CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

Jane was glad to be back at the Potters' with her huge guest room with its queen size bed and balcony. She sat her suitcase, broom, and owl (whom she had named Asha) on the floor and fell back onto the bed, smiling and staring up at the canopy.

Upon glancing at one of the throw pillows, she grabbed it to make sure she had seen it correctly.

JHE

Were those really her initials monogrammed onto the pillow?

"That was Mum's idea," James said from the doorway. "It's also on all your towels, and even a bathrobe, I think."

Jane laughed and put the pillow down as she sat up.

"Your mum really out does herself sometimes," Jane said.

"E?" said Sirius, picking up the pillow. "What's your middle name?"

"If you must know, it's Elizabeth," Jane said, grabbing the pillow away from him.

"What is it with your family and dreadfully ordinary names?" he asked. "Jane. Mary. Elizabeth. They're all so typical," he said.

"I happen to like my name," Jane said. "Might I ask what your middle name is?"

"Orion," he said.

"Sirius Orion Black?"

"The third," he added.

Jane just stared at him for a moment.

"Don't ever make fun of my name," she said before throwing the pillow back onto her bed.

"My name is exciting," he defended.

"Your name is weird," Jane countered.

"You're weird."

"Good comeback," Jane said sarcastically.

"As amusing as it is to watch my two best friends hate each other, we have more pressing matters to attend to," James said. "We only have two weeks of freedom left! What should we do?"

"I don't hate him," Jane said. "I just find his ego to be annoyingly inflated."

"I, on the other hand, do hate her," Sirius said.

Jane rolled her eyes.

"Keep telling yourself that, mate," she said.

"Quidditch it is then," James said, answering his own question.

Jane smiled and grabbed her broomstick.

After their game of Quidditch, in which no one really won because there wasn't enough of them to actually make teams, the three went back inside to wash up for dinner. Jane was brushing the knots and tangles out of her hair when Sirius burst into her room, followed by James.

They both jumped onto her bed and proceeded to lay there. Jane quickly grabbed her broomstick and started to hit them with the handle of it.

"Get off! Get off this instant! You're still all sweaty!" she yelled at them.

The boys hopped off of her bed as fast as they could, trying to dodge the Nimbus. Sirius flicked his wand, and Jane's brush flew off the dressing table and hit her in the back of the head.

Jane paused for a second, stunned, but then smiled a sadistic smile.

"Now, you're going to get it," she said as she pulled her wand out.

"Run," James said, and he and Sirius both streaked out of the room and through the house.

Jane went after them.

Despite the fact that Jane was actually planning on hexing the daylights out of them, all three of them were laughing. This was just their idea of a good time, mindless horseplay.

Jane ran down the stairs and came to a stop in the den to catch her breath. She looked around and saw a copy of the Daily Prophet sitting on a coffee table. She picked it up. It was a few days old, but the headline had caught her attention.

Dark Wizard Continues to Strike Fear

With the disappearances of Wizards, Witches, and Muggles alike, the wizarding community is frightened that a new dark force is trying to take over. The magical world has not seen a dark wizard as powerful as this since Gellert Grindelwald, whose terrifying reign ended with his defeat at the hands of Albus Dumbledore twenty-nine years ago.

The new dark wizard is so terrifying that people have begun to fear the mention of his name alone, calling him "You-Know-Who" and "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." Some even fear that within the next few years, he will be powerful enough to take on the Ministry itself.

His followers, who, sources report, call themselves Death Eaters, are growing at an alarming rate. These masked Witches and Wizards do You-Know-Who's bidding, helping him terrorise and kill anyone that might get in his way as he tries to rise to power.

The Ministry of Magic, who has known about this wizard's existence for some time now, is finally rallying their forces against him in attempts to stop the chaos and pandemonium he has left in his wake. The Minister of Magic has finally spoken out on the matter at hand, declaring He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as Undesirable Number One.

"We at the Ministry are doing everything we can to stop You-Know-Who and these so-called Death Eaters," says Minister Eugenia Jenkins. "We have assembled our finest Aurors against these dark forces, and are most confident that this will be handled quickly and before any more real damage can be done."

However, there are many sceptics out there who question the Ministry and its plans.

"This should've been nixed a long time ago when people first started to disappear. I know a witch from Yorkshire that's been missing since April of last year; her family has all but given up hope," says Jeremiah Campbell from London, age 46.

Jenkins has yet to inform the Muggle Prime Minister of the dangers, saying that she doesn't want to "cause a panic." (Story continues on page 7)

Jane didn't turn to page seven, she just sat there and stared at the front page of the Prophet and contemplated on what she had just read. She couldn't believe that things were getting this bad. At least, she didn't want to believe it.

"You know, by now I shouldn't be surprised that you were distracted by a newspaper, of all things" Sirius drawled from the doorway.

Jane shook her head and continued to stare down at the paper.

"What? No eye roll? No sarcastic, witty comeback? No empty threats? It's no fun when you don't retaliate!" Sirius whined.

"Yeah, you were on a roll today, what happened?" James asked.

Jane held up the paper.

"Have you read this?" she asked them.

James grabbed the paper and examined it.

"Oh, yeah. That was Tuesday's paper. A touch too morbid for me," he said.

"You're not worried?" Jane asked.

"What? About this?" James asked, motioning to the paper. "No way."

"Why not?"

"Well, the Ministry says they've got their best Aurors out looking for this guy. It's only a matter of time before they catch him and lock him up in Azkaban."

"You really think they'll catch him?" Jane asked.

"Of course," James assured. "Trust me, by the time we graduate Hogwarts, no one will even remember this guy's name or why they were so afraid of it."

Jane smiled, feeling a little better.

"Now, come on. Sirius and I want to play a game of Exploding Snap before dinner!"