Summary: Jenny Hansen has always known she's been different from other children. Something powerful resides within her. She doesn't know who her father is. All her mother remembers is a passionate green-eyed stranger. When a mysterious letter appears for an enchanted school, Jenny wonders if this is the answer to her questions…
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; he belongs to the wonderful J.K. Rowling,
Genevieve, Jenny, Angela, the story plot and all other original characters are mine however^_^
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Kirijava Deamon: No, they were not snogging, Salina was just teasing them.
Mjk306: Will do.
Kadi Rilla Wholi: Yes, Jenny's better than Harry at Quidditch, and no, Harry isn't a referee, he just helps out the Gryffindor team a lot (You know, because they were his old team and he still loves Quidditch and such) and you'll find out what Harry teaches the class soon:P
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Author's note: I have raised the beginning of this chapter's rating to 'R' for reasons that you will find out as you read it. The latter half of the chapter will go back to its original rating (PG-13)
Heir of the PhoenixChapter 11: Letters and Lessons.
Jenny had only been gone two weeks and Charlotte missed her more than could be explained.
There had been a few questions of Jenny's whereabouts when school started, but all Charlotte said was "She's transferred to a boarding school up north"
Charlotte sighed and put her homework away, She couldn't concentrate.
Father seemed worse, now that he was released from prison, and unlike what she had done on other years, she couldn't escape to Jenny's house.
So she took long walks around the neighborhood, making sure that she came back on time, so her father didn't have an excuse to beat her.
Often, she went to visit Todd, who was always glad to have company.
"It's nice to have someone to talk too, I almost never get visitors." He told her often.
Sometimes though, he was busy at the ministry, so Charlotte had no one too talk too.
One night, when she was getting ready for bed, there was a soft tapping at her window.
Glancing up, she saw Athena hovering in mid air outside of it. Quickly she opened it and the silver owl settled down on the sill and stuck he leg out. Attached to it was a very thick roll of parchment.
Charlotte seized it and unrolled it.
Dear Charlotte,
Hogwarts is amazing! It's a huge castle on a lake, and there are ghosts, suits of Armour and even a poltergeist (even though he's extremely annoying)
I'M ON THE GRYFFINDOR QUIDDITCH TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't even believe it, I'm a first year on the Quidditch team, that's really rare, I'm the first one in like 23 years or something like that, and the guy before me who was a first year player was the first one in 100 years!
Eddie dragged me off to WATCH the tryouts yesterday and afterwards he asked one of the players to borrow that guy's broom and afterwards I got a turn and it was amazing, flying is SO cool and apparently I'm really good.
The lessons are so interesting, my best (and favorite) class is charms, Professor Mariotte is so nice! I'm told that I'm really advanced for my age, so I do bonus projects for extra marks. I don't like Potions though, Professor Snape is really mean and he favors the Slytherins (Snape was ONE of those slimy gits when he was young)
My friend Thomas is going down into history as the first student that Snape has complimented who isn't in Slytherin house. Thomas is ruddy brilliant at potions, (and he's in Ravenclaw). Apparently, the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs were having a double potions class and the guy beside Thomas tripped or something and his wand sort of zapped his potion, and it started to bubble over and it was going to explode. Some how, Thomas stopped it. Afterwards, Snape said, (apparently rather grudgingly) "I see you are competent at potions Mr. White"
Anyways, I can't wait till Christmas, it's only been two weeks and it feels like a year, I'll send you some Bertie Bott's every flavor beans soon, they're like jellybeans, but unlike the normal flavors like cotton candy and strawberry, they mean EVERY flavor. Salina lives on them.
Wish you were here,
~ Jenny ~
Charlotte looked up from the letter and realized that there were tears in her eyes, Athena hooted and fluttered over to her shoulder.
Charlotte sat down to write a reply; Athena perched on the back of the desk chair. Charlotte was so absorbed in doing so that she didn't hear the heavy footsteps coming up the stairs.
BAM.
The door flew open.
Charlotte jumped. Athena hooted and took flight to the top of the armoire.
