Jennifer Potter and the marauders (book 5) 19 Years Later

Academic Candidates

The minute Jenny arrived at breakfast the following morning, she was immidiately jumped on by James Potter, before she even had time to reach her seat.
"Slow down James. You're a boy, not a bull remember" said Jenny sternly.
"You have to choose me" announced James, ignoring Jenny completely.
"Choose you? What for?" Questioned Jenny.
"This school championship thing. You have to pick me as one of the students"
"I didn't think you would even be interested in the Academic School Championship, since it involves lots of tests and studying"
"Yeah, but it also involves being selected as one of the best students ever, which is clearly me".

Jenny rolled her eyes, "I admit that you are talented in certain areas, but you are also only a 3rd year, and no student below their 5th year has ever been chosen".
"So? My dad won the Triwizard Tournament and he was only 14. So I can do one better than him, and win it when I'm 13" James replied determindly.
"This is nothing like the Triwizard Tournament, as it doesn't involve completeing dangerous challenges. It also involves 7 schools and not 3" reminded Jenny.
"Yeah. But they are both international school things, so they are quite similar"
"In this tournament there is no one winner, only a winning school, and the school gets to keep the trophey for 5 years, until the next championship. So there is no eternal glory or prize money on offer".

"Look, I don't care how different they are, or the eternal glory since I kind of already have that. I just want to be one of the students that gets chosen" admitted James.
"I'm sorry James but it's out of the question. I mean, you can't seriously believe that you know as much as the 7th years, do you?" Quizzed Jenny.
"Well not all of them, and not in all subjects. But I bet I'm as good as some of them in Defense Against the Dark Arts"
"Even if that were true, the students we choose have to be the best in at least two areas as there are over a dozen different areas covered in this competition"
"Well can't you make an exception for me, since I'm your nephew? You could let me do one, and have everyone else do more than one to make up for it".

"I don't make the final decision, so it is not up to me who gets chosen" lied Jenny, trying to get herself out of the difficult situation.
"Well if McGonagall makes the decision, then couldn't you convince her for me?" Begged James.
"No, I couldn't. You may be my family, but I am not allowed to give you any special treatment here" insisted Jenny.
"Then why did you give me the Marauders Map?" Whispered James.
"That was different, as I felt that you deserved to have it. But vouching for you to the other teachers, to get you into this competition, is something I cannot and will not do. Especially when I believe that you are too young to enter in the first place"
"But I-"
"No James. I don't care if you want to show off and prove yourself to your father. I will not be choosing you as one of the Hogwarts students, because you are not old enough".
James seemed to know that he had been beaten, as he lowered his head and moped off back to his table.

The rest of Jenny's day was filled with students asking her if she was going to choose them.
Even Rose Granger-Weasley who was a first year, wanted the chance to prove that she could win the championship single-handedly. And although Jenny knew that she was just as smart as her mother had been, Rose was still only a first year, and could not possibly know enough to win.
Victorie, who was usually rather cold towards Jenny, did not try to ask if she was going to pick her, instead she did her best to impress her with her magic and knowledge throughout the day.
Jenny thought this was a waste of time, since she could guess that Victorie was on all of the teachers lists, since she was a smart student, and Head girl.

Unfortunately for Jenny, James did not want to drop the topic of joining the Academic School Championship, so he kept pestering Jenny every day for the rest of the week. And because he annoyed her so much, Jenny ended up putting him in detention, just to get him off her back.
But James' attitude wasn't the only family problem that Jenny had, as Albus still hadn't completely settled down at Hogwarts, and he still seemed to be having a miserable time.
Albus' only friend was Scorpius Malfoy, which Jenny wasn't that happy about, given the Malfoy's reputation, and her hatred for them all. But if he made Albus happy she thought that she might get over her initial hatred of the young boy.
Both boys were so unlike their fathers, and were rather oddballs, which is why they attracted so much negitive attention from the rest of the Hogwarts students.

Jenny had never had to deal with members of her family being bullied before.
Usually the Potter name insured that everyone wanted to be your friend. And the rest of the Potters and Weasleys were indeed very popular.
James and Fred both had huge groups of friends. Dominque too was very popular, as she, like her cousins, was a troublemaker, which attracted positive attention from people in all houses and year groups.
Even the Ravenclaws; Victorie and Molly, were close friends with people in their house. And despite her bookishness, Rose was also very popular.

So this meant that Albus was rather the odd one out. And even though his problems initially stemmed from him being placed in Slytherin, Jenny could guess that even if he was a Gryffindor, he would not have a great time at school, due to his lack of talents.
She tried to be as supportive as she could, but Jenny had no experience in these matters, so she was really making it up as she went along.
However, her and Myra were doing the best they could to make the boy's life as good as possible. But it was certainly not easy. Especially as they both had an awful lot going on in their lives already.