Summer 1976
Jade Potter reveled in her uniqueness, far from the shadow of her brother, and she wore her distinctiveness like a badge of honour.
James was tall and strong, which was useful since he was the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. His hair, dark as a raven's wing, never lay flat, while his hazel eyes twinkled with mischief.
Jade had inherited her grandmother's looks, sporting honey blonde locks and sparkling blue eyes.
Yet, that wasn't the sole reason she and James stood apart.
James, the heir of an affluent pureblood lineage, flaunted his association with muggleborns and half-bloods as if they were his equals. His behaviour mirrored that of his parents.
Jade, on the other hand, would rather walk over hot coals than be caught hovering anywhere near Lily Evans, much less harbouring any sort of fixation on her.
***
August 25th 1976
Jade was sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying her lunch, when suddenly an owl swooped through the open window. Clutched in its beak was a letter, and to Jade's surprise, it was addressed to her.
Hey Jade,
How are you?
Italy was great, I reckon I've gained a ton of weight, my grandmother doesn't stop cooking. My mother was already nagging at me to loose a few. She says I won't fit in dress robes if I'm not careful. How terrible.
Barty and Regulus are coming tomorrow, you should come too! Mother says you can stay until we go back to school. Send me a letter back as soon as you can. Please come. I can't spend another second with Evan.
Hugs and kisses,
Dora xx
“Mum, can I stay at the Rosier’s for the next few weeks? Dora just invited me," Jade asked.
"I imagine you would want to," Euphemia replied, "Considering Sirius, Peter, and Remus will be arriving tomorrow."
"Thanks,” Jade said.
She wrote a quick reply.
Dear Dora,
Absolutely, I'd love to stay at yours. Perfect timing too, as James's friends are coming tomorrow.
See you soon!
Love,
Jade xx
At that moment James came crashing in the door. “Hello Mum!” He chirped, a broad grin on his face.
“What have you been up to?” Euphemia eyed him suspiciously.
"Oh, it was nothing much; Marls and I were playing a game of Quidditch down in the orchard," James explained.
“You really should bring your sister next time,” Euphemia explained.
"Trust me, Mum, I wouldn't be caught dead with the likes of Marlene McKinnon," Jade said with a smirk.
James chuckled, "Oh, and your lot are amazing? Barty Crouch and Mark Zabini, the epitomes of kindness, right?"
“Who’s Mark Zabini?” Euphemia asked.
"That’s her boyf-“ James began, but Jade kicked him.
“Shut up, now!” Jade hissed.
"Okay!” James winked and bounded up the stairs.
“I’m going to go pack,” Jade said.
“Come back, what is James talking about?” Euphemia called after her. Jade ignored her. Stupid James.
She walked into his room. “If you tell mum about my boyfriend I might tell her about yours."
"You wouldn't dare!" James said smugly.
"You'd be surprised," she sneered. She made sure to slam the door on her way out.
She wouldn't actually, she was bluffing. Regulus told her about him and James in confidence. She would never betray his trust.
She wanted to send a letter, to Mark. He was her boyfriend. He was going into seventh year, he wouldn't be eighteen until next June so he wasn't much older than her, really. Dorcas said he was the definition of tall, dark and handsome. He was. Jade knew that everyone else thought so too. If she was honest, that was part of why she went out with him. Making other people jealous was one of her favourite things to do.
Mark had written a letter to Jade eight times over the summer. She'd replied, obviously. There was another letter in the owlery. It was from Mark.
She smiled reading it.
Dear Jade,
Hello! How are you? I miss you, so much.
How's your Summer so far? I was wondering if you maybe wanted to come stay at mine? My brother is gone to Cardiff to his friends. So my mum said I could invite someone over. Well reply whenever you want.
Your gorgeous boyfriend,
Mark.
She wrote back and told she missed him but she couldn't go to his because, she was going to the Rosier's. Jade hoped he wasn't to upset.
"Hello," James appeared at the to the owlery. "Who's that letter from?"
"Well wouldn't you like to know," Jade said. She quickly pushed past him and went to her room to pack.
***
Pandora came at quarter past nine the following morning, just before James's friends arrived.
She stumbled out of the fireplace. As she straightened herself up, she looked around. “So I’m here before James's entourage,” She grinned.
