AN: I wrote this long enough ago that it's not quite up to my current standards, but recently enough that I don't want to go through and rewrite it. Don't judge me too harshly - it's meant as a fun, not to be taken too seriously, teenage romance.

'How'd you do?'

Jackie couldn't respond because she was busy tearing open the letter that had just arrived in her lap. She barely glanced at the first page before tossing it aside to examine the second.

Ordinary Wizarding Level Results

Pass Grades: Outstanding (O); Exceeds Expectations (E); Acceptable (A)
Fail Grades: Poor (P); Dreadful (D); Troll (T)

Jaquelyn Rose Andrews has achieved:
Arithmancy - O
Astronomy - E
Charms - O
Defense Against the Dark Arts - E
Divination - A
Herbology - E
History of Magic - E
Potions - O
Transfiguration - O

Breathing a sigh of relief, Jackie turned to Ari. 'Not bad. How'd you do?'

She smiled. 'Pretty bloody well, if I do say so myself.'

Jackie's mum came over then. 'I think this calls for some celebration,' she smiled, setting down two steaming bowls of chocolate chip porridge in front of the two girls.

'Sweet, thanks, mum!' Jackie grinned as she started shoveling the chocolate-chippy goodness in her mouth.

'Yeah, thanks, Elizabeth.' Even though it had been five years, Ari still didn't call Jackie's mum 'Mum.'

'No problem, honey.' Jackie's mum squeezed Ari's shoulder and returned to the stove.

Once they had eaten their fill, their bowls were never empty for too long, Jackie and Ari gathered their papers to go to their room. As Jackie picked up her envelope, however, a badge fell out of it.

'What?' She just gaped at the badge so Ari snatched her letter, and there was a third page behind her O.W.L. results.

'"Dear Ms Andrews, Congratulations, you have been named Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team." Wow, Jackie, that's amazing!' Ari exclaimed.

Jackie quickly grabbed the letter back and read through it herself.

Dear Ms Andrews,
Congratulations, you have been named Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. You will need to organise tryouts and practices. Please see me sometime on the 4th September for any additional information and a list of people wishing to try out.
Best of luck,
Professor Flitwick
Head of Ravenclaw House

Jackie just sat there for a moment more until Josh, her brother, stumbled down the stairs.

'Good afternoon,' Ari teased him as he sat down and Jackie's mum set a bowl of porridge in front of him.

Josh just nodded absently, obviously still half-asleep, until he realised that he was eating chocolate chip porridge instead of normal.

'What's the occasion?' he asked, suddenly more awake.

'Jackie and Ari got their O.W.L. results today. Now all three of my wonderful kids are N.E.W.T. students.' Jackie's mum beamed proudly.

'Oh, cool.' Josh went back to his porridge.

Ari rolled her eyes. 'You're thrilled, I can tell. So, how about you? You exited to be a big seventh year?'

Josh just shrugged and continued eating.

Jackie gave up on him. 'Come on, Ari let's head upstairs.'

Once in their shared room, Jackie lay down on her bed while Ari jumped on hers.

'We're N.E.W.T. students!' she cheered.

'We're Ravenclaws, it's a minimum requirement of the House,' Jackie laughed.

With an 'Oof,' Ari landed on her back on her bed. 'Oh, I can't wait to go back now. And, ohmygosh, you'll never guess what Danielle told me!' She jumped up and perched on the edge of her bed, leaning her elbows on her knees. 'She said that your brother and Sasha were hanging out a lot more last year. Like, they were almost always seen in the common room together.'

'Really?' Ari had a network of informants that spanned every house. Jackie enjoyed hearing the gossip from Ari before many in the actual house knew.

'Yeah, and Jessica said that Sasha's hoping he'll ask her to the Yule Ball this year.'

Jackie grinned. 'Unless she hints that directly to him, I might need to step in on her behalf.'

'You might have to anyway,' Ari observed. 'You know Hufflepuffs – they're all too polite for their own good.'

