Through the Pages of Time: Joey’s Hogwarts Tale

After their conversation by the lake, Flami and Joey never found themselves alone together again. Whenever they crossed paths, it was always within a group, and even if their eyes met, Flami maintained an aloof demeanor. Joey sometimes wondered if the girl who had cried by the lake that day had been nothing more than a dream.

Joey wasted no time in sharing the truth about Peter's rat with the twins, and their reactions were instant and visceral.

"Wow—I've lived with this traitor for so many years!" Fred exclaimed, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"At least you didn't sleep with it and take a bath with it. Imagine poor Percy," Joey teased.

The three burst into laughter, already looking forward to the moment Percy discovered the truth.

With the school year nearing its end, Joey found herself watching Gryffindor's thrilling victory over Ravenclaw in Quidditch. However, the joy of the match was soon overshadowed by an overwhelming workload. The professors were piling on assignments relentlessly—Mr. Binns, in his ghostly confusion, even assigned the same essay twice.

Snape, meanwhile, remained in an unusually sour mood, but his focus had shifted entirely to his own Slytherin students. As long as Gryffindors weren't actively setting the classroom on fire, he barely acknowledged their existence.

Joey found herself taking advantage of this newfound indifference. During one potions lesson, she secretly swapped part of her concoction with one made by the twins and submitted it. Without even glancing at it, Snape declared, "P!" and with a flick of his wrist, the bottle was emptied.

Joey was ready to lunge at him, but Angelina held her back. Meanwhile, the twins' own potion received an "E."

"I hope that in a week, you incompetent little trolls can manage a fever potion that won't kill anyone," Snape sneered before dismissing the class. "Otherwise, you'll be spending the next year working here."

"He's targeting me!" Joey fumed at dinner. "I'm not the only one who struggles with Potions! That big oaf in Slytherin doesn't even know where a bezoar comes from, and he still got an A!"

Percy, who had been quietly listening, took a sip of pumpkin juice and interjected, "But he didn't use someone else's potion for his assignment. It's not about talent—it's about integrity."

"Oh, please, anyone who bathes with a rat has no right to lecture me!" Joey shot back.

Percy turned crimson, coughing in embarrassment.

"Did you tell him?" Joey whispered to Fred.

"We couldn't help it," Fred muttered back.

Percy, catching their guilty expressions, turned red-eyed and stormed away, leaving Joey and the twins laughing at his expense. However, their triumph was short-lived—their lack of studying had finally caught up with them. As they sat in the library staring at pristine, untouched textbooks, the realization hit hard. They had spent their theoretical class hours experimenting with joke objects instead of taking notes.

"Ryan was the top first-year student," Fred suggested. "Go get his notes."

Joey bared her teeth in frustration. "I already tried! He said he'd lend them to me only if I cleaned his bedroom all summer! As if! I barely clean my own! I'd rather fail every exam!"

"Well, that's unfortunate," Fred sighed.

At that moment, Cedric Diggory appeared beside them, balancing a stack of books. "You all look troubled. What's wrong?"

Joey gestured dramatically. "We're discussing our impending doom."

After she explained their predicament, Cedric nodded thoughtfully. Then, without hesitation, he handed her several sheets of parchment. "These are my review notes for every subject. If you need them, you can copy them."

"You are a saint!" Joey beamed, clutching the notes like treasure.

Even the normally indifferent twins couldn't suppress their smiles. Fred, however, still seemed hesitant about using a copying spell on Cedric's notes.

"Come on, Fred," George nudged him. "Just a little copying spell!"

Cedric chuckled. "I was worried I'd have to use replication ink, but a second-year spell should do just fine. Weasley, you're brilliant."

Fred, embarrassed but pleased, muttered, "It's just for copying homework… But it's amazing that you summarized so much. You're like a Huffelpuff genius."

Joey shoved the parchment toward Fred. "Stop complimenting each other and copy!"

Later, when Joey took the notes back to the dormitory, Angelina was so impressed that she declared Cedric her new idol.

"He's smart, kind, organized, and good-looking! I'm obsessed!" she gushed, kissing the parchment.

"Two days ago, Charlie Weasley was your idol. Women are so fickle," Joey teased, snatching the parchment away.

"Charlie will still be my idol after exams. You wouldn't understand," Angelina said with an air of wisdom. "You're just a child."

"Oh, sure, my 'mature' sister who's three and a half months older than me," Joey retorted, rolling her eyes.

Despite Cedric's notes, Joey still found herself struggling. After the last exam, she collapsed onto the Great Hall's dining table, lamenting, "Why do we even need to analyze the meaning of goblin wars? Let the goblins figure it out themselves!"

Her grumbling only earned her exasperation from Angelina. "Maybe if you spent less time playing and more time studying, you wouldn't be suffering."

Joey, undeterred, spent the night playing wizarding chess with house-elves until Angelina finally kicked her out of the dormitory to sleep in the common room.

When Cedric passed by after the exams, he casually asked, "Hey, Joey, how did your test go?"

Not wanting to admit she barely studied, she quickly stomped on Angelina's foot to silence her and clamped a hand over Fred's mouth. "The test was great! Your notes were life-saving! Cedric, you're my idol!"

Cedric, flustered, scratched his nose. "Oh, well… I did miss one question."

Joey grinned. "You're still handsome, smart, and kind. Let me hug all your good qualities!"

Fred and George made exaggerated gagging noises, but Joey ignored them and wrapped Cedric in a dramatic hug. His face turned red as he hurried back to the Huffelpuff table, only for his roommate to whisper, "Cedric, look at Ryan's face."

Cedric froze. Ryan… Joey's older brother. His blood ran cold. The embarrassment melted into dread.

Meanwhile, Joey happily munched on lamb chops, blissfully unaware of Cedric's predicament.

When the exam results came out, Joey was relieved—she had managed to pass everything, even Potions, though she suspected Snape had only given her an A out of sheer frustration. In response, she made it a point to greet him cheerfully at every opportunity. Snape, exasperated, promptly deducted five points for "excessive enthusiasm."

As they boarded the train home, Joey spotted Cedric and went in for another hug. This time, however, he politely pushed her away and fled.

"Does Cedric hate me?" she pondered aloud on the train ride home.

No one had an answer.