A/N just like to say YAY! I'm blonde and with a new attitude, well not totally.
Chapter4 – OWLS
Harry sat in a stunned silence as he watched the aged headmaster leave, passing Ron and Hermione. The two watched the headmaster leave and then turning to their friend joined Harry at the table.
"Jen's his granddaughter?" Harry gasped, ignoring his friends' attempts to engage him in the usual idle conversation involving the usual, 'hi how have the holidays been etc etc?' Hermione's nose wrinkled as Lupin answered for them,
"Yes," he said, simply, rising to make a cup of tea for them. Hermione glared at Harry and Ron who had a sudden dazed expression on his face,
"Must we talk about her?" Hermione spat, bitterly. Ron shrugged,
"I swear you're jealous of her or something, Hermione," he muttered, turning to Harry with a smile on his face. Hermione gave Ron a look that would have terrified most men,
"What do I have to be jealous of her, for?" she demanded. Ron sank back into a dreamlike phase as he began,
"Because she's cleverer than you, she's got more attitude and she's a damn sight better looking than you."
Harry looked from Ron and Hermione and back again, he was used to them arguing, but never as intensely as this. Lupin handed them their tea and sat opposite them, supping his own quietly.
"Uh…you two ok?" Harry asked, concerned for his friends. Hermione swung her head to look at Harry, whipping Ron lightly with the ends of her long hair.
"We're fine," she said, almost indignant, "Or at least we would be if lover boy here would stop dreaming about…her."
Ron glared at Hermione,
"Why don't you like her, Hermione? I think she's great," he muttered. Hermione returned the glare,
"Yes, I know you think she's great, you don't shut up about her, but right now I think we should focus on Harry, don't you?" Harry looked up to see Ron and Hermione smile at him,
"Welcome back," Hermione said, happily, all thoughts of Jen banished from her mind. Harry grinned at them, for the first time appreciating how happy he actually was with his friends, back where he belonged.
"So what have you guys been up to?" Harry asked, unlike last year he felt no resentment toward the fact that Ron and Hermione had been living in Grimmauld Place without him. In fact, upon reflection he realized that he probably wouldn't have been able to handle Sirius' absence in his own house. Ron and Hermione shrugged,
"not much, mate," Ron muttered, "Not much happening. You know who's keeping a low profile again now that the ministry knows he's back. The Order's still doing usual order stuff, but we're still not allowed to listen in so we don't actually know what usual order stuff is….you haven't missed much," he added, slightly cautious to Harry's temper which had amplified over the past year. The last time Harry had found out they had been with the Order without him, Harry had exploded and Ron and Hermione were left in no doubt what Harry's feelings on the matter were. Harry shrugged and gave a faint smile but before he could continue with the conversation, a loud voice called over him,
"Harry!" Harry felt himself being swept into the powerful embrace of the motherly Mrs Weasley.
"Uh…hello…Mrs…Weasley," Harry choked.
"I've been so worried about you…so worried," she rambled, "When we heard about the Death Eaters and then…and of course after last…well…never mind…let's not talk about these things, you must be hungry…"
"Actually Dumbledore told Jen to feed me," Harry told her. Mrs Weasley froze and looked down on him,
"Yes I know, but Merlin's beard I didn't actually expect her too," Mrs Weasley cried. Harry shook her head,
"Well…she took me to McDonalds," Harry muttered, then remembering the incident by the bike added, "But given her driving…she needn't have bothered."
"Ah, lesser men than you have been sick after riding with her," Lupin muttered with the air of one who knows.
"Except Ron who just screamed like a little girl," Hermione laughed, "But given that he looked like one anyway…"
Harry raised his eyes to Ron's, "The pink helmet?" he muttered, grimly. Ron nodded slowly,
"Yup."
"It's not pink it's punk," Lupin said, imitating Jen's voice causing Harry and Ron to chuckle despite themselves.
