Disclaimer: All things recognizable belong to JKR.
"Well, I suppose it all began to brew during my fifth year, after Harry Potter claimed Voldemort had returned.
Angelina knew Harry Potter well. As you already know, they both played for the house Quidditch team. Because of the alliance, when Harry said that Voldemort had returned, she didn't doubt his word for a second. But the Dark Lord wasn't her main concern, winning the Quidditch Cup under her reign as captain was her top priority, which is part of the reason I didn't play Quidditch.
She wasn't completely stupid though, she convinced our parents and our family that the awful things written about Potter in the Daily Prophet were lies and that he was telling the truth. As a result, our family was one of the first to ally ourselves with The Order of the Phoenix, a secret society dedicated to fighting the Dark Lord."
She paused, flicking her wand towards the kettle which began pouring and preparing tea.
"My parents decided Hogwarts was the safest place for us and our return to school never hung in the balance. At the time, Harry Potter was not only deemed a liar but a running joke in the Daily Prophet."
She paused again, flicking her wand towards the cups, which began to slowly float towards us, and then settle themselves on the table in front of each of us. She then began rummaging through the clippings from the prophet and handed them to me. I read through them fairly quickly, while she began to explain their general significance.
"Cornelius Fudge was the Minister of Magic at the time and dead set against the idea that the Dark Lord could possibly be back, therefore he tried to discourage the idea from the public,"
The clippings were horrible, when there was a dodgy story they would refer to the tale as "a story worthy of Harry Potter" and things of the like.
"The question of whether or not Potter was telling the truth was the highlight of fifth year - that was until Fudge's intentions for the hiring if Dolores Umbridge became obvious."
The name rang a bell. Centaurs that resided in the Forbidden Forest had been getting quite rowdy lately. Apparently they were going through some hierarchical shifts within their breed, and the threat being posed on school grounds wasn't exactly being ignored by the Ministry.
"You mean that awful woman they talk about whenever there's a centaur story in the paper?"
"She's the one! She was probably the most foul, evil, cunning, hypocritical, lying, little bitch I've ever had the misfortune to meet. In my books, she's worse Voldemort himself. He probably hated her just as much.
Back at Hogwarts she always wore a hideous shade of pink, a fake smile, and had a false, high pitched cheery voice. She was not only discriminating against Muggleborns, but against other species as well. It was made sure that she was placed in Azkaban on multiple charges, and I was on the squad that had the privilege of searching her home and office, finding numerous Dark objects and dangerous little magical items disguised as everyday items, like quills."
My mum took a sip of her tea and shivered whilst scratching the back of her left hand, which had odd remnants of a weird little scar that used to fascinate me when I was younger. She took a deep breath, and then continued.
"Things really began to boil after she was appointed the High-Inquisitor of Hogwarts. She made the most controlling "Ministry-approved" rules the school ever saw: Students weren't allowed to be within eight inches of each other; we weren't allowed to socialize in groups of more than three; we were submitted to questioning at random; clubs and sports had to disband then be re-approved specifically by her. She even had the nerve to approve the Slytherin House Quidditch team, but contemplate disbanding the Gryffindor House team. She was biased, hypocritical, and unfair, and that's when much of the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and even some Ravenclaws joined a secret society started by Harry Potter himself, and his two best friends. Dumbledore's Army."
My mother talked about Dumbledore's Army occasionally, when I brought up someone from school whose parents had been in the secret organization.
"At first, Angelina wasn't so sure that I should join, she was responsible for me, and all that jazz. We both knew that it wasn't a good idea for both of us to be breaking rules though, so, she joined first, and I came along afterwards.
Umbridge didn't really know what was going on for a while. She soon grew suspicious though and began to investigate, though she was never able to catch us coming out of or entering the Room of Requirement. We used charmed galleons so that we knew when to meet. It was liberating, breaking almost all of her rules and sneaking around the castle, but we were finally busted by some Ravenclaw who told and we weren't able to meet anymore.
I was especially put out, since Dumbledore's Army gave me a reason to talk to your dad, who I'd had a secret crush on since fourth year when he laughed at some joke I told then passed me the pudding at dinner."
