CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Madam Pomfrey fixed Jane's ankle in a heartbeat. Of course, that did not mean Jane was free to go. Madam Pomfrey wanted to keep her overnight. Unfortunately, that meant Jane would miss the victory party. The first victory party where she had actually contributed to the victory, and she couldn't go. It was just her luck.
Apparently, it didn't matter that she was missing the party because it felt like half of Gryffindor house was visiting her. There were her roommates, Remus, Peter, Sirius, and the rest of the Quidditch team, and even the Prewett twins showed up. Well, James had yet to make it, but he was probably in a lot of trouble; he certainly had a few detentions in his near future.
"That was some great flying today, Jane," Will said.
"Yeah," Brenton said. "That Avery's a tosser. Hopefully, James gave him what he deserved."
"Hopefully," Candice butted in, "he's not suspended from the Quidditch team."
Jane straightened up in the bed, concern plastered on her face.
"Can they do that?" she asked.
Candice sighed and shrugged a bit.
"Yeah, if they think it's necessary."
"Ugh!" Jane exclaimed as she fell back into her propped up pillows.
"Relax," Sirius said, "he'll probably get off with a few detentions. It's no big deal. Besides, Avery had it coming. It's a good thing I didn't get to him first. It's a lot easier to kill someone with a Beater's bat than it is your bare hands."
Sirius smirked and hit his Beater's bat against his hand as he said this.
"James wouldn't have killed him," Jane said.
"Well…" Remus started, smiling.
Jane smiled, hit him playfully, and shook her head.
"It was kind of hot," Mary said in a dreamy sort of voice.
Everyone just looked at her and got really quiet.
"Mary," Alice said after the moment of silence, "don't talk."
"No, please, let her keep talking."
Everybody turned to see James walking through the doors of the Hospital Wing. Mary blushed and looked at the floor.
"Move," James said to Peter, taking his spot at the foot of Jane's bed. "You all right?"
Jane nodded.
"My ankle's fixed; it's just a little sore, but Madam Pomfrey's keeping me here. You know how she is. What about you?"
"A week's worth of detention, but other than that, I'm off the hook," he said.
Jane heard Candice let out a sigh of relief. Jane smiled.
"You know you shouldn't have done it," she said.
"He shouldn't be an arse. I don't let people hurt my friends," James replied.
After that, Madam Pomfrey came to shoo them all away, much to Jane's chagrin, and Jane was left all alone in the Hospital Wing with nothing to do but think.
The Quidditch game had been so much fun. It had been a rush of excitement from the start to the very end, and Jane couldn't wait to do it again. Unfortunately, Gryffindor's next game wasn't until February.
Jane also couldn't wait to tell her parents about the thirty points she had scored. Two summers ago, Jane had had her work cut out for her as she tried to explain the sport to her parents. She had never been really good at Muggle sports; her father would be so proud. She smiled just thinking about it.
Jane looked over at the nightstand beside the bed where Lily had put her camera. She had asked Lily to take some pictures of her first game; she couldn't wait to get them developed. As soon as Madam Pomfrey let her go, she'd go to Hogsmeade. They were going to turn out so great.
Later on that night, after Madam Pomfrey had went to her bed chambers, Jane lay awake. The beds in the Hospital Wing weren't as comfortable as the dorm beds. Jane, it seemed, had been cursed with an especially lumpy mattress that made sleeping very difficult. So when the door to the Hospital Wing opened that night, Jane was awake to hear it. She sat up in her bed and squinted through the dark. She saw a figure moving through the dark, and it was moving towards her. Suddenly, there was a bump, as though the person had run into something.
"Shit," the person cursed.
Jane's brow furrowed when she recognised the voice.
"Aaron?"
Aaron sat on the edge of her bed.
"Hi," he said.
"Hi," Jane said, laughing a bit. "What are you doing?"
"Coming to visit you, of course," he said.
There was a rustling as he held something out for her.
"Got you some flowers," he said. "They're a lot nicer when you can see them."
Jane laughed.
"Wait," Aaron said, pulling something out. "Lumos!"
The tip of his wand illuminated the small area around them. Jane looked at the flowers.
"Uh, Aaron," she started, "these are from one of the centrepieces in the Great Hall."
"Well, as you probably know, there's a huge lack of flowers on the grounds in November, and I didn't think you'd want anything from the greenhouses that might eat you or something, so this was the best I could do," he said.
"Well, in that case, they're lovely," Jane said, smiling.
She sat them on the nightstand.
"So, did stealing flowers from the Great Hall take you this long or did you get lost?" Jane asked.
"Well, I was going to come see you earlier, but I didn't feel like Potter and Black would've liked that very much, and trying to get past Madam Pomfrey after visiting hours is, well, near impossible," Aaron explained.
Jane smiled yet again.
"Do you maybe want to get out of here? Go down to the lake or something? I brought you one of my cloaks, so you wouldn't get cold," Aaron said.
Jane's heart started to race. He was being so nice to her. And he was one of the cutest guys in Hogwarts. And forget the age difference, lately, she actually felt like she had a shot with him, like he really liked her.
"I'd like that," she said.