The Difference One Choice Makes
1st September 1995
Dragging his trunk behind him, Harry opened the door into the compartment where Janet Spinnet and Ron were sitting with Neville and Hermione, both of whom were proudly wearing their shiny Prefect badges on their jumpers.
Making his way inside the compartment, Harry caught sight of the Prefect badge on his oldest and closest friend and he sent him a proud, friendly smile.
"Congratulations Neville… you too Hermione" said Harry, placing his trunk in the overhead rack.
Neville glanced down at his Prefect badge and then at Hermione's badge with a proud look on his face.
"Thanks mate… Mum and Dad were chuffed to bits when I got the badge, even more so when they found out Hermione got the other Prefect badge" said Neville with a mixture of pride and excitement in his voice as Harry sat down opposite him next to Janet whose usually short blonde hair now ended halfway down her neck.
"Did you get made Quidditch Captain?" said Janet.
Harry shook his head.
"No… I'm not sure who got the Captains badge this year" said Harry.
"They'll be needing a new Keeper won't they… now that Wood's left?" said Ron in a casual but slightly nervous tone of voice as if he was holding something back.
"Yeah we will… can't imagine there will be any other spots open other than that, be different next year though, half of the team is leaving school in June" said Harry.
"We've got our damn Owls this year as well… Fred and George told me it gets really intense and all the fifth years are on edge when it's time to study for their Owls" said Ron.
Hermione sighed.
"I imagine it will be if you want to get good grades on your Owls… you have to get at least Exceeds Expectations on the exam to take the subject at Newt level" said Hermione.
"At least I can bin Divination after this year" said Ron.
"Why did you even take it in the first place Ron… everyone knows you have to be a seer to have any chance of predicting the future" said Neville.
"I didn't fancy any of the other subjects, too much work in Arithmancy and Ancient Runes" said Ron in a slightly bored tone.
"Ancient Runes isn't that hard Ron" said Hermione wearily.
"Easy for you to say… I'd have trouble memorizing all of those runes… and Arithmancy just sounds needlessly complicated" said Ron.
"I'd still take either of those over Divination though mate" said Harry, with Neville, Hermione and Janet nodding in agreement.
Ron shook his head.
"Not me… after this year I'll be saying goodbye to History Of Magic, Astronomy and Care Of Magical Creatures as well, I'm only taking Newt subjects that I need to become an Auror" said Ron.
"Same… I might keep Care Of Magical Creatures though, Hagrid's lessons are fun, even if they are a bit extreme" said Neville.
Hermione leaned into Neville who took her hand squeezing it.
"What about History Of Magic, now that Professor Snape has made the lessons more fun… and much easier to understand" said Hermione softly.
Since taking over as History Of Magic Professor last September, Lily Snape had proved to be a popular and friendly teacher among students as well as turning History Of Magic lessons from tiresome and boring to fun and engaging.
"I don't know if I'll continue with it… sure it's been better since Professor Snape took over, but I don't know if I'd fancy another two years of it" said Harry flatly.
After several minutes, the five teenagers waved goodbye to their parents as the Hogwarts Express pulled away from Platform Nine and Three Quarters.
Once their journey was underway, Neville and Hermione changed into their school robes before leaving the compartment, heading to the Prefects Carriage to meet the Head Boy and Head Girl where they would receive the Common Room passwords and an introduction into the duties and responsibilities of being a prefect.
Five minutes later…
"Have you talked to Myranda… to at least sort everything out?" said Cassiopeia, dressed in her Slytherin robes with her Head Girl badge prominent above the Slytherin crest on her robes.
The Prefects Carriage where the two were located as they waited for the Prefects to arrive was large and lavishly decorated with several fine oak tables and chairs, crystal chandeliers and fancy paintings on the walls.
Edward, who was also dressed in his robes, sporting his Head Boy badge prominently above the Slytherin crest, looked annoyed at the mention of his ex-girlfriend.