She had an amused look on her face that indicated that it must have either been a really magical moment, or a really funny joke.
"At the end of that year, there was an incident in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic - having to do with Potter, of course, -, and it was announced that Voldy, was indeed back. My parents put extra safety precautions on the house - as if that would actually keep him out," she said with a bit of a bitter tone to her voice.
"We were more careful and our life was rapidly changing. In the mists of a progressing war, though, all I cared about was going to school without being known as 'Angelina's younger sister'.
I was so naive. I really didn't completely understand everything that was going on. I was more concerned with finding my place in the world. Everyone expected me to be just like Angie," my mum sighed.
"She was the best looking girl in her year. Tall, athletic, yet graceful with her long braids and strong stance – not to mention her sassiness. She wasn't just a girl, she was 'fiery, fierce, and feisty' as Lee used to call her. It was easy to tell we were related, we had similar features, but my face was rounder, I was shorter and curvier while she had that athletic build that made all the boys go wild. I was the slightly more laid back sister, the shadow most of the time, which was why the sun would shine on me Sixth Year.
Over the summer, the Dark Lord was far from my mind, I was working up a way to get to know Dean better for the upcoming year. Hannah and I became good friends and we'd taken to making up scenarios for things to say to Dean and Neville."
My mum started to chuckle as she reminisced, "We were such silly girls then. Hannah was always so shy, but really wanted to let Neville know that she liked him, so I suggested that she pot a singing plant - I could never remember the name of it - and teach it a love song to give to Neville.
Though I was much more outspoken than Hannah, there was no way I was about to tell Dean how I felt, I was fine with nothing ever resulting from my infatuation. I'd settled into a sort of bitter content," she sighed heavily.
"And then I found out he had been dating Ginny Weasley since the end of the previous year. She was a nice girl and a friend of mine, so I couldn't really get mad at her, but I was particularly nasty to your father at times when he spoke to me. He didn't know what had gotten into me, and even asked if I was okay at one point, but I didn't let up. Not until after he and Ginny broke up that is, but then I had to rebuild what I'd damaged.
Being a boy, he was more than a little confused."
Olivia woke up that morning feeling particularly refreshed and pulled back the curtains of her bed. It was the day of the last Quidditch match, and a party was being planned for afterwards. What the Gryffindors would do if they lost, nobody knew.
Olivia sighed, looking over to her bedside table, a note waiting for her from her friend, Francine, who was in the year below.
Going to be in the library. Need to pick up a book so that I can finish an essay for Flitwick before tonight. I'll see you at breakfast.
"Okay, see ya." Olivia said groggily and slightly irritated at being left behind. That'll be Creevey, she thought, knowing the real reason behind her friend's motives.
She sat up in her bed, breathing heavily, stretched and yawned. She looked around and it seemed that Hermione Granger was just waking up as well; wild hair bushier than most people in school ever saw it. She smiled. Hermione had always been nice to her, so she said cheerily, "Good morning, Hermione."
Hermione turned to Olivia in her rush to get dressed, smiled and said, "Morning, Olivia. Sorry, I would stay and chat, but, well, you know-" She gestured towards the soft snoring coming from the beds belonging to Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil; the most gossipy girls in Gryffindor House; one of which dated the object of her affections not too long ago. The relationship ended nastily though, so Hermione and Lavender weren't too keen on spending any 'quality time' with one another.
"I understand completely." Olivia told her, sighing as well.
"Thanks." Hermione said gratefully as she quickly did a charm on her hair then brushed it to a more tamed state. She headed towards the door, but suddenly stopped, and turned back to Olivia.
"You should know...Ginny and Dean have broken up. For good," she said, giving her a knowing smile then turned once again leaving through the door.
I knew today was going to be great!
She couldn't help herself. She screamed aloud, "YES!" Promptly awaking and irritating Lavender, confusing Parvati, and completely frightening Eloise. She hopped immediately upon her bed and began to do a sort of jig, singing about how much she loved that day.
She then put on a tee shirt and a nice pair of jeans, brushed her teeth and charmed her hair so that it was straight and brushed her shoulders, then skipped down the spiral staircase of the Girls' Dormitory. She was so cheerful, Ginny, who had forgotten something and was heading back upstairs, stopped her and asked in a sincere tone with her eyebrows raised, "Did you take an Anti-PMS potion this morning or have you been smoking that weird Muggle stuff?"
