CHAPTER FIFTY

Try as she might, Jane could not get James to talk to her. No one could get James to talk. He stayed silent for hours. All throughout Care of Magical Creatures, he said nothing. When the class ended, he said nothing. When they walked to Gryffindor Tower, he said nothing. All the while, Jane followed behind him, begging for him to speak.

She followed him all the way up to the boys' dormitories.

"James, would you please say something? Anything?" she was saying.

"I think he's still in shock from seeing you with Ashby's tongue shoved down your throat," Sirius said maliciously; while James wouldn't speak, Sirius kept jeering at her.

"Shut up!" Jane snapped.

"Well, that's what happened!" Sirius retorted. "I mean, just look at him, he's—"

"Sirius, I swear to Merlin, I'm going to cut out your tongue," Jane said.

"Just so long as you don't shove it down your throat too."

Jane lunged at Sirius, but Peter and Remus caught her and held her back. She tried unsuccessfully to push them away as she screamed curses and obscenities at Sirius.

"Jane, calm down," Peter said.

"No! I will not calm down! James won't speak to me, and Sirius won't shut up about it! You guys can be so infuriating sometimes! My first relationship, and you're already ruining it!" she screamed.

"Relationship?"

Everybody looked to James. It was as though he were going to explode at any moment.

"Yes," Jane answered him in a much more tentative voice. "Aaron asked me to be his girlfriend, and I said yes."

"Why? Why would you do that?" James asked slowly. "The one guy I hate probably more than anyone, and you-you're his girlfriend. Why?"

"He's nice to me," Jane said quietly, looking at her feet.

"There are tons of nicer people to date than Ashby," James said.

"It wouldn't matter if there were; as soon as I'd like them, you'd come up with a reason to hate them," Jane argued.

"That is not true. I hated Ashby long before I even knew you existed," James defended. "He's not a good person."

"So, you keep saying, but where's the proof?" Jane asked. "He likes me. And he's nice to me. Nicer to me than even Sirius is, and Sirius is supposed to be my friend."

"You're doing this because Sirius is mean to you? Because I can kick his arse for you if that's what you want," James said desperately.

Sirius scoffed.

"No," Jane replied. "I like him, James. I like him so much, and he makes me happy. Why can't you just see that? Why can't you just be happy for me instead of trying to ruin it?"

"Because I don't want you to get hurt. And I know Ashby; I've known him way longer than you have, and I'm telling you, something's not right here."

"Oh, that's right, because no one in their right mind would like me just because they like me; they have to have an ulterior motive, is that it?"

Jane was on the brink of tears.

"That-that's not what I said," James said.

"Well, it's what I'm hearing," Jane said. "Why can't you just trust me to make a right decision? I can look after myself; I've been doing it for years."

The last part wasn't supposed to slip out. Jane had been referring to all the times her mother would fall into one of her episodes while her father was away on business. And she was referring to the bullies at her old school. And she was referring to when she had stuck up for herself against Sarah when she had called her a bitch. Jane had been referring to a lot of things, but that last part wasn't supposed to slip out of her mouth.

"I do trust you," James said. "I know you're smart—"

"Then why don't you act like it?" Jane asked in a hurt voice. "I'm not as naïve as you think I am."

James sighed, not knowing what to say.

"I can take care of myself," Jane repeated in a voice a little above a whisper.

Nobody in the room said anything, not even Sirius. The tension in the air was so thick that someone could cut it with a knife; it was so prominent that when Frank Longbottom walked into the dorm, he took one look at all of them and walked right back out again. It was very uncomfortable.

"Could you please just give me a chance?" Jane asked desperately. "I'm not saying that you have to be friends with him; you don't even have to like him, but could you at least try and tolerate him? He's not as bad as you like to think that he is."

James remained silent.

"And he's my boyfriend," Jane added quietly. "My first boyfriend, and I'm really excited about it."

James looked down at her. The expression on her face was one of desperation. She needed his approval, otherwise she'd be torn between her friends and her boyfriend. Ashby wasn't making her choose, and James wasn't about to make her either.

Though it pained him to do it, James nodded his head slightly.

"All right," he said.

Jane let out a sigh of relief, and she couldn't stop herself from grinning like an idiot. She wrapped James in a big embrace.

"Thank you," she said happily, letting go of him.

James forced himself to smile down at her. She was just so happy, and she had the type of smile that was contagious. It was unique in the way that it could look devious and reckless while at the same time looking kind and caring, just like her mother's, though James didn't know that. Jane's smile was one of his favourite things.

"I have to go tell Lily," Jane said excitedly. "I have a boyfriend!" she said in an unbelieving tone as she laughed.

James watched as she disappeared from their room. If Ashby ended up ruining that smile of hers, James would hunt him down.

Sirius walked up to him, no longer interested in teasing Jane.

"So, you think he'll really hurt her?" he asked in a serious voice; he may have given Jane a hard time, but she was still his friend, and he didn't want to see her get hurt any more than James did.

James continued to look at the spot where Jane had disappeared from his sight.

"He better not."