Standing in the doorway, red-faced and seething; was Charlotte's father. Charlotte shrank in her chair. He was drunk.
"WHY AREN'T YOU DOING YOUR CHORES YOUNG- WHAT IN BLOODY HELL IS THAT????" He caught sight of Athena perched on top of the armoire.
"It's an owl," said Charlotte in a small voice.
"WHAT IN RUDDY HELL IS AN OWL DOING IN MY HOUSE? I THOUGHT I SAID NO PETS! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING? YOU ARE DEFIYING ME YOU WORTHLESS BRAT!" He strode over to Charlotte and slapped her viciously across the face. Charlotte and the chair crashed to the floor. Athena hooted in outrage.
Tears streaming down her face, Charlotte slowly got to her feet and backed up to the wall.
"She's not mine………" Charlotte tried to explain.
"OH? NOT YOURS? THEN WHO THE HELL'S IS IT AND WHAT IS IT DOING IN YOUR ROOM?"
Charlotte quaked in fear, she couldn't explain who's it was, it might give away Jenny's secret.
Her father swung at her again, his fist connecting with her jaw. Charlotte fell to the floor. The pain was unbearable.
"WHO'S IS IT?" Her father bellowed.
Athena rose into the air and made a hasty departure out the window, disappearing into the night.
Charlotte's father hauled her to her feet and slapped her again.
"I ASKED YOU WHO'S IS IT? I EXPECT AN ANSWER, WHEN I ASK YOU A QUESTION, I WANT IT ANSWERED RIGHT AWAY!" He punched her harder.
Charlotte nearly screamed from the pain, but years of this had conditioned her not too, it only made it worse. She was terrified; her father had never hit her this much, what had happened to make him so angry? Usually, he would yell his lungs out, slap her and go to his bedroom and pass out.
Charlotte felt something hit her head. Stars erupted in her vision, and she sank to the floor. A kick knocked the wind out of her.
"WHO'S OWL WAS IT AND WHY DID IT COME HERE?"
Charlotte's father's arm drew back to punch her again when another hand grabbed his arm from behind and halted it.
It was Todd, wand in hand and looking furious.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" he bellowed. A flash of blue light erupted from the wand and Charlotte's father's legs snapped together and his arms stuck to his side. He crashed to the floor looking positively outraged. The sight would have been comical if Charlotte hadn't been in so much pain.
Athena soared in the window and perched on the sill.
Todd kneeled down and looked into Charlotte's clouded eyes.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
Charlotte managed a small nod. Her jaw was on fire.
"How………?" she whispered. Todd smiled slightly. "That owl of your friends is quite intelligent, she came straight to me, hooting loud enough to wake the neighborhood, Of course, I could feel something was up anyways and she confirmed it, I followed her here."
A loud grunt reached their ears.
Turning around, Todd saw that the bastard who called himself Charlotte's father was making noises, trying to talk.
Todd unfroze his mouth. Instead of looking mad, now her father looked scared.
"What are you?" he asked in hoarse voice.
Todd bent over and looked him in the eye.
"Your worst nightmare and I'll hex you into oblivion if you lay a hand on her or anyone else………again." He said slowly.
Charlotte's father's eyes widened in fear.
Todd bent down and picked up Charlotte.
"Where are you taking her?!" demanded her father.
"Hospital."
Todd pointed his wand at Charlotte's father. "Finite incantato!" he said and with a 'pop' he and Charlotte disappeared.
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Jenny was eating breakfast the next day when the owl post arrived half way though her toast.
Athena swooped in and dropped an envelope in Jenny's lap, and soared back out.
"Thanks!" Jenny called out after her rapidly departing owl.
Tearing open the envelope, she realized that it was from Charlotte.
Dear Jenny,
My father won't ever hit me again! I could sing! But I can't, considering I'm sitting in hospital………
Jenny gasped and nearly dropped the letter, Eddie looked up from his porridge, concerned.
