Still working on it--Girl!Harry
Jun. 9th, 2011 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
drownedinlight Luna coughed a little as they landed in the Weasley’s floo grate, and John stepped out and offered her his hand.
“John Potter! You scared me half to death!” Molly Weasley cried. John flushed a little.
“Sorry, Mrs. Weasley, I was just so shaken I forgot to call ahead.” At the word shaken the red haired matriarch looked them up and down and saw that something was not right.
“Sit down the two of you and explain what happened,” she ordered. John helped Luna to a chair and then wobbling, took one himself. He explained shortly about the dementor attack at the interview for the newest professor. As soon as she heard the word “dementor,” Molly broke out a large pan of chocolate fudge and insisted they each eat a brick of it. “But this Grant woman, she seems descent?”
“She seems very knowledgeable,” Luna replied. “And she humored Dennis and spoke Norwegian to him.”
“At the beginning of lesson plans she passed out, she had a review of the things that we needed to know for each year,” John said. “I don’t think I even learned some of it, so I think she’ll be good in helping us prepare for the OWLs. She was also the first to react when we stormed the Great Hall. She was casting before I even had the warning out of my mouth.”
“Good, it’s high time you lot had a descent instructor. They were out an instructor every year while I was in school too, but all of them were at least descent. I think people were still hopeful then, that they could beat the curse. Now I suppose Dumbledore is lucky to get what he can get. Thank goodness though, for this woman, because you children are taking your OWLs this year, and of course, I’m sure you can use their materials next year, Luna dear.” Molly was cut off as there was a trampling down the stairs and all the Weasleys still living at home entered the downstairs.
“John!” Ron cried. “What’re you doing here? Mum, why didn’t you tell me John was here?”
“He was quite shaken when he arrived, Ronald, I had to see to that first,” Mrs. Weasley said. “And speaking of people not knowing where you are, John, you had best floo your parents.”
“Oh!” John exclaimed. “Right!” he turned to Luna, who was still gripping his hand. “Just let me do this, and then I’ll walk you home.”
“Ickly Johnny-kins need not worry about Luna dear,” said one of the twins who ruffled Luna’s hair much the way they would Ginny’s.
“We will see that Luna finds her way home,” said the other. Ginny rolled her eyes and punched the twin closest to her.
“You two are daft. John wants to walk Luna home.”
“We do have something rather important to talk about,” Luna admitted. The twins grinned at that, only to receive another punch each from Ginny. “But I think we should talk about it with all of you, so you may all walk me home.”
“I’m confused,” Ron said.
“That’s just your general state of being,” one of the twins said. John grinned and shook his head, as he knelt by the fire place and threw some floo pounder in calling for the manor. Luckily it was his father that answered.
“John, what are you doing at the Weasley’s?” James asked.
“It’s a long story Dad, I’d rather not explain by floo. I was just calling to let you know I was safe and ask if it was okay that I walk Luna home before I floo back.” James frowned, but nodded.
“You’re sure you’re safe?”
“Positive,” John replied.
“All right, I’ll see you in no less than an hour, do you understand? So keep an eye on the time.”
“Thanks Dad.”
“No problem son. Be careful, and I love you.”
“Um, I love you too Dad.” With that John pulled out of the flame only to face the snickering twins. “What? Don’t you two love your dad?”
“Answer that very carefully!” Molly called from the kitchen. “And be back soon, I’m starting supper!”
“G’bye mum we love you!” Fred and George called out together. And so, they set out, walking the path to the Rook, where Luna lived. In turns, Luna and John explained about the new defense professor and how there had been dementors who had attacked them when they had been coming back in from the lake.
“But why did you have to go out to the lake to talk?” Ginny asked. “That wasn’t code for ‘snog,’ was it?”
“No,” Luna said. “We were talking about Harriet. She’s run away.”
“What?” asked the four Weasleys.
