A/N: When I wrote the 6th chapter, I honestly couldn't remember whether muggles had been able to get on the platform, so I wrote that anyone who was aware of and looking for it could come through the gateway. I now know better, but for the sake of the story, I'm going with what I wrote in Chapter 6.
Chapter 25
Jenny gazed out the windows of the Hogwart's express with a distinctly melancholy expression. Snow covered the countryside in an unchanging white blanket and only the occasional house or stile broke the monotony of the landscape. The cold from the window was turning her nose from it's normal color to dull, icy blue. Behind her, she could hear Salina and Charlotte exchanging ideas of what they wanted for Christmas (Charlotte was explaining what an MP3 player was) and the boys were firmly entrenched in a heated and loud game of wizard's chess. Most of the noise came from Jon arguing with Eddie's borrowed chess set, while Thomas sat calmly with his fingers steepled and a smug expression on his face. It was obvious to anyone that he was winning and that he enjoyed it immensely.
Athena was perched on top of her cage and she seemed to be watching the progress of the chess game with a politely curious expression and for some odd reason, an elderly looking snowy owl was present also. Jenny supposed Athena had made friends in the Hogwarts owlery.
As the frozen countryside continued to speed by, every kilometer looking the same as the last, Jenny slumped back in her seat and sighed. Her mother had taken a portkey to Hogwarts and was returning to London the same way. Charlotte had opted to take the Express with the five of them.
After Thomas thoroughly thrashed Jon, Eddie and Charlotte at Wizard's chess, a game of poker was started and Jenny joined in and managed to win a large pile of chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties, thus introducing Charlotte to the joys of collecting chocolate frog cards.
As they got closer to London, Jenny noticed that Salina was growing decidedly more pale and quiet. When she started worrying the bottom edge of her sweater, they all realized something was up. Salina never displayed any nervous habits, except when one counted her annoying tendency to tap out the melodies to several Weird Sisters songs with her fingernails on her desk while doing tests.
"What's wrong Salina?" Jon asked.
Salina looked up from her fidgeting to discover all her friends watching her and she shifted in her seat and drew her face into a neutral expression.
"Oh - nothing…" she said airily.
"Bullshit!" spat Thomas instantly, his stormy blue eyes narrowing.
Salina jumped at his tone.
"Nothing's wrong." she repeated firmly, louder this time. She glared at Thomas, her eyes icy. "What makes you think anything's wrong? I'm fine."
"I don't know who you're trying to lie too, but it better not be us – We're your friends remember?" whispered Thomas, his voice softer, but still dangerous.
"I'm not lying!" Salina sat up straight, her grey eyes flashing angrily. Thomas's head dropped for a second and his dark blonde hair fell into his eyes, obscuring them. He rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily, a gesture that seemed to make him age a few decades.
"I'm sorry to say this Salina, but yes, you are," he replied, "Don't think we don't know that something's got you on edge. I – We – know you better than that."
He looked up at her and his eyes challenged her to lie again. The others in the compartment remained silent, surprised by the interaction between the two and wary of the delicate balance of tempers.
"Really." Salina's voice was cold, emotionless. Her expression was poised and unreadable.
"Don't go Malfoy on us!" exploded Thomas angrily. Jenny felt a gasp escape her and Jon's mouth fell open. Charlotte looked back and forth between the two Ravenclaw's with a twisted expression.
For an instant, Salina looked like she had been slapped, before her anger set in. Her grey eyes narrowed and she was already on her feet when Thomas realized his mistake. She shot him a withering glare and was out the door before he could say anything.
"Salina! Wait! That –I- I didn't say that right!" he jumped to his feet and followed her out of the compartment. Jenny, Eddie, Jon and Charlotte peeked out to watch. He managed to catch the shoulder of her jumper and yanked her around to face him.
"Let go of me," hissed Salina.
"No…" Thomas faltered. Salina's face was still expressionless, but he could tell she was fighting tears. He knew she would never let herself cry though.
"Let go of me White!"
Thomas grimaced at her use of his last name, but fought back the pang of hurt. He deserved it. Tightening his grip on Salina's arm as she tried to pull it away, he searched for
"I meant don't go all emotionless on us! That's what I meant Salina! Derek does it too! I've seen it!" He said hurriedly, words pouring out. "You have this thing where you just shut everyone and everything you feel out… you go into this weird Vulcan mode!" He finished on a slightly hysterical note, his face contorting.
Salina's expression twisted and there was a puzzled wrinkle in her brow.