Receiving the Head Boy badge when his booklist arrived during the summer had been a moment of pride for the eldest Potter sibling which was increased when he found out that Cassiopeia had been made Head Girl as well.
"There's no point" said Edward frostily.
Cassiopeia sighed.
"You guys have been friends since we started school… you can't just throw that away over something she clearly had no control over" said Cassiopeia wearily.
Edward let out a sigh of his own.
"She should have told me earlier… instead of keeping it from me for months" said Edward frostily.
"You know how hard that must have been for her… to find out through a letter that you had to end your relationship because your father used you for their own personal gain" said Cassiopeia.
Thinking back to a conversation he had had with his parents three days after returning home for the summer failed to make Edward feel better about the whole situation with Myranda.
29th June 1995
"Cheer up son… there'll be more lucky witches out there, my advice… go for a blonde, Potter men do love blonde witches" said James in an attempt to cheer the slightly moody Edward up.
Edward who was sitting on his bed with his parents sat on either side of him, managed a small smile at his father's light-hearted attempt to cheer him up while Narcissa rolled her eyes at her husband's joke.
"Your father's jokes aside… I can't pretend that I thought that she was good enough for you, you deserve someone who wants to be as successful as you… not someone who wishes to spend her days lounging around her home" said Narcissa softly.
Edward let out a small sigh, wanting to say that his mother was wrong in her words even though he knew she was right.
"I know you will find someone who deserves to be with you for the rest of your life one day, someone who like you is destined for greatness… and the two of you will make each other very happy" said Narcissa softly, placing her hand on his shoulder.
Edward was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of the carriage door opening as the Prefects started to filter into the carriage.
Neville and Hermione, both of whom looked extremely proud at their new status sat down at one of the tables where they were soon joined by the Gryffindor sixth and seventh-year Prefects.
As the next minute or so passed, the new fifth-year Prefects were revealed to them with Jennifer Black and Anthony Goldstein from Ravenclaw, Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott for Hufflepuff and Mason Lee and Daphne Greengrass for Slytherin.
Once all the Prefects had taken their seats, Edward and Cassiopeia stood up and started to instruct the new Prefects of their duties.
Thirty-five minutes later…
Opening the door to her compartment, Jennifer was surprised to see that Melissa Karasu was nowhere in sight, nor was her boyfriend Ryan Cartwright who was a sixth-year Hufflepuff Prefect, with Melissa presumably having left the compartment to go and meet up with some of their other friends.
The only occupant in the compartment brought a smile to her face as she made eye contact with the dark-skinned, short black haired, 15-year-old, fifth-year Talbot Desford who was lounging on one of the compartments pew-like seats.
Looking up at Jennifer, Talbot took her hand in his pulling her closer to him where she sat down with her back to him, leaning back into his chest.
"You took your time… Melissa has already left to go and find some of the others" said Talbot as he placed his head on her shoulder.
Jennifer got comfortable against him before turning her head to kiss him.
"Some time alone sounds great right now" said Jennifer softly, squeezing the hand of her boyfriend of just over four months.
Initially, she had been surprised when Talbot had asked her to Hogsmeade on Valentines Day earlier this year, with the two never having been particularly close but she accepted his offer in the end.
Though the two of them did have a good time in Hogsmeade, it was not until April that they finally got together, with both of them seeming to be fine with the fact that they took it slow until finally becoming an item in April.
She liked that he was funny and that they challenged each other with their intelligence and wit.
Her mother took a liking to him from the moment she met him when he was invited around for dinner one night in July while her father was also fond of him, even if he played the whole overprotective father act with him, which embarrassed and annoyed Jennifer to no end.
As she rested against his chest, Jennifer felt happy and content at the position she was in and did not want to move away from her boyfriend until they reached the castle that evening.
One hour later…
With Neville and Hermione still on their rounds patrolling the train, Harry, Ron and Janet remained in their compartment where they had been joined by Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood.
Though the two prefects would return to their carriage every now and then for a chat before returning to their patrol, Janet and Ginny would exchange looks with each other after Neville and Hermione left, knowing that in addition to their patrols, the couple was no doubt looking for an empty compartment to spend some alone time together.