………Last night, I got your letter and as I was writing back to you my father burst in and saw Athena……….you know how he is about animals, and he was drunk and as usual he started hitting me……….only this time, Athena went and fetched Todd, who cursed my father!!!! It was ruddy brilliant and I would have cheered if my jaw didn't hurt so much. And Todd told my dad that he'd hex my father in oblivion if he hurt me or anyone again. Todd took me too the wizard's hospital………it's called St. Mungo's and it's got all these strange people running around. I saw a man with fur and a tail and another who was covered in rainbow flashing polka dots! One of the healers mended my jaw in like five seconds, but it still hurts.
I wish I was there, being a witch sounds like so much fun, I'd love to even visit Hogwarts………
Your friend,
Charlotte
"Who's that from?" asked Eddie, curious.
"Charlotte, you met her on the platform," answered Jenny.
"Oh, what's it about?"
Jenny handed him the letter.
Eddie's eyes went from normal sized to the size of saucers when he read the letter.
"Oh………" Eddie lowered the letter, "blimey………" he trailed off.
"What class do we have this morning?" Asked Jenny.
"Defense against Dark arts," answered Eddie.
"Ah, his last class was interesting, but we didn't learn anything because of all those people asking questions about Voldemort………"
Eddie flinched.
"What? The guy is dead and gone, we can call him by name if we want."
"Hard to get out of the habit" muttered Eddie.
Jenny nodded.
The two of them made their way out of the great hall.
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Ten minutes later, they were sitting in the back of the Defense against dark arts classroom.
Professor Potter had nodded to them, smiling slightly, when they had come in, there was still about 15 minutes till the bell rang, so he had bent over his desk and appeared to be marking essays. Or at least, that's what Jenny and Eddie figured he was doing.
They had Defense against dark arts with the Hufflepuffs, so Jon showed up a few seconds later and sat on the other side of Eddie.
Jenny was rather amazed when the class was filled within five minutes and still ten minutes before the bell – No one wanted to be late for the great Harry Potter's class.
When the bell had rung, Professor Potter stood up from his desk. The class immediately fell silent.
"Hello," He said "As you all know, I am Professor Harry Potter, since last class was devoted to questions, we can now start on real lessons." He said this as if all the questioning annoyed him.
"Anyways, I would like you all to think of me as a normal professor"
He paused and surveyed the class.
"Today, We are going to learn a spell that has saved my life many times, both with the dark lord and later when I was an auror. It is a second year spell, but I believe you all are capable of it with practice, this is the Disarming spell."
He paused again and looked over the class, he radiated quiet confidence.
"Can anyone tell me the incantation for the Disarming spell?"
Arianna timidly put up her hand.
"Miss Wood?"
"Um………Expelliarmus, I think………" She said hurriedly, praying that it was right.
"Yes, Expelliarmus it is, 5 points to Gryffindor Miss Wood," said Professor Potter, smiling slightly.
"Now, this spell can have painful results because………?" He trailed off and looked expectantly at the class.
Eddie put his hand up.
"Yes Mr. Weasley?"
"Well, Dad told me that he got thrown into a wall once when he got hit with it."
Jenny watched curiously as Professor Potter partially stifled a laugh.
Harry remembered in their sixth year when Ron had attempted to ask out a Ravenclaw by the name of Vanessa Wilcox. Some how they had had a misunderstanding and Ron ended up as an imprint on the wall. Harry wasn't quite sure of the whole story, as Ron had been unwilling to talk about it. It had been soon after that Ron had started dating Hermione.
"Yes, that does tend to happen Mr. Weasley," said Professor Potter smoothly. "I remember when I was first taught the spell in my second year, The Defense against Dark arts Professor then wasn't exactly the greatest, and in the end, he turned out to be a fraud. But I remember when he and Professor Snape dueled. It was actually quite funny."
Several of the student's eyes widened.
Harry raised an eyebrow at them and continued.
"Anyways, who wishes to try out this spell first?" he asked.
Most of the students exchanged nervous glances. An odd feeling of confidence suddenly seized Jenny, she raised her hand.
"Miss Hansen? Care to come to the front of classroom?"
