Being Different Year 6

By the time that Harry and Anne got home it was eleven o’clock, Anne left Harry in the kitchen to explain everything to the others whilst Anne headed up to her bedroom.

She got some supplies out of the bathroom cupboard whilst she brushed her teeth, attached a pad to pair of pants, and pulled on a pair of clean pyjamas before collapsing onto the bed and giving into to the inevitable week of hell she was about to have to go through.

She tried to get some sleep but the regular nightmares featuring tonight one with Greyback followed by another where Voldemort killed all her friends and family right in front of her, she knew that it was pointless even trying to sleep.

She got out her book and finished the story of Merlin and Morgana. She checked her clock as she finished the book and saw that it was half past five in the morning, she put the book back away on the shelf and went to pick another book to read eventually deciding to read the book Irwin had bought her on the prophetess Cassandra.

Before she opened her book however she went through to the bathroom to get herself a glass of water so that she could do her daily water show as Harry called it.

She started off by manipulating the water into different shapes as usual before trying something else.

She double checked her watch and saw that it was still early, if she could do this with water what else could she do, she checked out the window and saw that the sun was starting to rise but it was still early so there was no one out yet.

She quickly pulled on a jumper and a pair of jeans and redid her hair before rushing out of the house to the park opposite, leaving a note for Remus explaining where she had gone in case he panicked.

The park was empty but there were a few stray leaves on the ground, she didn’t want to disturb the leaves on the trees because that would be too obvious if there were bare trees in the middle of July.

“Ok here goes,” she muttered closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

She felt her power surge through her a blast of wind breeze past her.

She used her hands to control the wind and the loose leaves danced her in the breeze, she played with the leaves for a bit before turning to head back inside the house.

As she turned around, she found Remus standing in the doorway to the house holding Teddy, he was beaming wildly and had clearly been watching her for quite a while.

“Keep this up and you might give Dumbledore a run for his money,” chuckled Remus putting an arm around her waist as they headed back into the house.

“I’m not that good,” muttered Anne blushing and staring at her shoes.

“I’m sorry what other fifteen-year-old witches can control the elements, let alone without a wand!”

Anne blushed again as she went down for breakfast.

“So what did you think of old Sluggy?” asked Sirius.

“He was kind of creepy,” muttered Anne.

“And when she says kind of, she means super creepy, not like Umbridge or Quirrell creepy but you know just weird.”

“Yeah he is a bit weird,” nodded Sirius.

“So, Snapes going to be teaching Defence this year?” asked Julian as he spread marmalade on his toast.

“Kreacher does not like Professor Snape,” muttered Kreacher, “he never stays for dinner, Kreacher does not like him.”

“I think he’s just a greasy git,” muttered Tonks as she breast fed Teddy.

“He does need to wash his hair,” agreed Sirius.

“Whether he has greasy hair or not is beside the point,” interjected Remus, “what matters is that he is a good teacher, and that for once the students will get a competent Defence teacher.”

“I am deeply offended by that!” said Sirius, “I was an excellent teacher!”

“You aside Sirius the teachers have been terrible the last five years. You have got to admit, Severus does know his hexes from his jinxes.”

“He should do,” muttered Sirius darkly, “he invented half of them!”

“Why have you always had a problem with Snape?” asked Anne as she picked at her fruit.

“I don’t have a problem with Snivelus,” Sirius started.

The whole table glared at him.

“Look he’s just a creepy git ok?”

“So, no real reason?” asked Harry.

“Are you ok sweetheart?” asked Remus looking at her concernedly across the table.

Anne was looking slightly pale and very tired and had only picked at her breakfast.

“I’m fine,” she muttered, getting up from the table, her period had started last night.

“Code red,” Harry staged whispered snickering.

“What did I say last night?” glared Remus.

“That was only a rule about the dinner table,” pointed out Julian, “nothing about breakfast or lunch.”

“For Merlin’s sake!” muttered Remus hiding his head in his hands.

“If you ever have a sister,” said Tonks talking to Teddy, “you are going to be a much nicer brother than these two.”

“Annie,” said Remus knocking on Anne’s door, “do you want to just be left alone?”

“Obviously!” she yelled.

“Ok,” he muttered, nodding his head before heading back downstairs.