“Thank god you are!” Jade laughed and hugged her. “Evans and MacDonald are staying at the McKinnon's.”
Jade heard the door open. She could hear people talking, “We should probably go say something to them before we go,” Jade said.
The kitchen was packed, it seemed Jade had been right in thinking that all of James friends would be there. Marlene was there, so were Mary and Lily, of course Remus and Peter were there. Thank god Sirius wasn't here yet. Although Jade considered Regulus one of her best friends she detested Sirius.
"Hello Pandora! How are you?" Euphemia asked as they entered.
"Oh, I'm fine, thanks, Mrs. Potter," Pandora smiled.
"Sit down, I'll make you a cup of tea," Euphemia said, pulling out a chair. Pandora thanked her and sat down next to Marlene. Euphemia began making tea for all of them.
Jade sat down between Peter and Remus. She sort of liked Peter. "Hello Jade," Peter smiled at her.
"Hello Peter, how are you?" Jade asked politely, though she really didn't care.
"I'm great actually, I love staying here. It's a nice break from London, you know?" He replied.
She found Peter quite easy to talk to. Suddenly, she heard a knock at the door. James got up to answer it. "Sirius!?" she heard James exclaim in confusion. Mary went to greet him, while Lily rolled her eyes.
Pandora looked at Jade and gestured towards the sitting room.
"Bye everyone see you in September!" Jade said, hurriedly getting to her feet.
"Hello Jade!" Sirius had made his way to the kitchen. His arm was around Mary, Jade could see some of Mary's lipstick on his left cheek.
"Goodbye Sirius," Jade muttered under her breath.
"You were hardly going to leave without saying goodbye, I haven't seen you in ages! How are you?" he smirked accepting a cup of tea from Euphemia.
"Fine," Jade replied passing him off.
"Well we really better be leaving!" Pandora said.
"Yes we should, Bye everybody," Jade smiled.
Euphemia started a fire with her wand and bade them farewell. Jade went first, "Rosehill Manor!" She spoke loudly and clearly.
***
Jade stumbled out of the fireplace into a sophisticated sitting room. She saw two teenage boys, one with curly blonde hair and the other with straw-colored hair, engrossed in a game of chess.
"Get lost, Dora," Evan grumbled, waving her away without looking at her. Then he realized it was Jade and laughed. Both Barty and Evan got up to give her a hug.
Pandora appeared in the fire, "Right come on we'll throw your stuff in the guest room and then we can go to the beach!" She explained. They climbed the back stairs and threw her things in the guest room. Rosehill Manor was on a hill over looking a seaside town. Dorcas lived in the town, they were to meet her at the beach.
"Is Regulus coming?" Jade asked.
"I hope so, you know what his parents are like," Evan grinned.
They saw a muggle carnival on the way to the beach, "We have to go there when Regulus arrives," Barty said, looking excited.
They caught sight of Dorcas. She had laid out some towels on the sand, "Jade!" she smiled.
"Hiya!" Jade grinned hugging her. "I saw McKinnon today,"
"And why would I care?" Dorcas asked raising an eyebrow. "It's not like I'm full James Potter obsessed," They all burst out laughing.
They had so much fun at the beach. Having grown up by the sea, Evan was amazing at building sandcastles. Barty fell asleep sunbathing, so they decided to bury him.
When Barty woke up he burst out laughing, then dead seriously he looked up at them and said, "Help me out of this or I'll bite you."
"Yes please!" Evan grinned, Barty managed to wiggle out of the sand and chased Evan into the sea.
"Don't kill him Crouch!" Pandora giggled.
"Do kill him!" someone shouted. They all looked to see where the voice had come from. It was Regulus.
"Hey Reg," Jade said as he hugged her.
"Hi Jade, when did you get here?" He asked.
"About a half hour ago," She replied.
"So Sirius was at yours before you left," Regulus grinned.
"Sadly," Jade sighed.
They all swam out to where Evan and Barty were and started mucking about. Regulus refused to go any further than waist deep, "I can't swim!"
"Did I hear that correctly?" Dorcas laughed, "The heir to 'The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black' can't swim!"
"You do realise Barty and Evan are both heirs to their families as well?" Regulus said.
