A/N: enjoy and review! And this chapter is dedicated to my lovely reviewer,
"What" said Jessie, when they sat own in the common room, "Was that all about?"
They had just gotten back from Hagrid's, after being abruptly thrown from his cabin, and none of them were any the wiser hen it came to knowing the identity of the woman from their past.
Jade shook her head. "I have no idea."
Daniel was puzzled. Hagrid kicking them out like that, not meeting their eye, was so out of character that it wasn't funny.
"I just wish that I knew who she was! Her face is everywhere! I think I must have seen five pictures of her now-"
"Five?" Dan asked, looking away from the fire quickly. Jade nodded slowly.
"Yes, the two at Hagrid's, the one that we stole from Ron, the one at home, and…" she trailed off, and a sudden realisation dawned on her face.
"That's it! I think I've got it! I think I know where we'll find her!"
"Where?" Jess asked, cocking an eyebrow at the maniacal expression now plastered on her friends face. Jade grinned.
"The old Head Girl and Boy portraits! Remember Jess? When we first came to the castle, they took us into the room with all the old Head Boys and Girls on the wall! She was there! She must have been Head Girl! Of course!"
Jade was smiling in a wonderfully triumphant way, and Jessie and Daniel looked stunned. They had pinpointed her. There was a book, they all knew, in the library, which was a clear record of the names of every Head that had passed through the school since it's formation thousand years ago. It was one of the next places they had panned to look, though the names of the students were so selective that they were trying broader things first, which seemed to suit what they knew about the girl's personalties. For example, they had checked the accounts of who had been awarded first place in Defence Against the Dark Arts, but Jades dad had, predictably, been the only name visible in for the years that they were at the school. They had also been to see the trophy room, where two proud plaques stood, awarding Ron Weasley and Harry Potter special Awards for Services to the School, which were achieved in their second year. A third did not stand among them.
With the burden of the mysterious girls identity lifted off the three friends shoulders, they bid each other goodnight, and headed off to bed, falling quickly into easy sleeps, with the thought that they would know who she was the next morning, as soon as the library opened.
All, with the exception of Jade, who took out her map and checked where Zeke was before she hit the pillow. There he was, a tiny black dot, sitting motionless in the Slytherin first year dormitory. Jessie closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.
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"What do you mean it isn't here?" asked Jade, her mouth dropping open, as Madame Filch, the somewhat cruel librarian who was married to the caretaker, peered down at them over her long nose. She was quite suspicious. First years very rarely waited until the library was open, and then preceded to charge inside, first thing in the morning.
The three young Gryffindors who were staring up at her now, wearing faces of utter disbelief, were hardly the ecstatic and excitable children she had let in a moment earlier.
"I mean," she replied, with an impatient air, "That the book you are searching for was hired out last night."
"Last night?" Daniel asked, his voice strained, knowing the worst, "Last night, by who?"
"A professor actually. Professor Hagrid. Now do you want to borrow a book or are you just here to cause trouble?" Madame Filch replied irritably. They exchanged gloomy looks, and the excitement, which had bubbled in them dangerously for the last twelve hours, sizzled into nothing. Jade shook her head.
"No, we've changed our minds, sorry." Jade said, and they left the library, with heavy hearts.
"He came last night after we left... he has to have." Jessie said out loud, no one bothering to agree or disagree with her. They were all thinking the same thing.
"I was sure that we were going to find her…" Jade muttered, "Sure…"
Daniel brightened up a little when they reached the Great Hall, for the Gryffindor table cheered him loudly as they took their seats. The girls eyed him questioningly.
"Quidditch is soon." He said, eating his breakfast, excitably. "I'm on the team, I'll be a hero for a few days. If we win then maybe more!"
Jade and Jessie rolled their eyes, but couldn't hide the fact that they were incredibly excited about the first Quidditch match of the season. Judging by the lighting blue colour Daniels eyes changed as he spoke so was he.
"I don't even know the rules to Quidditch…" Jessie muttered glumly, swirling her spoon lazily in her cereal, meaning her words to form merely a passing comment. They didn't. A loud clang meant that Daniel had dropped his fork on the ground, and Jade had conspicuously spat orange juice all down her front.
"Don know the rules to Quidditch?" Daniel asked, in utter astonishment. Jessie turned a deep shade of red, and shook her head. Daniel and Jade exchanged excited looks, and set about explaining every last detail to her, which resulted in all three of them being late for their first class of the day.
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"Harry!" Ron Weasley's voice echoed up through the house, stepping out of the fireplace. It was early morning, before Harry would be at work. Ginny and Harry, however, were not in the kitchen, eating breakfast, as was customary for that hour of the morning. They were, instead, upstairs, trying to coax James out of the high cupboard, where he had flown himself on Harry's broomstick.
"Harry? Ginny?" Ron called again, before starting up the stairs.
"Come on Jamesie, come on, jump into daddy's hands." Coaxed Ginny, who was standing next to Harry in the bedroom, his arms stretched high, large fake grins on their faces. James giggled, and shook his head.
Harry pulled out his wand.
"Accio James." He called, and the small boy came flying through the air to Harry, who caught him, and scowled at him for being so naughty. James didn't seem upset at this. He merely laughed, cutely, again, and yelled in a triumphant way; "James fly! James flew! Fly me again Daddy! Fly!"
Ron snorted from the door of the bedroom, and Ginny and Harry whipped around, to see his livid face.
"Harry, Harry did you take something from my wallet?" he asked, trying to control his breathing so that he didn't appear so angry. Harry shook his head, confused.
