"Ugh, what a bitch!" Mr. Potter whispered after they started to make their way through the train station.
Mrs. Potter smacked him on the arm, gesturing over at James and Jenna knowingly, as though silently telling her husband that he shouldn't curse in front of the kids.
"What? It's true!" Mr. Potter threw his hands up defensively.
"Poor kid," Mrs. Potter muttered to herself pitifully. "James, had he told you about the way his mother was?"
"I knew his parents were really disappointed that he didn't end up in Slytherin," said James in a quiet tone. "I just had no idea it was this bad."
"If this is how she treats him in public and in front of his friends, I can't even imagine what the poor boy has to go through at home," said Mr. Potter.
"Maybe we can kidnap him and keep him as a part of our family," James suggested hopefully.
"I can't tell if you're jokingly or not," said Jenna, sending him a worried look.
"Why not?" James shrugged with a grin. "He'll be happy to come live with us. Trust me."
"James, he's not a dog! We can't just keep him!" Mrs. Potter shook her head at him. "But maybe we should have a strict conversation with his mother the next time we see her and talk about her parenting methods. Somewhere more private next time, where we can freely use our wands and curse her arse off if necessary."
James and Jenna laughed at the thought, but they still felt bad for Sirius. As it turned out, he hadn't been exaggerating when he'd told them about how horrible his parents were; it was an understatement, if anything.
When the Potters finally reached the brick wall between platform nine and ten, the twins took turns to run toward it with their trollies, vanishing out of sight the next moment. Their parents were glad that the two had matured a bit since last year and didn't fight about who got to go through first.
Once Jenna passed the wall and slowed her pace down, she looked around at platform 9 3/4, a smile brewing on her lips. She could already see the familiar faces of the old students and a few new ones that were going to start their first year at Hogwarts.
"Goodbye, you two," said Mrs. Potter. "You better get going soon, or all the compartments will get full."
"We'll miss you," said Jenna, hugging her mother.
"I'll miss you too, my little girl." Mrs. Potter smiled, embracing her.
"Hey! What about me?" Fleamont raised a brow at her, making them chuckle.
"We'll miss you too, Dad," said James, grinning.
"Oh, before I forget —" Mrs. Potter dug into her handbag and handed James a fancy little bottle. "This is your father's hair potion. Please use it."
"I like my hair the way it is, Mum," James said stubbornly.
"I'm not saying it's not good, but if you could just make it a bit neater..." She then tried running a hand through his jet-black hair to tidy it, but James ducked out of her reach.
"We better get going now," said James, and Mrs. Potter chuckled.
"All right. Take care," she said kindly.
"And good luck on the Quidditch tryouts." Mr. Potter winked at them, already feeling proud of his kids. "Don't forget to write to us if you get on the team."
"I will," James and Jenna said at the same time. They sent each other a look, already feeling competitive.
After hugging their parents goodbye one last time, James took the bottle of potion from his mother before the two of them walked onto the train.
"There's no way I'm using this," said James, pocketing the bottle. But his attention was then caught when he sighted Sirius again, walking down the train's corridor along with his younger brother.
"Sirius!" James called out, getting his attention.
Sirius glanced at James and Jenna before looking back at his brother, saying, "You go find yourself a seat, okay?" The little boy nodded before walking off.
Sirius then walked toward James and Jenna, looking down at his feet awkwardly. "Look, about what happened at the station —"
"Don't worry about it, mate," said James, sending him a little grin. "But you are coming to our Christmas Ball. I don't care what your mum says."
Sirius smirked, trying to act unbothered by what had happened minutes ago. "I'll find a way."
"Anyway," Jenna started, "I better go and find my friends."
"Oh... you're not sitting with us, then?" said Sirius, his smirk disappearing once again.
Jenna shook her head, though she smiled at him. "I'll see you guys later." And so with a little wave, she left their side in search for her friends.
Glancing into each compartment for a quick second to see if she could find Lily, Alice, or Marlene, Jenna carried her trunk away, until she finally sighted all three of them.
Pushing the compartment door open, Jenna entered with a big smile on her face. "Hello!"
"Oh, Jen! Hi!" Lily shot to her feet, springing forward to hug her tightly. Jenna laughed, hugging her back before greeting Alice and Marlene next.
"How was your summer?" Jenna asked them after they all helped her place her trunk above their seat.
"Brilliant!" said Alice, giggling. "My dad took us all fishing. It was so funny! My uncle fell off the boat and into the lake. I got really scared at first, but he was all right."
"Sounds like you had a fun time." Lily chuckled. "We went on a small vacation, too. We stayed at a family's house for a week. But there wasn't much to do, so I took a head-start on Potions and read all the way through chapter eight."
"Ugh, who studies in summer? Blaargh!" Marlene shuddered at the thought, grimacing. "I didn't even touch a single book."
"Then... what about the essays that the professors gave us for summer, Mar?" Lily asked, but Marlene's eyes widened at those words in shock.
"WE HAD HOMEWORK?"