Nadine Longbottom - Harry Potter Fanfiction

13. Nadine's a Clairvoyant, Go Figure.

The days went by as quickly as they had come, leaving Nadine shocked at the quick passage of time. The Easter Holidays weren't exactly relaxing as such, for the third-years were neck deep into homework.

Her biggest concern apart from her own studies was, Neville. Her twin had taken so much stress upon himself that he couldn't sit still without panicking or knocking something over.

To say that the Gryffindor vs Slytherin final match was a blast would be an understatement. Thanks to the spectacular win by it's Quidditch team, Gryffindor had won the house cup for the third consecutive year.

The aftereffects of the victory had lasted for a more than a week. As June approached, so did the pressure of the nearing exams. Nadine wasn't the most smartest student that there was. The subjects that came naturally to her were Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts. In subjects other than that, she put a whole lot of efforts to get better.

The weather seemed like it was encouraging her to concentrate and prepare well for the exams. The cloudless blue sky was a peaceful scenery to look at and study. Warm breeze flew freely inside the common rooms, through the dormitory windows, creating a cozy atmosphere and taking away some of the stress that was a constant in the Gryffindor common room.

Talons, Nadine's owl, swooped inside her dormitory where she was revising the theory for transfiguring a bowl into a rabbit. It had two letters. One from Chloe and another from Gran. Chloe's letter was like her usual letters where she told Nadine about the exotic countries she was working in as a curse breaker, warned her not to work too hard to the point of exhaustion or sleep deprivation, which Nadine was sure was going to happen anyway. She also promised her that she would meet her very soon as she was coming back to Britain in a few days. Nadine was sure Neville must've received the same letter.

Gran's letter was next.

Dear Nadine,

Firstly, Congratulations on Gryffindor winning the house cup. You must be very happy with your house's victory. The weather is lovely here and has been kind on my aging body.

Now that your exams are approaching I want you to focus solely on studying and not get distracted by any other extracurricular activities. I expect you help and motivate your brother to study and work hard as you do. Hope your scores improve and are better than the previous year's.

See you soon,

Gran.

Nadine slapped her palms on her face, groaned and fell backwards in the bed. What else was she expecting? It wasn't like Gran didn't care for her grandchildren. She sure did in her own way. Though, the expectations piled on the twins made Nadine think how unfair it was to practice tough love on a child because he didn't get straight O's in exams and wasn't like how a Longbottom was supposed to be, according to Gran's standards and expect academic excellence from the other twin to compensate for former twins supposed incompetence.

And what was Nadine supposed to do? Fulfill those expectations. She was sure Neville's letter was comparatively longer than hers. That was always the case. With all that, Nadine was thankful that Neville didn't resent her. The reason being, she knew that her twin had the same quality that she sometimes liked and hated about herself; both twins were absolutely incapable of holding a grudge on anyone. Sure, they would be angry at the moment but the anger, sorrow, resentment would fizzle out quickly.

As Nadine's tired eyes began drooping, she wondered if the twins were just some sort of trophy children for Gran and if Frank and Alice Longbottom would've been the same for her, had they been alive? Her thriving and successful children, whose sole responsibility was to be the poster child of the Longbottom family.