"No…why would I take money from you?" He asked. Ron looked shocked.
"No…" he sighed. "No, not money…it's just that you are the only one who…I thought that maybe…never mind." Ron walked out of the room, leaving three very confused Potters in his wake. Ginny and Harry exchanged surprised looks, and waited a moment before following Ron down the staircase. James grumbled. He tugged at Harry's sleeve. He was confused because he wasn't being the centre of attention…
"Ron? What was all that about?" Harry asked, when they reached the kitchen. It looked like Ron was getting back to apperate back to his apartment. Ron shook his head.
"Never mind Harry, it doesn't really matter anyway." He grumbled, before disappearing with a loud crack.
Harry and Ginny looked at each other. They hoped that it wasn't something to do with Jessie. Actually, in a way they hoped that it was something to do with Jessie. Ginny sighed, and took hold of James, who had started to cry from lack of attention. Neither of them was sure what they wanted anymore…
Ron sat down on the couch in his living room, in the flat that he owned himself, in the centre of London. He worked in a small shop next to the twins joke shop, running courses for defence against the dark arts. Every so often he would help out at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. It was very convenient.
The sun had barely risen, and yet Ron Weasley was feeling considerably depressed. In fact, he felt like crying, but tears had long forsaken him, and he had reached the point in his despair where he realised that they were good for nothing anyway.
Looking around Ron's apartment, one would hardly recognise it as the same place it had been the night before. It appeared as though someone had torn through it, ransacking the place crudely. They had, however, done nothing of the sort.
Ron put his head in his hands, weary. He had been up all night, looking for the tiny picture that had gone missing from his wallet. He didn't like to look at it much. Dwelling on the past made his heart ache in a way that can't be described. When he did look at the little picture of Hermione Granger, he felt everything he had ever felt for her come rushing back in a monstrous flood of emotion.
Last night, he had had a dream about her. One of the old dreams, where he would wake up in a cold sweat, feeling as though he really had just run after her for the millionth time, charging down the street, begging her forgiveness, her understanding. It was all a mistake. It was just a stupid mistake. He hadn't even made the stupid mistake, and here he was, paying for it.
Ron had taken out his old, battered up wallet, and flicked through, looking for her familiar face. And it wasn't there. He had proceeded, then, to tear the whole place apart, searching for it in scampered disarray. It was nowhere to be found.
Harry was the only person that he could think of who would even know about the picture, let alone steal it, so he waited until he knew they would be awake, and flooed to their house.
And now, here he was, sitting amongst the ruins of his belongings. And, more importantly, thinking deeply about the battered ruins of his life…
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Suzie Thomas looked up from where she was sitting, alone, in charms class. Jessie Granger and Jade Weasley were standing there, smiling at her awkwardly.
"Do you mind if we sit here?" Jessie asked her, bravely. Suzie nodded. Her friends were mostly in Ravenclaw, and she was yet to become close friends with anyone in her own class, which left her sitting alone in many of her lessons. Jessie and Jade took a seat at the same table, Jessie closest to Suzie. Suzie smiled.
"I never really got properly introduced to you that day." Jessie said, trying to make conversation with the girl as the rest of the class forwarded in, and tiny professor Flitwick took his place at the front of the classroom, atop a teetering pile of books.
"I'm Jessie Granger, and this is Jade Potter. Your Suzie, right?" she continued, kindly. Suzie grinned, and let her personality ooze out of her smiling face, now that she was introduced.
"Yes, that's right. I'm in Hufflepuff. Kind of embarrassing, seeing as my parents were both in Gryffindor. I wish that I could have been there, we would have been great friends." Jessie opened her mouth to say that they could still be great friends, and Jade to mention that her father had told her wonderful stories about a very brave Hufflepuff, but Suzie continued to talk, and so both their sentences trailed off into nothing.
"Yes, I am quite disappointed, though I'm not saying that this house isn't great or anything. I mean, I would rather this than Slytherin, say. I'm not from a pureblood family, see. Well, both my parents are wizards, but my dads a muggleborn, and my mothers half and half, so I don't think that they would be that nice to me. And anyway, that Malfoy kid that they all swarm over scares me a little. And his fashion scene is so out. His hair is ghastly!"
Suzie let all these words stream out of her mouth extremely fast, and when she was finished, Jade and Jessie looked shocked, and exchanged slightly intimidated glances. Luckily, Professor Flitwick cleared his throat at the front of the classroom.
"Now today, we are going to be learning how to make things fly…" he squeaked, and Jessie began to take notes, frantically.
A/N: hope that you enjoyed this! I am back at school now, and I will try and do my best to keep the updates coming frequently, though please don't hate me if they do slow down. I really am going to try hard! I am doing the Aussie equivalent to the OWLs this year though, so sorry if I am a tad preoccupied! I am still going to try and reply to all of your reviews. O!and to Liv, my the reviewer! (I have replied to everyone else privately, but this was an anon, and I really wanted to wb!
Liv: reading back, since you reviewed, I realised that I didn't explain what Hermione did fully. I am going to try and work it into following chapters, thanks heaps for bringing it to my attention. When she left, she changed her entire appearance, with the exception of her eyes. She now has blonde hair, short and straight, and her face is a little longer, with softer features, and tanned skin. Only her eyes remain the same. That was the last magic that she ever performed. :p otherwise the characters would look really stupid eh? Thanks heaps and heaps for reviewing! And that goes out to everyone, btw! Thankyou so so so much! I am so blown away by your beautiful reviews!
Luv Ella xXx