"Leave pink out of it!" Jen's voice called from outside the room. The friends looked up to the door, confused that Jen had spoken when they hadn't heard her return to Grimmauld Place. Harry looked down at table, almost hungrily as Mrs Weasley laid it before him.
"Hey he's already had McDonalds!" Jen shouted, entering the room to see Harry tucking into a plate of food, "You can't still be hungry, Potter," she demanded, slipping into the space opposite Harry, beside Ron and Hermione. Hermione glared at her as she sat between them. She gave Hermione a beaming smile; she seemed to be too happy considering Dumbledore had no doubt dragged her from having a good into the time with, her friends and alcohol. She was followed, not by Dumbledore as Harry had expected but rather a man whom Harry had never seen before.
He was quite tall and had a quirky rugged charm about him. His light blue eyes scanned the room from beneath his short silver locks. To Harry's surprise he wore Muggle clothes rather than wizard robes, unlike the majority of the Order. He gave a warm smile to everyone gathered in the kitchen and pulled up a chair, slipping beside Ron and Jen. From the look on Hermione's face it was clear that she would have preferred him draw up a chair between her and the rebellious teenager.
"Where's Dumbledore?" Mrs Weasley asked, ignoring Jen's protest to the amount of food Harry could down without feeling full. The silver haired man shrugged,
"Something came up so he sent me to pick up Jen," he smiled, affectionately at the girl beside him, who ruffled his hair,
"But of course he had to stay for a drink." Mrs Weasley tutted her disapproval and turned away from the laughing pair.
"Harry, this is Chris," Lupin introduced, realizing suddenly that Harry hadn't been introduced, "he's an Auror." Chris held out his hand to shake Harry's firmly.
"Were you with us last year?" Harry asked, harsher than he intended, he was curious to see if Chris was one of the wizards who the previous year had ignored the attempts of the Order to convince the world Voldemort was back. To Harry's surprise Chris nodded,
"Yeah, but I was doing work abroad for Dumbledore. He wants a network of foreign wizards if he needs them…then I heard about Sirius," Harry's stomach clenched, "so I wanted to be here for Jen." Jen was looking out the window, distantly during all this, and unlike Harry she didn't flinch when Lee mentioned Sirius.
"So!" Mrs Weasley said, loudly making most of them jump. Harry couldn't tell whether she was changing the subject solely for his benefit of him or not, "You're going into Diagon Alley tomorrow," she said, cheerfully. Hermione and Ron nodded in unison so Harry thought it only fair to follow suit even though nobody had bothered to tell him this detail. "And Jen, you and Lee are taking them, right."
Jen choked and spluttered on the drink before her and looked up at Mrs Weasley, quickly,
"What!" she spluttered, "I thought Lupin was…"
" An emergency has arisen in the order so I have to miss it." Lupin spoke calmy
"Fine by me," Chris muttered, carelessly. Jen, however looked furious,
"We had plans!" she protested. Chris put his arms around her to calm her,
"Hey," he said, gently, "It's alright, we can go out some other time, we have a while before you go to Hogwarts."
"What?" Jen snarled, Lee swallowed harshly and then smiled, "I meant them," he muttered looking at Harry, Ron and Hermione, "They're going back to Hogwarts; we'll have time to have a laugh then." Jen eyed him suspiciously and Harry noted that Lupin was holding his breath.
"That's not what you said, but I'll blame the non alcoholic drink you have partaken of," she said, slowly, then she rose from her seat,
"I'm going to bed," she said, taking her leave, giving both Lupin and Lee a hug before going.
"Not a bad idea," Ron yawned, "Come on Harry." Harry nodded and acknowledged how tired he actually was.
Trooping up the stairs behind Ron, he couldn't help but look around the grand hall. Mrs Black's portrait was still covered up, the hall still smelled of the ancient and most honourable house of Black despite the Weasley's attempts to change it to a more modern household. He passed the tapestry which displayed Sirius' ancestry and even though Sirius' name had long been burned off it, Harry felt a pang of loss when he looked at it.
