"So how long is the flight again?" Jenny asked her stepfather. They were on the way to the airport. David had sold his car, so they had hired a van to take them. The driver had been a bit surprised when he saw Eönwë.
"Hey! Isn't that a spotted owl?" he had asked. "You can't be keeping that as a pet." Fortunately, Jenny knew a few good charms and they managed to convince the driver that it was only a canary in the cage.
"Well, the flight to Chicago should be four or five hours, and the flight from Chicago to London will be about eight hours. I'm not sure how long we have to wait in Chicago." answered Jenny's stepfather. "Hopefully they'll let us sleep on the flight to London."
"Yeah." Jenny definitely agreed with her stepfather. She had never flown on an airplane before (that she could remember, at least), and she wasn't looking forward to having to sit still for twelve hours straight. She wished she was old enough to apparate. Well, it wasn't safe to apparate so far a distance anyway, and that would leave her father behind.
After a two-hour drive, they reached the Portland airport. It was noon, and their flight left at 1:15. They took their baggage to the ticket counter and then walked down to the gate. They were taking Eönwë with them as a carry-on, and they each had put some books in a tote bag to take on the plane so they wouldn't be bored. Jenny had used a shrinking potion on her broom and cello so that she could take them on the plane with her; there was no way she would trust either of them to the baggage handlers. They came to the security checkpoint. Eönwë (disguised as a canary) didn't have to go through the x-ray machine, but Jenny's jacket that had her wand in the pocket did.
"Excuse me, ma'am, I'll need to take a look at that." the security guard said.
"Alright, you may." said Jenny. She walked over to where she could see the x-ray picture. Her wand was totally opaque. Must be the magic in it, she thought.
"Here you go, thank you." said the guard.
"Thank you." said Jenny. She took her jacket and the tote bag and caught up to her stepfather.
"What did they want to look at?" asked her stepfather.
"My wand." said Jenny.
"And that was alright?"
"Oh, yes, everything was fine." They walked down to gate C-11 and picked up their boarding passes. Then they went to look for a place to buy some lunch
.
At 1:00 they boarded the plane. The flight was uneventful, but as it was the middle of the day they couldn't get any sleep. Jenny wasn't very tired, though. She was reading a book she had bought after learning they would be moving to England, called Wizarding Schools of the World. There were quite a few in there that she had never heard of. The book talked mostly about the differences between Hogwarts and the Salem Witches Institute, but that was fine with Jenny because that was what she had been looking for. The book was enchanted so that to Muggles it appeared to be called Comparing America's Top Universities, and Jenny's stepfather couldn't understand why she was reading it.
They arrived in Chicago at about 8:00 Chicago time, and had to wait for two hours to catch their flight to London. They had some dinner while they were waiting. Well, they would be flying at night, so maybe they would be able to sleep. However, if the seats were like those on the last plane, they would certainly need a cushioning charm. Not very difficult. Jenny normally wouldn't be allowed to use magic outside of school, but since she wasn't planning on coming back to America for quite a while, she didn't think there was anything the Department of Magic could do about it.
After they had boarded the plane, Jenny cast a cushioning charm on both her and her father's seats. She sat down. Yes, she would be able to sleep here, when it was dark. A girl who looked about Jenny's age lat down next to Jenny, and they introduced themselves. The girl, whose name was Whitney Pearson, was obviously a Muggle, but Jenny had nothing against Muggles. Whitney was English, on her way home from a vacation in California. Her parents were sitting in a different aisle.
About two hours into the flight, dinner was served. Jenny wasn't all that hungry, but she ate anyway. Then the lights were dimmed and a movie was put on. It was after midnight Chicago time, but it felt two hours earlier to Jenny and Whitney. Whitney decided to watch the movie, but it looked boring to Jenny, so she read her book instead. Soon she drifted off to sleep.
When Jenny woke, it was light in the cabin. A few people were still asleep, but almost everyone was awake. Whitney was playing solitaire with a deck of cards. When she saw that Jenny was awake, she asked her if she wanted to play a game together. Jenny agreed to play, so Whitney taught her to play rummy. They played for about half an hour, and then breakfast was served. Not too long after that, the plane landed. Jenny and her stepfather took their stuff and left the plane, then proceeded to Immigration. There was a long line, but there wasn't any trouble. They went to the baggage claim to get their luggage, and then went to rent a car. It was a long drive to their new house in the village of Ottery St. Catchpole, and when the got there they found the bedrooms and went straight to sleep.