"Vulcan?" she asked, curious despite herself.
"A race from Star Trek" replied Thomas, looking relieved. "They don't have any emotions… Star Trek is a muggle show on the telly – My dad likes it."
"Oh," Salina frowned, "I see."
"Get you hands off my sister, you filthy mud blood!" snapped a voice. Derek Malfoy was standing several feet away, his wand out and an ugly expression on his face. Instantly, Thomas let go of Salina's arm and began to fumble in his robes for his wand. Salina already had hers out and leveled at her brother's chest. Jenny was aiming over Salina's shoulder and Eddie and Jon were sliding their wands out of the sleeves of their robes. Charlotte retreated back into the compartment, realizing that she did not have a place in this confrontation.
"Don't call him that," hissed Salina, towering over her brother, her rage making her seem taller than him, despite the fact that the twins were within millimeters of each other when it came to height.
"I'll call him what he is!" growled Derek, "He has no right to have his filthy hands anywhere near you! None of them have the right!"
The sharp smack of Salina's hand connecting with Derek's face made them all wince as the boy staggered back and collided with one of the sliding doors of the next compartment over. His fingers came up gingerly to feel the stinging red handprint and his grey eyes were suddenly hurt, and furiously blinking, as though he was fighting tears. In the same amount of time that it had taken for the myriad of emotions to appear on his face, they were gone, replaced by a smooth mask, his upset and anger made evident by only the slight flush on his cheeks.
"They have more right than you Derek!" shouted Salina, jabbing him sharply in the chest with the tip of her wand as she advanced on him, her cheeked flushed bright pink and her eyes narrowed. "They care about me. They accept me for who I am! They don't spout prejudiced bullshit about people who are different than they are! They cover my back and I can trust them not to run crying to father whenever there's a fight!"
"I don't– Expelliarmus!" bellowed Derek angrily. Salina was flung violently backwards, knocking over everyone like bowling pins. Several compartment doors slid open as people peeked out to see what all the fuss was about as the friends struggled to untangle themselves from each other and stand up. Jon was on his feet first and he quickly helped Jenny up. Salina picked herself up off of both Eddie and Thomas and crawled over to where her wand lay several feet down the corridor. Picking it up, she stood. Derek was no where to be seen.
"Coward," she spat at the empty corridor and stalked back into their compartment as the compartment doors all slid shut, their occupants realizing that the show was already over.
Salina threw herself down onto the bench seat in an unusual show of vehemence and brought her knees up to her chin and buried her face in her arms. Jenny sat down on one side of her and Charlotte sat on the other, patting Salina on the shoulder. The boys took the bench opposite, their eyes all trained on Salina.
"You okay Salina?" asked Jon quietly. Salina shook her head without looking up. Her blonde hair became slightly mussed.
"No," She whispered, a wavering quality in her voice, "I'm scared…"
"Scared? Why are you scared?" demanded Eddie, leaning forward.
Slowly, Salina's head rose so that she met Eddie's eyes. Her grey eyes were bright with unshed tears and lines that had not been their before etched her face.
"Father."
Silence greeted her. All of them, save Charlotte, knew the malevolent side of Draco Malfoy, and yet, it seemed that Charlotte understood Salina's fear the best.
Charlotte's hand squeezed Salina's shoulder.
"Don't worry Salina…" she said in a halting voice, "I… I-I know what it's like...and it always ends… You just have to endure it. The bruises always go away eventually. "
Salina glanced at Charlotte with raised eyebrows, not entirely convinced that a muggle girl knew what it could be like. Charlotte ducked her head, sensing Salina's instinctive distrust.
"Papa broke my jaw a few weeks ago," she said quietly, studious avoiding the rest of their eyes. Salina's eyes widened and both Jon and Thomas gasped.
Charlotte's hazel eyes darted over to meet Salina's grey ones and instantly, like a jolt of electricity, the two girls suddenly forged an unbreakable bond of friendship. A slow smile spread across Charlotte's face and Salina smiled back. The smiles were contagious and soon, Jenny, Jon, Eddie and Thomas were also sporting big grins.
"You'll be alright," said Charlotte, "Trust me, ok?"
"Okay," replied Salina, "I'll trust you."
When the train began to make its way into London two hours later, Salina and Charlotte were giggling with shared stories and secrets.
"Fancy that…" said Eddie quietly as he nudged one of his rooks forward to beat up Jenny's sole remaining Knight, "A witch from one of the oldest Wizarding families around and a muggle as friends."
