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Author: Lady Chi Story: Double Trouble Rating: Teens Setting: Pre-OotP Status: Completed Reviews: 3 Words: 54,062
We jump ahead in time eleven years. "Boys," the little girl murmured to herself as she surveyed the damage her two brothers had done to her room. "I'm gone for two and a half minutes, and they have to come in here, doing heaven only knows what… and they didn't even ask me to come play!" Her hair was blonde, and on this particular morning, the morning of September 1st, she had braided it so that it laid nicely down the center of her back. Her new Hogwarts robes were pressed and cleaned, with no stains on them to speak of, which would probably soon change. The night before, she and her mother had taken the time to paint her nails a pretty light blue that matched her eyes. Her name was Jessica Anna Malfoy-Potter, and today was her first day of wizarding school. She had packed carefully the night before, arranging everything so that nothing would be crushed or broken. Butterflies were turning happy somersaults in her stomach, and she wished for a fleeting moment that she could remain at home for just one more year with her mum and dad, but she was eleven years old. Hogwarts awaited her. "Jess?" Her father's voice came from outside of her door, and she lifted her head up from the spot she'd been studying on the windowsill. "Can I come in?" "Of course, Dad." She didn't have any locks or wards guarding her door, at least, not yet. It seemed that to the rest of the wizarding world, her father was a name, a figure. Harry Potter meant life, meant victory, meant hope for the wizarding world. To Jessica, he meant stability, warmth, love, and kindness. He wasn't her biological father, but he was her father, as far as they both were concerned. She had been born so close to the twins, Jamie and Mick, that the family had taken to calling them "the triplets." "Are you nervous?" he asked, and lay back on her bed. She sighed and stretched out beside him. "Absolutely not," she lied, and knew that she wasn't fooling her father. "I see," said Harry. "Not nervous at all?" "Not a bit," she reaffirmed, then changed her mind. "Okay, so I'm a bit nervous." "I thought so," Harry said over a laugh. "You're your mother's daughter." He meant, of course, his wife, Ginny Potter. To anyone else that knew their family, this conversation would have been a bit confusing. "What's it really like, Dad?" A smile lit up Harry's face. "I liked it. Then again, anything was better than the Dursleys'." "I'd think so. They sound like awful people." "They are," Harry deadpanned, and Jessica giggled. "I spend my time with much less awful people now." "I don't know," Jessica teased. "Jamie and Mick can be pretty awful sometimes." "Back to Hogwarts," Harry said firmly. "What are you worried about most?" "Sorting. I don't want to be in Slytherin." Harry raised an eyebrow. "I didn't want to be either. Did I ever tell you that the Sorting Hat thought that I would make a good Slytherin?" How could she voice what she really thought? After all, her biological father had been in Slytherin; his whole family had been for ages, and Harry's family had not. Why wouldn't she be, even though she desperately wished not to be? "It's our choices, Jessica, not our breeding, that decide where you are placed in the Sorting Ceremony." Startled, she looked over at her father. It was uncanny how he could know what she was thinking sometimes. "If you say so," she managed to whisper. Harry grinned. "I know so." "Dad?" "Yes, pumpkin?" "Are you going to miss me?" "Every single hour of every single day." "Good, because I'm going to miss you." "I'm only an owl away, dear." "It won't be the same as having you and Mum around." "At least you'll have Jamie and Mick," Harry said, trying to be comforting. He had never really understood homesickness until just after his first year, when Hogwarts had become his home. Thankfully, he didn't think his children really ever knew how horrible his childhood with Dursleys had been. How could they, when they had had such wonderful early years themselves? That was the way he'd wanted it, though. "I will," Jessica said bravely. "Mum says I could make some new friends, too." "Speaking of Jamie and Mick, why aren't you with them? Usually you're attached at the hip." His only daughter shook her head. "I just wanted to be alone for a while, that's all." "Well, then, I'll leave you to it." "Dad?" Harry paused on his way out of the door. "Yes, pumpkin?" "I love you." "I love you, too." As Harry entered the corridor, he heard the sob of a baby. Smiling, he went towards the nursery. There in the crib lay Arthur, his youngest son. He was one of the few of the Potter brood that had black hair, though it was much more cooperative than his father's. Harry bent at the waist and picked up the crying child. A quick inspection of the situation told him that Arthur most definitely wanted his nappy changed, so he set about that task, humming to himself. "Harry?" He turned, and saw Ginny, the mother of his six children. "There you are, love." "Soiled nappy?" "Just wet," Harry said with a shrug. "Not a big deal." "Why don't you hand him over to me?" "Sure, you take him after I've done the dirty work." "Damn straight," she said, and they both laughed. "I thought I saw you in Jessica's room." "Then you thought right." So Harry was going to make her fish for this one, Ginny thought. Well, that always made it more interesting. "What did you talk about?" "Oh, nothing in particular," Harry shrugged again. "Just the usual stuff." "You talked about the usual stuff on her first day at Hogwarts?" "Today's her first day?" Ginny knew Harry was only pretending to be clueless, so she shot him a look. "You know that, Harry Potter. Now, what did you talk about?" "You're being awfully nosy," he retorted. "Maybe I don't want to talk. Perhaps you could persuade me?" Rising up on her tiptoes, she planted a kiss on his nose. "Talk." "Well, she's going to miss us," he said, drawing out the words reluctantly. In spite of herself, Ginny felt tears well up in her eyes. "And?" "I've run out of a reason to talk." "Oh, for goodness sake." Again, she rose on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the cheek, twice. "She thinks she's going to be in Slytherin," he said. "What? That's absolutely ridiculous." Harry shrugged. "She thinks that