Chapter 10

"I have to get going." RJ stood, in unison with Jane.

"Oh, come on, one more match." James begged as the chess set reset it's self. He shook his head.

"I stayed here way too long. It's almost time. We'll play a rematch tomorrow night." He flashed him a small smile.

"Be careful out there Moony." James warned, moving the chess set off of his bed.

"James, I'm pretty sure I'm one of the worst things out there."

Jane wrapped her arms around from behind him, leaning her head on his arm. She was much shorter than he was now that he had reached his growth spurts. "Come on RJ, I'll walk you to the Shack." She smiled, letting go of him only once he nodded. She took his hand, leading him out of the castle.

Sirius had watched as Jane cuddled up against RJ, biting his tongue until they were gone. "She really likes that guy?" He snapped out.

"Moony's been her best mate since they were, like, five. She likes him, maybe not really that way but we have a code, remember? Mates Before Dates. Moony's a Marauder just like you." James sighed, pulling out his potions homework and book.

"What's a marauder?" Peter looked up from James' quidditch book.

"We're Marauders." James smiled, opening his book up.

"You named us?" Sirius eyed him curiously.

"Of course I did, and Moony's one of us so you'll leave him and Janey alone. You had your chance with her and she said no. You just need to accept that."

"Like you and Lily?" Sirius snapped.

"Touché." James frowned, "But of course I don't have a girlfriend."

"Yeah, you have like three." Sirius snapped.

"Three Snogging partners. There's a difference. They know how I am. So quit trying to get with Jane until you're both single. Preferably, at least her." James snapped back, "Now if you don't mind I actually want to get my own Potions homework done."

"You do that your highness." Sirius snapped, tossing his book and parchment at Peter, who squeaked and scrambled to catch the projectiles. "Do mine." Sirius ordered him, before getting up to find Cynthia.

James sighed, "Sirius. Sorry." He mumbled.

"Same here." Sirius grumbled back before heading down the stairs.

Jane glanced back at RJ again on her way up the stairs to the main part of the shack. RJ glared up at her.

"Go." He hissed, leaning his head back against the wall. "GO!" He shouted, his body shaking. Jane stared at him, she knew this one would be worse, but it never hit her just how much worse. "Get o--!" He screamed, before all there was were snarling sounds. His head was lengthening, as was his body. Jane stared at him before quickly gaining her senses. She'd never stayed around long enough to see him transform, and didn't think she'd ever want to see it go any farther. She ran up the stairs, slamming the door closed behind her, locking it with her wand. She swallowed hard as she heard the werewolf snarling and fighting to get out. Biting her lip to hold in her tears she ran back to the castle, forgetting that she'd stolen James' invisibility cloak earlier that day, just for this occasion.

"Hey, see RJ off alright?" Sirius glanced up from his piles of parchment.

"Yeah, I'll see him again tomorrow. Never miss a day after." She smiled sadly, wiping the tears from her eyes. Sirius dropped his quill, taking her hand in his. Jane jumped as he tightened his fingers around hers.

"He doesn't need you looking after him like this. You ever think that you being so coddle-some is why it's so hard on him? You need to let him go, let him grow up." He flashed a small smile, squeezing her hand.

"I'm only coddling him because no one else ever has! His mum feeds him rabbit foot to try to manage it! They have his spare room in the basement!" She snapped low, careful not to let any of the other students hear them. Sirius stared at her, confused.

"Janey, that's because if they gave him his own room he'd tear it up. And maybe rabbit food's all his mum thinks will help." Sirius shook his head, "I'm not even talking about that. I mean his whole being a freak thing." Jane glared, jerking her hand away, balling them into fists.

"Some one says something bad," Sirius continued,, "And you do that! You don't let him fight his own bloody battles! You coddle him like you're his fucking mum!"

"I do not!" Jane snapped standing to her feet.

"You do too and you know it." Sirius retorted, scoffing.

"I do not you fucking liar!" Jane shrieked her fist swinging before she knew it. Hitting him squarely in the nose again, she didn't stick around to see if she'd broken it again, fleeing to James. Her eyes burned again, like they had nearly a half hour ago when she saw the start of her best mate's monthly torture.

James lay on his bed, sitting half up against his head board. The first year from earlier that night curled against him, laughing at his quidditch story—even though it wasn't meant to be laughed at. She smiled up at him, playing with his undone tie and the buttons on his shirt that she hadn't unfastened yet.

"Get out firstie." Jane snapped, her arms folded around him. Sarah glanced up at her, staring as if Jane was speaking a foreign language to her. "Now!" She repeated, sniffling.

"You can't talk to me like that! I'm James Potter's girlfriend!" Sarah snapped, getting to her feet.

"No you're not! You were just the first cute girl he saw when Lily was around talking about Severus Snape! Now get out! I have to talk to my brother." Jane shouted, moving to her brother's bed. Sarah glanced at James shocked, Jane wasn't sure what James had told the first year to get her to come up to the boy's dorm with him but she was sure she was going to hit him for it later.

"You said you loved me!" She shouted, bursting into tears as she bolted from the room.

"James!" Jane shouted, whipping her wand out and holding it at him.

"Hey! I said I loved her hair!" James shouted, cowering. "I said I loved her hair." He repeated, slowly uncurled himself, watching his sister's face. She dropped her arm, her cheeks soaked as her tears gushed. James scrambled to make room for his sister on the small twin bed. She flung her arms around him, hiding her face into his shoulder. James held her, smoothing down her hair. "Shh…shhh…" He whispered as she cried.

He rested his head against hers; he was used to comforting her for strange things. There were a lot of days—all full moons James guessed—when Jane would fight with their mum, even after she'd attended Beauxbatons. Jane just wasn't the perfect daughter their mother wanted. And she never forgot to mention it to Jane. While she smothered James far more than she needed to—often telling him he couldn't do things that his sister was doing with no sign of trouble—he understood what it was like to constantly never be good enough. Their father often was the same with him, though never as explosive, James felt that it hurt him just the same as their mum hurt her.

"What happened?" James whispered, swooshing his wand to pull the curtains around his bed closed.

"Sirius." She mumbled. James laughed, shaking her. "Shut up. He said I was babying RJ!" She sat up, wiping her eyes. She pulled her knees to her chest. "He said I was acting like RJ's mum, and that I was coddling him. I'm not! I'm helping him! They don't treat him like he's even a person there James! They ignore his screams. I skip out and sit by his window sometimes. He screams for her, you know, for his mum to do something. For her to stop the pain." She bit her lip; she didn't need to start crying again. "What I do if nothing close to what they should do for him. I do exactly what a friend should do. It's not coddling, it's caring. You'd do the same thing for him if you knew him as long as I have."

"Yeah. We're gonna do the same for him now. Sirius means well, he does. He likes Mooney, but his family's a bit…nuts." James smiled, ruffling her hair, "We're gonna take good care of Mooney, don't worry Janey."