CHAPTER FOUR

The next day was Friday, and at breakfast, during the morning post, Jane received two letters.

"Who's that from?" James asked nosily.

"My parents and Sarah," Jane said, ripping into Sarah's letter first.

Dear Jane,

I wish I was there with you. I wouldn't let anybody pick on you. But it's good that your roommates are nice and that you're making friends. I can't wait till Christmas either. The first day of school for me was absolutely dreadful. Jessica McCune bleached her hair and got boobs over the summer, and now everyone thinks she's soooo great, like her head wasn't big enough already. I hope your classes go better than mine did. And don't worry; I know you're not replacing me. You couldn't if you tried.

Your bestest friend,

Sarah

"Well, isn't that sweet," Sirius said, having read Sarah's letter over Jane's shoulder.

"Oh, quit being nosy," Jane said, tucking the letter back into its envelope. She looked over to see that her other letter was already torn into. She pulled her parents' letter away from James, who had Remus and Peter huddled around him. Her new friends seemed to not allow privacy.

"You guys are infuriating," Jane told them, but a smile played at her lips as she read the letter all the same.

"Ah, it was boring anyway," James informed her. "Just about how much they missed you and blah blah blah…"

He was right. It wasn't anything exciting. Jane crammed it back into its envelope after only having read half of it and finished her toast and jam.

"Herbology sounds like it'll be fun," Jane said as they walked back to the common room. "Remus and I were talking to this Ravenclaw girl in Charms yesterday, and she said she had had it just before lunch and that it was fun."

"Ravenclaws think everything to do with school is 'fun,' Janie," Sirius said. "They eat and breathe school."

Jane laughed.

"Well, maybe it is," she said.

"Hey, you're friends with Evans, right?" James asked Jane. She shrugged.

"I guess so. She's nice enough," Jane said. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering what her deal was," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why does she hang out with that freak?" James asked. Jane just shrugged again.

"I think they were friends before Hogwarts. Maybe they grew up together," Jane offered.

"Yeah, but he's so creepy, and she's so…"

James didn't finish his sentence though. Jane looked at him in a puzzled way before going to grab her things from her dorm. She ran back down the stairs and straight into Alice, who was talking to a second-year boy that Jane didn't know.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Alice," Jane said.

"It's alright. Hey, Blake, this is Jane. She's one of my dorm mates. Jane, this is my brother."

Jane blushed. Alice's brother was extremely cute.

"Nice to meet you," Jane said quietly.

"You too. Well, I'll see ya, Alice. I gotta get to Potions. Bye, Jane," Blake said as he walked away.

"Bye," Jane replied, smiling after him as he left. Once he was out of earshot, Jane turned to Alice.

"You told us you had a brother, but you didn't say he was adorable!" Jane said.

Alice pulled a disgusted face.

"Ew! You think Blake's cute? Gross, Jane; that's my brother!"

Jane smiled.

"Oh, but he is! He's fit!" Jane said teasingly. Alice covered her ears with her hands.

"La la la! I'm not listening!" she said loudly as she walked away. Jane laughed at Alice. Just then, an arm dropped onto her shoulders.

"I thought I heard someone call me."

"No one said anything close to 'James,'" Jane said.

"No, I thought I heard 'fit' and 'adorable,' and that's really close enough" he said. Jane rolled her eyes and pushed his arm off of her.

"Let's get to class," she said.

Herbology was fun. Well, at least Jane loved it. They had class in one of the greenhouses, and they had stools instead of desks, but they mostly stood anyway. Jane stood between Sirius and Peter. She had always been fascinated by plants, and Professor Sprout seemed really enthusiastic. Jane had even answered a question right (an added bonus of having read through some of her textbooks already), and Professor Sprout gave her five house points. It was definitely Jane's favourite class so far.

Herbology was by far better than History of Magic. Jane got over the fact that the professor was a ghost almost immediately when he started straight into lecture. Jane wasn't entirely sure that he knew what decade it was or that he was even dead. Marlene had to kick Jane's chair a few times when Jane dozed off. Luckily, the class only met twice a week, instead of three like Transfiguration.

Jane was happy that she got Friday afternoons off, save for flying lessons, but those didn't start until the following week. She was nervous about it, especially when Sirius said that they would have it with the Slytherin first years, but James assured her that it was easy.

"You just have to feel it," he would say to her.

Of course, Jane had never been on a flying broomstick before and didn't know what James meant by "it," but she could tell from the look on his face, whenever he talked about flying, that he really enjoyed it. And for some reason, that made Jane a little less nervous. Who knew? Maybe she'd be a great flyer. At least she could hope for such until the lessons actually started next week.