because Draco was a Slytherin it must be in the genes, or something." "She's our child," Ginny said fiercely. "She's always been our child. Anyone who dares to tell her she's not a Potter will face my wrath." "We both know that's true." Harry forced himself to avoid the memory of the night he had found Jessica, in that basket beneath her mother's death-frozen body. "Somebody meant to kill her, I'm sure of it." Eleven years had passed, and though Ron spent every spare minute he had on it, no real developments had been made in the case. Despite Draco's warning, no other Death Eaters or wizards had died of the same "disease" he said he'd had. So, Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione had all arrived at their own conclusions. "She's not a pureblood," Ginny acknowledged, her voice laden with disgust. "It makes me sick." Harry nodded. "It makes us both sick." The sound of feet running through the hallway alerted them to the nearby presence of their male children, who had the combined gracefulness of a herd of drunken elephants. "We're all packed, Mum," Jamie told her. "We've double checked everything on your list." "Did you make room for the pack that Uncle Fred and Uncle George sent you last week?" Harry asked. "Yep…" Then Mick caught himself. The mischief making kit was supposed to be a secret. "Uh, what pack?" Jamie rolled his eyes. "A bit late for that, Mick." Although her twins were identical except for hair coloring, Ginny knew that had two very distinct personalities. James Brian Potter, the twin with red hair, was the more outgoing and quick-witted of the two, while Michael Albus Potter, the twin with black hair, thought of things in a more thought out, slow, sort of way. He was chronically shy, and most of the time allowed Jamie to do his talking for him. The only exception was among family, where Mick and Jamie fought for attention. Just then, Jessica entered the room, and the boys separated to make room for her in their little line. "Is it almost time to go?" she asked in that quiet voice that would later demand respect. "Almost," Ginny said. She tried to hide the tears welling up in her eyes, but she couldn't help it. It was very emotional, watching her three oldest go off to Hogwarts for the first time. Knowing that her mother had gone through six first days made Ginny respect Molly all the more. "Blimey, Mum. You're not going to cry, are you?" Jamie stuffed his hands in his pockets. He never knew what do when his mum cried. "I don't think so," Ginny whispered. Jessica smiled. "I'm ready to go. How about you two?" "Yes," they chorused. "We'd better get going, Ginny dear, or we'll miss the train." Nodding, Ginny wiped her eyes. "Get your supplies. Dad's borrowed the flying car. We're going to the station in style." The children let out a whoop of excitement, and raced off towards their rooms. "Jamie! Mick!" The two boys stopped at the sound of their mother's voice. "Yes, Mum?" "Be sure to leave that package sitting on your bed." "Mum!" Jamie protested. Jessica shook her head at the two of them, and the protests ceased. Most likely she had a plan to cause more trouble than that kit contained. Oh well. Ginny was only asking for the kit to keep up the pretense that she was a responsible parent. In truth, she couldn't wait to her about the exploits her children would get into. Perfectly safe, non-life threatening exploits. She snorted. With a father like theirs, that might be a bit too much to ask for. It seemed like hours later, they were piled in the car, driving towards King's Cross. The car was filled with noise and laughter. One of the wonderful things about the Potter family was its ability to have at least six different conversations going at once, with everyone participating in two or three. Today the talk centered around Hogwarts, with Harry and Ginny reminiscing, and Jamie, Mick, and Jessica plotting, and the younger two, Matthew and Joseph, longing to go. Arthur sat in his car seat and babbled happily to no one. "What'd you like best about Hogwarts, Dad?" Mick asked. Harry grinned. "Your mother." The entire car groaned. "Before you liked girls, we mean," Jamie corrected. "Well, now, your Uncle Ron liked the food, and your Aunt Hermione liked the books and the school work, but I liked Quidditch." "Who doesn't like Quidditch?" Jamie asked, sincerely confused. "Oh, some witches and wizards," Harry said dismissively. "But Quidditch was a new thing for me, you see. I didn't even think brooms could fly." Since this was Matthew and Joseph's first time hearing the story, they asked the first question. "How could you not know that brooms could fly?" "I lived with Muggles, remember?" "Yeah, I remember that," Matthew said. "Because Grandma and Grandpa Potter were killed by that bad bloke and you didn't have anybody else." Joseph's eyes widened. He knew the story, of course, but he couldn't imagine not having parents. "You didn't have a Mum or Dad?" Harry shook his head. "I had an aunt and an uncle, instead." Ginny very nearly growled. "Some foster parents they were," she muttered under her breath. "Down, love." "Do the staircases really move?" Matthew asked. "Yes, of course," Ginny answered lightly. "You don't think they're going to sit there all day, do you? It'd be kind of boring, don't you think?" Matthew nodded philosophically. "I guess it would be." "I can't wait until I get to go," Joseph muttered. "It's not that far off," Ginny reassured him. "Only four years." "It might as well be forever," he said. Jessica nearly laughed. She remembered feeling the same way. "I can't wait to hear the hat sing." "I can't wait for the welcoming feast," Jamie countered. "That's all you ever think about. Your stomach." Jamie shrugged. "Well, it demands my attention." Mick grinned. "I can't wait to meet the ghosts. I wonder if Sir Nicholas will take off his head for us. That'd be way cool." "It doesn't come all the way off," Ginny cautioned. "He was only partially beheaded." "Gross!" The comment sounded more like a compliment than anything else to Ginny. Jessica just rolled her eyes, because she was above such things. "Look, there's King's Cross!" They pulled into the station and parked. Ginny quickly mobilized her troops into an organized mob, and they took off towards Platform 9 ¾. Thanks to all of my reviewers from the last chapter. You guys are awesome!
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