"Is that really uncommon?" asked Jenny, grimacing as she watched the rook toss her Knight off the board. Eddie nodded.
"Pretty rare," he replied, "Salina's family is part of the Fourteen families and for the most part, they don't mix with muggles. My family and yours are the exceptions really."
"My family?" said Jenny, surprised and confused.
"The Potters."
"Oh. Right …What are the fourteen families…like, who are they?" asked Jenny seriously.
"Well, there's us - The Potter's and The Weasley's. Then there's the Prewett's – I'm also a Prewett on me grandma's side – after them, there's the Longbottom's and the Diggory's… How many have I listed so far?" He counted up to five on his fingers, and then continued.
"There's also the Bones', the Black's, the Jones' and the Crouch's… Only I suppose the Crouch line has ended… so they're not around anymore. Then there's the Anguis', the Malfoy's, the Snape's and the Lestranges', and finally, the Pettigrew's."
"And they're the elite of the elite?"
"Yah… Pretty much every witch and wizard in Britain knows who they are. You'd be recognized especially." Said Eddie seriously, "Harry made the name even more recognizable."
"Oh … Joy." Replied Jenny tonelessly, as she directed her queen to capture on of Eddie's pawns. She had forgotten that outside of the school, her father was considered a celebrity. Only the newest, non-muggleborn students at Hogwarts stared at him with unabashed awe though and they got over it quickly the minute he assigned them their first Defence Against the Dark Arts essay.
"I don't want to be in the newspaper," sighed Jenny as she watched her queen beaten into submission by a bishop. "I don't want to be Jenny Potter…. I don't want to be anywhere near him."
"Don't worry about it Jens… Harry hates the press. Unless Rita Skeeter gets up to her old tricks – and she won't, mind you – it'll ages before the Prophet or any of the other newspapers pick up on it. By then you all have figured out how to deal with it all," replied Eddie, reaching across the board and patting her shoulder reassuringly. Jenny gave her friend a fleeting smile, then started as the train started to slow.
"Hey! We're slowing down!" shouted Jon unnecessarily, punching a fist in the air and plastering his face to the window, "Mum's home cooking is less than an hour away! I can already taste it…."
Laughter echoed through the compartment.
"I get to see Aunt Angela!" said Jenny excitedly, "She's meeting us on the platform."
"She is? Awesome!" chimed in Charlotte, grinning. Thomas dug his Discman out of his pocket and held it up. "I can finally use this thing again! Good music, oh, it's been far too long…" he said as he jammed the headphones onto his head. A blissful expression appeared on his face the moment the bass line began.
The brakes of the train began to seriously do their work as King's Cross came into sight through the fog and rain. Instantly, everyone went for their trunks. Around them, they could hear people in the other compartments doing the same thing.
As the train lurched to a stop, they could see that the platform was less crowded than it had been at the beginning of term. Jenny instantly picked Eddie's father out of the crowd and saw that he was standing with both Eddie's mother and Professor Potter. A little ways down the platform, she could see her own mother and Aunt Angela anxiously scanning the train windows for both her and Charlotte.
Turning away from the window, she met her friend's eyes, making contact with each in turn. Honey, Hazel, Blue, Grey and Brown.
"Well… here we are…" said Thomas quietly.
"So much has changed," echoed Salina quietly and the others turned to look at her, as she continued, "When I came to Hogwarts… I thought mu-ggleborns weren't really worth my time. I thought you were just another muggle-loving Weasley, Eddie and I didn't even consider muggles as equals…. I guess I sort of know better now…" She mustered up a weak smile that didn't last very long, and her eyes were fixed on a certain spot on the platform over Jenny's shoulder.
Glancing out, Jenny followed Salina's eyes to a tall, slim man with Salina's silver blonde hair and billowing black robes who was already greeting Derek. He had to be Draco Malfoy.
"Well, I guess we'd better go…" said Jon, beginning to drag his trunk towards the door of the compartment. "People are waiting for us…See you all in January!"
Ask he reached for the latch, Thomas suddenly seemed to remember something.
"Hey! Jon! What's your phone number?"
This sparked much searching for quills and parchment as all of them, save Salina -Who stood there looking quite bewildered - exchanged phone numbers.
Jon was the first one out and instantly, he was swept up by a plump woman with short, sandy brown hair that was a shade or two darker than Jon's own. She was wearing a long black skirt and filmy looking grey blouse. Next to her was a thin girl in blue jeans and a pullover who had light blonde hair and the same honey coloured eyes as Jon. She had to be his older sister. Jenny noted the large silver cross that hung around Mrs. Golden's neck as she and Charlotte wove around them, heading towards where Genevieve and Angela stood watching the crowd.