Anne curled up under her duvet pulling her knees up to her chest and read her book by the wand light. She was joined by her kneazle Diana who settled in next to her under the duvet.

“Anne!” Harry called excitedly, “Anne get down here!!”

Anne ignored him, for once she just wanted to be left alone.

“Anne!!” added Julian calling up the stairs, “this is really important!!”

“For the love of Merlin,” she muttered crawling out of bed and walking over to the top of the bannisters.

“What is it!” she yelled.

“OWL letters,” said Sirius beaming at her from five floor below showing her an envelope.

“Shit,” she muttered running down the stairs.

The whole family were beaming at her and Harry waiting for them to open their letters.

Anne sat down on the bottom stair and pulled her knees into her chest trying not to hyperventilate.

“It won’t be that bad,” Harry assured her.

Harry ripped open his letter as Sirius passed Anne hers.

Harry read his letter a serious expression on his face.

“How’d you do Harry?” asked Remus gently.

Harry’s face split into a huge grin.

“I passed,” Harry grinned.

Harry passed the letter to Remus.

“You’ve done more than pass Harry, you’ve done great, even got an outstanding in Defence,” said Tonks reading the list.

“Ha suck on that,” crowed Sirius, “Harry got an outstanding!” he said pumping his fist in the air.

“Just to point out I got four outstanding’s,” muttered Julian.

“Also Anne hasn’t opened hers yet,” added Tonks.

“Go on sweetheart, its not going to scream at you.”

Anne took a deep breath and ripped open the envelope.

A piece of parchment came out and she unfolded it.

ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS

Pass Grades:

Outstanding (O)

Exceeds Expectations (E)

Acceptable (A)

Fail Grades:

Poor (P)

Dreadful (D)

Troll (T)

ANNE LILY POTTER HAS ACHIEVED:

Astronomy: O

Care of Magical Creatures: O

Charms: O

Defence Against the Dark Arts: O

Divination: O

Herbology: O

History of Magic: O

Potions: O

Transfiguration: O

Anne stared at the piece of parchment in shock. She read it through three times, surely there must have been some mistake.

“How’d you do Kiddo?” asked Sirius nervously not wanting Anne to start screaming at people again.

Anne silently passed him the parchment.

“Fucking hell,” he stuttered looking at the parchment, “our kids a genius.”

Remus took the parchment from Harry and his eyes lit up with joy.

“Well done Anne,” he grinned, “knew you had it in you.”

“There’s been a mistake, right?” Anne stuttered.

“I doubt it,” said Harry looking at her results, “you’ve been studying for these exams since at least third year.”

“Hey Tonks, are these grades good enough to start the rights NEWTs for auror training?”

“You should be alright, we’ll have to write to Slughorn to check about the potions grade though,” she said scanning the parchment.

“Can I go around to the Weasleys, I want to celebrate with Ron.”

“Anything you want Prongslet,” beamed Sirius.

“And what does out wonderchild want to do today?” asked Julian.

“Go back to bed,” muttered Anne as she got up to go back to her bedroom.

Anne snuggled back under her duvet with Diana and her book on Cassandra, whilst she thought about which subjects, she wanted to continue for NEWTs. The main problem was which subjects to actually drop as she enjoyed all of them.

There was a knocking at the door.

“Diana, go check there’s no one annoying at the door,” said Anne.

Diana nodded slightly and hopped out of the bed to go and check the door where she started mewing happily, that usually meant it was Remus or Tonks instead of one of her annoying brothers or Sirius.

“Come in,” she called still staying underneath her duvet.

“According to that lot downstairs my auburn locked goddess is the most intelligent child in the world.”

Anne pulled her duvet down and found Irwin beaming at her.

“Irwin!!” she screamed throwing herself in for a hug.

“How’d you do?” she asked as Irwin hugged her.

“Not quite as good as you,” admitted Irwin, “six O’s and three E’s.”

“That’s still bloody amazing,” said Anne.

“Yeah but not a perfect score like you.”

“It’s not a competition Irwin,” she chuckled.

“Yes my wise goddess but if it was you would have won. So which subjects are you dropping?”

“I don’t know,” Anne muttered.

“Well I definitely want to keep Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures,” said Irwin.

“Obviously History of Magic,” Anne said thinking deeply.

Irwin got out a piece of parchment and started writing things down.