Owing to Ron's questions about the open Keeper spot on the team, it had not been hard for the others to deduce that the youngest Weasley boy was hoping to try out for the spot and had even received a new broomstick from his older brother Charlie to help him with this.
After a few questions, Ron did admit that he was hoping to try out for the team, talking about how he usually plays as Keeper when playing Quidditch at home with his brothers.
As Ron was reminiscing about a particular save he had made, much to the dismay and annoyance of the other people in the compartment. A knock on the glass of the compartment door could be heard.
Harry turned in the direction of the noise, feeling his heart skip a beat slightly as he saw Katie standing outside, gesturing for him to come out with one hand.
Harry stood up and walked to the door, opening it.
"Hi Harry, can I have a word?" said Katie.
"Yeah" said Harry, following her out of the door into the carriage corridor.
Once they were outside, Harry shut the compartment door.
"Good birthday?" said Katie.
"Yeah… thanks for the chocolate, it was delicious… but I'm afraid I can't give any of it back to you though, it all got eaten" said Harry with a slightly joking tone to his last words.
While she had not been there for his birthday, celebrated at Potter Manor with his family and friends. She had sent him a box of Belgian chocolates with a card wishing him a happy birthday and a subtle note that he should save some of the delicious chocolate for her.
Katie smirked and playfully slapped his arm.
"That was mean of you Harry… not sharing the present I sent you" said Katie teasingly.
Harry chuckled.
"I hope you had a good time" said Harry.
Katie nodded.
"Yeah we did… we went all over Europe, we went to Paris, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Spain, Italy" said Katie, listing all of the places she had travelled to with Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet in the summer.
"Which one was your favourite place?" said Harry kindly.
Katie winked at him.
"Paris… the city of love" said Katie teasingly.
The teasing tone of her words caused Harry's heart to race as images of the two of them sharing a romantic dance in the street or admiring the view atop the Eiffel Tower flashed through his mind.
"Don't turn your brain into mush Harry" said Katie amusedly.
Harry was about to respond before the sound of the compartment door opening behind him stopped him before he could open his mouth.
"Hey Katie… when are the try-outs for the new keeper?" Ron blurted out, making both Harry and Katie turn to face him sharply.
At that moment, a part of Harry really wanted to smack Ron for tactlessly interrupting him and Katie.
Katie also looked miffed at being pulled from her conversation with Harry but surprisingly, Ron did not seem to notice.
"I don't know… whenever Angelina sets them up" said Katie with a hint of edginess still evident in her voice.
Ever dense as he was, Ron failed to realise that the edginess in Katie's voice was being directed at him.
"She made Captain then, good… she deserves it" said Harry, quickly pulling Katie back into their conversation.
Katie turned to him once again.
"Yeah, she wrote to me after she got the badge… you could practically feel the excitement rolling off of the letter" said Katie softly.
She moved closer to Harry slightly.
"I better get back to my compartment… I'll see you up at the castle Harry" said Katie softly, giving him a hug before walking down the corridor.
"Bye" said Harry as she gave him a small wave.
Once she had disappeared from his sight, Harry went back into his compartment and sat down.
As Ron followed him in, he saw the angry glares on the faces of Janet and Ginny while Luna kept on reading her upside-down copy of the Quibbler in the corner of the compartment, seemingly oblivious to all of them.
This time, Ron did notice the glares being sent his way and he reacted accordingly.
"What?!" said Ron indignantly.
"What the hell did you do that for?" said Janet fiercely.
"Do what for?" said Ron in shock and mild confusion.
"Go butting in on their conversation like that?" said Ginny with equal fierceness.
"She wanted to talk to Harry and you had to go and butt in with something completely irrelevant" said Janet.
Harry shrunk into his seat slightly.
"I only wanted to know when the keeper try-outs were, what the hell is wrong with that?" said Ron in shock.
Hearing this made both Janet and Ginny roll their eyes.