Jackie gave an acknowledging shrug and turned back to her letter. Below her O.W.L. results there was another note:

N.E.W.T. students generally take four to six classes their sixth and seventh years. You are eligible to take nine. Please circle your choices and send back to Hogwarts before 28 August:
Arithmancy
Astronomy
Charms
Defense Against the Dark Arts
Divination
Herbology
History of Magic
Potions
Transfiguration

Jackie wanted to be a Healer, so she chose to continue with Arithmancy, Charms, Defense, Herbology, Potions and Transfiguration. Circling her choices, she called Anastasia, her owl, over.

'Did you pick your next classes?' she called over to Ari.

'We can pick our next classes?' Ari looked shocked, and all Jackie could do was laugh at her.

Once Ari managed to decide, mostly by taking her wand and jabbing it at the paper, Jackie sent Anastasia to Hogwarts with their choices.

They sat in their room for the rest of the morning until they heard Jackie's mum calling them.

'I'll go see what's up,' Ari volunteered, hopping up to run downstairs.

Jackie admired her shiny new Captain's badge until Ari burst back in the room. 'Elizabeth says that we're going out for lunch.'

'Where?' Jackie asked, walking over to her wardrobe.

'She said we could pick.'

'Please don't pick Jared's,' Josh casually requested as he walked past the door.

Ari frowned. 'Bloody…' she muttered.

'How about The Snitch?' Jackie offered.

Ari grinned. 'Sounds good to me.'

Twenty minutes later, the four of them, Jackie, Ari, Josh and Jackie's mum, were walking down Second Street in Hogsmeade and to The Snitch. Walking through the front door, Jackie watched Josh's face light up. Each table had a Wizarding Wireless set and he immediately turned theirs on to listen to the Quidditch semi-final matches.

Jackie listened to the matches for a bit as well while Ari and her mum talked. Her team, the Appleby Arrows, had unfortunately been knocked out early, by the Wimbourne Wasps no less. However, Josh's team, Puddlemere United, was still going strong. Both Jackie and Josh made fun of Ari's team, the Chudley Cannons, because they were consistently the worst in the league. Jackie often wondered why Ari even had a team at all, but she assumed that it was something from her parents and didn't pry.

After a little while, Ari leaned over her hot fudge sundae dessert to whisper in Jackie's ear. 'Look, who it is – Mr Surly Black, out to fill his daily quota of sunshine so he doesn't just shrivel up into nothing.'

Jackie turned and saw Trent Black walking in with Alamexia Nott and what seemed to be one of their mothers. Trent and Alamexia were Slytherins in Jackie and Ari's year, and none of them really liked each other very much – they mostly kept away from each other.

'Ooh, but look who's coming in behind him,' Jackie whispered back excitedly, making Ari turn. Derrick Turpin, in his red-haired and green-eyed beauty, walked in, flanked by the other stars of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Ari gave an appreciative sigh and turned to Jackie. 'Well, now my day's complete.'

Jackie's mum had been listening to their conversation smiling. 'Ah, Derrick Turpin, the teenage heartthrob of Hogwarts.'

'Not for nothing,' Ari defended Derrick, watching him intently. Jackie's mum looked at Jackie. 'We better get going before Ari makes a fool of herself in front of him,' she smiled.

Jackie smiled back and nodded before tearing Ari away from watching Derrick, which turned out to be just as hard of a job as Jackie's mum had tearing Josh away from the wireless.

The next week their school supply lists came, so the family took a trip to Diagon Alley.

Jackie's mum gave them all money for supplies, plus a little extra for fun, and told them all that she'd be waiting for them at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Josh saw some friends and immediately took off. Jackie and Ari went to Flourish and Blotts first because they knew that it would get insanely crowded as the day went on.

'Ooh, look!' Jackie dashed over to a display. 'The new Saltwater book is out!'

Ari smiled, but Jackie knew that she didn't really care. They collected their necessary books and put them in their bags, both of which had undetectable extension and lightweight charms placed on them. Next, they went to the Apothecary for Jackie's Potions supplies.

