Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters therin, etc, etc.
"Hufflepuff!" The sorting hat bellowed. A small girl with blonde pig-tails hopped off the stool and ran to the Hufflepuff table, amid loud cheers.
Ron groaned "when will it end?" he rolled his eyes at Harry, who grinned. Hermione poked Ron in the ribs "Ouch! Watcha' do that for?" he rubbed his side plaintively. Hermione sniffed. "Well, I just thought that you might want to listen, professor McGonagall is about to say something." Harry and Ron looked around and indeed, professor McGonagall was standing next to the stool with the sorting hat on it, waving for attention.
"I have an important announcement to make!" The hall fell silent as everyone turned to look at her. "As well as the students joining the first year, we have, most unusually, a student joining the fourth year. She will be sorted, as any other student, and I hope you will treat her well, whichever house she joins."
Ron poked harry in the ribs "Hey, she s in our year! Wow she looks about twenty, I thought she was a new teacher." Ron whistled and Hermione poked him again "Ouch! Okay, okay. She s hideous. Jeez... some people..." He trailed off menacingly but Hermione seemed happier.
Harry was looking up at the front table, where the girl was standing next to professor McGonagall. He didn t know what Ron saw in her. That is if he even did, Harry suspected that he was just trying to annoy Hermione. The girl s dirty blonde hair flopped in front of her eyes and spilled over her shoulders. She was tall though, and had piercing green eyes, like a cat's. There was an unusual... presence about her. She sat down on the stool and put on the sorting hat. Rather than falling down over her eyes, it just flopped back a bit.
"God, she s got a big head."Muttered Ron "reminds me of someone el-" He broke off under Hermione s stern gaze.
"Gryffindor!"
The girl stood up to polite applause and Ron turned his attention to the food. "All right!" he started shovelling roast chicken and potatoes onto his plate.
Hermione looked disapproving as she demurely served herself, and Harry started tucking into a large helping of shepherd's pie. Just as he was pouring himself a glass of pumpkin juice, he heard a voice right behind him.
"Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?" it was the girl who had just been sorted. She was pointing to the seat next to Harry's, which was empty.
"Nope! It's all yours." Ron said loudly, ignoring Hermione, who was glaring at him. "Sit down." the girl smiled and took a seat.
"I'm Ron Weasley, this is Hermione Granger and, Harry Potter." the girls eyes lit up.
"Seriously, is that your name!"
Harry was just about to reply when the girl continued "-my sisters name is Hermione too! I m Jenni, by the way." Hermione beamed and offered her a plate of chicken.
"Nice to meet you Jenni. I m sure you re keen to get started with your lessons?" Ron smirked, but Jenni looked delighted "Oh absolutely!" she gushed "I can't wait to get started; there s so much to learn! I ve already mastered the basics of course, but that s just from reading, I m sure I'd learn much faster if there was someone who I could ask questions."
She sounded so much like Hermione that it was all Harry could do to stop himself laughing. Deciding that the wisest move would be to change the subject he asked "So why are you joining the fourth year? Did you get moved up or something?"
Jenni dragged herself reluctantly away from Hermione to answer, "I m your age; I should have started three years ago. But I well- actually I was in hospital. I got- anyway, I couldn t come."
She suddenly looked extremely uncomfortable, and Harry immensely regretted his rash remark. There was an awkward silence for quite a while, until pudding arrived, then Ron started chatting to Dean Thomas about Quidditch. Harry still felt as though Jenni was concerned and was about to say something when professor Dumbledore stood up to signal the end of the meal. Everyone started to make their way up to their dormitories.
"See you tomorrow!" he called after Jenni, as she ascended the spiral stairs with Hermione, but she didn t reply.
The next day Harry hardly saw Hermione or Jenni at all, he and Ron where so busy trying to get to grips with all their work. Their brains seemed to have frozen up over the summer holidays and they couldn t remember a thing. Hermione finally caught up with them at lunch.
"Honestly!" she sat down next to Ron "Professor Vector has given me so much homework, its ridiculous!"
"Well, if you didn t want to get homework you should have taken less subjects, Harry and I haven t got any at all. Anyway, where s Jenni, I wanted her to help me with my charms."
"I thought you said you hadn t got any homework?" Hermione sounded annoyed, "Anyway, what s wrong with my help?"
Harry, anxious to avoid conflict addressed Hermione. "How s Jenni getting on? I mean, she must be finding it really hard to cope, we're all three years ahead of her after all."