They both woke, feeling refreshed, at 6:00 PM. "This is going to take some time to get used to." said Jenny.
"It took me about three days, the last time I was here." said Jenny's stepfather.
"Oh, dear."
As they hadn't been able to get to a grocery store, they didn't have any food in the house. Jenny's stepfather drove them to a restaurant that he has seen on the drive from the airport, and they ate their dinner there. When they returned, David wrote a letter letting the Weasleys know they had arrived and sent it off with Eönwë. Since the Weasleys lived nearby, Eönwë was back with a reply within two hours. David took the letter and read it.
"They've invited us to dinner tomorrow." he said.
"Oh, that's great!" Jenny said. "But you'll still have to buy groceries tomorrow."
"Jenny, the point of having dinner with them is not to get free food; it's to get to know them."
"Oh, I know that." said Jenny. "Just making a little joke."
"It's getting kind of late." said Jenny's stepfather. "Why don't we try to get some sleep?"
"Oh, I'm not tired at all." replied Jenny.
"But if you don't go to sleep tonight, you'll just sleep during the day tomorrow."
"Alright, I'll try to get some sleep." Jenny went to her room, changed into her pajamas, and tried to fall asleep. It took her about an hour.
Jenny woke up at five AM. Her stepfather was already awake.
"Oh, good morning." he said. "I'm going to go buy some groceries and see about buying a car. I'm not sure when I'll be back, but we're going to the Weasleys' at 5:30."
"Alright. How should I dress?" asked Jenny.
"Oh, not too fancy, but dress nicely."
"Okay." said Jenny.
The rest of the day was pretty boring for Jenny. She took a nap in the early afternoon. Then she took a bath. It felt very good, and Jenny felt a lot better when she got out. She dressed in her forest-green robes and french-braided her hair. Soon after that, her stepfather came home with a new car. It was almost the same dark green as Jenny's robes, but it was shiny.
"Oh, wow, that's a nice car." said Jenny.
"Thank you." said Jenny's stepfather. "I'll go in and get cleaned up, and then we'll go."
"Okay." said Jenny. "Do I look alright?"
"You look lovely."
Fifteen minutes later, they got in the car and drove to the Weasleys' house. When they arrived, they saw that it was the strangest house either of them had ever seen.
"How on earth do they keep it from falling apart?" asked Jenny's stepfather.
"Magic." replied Jenny. "I'm sure it looks better on the inside." They parked the car and walked up to what looked like the front door. David knocked, and soon they heard someone running to the door. The door opened and a boy with flaming red hair opened the door.
"Hello. Come on i—M-Ma—what are you doing here? Er…um…" He seemed very surprised and confused.
A man with the same color hair as the boy came up behind him. He seemed to do a double take when he saw her. "Hi." he said. "I'm Arthur Weasley, and this is my son Ron. Please forgive him, he must have noticed your resemblance to--to someone we know."
"You knew my mother?" asked Jenny. "Marian?"
"We'll discuss this later." said David. "Hello, I'm David McKay. This is my stepdaughter, Jennifer."
"Sorry." said the boy. "Hey—will you be going to Hogwarts?"
"Yes." answered Jenny. "I'm enrolled as a fifth-year student."
"Oh, me too. I'll tell you all about it." said Ron.
"Oh, good. I have a book about it, but it doesn't tell me nearly as much as I want to know."
"Come inside and meet the rest of the family." said Mr. Weasley. They went in the house. Mr. Weasley introduced them to Percy, Fred, George, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley. Mrs Weasley was in the kitchen cooking something that smelled delicious. "I must tell you," said Mr Weasley, "That I'm absolutely thrilled to be working with a Muggle. I pride myself on taking special care to learn as much as I can about the Muggle world, but I've ah, discovered, that I could still learn a lot more."