Slipping into bed, Harry let the weariness of the day wash over him and he slipped into a tormented sleep, filled with motorbikes and the loss of a rider.
The following day Harry woke up to the sound of a loud yell through the house
"Californiaaa…CaliforNIAAAA"
"JEN!" a second voice, Harry recognised as Hermione's screamed, "SHUT UP!"
There was silence for a moment, "CAAAAAAAAAL OH WOAH OH, here we come!"
Harry and Ron exchanged glances and they both knew there was no point to them trying to get more sleep. Instead they both got up and dressed in a sleepy silence, before making their way downstairs to the kitchen. Hermione and Lupin were both there; Lupin slumped over the table, Hermione glaring at the door with hatred,
"She loves that show," Lupin yawned. " When Seth and Summer finaly got together she wouldn't stop smiling for weeks". Harry and Ron collapsed into their usual spaces beside each other as another chorus of Phantom Planet rang out.
Jen appeared in the doorway humming the rest of the theme to the OC. With a happy sigh she sat beside Hermione and Harry noticed she had earphones in, leading from a walkman attached to her jean belt. Slipping the earphones out she beamed at the gathering,
"Morning," she said, cheerfully, "Something wrong, Hermione?" she asked, seeing Hermione's contorted face of fury.
"You woke me up," Hermione growled through gritted teeth." Jen looked up at her, innocently,
"But darling, no amount of beauty sleep could cure a face like that."
Hermione glared at her, but said nothing. Ron and Harry both stifled giggles as they went back to their breakfast.
"So," Jen announced, happily, "Are we ready?" The trio looked up at her, still weary and most of all still hungry.
"Ready for what?" Hermione asked, through pursed lips.
"For Diagon Alley duh," Jen muttered, grabbing Harry who was closest to her, "Come on, the car's waiting." Lupin looked up at her, concerned,
"Car?" he asked, "The convertible?"
"Chris', yes," Jen said, cheerfully.
"Chris is driving you?" Lupin asked, "I thought you were going by floo powder?."
"Uh…yeah," Jen muttered, "Now come on," she whined, pulling Harry toward the door.
"But we haven't had breakfast," Ron protested. Jen gave him a sympathetic smile,
"Well grab an apple and get a move on" she said, Harry's collar had now been stretched magnificently as Jen insisted on tugging at it in an attempt to the door. Ron, Hermione and Harry left Lupin and followed Jen out to the front of Grimauld Place where a shiny red convertible was parked. Chris was just stepping out of it, when Jen ushered the trio into it. Chris frowned on them as they slipped into his car.
"Jen, no," he said, firmly. Jen had already slipped into the driving seat much to the horror of the three who had just slipped into the car.
"Can you even drive a car?" Hermione asked, slightly fearful, looking to Harry and Ron for support.
"In theory yes, on paper no," Jen muttered, fiddling with the radio and inserting the key into the ignition at the same time.
"You haven't got a licence?" Hermione shrieked. Jen turned to her,
"Hermione I am as good a driver as anyone else…just because it's illegal and I have no licence and I've totalled three cars in the past year has absolutely nothing to do with it." Harry, who had just slipped into the passenger's seat was beginning to share Hermione's uneasiness. Chris slipped into the back seats, beside Hermione and muttered,
"Remus is going to kill me," he sighed, heavily. Jen smiled back at him,
"I know, but do it for my love."
Jen slipped a pair of stylish and shiny blue shades receiving a snort from Hermione.
"Armani," Jen said, grandly shooting her a smug look, "You like?" But Hermione's response fell upon deafened ears as the car jerked into motion, speeding down the street with the stereo blasting rock music all the way.
"Everybody out!" Jen called as she swerved the car into a parking space, although the car hadn't actually stopped moving yet. The car jolted forward as Jen pulled the handbrake rather abruptly without stopping the engine first, sending the occupants jerking forwards, except Jen who apparently had become unaffected by her dangerous driving.