"Yeah but its not as fun teasing them!" Dorcas chuckled, ruffling his hair.
***
"Has anyone seem my cigs?" Barty yelled.
"When you find them throw me one, will you?" Jade said.
Once he'd found them they all sat there talking, laughing and smoking.
"Have you heard from Mark?" Dorcas asked, lying on her back, exhaling smoke.
"Got a letter from him yesterday, he invited me to his but I said I was coming here," Jade replied nonchalantly. "He says he misses me."
"Zabini is hot as fuck," Evan chimed in. "Not as hot as you though." he added, kissing Barty.
"Eugh, STOP!" Pandora snapped, throwing a towel over them.
"Hypocrite, we have to watch you and the Ravenclaw snog non-stop at school!" Evan grinned.
"Oh shut up you two!" Regulus said, he was reading.
Pandora rolled her eyes, "You should invite Mark to stay here for a night or two, mum wouldn't mind,"
"Really?" Jade asked.
"Well Evan would have to ask and say that Mark's his friend but, yeah she'd probably say yes," Pandora explained.
"I'll do that if you want," Evan said, Barty was laying across his chest. Jane thought they were such a cute couple when they weren't fighting over pointless nonsense.
They went back when the sun went down, Evan and Barty had gotten into a fight and broken up for the millionth time, so Evan volunteered to walk Dorcas back to her house.
Mrs. Rosier greeted them with a smile, she looked very formidable, but she was still a very pleasant woman.
When Evan came back he asked if he could invite 'his friend' Mark over, Mrs. Rosier agreed so Jade wrote to Mark inviting him over.
***
25th of August 1976
Mark arrived the following morning.
"Hiya gorgeous!" Mark said kissing her. "I've missed you so much." He was smiling from ear to ear.
"I missed you too," Jade grinned.
"Let's go to the fair!" Barty exclaimed excitedly. He was resting his head on Evan's lap, they had clearly made up.
"If these two ever get off each other," Pandora smirked, gesturing towards Jade and Mark.
They broke apart. "How come if we start snogging its disgusting but, when its in one of your books its romantic and cute?" Jade raised an eyebrow.
"You have her there Jade," Regulus sighed closing his book. "Right let's go to the fair. Anyone have muggle money?".
"I think we only have to get a pass at the entrance then we can do what we want," Pandora explained.
"Yea but we'll still need muggle money," Regulus repeated.
"Cas probably has some," Barty said getting to his feet.
Jade and Regulus went to go get Dorcas. "Jade?" Regulus was looking her in the eye, he looked sad.
"Yeah?" Jade looked back at him.
"Did James mention me at all over the summer?" Regulus asked.
"Well, I over heard him talking to McKinnon about you," James had asked Jade constantly if she had heard from Regulus. "So maybe he told her? If he told her he probably couldn't stop yapping about you!" She hoped James wasn't the reason Regulus was moping, what an unworthy cause.
It must've been, because he cheered up after that. Dorcas did in fact have some muggle money, so they brought a good bit in case they wanted to do anything besides the fair.
The fair had loads of different things, and Pandora it was only £5 per person then they could go on what ever ride they wanted. Barty was like an overly excitable five year old. It was quite funny actually. They went a ton of rides then bought burgers, and went on more rides.
"We have to go to the beach again tomorrow," Dorcas suggested, as they leaned against the back wall of a shop, smoking.
They made they're way home slowly, laughing at Barty and Evan who were fighting again.
***
28th of August 1976
That morning all of their Hogwarts letters came, Regulus and Jade were made prefects.
"Yes!" Barty cheered. "Now that you two are prefects we can get away with everything!"
Mark went home that morning, his mother wanted him home so they could go to Diagon Alley, but he told her that if they were in Diagon Alley tomorrow he'd be waiting for her at Fortescue's.
Evan and Barty were diligently tackling their summer assignments, while Regulus, ever the observer, was engrossed in a book, occasionally glancing up to survey the scene. Pandora and Jade were locked in an intense battle of wizards' chess, their concentration unwavering. The group remained like this for hours, that is, until Dorcas arrived and dragged them all to the beach.
"Why!" Evan yelled, Barty had trampled Evan's sandcastle. Barty was sniggering as Evan started chasing him with a plastic shovel.