"Dinner's not ready for about fifteen minutes." said Ron to Jenny. "Come upstairs with me." Ron lead Jenny upstairs to his room. "Now, tell me all about what you dad wanted to wait to talk about."
"About my mother? We've barely met. You don't even know my last name; why do you care about my mother?" asked Jenny, thinking Ron a bit rude.
"Because you could be twin of someone I from Hogwarts. I want to know if you're related." said Ron. "Er, fraternal twin, obviously you're a girl."
"You're saying I look like a boy you know?!" asked Jenny, starting to get a bit upset.
"I'm saying you look related." said Ron. "And I do too know your last name. It's McKay."
"No, it's not, it's Riddle. And about looking like someone you know, well, I know that I look almost exactly like my mother, Marian, but I don't know her last name." But Ron didn't seem to have heard that last bit.
"R-Riddle?"
"Yes, that came from my real father, but that's all I know about him." said Jenny. "Why? You look like I told you I was related to You-Know-Who himself."
"Um...never mind." But Jenny could tell that something was bothering him. She changed the subject.
"So, what house are you in at Hogwarts?"
"I'm a Gryffindor." said Ron. "All my family's been in Gryffindor."
"And tell me again about the different houses."
"There's Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin." said Ron. "Gryffindors are brave, Hufflepuffs are loyal and hardworking, Ravenclaws are smart, and Slytherins...well they're supposed to be ambitious and cunning, but I think they're just evil."
"Don't say that." said Jenny. "I might end up there."
"Well, hopefully not." said Ron.
"How do they sort you into a house?" asked Jenny.
"You put on the Sorting Hat, and it decides where you belong."
"Alright." said Jenny. "That sounds easy enough."
"Did they have different houses at your old school?" asked Ron.
"I went to the Salem Witches' Institute, and no, they didn't have houses." said Jenny. "But there were two branches of the school, one in Salem, Massachusetts, and one in Salem, Oregon. On different sides of the country, see. At the end of the year, there are all sorts of contests between the two schools."
"Ah. Quidditch?" asked Ron.
"Yes, it's becoming more popular in the U.S. Do you play?"
"No," said Ron. "Fred and George do, though, and Harry's the best Seeker Gryffindor's had in a long time. Do you play?"
"You said Harry. Is that...Harry Potter?" asked Jenny.
"Yes, he's one of my best friends."
"Wow." said Jenny. "No, I don't play Quidditch. I do extreme flying."
"What's that?" asked Ron.
"Stunt flying. Come over sometime, and I'll show you."
"Alright, I will." said Ron. "When's a good time?"
"You can come over tomorrow afternoon, and bring your brothers and sister if you want." said Jenny. "Our house is just over there." She pointed in the direction of their new house.
"Dinner's ready!" they heard.
"Coming!" called Ron in reply.
* * *
The next day at about 2:00 the Weasley boys rode their brooms over to Jenny's house.
"Ginny wasn't interested." explained Ron.
"That's okay." said Jenny. "Come inside. I'll fix you some drinks before we start." She led them in and poured juice for everyone. "I'll go get my broom." She went upstairs to get her Diamond Satellite, which she had un-shrunk earlier that day.
"Whoa! What broom is that?" asked one of the twins, Jenny couldn't tell which
.
"It's the Diamond Satellite. It's a stunt broom, probably not the best for Quidditch." answered Jenny.
"Ah. Too bad, we brought all the balls, if you wanted to play." said the other twin.
"Play Quidditch? With only two to a team?" asked Jenny.
"Well, not playing with the bludgers." said Ron.
"Ah." said Jenny. "Well, that might be fun."
"Show us what stunts you can do." said Ron. "I'm really interested in seeing them."
"Alright." said Jenny. She led them out to her backyard, which was rather large and flat, with only a few trees.
"Wait." said Ron. "You do have Muggle-repelling charms on this place, don't you?"
"Er, no, I don't." said Jenny. "But there's no one around, look. Do you see anyone?"
"No, I guess it's safe."
"Come on, Ron, of course it's fine." said one of the twins.