“Well I want to drop Astronomy and Transfiguration,” said Irwin writing that down.

“Do I actually have to drop any?” asked Anne.

“You want to take nine NEWT’s?” exclaimed Irwin, “are you mad?”

“Maybe I could drop Care of Magical Creatures,” she considered.

“So I take seven, and you take eight, and we have two years of hell,” groaned Irwin.

“It won’t be that bad,” Anne assured him.

“At least I’ll still get my favourite part of the day,” Irwin beamed, “making out with you in the Common Room before anyone else is awake.”

“Speaking of which,” he whispered drawing her in close again.

“Just remember code red,” Anne reminded him.

“We can have plenty of fun without you taking your jeans off,” Irwin muttered pulling her in for a deep kiss.

Once Anne and Irwin had kissed for a while, they headed downstairs to watch some Michael Palin, Remus had recorded Around the World in Eighty Days and Pole to Pole for them.

“Michael’s so nice,” murmured Anne as Michael Palin took a tour of Venice from a rubbish boat helping collect the bins.

“True,” muttered Irwin putting his arm around his waist, “but can Michael do this?”

He pulled Anne in for another kiss.

“No he can’t,” blushed Anne, “but you’re not supposed to interrupt Michael Palin!”

“Sorry,” said Irwin still beaming.

When they were about half way through the ten hours of Around the World in Eighty Days, Tonks came in to the sitting room to talk to them.

“Ok you wonderful geniuses, get your clothes on we’ve got people coming round.”

“We’ve already got our clothes on!” pointed out Irwin.

“And I thought there was an Order meeting tonight,” said Anne.

“Yes,” admitted Tonks, “but they’ll all be gone by eight o’clock, and then we are celebrating!”

“Why?” asked Anne and Irwin.

“Because you two,” said Sirius ruffling their hair, “as well as Harry and Ron have passed your OWLs so we’re having a huge party.”

“But its only four o’clock,” said Irwin confused.

“Yeah but we’ve got to set up,” pointed out Sirius, “you can watch the Palinster anytime, now scoot!”

“Could you two watch Teddy,” said Remus, “we need to set up for the party.”

“Yeah come on Teds,” said Irwin picking him up, “lets go do some reading.”

“I think he likes me,” said Irwin as they headed up the stairs, Teddys hair had just turned the exact same shade of red as Irwin’s.

“So what kind of books does our young Teddy like?”

“Well, he’s only three months old,” pointed out Anne, “so he doesn’t really mind what we read him as long as it’s in a calm voice.”

“We were reading about King Arthur the other day,” said Anne.

“Nah,” said Irwin, “you got any fairy tales?”

“Um,” said Anne browsing the shelves in the library next to her room, “we’ve got Beadle the Bard.”

“Classic,” said Irwin.

“Hans Christian Anderson, Brothers Grimm.”

“Brothers who?” asked Irwin.

“Grimm,” said Anne, “their stories are a bit gruesome.”

“Oh and Winnie the Pooh.”

“What?” asked Irwin picking up Winnie the Pooh.

“It’s a muggle children’s book about stuffed toys that come to life and have adventures.”

“Well that’s weird,” smirked Irwin.

“Oh, and Babbity Rabbity and the Cackling Stump isn’t weird?”

“Look Winnie the Pooh is cute,” said Anne firmly taking it off of the shelf and taking it through to her room.

She fetched Teddy’s favourite teddy bear from his nursery and then put Teddy’s basket down on her bed.

Anne and Irwin lay down on the bed next to Teddy and took it in turns to read to baby Teddy.

“Annie,” asked Irwin once they had finished the book, “you want to have kids?”

“What?” she stuttered, “I’m not even sixteen yet!”

“I meant in a few years,” Irwin chuckled.

“Well I don’t know, probably.”

“Would you want to have kids with me though?”

“Of course, I would,” Anne exclaimed, “I love you.”

Anne faltered for a moment.

“There’s one thing though,” she sighed.

“What?” asked Irwin propping himself up on his elbows.

“I can’t promise you anything,” she muttered.

“What do you mean?” he asked confused.

“I can’t settle down, get married, have kids until…”

“You defeat Tom?” he offered.

Anne nodded solemnly.

“Well then in that case if at some point in the future.”

