Chapter 21

The year passed, and Jane and James continued their silence. The Marauders and Lily worried about their respective mates, but neither of them asked much. RJ confronted Jane once and she admitted to be living with Mad-Eye, but she didn't go into much detail as to the reasons behind the move. Whenever Jane wasn't with Severus, Lily or RJ, she was in empty classroom training. That Christmas Holiday Jane put her training to its first, having just mastered the use of Stupify.

Dressed in a fitted, all black outfit she went out of her room and thanked Merlin for Mad-Eye's absence. She dug out an old map she had found and began to pray she didn't splice herself as she attempted to apparate. Jane landed in one piece, though her shoe did end up next to her and not on her foot as it should have been. She had been reading up on the process of apparation. Closing her eyes tightly as she shoved her foot into her shoe once more, Jane's body began to shrink, changing into the form of a reddish-brown fox. She had tried to tell James of her animagi the previous year, but had never gotten around to trying to let him know again. Jane ran swiftly through the brushes as the aurors fought against the dark cloaked men. She stood, her fox body used to the quick changes back to human,

"Stupify!" She shouted from the darkness, smirking as the man she struck was captured by a young auror. She shouted another spell, and another, as she ran and dodged the countering spells. Jane let out a laugh as she pulled her hood over her head, hiding her face in the shadow. She ran full blast at her opponents, punching and kicking at them before they could hit her. As the aurors began to regain control and notice Jane's presence, she quickly turned back into her fox form and ran away into the darkness as she now had to doge the blasts from the Ministry.

Jane cursed quietly as she returned to her room at Mad-Eye's. Stepping into the second floor bathroom she slowly began to undress, revealing the wounds and burns. "Nothing worse than a Quidditch match…" She said to herself quietly before stepping into the shower in hopes of cleaning them and making them less noticeable.

That was how Jane spent her Christmas, except for the quiet and awkward dinner that Christmas evening. She was thankful none of her burns were easily visible, as she wore the red dress Mad-Eye had given her from her father.

James came in late that night, his eyes practically glazed over. Jane smiled to him, looking him over. He looked all right, but the smell coming off him made her worry.

"Hey mum!" James beamed, hanging his cloak up, "The guys say 'Happy Christmas'." He sat across from Jane, his smile never fading.

"The guys?" Jane asked him. He never called the Marauders anything else.

"Yeah, I've made friends with some of the Muggle kids." He laughed, "They're great to hang out with when Padfoot and Moony are busy. They don't run out on you like some people." He shot at her, grabbing a roll.

"Be nice, we have guests James." Dora corrected him, setting out another basket of bread. Alice, along with their other House Elves, helped her by setting the rest of the food on the table.

"I'm just answering her questions, you should be yelling at her for showing back up here and dressed like that. You look like some kind of dressed up Monkey." James snapped, turning back to his sister. "Monkey!" He laughed, "You look like a monkey."

"James, what's wrong with you?" Jane frowned looking across the table at her spaced out brother.

"What's wrong with you?" He snapped, getting to his feet.

"I'm not the one yelling!" Jane snapped back.

"James, sit down. Jane Marie, lower your voice." Dora ordered, taking her seat at the table.

"James, will you just behave?" Charlus sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"No, I won't!" He snapped, going back to the door, and grabbing his cloak.

"May I be excused? Thank you." Jane asked, nodding, to her mother as she rose and followed James. She grabbed her cloak, following him outside. "Where do you think you're going prat?"

"Away from you, can't you see that?" He scoffed, pulling his cloak close to him as he circled around to the back of the house.

"Are you on something James? Don't deny it; I could smell it when you walked in." She scoffed, running to his side. "Why would you do something so…"

"Muggle?" He glared at her, "Maybe because my friends, those Muggles, were doing it!"

"If they jumped off a bridge, would you do that too?" She snapped, grabbing his arm.

"Maybe! Don't really see anything wrong with that! I'd hate to run out on them!" He yanked his arm away, stopping where he was as it began to snow once more.

"I didn't run away from you! Mum kicked me out! I had to leave! I had to go live with Mad-Eye! James, why don't you believe that?" She stopped in front of him, her eyes watering.

"Because you never left before! Every time she yelled at you, every time you two fought, I sat in my room listening to it. I heard you two get bad, but you never left. You never left me!" James countered, "I listened to nearly every fight you two had, and it made me know I had to let her coddle me, she had to do it for one of us."

"You were never the one she was yelling at though! You never had to defend yourself from her! Dad may get onto you, but it is always because you have done something, I can just be sitting and she'd yell at me. I don't know how long I could put up with that anymore. Every time she you let her coddle you was just one more time she'd yell at me and tell me I wasn't perfect! James, please, just come back inside and let's pretend we like each other, okay?"

He sighed sober now. It was either from the cold or just from the lack of exposure, Jane didn't know nor care, she did smile as he nodded slowly. "I do like you. I've been bloody worried about you. Running off with Severus Snape, locking yourself away in the library. It's not okay, Janey. You're going to get hurt. He doesn't love you and you sure as hell don't love him."

"He…I never said I loved him." She frowned. He was right though, and Jane knew it. She didn't think she could ever love Severus, and she saw how he looked at Lily. She had seen an older version of her brother with the same look in his eyes during a number of visions "Don't worry about me James. Let's just go back inside before Mum freaks out." She chuckled. James returned the laugh, ruffling his hair to rid it of the snow.

"Okay. You know, Sirius may have mentioned something about not being with Cynthia forever." He said over his shoulder, walking back toward the house.

"Good for him." Jane shook her head. She never could see how he was with that girl at all. Not because she ever wanted to date him, but if they were going to be friends the way he wanted them to be, Jane felt that she may as well be glad he isn't miserable.