"Okay, then." said Jenny. She mounted her broom and took off. When she was about thirty feet I the air, she put one foot, then the other on top of the broom. She slowly stood up. Using her feet to steer, she flew upwards in a wide circle until she was about fifty feet above the ground. Then she bent the leg closest to the back of the broom and went into a very steep and fast dive, pulling up just before she hit the ground. She leveled the broom at about twenty feet, then jumped off and grabbed the broom in her hands. Using the momentum from her drop, she spun up into a handstand. She took the broom up in a loop-de-loop, and as she came out of it, she pulled herself back up onto the broom into a sitting position, with her feet on the handle. She tipped the broom upwards and spun it around like a tornado, widening her spin as she rose higher in the air. When she was at a height of about sixty feet, she stood up on the broom again, gave it a nudge with her toe that no one else would have been able to see, and dove into the air. She did three mid-air somersaults as she was falling, and her broom followed her down at the same speed she was falling. When she was about fifteen feet above the ground, she reached out, grabbed the broom in one hand, spun around it two times, properly mounted the broom, and came to a halt just above the ground.
"That was brilliant!" said Ron. The twins were standing with their mouths wide open. "Teach me to do that!"
"Alright." she said. "Well, I can't teach you to do all of that, but I can teach you a bit. Do you two want to learn as well?" she asked the twins.
"Um, yes, of course."
"Alright." said Jenny. "For beginners, it's best to start out over a cushion, so when you fall you won't break anything." She looked around. When she first came outside, she had set her robes down on the ground, leaving her wand with them. Ah! There they were. She went to pick up her wand, but when she did, it turned into a rubber chicken. Ron and the twins burst into laughter.
"It's one of Fred and George's fake wands." he explained.
"It was very…convincing." said Jenny, a bit annoyed. She reached under her robes to find her real wand. "Let me just cast a cushioning charm on the ground." she said.
That afternoon, Jenny taught the Weasley boys the basics of stunt flying, including standing on the broom. Ron, Fred, and George came over often during the rest of the summer, and they did a lot of flying. Fred and George showed Jenny some more of the stuff they had made for their joke shop.
In the last week of August, the Weasleys offered to take Jenny with them to Diagon Alley to buy Hogwarts supplies. Jenny accepted the invitation, because she would have had no idea where she was going if she went by herself. She bought all her textbooks, and the cauldron that she needed. Jenny was now ready for Hogwarts.
"Hey! Isn't that a spotted owl?" he had asked. "You can't be keeping that as a pet." Fortunately, Jenny knew a few good charms and they managed to convince the driver that it was only a canary in the cage.
"Well, the flight to Chicago should be four or five hours, and the flight from Chicago to London will be about eight hours. I'm not sure how long we have to wait in Chicago." answered Jenny's stepfather. "Hopefully they'll let us sleep on the flight to London."
"Yeah." Jenny definitely agreed with her stepfather. She had never flown on an airplane before (that she could remember, at least), and she wasn't looking forward to having to sit still for twelve hours straight. She wished she was old enough to apparate. Well, it wasn't safe to apparate so far a distance anyway, and that would leave her father behind.
After a two-hour drive, they reached the Portland airport. It was noon, and their flight left at 1:15. They took their baggage to the ticket counter and then walked down to the gate. They were taking Eönwë with them as a carry-on, and they each had put some books in a tote bag to take on the plane so they wouldn't be bored. Jenny had used a shrinking potion on her broom and cello so that she could take them on the plane with her; there was no way she would trust either of them to the baggage handlers. They came to the security checkpoint. Eönwë (disguised as a canary) didn't have to go through the x-ray machine, but Jenny's jacket that had her wand in the pocket did.
"Excuse me, ma'am, I'll need to take a look at that." the security guard said.
"Alright, you may." said Jenny. She walked over to where she could see the x-ray picture. Her wand was totally opaque. Must be the magic in it, she thought.
"Here you go, thank you." said the guard.
"Thank you." said Jenny. She took her jacket and the tote bag and caught up to her stepfather.
"What did they want to look at?" asked her stepfather.
"My wand." said Jenny.
"And that was alright?"
"Oh, yes, everything was fine." They walked down to gate C-11 and picked up their boarding passes. Then they went to look for a place to buy some lunch
.