"You are so bloody tactless Ron… couldn't you tell that she wanted to talk to Harry alone you dimwitted fool?" said Ginny in shock.
Surprisingly, Ron ignored the insult of "dimwitted fool" and instead just looked even more confused.
"So… she could've done, I wasn't stopping her" said Ron defensively.
"Yes you did… she's clearly having a private conversation with Harry and you have to go barging in about bloody keeper try-outs like she's gonna care about that when she's talking to Harry… why the hell do you think she just walked away without barely another word?" said Janet icily.
Harry forced himself to look out of the window in an effort to hide his slight embarrassment and avoid the increasingly tense conversation.
"Why didn't you just wait until later then… instead of being bloody inconsiderate" said Ginny sounding increasingly annoyed.
Ron finally seemed to get the message and just slouched in his seat with his arms folded, mumbling to himself about Quidditch try-outs and how he did nothing wrong.
Unfortunately for him, his mumbling was overheard by Ginny who was not best pleased with her brother who still evidently did not realise exactly what he had done.
"How can you be this dense when it comes to girls Ron?" said Ginny out of frustration and slight anger.
This of course set Ron off and he turned to Ginny with anger written all over his face.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" said Ron angrily.
Janet rolled her eyes.
"She's wondering how it is that you can't see that a girl wants to have a private conversation with a boy that she clearly likes… even when your younger sister gets her first boyfriend you're still utterly clueless about girls as a whole" said Janet sarcastically.
Harry forced himself to keep his gaze out of the window as his cheeks turned even pinker.
"What do you mean first boyfriend?" said Ron in shock as he contemplated her words.
Ginny glared at him.
"Me and Michael you idiot… or didn't you realise that we've been together since the end of term last year?" said Ginny hotly.
Ron's ears turned red.
"Michael Corner?" said Ron in shock and slight disgust, with a little bit of jealousy evident in his voice that his younger sister had a boyfriend while he himself had not had a kiss or even a date with a girl.
"Yes" said Ginny fiercely.
Ron scowled.
"I don't like him" said Ron frostily.
"Surprise, surprise" said Ginny, sarcasm falling off of her in waves.
The tense conversation between the brother and sister eventually moved out into the corridor, leaving Janet and Harry in an uncomfortable silence in the compartment while Luna still remained immersed in her magazine though she did talk to the two remaining occupants occasionally.
Later that evening…
Nearly all of the students in the Great Hall for the feast that evening had been surprised to see Professor Moody sat at the staff table, having heard the many rumours circulating around Magical Britain that multiple complaints had been made to the Ministry Of Magic and School Governors in regards to Professor Moody's teaching, including his demonstration of the three Unforgivable Curses as well as having his students from fourth-year and above attempt to fight off the Imperious Curse.
Upon hearing about all of those complaints, many thought that Professor Moody would be sacked and thus were surprised to see that he was still their teacher.
Harry, Ron, Janet and Josh stood up from the Gryffindor table after the end of the feast, with Neville and Hermione leading the Gryffindor first-years away from the table first. Harry saw Angelina walking towards them with the Quidditch Captain badge proudly in view on her robes above the Gryffindor crest.
Harry sent her a congratulatory smile.
"Congratulations, you deserve it" said Harry, eyeing her Quidditch Captain badge with pride.
Angelina smiled.
"Thanks… Keeper try-outs are at five this Friday evening, I want the whole team there" said Angelina in a slightly stern voice that Oliver Wood would sometimes use with them.
Ron perked up upon hearing this but Harry and Janet, the former of whom still felt slightly angry at the red-headed boy for what happened on the train, did not pay him much mind.
"It'll just be good to play Quidditch again… after missing it last year" said Harry.
"If we get a good Keeper… we'll have the Quidditch Cup in the bag this year" said Angelina.
"I should hope so… it'll feel weird without Wood this year though" said Harry.
Angelina nodded and straightened up slightly.
