You can hinder me, but you'll never stop me

The Party

Okay, so. Not that James and Lily wanted to admit it, but they were panicking. The party was to start in not even an hour and Jennifer was still missing. James had naively thought that she would come back, but she was just gone, as if she'd disappeared of the face of the earth.

After informing Albus, the man had whipped up an unenthusiastic crowd to find her without alerting the ministry. After hours upon hours of searching, there was nothing to be found. The only one who hadn't been back to report was Snape, the slimy git. The man had sneered and made quips about 'not being a good parent'. Honestly, what did he know? He didn't understand the struggle of raising two children! Especially when one was destined to save the entirety of wizarding kind.

Honestly, when he looked at Lily, fury rose once more. His beautiful, kind intelligent wife was now a nervous wreck. And all because Jennifer suddenly didn't follow the rules anymore and then ran to avoid the consequences. With the cowardly behavior James wondered how she'd ended up in Gryffindor.

He attempted to straighten his tie only to fail. Lily usually tied it for him, but he had a feeling that now was not the time to ask.

He just hopes she'll be back on time. He didn't want to lose custody of her again.

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Severus was practically gleeful.

Jennifer had ran away again after being yelled at by Lily and James. He was very proud of her to not take something like that. But he was even more proud of the letter she wrote him, letting him know she was okay. He'd responded eagerly to her letter and assured her that if she wanted, the guest bedroom was free for her, along with his floo address and password.

He received no answer, but when he woke up that morning and checked the spare room, one sleeping teenager had taken residence among the sea of blankets. He took a small amount of pride in the fact that she was comfortable enough to just come stay with him. That was a big step for her and to have taken the offer meant a lot to him.

(He did have to admit that the hair shocked him a bit though. But alas, it was her hair. He really didn't understand what the big deal was to Lily. It grows back, doesn't it?)

She surprised him when she put up no fight to attending her parents party. She'd just nodded her head and went back to her cereal after asking when they'd leave.

Now, while waiting for the fifteen minutes before they left to pass, Severus was really wondering what James and Lily thought was so inappropriate about the girls clothes. Her dress pants formfitting and black, tucked neatly into boots with a small heel to it. They give her a bit of height, making her slightly taller as most of her peers. And the buttoned jacked, lined with gold and widening at the end of the sleeves, her hands covered by black leather gloves. With the height of the collar, only her head was not hidden from the eye. Make-up was expertly applied to highlight her features, sharpen her jaw and make her eyes a striking sight. The only thing Severus was slightly worried about the marriage proposals she would certainly receive by the end of the night. The girl would be the bane of any vain men and women present.

While her clothes did not match his classic black dress robes with it's silver lining, he doubted that they would not be mistaken for father and daughter with a small wardrobe malfunction. He smirked at the thought of Draco seeing her like this. How the boy had managed to fall for the one girl who would not hesitate to put him in the hospital wing was beyond him. But the fact that the boy was tripping over his feet whenever she was near was amusing enough. He wondered if he could rope Minervea into helping him get those two together. Possibly. She was always down for drama and a Malfoy with a Potter? He honestly was a bit frightened of the fallout of something like that.

"It's time."

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Truth be told, Neville wasn't all that surprised when Jay wasn't there when the party begun. His grandmother had gone looking for her yesterday, after all.

It was fun looking at the older Potters trying to explain away their wayward daughter. At least they thought about a cover story, despite not really bringing it convincingly, "Oh, she was just staying with a friend for the night and must have forgotten the time!" Followed by the world's most uncomfortable laugh. Seriously, he could lie more convincingly. Granted, he did have lessons from Jay in how to lie with a smile on your face, while she called it a lesson in 'diplomacy'. When he called her out on it, she shrugged and said they were basically the same things.

His attention was drawn away from the Potters to a stunning girl in a blue dress, with hair so white he wondered if there was any color to it at all and all sorts of strange necklaces and braces. She'd arrived together with the Weasleys, as a friend for Ginny to spent the evening with. He didn't think he had ever seen anyone as beautiful as her. He believed Luna was her name.

Suddenly, everyone's attention was drawn to one point. Neville snorted. Jay had arrived.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

All in all, the night wasn't that terrible, Jay decided. She got to dance with a lot of people, boys and girls, got a lot of marriage proposals from influential families which shocked and silenced her mother further. And people mistook her for Severus's daughter at first, which was strange. She didn't look that differently from the other Potters. Sure, they all wore the most garish red robes (or in her mother's case a dress) and she was in full black with gold lines, but come on! Everyone acted like they'd never met her before.

Her dance with Malfoy junior was certainly strange. Most partners would at least look at her during the dance. Perhaps he was just warm like the other's she's danced with. Everyone she danced with had a faint blush on their cheeks, but his was most definitely the worst. If it were anyone else she would have offered to go outside for a moment, but with the way Malfoy senior was looking at her, she wasn't about to leave the safety of the crowd of people.

By the end of the night she was exhausted.

Lily and James were too pleased with all the marriage proposals to scream at her. Either that, or too tired. She bid Severus a good night and went back into the night, once more becoming one with the shadows.