January passed quickly for Jeanne. She went to class, did her homework, and learned about pureblood etiquette from Astoria and watching the house council. She still couldn't think of a good way to get the council to kick Pansy out. Any idea she came up with she shot back down as quickly as she could. It was odd. She understood why the purebloods acted in certain ways, but she didn't understand their attitude to non-purebloods. So, after potions in late January she decided to use her tried and trusted method of asking Cedric, Lee and the twins.
"Why does everyone think Salazar Slytherin hated First gens?" The four fourth years looked at her strangely. She almost thought she must have grown a second head, but she didn't understand why.
"Because he did," George stated.
"But why? It would make more sense if he simply disliked the idea of them returning to the no-maj world where they could oust other magicals or be harmed by the no-maj's. After all didn't they burn witches back then?" The four older boys didn't know how to respond.
"How… Why… When did you come up with that?" It was Cedric who had asked.
"Well back home its what we do. First gens are treated the same as everyone else but after school they either choose to go back to the no-maj world and stay there, or they move to the magical world permanently. No-maj's are dangerous." The four purebloods were shocked by the idea that people were made to choose between family and their magic. But what she had said about Slytherin made sense. It would have been dangerous. And they recalled the old law that Jeanne grew up with. She couldn't marry a muggle even if she really wanted to. Not unless she was willing to give up her magic and have her wand snapped. While they tried to figure out where they stood in her debate, Jeanne wondered away.
'maybe I should talk about back home anymore.' She thought to herself. It seemed to confuse people when she did, or it upset them.
Jeanne loved her classes and most of her teachers. She did potions twice on Tuesday's and Fridays, choosing to teach herself the defence course with essays set by Snape every other week. At some point in late September Snape had stopped pairing Jeanne up with others in the class and set her more advanced potions. She took to them like a fish to water. Severus Snape was jumping for joy for the next fortnight after that discovery and had proceeded to brag about his prodigy child from his house. Flitwick joined him quickly after the winter break, singing praises about his favourite snake who had improved in leaps and bounds in just a few short weeks. Lockhart attempted to bring the girls growing legacy down by pointing out that she had been banded from his class, but Snape only waved him off, telling him that she was doing just fine with self-study, and got only outstanding's in the essays he would set her. The blond professor was furious but decided to hinder the girls progress.
"Then I shall allow her back into my class room," Lockhart had told the potions professor one night. Severus only told him that it was Jeanne's decision whether she returned or not. She didn't.
Jeanne became a symbol of defiance within the house of Slytherin after that and more of them stopped attending, opting to take up private study for the course with private tutors. Most Slytherin's got over the fact the Jeanne had been born a potter and focused on the fact that if Harry was Slytherin's heir then by extension so was Jeanne. The heir of Slytherin could very well be their sweet little spit fire who had two heads of house wrapped around her little finger with a one third close behind them. But Jeanne knew better. The idea that Harry was the heir of Slytherin was hilarious. And by now she knew she wasn't really a potter. Not James or Lily's child anyway.
And she made sure that people knew this. She started with her two dorm mates. They had been chatting away about the rumours of Hogwarts and settled on the rumour that Harry was the heir of Slytherin. They knew it wasn't true, but they thought it was fun to try and put the pieces everyone else was layout out, together.
The entire school was calling him the 'heir of Slytherin' and the more Jeanne thought about it, the more hilarious it became.
"Dorea Black married into the family, maybe that where it came from," Astoria suggested with a giggle.
"That's ridiculous, Harry isn't the heir to Slytherin. Dorea was his great aunt, not his grandma," Jeanne had told the other blond with a magnificently loud laugh. Most of the common room looked at her like she had lost her mind, but Allen and Matt laughed along. They loved seeing girls laugh like maniacs, it was a magnificent sight that they would never tire of seeing.
After seeing the confused faces of her house-mates she took some calming breaths and explained.
"I know how far the Potter lineage goes back. I looked it up over the Holidays. The only Slytherin blood there was Slytherin's great uncle twice removed. It's such a distant reaction that it has no claim of being the heir of the house Slytherin than Harry's mother did." and that was the end of the conversation. Lily and Astoria had giggled with her about the school gossip before they stopped on one rumour that interested Lily to no end.
"I heard you finally hooked a Ravenclaw," she grinned slyly. Jeanne hummed along and told them that Rodger was only helping her with Charms. It wasn't a big deal. Or it wasn't until Blaise heard them.