Both women's faces split into broad smiles when they spotted Jenny wrestling through the crowd with her trunk in tow and Charlotte trailing behind, carrying Athena's cage. Jenny dropped her trunk the instant she was within hugging range of Angela.
"Good lord girl! You've grown!" cried Angela the instant the fierce hugging let up, holding out her hand so that it was level with the top of Jenny's head, before comparing it to herself.
"Really!" squealed Jenny, before catching herself. "Are you serious?" she asked, struggling to keep from jumping up and down from sheer excitement.
"Really Girl… Whew! At least an inch and a half is my guess…You look more healthy too - What do they feed you guys up there? Steroids and protein shakes?"
Giggling, Jenny shook her head.
"The castle is sooo big," piped up Charlotte, drawing Angela's gaze over, "They get tons of exercise walking around it!"
"Oh really?" said Angela, her tone interested, "Would it be worth trying to get a teaching post up there? All that walking could do something for these!" She slapped her wide hips.
"I don't think you'd like it Aunt Angela," giggled Jenny, "They feed us a lot and that wouldn't be good for your wedding dress diet!"
"Oh, Drat…" said Angela bemusedly, stroking her chin, "but you don't look any worse for the wear… Also, Scotland's got beautiful countryside – You sure I wouldn't like it?"
"Oh, Quite sure" came an amused voice. Jenny looked over towards its source and frowned when she realized that it was Professor Potter, who was now standing beside her mother.
"For one, its damn cold in the winter – no heating save the fires and also, there's a multitude of ghosts floating around," He continued, a wry grin on his face. His eyes didn't seem to share the humor. They were watching Angela warily. Jenny wondered what her mother had told him about her.
"Who are -?" asked Angela, squinting at him. She was not in the habit of wearing her glasses, despite her increasing nearsightedness.
"I'm Harry… Harry Potter," replied Professor Potter quietly, extending his hand. Angela's gaze narrowed until her eyes were merely slits and she looked down at Jenny for a moment before her gaze slid back to Professor Potter. Ignoring his outstretched hand, she took a step forward and slapped him full across the face.
"Angela!" choked Genevieve, horrified. Jenny's eyebrows shot up and Charlotte nearly dropped Athena's cage.
Gasps echoed all around as Harry staggered back, tripped on the hem of his long cloak and went down hard. Heads turned and eyes widened as they saw Harry Potter, Hero of the Wizarding world, land on flat on his arse.
"You BASTARD! YOU LEFT YOUR-mmmmmmph!" Angela'sshouting was cut short when Genevieve slapped a hand over her mouth, muffling her raging friend's tirade.
"Say another bloody word and I'm not going to get you that discount on the wedding photos!" hissed Genevieve in her best friend's ear. Angela's eyes widened and she stopped fighting Genevieve's hand as Harry picked himself off the platform with as much dignity as he could muster.
"You can yell at him all you want later Angela, but now is not the time or the place," continued Genevieve, dropping her hand. She turned to Harry, who was gently feeling his rapidly reddening cheek and wincing.
"Harry, this is my best friend Angela Sessler…"
"Well met," replied Harry wryly, relaxing slightly as people began to look away. Angela didn't reply verbally. A deeply hateful glare was the only answer needed it seemed. Harry shot Genevieve a pleading look.
Genevieve shook her head helplessly. She knew that Harry was going to get it when they got home and she knew she really couldn't do anything about it. Angela had been stewing about Jenny's absent father in her place for twelve years. Genevieve had never had the time- raising Jenny, her teaching job and the symphony had kept her far too busy- or the mindset to do so, as she had never been one to hold grudges. That was Angela's forte. Her friend remembered incidents that had occurred over a decade before and she always remembered the names of which boys had committed wrongs towards her.
"Well gang, let's get a move on…" said Genevieve firmly, "I have chickenin the oven and I have no intention of letting it burn!"
There was murmurs of assent, and a baggage trolley was found and Jenny's trunk and Charlotte's suitcase were loaded onto it along with Athena's cage. Harry tried to commandeer it under the pretense of chivalry, but Jenny insisted she could handle it herself, making a point of 'accidentally' bashing in the professor's knees, forcing Harry to hobble the rest of the way to the car, leaning on Genevieve for support.
Without much fanfare, they all piled into Genevieve's car and began the long and nerve-wracking drive back to the Hansen house.