Disclaimer: Love him, do not own him. JK does.
Authors note: Has anyone seen JK's answer to the Mark Evans question on her website? I was laughing SO hard.
Chapter 22
Jenny's eyes popped open at precisely 8:27 am.
At least, that's what the tiny windup alarm clock that sat on her nightstand informed her when she rolled over and pulled aside the hangings around her bed. Jenny peered around the room.
All the other girls including Charlotte were still fast asleep. Surprised, Jenny noted that her mother's cot was empty and did not appear to have been used.
Jenny pulled herself out of bed and dressed, treading quietly, so as not to wake the other girls, as they had had the equivalent of a slumber party last night, staying up till mid-night talking, laughing and eating the muggle candy that Charlotte had brought. (Roxann had been shocked to learn that muggle bubble gum did not blow bubbles that lasted for days and actually took a bit of skill to make bubbles with)
Creeping out of the dormitory, she headed down to the great hall for an early breakfast.
Genevieve awoke with a crick in her neck.
Cracking open her eyes, she discerned that she had fallen asleep in the poofy maroon armchair in Harry's office. She was also very warm. Looking down, she realized that someone, probably Harry, had covered her with a woolen blanket.
The scratching of a quill could be heard and Genevieve slowly turned her head.
Harry looked up from his essay grading and smiled.
"Glad to see your awake," he remarked.
Genevieve straightened up and rubbed her sore neck.
"About when did I fall asleep?" she asked, yawning.
"Around two, I didn't want to wake you up though," he replied quietly, then a mischievous grin spread across his face "besides, what man would give up the chance to watch a woman like you sleep?"
Genevieve laughed.
"If there was something within my reach, I'd throw it at you Harry" she joked. Harry grinned.
They had spent most of last night talking over mugs of butterbeer, catching up on each other's lives. Both had tacitly agreed on no alcohol, both of them thinking pointedly of the last time they had gotten drunk in each other's presence, the result of which was sleeping four floors above them in the in the first year girls dormitory in the Gryffindor tower.
Genevieve had listened raptly to the stories that Harry had told about his time at Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione and Genevieve told Harry about Jenny's childhood, something that he wished he had not missed.
"I met Hermione once, In Diagon alley," Genevieve had said offhandedly during their conversation the night before.
"Oh?"
"Yah… When we were buying Jenny's school supplies… She asked if she could sit at my table, she had her little daughter with her…Molly was her name…"
Harry smiled, a wistful look in his eyes "They named her after Ron's mother, she died about six years ago, Molly was like a mother to me, she'd make me eat third helpings and knit me sweaters… I was another Weasley son to her, despite my hair being black…"
"Do all the Weasley's have that red hair?"
Harry laughed and nodded.
"Well, all of them except Me and the Weasley wives…"
"Weasley wives?"
"Yep, the nickname that Molly came up with for all the woman then Weasley brothers married, None of them are red-heads; Fleur has silver, Cassidy and Julia are blonde, while Hermione, Angelina and Liz are brunette," he explained counting them up on his fingers.
"Who's Fleur?"
"Bill's wife, She's part veela… remember I told you about her? I had to compete against her in the Tri-wizard tournament"
"Right, I remember now…"
Genevieve stood up and stretched out, trying to ease her cramped neck.
"I'm starved," she proclaimed, "I'll go eat breakfast… How about a walk later on?"
Harry peered out the window at the lightly falling snow.
"In this weather? Sure."
Genevieve flashed him a quick smile and left the office.
After Jenny had finished her breakfast, she had claimed one of the best chairs near the fire and was reading A Handful of Time by Kit Pearson, a Canadian author whom she liked.
Eddie made his way downstairs at about ten after nine, just when the common room was starting to fill up with sleepy people talking in muted voices. Jenny watched him descend the staircase and glance out one of the windows and do a double take.
"I don't believe it!" he exclaimed, his nose suddenly glued to the window.
"What?" said Jenny, getting up from her chair, but making sure to leave her book there, lest anyone try to take her spot.
"Your mum and Harry are walking down by the lake… and they're… and they're holding hands…" replied Eddie in a hushed voice, his horror evident.
"Let me see," Jenny pushed Eddie aside and stood on her tiptoes to peer out the window.
"I wonder why they're doing that," said Jenny curiously.
"They holding hands…" said Eddie, obviously not listening.
"What's wrong with holding hands Eddie?" asked Jenny irately.
"Well… y'know…" Eddie's ears started turning pink.
"No, I don't, what's your problem Eddie? Still afraid of cooties?" Jenny poked him hard in the shoulder. Eddie's ears turned a deep red and he mumbled something.