Jenny made her way up too the front of the classroom. When she got there, she began to feel nervous.
"Now, Miss Hansen, you are going to try to disarm me, what is the incantation again class?"
"Expelliarmus!" chorused the class.
Jenny felt slightly more at ease.
Professor Potter backed up a few feet and stood by his desk and looked at her expectantly.
Jenny smiled slightly and raised her wand. The familiar feeling of power washed over her.
"Expelliarmus!" she shouted, waving her wand.
A stream of red light burst out of her wand. She saw Professor Potter's eyes widen in shock as it hit him full in the chest. He flew backwards across his desk onto the floor with a loud 'CRASH'. His wand flew into the air and Jenny caught it deftly.
There wasn't a sound in the room. Everyone sat gaping at Jenny, who was standing there looking small and scared and Professor Potter, who was picking himself up from behind his desk, his glasses and cloak askew.
"Well," he said sounding a little stunned, "I definitely did not expect that."
"I'm sorry sir,………" said Jenny quietly.
"Don't be," Said Professor Potter cheerfully "That was an excellent demonstration of the Disarming spell, you are the first first year that successfully pulled off the spell, 15 points to Gryffindor."
He strode over to her and shook her hand. The class exploded in to whispers.
"Now, if I could please have my wand back Miss Hansen, so we can continue the lesson."
Several students giggled slightly as Jenny went red, she had forgotten that his wand had been in her hand.
Silently, she handed him back his wand and made her way back to sit in her seat.
Professor Potter turned to the class.
"Now, after the excellent demonstration, I am going to divide you all up into pairs to practice the spell. Will everyone choose a partner?"
Eddie and Jenny partnered up, Jon ended up with a tall blonde Hufflepuff girl that Jenny didn't know.
One thing she knew though was that everyone was giving her strange looks. Even Eddie looked a little perturbed.
As shouts of "Expelliarmus!" and feeble jets of red light crossed the room, Jenny succeeded to disarm Eddie five times in a row. He managed to get her once.
Professor Potter circled the room, stopping here and there to give students pointers and tips. When the bell rang, everyone packed up and trouped out the door, chattering about how interesting the lesson was. Professor Potter hadn't given them any homework except to read up on disarming and protection spells and make a few notes to bring to class.
It was break now and Jenny, Eddie and Jon slumped against the wall near the statue of Bartholomew the barmy.
"That was really good spell work Jenny," said Jon.
"Thanks, but why was everyone staring at me funny?"
Jon and Eddie exchanged odd glances.
"What?" demanded Jenny.
"Well………um………" said Eddie uncomfortably.
"Jenny………when you went up to the front of the classroom and stood next to Professor Potter………" Jon trailed off
"Yah, what about it?" asked Jenny, getting annoyed.
"Well………um………what were trying to say Jens………well what we're trying to say is that you look exactly like him,………" said Eddie slowly.
Whatever Jenny had been expecting, it had not been that.
"WHAT?" Jenny dropped her books.
"You look like him, I didn't notice it till you and Harry were standing right next to each other, but you look like him………it's creepy." Said Eddie.
"I look like Professor Potter?" said Jenny trying very hard and failing to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
"Um………yah."
"Was that why everyone was whispering?" asked Jenny, sounding like she was trying to be calm and not sarcastic and not succeeding.
"Probably………"
They began to walk down the hall towards their next class, History of Magic.
"Like how much do I look like him?" asked Jenny.
"Like everything, or nearly everything………" said Eddie, looking at his best friend in wonderment. He compared Jenny with his mental picture of Harry. Same eyes, definitely………same sort of thin face, same nose……… the only things that were noticeably different was Jenny's brown curly hair and her peaches'n'cream complexion. Eddie presumed she had gotten that from her mother.
"Mmhmm………" said Jenny absently, now deep in thought.
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Heyhey everybody…. I'm SOOO sorry that it took me so long to update, the computer that my stories were on was without the internet for about 3 months. I have chapters 11-16 written, but I'm going to post them at intervals of about 2-3 days in-between them.
Thanks for waiting for so long!!!