Jupiter | Harry James Potter

iii ; the portkey

"Accio! Accio! Accio!" She shouted, and toffees zoomed from all sorts of unlikely places, including the lining of George's jacket and the turn-ups of Fred's jeans.

"We spent six months developing those!" Fred shouted at his mother as she threw the toffees away.

"Oh, what a fine way to spend six months!" She shrieked. "No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s!"

"Well, have a lovely time." Mrs. Weasley said as we walked out of the Burrow with our heavy backpacks and dragging feet. "And behave yourselves!" She called after the twins' retreating backs, but they did not look back or answer. "I'll send Bill, Charlie, and Percy along around midday." Mrs. Weasley said to Mr. Weasley, as he, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and I set off across the dark yard after Fred and George.

The air held a chill, with the moon lingering in the sky. A faint, greenish hue on the horizon hinted at the impending dawn, gradually approaching to our right.

"Ron, where are we going?" Harry asked after what felt like twenty minutes of walking through the woods.

"Dunno." Ron shrugged, then called out to his dad, "Dad! Where are we going?"

"Haven't the foggiest!" Mr. Weasley yelled from the front of the group cheerily. "Keep up!"

"Arthur!" A loud voice yelled. "It's about time, son!" Two tall figures were silhouetted against the starry sky on the other side of the hilltop.

"Sorry, Amos! Some of us had a bit of a sleepy start!" Mr. Weasley said, smiling as he strode over to the man who had shouted. The rest of us followed.

Mr. Weasley was shaking hands with a ruddy-faced wizard with a scrubby brown beard.

"This is Amos Diggory, everyone." Mr. Weasley announced. "He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?"

I definitely knew Cedric Diggory. Cedric Diggory was an extremely handsome sixth year. He was Captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff House Quidditch team at Hogwarts, and he didn't make an attempt in hiding his interest in me. I didn't mind.

"Hi," said Cedric, looking around at us.
Everybody said 'hi' back except Fred and George, who merely nodded. They had never quite forgiven Cedric for beating Gryffindor in the first Quidditch match of the previous year.

"Merlin's beard!" Amos Diggory gasped as we continued to walk through the forest. He stopped next to Harry. "You must be Harry Potter!"

"Jupiter Lestrange, right?" Cedric asked as he casually fell in next to me amidst the group.

"Black, actually. And you can call me Jove." I said, looking up at him. His eyes widened a bit, but he showed no sign of freaking out like a few of the kids last year whenever I corrected them.

"Black?" He asked hesitantly. "Like Si-"

"My dad." I smiled.

He paused for a moment as he processed it. "Alright. Nice to finally get to talk to you, Jove Black."

"You know, you could've just said more than 'hi' to me last year." I laughed softly. I was trying to seem as smooth as possible, but I knew I was probably coming off as embarrassing and flustered.

"Believe me, I tried." Cedric sighed. "Every time I was going to talk to you, I'd get a death glare from Potter. Looked like he was about to hex me."

"You're joking." I muttered, my mouth open in disbelief.

"I'm not." Cedric laughed. "I reckon it's just because he's a protective friend, right? That's all?"

"Yeah, we're just friends." I said quickly. I had been pining over Harry for years. It wouldn't hurt to move on, and it definitely wouldn't hurt to move on with Cedric Diggory.