“Why would she do that?” Ron asked. “I mean, she’s had some trouble at school, but I always thought she was kind of tough. What happened?” Luna looked to John, who sighed.
“Listen, I want to tell you lot everything I know, and it’s a lot, but I take a lot of risks even explaining why I can’t tell you right now,” John said.
“You need us to learn to defend our minds,” Luna concluded.
“Erm, yes,” John replied.
“…So then, Professor Dumbledore is involved,” Luna said taping her chin. “Daddy has plenty of books on Occlumency and other mind defenses, we could all work at my house.”
“Bloody hell, Dumbledore can read our minds?” Ron said.
“You’re in luck, though, Ronnie-kins,” said Twin 1.
“If you make some joke about my head being empty—”
“Wasn’t going to,” said Twin 2, “but thanks for future reference.”
“What they’re trying to say, Ron, is that Weasleys are usually naturally gifted with Occlumency defenses,” Ginny said. “We have to build them up, of course, but we’re good at it. Dad told us when you were hanging out with John last year.”
“Ginny, George and I,” said Fred, “have all been working on our shields since he mentioned it. We’ll be able to teach Ronnie and Luna easily enough. And if you’re still not sure, you can always Obliviate us if you think we’re evil.” John frowning, biting his lip, but his secrets refused to sit anymore, and so everything spilled out about what had happened, and what was happening now.
“Bloody hell,” Ron cursed as they walked around the path to make it up to the Rook. “I always knew Harriet was smart, but that’s crazy.”
“You’re telling me,” John said. “But Mum and Dumbledore really wanted to do that to her, and well, as soon as we can prepare, I’m going back to train with Harriet to nip this problem in the bud once and for all.” The problem was obvious enough to all of them.
“I have two questions, and I can tell by Luna’s thinking face so does she,” Ginny said. “First: exactly how many people can you send back in time with one of these rituals?”
“You…you want to come with?” John asked.
“Harriet has always said that you need all the help you can get, John,” Luna told him. “And we can’t help if we’re not at the same level as you.”
“Personally I don’t think I want to go back in time,” said Fred.
“Me either,” George agreed. “Got too much going for us here. And we can help in other ways.”
“I want to,” Ron said. “You’re my best friend and I want to help you in any way I can. We could probably bring some others too. Neville’s always been loyal to Harriet, and he’s a good guy. And there’s Hermione of course.”
“Oh yes, she’ll jump at the chance to have seven more years of reading,” said one of the twins.
“Well, then I guess I’ll check with Dad and the ancestors and see what we can’t do,” John said. “In any case it’s going to take us until next Summer to finish with the preparations. But, Ginny, what was your second question?”
“Oh, I was just wondering what Harriet’s Plan B was,” Ginny replied.
“Well, it’s something called a time dilation warding set,” John replied.
“So, basically, she figured out how to make time go faster inside a certain space, allowing us to complete years’ worth of training in how long?” Luna asked.
“Approximately six days is equal to a year,” John replied.
“And we have eight weeks until school starts,” Ron pointed out.
“Well then,” said the twins. “What are we waiting for?”
I would like to say that I can skip over the train ride entirely; that we read and played short lived games like “Eye-Spy,” but the truth is that train ride changed us. Before the train ride to Hogwarts, John and I had really only had each other for companionship. The train ride was the place where we began to separate and become our own persons, most especially because everyone wanted to make friends with the boy-who-lived, but no one had ever even heard of his twin sister.
Now I have to saying something else: I do not like that my brother is famous. I love John for himself, and like him for the way he is, but I hate his fame. I always found it unnecessary to celebrate something neither of us could remember. And yes, I was envious, there was no denying that. But think about this; what if you had someone who was nearly identical to you? John and I nearly were, we had the same level of intelligence, power and were the same height. We had different interests, and different eye colors, but we were nearly the same. Now picture him just being himself, and almost everyone falling over the moon for it, even when it was not anything special, while you are nearly the same, and no one even notices when you do something special.