"Are you alright?" Jen asked, suddenly. It took Harry a moment to realize that the question had been directed at him.
"No, that really hurt my arm," Hermione moaned, rubbing her arm, where the seatbelt had cut into her arm.
"Hnh?" Jen muttered, giving half a glance back, "Whatever, Harry?" she asked, genuinely concerned for his sudden lurch forward. Harry smiled and nodded, restoring her confidence as she flung herself over the door, without bothering to open it.
"Ok," Jen muttered, "What do you need?" she asked. Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged glances,
"Uh…we haven't had our letters yet," Hermione muttered. Jen looked at her as if the comment was taking a while to register. Chris seemed to be recovering from the journey and was resting against the car, paying no attention to the conversation around him.
"Ah," Jen said, clicking her fingers, "I knew there was something I forgot…" she reached over to the glove compartment and produced the three Hogwarts letters which Harry noticed seemed a lot thicker than usual.
"But these have our OWL results in," Hermione exclaimed. Harry felt his stomach drop, he had forgotten all about the results.
"Yeah," Jen muttered, "and?"
"You expect us to open them in a car park?" Hermione protested.
"Do you want me to take you home?" Jen muttered innocently. Hermione glared at her,
"Hermione, you know you're going to pass anyway," Ron declared, "Pass us the letters, Jen."
The three took the letters and stood looking at them as if they were about to explode. After a long silence where they just stood, staring at the letters, perfectly aware that the results contained would shape their next two years at Hogwarts, as well as their future careers. After the silence had dragged out, long enough for Chris to recover and lean on Jen for support, Jen finally put them out of their misery,
"I swear, if you don't open them now I'll open them for you and broadcast your results over Diagon Alley," she snapped.
"I'll go first," Ron murmured, weakly, slowly tearing the letter open. He slipped a sheet of official looking paper out, Harry could see that alongside the subject and grade was the name and signature of the external marker. Ron skimmed the sheet then made a funny gagging noise in his throat.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, "You can't be that bad."
"What did you get?" Harry demanded, the suspense mounting, making him more eager to open his own letter.
"I got…an Outstanding in Divination. Acceptable in Charms and Herbology. Poor in History of Magic…well I wasn't expecting…you know and Excellent in everything else."
"Oh well…that's not bad…is it?" Hermione tried.
"Hey!" Jen shouted, "That's great! Well done Ron!" Jen smiled, sweeping the red head into an embrace.
"You got an O in Divination?" Harry exclaimed, chuffed for his friend, he clapped him on the shoulder, "That's excellent!"
"That means I have to take it next year," he muttered, "and look! Divination is on my booklist! How do they know what subjects I want to do? I haven't even told them yet!"
"It's Hogwarts," Jen muttered, "They know everything," she stared at them with weird eyes that reminded Harry of Professor Trelawney. "They call it being inquisitive and helpful…I call it a conspiracy, they know…"
"Actually your NEWT subjects are based on what subjects you excel at and what was discussed at the careers advice session," Hermione muttered, "I read it in, Hogwarts: A History."
"That was written twenty years ago by someone who had never visited let alone attended Hogwarts and said wizard was a little bit too fond of DragonWeed."
"DragonWeed?" Harry asked.
"Ever wonder where the phrase 'chasing the dragon,' 'puff the magic dragon' or 'weed' comes from?" Jen asked, still wide eyed. Chris looked up suspiciously, trying to hide the roll of tobacco he was making for himself.
"It's just a fag," he assured Harry, catching his eye.
Jen laughed, before looking back at Harry and Ron, Ron still protesting how he was being forced to do a subject he didn't want to do before Hermione ripped the letter from his hands and pointed at the top of the booklist,
'Students are only to purchase books that are relevant to their subject choice at NEWT level, the subject choices will be finalised at the beginning of term.' Hermione's finger moved down the list,
"That's why your list also contains the books for every other subject at NEWT level," she muttered, out of slight annoyance.
