All Things Warm (Fred Weasley)

i

"Come on Neville! We cannot miss the train!" Jennifer Longbottom sighed at her brother, gently pushing her cart again his achilles prompting him to speed up as they maneuvered through Kings Cross station. As the wall between platforms nine and ten came into view, the siblings picked up speed, going from a brisk walk to a slight run, passing seamlessly through. A bright smile appeared on Jennifer's face she left dreary London behind and the vividness of platform nine and three quarters surrounded her. The farewells if teary-eyed parents as they sent their children off to school, the screeches of owls, the hum of the Hogwarts express. She stood there for a moment, drinking it all in. Jennifer passed through the platform, she greeting friends and nervous first years with a glistening smile. Slowly making her way onto the train, after making sure both her and her brother's things made it to the appropriate compartment; her small white cat Tink following closely behind her.

Joy overcame the eldest Longbottom child as she was tackled in a hug by Angelina Johnson, her best friend since first year, "Jen! Oh I've missed you so much!" The Gryffindor chuckled, releasing Jenny from her grip.

Jennifer pushed a piece of light brown hair that had fallen over her eyes away, a small laugh escaping her lips, "I missed you too Ang. How was your summer?"

The two girl slid into a nearby compartment, as they recounted their summers.

"It was brilliant, I went to America for a bit. I had tickets for the quidditch World Cup, I was supposed to go with my dad, but he ended up having to work, we ended up giving the tickets to the Diggorys. I read all about it in The Daily Prophet, the Irish came out on top after a really intense game" Angelina frowned for a fleeting moment, "although I heard some dodgy stuff went down, supporters of 'You-know-who' showed up." The two girls shivered at the thought, both remembering the first wizarding war. Jennifer thought about her parents who still remained at St Mungos to this day.

Jennifer didn't like thinking about her parents, lying there day after day. She missed them terribly. Her thoughts then shifted to Neville, he had never really known Frank and Alice Longbottom. It hurt Jennifer's heart that Neville would never know how much they truly love him, but she always did her best to let him know.

Jennifer was pulled away from her thoughts as a heavy arm landed on her shoulders. She quickly turned to see Cedric Diggory had joined them. Jennifer squealed with glee latching her arms around her friend, "Cedric!" The boy let out a chuckle, wrapping his arms around the girl.

"I missed you Jen." He smiled.

From across the compartment, Angelina gagged, "Would you to just date already!" She exclaimed throwing her arms into the air, softly letting them come back down and hit the table.

The two Hufflepuffs scooter away from each other, "Ew! Ang he's like my brother!" Jennifer scoffed, soon after a smirk formed on her face, "besides," she said with a raised eyebrow, "he fancies Cho Chang."

The two girls laughed as Cedric's face turned a bright red. He stood up abruptly, "I do not appreciate this kind of harassment, besides we should change. I can see Hogwarts."

~~~~~

The carriage ride to Hogwarts was the same as it has been since her fourth year, when Neville, who at the time was in his second year could finally ride the carriage with her.

Like clockwork, the siblings always sat by themselves, talking about god knows what as they headed up to the school. Every year, Jennifer Longbottom would also give the same speech to her little brother that if anyone so much as looked at him the wrong way, she would hex them into the next century, and if Jennifer Longbottom was anything, she was a witch of her word.