I’m not saying that John isn’t special, or that he didn’t do good work, or that he isn’t a fantastic wizard. It’s true; he is and does all of those things. But I am and did things that were equally and sometimes more astounding than John could think up. It bothered me that no one could look past John and see me. That botherment started on the Hogwarts Express.
John and I spent three hours on the train before it even got moving. We did everything to keep ourselves occupied, including pacing up and down the aisles and playing a few rounds of hide and seek before many other students began to arrive. Around ten, we locked ourselves back into the compartment to wait out the storm of arriving students.
“Next year, we need to ask Mum and Dad to come a little later,” John moaned. “And just think! We’ve still got the six hour train ride after this and then we have to get up to the castle.”
“Well, we did get up early,” I said, “We could always take a short nap along the way. That’ll knock out a few hours.”
“Mum says I should stop taking naps, it’ll mess with my sleeping habits.” Though it was entirely true, the way he said it made me scowl. “Oh stop! Why are you and mum always fighting so much?”
“I don’t know,” I retorted, though I had my theories. Several of them involved her simple hatred for me, and that’s why they didn’t take me with them when they went into hiding, because for some reason, Lily Potter could not stand the sight of me. We farted about the compartment for the rest of the hour and just before we began to go, I took my charms text and some other charms books I had brought with me to practice out of. I figured if I used the ghost book all the time, it would look suspicious if I had several different sources of information in one book.
So, I opened the first year charms text and began casting. John watched me without a word and began matching me spell for spell.
“How’d you get so good?” John asked.
“What do you think I’ve been doing in the library all this time?” I asked. “Sleeping? I’ve read most of the theory books we have in there and all of the first year texts and more. You don’t need a wand to make a connection with your magic, just to channel it into the spell. I’ve been thinking about it, and that’s why I have an eagle feather not a phoenix or a unicorn hair or a dragon heart string, because I’ve been learning how the magic functions inside of me.”
“Well, yeah, but I’ve been doing magic for years now,” John said. “And I still needed a phoenix feather wand.”
“I’ve been thinking about that to,” I told him, and truth be told, I had. “I think it’s because you were already using a wand with a dragon heart string core, so you were using something that had the greater control in channeling magic.”
“Hunh,” John said, making one of the books levitate.
“Of course, I might not know what I’m talking about,” I said with a shrug.
“Hey there! What are you two doing?” A read head with horn rimmed glasses stuck his head inside the compartment. “No magic on the train unless you are a prefect or it’s an emergency. Now, put your wants away or you’ll get them taken away before we reach the school.” John and I both grumbled but pocketed our wands, the red head moving down the train to bother someone else. A few minutes later, and three more red heads dropped by the compartment. The elder two were identical, but the younger still looked like their brother.
“There you are, Ronniekins,” said one of the boys.
“Ask nicely, and I’m sure they’ll let you sit with them,” said the other. The youngest stepped forward, flushed bright red, and said,
“Hi, my name’s Ron Weasley, can I sit with you both?” I glanced at John, suddenly very grateful that I was older.
“Sure,” John said. “I’m John and this is my sister, Harriet.”
“See? Was that so hard?” one of the twins asked.
“Now, we’ll be up the train with Lee,” said the other.
“But he’s got a tarantula,” warned the first.
“So knock before you enter,” added the second. They scampered off and Ron came in, still red, and sat next to John.
“Sorry about them,” Ron said. “They get a little…crazy sometimes.”
“It’s all right,” I said. “John embarrasses me all the time.”
“Do not!” John protested.
“John, I’m trying to make him feel a little better,” I said.
“S’all right,” Ron replied. “After all, this time they were trying to help. They’re really bad when they’re actually trying to embarrass me.”
“Say, have you got another brother?” John asked. “We saw another red head earlier. Told us to stop practicing magic on the train.”