After lunch was over, Marlene and Jane decided to go down to the Black Lake with the boys. Jane would've asked Lily to come, but Lily didn't seem to appreciate the company of James Potter and Sirius Black nearly as much as Jane did. Jane guessed she understood why though. People don't usually take too kindly to someone being mean to their friends.

Regardless, everybody else seemed to think they were great. They were rather funny and energetic. There was something about them that forced you to love them, even when they were being complete prats. Remus was like that too, but he wasn't ever really a prat. He just sort of minded his own business. As for Peter, he was quiet and harmless.

Jane was starting to worry about Remus. The day before, he had looked a little peaky, and now, he looked even worse, though she didn't voice this. She wondered if he was coming down with something, but every time Jane asked if he was okay, Remus said he felt just fine.

"Is it true that there's a giant squid in the lake?" Jane asked as they all sat down on the grass.

"Yeah," James said, leaning back on his elbows, "it's been here ever since my mum and dad went to school here."

"How old does it get?"

James shrugged.

"I don't know the life expectancy of giant squid," he said.

Jane laid down in the grass and looked up at the cloudy sky. She thought about how happy she was with her new life. No one here called her a freak, save for the Slytherins, but they were mean to everyone. The teachers were a lot nicer. Classes didn't start too early. She had wonderful dorm mates. She had found a class that she liked. She had her friends…

Jane immediately felt terrible. How could she be liking this place so much when Sarah wasn't even there? Sarah had said in her letter that her first day at Test Valley had been dreadful. And here Jane was, having a Friday afternoon off with all of these new people she had just met.

Jane shot up.

"Where are you going?" Marlene asked.

"Um, back to the dorm," she said, which wasn't a lie. "I need to get started on that Charms homework," also not a lie; she really did need to start on it.

"But we just got here," James complained.

"No one's asking you to come with me," Jane said as she walked away.

"I'll see you at dinner!" Marlene called after her.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Jane said.

She walked back up to the dorm alone. Unsurprisingly, she was the only one in there. Marlene was back at the lake. Lily was probably off with Severus. Jane had no clue where Alice and Mary were, but they were probably enjoying the afternoon off as well, along with the rest of the first-year students.

Jane sighed and fell back onto her bed. She just stared at the canopy for a while. Why couldn't Sarah be a witch too? No, better yet, why did Jane have to be one? Jane suddenly felt an overwhelming responsibility. It was her fault that her and Sarah weren't together anymore. And now, she was being a lousy friend for having fun while Sarah was having "dreadful" days at school. Jane got up, pulled out a piece of parchment, and began to write to Sarah:

Dear Sarah,

I miss you soooo much!

Jane paused; she didn't know whether to lie or to tell the truth. While she loathed lying to her friend, it couldn't hurt if it was to make her feel better, right?

Classes were dreadful here as well! They're giving us so much homework. I don't know how I'll get it all done on time. It's not fair! Ugh! I wish that I could come back to school with you. Then again, I might fail out and have to. Hope you're doing better than I am.

Your bestest friend,

Jane

On one hand, Jane felt bad about lying. But on the other hand, she didn't want Sarah to think that she was having fun without her.

Jane quickly stuffed the paper into an envelope and looked around. She spotted Chauncey's empty cage beside Marlene's bed. Jane groaned. Marlene had said that the owls stayed in the Owlery, but Jane didn't know where that was.

Jane sighed and left the dorm anyway. She figured she'd probably run into a teacher and just ask them for directions. She was about to leave through the portrait hole, but it swung open.

"Oh, hello, Jane."

"Hi, Blake."

She was about to walk past him but stopped.

"Um, Blake, could you by chance show me where the Owlery is?" she asked.

"Well, I've got class in ten minutes, but I could tell you how to get there."

"Oh, all right. Sure," Jane said.

"Do you know where the West Wing's at?"

Jane shook her head.

"Okay, do you know where the library is?"

"Oh, yeah, Remus and I went there after Charms yesterday."

"Okay, well, the West Wing's between that and the Entrance Hall. It'll be the tower near there. Got it?"

"Yeah, thanks," Jane said.

"No problem. See you around," Blake said before rushing up to his dorm to get his books.

Jane didn't have to ask for anymore directions after that. She made it to the Owlery just fine, which made her very proud of herself. She used one of the school's owls. She sent it to her house, even though the envelope was addressed to Sarah. She couldn't very well send a delivery owl to Sarah's house. How on earth would she explain that to her? Muggles weren't used to the post being delivered by birds.

Jane watched the bird fly away until she couldn't see it anymore. She sighed. She really did miss her best friend.