CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Throughout the week, James had insisted on Quidditch practice, and every practice was just like all the other practices Jane had ever had with him; everything had to be perfect. Jane couldn't help but feeling that if James kept this up, then she was going to end up as a better Chaser player than he was, which would be a hard feat to accomplish.
That Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday, Mrs. Potter was running through the house trying to get everyone ready for that afternoon. She amused Jane so much, especially when she was annoying James. Jane loved the Potter family. Mr. Potter was just an older version of James. However, Mrs. Potter was, obviously, where James got his perfectionist qualities from. Sirius laughed when Jane pointed this out to him. He then proceeded to taunt James about it, much to Jane's amusement.
Despite James' reluctance to go to what he called "a major bore," Jane was excited to go to the party. She had never been to a "formal social gathering," to use Mrs. Potter's words, and she was excited to get all dressed up and have Mrs. Potter do up her hair for her.
"You have beautiful hair, darling," Mrs. Potter would say as she brushed through it, which made Jane smile. It was hard for Jane not to bond with Mrs. Potter rather quickly; she was just so happy and bubbling over with energy, much like Jane's own mother, but minus all the bad parts.
Jane watched Mrs. Potter with curiosity as she put on her makeup. She had wanted to start wearing makeup, but she wasn't really sure what to buy or what to do with most of it. Marlene and Mary had already started wearing it. Mrs. Potter noticed Jane's watchful eyes and smiled warmly. She patted a seat near her, telling Jane to sit there. Jane happily obliged.
"Now let's see," Mrs. Potter said, digging through her little makeup bag.
Jane smiled happily. Her own mother didn't wear a lot of makeup; being a stay at home mother didn't require it all that often, so Jane had never asked her about it.
"A little powder here," Mrs. Potter said, dabbing a bit on Jane's face. "You don't need a lot; your complexion is already fairly good."
Jane smiled again.
"Now a touch of blush on the cheek bones," Mrs. Potter said, dusting the light pink colouring on Jane's face. "Not too much of this either, though. The trick with makeup is to make it look natural. Less is more."
Jane listened carefully as Mrs. Potter continued with the eye shadow and mascara and lipstick. And when Jane looked at herself in the mirror she just smiled again. She looked pretty, which wasn't something Jane thought about herself very often.
"Thank you," she said to James' mum, hugging her in the process.
Mrs. Potter smiled and patted Jane on the back.
"No problem, dear. You know, I can't do this sort of thing with James. I don't think he would take very kindly to me putting makeup on him, do you?"
Jane laughed.
"You should try it sometime," she said, still grinning. Mrs. Potter let out a laugh at the though; then, she looked at the clock on the wall.
"Oh, run downstairs, dear. It's almost time to leave," she said, rushing Jane out of the room and down the stairs.
Once she saw James and Sirius in their dress robes, she giggled at them. They actually looked like gentlemen.
"What are you laughing at, Amata?" Sirius said, his voice clearly teasing, but Jane didn't understand the reference.
"Who?" Jane asked with a confused expression on her face. Sirius just gave her a sideways glance. James whispered something to him, and a look of realisation graced his face.
"Oh, yes. I'm sorry, Cinderella," he corrected. Jane hit him playfully on the arm; she understood that one.
"Who's Amata?" she asked again.
"It's a character from The Fountain of Fair Fortune," James said. "You were read fairy tales when you were little. Our parents read us The Tales of Beedle the Bard," he explained.
"Oh, would you just look at them, Charles," Mrs. Potter said, looking at the three of them. "Aren't they just darling?"
Jane could tell James was rolling his eyes even though she wasn't looking at him.
"Oh! Let me get the camera!" Mrs. Potter said, rushing back up the stairs. She came back down a few seconds later, clutching a camera in her hands. She pushed the three of them together with Jane in the middle.
"Yes, that's perfe— James Potter, you smile for this picture right now! That's it," Mrs. Potter said before snapping a few pictures. Jane and Sirius were both trying not to laugh as James forced a smile.
"All right, let's go," Mrs. Potter said, rushing them all towards the fireplace. Jane inwardly groaned. She had to go through that again? Sirius went first again, then James. Then, it was her turn.
Unexpectedly this time, someone caught her when she stumbled out of the fireplace at the Longbottom residence. The person that had caught her was laughing.
"I thought you might need some assistance this time," Sirius stated.
"Shut up," Jane said. She pushed him away and touched her hair to make sure it hadn't fallen out of place too much.
"A simple 'thank you' would do," he said.
"Thank you, kind sir," Jane said, matching his sarcastic tone, giving a dramatic curtsey.
At that moment, a boy with light hair walked up to them with his hands in his dress robe pockets. A bored expression was gracing his handsome features, and Jane's stomach immediately did a sort of somersault upon seeing him.
"Potter," he said.
"Ashby," James replied curtly.
Jane got the feeling that the two didn't like each other very much, though she didn't know why.
"Mum's forcing me to socialise," he said, not really looking at James. "So, who are your friends?"
Despite his uninterested attitude, Jane was very interested in him. He was tall and handsome with his light hair and freckles. Jane suddenly wished that she looked prettier. She mentally cursed her chest, which had refused to grow at all since the start of her so-called "womanhood," which she found was completely unfair; If she was going to have to bleed for no good reason once a month, her body should at least be doing something she found beneficial. She instinctively crossed her arms over her chest (or lack thereof).
"Sirius Black. Jane Hensworth," James said, seeming unwilling to talk to the boy more than need be.
"Aaron Ashby," the boy said.
Ashby. Why did that name sound so familiar to Jane? She looked around the room and spotted a familiar woman talking to Mrs. Potter. Of course. She was the woman that Mrs. Potter had been talking to on the train platform. Aaron must have been her son. Suddenly, Jane remembered that Mrs. Ashby had said that Aaron was in his fourth year. Jane uncrossed her arms. He wasn't going to like someone that was two years younger than him regardless.
"Hey, Frank," James called, walking away, eager to get away from Aaron; Sirius followed with him. Jane followed at a much slower pace, reluctant to leave the presence of the boy even if she did think the crush was doomed from the start.
"It was a pleasure to meet you," she said, trying to sound mature. The boy smirked and nodded.
"Likewise," he said before Jane walked away, blushing a little. She walked over to where James, Sirius, and Frank Longbottom were standing.
"What was that about?" Sirius asked her as James and Frank talked.
"What?" she asked.
"'It was a pleasure to meet you,'" Sirius imitated in a girly voice.
"Nothing. And I do not sound like that," Jane said, blushing even more now.
"You don't like him, do you?"
"Shut up or I'll hex you," she said in a harsh whisper.
"It's not me you should be worried about," Sirius said, nodding to James. "He really hates Ashby, you know?"
"Why?"
Sirius shrugged.
"I never asked. He just does. I can kind of see why though. The guy's a bit full of himself."
"He's a bit full of himself?" Jane asked and Sirius nodded.
"More so than you are?" she asked.
"I'm not full of myself," Sirius defended. Jane let out a laugh.
"Right," she said.
"I'm not," Sirius repeated.