"I bet you five galleons they'll break up and get back together twice in the next hour and a half," Jade whispered to Regulus.
"Your on," He muttered in response.
"Your so fucking annoying! Why the actual fuck am I still going out with you!" Evan bellowed.
"I was only having a laugh!" Barty called out. "If you hate me so much just dump me!"
"I will!" Evan was red with fury.
"Okay then!" Barty was clenching his fists so tight his knuckles were white.
Regulus was counting down from five under his breath.
Barty went into the water and so did Evan, they emerged holding hands.
"And that's one," Jade smirked.
Jade ended up losing the bet, "Fuck sake, yesterday they broke up like four times a minute why couldn't they do that today!" She said bitterly, handing Regulus his money.
"We should go to Diagon Alley tomorrow," Pandora suggested, "We need to get our books,"
***
29th of August 1976
"Right" Mrs. Rosier began, "I'm going to buy all your books and robes, you lot can go wherever you want as long as your in the Leaky Cauldron at half past three,"
"Okay Mother see you later!" Evan said.
"Let's go to Knockturn Alley," Regulus suggested.
"Isn't there like, Death Eaters in there?" Jade asked, raising an eyebrow.
"And?" Regulus raised one back.
"Well I sor-" she began, "Ugh!"
"What?" Regulus queried, looking around and finding the source of her annoyance. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were standing outside 'Quality Quidditch Supplies'. "Sirius!" they could her a girl shouting.
"MacDonald," Regulus said.
"Ugh!" Jade nearly shouted. She wanted to scream, Sirius bloody Black was everywhere!.
"Regulus! Jade!" Peter noticed them.
"Fuck sake," Jade muttered. Then she remembered what Mark said just before he left the Rosier's yesterday. "Bye Reg, good luck," she smirked and ran off to the ice cream parlour.
"Jade! You came!" Mark smirked looking up at her. "Want to get some ice cream?".
"No, let's go for a walk!" Jade smiled grabbing his hand.
"Hi Jade!" Peter was smiling happily, this was the second time he had said hello so she couldn't ignore him again.
"Hi Peter," she tried to smile.
"Jade!" Sirius turned to her, he had been whispering something to Mary, no doubt some form of insult towards Mark.
"Where's Reg?" Jade asked, James wasn't here she didn't have to be nice.
"Him and James went to the bathrooms." Mary smiled, Jade loathed her almost as much as Sirius, Perfect Macdonald, every boy in Gryffindor thought she was stunning, the Slytherin boys had different opinion.
"I wasn't talking to you MacDonald!" Jade snapped. ’Great,’ she thought, 'Reg was gone off snogging James somewhere.'
"No need to be rude Jade," Sirius smirked putting his arm around Mary.
"I think you'll find she can say whatever the fuck she wants Black," Mark sneered, he towered over Sirius.
"Not to my girlfriend she can't," Sirius was looking up at him, he didn't look scared at all.
"Your a disgrace to your family parading around with a filthy little mudblood like her," Mark declared, spitting at Mary's feet. Sirius had a face like thunder he drew his wand but Peter snatched it.
"Go snog your cousin you prejudiced, pureblood, prick!" Sirius snapped.
"Your one to talk, your mother didn't even have to change her last name when she married your father," Mark grunted.
"Last time I check your parents are first fucking cousins," Sirius smirked.
"If I were you Black I'd shut that filthy mouth of yours before I beat the shit out of you," Mark sneered.
"I'd like to see you try," Sirius leered.
"Don't you fucking dare," Jade hissed in Mark's ear. "You are not causing a scene in the middle of Diagon Alley, think of your parents reputation. What would you father think?"
"What's happening here?" Barty said. He had returned, with Evan in his wake. "Wow Black I didn't think you could stoop any lower. A Mudblood? Really? This one's not even good looking," He sighed.
"Shut up Crouch," Mary snapped.
"Go back your council flat MacDonald," Barty laughed.
"Pads come on, let's go find Moony," Peter chimed in.
"I'd tell you to run along back to your mummy, but she doesn't love you," Evan chuckled.
"Oh go fuck yourselves," Sirius said before he turned and left with Mary and Peter.
"You kiss you mudblood with that mouth?" Barty grinned, They all burst out laughing.