All Things Warm (Fred Weasley)

ii

The next morning had been utterly hectic. Jennifer had overslept, so when she had finally rolled out of bed, she really only had time to throw her robes on, and brush her hair. She rushed into the great hall to see Cedric, Wren, and LeAnne laughing at her disheveled appearance. She frowned before sitting down next to them.

Wren and LeAnne had been Jennifer's roommates since first year. Since then the three of them had formed a sisterly bond of some sorts. Cedric joined their little group shortly after despite the fact that he was teased for hanging out with first years when he was a second year.

"None of you woke me up!" Jennifer whined gently hitting her hands down on the table, only causing her friends to chuckle harder.

"I don't fancy getting cursed trying to walk up those bloody stairs!" Cedric defended, "besides, you're a bloody prefect! Be more responsible."

"He's got a point you know," Wren hummed, pushing a piece of raven-colored hair away from her deep brown eyes. Jennifer scoffed, taking an overly aggressive bite out of her blueberry muffin to show her friends that she was annoyed.

"I would have woken you up, but I forgot." LeAnne sighed, her long blonde hair was tied neatly into a ponytail. Jennifer laughed and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder who seemed to have felt bad about the whole situation.

"It's okay LeAnne, no harm done. But you guys are gonna have to deal with my smelly breath for the day." Jennifer exclaimed, her friends let out a groan.

The four of them sat talking about their summers. Time seemed to fly by because pretty soon after, Professor Sprout was there, handing each of them a schedule.

Jennifer picked hers up and read it over, "N.E.W.T. level potions, transfiguration, charms, herbology, and defense. What about you guys?"

"You're taking all N.E.W.T classes?" Cedric asked, "Good luck." He chuckled.

"I have herbology with you," LeAnne replies as she absent mindedly flipped through her schedule.

"Transfiguration." Wren mumbled as she grumpily folded her schedule, "My god why did I choose to take arithmancy!" She groaned.

The four friends laughed before going their separate ways. Jennifer had potions first, that being so, she meandered her way down to the dungeons.

The looked around the classroom, it seemed as if she had this class with the Gryffindors. Her eyes quickly scanned the room and found Angelina. The girl quickly caught Jennifer's gaze and happily waved her over.

Jeniffer skipper over to her best friends and plopped down next to her, "Hey Ang!" Jennifer smiled, her eyes finding the black chalkboard. She quickly pulled out her text book and previewed the today's lesson. Jennifer wanted to be prepared for when class started.

"Morning Jen," Angelina replied, chuckling at her friends, "are you sure you're meant to be in Hufflepuff? Sometimes I swear you act like a Ravenclaw."

Jennifer playfully rolled her eyes and glanced up at the other Hufflepuffs in the room, "No, no. The hat was right. They're my people. I may not know all of them to the fullest extent, but I know if asked, I'd defend every single one of them in a heartbeat."

"Spoken like a true Hufflepuff," a new voice joined the conversation. The two girls whipped around to see none other than Fred and George Weasley wiping fake tears from their eyes.

"Watch it Weasleys." Jennifer warned, "Remember when I managed to scare the poltergeist? Keep playing and you'll be next." A wild smirk formed on her face. She watched George's face loose all trace of color, Angelina stifled a laugh. "Don't get your knickers in a twist Georgie, I was only playing." She said ruffling his hair a bit. The twin in question relaxed a little, but his counterpart was feeling particularly mischievous that chilly morning.

"She wouldn't have done it anyway," Fred started laughing a little, "Little Jenny Longbottom-" Fred wasn't even able to finish the sentence before Jennifer had cast a strikingly fierce bat bogey hex on him without lifting a finger.

The listener proudly as the entire class erupted with laughter.

"Bloody hell Longbottom, I'm sorry. Will you please cut it out!" Fred cried in between violent sneezes.

"It's snot my problem Freddie." She replied, earning a high five from Angelina and George who were still hysterically laughing.

"Don't you dare use bogey puns on me!"

Jennifer wiped a tear that formed on her face from her laughter and quickly cured him of the hex.

"That was bloody brilliant." Fred huffed returning to his seat, "Don't let it boost your ego too much love. I will get you back." He said with a wink.

They all stifled their childish humor just in time for Snape to slither into the classroom.

Jennifer's shoulders sagged a bit, she didn't want the fun to end; but with a heavy sigh she picked up he quill and took notes on the lecture.

"Today you will be creating the draft of the living dead as your baseline assessment for the year." Snape announced, he seemed more uninterested than usual, "Use your books, you have till the end of class. Begin."

Jennifer sighed, grabbing her ingredients. Although she began to struggle when it came to adding the sopophourus bean juice to her potion. She sat for several minutes trying to cut it to no avail. She stared at the best curiously. Once more she picked up her knife, this time turning the blade on its side. She crushed the bean, to which she was able to get more juice from it. Jennifer silently let out a cheer of success. She stirred her potion seven times anti-clockwise before her hand shot up, signaling Snape to come review her work.

Without a word, Snape made his way over. He dropped a small leaf in the pale purple potions, she hid her smile as it shriveled up.

"Nearly perfect Ms. Longbottom. It's a shame you weren't put in Slytherin. I could use more competent students. 10 points Hufflepuff."

After that day, the week seemed to fly by pretty quickly. Jennifer spent most of the days either spending time with Neville and her friends, or studying. However when the lights went out and everyone else was in bed, Jennifer stayed up, trying to find answers to three seemingly impossible questions.