CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

"I'm not coming home for Easter," Jane said as she and her father walked up to the platform barrier at Kings Cross.

"Yes, you are," he said.

"No, I'm really not," she said. "And I'm not going to stand here and humour you by letting you believe you have any control over that."

"Now, you listen here, young lady—"

"No," Jane said, laughing in exasperation, "I'm tired of listening to you. You're such a hypocrite. You yell at me for saying all the things to mum that you're too scared to say half the time. If she's not getting help, then I'm not coming home unless I have to.

"I absolutely hate coming home just to have her be like that. And you know, I won't go to a friend's house if that's what you want, but I'm not coming home, because honestly, staying at school with no one to talk to would be a hell of a lot more fun than going home to just have my holiday ruined."

Jane didn't let her dad reply, she walked through the barrier and boarded the train. He'd send her a letter later, probably attempting to reprimand her, but she had meant what she said. He was a hypocrite, and she was tired of going home on the holidays just to wish she were back at Hogwarts.

"Good holidays?" Remus asked as she walked into the compartment.

"I can demonstrate for you how great they were by putting my head through the glass window," Jane suggested bitterly.

"That bad? What happened?" Remus asked.

Jane looked at the concerned expression on his face and sighed.

"I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind," she said.

Remus, being the passive person that he was, let the subject go, and the two friends busied themselves with other things such as Exploding Snap and reading (seeing as how no one was there to tease them for the latter).

When they got to Hogwarts, James, Sirius, and Peter all three seemed ready to kill each other. Jane watched in silence as they snapped at each other over dinner about the most trivial things.

"You three seemed to have had a charming holiday," Jane said as Sirius glared at Peter from across the table.

"It would've been a lot better if Peter's brain wasn't the size of a peanut," Sirius mumbled.

Peter and Sirius started to argue. James looked as though he were about to start banging his head on the table. Remus was actively ignoring them. And Jane was torn between confusion, amusement, and annoyance.

"You all right there, James?" Jane asked.

He looked at her with a dead expression.

"I want to cut out both of their tongues and feed them to dragons," James said. "They've been arguing nonstop all holiday. I'm amazed I haven't strangled them yet."

"I think everyone's amazed at the length of time they can spend around Sirius without strangling him," Jane teased.

"I resent that!" Sirius said. "I'm a most pleasant person to be around!"

Peter made a disparaging noise, and Sirius scowled.

"So help me god, if you make another sound, I'll shove my fist down your throat," he said, causing Peter to cower away.

"Yes, you're very pleasant," Jane said sarcastically.

"You know, I'm not really in the mood for you or your sarcastic attitude. Piss off," Sirius snapped, and Jane was taken aback; after all, she hadn't done anything to him; he was the one in a pissy mood.

"Fine, me and my sarcastic attitude are leaving," Jane said, getting up from the table.

"Oh, don't go, Jane," James said.

"No, I'm not gonna sit here and have him snap at me. If I wanted to argue with someone, I would've stayed at home," Jane said, not really caring that she had inadvertently told them something about home.

"You're overreacting," Sirius said.

"I know I am, and I don't care," Jane said.

"Are you on the rag or something?" he asked.

"No, I'm just not overly fond of being snapped at by someone I haven't seen in weeks," Jane said as she walked away.

"Look at what you did," Jane heard James say to Sirius.

She rolled her eyes and continued to exit the Great Hall. Yes, she was overreacting, but she had good reason. a) She was still a little on edge about her own holidays; b) despite trying to convince herself otherwise, she still had a nagging feeling that the boys were hiding something from her; c) Sirius had snapped at her for no good reason, and d) despite having just told Sirius otherwise, she was on her period. Therefore, it would follow that, she might overreact to something.

Jane walked up to the girls' dormitories and lay on her bed, staring up at the canopy. She squinted at a scratch in the wood that she hadn't noticed before. Curious, she got up, standing on the footboard, keeping herself balanced with one of the bed posts.

Jane traced her fingers over the markings that were carved into the wood:

A. T. Alix was here – 1927

Jane smiled as she continued to trace her fingers over the grooves. She tried to imagine what Hogwarts was like in the 1920s and who this A. T. Alix girl was.

Jane stared at the blank wood underneath Alix's name and got an idea. She pulled her wand from her robe pocket and started to carve into the wood, orange sparks coming from her wand tip.

After she was done, Jane blew lightly on it, wood shavings falling to the ground and onto the bed. Then, she brushed over it with her fingers and smiled.

J. E. Hensworth – 1975

Maybe one day, years from now, some fourth year Gryffindor girl would notice the carvings on her bed and wonder what Hogwarts was like in the 1970s and wonder who J. E. Hensworth was.

Jane stepped down from the footboard and lay back on her bed again, looking up at the carvings on the woodwork. She wondered if the A. T. Alix girl was anything like her. Did she worry about the same things Jane worried about now? Did she have problems in her family, and if so, did she look at other families and wish she were their daughter instead? And did she feel guilty about it?

All these questions ran through Jane's head, and finally, she rolled over and closed her eyes.