“Was he sort of pompous looking?” Ron asked. We both nodded. “Yeah, then that was my brother Percy. I have two more; Bill and Charlie, but they’re both out of Hogwarts. Bill works for the goblins, and Charlie’s with dragons in Romania. My little sister, Ginny, is coming next year, and well, you’ve met Fred and George.”
“It must be interesting having such a big family,” I said. “We’ve only got each other and Mum and Dad.”
“It can be nice always having someone to look after you,” Ron said. “But I get compared to my older brothers a lot. I mean, Bill’s a genius at Runes. He’ll be a top curse breaker for Grinngotts, just give him time. Charlie’s really good with animals, that’s why he went to work with dragons, that and he’s nuts about them. Percy’s really smart and will probably get a good job at the ministry. Fred and George are jokers, but everyone likes them and they do get really good marks. And well, Ginny’s the girl, so I can’t really compare there.” John and I giggled, and Ron grinned a little bit. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll be lucky and become a seer.”
“Better pick something you can work at,” I said. “Real seers are kind of rare. Say! I know what you can do: study arithmacy and design spells. That’s something none of your brothers are bound to do.” Ron perked up a little at that. “Or you could be a healer or become an auror, or maybe be an Unspeakable, like dad.”
“Riot, we’re eleven,” John said. “Ron’ll have time to figure it out. Besides, I call dibs on healer.” John brushed some hair out of his eyes, enough for his scar to show. I suppose I haven’t explained this, because everyone in the wizarding world knows, but John’s scar is an indicator of who he is. It’s one of the reasons why he’s famous, because that’s where Voldemort’s killing curse left a mark. Ron saw it, and his eyes went as round as saucers.
“Cor…” he whispered.
“What?” John asked.
“Nothing,” Ron said, turning to face me. “It’s no big deal. Why’d he call you Riot?”
“It’s our godfather’s nickname for me, since I don’t like going by Harriet much,” I said.
“What about your middle name?” Ron asked, causing John to dissolve into giggles. “What?”
“He’s laughing because my middle name is Rose of Sharon,” I said. “I don’t like that one much either.”
“John Potter! You scared me half to death!” Molly Weasley cried. John flushed a little.
“Sorry, Mrs. Weasley, I was just so shaken I forgot to call ahead.” At the word shaken the red haired matriarch looked them up and down and saw that something was not right.
“Sit down the two of you and explain what happened,” she ordered. John helped Luna to a chair and then wobbling, took one himself. He explained shortly about the dementor attack at the interview for the newest professor. As soon as she heard the word “dementor,” Molly broke out a large pan of chocolate fudge and insisted they each eat a brick of it. “But this Grant woman, she seems descent?”
“She seems very knowledgeable,” Luna replied. “And she humored Dennis and spoke Norwegian to him.”
“At the beginning of lesson plans she passed out, she had a review of the things that we needed to know for each year,” John said. “I don’t think I even learned some of it, so I think she’ll be good in helping us prepare for the OWLs. She was also the first to react when we stormed the Great Hall. She was casting before I even had the warning out of my mouth.”
“Good, it’s high time you lot had a descent instructor. They were out an instructor every year while I was in school too, but all of them were at least descent. I think people were still hopeful then, that they could beat the curse. Now I suppose Dumbledore is lucky to get what he can get. Thank goodness though, for this woman, because you children are taking your OWLs this year, and of course, I’m sure you can use their materials next year, Luna dear.” Molly was cut off as there was a trampling down the stairs and all the Weasleys still living at home entered the downstairs.
“John!” Ron cried. “What’re you doing here? Mum, why didn’t you tell me John was here?”
“He was quite shaken when he arrived, Ronald, I had to see to that first,” Mrs. Weasley said. “And speaking of people not knowing where you are, John, you had best floo your parents.”
“Oh!” John exclaimed. “Right!” he turned to Luna, who was still gripping his hand. “Just let me do this, and then I’ll walk you home.”
