CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Four days passed, and Wednesday was upon them. Jane helped Sarah pack her things, and they said their temporary goodbyes, a most dramatic affair seeing as how neither of them wanted Sarah to be leaving. She had just been reunited, and then, Sarah had gone, leaving Jane all alone in Stockbridge. After three days of this, Jane was convinced that she was dying of boredom; by the time Sarah came back home, she would find Jane dead and buried in the cemetery in town. Jane was marking off on her calendar the days until Sarah came back. She thought about writing to her school friends, but that plan failed owing to the fact that she had no owl nor any of their home addresses.
So, for the two weeks while Sarah was away, Jane took to walking down Longstock Road, sitting by herself at the River Test, and shutting herself in her room to listening to her records and read her books, occasionally looking out her window and sighing dramatically as she awaited the return of her friend.
On the day that Sarah returned, Jane was waiting for her outside of the Camden house. Sarah had on a beautiful new dress, and she was clutching a new Polaroid camera to her. She had quickly rushed to Jane's side the moment she was out of her mother's car.
"Look at what Daddy bought for me," she said excitedly, thrusting the camera into Jane's hands for her friend to inspect and admire.
"Wow!" Jane said.
"He got me other stuff too, like this dress, but that's my favourite," she said, motioning to the camera.
"Oh, and you should see Birmingham; it's great! It's way better than Stockbridge; there's lots more to do. And Janice, my dad's girlfriend, was really nice. I'm so glad I got to see him; I really did miss him!" Sarah said, talking really fast. Jane just smiled, glad to know that Sarah was happy.
"So, what have you been doing while I was away?" Sarah asked as Jane handed her camera back.
"Dying a slow and painful death," Jane responded theatrically, causing Sarah to laugh, and they both walked up to Sarah's room to help her unpack her things and look at all the other nice things her father had seemingly bought her love and affection with.
The letters from Jane's school friends started coming a few days after Sarah got back, around the first week of July. Lily wrote first, and then Remus, and then James. Jane even got a letter from Sirius, but that wasn't until early August. It was difficult, trying to hide the fact that owls were flying into Jane's bedroom window every other day. In fact, Sarah had at one point said:
"You know how you keep your window open?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I don't think you should. Yesterday, I could have sworn I saw a large bird fly in there. It must've flown back out at some point, but still, I think you should keep it closed from now on," Sarah had told her.
Other than that, Sarah seemed oblivious, and they carried on their summer as they usually would have. Except there was a lot more picture taking due to Sarah's new Polaroid. They even bothered themselves to hang out with Sean a few times, and every time, he seemed to like Jane's company just a bit more than Sarah's. At one point during mid-July, this caused a small dispute between Jane and Sarah, which neither of them was used to as they typically got on quite well.
"If you like him, just say so," Sarah had said.
"I don't! How many times do I have to tell you? Besides, I thought you said you didn't like him anymore anyway!" Jane had replied in a flustered voice.
"I don't," Sarah had defended weakly.
"Then, why do you even care?"
"That's not the point!"
That row had caused them to stay mad at each other for approximately a whole day until they both decided it was stupid to fight over a boy no matter how cute or likable he was. Other than that, the rest of the summer was quite nice.
Jane got her letter from Hogwarts during the second week of August, which was the same week that Sarah left for the music festival in Reading. Two days later, Jane received a letter from James telling her what day that he was going and what time to meet him at Diagon Alley, and Jane had been eager to tell her parents when exactly they'd be taking her to London.
Jane was excited to see James again, and the others if they came. And she definitely couldn't wait to start her second year; though, she was, admittedly, very nervous. According to their letters, James and Sirius were all but going make her try out for the Quidditch team with them this year, and Jane had not gotten to practise her flying all summer; she didn't even have a broomstick yet. She feared that there was just no way she'd be able to make the team over everybody else, who had all probably practised the entire summer for a spot on the Gryffindor team.
On the morning of August eighteenth, Jane and her mother awoke early, and made the almost two-hour drive to London. When they got to Diagon Alley, James and his mum were already there.
"James!" Jane exclaimed happily. She ran up to him and gave him a big hug. He had grown a few inches over the summer, not much though. The only reason Jane had even noticed was because she used to be the same height as him, and now, he was a little taller.
"I've missed you so much!" she said, pulling away from him. James laughed.
"I missed you too," he said.
"Are the other's coming?" Jane asked.
"Remus and Peter are. I don't know about Sirius. He said he was going to try."
As if he could sense that he was being talked about, Sirius strolled into Diagon Alley by himself, with a smirk on his face. He hadn't gotten any taller, but he was still taller than Jane. He and James were about the same height now.