Hermione looked around to check that no-one was listening before leaning in closer and saying, "actually, that s what I wanted to talk to you about. There s something funny. She s just- too good." Ron looked sceptical.
"Look, Hermione, we all know that you're really clever and were not going to stop thinking that but it sounds like you might be a tiny bit jealous of Jenni."
"I am not jealous! I just think there s something going on. When we were in transfiguration this afternoon, I saw her drop her wand. But instead of picking it up, she just pointed at it and it was in her hand! She didn t say anything. She didn t realise anyone was watching, and she looked really shifty afterwards."
"Maybe she didn t want people to think she was clumsy." said Ron, shrugging. Hermione was furious, "that s highly advanced and unusual magic! She could be working for you-know-who!" Ron rolled his eyes. "Come on Hermione, just because she s good at magic, you think she must be working for the dark side. It s not exactly one of you-know-who's requirements, I mean, look at worm tail, you couldn t find a more talentless git if you tried!" Hermione snorted and looked away from Ron.
Harry thought about it for a moment, was it really likely? Nah, Hermione was probably just paranoid. He was just opening his mouth to say this when Hermione said, in an uncharacteristically cheery voice, "Hello Jenni! Did you find those books you wanted then?" Jenni flopped down next to Harry, a large pile of books in front of her.
"Yeah, thanks for your help Hermione."
"Oh, it was nothing." Hermione looked slightly flustered. Just as Harry finished the final bite of his sandwich, the bell rang to signal the end of lunch.
"Hey Harry, we've got a free next, so why don't we go down to the quidditch pitch. You can bring your Firebolt." Harry nodded, "lets go." They were just getting up when Jenni looked up from her lunch.
"Oh, can I come too! I d love to see more of the grounds!" Harry looked at Ron, who shrugged. "Yeah, sure."
As they were leaving the entrance hall to go down to the quidditch pitch, a loud sneering voice behind Harry said,
"Potter, I see you've found yourself a new girlfriend. The rich and famous must try to keep with the times. I ve always thought that you made a mistake with that ridiculous Granger girl."
It was, unsurprisingly, Draco Malfoy, flanked as he always was by Crabbe and Goyle. Harry didn t turn around, and neither did Ron or Jenni.
"Dear, dear, potter. Is your hearing really that bad? Goodness, I can just see the headlines 'Harry Potter defeats dark lord with hearing aid."' the note of sarcasm in his voice was unmistakable.
Harry bristled but did his best to ignore Malfoy's jibes. Malfoy, visibly annoyed, poked Jenni hard in the back. "Hey, so you're th-" He stopped mid-sentence, which was unsurprising as Jenni had turned and punched him full in the face.
"Don't you dare touch me!" She hissed. Harry and Ron where taken aback, this transformation was nothing to say unexpected. The unusual feeling that surrounded her seemed intensified and Harry could have sworn he could see sparks shooting from her fingers. Harry's surprise however, was nothing to Draco Malfoy s. He staggered backwards, his mouth hanging open, just staring at Jenni. After a moment he seemed to recover himself and his usual sneer returned to his face.
"God potter, I can see that you'll have your hands full with this one. Honestly, I don t know where you get them from! First that filthy mud blood and now this freak." Jenni was positively fuming by this time and it was all Harry and Ron could do to stop her jumping on Malfoy. Her blonde hair was whipping around her head as if in a high wind. Malfoy, seemingly unaware of Jenni's fury, continued to smirk.
"Well, I wish you luck Potter, maybe you'll do better this time. Oh and my father told me that Weasley's dad is in trouble with the ministry again, by the way."
Ron let go of Jenni to punch Malfoy and she struggled out of Harry's grasp. She walked forward and waved her arm at Malfoy as if to slap him. Thin green tendrils shot towards Malfoy from her fingers and wrapped around his ankles. Crabbe and Goyle staggered back as the shoots tried to reach them too.
"JENNI!" Hermione was running towards them. She screeched to a halt as she saw Malfoy, literally rooted to the spot. She shook Jenni roughly by the shoulders.
"Snap out of it!" Jenni s eyes focused again and she waved her hand. The tendrils crumbled into dust and then vanished. No sooner had this happened than Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had run away, hardly daring to look back.
"How the hell did you do that without a wand!" shouted Ron, who was almost as shocked as Malfoy had been. Jenni turned to him and shook her sleeve. Her wand fell out and she caught it with her other hand. "I speak quietly." she said. Then she turned to Harry. "You know what, I don t quite fancy that game of quidditch now. See you in charms." And she walked off, without a backwards glance.
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