you... Reparo!" she said, waving her wand, and pushing the chess set towards me.

I was slightly shocked. "Really?"

"Yeah, I don't need it..."

"Thanks Sophi!" I said, hugging her across the table. I questioned myself at this moment why I never had a chess set before. ‘Oh, that’s right,’ I though to myself as I climbed the stairs to the dorm. ‘You always just steal Ron’s.’

I crept into the dorm. Katie was asleep, Ophilia had detention with Filch for dungbombing a bathroom earlier today, and Sophia was probably going to end up sleeping in the common room again. Night was practically the only time she could let loose her pyromaniac skills without bothering anyone. I set my new chess set on my bedside table next to my Jinx Ink and turned to the small stack of presents on my bed. I dug into them immediately. There was a cake and card each from Hagrid, Mrs. Weasley, and Sirius. Ginny got me a book called Ultimate Chasers; Famous Moves, Players, and Matches Throughout History. From Hyden, I got a book called Prank Potions. Fred and George had given me a box full of their latest prank items. Ophilia gave me a quill that changed ink colours and made odd bird-like noises when you wrote. Finally was Harry’s present, a new bottle of broom handle polish. I grinned, gathering up all my presents and placing them neatly in my trunk.

“Thanks guys, I love you so much.”

-

The next day was Halloween. That meant the two other schools, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, would be arriving today for the Triwizard Tournament. It also meant we got a half day of classes. No one really complained about that. I got to miss out on Arithmancy. They would be arriving at six PM, so at five-thirty, the teachers started assembling the school out in front of the doors. Everyone had cloaks and scarves on, and were squished rather tightly together. I was stuck between Katie Bell and Ophilia. I snugged my scarlet and gold scarf closer around my neck.

'Bloody hell, it's cold! Where are they?' I thought. If they didn’t show up soon… but my question was soon answered.

It was Lee who saw it. "The lake! Look at the lake!" he shouted, pointing. Everybody's heads turned to look, and gasped. Rising out from its' black waters rose a timber, and as it continued to rise, we saw that it was the mast of a huge ship. It fully emerged from the water and I saw its red and black banners.

"Durmstrang colours," said Katie. I nodded. The plank lowered and the students of Durmstrang filed out with their fur coats and hats. The looked amusing. Leading the students was a tall, thin man with dark eyes and hair and a pointed goatee. Dumbledore walked up to the man and shook his hand.

"Igor!"

"Dumbledore! Is Maxime here yet?"

"No, not yet. Would you like to wait out here for her?"

"No, I think ve shall go inside. Viktor has a slight headcold." he said, gesturing to the student beside him. I recognized him at once. After all, I had seen him play Quidditch this past summer.

"Is that Viktor Krum?" I heard Ron and Hyden ask loudly at the same time. Ophilia and I rolled our eyes. Did they have to be that loud?

While we were waiting for Beauxbatons to arrive, Ophilia and I switched places to I could talk to George.

"Where are they, do you think?" I asked him.

“Ran into a dragon?" he suggested. I snorted.

"More like Percy," I said, then we both started laughing. As we were, Ophilia pointed up and shouted, "Look!" There was a – well, I don't know what it was – a thing flying towards us. As it drew closer, I squinted at it. It was a giant carriage, pulled by enormous winged horses. It landed smoothly on the grass in front of us, awing everyone. Out of it filled students in blue uniforms, followed by an enormous woman. Dumbledore greeted her.

"Maxime!" he said, kissing her hand.

"Proffezer Dumblee-dore!" she replied.

"Please, come inside! Igor is already here." he said, and everyone filed inside. I sat down at the Gryffindor table between Harry and George.

“They look cold,” said George, mentioning to the Beauxbatons students.

“Yeah, I reckon it’s because, you know, they’re only wearing silk,” I said smugly. Honestly, did they expect it to be warm and cheery? This was bloody England!

But the chatter soon died down, starting with the Hogwarts students. They knew what to expect. And everyone waited for Dumbledore to speak.