CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

The next morning, they got a really early start, but that did not stop Snape from coming over to say goodbye to Lily and to give Jane his usual sneer when Lily was not paying attention. To which Jane had replied with a less than friendly remark that, unfortunately, Lily had heard and scolded her for when they climbed into the backseat of the car.

Petunia did not say a word to Lily or Jane the entire ride to the airport, but apparently, that was to be expected. Lily had said:

"At least she's not being mean to us."

However, Petunia didn't have to talk to annoy Jane. Just the way Petunia looked at them, with her nose turned up, made Jane angry. She hated when people looked down on her. Jane wanted to put Petunia in her place; she wanted to try out a few jinxes that James had taught her. Unfortunately, she knew she couldn't use magic outside of school, and Lily would not have exactly liked the idea anyway.

Luckily, the plane ride served as punishment enough for Petunia. While Lily and Jane fully enjoyed the plane ride, Petunia had some trouble with motion sickness. Jane had smirked when she saw that Petunia's face was positively green. Sometimes, people got exactly what they deserved, and it was great.

Jane and Lily fell absolutely in love with Paris from the moment they got a first glimpse of it. The city was amazing. Jane loved all of the buildings and waterways. They visited the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa, which was surprising small. The Eiffel Tower was even more amazing than they could have ever imagined it would be. Notre-Dame was Jane's favourite; she loved the beautiful architecture that was the cathedral. They also visited the Catacombs. While Jane found it a bit morbid, she found it fascinating as well; it was also fun for Jane to watch Petunia's expression once she realised she would be surrounded by bones once they had gotten there.

Everything excited Jane. She and Lily were even brave enough to try escargot, which they, surprisingly enough, liked.

Around the second week they were there, Remus and James had started to write. Remus just wrote to both of them, asking how their trip was going and if they were having a good time. James mainly asked Jane if Lily had mentioned him or not (which, of course, she had not).

Petunia, who had been forced to share a room with Lily and Jane, was absolutely furious when she found owl droppings on her bed. Lily promised Petunia that neither Remus' or James' owls had been on her bed. Lily had no idea how they got there; Jane did though, not that she said anything. Jane had to stifle her laughter when Petunia literally shrieked once she realised she had laid down in owl dung. Of course, Jane kind of felt bad for Lily when Petunia was yelling at her, but that wasn't enough to make her regret putting the droppings on Petunia's bed.

Things got even better once Petunia got wise and accused Jane for putting them there. All Jane had to do was pretend she had no clue what Petunia was talking about, and Mrs. Evans was left to scold Petunia about falsely accusing innocent people, especially when they were guests. Jane suspected that maybe Lily knew, but if she did, she sure didn't let on.

Before Jane knew it, and way too soon, she was on her way home. Suddenly, she was forced to think about Sarah other than the one time she bought Sarah and herself matching bracelets in France. Surely, Sarah would be in a better mood by now. Surely, Sarah would be so happy to see Jane that she couldn't possibly be mad at her still.

Jane stared out of the window of her parents' car as they pulled onto their street. After seeing one of the most amazing cities out there, Stockbridge seemed even smaller than it already was. Jane furrowed her brow when she saw a dark haired girl sitting on their doorstep. Jane got out of the car and stared at the girl, who seemed to brighten upon her arrival.

"Sarah?" Jane asked, astonished.

Sarah ran up to hug Jane and stood there grinning at her.

"Your hair," was all Jane could manage to say.

"Do you like it? Janice dyed it for me. I've told you about Janice right? My dad's girlfriend? Anyway, I really love my hair dark. Don't you?" Sarah asked excitedly.

"Uh, yeah, it looks good. Did you get it cut too?" Jane asked, staring at Sarah's hair.

"Oh, yeah. I only got a little taken off. I thought it was time to do something different, you know? Change things up a bit. Birmingham was great…"

Jane walked inside, Sarah leading the way to her room. Jane tried to listen to what Sarah was saying, but all she could think about was Sarah's hair. Sarah had loved her long blonde hair; she was so particular about it. She hardly let anybody touch it. In fact, Jane used to poke fun at her because of it. And now, she had cut and dyed it? It was such a drastic change. Personally, Jane had liked it better the way it was before. Now, it was too—not Sarah. In fact, it looked more like Jane's hair than anything.

"So how was Paris? Did you love it?" Sarah asked eagerly.

Jane pushed the thought of Sarah's hair to the back of her mind.

"Yeah, it was amazing. Actually," Jane said, looking through her bag, "I got you a bracelet."

Jane pulled out the bracelet, and Sarah excitedly took it.

"It's so pretty," Sarah said as she put it on her wrist.

"Yeah, I got one like it too. I thought matching bracelets was a cool idea," Jane said, holding up her own wrist to show off her own bracelet.

Though, now that they had similar hairstyles, what was the point in matching bracelets?

"Oh, that's such a good idea," Sarah said.

Sarah caught a glimpse of her and Jane in the mirror.

"Oh my goodness! We look like twins almost!"

Sarah's voice had a tone of excitement in it, but a pit started to form in the centre of Jane's stomach when she stared at the mirror.

Yeah, that's great, Jane thought sarcastically. Just great.