"Wow Hermione, doesn't your head hurt from knowing such pointless information?" Jen drawled, "Or did you learn that in Hogwarts: A History?" Chris and Jen laughed, where Ron and Harry tried to stifle a chuckle.
Hermione dismissed the laughter and looked eagerly at her own letter,
"I doubt Professor McGonnagol has taken to putting letter bombs in the booklists, Hermione, go ahead and open it," Jen cried, getting impatient.
Hermione glared at her and ripped open her letter, her face lit up as she started reading,
"Potions O, Charms O, History of Magic O, Herbology O, Transfiguration O," her face frowned as she continued, "Defence against the Dark Arts E, but everyone knows that I'm not as good as Harry at that," she dismissed it with a high pitched, nervous laugh that clearly cut through Jen's ears, "A Study of Ancient Runes E? Hmmm, Arithmancy E? But I…" Hermione leyt out a shriek and dropped her letter,Chris stepping forward to catch her as she fell back, "I don't…no…" she stuttered.
Jen reached down and picked up the letter, "Astrology and Care of Magical Creatures A? 5 Outstandings, 2 Excellents and 2 Acceptables, wow, these are all really good marks, as much as it pains me to say it," Jen muttered, "What's the problem?" Harry and Ron were too, exchanging bemused glances,
"For Hermione to get and A…is very…" Ron began quietly to Jen,
"odd?" Harry suggested,
"Failure!" Hermione shrieked, "I failed!"
"Get a bloody grip!" Jen shouted, slapping her lightly across the face, "I am not putting up with some arrogant swot thinking the world is going to end because she passed her exams! Now Harry open your letter so we can actually GO to Diagon Alley!" Hermione looked up at her in shock, a red mark forming where her hand had connected, before she sank down onto the kerb, muttering in a hopeless manner.
Harry opened his letter, skimmed through it before letting out an audible gasp, before dropping down beside Hermione and staring at the ground.
"Harry?" Ron asked, gently, "It can't be that bad…Harry?" Harry held the letter up for Ron to take, Ron scanned the letter and gasped, "Harry mate?"
Jen snatched the letter, "Wow!" she yelled, "1 Acceptable, 2 Excellents, 5 Outstandings and Outstanding Plus!"
Hermione looked up quickly, fully aware that Harry's grades had surpassed her own.
"Outstanding Plus?" Hermione muttered, somewhat bitterly.
"Yeah!" Jen cried, "I didn't even think they did those anymore! Not after the suicide thing!" she added, solemnly. Harry and Hermione looked up at her, but she merely shrugged their glares off. "Now are we going to get these books or not?"
"What did you get the Outstanding plus in?" Hermione asked, narrowing her eyes, without realizing it.
"Defence against the Dark Arts," Harry mumbled, still shocked beyond belief that his results had been better than Hermione, who could quote textbooks and had the status of a fount of wizarding knowledge.
"Oh for the love of…" Jen snarled, snatching the paper from Harry's hand, "He had an outstanding plus in Defence against the Dark Arts, he had Outstanding in Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Astronomy, Excellent in Herbology and History of Magic and an Acceptable in Divination, NOW," Jen shouted, shoving the paper into Harry's hand, and turning to Hermione cried, "You cheer up, You stand up," she pulled Harry up, but he stumbled bringing their faces agonizingly close to each others for a moment. A slight blush crept into both their faces before Jen regained herself and she turned to Ron, and you…I don't know about you, so you can be indifferent." She turned to Chris, "and you come with me."
Chris shrugged and put the cigarette he had been smoking out, following the teenager up the street, with Ron, Harry and Hermione trailing behind, still in awe about their results. They turned the corner and Harry couldn't help but chuckle as they crossed the threshold into Diagon Alley.
TBC
HA! I have taken the word shiny to a new level!