"Miss me?" he asked arrogantly. Jane didn't answer and looked around for his family.
"How'd you get here?" she asked curiously.
"Walked."
"You walked?" Mrs. Potter asked in an astonished voice. "Why on earth didn't your parents bring you?"
Sirius shrugged.
"Guess they didn't feel like it," he said casually.
I bet they didn't feel like it, Jane thought. She could only imagine Sirius telling his parents that he was going to meet up with James Potter and his other friends in Diagon Alley. Jane figured that the words "blood traitors" and "Mudbloods" were thrown around a few times. She felt bad for him, and apparently, so did Mrs. Potter; though, her pity came in the form of anger.
"Why I never!" she had said under her breath.
"It was only a few miles," Sirius told her.
"Still! Leaving you to do your school shopping by yourself. They ought to be ashamed. Don't you worry, sweetheart, I'll pick up your things for you."
"Oh, here's the key to my vault at Gringotts," Sirius said, digging his hands into his trouser pocket.
"Oh, don't be ridiculous, dear," Mrs. Potter said. "I will pay for them. Now, you three run along and have fun. Mrs. Hensworth and I will pick up your things."
Jane kissed her mother goodbye and gave her the school list before the two older women walked away. The three friends waited on Remus and Peter to join them before wandering off into the shops. The first place they went was Gringotts—Sirius still needed money to buy his Quidditch supplies; he simply refused to let James' mum buy those too. Then, they went straight into Quality Quidditch Supplies. The rumours about a new Nimbus racing broom were true. There in the display case sat a brand new, fresh off the market, Nimbus 1500 racing broom. Sirius and James were both getting one.
Jane had hoped to be getting an owl this summer, but she figured she needed the broom more, and if she was going to buy a broom, she certainly was going to buy the best, no matter how expensive it was. Sirius went ahead and bought his Nimbus and Beater's bat. James and Jane were going to wait until after their mums were done shopping to get theirs. When they walked out of the Quidditch shop, Jane stared longingly at Eeylops Owl Emporium. She supposed she'd just wait for next summer.
A few shops down the street, Mrs. Potter walked out of Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.
"James!" she called, spotting the five friends. James rolled his eyes.
"What?"
"Get in here so Madam Malkin can measure you! You need new robes. You're too tall for your old ones," his mother said. "Do you need new robes, darling?" she asked, turning her attention to Sirius, her tone seeming slightly softer.
"No, thank you," he said politely. Jane had to laugh at him because she had never known him to be so polite when talking to adults. He immediately glared at her, stopping her laughter.
"What about you, Janie?" asked Jane's mum from behind Mrs. Potter.
Jane, who had hoped that since the start of her period that she would grow a few inches and maybe get actual breasts over the summer, had virtually not changed since the last school year. The only difference was that her hair was a bit longer, and she had begun showing early signs of acne much to her dismay. Jane shook her head in response to her mother. She, unfortunately, had no need for new robes at the time being.
So, Jane, Peter, Remus, and Sirius walked over to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and waited on James while they enjoyed their treats. Jane and Remus talked about the summer work that they had been assigned and what all they had gotten done until Sirius told them, in a not so polite way, to be quiet about it, not wanting to think about the work he'd barely started on. So, Jane switched her focus to Quidditch.
"Why aren't you trying out, Remus?" she asked. He almost laughed at her.
"Sports and I don't really agree with each other."
"Well, I'm probably not going to make the team," Jane said sullenly.
"Not with that attitude you aren't," Sirius said after rolling his eyes.
"I haven't got to practise all summer," she said. "It's easy for you and James. You both got to practise all you wanted, and you're both good at everything!"
"Well, you're not wrong about that," he said, smirking. Jane kicked him under the table, and he made to kick her back, but she pulled her legs up into her chair so that he couldn't
"I'm sure you'll do fine, and even if you don't make the team this year, there's always next year," Remus said, sliding out of range of Sirius, who was still attempting to reach Jane with his foot.
"Who said anything about next year?" Jane asked. As far as she was concerned, if she bombed at try-outs, she'd never ride a broomstick again. Jane was a big fan of the saying: If at first you don't succeed, sit down and let someone else do it.
"That's right," said Sirius, having given up on trying to kick her, "because she's going to make the team this year."
"Damn right she is," came James' voice from behind them.
Jane smiled. They all had their ways of making her feel better. And for some reason, having them believe in her gave her a little bit more confidence. Suddenly, she couldn't wait for Quidditch try-outs.