Ten Reasons Quidditch is Overrated - James Potter

The End of Summer

The golden afternoon sunlight shone through a window in the side of a small apartment, illuminating a piece of parchment that lay across a table with a broken leg. A girl with long brown hair sat at the table, quill pen scritching away at a letter to her best friend.

Dear Dorcas,
Head Girl! Can you believe it? I thought for sure it would be Evans. I wonder who the Head Boy is. My money's on Lupin. Nutkin's not very involved in the student body, and Barker doesn't get high enough grades. But of course, it could be someone not already a prefect.

I have the badge on my desk in front of me, and every time I look at it, it makes me smile. What about you? I assume you've been made prefect - you're the logical choice, given Pearl's dreaminess and Willow's general air of irresponsibility. Don't tell them I said that.

I can't believe we're finally in our seventh year. Time flies so quickly. I remember I felt so guilty coming to Hogwarts as a first year - Jenna was only two, and my parents had just left us with Grandmother. It's hard to believe she's grown up so fast. Every time I see her, she looks so much bigger. I'm so glad for the telephone in Hogsmeade.

But enough of that. I'll see you soon in Diagon Alley in a few days, and we can properly catch up - there's a boy that I can't wait to tell you about.

Until then, try not to murder your family, and don't get into too much trouble.

Yours truly,
Anna

Anna stood with a sigh, stretching her back. Summer days were exhausting for her - she worked long hours each day, with shifts at a teahouse in the morning and a movie theater in the afternoon. But it was a small price to pay for little Jenna, who deserved nice clothes and pretty trinkets.

She would do hard labor every day for the rest of her life if it only meant her sister had everything she wanted.

"Supper!" called her grandmother, and Anna started from her thoughts, making her way into their main room.

It was a combination of kitchen, living room, and dining room, all shoved into twenty square feet. Their apartment was small, but still, they were luckier than some. They had two bedrooms, at least, and the part of London they lived in was not awful.

Little Jenna was setting the table as Anna entered, hair mussed and shirt askew, the dirt stains on her knees unwashable even after many attempts. Her hands and face were clean, but Anna knew that was only after a severe scrubbing from their grandmother. She simply smiled, going over to fix Jenna's hair. She managed to do something, at least, before the nine-year-old swatted her hands away.

"Anything I can do to help, Granny?" Anna asked.

"Bring out the potatoes, dear," Grandmother told her, patting her on the cheek.

They gathered around the supper table, the three women who were so separate in the day coming together at the mealtime, sharing stories and smiling and loving. Anna loved Hogwarts with all her heart, but it broke every time she had to leave this little family, and she dreaded and anticipated in equal measures the end of summer. The phone calls every Hogsmeade weekend were all that she had, but they weren't enough.

But this would be her last year away, and soon she'd get a job at the ministry and be able to support her sister and grandmother.

Soon.

─── ⊹⊱✿⊰⊹ ───

Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream shop was as busy as always, but Dorcas and Anna had managed to grab a table outside just at the right time, and there they sat, eating their sundaes - earl gray, lavender, and elderflower with pomegranate sauce for Anna, raspberry banana, strawberry peanut, and something blue with chocolate sauce for Dorcas - and, of course, catching up on the things that were too juicy to write in letters.