Jennifer Lilivan Potter

End of the Year: Welcome to Hell

As the end of the year feast comes to an end, I push the food around my plate and then wait for the end of the feast. As I get up to go finish packing. I avoid everyone as I head to the dungeons, even Harry, especially Malfoy. Malfoy has been giving me odd looks, and I think that Harry has started to notice as well. When I'm finished packing up everything, I sigh and make sure that my outfit is in line. Making myself look as much like a Pureblood as I can before I leave my room and head to the train...looks like soon I will be going back to her home. I wonder if Harry is better off? I'm sure he has family that cares for him. Maybe the Mistress will treat me like she did before I left for school instead of the previous years? I hope so. I get on the train, avoiding everyone, going to the back to get a seat all to myself. As I walk in, I lock the door and close the curtains to make the room all my own. As soon as I'm sure I'm alone, I curl up in the seat. My luggage sits beside me, and I start crying, hoping the Summer won't be so bad.

Tom's last words ring in my ears as I sob into my knees. "Be careful my angel. I fear you will have a rough road ahead...Stay close to your brother when you can. I will be in the book if you need me." I hold myself tighter, waiting for the train to start moving. "Can you hear me Harry? " I look out the window as I wait. I can see Harry and his friends walking toward the train, and all of the students walking with their friends. I sigh as Harry looks happy surrounded by his friends. Maybe his home life really is better. I close the curtain to the window too and sit in silence, listening to the students getting onto the train and sitting with their friends. I start working on my summer homework and continue studying ahead. There is a jingle from someone trying to open the door. "I guess this one is already full." " Yeah, guess so mate. Maybe there is one up ahead."

I jump up and unlock the door, pulling it open and coming face to face with Harry James Potter. I quickly wrap my arms around him as I bury my face into his chest. "I don't want to go back." Ron just has to pipe up and ruin everything. "Why wouldn't you want to back home? Won't get enough attention from hundreds of people at once while you cling to my best mate? Or are you just clinging to him so that you seem more important?" I look to him with my still teary face, not taking the time to hide my emotions. "I'm not an attention seeker, unlike you who only became his friend because he is The-Boy-Who-Lived. I actually care about him." A tear streams down my cheek. "And I'm sorry that you have such a great home life. But some of us don't. And all of the attention can make some people have anxiety. So don't go teasing someone about something that you don't understand Weasel."

He looks taken aback as I openly cry in front of him. Harry glares at Ron and holds me closer to him. "What did you mean by not having a good home life? Weren't you adopted by a Pureblood family? " I shake my head. "Not exactly. I live with our Pureblood Aunt. You don't want to meet her." He looks concerned. I feel another hand on my back, so I look toward the origin and see Hermione looking concerned too from what I said to Ron. I smile slightly to her. "Maybe you should go sit with your brothers Ron? I'm going to sit with Jennifer." Ron looks even further taken aback but glares slightly and walks away. "Fine. I didn't want to sit with a Snake anyways." Harry leads me back into the compartment and sees all of the books and parchments around the room in neat piles. "Sorry..I wasn't expecting guests to sit with me." I snap my fingers and everything starts putting itself away into my trunk. Hermione seems to watch with fascination. Harry looks surprised that I could do that without my wand.

"What? Did I do something wrong?" Hermione shakes her head and smiles to me. "I was just surprised that someone younger than us can do silent and wandless magic like that." I blush slightly and look down at the praise. "Well, when you are raised like I was, you learn to use wandless magic quickly if you want to survive.." They look confusedly to each other and sit down in their seats after putting their trunks up. I sit down int the spot I was originally sitting in and we have a nice chat about what we hope for next year. Near the end of the train ride I get up and get a small thing out of my trunk and give it to Harry. "This is for your birthday next month, but since I won't be there, I might as well give it to you now." He takes the little gift and unwraps it. It is a small book with empty pages. "What is it?" I smile. "A way for us to communicate while we are out of school or in our dorms." He smiles and hugs me. "I love it. But how did you know I wouldn't be able to contact anyone?" I shrug. "Cause I won't be able to either." He nods and lets me go. "I haven't gotten you anything for your birthday though." I sit in my seat. "That's ok. It already passed." He frowns. "What? When?" I look out the window and smile slightly. "April 1st. The same day as the Weasley Twins. They gave me little gifts. Prank items. I gave them some in return. Those two are truly snakes at heart. Especially with how they try to trick people into thinking they are each other. They were the first Gryffindors to talk to be other than Hermione. I guess they saw potential in hanging out with the Slytherin outcast."