CHAPTER SIX
On the second day of January, Jane said goodbye to Sarah and headed back to King's Cross with her parents.
"My friend, Remus, says that you can walk in too because you're with me. Do you want to?" Jane asked her parents excitedly.
Her dad looked a little unsure, but her mum almost jumped for joy.
"Well then, let's go!" her mum said.
After they were on the platform, her dad kept looking back at the barrier as though it weren't a real wall, and if they were being technical, Jane guessed that it wasn't.
"Oh, look, James! There's your little friend!"
Jane turned around at the sound of Mrs. Potter's voice.
"Mum!" James said, obviously embarrassed.
"Hi, Mrs. Potter," Jane said politely. "Mum, Dad, this is James and his mum."
"Oh, it's so nice to meet you," Mrs. Potter said, shaking Jane's mum's hand.
James tugged on Jane's sleeve.
"Mum, James and I are going to get on the train now," Jane said.
"Have fun, dear. I love you!"
"Love you too, Mum!" Jane called as James practically dragged her onto the train.
"Come on. I think Remus and Peter are already on here," he said.
Sure enough, they found Remus and Peter in a compartment by themselves. Remus had his nose buried in a book, as was usual with him. Peter was anxiously awaiting James' arrival, as was usual with him, which Jane thought a little sad and somewhat weird.
"Well, I had a nice holiday," James said, sitting beside Remus. "What about you three?"
"Mine was good," Remus said, closing his book.
Jane thought about her mum. She wasn't about to tell them about that though.
"Mine too," she said.
"How's your friend doing?" Remus asked.
Jane smiled.
"She said, and I quote, 'I'll die if you leave again,' unquote. So hopefully she's not actually dead."
They laughed, and then Peter went into detail about his holiday, which Jane tried to take interest in, but was having difficulties with.
James said that his parents had gotten him the newest Cleansweep for Christmas (James' family, like Sirius', was very well off), but him being a first year, he couldn't bring it to school.
"Mum and Dad said Sirius could stay over Easter though. I bet he'll be excited," James said.
Just then, Lily and Severus walked by their compartment. James flashed a wicked smile.
"Hey, guys, watch this."
They all stuck their heads out of the compartment, save for Remus, and James pointed his wand at Severus.
"Locomotor Mortis," James said.
Jane watched as purple sparks shot out of James' wand and hit Severus. He fell to the ground, his legs stuck together. The three of them fell back into the compartment, laughing. Remus had his nose in his book again. Jane knew it was mean, but it was only a little prank. James and Sirius pranked loads of people. It was fun to watch.
Suddenly, a very flustered Lily was at the compartment door.
"You take it off of him, you-you insufferable toerag!" she screamed at James.
"Aw, come on, Evans, it's funny," James said.
"Take. It. Off," Lily said through clenched teeth.
James only smiled.
"Sorry, Evans. I don't know the counter-curse."
"Oh! You-you're so immature!" Lily said before slamming the compartment door shut and stalking away.
"It was a little mean, James," Jane said, though she still had laughter in her voice.
James shrugged.
"Do you really know the counter-curse?" Peter asked.
"Of course I do," James said arrogantly, leaning back into his seat.
When they got to Hogwarts and up into the dorms, Lily wouldn't even look at Jane. Jane shrugged it off. This wasn't the first time this happened; Lily would be over it by Transfiguration the next day.
"Have a good holiday?" Alice asked.
"Yeah," Jane and Marlene said; Lily only nodded.
Suddenly, Mary burst through the door holding a ball of white fur in her arms.
"Look what Mummy and Daddy got me!"
She held out the giant fluff ball to reveal a fat, white cat.
"His name is Henry."
"Isn't your brother's name Henry?" Alice asked.
"Yes. I did it so as to annoy him," Mary answered.
"You keep it away from my robes," Marlene said. "I don't want white fur all over them."
Mary rolled her eyes and sat Henry on her bed.
"Please, Marlene. Give it a rest. We can take lent off clothes like that," Mary said, snapping her fingers for effect.
"Yes, but these," Marlene pulled out her school robes, "are new."
Mary looked at them.
"I don't see what's so special about them," she remarked.
"They happen to be imported from…"
"Oooo," Mary said, cutting her off. "Did you hear that, guys? They're imported! Big deal, Marlene. They still look exactly like everyone else's."
Though what Mary was saying was true, Jane felt that she was taking things further than they needed to go. There was no reason to fight over Marlene's robes.
"Well, Mary, just because your family can't afford—"
"Hey!" Jane said before Marlene could finish her sentence. "It's the first day back from break. Why are you two fighting? No one can make their friend mad at them that quick."
Jane heard a disparaging noise come from where Lily stood. She turned to her.
"Do you have a problem?" Jane asked.
"No. It's just what you said isn't true. You can make your friends mad at you that quick. You've proven that," Lily said, though she sort of mumbled the last part.
"Oh, come off it, Lily," Jane said. "You'll be over it by tomorrow."
Lily looked affronted.
"No, I won't! You and Black and Potter are always messing with Sev! And I for one—"
"No," Jane corrected, "James and Sirius are the ones messing with him, I just happen to be there."
"Well, it's not like you do anything to stop it."
"Oh, what was I supposed to do, Lily? The best I could've done was told him not to do it, and you know what? He would've done it anyway! So, don't get mad at me just because you can't take a stupid joke!"
"A joke?!" Lily demanded. "You think jinxing someone is funny?!"
"Look, all I'm saying is that it's not like Sniv–Snape got hurt or anything," Jane said.
Lily's face burned red.
"You were about to call him that stupid name!" Lily accused.
"So?" Jane said. "He's your friend, not mine. You call James and Sirius names all the time."
"That's because they deserve it. They're nothing but bullies," Lily said.
Jane rolled her eyes and was about to retort when Alice butted in.
"Guys, seriously? Is this really that important? Marlene, get over yourself. Mary, stop taking things so personal. Lily, Jane's right, you will be over it by tomorrow. And Jane, James and Sirius are sometimes a little insufferable and admittedly like to bully people. Now, all of you just shut up!"
Though the other four girls grumbled under their breaths, they heeded to Alice's command and did not say another word to each other.
Jane climbed into bed and pulled the curtains shut. She just wanted to get a good night's sleep.