"What?"
"Yeah…" said Eddie in a barely audible voice.
Jenny made a point of poking him forcibly again.
"See?" She said triumphantly, "No cooties."
"Well," said Eddie uncomfortably, "It's different with you, because you're my friend… but people like them," he jerked his head towards the girls staircase, "I'm not so sure about…"
Jenny turned to see several sixth years descending the staircase, obviously prepared for a Hogsmeade outing, which was scheduled for later on that day. All were dressed in their winter best and all were giggling about something. Jenny vaguely remembered one of the bunch loudly exclaiming about how cute some of the little first years were.
"I see…" she replied, shaking her head.
Harry showed Genevieve all around the Hogwarts grounds, The Quidditch pitch, the green houses, Hagrid's hut, even the Forbidden forest.
"I got detention once in my first year… had to go in there and help Hagrid find an injured unicorn,"
"Unicorns? You've got those too?"
"Yep, Unicorns, Dragons, Phoenixes, Griffins, Hippogriffs, pixies… I could lend you books on the subject…" remarked Harry, coming to a stop and staring out over the frozen lake, where a few diehard students were skating.
"Harry," A thought coming to Genevieve's mind, "Do you know a boy named Riley Dursley?"
Harry jerked with surprise, before nodding.
"He's my cousin's son…my second cousin, I guess, I think he's about ten… Why would you want to know?"
"He's in my class, and he told me a rather interesting story about how a man with black hair and an odd scar appeared on his family's coffee table and yelled at his father to get out of the house,"
Harry grimaced and hung his head.
"Yah, We had received rumors that Dudley's house was going to be blazed… He's related to me and that makes him a target for those who want to punish me in some way. I have gone out of my way to ward his house, but there's only so much you can do when the person your protecting doesn't appreciate it. Dudley hates magic; he's scared of it. His mother hated mine and it was passed on. Riley will be getting his Hogwarts letter next year, and so will his sister Julia in three years. I checked the Book of Births myself. I consider it a grand irony,"
"Ah," Genevieve paused, then in thoughtful voice, continued; "I guess it could be… Perhaps whenever school starts up again, I could tell him about it, give him a bit of warning. I know with Jenny, it was quite a shock, but when I thought about it, it made perfect sense and it explained all the unusual things that had been happening. Yet I've talked to a few people around Diagon alley on the few times I've visited it and found out that Jens showed more power before Hogwarts than most of those pureblooded people that I keep hearing about do."
Harry raised an eyebrow, then smiled and rolled his eyes.
"Well, Jenny has some pretty potent bloodlines running through her. Both my parents were powerful in their own right. My father through the Gryffindor line, and my mother got a lucky draw in genetics, and both of them were some of the best students that Hogwarts had seen before Hermione came along and shattered a bunch of records… but that's Hermione for you, always the best at anything to do with books…" Harry paused and took a deep breath before continuing.
"Voldemort was heir of Slytherin and one of the most powerful wizards of all time and I received a good dose of his powers at age of one. So, already, we've got three powerful bloodlines, combined in me; and look where that took me. Screwed up my life a fair bit. Then, one night while I'm out at a club with 'Mione and Ron, I happen to get drunk with and knock up a beautiful woman who happens to be the heir of Ravenclaw, and I, like a complete arse, walk away and forget about it all. My daughter is born some nine months later and I still have no idea she exists. This ignorance continues for another ten years until that prophecy decided to blindside me, leaving me dizzy and confused. Then, less than a month later, that beautiful woman appears at the castle, claiming that my daughter has been right in front of me for a good four months and that she resembles her father so much that everyone but thick-headed old me recognizes her."
Harry ended his speech by throwing his arms wide and turning to Genevieve.
"Fate is a fickle friend, no?" he asked in a light voice.
"Yes, Fate is a fickle friend," replied Genevieve, laughing at the look of distress that Harry was blatantly faking. Taking his hand, she started pulling him towards the castle.
"Lets head in, I am absolutely frozen," she said, smiling. Harry started to protest then changed his mind in mid-word as an idea sprung to mind. "Okay," he replied, "but not before I do this." He reached out and pulled her close.
"Do what?" asked Genevieve mischievously.
"This,"
With that, he leaned close and kissed her.
"Ewwwww!!!!" This time the indignant exclamation was shared by both Jenny and Eddie. They had had their noses glued to the window for the past five minutes, spying on Jenny's mother and Professor Potter down by the lake.
Jenny turned away from the window and covered her eyes.