“Ickly Johnny-kins need not worry about Luna dear,” said one of the twins who ruffled Luna’s hair much the way they would Ginny’s.
“We will see that Luna finds her way home,” said the other. Ginny rolled her eyes and punched the twin closest to her.
“You two are daft. John wants to walk Luna home.”
“We do have something rather important to talk about,” Luna admitted. The twins grinned at that, only to receive another punch each from Ginny. “But I think we should talk about it with all of you, so you may all walk me home.”
“I’m confused,” Ron said.
“That’s just your general state of being,” one of the twins said. John grinned and shook his head, as he knelt by the fire place and threw some floo pounder in calling for the manor. Luckily it was his father that answered.
“John, what are you doing at the Weasley’s?” James asked.
“It’s a long story Dad, I’d rather not explain by floo. I was just calling to let you know I was safe and ask if it was okay that I walk Luna home before I floo back.” James frowned, but nodded.
“You’re sure you’re safe?”
“Positive,” John replied.
“All right, I’ll see you in no less than an hour, do you understand? So keep an eye on the time.”
“Thanks Dad.”
“No problem son. Be careful, and I love you.”
“Um, I love you too Dad.” With that John pulled out of the flame only to face the snickering twins. “What? Don’t you two love your dad?”
“Answer that very carefully!” Molly called from the kitchen. “And be back soon, I’m starting supper!”
“G’bye mum we love you!” Fred and George called out together. And so, they set out, walking the path to the Rook, where Luna lived. In turns, Luna and John explained about the new defense professor and how there had been dementors who had attacked them when they had been coming back in from the lake.
“But why did you have to go out to the lake to talk?” Ginny asked. “That wasn’t code for ‘snog,’ was it?”
“No,” Luna said. “We were talking about Harriet. She’s run away.”
“What?” asked the four Weasleys.
“Why would she do that?” Ron asked. “I mean, she’s had some trouble at school, but I always thought she was kind of tough. What happened?” Luna looked to John, who sighed.
“Listen, I want to tell you lot everything I know, and it’s a lot, but I take a lot of risks even explaining why I can’t tell you right now,” John said.
“You need us to learn to defend our minds,” Luna concluded.
“Erm, yes,” John replied.
“…So then, Professor Dumbledore is involved,” Luna said taping her chin. “Daddy has plenty of books on Occlumency and other mind defenses, we could all work at my house.”
“Bloody hell, Dumbledore can read our minds?” Ron said.
“You’re in luck, though, Ronnie-kins,” said Twin 1.
“If you make some joke about my head being empty—”
“Wasn’t going to,” said Twin 2, “but thanks for future reference.”
“What they’re trying to say, Ron, is that Weasleys are usually naturally gifted with Occlumency defenses,” Ginny said. “We have to build them up, of course, but we’re good at it. Dad told us when you were hanging out with John last year.”
“Ginny, George and I,” said Fred, “have all been working on our shields since he mentioned it. We’ll be able to teach Ronnie and Luna easily enough. And if you’re still not sure, you can always Obliviate us if you think we’re evil.” John frowning, biting his lip, but his secrets refused to sit anymore, and so everything spilled out about what had happened, and what was happening now.
“Bloody hell,” Ron cursed as they walked around the path to make it up to the Rook. “I always knew Harriet was smart, but that’s crazy.”
“You’re telling me,” John said. “But Mum and Dumbledore really wanted to do that to her, and well, as soon as we can prepare, I’m going back to train with Harriet to nip this problem in the bud once and for all.” The problem was obvious enough to all of them.
“I have two questions, and I can tell by Luna’s thinking face so does she,” Ginny said. “First: exactly how many people can you send back in time with one of these rituals?”
“You…you want to come with?” John asked.
“Harriet has always said that you need all the help you can get, John,” Luna told him. “And we can’t help if we’re not at the same level as you.”
“Personally I don’t think I want to go back in time,” said Fred.