"It will… and it will take some getting used to… but this is my last year at Hogwarts, and I'd like to see it off with another Quidditch Cup, especially since scouts attend these matches looking for potential talent" said Angelina in a stern voice with a few nerves bubbling under the surface.
Knowing that Professional Quidditch was where he wanted his life to lead, Harry felt slightly nervous at the thought of Quidditch scouts watching their games looking for new talent.
While he had always had an interest in playing Professional Quidditch, it was not until he attended the Quidditch World Cup last year where he started to really think about turning professional.
Bumping into Oliver Wood who now plays for Puddlemere United when he was at the World Cup only served to convince Harry even more, with Wood telling him about how it felt great to be a professional Quidditch player, with the possibility of even playing for England one day if you were good enough.
"Look I've gotta go, just make sure you're there at five o'clock on Friday Harry" said Angelina.
Harry nodded to her, before she walked past him and his friends, going to join some of her own friends on their way to Gryffindor Tower.
4th September 1995
"The Skiving Snackboxes" said Fred proudly as he opened one of the three-layered cardboard boxes.
He was sat next to one of the first-year volunteers used to test their products, watching for any reactions that are either expected or unexpected to make sure that their joke products were working as planned.
"Sweets that make you ill" said George, who was sitting next to a different first-year holding onto a clipboard.
Of course, nearly all of their paid volunteers were first-year students, nearly all of whom were not aware of the Weasley Twins famous prankster status and might perhaps be regretting their decision to become test subjects for experimental joke products.
The older students who were aware of the reputation of the Weasley Twins, also looked like they might be regretting their decision to become paid test subjects.
"Get you out of class whenever you like" said Fred.
"Obtain hours of fun and pleasure instead of unprofitable boredom" said George.
There were more students being used as test subjects around the room with Lee Jordan, Seamus and a few other students keeping an eye on them as they ended up with their cheeks and chins swelled and expanded to various sizes, threw up into cauldrons or ended up with large pus-filled warts on their faces.
Hermione, being a prefect and fond of the rules, was looking upon the scene with disdain while Neville was more relaxed about the situation.
"They can't do this" said Hermione as she collapsed onto one of the settees with her Charms textbook in her hands, ready to start studying.
"They are paying them Hermione… you need to relax a little more" said Neville sitting down next to her, letting her lean into his side.
Hermione sighed and opened the book in her hands.
In every lesson she had attended so far this week, each teacher had started their lessons the same with a speech on how important the Owl exams were and stressing the need for hard work and studying.
Even Professor Moody, who cared more about making sure they could defend themselves as opposed to getting good grades told them that most jobs in the Ministry Of Magic require at least five Newt qualifications which were only achieved after gaining Owl qualifications with grades of at least Exceeds Expectations.
"I should introduce them to Dad… he'd love some of their joke products" said Euphemia, walking past the settee where Neville and Hermione were sitting with Lacey Lupin.
"And what would your Mum say about it?" said Lacey as she and Euphemia sat down at one of the tables.
Euphemia shrugged and pulled some parchment, a quill and inkpot out of her bag so she could write a letter to her parents.
"She'd probably like the stuff they make as well… not as much as our dad's or Uncle Sirius though" said Euphemia.
Lacey glanced at some of the first-year students who were being subjected to the twins skiving snackboxes.
"I'm not sure I'd want people slipping me any of that stuff, it looks horrible… and I bet it feels even worse" said Lacey, giving a small shudder.
Euphemia scowled.
"I wouldn't mind giving some of that stuff to that bitch after what she did to Edward… instead of being happy at winning the Tri-Wizard Tournament he was devastated after what she did to him" said Euphemia spitefully.
Lacey busied herself with some homework set by Professor Sinistra as she was in two minds about her best friends words, wanting to agree with her for Myranda Vaisey hurting Edward while at the same time she wanted to disagree since subjecting the older girl to various joke products out of sheer spite seemed a little bit harsh.
"Are you making a start on Sinistra's homework?" said Lacey.
"After I've finished this letter" said Euphemia flatly, not looking up from her letter.