"You don't know how not cool it is to watch your mom kiss your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!" she all but wailed.
"I thought watching my parents kiss was bad," added Eddie ruefully.
Jenny smiled weakly at her friend and went off to finish reading A Handful of Time. Eddie mumbled something about getting breakfast and climbed out the portrait hole.
Thomas crawled out of bed at ten after nine.
Pushing aside the royal blue hangings around his bed, he pulled himself to his feet. Sitting on the bed opposite, Danny Boca, a boy with dark brown hair and eyes, was resolutely doing his potions essay.
"I was waiting for you to wake up," remarked Danny, peering up from his foot long essay.
"Need help?" asked Thomas woozily. He was not a morning person and never had been. Danny nodded.
"How about you wait till I'm fully conscious before you trust any information coming from me, Okay?" suggested Thomas, as he pulled on a pair of jeans. "Okay," replied Danny, putting his essay away, and instead, pulling out his charms homework.
"I'll see you in a bit," said Thomas as he pulled on a T-shirt and a hoody. Stuffing his hands in the pockets to ward off the cold, he headed down for breakfast. He met Eddie halfway down a staircase on the third floor and found that the red-head was somewhat preoccupied.
"S'up mate?" asked Thomas, "Your looking a little down."
Eddie filled Thomas in on what he and Jenny had seen down by the lake. Thomas paused, thoughtful.
"Y'know what I've noticed? Jens looks a lot like Professor Potter," he commented continuing to walk down the stairs. "Yah, so?" replied Eddie, giving a portrait of a tipsy looking wizard a curious glance.
"Well, Don't you think it's odd that Jens looks a lot like him, and that she doesn't have a dad, then you see her mum and Professor Potter kissing down by the lake?" remarked Thomas, his stormy blue eyes contemplative. Eddie rounded on him, brown eyes as round as galleons.
"Bloody hell, you don't mean…?" He choked out, "I mean, you don't think Harry is Jenny's dad do you?"
Thomas shrugged.
"It'd explain a lot of things…" he replied, as they reached the main staircase and descended it. Passing a crowd of Hufflepuff fourth years, the two friends made their way to their respective tables. Thomas grabbed a piece of buttered toast from the Ravenclaw table, applied some blueberry jam and went to join Eddie at the end of the Gryffindor table. Being careful to sit away from all the other breakfasting Gryffindors, the two discussed the idea of having one of their best friends being related to one of the most famous wizards since Merlin.
Now you all have a first hand view of why Thomas is in Ravenclaw. As by his comment in the Hogwarts express chapter, he is not one for book learning. He's just good at logic and figuring things out :p I know everyone has probably like forgotten about the express comment by now, but I felt a need to justify why I stuck him there.
And to my reviewers!
That Aerin: Thanks for all of your reviews! :D Damn, there were a lot of them… lessee now; I thank profusely for the criticism. I never get any and it feels very refreshing when I do. About the barrier thing, I couldn't remember when I wrote that chapter whether muggles were allowed on the platform, so I wrote that anyone who was looking for it could find it. So, Charlotte is not magic and never will be and while not all Slytherin's are evil, some can be right prats, no? And while I intended for Genevieve's nickname to be Genie, you can call her Gena. (I asked, she doesn't mind:P)
Kady Rilla Wholi: Yep, there's definitely going to be a sequel. I can even tell you the title. "Heir of the Phoenix: Past." Tom Riddle becomes an important character in the sequel when he tries to mess with Time a bit! Jenny is going to get very pissed off at him and since she inherited her temper from Harry…Well, Tom Riddle better watch out. It'll be set in her fourth year and we'll get to see the Marauders! Yay! As for how many chapters this story will take, I'm not really sure.
Wytil: Yep, Tom's gone until the sequel and Jenny doesn't know. She may have a vague idea, but it's far from concrete.
Lil-and-sarah: Thanks! And I actually didn't get any reply from your guys' website. I registered over two weeks ago.
FieryPhoenix: About Genevieve's nieces and nephew, they'll probably show up for a visit in the second or third books, but they won't be principal characters. I'm planning to have Genevieve try to reconcile with her sister, why they were fighting will be revealed in a later chapter. The twins will be attending Castlewood Academy of Magic (From "Anna Grayson and the Order of Merlin" by Dave & Katie O'Brian)… Yes, I'm blatantly advertising another fic… Go read it! It's in my favorites.
Raquel: And get into Royal messes they shall…
And Thanks to:
CommaSplice
Mjk306 (as always J )
Kat6528
LaLathePanda
Kirjava Deamon