“Me either,” George agreed. “Got too much going for us here. And we can help in other ways.”
“I want to,” Ron said. “You’re my best friend and I want to help you in any way I can. We could probably bring some others too. Neville’s always been loyal to Harriet, and he’s a good guy. And there’s Hermione of course.”
“Oh yes, she’ll jump at the chance to have seven more years of reading,” said one of the twins.
“Well, then I guess I’ll check with Dad and the ancestors and see what we can’t do,” John said. “In any case it’s going to take us until next Summer to finish with the preparations. But, Ginny, what was your second question?”
“Oh, I was just wondering what Harriet’s Plan B was,” Ginny replied.
“Well, it’s something called a time dilation warding set,” John replied.
“So, basically, she figured out how to make time go faster inside a certain space, allowing us to complete years’ worth of training in how long?” Luna asked.
“Approximately six days is equal to a year,” John replied.
“And we have eight weeks until school starts,” Ron pointed out.
“Well then,” said the twins. “What are we waiting for?”
I would like to say that I can skip over the train ride entirely; that we read and played short lived games like “Eye-Spy,” but the truth is that train ride changed us. Before the train ride to Hogwarts, John and I had really only had each other for companionship. The train ride was the place where we began to separate and become our own persons, most especially because everyone wanted to make friends with the boy-who-lived, but no one had ever even heard of his twin sister.
Now I have to saying something else: I do not like that my brother is famous. I love John for himself, and like him for the way he is, but I hate his fame. I always found it unnecessary to celebrate something neither of us could remember. And yes, I was envious, there was no denying that. But think about this; what if you had someone who was nearly identical to you? John and I nearly were, we had the same level of intelligence, power and were the same height. We had different interests, and different eye colors, but we were nearly the same. Now picture him just being himself, and almost everyone falling over the moon for it, even when it was not anything special, while you are nearly the same, and no one even notices when you do something special.
I’m not saying that John isn’t special, or that he didn’t do good work, or that he isn’t a fantastic wizard. It’s true; he is and does all of those things. But I am and did things that were equally and sometimes more astounding than John could think up. It bothered me that no one could look past John and see me. That botherment started on the Hogwarts Express.
John and I spent three hours on the train before it even got moving. We did everything to keep ourselves occupied, including pacing up and down the aisles and playing a few rounds of hide and seek before many other students began to arrive. Around ten, we locked ourselves back into the compartment to wait out the storm of arriving students.
“Next year, we need to ask Mum and Dad to come a little later,” John moaned. “And just think! We’ve still got the six hour train ride after this and then we have to get up to the castle.”
“Well, we did get up early,” I said, “We could always take a short nap along the way. That’ll knock out a few hours.”
“Mum says I should stop taking naps, it’ll mess with my sleeping habits.” Though it was entirely true, the way he said it made me scowl. “Oh stop! Why are you and mum always fighting so much?”
“I don’t know,” I retorted, though I had my theories. Several of them involved her simple hatred for me, and that’s why they didn’t take me with them when they went into hiding, because for some reason, Lily Potter could not stand the sight of me. We farted about the compartment for the rest of the hour and just before we began to go, I took my charms text and some other charms books I had brought with me to practice out of. I figured if I used the ghost book all the time, it would look suspicious if I had several different sources of information in one book.
So, I opened the first year charms text and began casting. John watched me without a word and began matching me spell for spell.
“How’d you get so good?” John asked.
“What do you think I’ve been doing in the library all this time?” I asked. “Sleeping? I’ve read most of the theory books we have in there and all of the first year texts and more. You don’t need a wand to make a connection with your magic, just to channel it into the spell. I’ve been thinking about it, and that’s why I have an eagle feather not a phoenix or a unicorn hair or a dragon heart string, because I’ve been learning how the magic functions inside of me.”
“Well, yeah, but I’ve been doing magic for years now,” John said. “And I still needed a phoenix feather wand.”