At 1:00 they boarded the plane. The flight was uneventful, but as it was the middle of the day they couldn't get any sleep. Jenny wasn't very tired, though. She was reading a book she had bought after learning they would be moving to England, called Wizarding Schools of the World. There were quite a few in there that she had never heard of. The book talked mostly about the differences between Hogwarts and the Salem Witches Institute, but that was fine with Jenny because that was what she had been looking for. The book was enchanted so that to Muggles it appeared to be called Comparing America's Top Universities, and Jenny's stepfather couldn't understand why she was reading it.
They arrived in Chicago at about 8:00 Chicago time, and had to wait for two hours to catch their flight to London. They had some dinner while they were waiting. Well, they would be flying at night, so maybe they would be able to sleep. However, if the seats were like those on the last plane, they would certainly need a cushioning charm. Not very difficult. Jenny normally wouldn't be allowed to use magic outside of school, but since she wasn't planning on coming back to America for quite a while, she didn't think there was anything the Department of Magic could do about it.
After they had boarded the plane, Jenny cast a cushioning charm on both her and her father's seats. She sat down. Yes, she would be able to sleep here, when it was dark. A girl who looked about Jenny's age lat down next to Jenny, and they introduced themselves. The girl, whose name was Whitney Pearson, was obviously a Muggle, but Jenny had nothing against Muggles. Whitney was English, on her way home from a vacation in California. Her parents were sitting in a different aisle.
About two hours into the flight, dinner was served. Jenny wasn't all that hungry, but she ate anyway. Then the lights were dimmed and a movie was put on. It was after midnight Chicago time, but it felt two hours earlier to Jenny and Whitney. Whitney decided to watch the movie, but it looked boring to Jenny, so she read her book instead. Soon she drifted off to sleep.
When Jenny woke, it was light in the cabin. A few people were still asleep, but almost everyone was awake. Whitney was playing solitaire with a deck of cards. When she saw that Jenny was awake, she asked her if she wanted to play a game together. Jenny agreed to play, so Whitney taught her to play rummy. They played for about half an hour, and then breakfast was served. Not too long after that, the plane landed. Jenny and her stepfather took their stuff and left the plane, then proceeded to Immigration. There was a long line, but there wasn't any trouble. They went to the baggage claim to get their luggage, and then went to rent a car. It was a long drive to their new house in the village of Ottery St. Catchpole, and when the got there they found the bedrooms and went straight to sleep.
They both woke, feeling refreshed, at 6:00 PM. "This is going to take some time to get used to." said Jenny.
"It took me about three days, the last time I was here." said Jenny's stepfather.
"Oh, dear."
As they hadn't been able to get to a grocery store, they didn't have any food in the house. Jenny's stepfather drove them to a restaurant that he has seen on the drive from the airport, and they ate their dinner there. When they returned, David wrote a letter letting the Weasleys know they had arrived and sent it off with Eönwë. Since the Weasleys lived nearby, Eönwë was back with a reply within two hours. David took the letter and read it.
"They've invited us to dinner tomorrow." he said.
"Oh, that's great!" Jenny said. "But you'll still have to buy groceries tomorrow."
"Jenny, the point of having dinner with them is not to get free food; it's to get to know them."
"Oh, I know that." said Jenny. "Just making a little joke."
"It's getting kind of late." said Jenny's stepfather. "Why don't we try to get some sleep?"
"Oh, I'm not tired at all." replied Jenny.
"But if you don't go to sleep tonight, you'll just sleep during the day tomorrow."
"Alright, I'll try to get some sleep." Jenny went to her room, changed into her pajamas, and tried to fall asleep. It took her about an hour.
Jenny woke up at five AM. Her stepfather was already awake.
"Oh, good morning." he said. "I'm going to go buy some groceries and see about buying a car. I'm not sure when I'll be back, but we're going to the Weasleys' at 5:30."
"Alright. How should I dress?" asked Jenny.
"Oh, not too fancy, but dress nicely."
"Okay." said Jenny.
The rest of the day was pretty boring for Jenny. She took a nap in the early afternoon. Then she took a bath. It felt very good, and Jenny felt a lot better when she got out. She dressed in her forest-green robes and french-braided her hair. Soon after that, her stepfather came home with a new car. It was almost the same dark green as Jenny's robes, but it was shiny.