"Do my ears deceive me or did I just hear the prodigy herself admit that she needs help with Charms," he teased. Jeanne huffed and pushed him away from them. She didn't need him teasing her because she wasn't a perfect little princess like Astoria and Lily.
"Blaise you shouldn't tease someone with better potions knowledge than you, you never know what kind of concoction she could cook up for you," Theodore Nott pointed out from behind his book. Astoria and Lily giggled as Blaise scowled at hi mousy haired friend.
"Just because you understand all that stuff doesn't mean we can Nott." Jeanne watched them go back and forth like a tennis match. Theodore had whit beyond measure, but Blaise was more cunning and was a sweet talker. It was fun to watch them argue. It was like watching Arthur and Francis go at it, or when Alfred and Mathew got too competitive. She still hadn't written to her uncle Alfred, or Arthur for that matter. Francis had written to her after Alfred had exploded the Hufflepuff table. He was worried about her, asking if she was okay. He said that her letter hadn't arrived until after Alfred did. It was suspicious, but she just wanted to forget all about it. It still scared her to think of how scary it had been to see her fun-loving uncle so livid.
Jeanne watched the rest of the common room and wondered where her boys kept running off too. They kept disappearing on her. She didn't ask, because she didn't want to pry, but it irked her that they just up and left without saying anything.
She left them alone until things took another turn for the worst.
In February, all blame went to her for the attacks when Hermione Granger showed up petrified with a fifth year Ravenclaw. Jeanne had huffed at the accusation and had continued her research in the library. She had tried to find information on the Potters, adoption recorders concerning the family, and even looking for the characteristics she had in other families. Eventually she relented and started to look for potions. She knew she had read about adoption potions before. And there had to be potions that dictated someone's magical family tree.
Her hair had grown but it was barely noticeable.
People gave Jeanne a wide berth in the corridors and even the Hufflepuff's were weary of her. The twins, lee and Cedric paid no mind to the caution and happily chatted and helped the little blond whenever she needed it. She helped them with potions and in return they helped her with defence against the dark arts. Flitwick and Snape adored her still and professor sprout was slowly following them down the same path. Jeanne had never been afraid of getting her hands dirty and she enjoyed learning about the plants she used every day in her potions work. She was the honorary Puff of Slytherin house and she used it to her advantage. The twins had shown her where the kitchen was during the Christmas holiday and she had even been invited into the Hufflepuff common room once as well. She wasn't allowed to witness Cedric opening the common room entrance, but they had been welcoming.
Jeanne had been sending letters weekly to her friends at Illvermorney and in return they sent her one back as often as they could. Astoria and Lily had taken to teaching Jeanne everything they knew about being pureblood ladies. They taught her posture, etiquette, and even taught her how to speak like a pureblood – although it sounded off due to her accent. Lily still insisted on doing Jeanne's hair whenever there was time and Astoria had even started teaching her about pureblood fashion. In return Jeanne had told the two girls all about No-Maj fashion and they were all shocked and astounded at the differences.
"So, leather, plaid, baggy and colours are in and so are chokers and butterflies?" Astoria had asked in disbelief. It explained why Jeanne owned so many butterfly hair pins and earrings, but she didn't seem to own any leather or chokers at all.
"They are, although leather and chockers tend to be for the older teens and such. Butterflies are for everyone," Jeanne had explained, as lily played with her hair, putting it into different styles and then redoing it over and over again.
"Closest thing to leather we have is Dragon hide. It's really expensive, unless you're a Dragon tamer or Dragonologist. Then you get given a set and get major discounts on all Dragon products. They get mega good pay too. After all they work with fire breathing death traps," Lily pointed out as she added another braid to the growing mass on Jeanne's head. Jeanne had told her that if you put loads of tiny braids in your hair, left them over night, and then took them out the next morning, your hair would fluff up in tiny waves. It had been a popular style for a while in the muggle world. And didn't the twins mention that one of their brothers worked with Dragons? It sounded exciting. She had never seen a dragon in person before. Maybe she should look into Dragonology. It sounded interesting.
Authors note: Hello my lovelies! We are back with a whole new chapter, and guess what? I have another essay to write... yeah. Politics this time, all the good stuff about ideologies and all that jazz. But bonus for you my lovelies, I write when i procrastinate (Which you shouldn't do. never put off your work, you'll regret it. trust me) which is good for you, not so much for me. But I'll survive. Any ways i hope you enjoyed this chapter, leave a review if you're up for it (Because Author like to hear your opinions and ideas) i will see you next time, TTFN, Tah tah for now!
- Scarlet x