“I’ve been thinking about that to,” I told him, and truth be told, I had. “I think it’s because you were already using a wand with a dragon heart string core, so you were using something that had the greater control in channeling magic.”
“Hunh,” John said, making one of the books levitate.
“Of course, I might not know what I’m talking about,” I said with a shrug.
“Hey there! What are you two doing?” A read head with horn rimmed glasses stuck his head inside the compartment. “No magic on the train unless you are a prefect or it’s an emergency. Now, put your wants away or you’ll get them taken away before we reach the school.” John and I both grumbled but pocketed our wands, the red head moving down the train to bother someone else. A few minutes later, and three more red heads dropped by the compartment. The elder two were identical, but the younger still looked like their brother.
“There you are, Ronniekins,” said one of the boys.
“Ask nicely, and I’m sure they’ll let you sit with them,” said the other. The youngest stepped forward, flushed bright red, and said,
“Hi, my name’s Ron Weasley, can I sit with you both?” I glanced at John, suddenly very grateful that I was older.
“Sure,” John said. “I’m John and this is my sister, Harriet.”
“See? Was that so hard?” one of the twins asked.
“Now, we’ll be up the train with Lee,” said the other.
“But he’s got a tarantula,” warned the first.
“So knock before you enter,” added the second. They scampered off and Ron came in, still red, and sat next to John.
“Sorry about them,” Ron said. “They get a little…crazy sometimes.”
“It’s all right,” I said. “John embarrasses me all the time.”
“Do not!” John protested.
“John, I’m trying to make him feel a little better,” I said.
“S’all right,” Ron replied. “After all, this time they were trying to help. They’re really bad when they’re actually trying to embarrass me.”
“Say, have you got another brother?” John asked. “We saw another red head earlier. Told us to stop practicing magic on the train.”
“Was he sort of pompous looking?” Ron asked. We both nodded. “Yeah, then that was my brother Percy. I have two more; Bill and Charlie, but they’re both out of Hogwarts. Bill works for the goblins, and Charlie’s with dragons in Romania. My little sister, Ginny, is coming next year, and well, you’ve met Fred and George.”
“It must be interesting having such a big family,” I said. “We’ve only got each other and Mum and Dad.”
“It can be nice always having someone to look after you,” Ron said. “But I get compared to my older brothers a lot. I mean, Bill’s a genius at Runes. He’ll be a top curse breaker for Grinngotts, just give him time. Charlie’s really good with animals, that’s why he went to work with dragons, that and he’s nuts about them. Percy’s really smart and will probably get a good job at the ministry. Fred and George are jokers, but everyone likes them and they do get really good marks. And well, Ginny’s the girl, so I can’t really compare there.” John and I giggled, and Ron grinned a little bit. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll be lucky and become a seer.”
“Better pick something you can work at,” I said. “Real seers are kind of rare. Say! I know what you can do: study arithmacy and design spells. That’s something none of your brothers are bound to do.” Ron perked up a little at that. “Or you could be a healer or become an auror, or maybe be an Unspeakable, like dad.”
“Riot, we’re eleven,” John said. “Ron’ll have time to figure it out. Besides, I call dibs on healer.” John brushed some hair out of his eyes, enough for his scar to show. I suppose I haven’t explained this, because everyone in the wizarding world knows, but John’s scar is an indicator of who he is. It’s one of the reasons why he’s famous, because that’s where Voldemort’s killing curse left a mark. Ron saw it, and his eyes went as round as saucers.
“Cor…” he whispered.
“What?” John asked.
“Nothing,” Ron said, turning to face me. “It’s no big deal. Why’d he call you Riot?”
“It’s our godfather’s nickname for me, since I don’t like going by Harriet much,” I said.
“What about your middle name?” Ron asked, causing John to dissolve into giggles. “What?”
“He’s laughing because my middle name is Rose of Sharon,” I said. “I don’t like that one much either.”