"Oh, wow, that's a nice car." said Jenny.
"Thank you." said Jenny's stepfather. "I'll go in and get cleaned up, and then we'll go."
"Okay." said Jenny. "Do I look alright?"
"You look lovely."
Fifteen minutes later, they got in the car and drove to the Weasleys' house. When they arrived, they saw that it was the strangest house either of them had ever seen.
"How on earth do they keep it from falling apart?" asked Jenny's stepfather.
"Magic." replied Jenny. "I'm sure it looks better on the inside." They parked the car and walked up to what looked like the front door. David knocked, and soon they heard someone running to the door. The door opened and a boy with flaming red hair opened the door.
"Hello. Come on i—M-Ma—what are you doing here? Er…um…" He seemed very surprised and confused.
A man with the same color hair as the boy came up behind him. He seemed to do a double take when he saw her. "Hi." he said. "I'm Arthur Weasley, and this is my son Ron. Please forgive him, he must have noticed your resemblance to--to someone we know."
"You knew my mother?" asked Jenny. "Marian?"
"We'll discuss this later." said David. "Hello, I'm David McKay. This is my stepdaughter, Jennifer."
"Sorry." said the boy. "Hey—will you be going to Hogwarts?"
"Yes." answered Jenny. "I'm enrolled as a fifth-year student."
"Oh, me too. I'll tell you all about it." said Ron.
"Oh, good. I have a book about it, but it doesn't tell me nearly as much as I want to know."
"Come inside and meet the rest of the family." said Mr. Weasley. They went in the house. Mr. Weasley introduced them to Percy, Fred, George, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley. Mrs Weasley was in the kitchen cooking something that smelled delicious. "I must tell you," said Mr Weasley, "That I'm absolutely thrilled to be working with a Muggle. I pride myself on taking special care to learn as much as I can about the Muggle world, but I've ah, discovered, that I could still learn a lot more."
"Dinner's not ready for about fifteen minutes." said Ron to Jenny. "Come upstairs with me." Ron lead Jenny upstairs to his room. "Now, tell me all about what you dad wanted to wait to talk about."
"About my mother? We've barely met. You don't even know my last name; why do you care about my mother?" asked Jenny, thinking Ron a bit rude.
"Because you could be twin of someone I from Hogwarts. I want to know if you're related." said Ron. "Er, fraternal twin, obviously you're a girl."
"You're saying I look like a boy you know?!" asked Jenny, starting to get a bit upset.
"I'm saying you look related." said Ron. "And I do too know your last name. It's McKay."
"No, it's not, it's Riddle. And about looking like someone you know, well, I know that I look almost exactly like my mother, Marian, but I don't know her last name." But Ron didn't seem to have heard that last bit.
"R-Riddle?"
"Yes, that came from my real father, but that's all I know about him." said Jenny. "Why? You look like I told you I was related to You-Know-Who himself."
"Um...never mind." But Jenny could tell that something was bothering him. She changed the subject.
"So, what house are you in at Hogwarts?"
"I'm a Gryffindor." said Ron. "All my family's been in Gryffindor."
"And tell me again about the different houses."
"There's Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin." said Ron. "Gryffindors are brave, Hufflepuffs are loyal and hardworking, Ravenclaws are smart, and Slytherins...well they're supposed to be ambitious and cunning, but I think they're just evil."
"Don't say that." said Jenny. "I might end up there."
"Well, hopefully not." said Ron.
"How do they sort you into a house?" asked Jenny.
"You put on the Sorting Hat, and it decides where you belong."
"Alright." said Jenny. "That sounds easy enough."
"Did they have different houses at your old school?" asked Ron.
"I went to the Salem Witches' Institute, and no, they didn't have houses." said Jenny. "But there were two branches of the school, one in Salem, Massachusetts, and one in Salem, Oregon. On different sides of the country, see. At the end of the year, there are all sorts of contests between the two schools."
"Ah. Quidditch?" asked Ron.
"Yes, it's becoming more popular in the U.S. Do you play?"
"No," said Ron. "Fred and George do, though, and Harry's the best Seeker Gryffindor's had in a long time. Do you play?"
"You said Harry. Is that...Harry Potter?" asked Jenny.
