CHAPTER SIX
On the second day of January, Jane said goodbye to Sarah and headed back to King's Cross Station with both her parents in tow.
"My friend, Remus, says that you can walk in too because you're with me. Do you want to?" Jane asked her parents excitedly; she was always eager to share her new world with them.
Her dad looked a little unsure, but her mum, whose good mood had yet to dissipate, almost jumped for joy at the idea.
"Well then, what are we waiting for? 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 whined, obviously embarrassed by the older witch.
"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, eager to leave his mother behind.
"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, though she never said as much.
"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 any of that though. Having to explain what she didn't quite understand seemed like too daunting of a task for her, and she didn't really like to think on the situation for too long.
"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. Home would be boring without her."
They laughed, and then Peter went into detail about his holiday, which Jane tried to take interest in, but was having difficulties with because he kept get side-tracked and going off on unrelated tangents. James told them 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, mischief glinting in his hazel eyes.
"Hey, guys, watch this."
They all stuck their heads out of the compartment, save for Remus, who was trying his best to convey a disappointed look to them, and James pointed his wand at Severus.
"Locomotor Mortis," James said.
Jane watched as purple sparks shot out of James' wand and hit Severus. The Slytherin boy fell to the ground, his legs stuck together. The three friends fell back into the compartment, laughing. Remus had his nose in his book again, not wanting to get involved. Jane knew it was mean, but it was only a little prank. James and Sirius pranked loads of people. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, and it wasn't anything too bad.
Suddenly, a very flustered Lily was at their compartment door, fire in her eyes.
"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 admitted, though she still had laughter in her voice, so it was hard to take her words seriously. James only shrugged.
"Do you really know the counter-curse?" Peter asked.
"Of course I do," James said arrogantly, leaning back into his seat.
When they finally arrived at Hogwarts and made their way up into their respective dorms, Lily wouldn't even look at Jane. Jane shrugged it off. This wasn't the first time this happened; it was likely not to even be the last time it happened. Lily would be over it by Transfiguration the next day; she always got over it.
"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 with a squished looking face and a horrendous underbite, which ironically made it cute in a way.
"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 the robes and shrugged.
"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; it all felt rather silly.
"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, feeling annoyed now as though there were something in the air causing them all to argue.
"No. It's just what you said isn't true. You can make your friends mad at you that quick. You've already proven that on the train," 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 at the assumption.
"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, and I don't get all cross about it."
"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, having had enough of whatever was happening to all of her roommates.
"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. They had already learned not to test Alice's patience. Jane climbed into bed and pulled the curtains shut around her bed, not wanting to be bothered by her roommates anymore that night. She just wanted to get a good night's sleep.