CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
By the time the sixteenth of April had rolled around, Jane was feeling pretty good about how everything was going for her. She had turned thirteen back in March, and she thought it was so cool to officially be a teenager even if she didn't really feel any older or different. She had successfully lied to her parents; she was going to see what James' home was like. She had completely forgotten about the angry letter from her parents about the detention she had received. She had forgotten about the last letter from Sarah that had begged her to come home and how she had subsequently not replied to it. She had forgotten how disappointed Sarah and her family must be. Jane was too joyful to remember those things.
The whole train ride back to London, Jane was anxious. She was just so excited; she could hardly contain herself. Finally, here was a break from school that wouldn't be so boring!
All three of them were excited, though Sirius liked to jest about how he wished Jane weren't coming. James had already made plans to practise and had even bought a Quaffle in Hogsmeade; Jane guessed that their moonlit practices were not enough for him.
Remus and Peter were jealous to say the least. James had also invited them, but Peter's family had a trip planned, and Remus just said that he couldn't, which Jane found odd, seeing as how he often told her that he found home quite boring as well. She supposed that he just missed his family.
On the platform, they said their goodbyes to Remus and Peter before setting off to find James' mum. They found her easily enough by following the sound of her loud laugh through the crowds. When they reached her, they saw that she was talking to a blonde woman with a slim face.
"Oh, Jemma, this is my son, James. It's his second year. Gryffindor, just like his father," Mrs. Potter told the woman.
"Oh, he looks just like Charles did back in school," said the lady.
"James, darling, this is Jemma Ashby. I went to school with her," Mrs. Potter said.
"Pleasure to meet you," James said politely, and Jane had to stifle a giggle at his expense.
"You too," Mrs. Ashby said. "He's such a gentleman, Cassandra. You'll have to teach me how to get mine to behave like that. Speaking of, I wish Aaron would hurry up and get out here. I swear, he's always the last one off the train, always lagging about. He's in his fourth year now, Ravenclaw."
"Oh, Ravenclaw. 'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure,'" Mrs. Potter recited fondly. "How I miss those days."
"And to think we couldn't wait to leave school," Mrs. Ashby said.
Mrs. Potter still had James standing in front of her. Jane and Sirius stood awkwardly off to the side.
"And who are these two?" Mrs. Ashby asked, smiling at them.
"Oh, these are some of James' little friends. Sirius Black and Jane Hensworth," Mrs. Potter said. "We're having them over for Easter."
"Oh, how lovely," Mrs. Ashby said. "They're just the cutest things."
Jane felt extremely awkward at this point and was vaguely worried that the lady might reach out and pinch her cheeks.
"Oh, Cassandra, are you hosting the Easter party this year?"
Jane saw James roll his eyes, and she smiled a bit.
"Oh, no. That's going to be at the Longbottoms' this year, are you going?"
"Of course. Timothy's already agreed to it. The trick is getting the kids to go. Aaron and Lydia would rather stay at home. I can't believe that next year Lydia will be starting her first year at Hogwarts," Mrs. Ashby said.
Jane listened to the two ladies talk for what seemed like forever. They seemed to never run out of topics, and Jane was growing increasingly aware of the depleting crowd. She was beginning to understand James' frustration with his mother's need to socialise. Only after James practically pulled his mother away, they finally left the station.
Out on the street, Mrs. Potter put out her hand, as though she were hailing a taxi, but to Jane's surprise, a taxi was not what appeared before them. It was a purple triple-decker which had seemingly appeared out of nowhere as things jumped out of its way upon its approach. Jane looked around at all the people on the street. None of them seemed fazed. In fact, none of them seemed to notice that anything out of the ordinary had happened at all. It was as if they couldn't see it.
"In you go," Mrs. Potter said to them as someone quickly carried their suitcases on board.
"Diagon Alley," Mrs. Potter told the conductor before they took off.
"What're we going there for?" James asked.
"You need to be fitted for new dress robes," his mother said. James groaned.
"You're not dragging us to that Easter party, are you?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"Oh, James. It'll be fun," Mrs. Potter said.
"But Jane and Sirius don't have their dress robes," James said hopefully.
"Oh, I forgot about that," Mrs. Potter said. James smiled a little, looking relieved.
"They'll just have to be fitted too," Mrs. Potter said, washing away all the hope that James had for not having to go to the party.
Mrs. Potter had bought them all dress robes. James and Sirius' kind of resembled tuxedos, and Jane walked out with a set of forget-me-not blue dress robes, which, for all intents and purposes, highly resembled that of Muggle dresses.
After that, they used what James had called the Floo Network. After watching Sirius be engulfed in green flames, Jane was a little scared, but James had managed to persuade her to do it. She ended up being thrown out of a fireplace and onto the floor of a very large parlour. Jane could hear Sirius laughing at her as she got up, but she was too dizzy to try and see where he was.
"Once the room stops spinning, I'm going to punch you on your nose," she threatened, not liking the way she had been spun around so much during her travel. Behind her, James calmly walked out of the fireplace, followed by his mother. Jane vaguely wondered how they had managed to stay upright before she looked around at the house, taking in its high ceilings and marble floors.
"Your house is amazing," she said, looking around the parlour and up the white staircases.
"You haven't even seen all of it," James said.
"Don't have to," Jane said. "It's already better than mine."
Jane picked up her suitcase, which had been thrown out of the fireplace with her, and followed James and Sirius up the stairs.
"This'll be your room, Jane," James said, opening a door on the right of the hallway.
Jane walked in. The room was much bigger than the one she had back home. It had a four-poster queen sized bed, its own bathroom, and a small balcony that looked out over the back garden. She had to make sure that her mouth wasn't hanging open; their house was like a mansion. She had known the Potters were well-off, but she hadn't known that they were completely rolling in gold.
Jane sat her suitcase down beside the bed and followed James and Sirius out of the room so that they too could put their things down. She was going to have a great time there; she just knew it.