"Yes, he's one of my best friends."
"Wow." said Jenny. "No, I don't play Quidditch. I do extreme flying."
"What's that?" asked Ron.
"Stunt flying. Come over sometime, and I'll show you."
"Alright, I will." said Ron. "When's a good time?"
"You can come over tomorrow afternoon, and bring your brothers and sister if you want." said Jenny. "Our house is just over there." She pointed in the direction of their new house.
"Dinner's ready!" they heard.
"Coming!" called Ron in reply.
* * *
The next day at about 2:00 the Weasley boys rode their brooms over to Jenny's house.
"Ginny wasn't interested." explained Ron.
"That's okay." said Jenny. "Come inside. I'll fix you some drinks before we start." She led them in and poured juice for everyone. "I'll go get my broom." She went upstairs to get her Diamond Satellite, which she had un-shrunk earlier that day.
"Whoa! What broom is that?" asked one of the twins, Jenny couldn't tell which
.
"It's the Diamond Satellite. It's a stunt broom, probably not the best for Quidditch." answered Jenny.
"Ah. Too bad, we brought all the balls, if you wanted to play." said the other twin.
"Play Quidditch? With only two to a team?" asked Jenny.
"Well, not playing with the bludgers." said Ron.
"Ah." said Jenny. "Well, that might be fun."
"Show us what stunts you can do." said Ron. "I'm really interested in seeing them."
"Alright." said Jenny. She led them out to her backyard, which was rather large and flat, with only a few trees.
"Wait." said Ron. "You do have Muggle-repelling charms on this place, don't you?"
"Er, no, I don't." said Jenny. "But there's no one around, look. Do you see anyone?"
"No, I guess it's safe."
"Come on, Ron, of course it's fine." said one of the twins.
"Okay, then." said Jenny. She mounted her broom and took off. When she was about thirty feet I the air, she put one foot, then the other on top of the broom. She slowly stood up. Using her feet to steer, she flew upwards in a wide circle until she was about fifty feet above the ground. Then she bent the leg closest to the back of the broom and went into a very steep and fast dive, pulling up just before she hit the ground. She leveled the broom at about twenty feet, then jumped off and grabbed the broom in her hands. Using the momentum from her drop, she spun up into a handstand. She took the broom up in a loop-de-loop, and as she came out of it, she pulled herself back up onto the broom into a sitting position, with her feet on the handle. She tipped the broom upwards and spun it around like a tornado, widening her spin as she rose higher in the air. When she was at a height of about sixty feet, she stood up on the broom again, gave it a nudge with her toe that no one else would have been able to see, and dove into the air. She did three mid-air somersaults as she was falling, and her broom followed her down at the same speed she was falling. When she was about fifteen feet above the ground, she reached out, grabbed the broom in one hand, spun around it two times, properly mounted the broom, and came to a halt just above the ground.
"That was brilliant!" said Ron. The twins were standing with their mouths wide open. "Teach me to do that!"
"Alright." she said. "Well, I can't teach you to do all of that, but I can teach you a bit. Do you two want to learn as well?" she asked the twins.
"Um, yes, of course."
"Alright." said Jenny. "For beginners, it's best to start out over a cushion, so when you fall you won't break anything." She looked around. When she first came outside, she had set her robes down on the ground, leaving her wand with them. Ah! There they were. She went to pick up her wand, but when she did, it turned into a rubber chicken. Ron and the twins burst into laughter.
"It's one of Fred and George's fake wands." he explained.
"It was very…convincing." said Jenny, a bit annoyed. She reached under her robes to find her real wand. "Let me just cast a cushioning charm on the ground." she said.
That afternoon, Jenny taught the Weasley boys the basics of stunt flying, including standing on the broom. Ron, Fred, and George came over often during the rest of the summer, and they did a lot of flying. Fred and George showed Jenny some more of the stuff they had made for their joke shop.
In the last week of August, the Weasleys offered to take Jenny with them to Diagon Alley to buy Hogwarts supplies. Jenny accepted the invitation, because she would have had no idea where she was going if she went by herself. She bought all her textbooks, and the cauldron that she needed. Jenny was now ready for Hogwarts.