“Once I’ve defeated Tom,” she interjected.

“Yes, once Tom’s dead.”

“And once we’ve graduated,” she added.

“Yes,” chuckled Irwin, “would you want to start a family with me?”

“I’ll have to think about it,” Anne said smiling slightly.

“Oh, come on!” said Irwin hitting her with a pillow.

“Irwin of course I love you,” she laughed.

“Good to know,” said Irwin slowly.

“Now stop trying to fight me with that pillow you’ll wake the baby,” said Anne checking on Teddy.

“Which is why you’ll make the best Mum in the world,” said Irwin kissing her on the head.

Anne and Irwin then read a book on Circe together laying down on Anne’s bed.

“Ok geniuses,” said Harry poking his head around the door not even bothering to knock, “dinner.”

“Have you ever heard of knocking?” asked Anne glaring at him.

“Yeah what if we hadn’t had any clothes on?” asked Irwin.

“Firstly, it’s you two, you always have your clothes on, you’re a pair of prides, secondly there’s a baby in here,” said Harry pointing towards Teddy who was still sleeping in his little basket.

“Now come on lovebirds, there are loads of people downstairs,” exclaimed Harry before leaving.

“Merlin,” Anne muttered, “can’t we just stay up here?”

“Nope,” grinned Irwin picking Teddy’s basket off the bed.

They headed down to the sitting room where there was a room full of people and huge banner hung up which said, ‘Congratulations Anne, Irwin, Harry and Ron.’

There was also a large buffet table full of food on one side of the room, all the Scamander’s and the whole Weasley family had been invited. Fleur had come with Bill and was wearing her new engagement ring.

“Well done Anne,” beamed Gwendoline pulling her in for a hug.

“Thanks,” Anne muttered nervously before going to get herself a sandwich and some crisps.

“Hey Annie,” said Irwin, “Harry’s going around to the Weasleys for a few days, do you want to finish Michael Palin tonight?”

“Irwin, there’s twenty-five people here, we can’t watch Michael Palin,” she whispered.

“We can once they’re gone!” he pointed out knowingly.

After everyone had eaten then the Weasleys and the Scamander’s went home, they took down all the decorations and put Michael Palin back on.

“Don’t stay up all night,” said Remus kissing Anne on the top of the head before going off to bed.

They were halfway through the first episode when Anne started to drop off on Irwin’s shoulder.

“Um Annie, did you sleep last night?”

“Er not really,” she muttered.

“Palin can wait till the morning,” said Irwin turning him off.

Anne and Irwin headed up to Anne’s room and pulled on their pyjamas.

Anne fell asleep almost instantly.

She was sitting on a sofa in the Ravenclaw Common Room, she and Irwin were having one of their pre-breakfast make out sessions as the sun slowly rose through the window.

“I love you Annie my beautiful goddess.”

“I love you too,” she beamed.

Anne closed her eyes and he pulled her in for another kiss, but then he wasn’t there.

“Irwin?” Anne called looking around the empty Common Room.

“Irwin!” she screamed.

“It’s too late,” said a teenaged version of Tom coming out from behind a bookcase.

“What?” she stuttered, “what have you done with him?”

Tom smirked at her and then stood aside. Irwin was sprawled on the floor, blood spurting out of his mouth, his eyes were completely blank.

“Irwin,” she yelled running over to his body and shaking it.

“Wake up!!” she screamed.

“Annie,” said Irwin “you’re ok,” he said gently.

“Irwin?” she asked confused.

“Right here Annie,” he soothed as he brushed a stray lock of hair away from face.

“Where are you going?” she panicked as Irwin got up.

“Just turning these on,” he said as he placed Anne’s battery-operated candles on her bedside table.

“You want to get some more sleep?” asked Irwin as he got back into bed and put his arm back around her.

“Hmmm,” she muttered drowsily settling into her pillows as Irwin pulled her in close.

“Irwin,” Remus whispered from the half open door, “I heard shouting, is she ok?”

“Yeah she’s fine,” said Irwin.

“Don’t need any dreamless sleep or anything?”

“No she’s fine look,” whispered Irwin.

Anne had fallen back asleep in his arms.

“How did he do that,” muttered Remus as he went back to bed. Remus had been struggling with Anne’s nightmares for years, but Irwin seemed to have figured it out.