Before they walked in, they saw Jessica and Danielle, two of Ari's friends (otherwise known as: informants) from Hufflepuff.

'Hey, Ari! Hi, Jackie!' They greeted each other and Danielle and Ari sat down on a bench outside to exchange gossip while Jessica and Jackie hunted for supplies and chatted about the new Saltwater book.

After the Apothecary, the group split up. Ari and Danielle went to Madam Malkin's for new robes and Jackie and Jessica went to the Magical Menagerie to get treats for their owls.

As they left, Alamexia Nott walked in. She gave the pair a snarky glare and flounced past them.

'Oh, I'm terribly sorry,' Jessica imitated her, walking like she had springs on her heels and swinging her arms like she was trying to fly. Jackie laughed as Jessica almost ran into Ari and Danielle.

'Jeez, Jess, watch it,' Danielle laughed.

'There you are.' Danielle's mother came up to them. 'It's time to go. Nice to see you, Arianna and Jaquelyn.'

Danielle and Jessica said their good-byes and left, so Jackie and Ari went back to Florean's.

'Hi, Mum!' Jackie skipped up to where her mum was sitting and gave her a hug from behind.

'Hi, girls,' Jackie's mum turned to greet the two. 'Did you get everything you need?'

'Yeah,' Ari affirmed, sitting down. 'Can I get some ice cream?'

'Certainly, Josh hasn't returned yet.' Jackie's mum turned to Jackie. 'Would you like some, honey?'

'Actually, I'm going to head over to Quality Quidditch Supplies for a moment, I'll be back.'

'Okay,' Jackie's mum smiled before turning back to admire Ari's new dress robes.

As Jackie entered the store, however, she almost turned on her heels and walked right back out. Trent Black was in there and Jackie assumed that meant that Alamexia Nott was somewhere inside as well. After a breath, Jackie decided to ignore them. Why should she let them interrupt her day?

She was examining the display of Beater's bats, her own and her fellow Beater's were sadly worn down, when footsteps approached her from behind. Jackie briefly closed her eyes before calmly turning to face Alamexia, who was flanked by Madelyn Parkinson and Violet Zabini. She also saw Trent Black and his cronies one row over.

'Well, well, if it isn't the half-blood blood traitor,' Alamexia sneered at Jackie. 'Where's your adopted blood-traitor sister?'

Jackie didn't respond for a moment. 'Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise that you were talking to me. I thought you were talking to Violet.' The big scandal the previous year had been when the Zabini's disowned Violet's older sister for dating a Muggle-born.

Violet snarled. 'You just wait till Quidditch starts; we'll see who's so tough then.'

'Right then. Well, I'm captain and you're not, so if you'll excuse me I need to be going now. You kids have fun.' Jackie strode through their human barrier and left the shop.

She was in no mood to go back to her family, so she turned the other way down the street to blow off some steam. She tried not to break anything.

When she reached the end of the street, she realised that she had dropped her wallet in the store. She swore under her breath and started back, but saw that Josh was at Florean's and so she stopped there first.

'Oh, hey, Jackie,' Ari greeted her.

'Hey, Trent Black stopped by – he said that you dropped this.' Josh held up Jackie's wallet. Jackie was momentarily surprised – why would he do something nice like that for her? – but she recovered herself quickly. He probably just didn't want to get in trouble for stealing.

'Oh, thanks.' Jackie sat down. 'What are we doing now?'

'I think we're all ready to go now,' Ari said.

'Wait, I didn't get any ice cream,' Jackie complained.

'We'll get yours to go,' Jackie's mum smiled.

When they got home, Jackie put her new books on her already-overflowing shelf.

'I really don't think you have enough books yet,' Ari commented, indicating Jackie's bookshelf.

'And I don't think you have enough dress robes yet,' Jackie shot back, indicating Ari's over-crowded closet.

Ari smiled as she collapsed on her bed. 'You know, sometimes I wish summer could last forever.'