Olivia responded "Neither, but I feel like I took Liquid Luck!"
Ginevra simply shook her head smiling, and continued up the staircase murmuring, "Must be a boy..."
Too right she was, as said boy was found emerging from the Boys' Dormitory in a Quidditch uniform with Seamus Finnegan, his best friend. His eyebrows were furrowed as he stared at Ginny's retreating figure. Olivia beamed and nearly screamed, but said just loud enough, "Morning Dean!" He snapped out of it and stared at her as if she had Spattergoit. Then he looked suspicious, probably from the incident that occurred the last time she was nice to him.
Her underlying jealousy was so powerful, accidental magic ensued and his curly brown hair had caught on fire. This time though, he stared, confused, at her, and gingerly touched his hair. No fire. It wasn't even hot. Then he looked into a mirror on the wall, he hadn't changed color or anything. Then he looked back at her, looking for any indication of malice. Nothing, she looked innocent, so he spoke. "H-hi Olivia."
Seamus laughed hard then said, "I don't think she is going to jinx you Dean."
"No, I don't suppose she will." He still looked wary though.
"I won't. Promise. Last time it was an accident, I'm sorry. I was feeling a little...er..nevermind. I am sorry though," Olivia smiled shyly and blushed. "Anyways, what were you two up to?" Seamus was still clutching his sides in laughter at his best friend's misfortune.
"We were er, about to go down to breakfast?" Dean was genuinely confused at this point, but Seamus, trying to catch his breath, seemed to have caught on to the situation.
"Yeah, unless you want to have a word with Dean-" Seamus hinted, grinning.
"NO!" Olivia yelled, startling herself. "I mean, not that I don't want to, but I don't need to. Just wanted to erm…wish you luck during the match! I'll erm, see you later." She smiled and said "Bye, Dean. Seamus," then left through the portrait hole.
Meanwhile, Dean stood there, still confused, Seamus, still amused.
"Girls..." Seamus mused aloud.
"Yeah, they are all mad. I'll never understand them." Dean said, frustrated.
Seamus just laughed as they too, left through the portrait hole.
My mum smiled serenely then said quietly, "I wish I hadn't been so impossible to understand though, if I had known that he wouldn't return the next year I would have been nicer."
My eyebrows furrowed. What was she talking about? He hadn't been at Hogwarts for their Seventh Year? But that was when N.E.W.T exams were given!
"Your dad wasn't there for our seventh year. It was better that way though. However, it's his story to tell." She turned towards the entry of the dining room and there he leaned casually against the door frame - nearly as tall.
"Ahh, telling her about the war, are you? Figured she'd ask, Seth has the same assignment. I just Flooed Axel and Max over there to play Quidditch, and Corbin is at the Longbottom's with Alice."
He chuckled at his eldest son, who was seventeen and dating Neville Longbottom's daughter but didn't know what the hell he was doing.
"Mhm," My mum replied, beaming at him, "and I was hoping you'd tell her your story. It's so much more interesting than mine, and I've only heard it once."
"Well that's because I've only told it twice, once to you, once to Seamus. My mother doesn't even know the whole thing, though she tries to pry out information. I just tell her that I stayed at a Muggle hotel and then there was a fight at Hogwarts. She doesn't need to know the details of how I did it. When I told you it just kind of spewed out, I felt like you should know," he looked at her sweetly.
"Well can you 'just spew it' out again, then?" she said gently, blushing a little.
He gave her a look that I couldn't quite read.
"Okay, it's fine. It was just for Cressie's project." My mum said softly, pressing the stop button on the recorder."
"Well, I guess I could." That was just like my dad to change his mind at the last minute, probably succumbing to my mother's unspoken plea.
My dad uncrossed his arms and moved from the door frame to a chair across from my mum. My mother turned the recorder back on, and then he sighed and began his story.
"The war became real in the summer after sixth year. Voldemort was on the move, the Ministry of Magic was weak, and I knew I wasn't going back to Hogwarts..."
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