CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
That Saturday, Mrs. Potter woke them all up early. All morning they seemed to be running around the house and helping with chores (which James was, unsurprisingly, not happy about). Then, later, they all got ready for the dinner party.
Once again, Jane was delighted to have Mrs. Potter fix her up for the party. Seeing as how Jane never really got to do things like this with her own mum, being able to do them with someone else's mum was always fun. There was always some sort of advice to be given, such as the secret to perfect curls or how to carry oneself in an elegant way.
Mrs. Potter always seemed to take pleasure in helping Jane too. She would always talk about how she wished she would've had a little girl after James. Jane vaguely wondered why the Potters hadn't had any more children after James; after all, they were spectacular parents. James had been right when he had said Jane was like the daughter his mother never had.
Jane looked at herself in the mirror when she had finished getting ready. She smiled. It wasn't that Jane thought that she normally looked ugly, she just never saw herself as exceptionally beautiful. However, Mrs. Potter had taken her average looks and turned her into someone whose beauty was on par with Marlene or Lily. Of course, when Jane walked down the stairs, Sirius greeted her with snide remarks, but she didn't care.
"You're just mad that I look better than you," Jane said.
"No one looks better than me. It's not possible," Sirius said arrogantly.
"I like to think that I'm more attractive than the both of you," James said.
Jane rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway.
"You all look very nice," Mrs. Potter said.
"We know that," James said. "We're just in argument over who looks better."
"All right, well it's picture time," his mum said, holding up a camera.
James rolled his eyes, and his mother gave him a warning look.
"You will behave yourself tonight," she said to him.
"What are you on about? I always behave myself," he said, feigning innocence.
The three friends posed for the picture, James and Sirius both using Jane's shoulders to prop their elbows up on and Jane wrapping her arms around their backs. After Mrs. Potter snapped the picture, James rumpled his untidy black hair.
"Oh, James, honestly. Your hair's messy enough without you making it look worse," Mrs. Potter said.
She walked towards him, trying desperately to get her hands on his hair, but he ducked away from her.
"I like my hair like this. It's cool," he said.
Mrs. Potter sighed.
"Guests will be arriving in half an hour. Let's please not have a repeat of what happened the last time we hosted a party," Mrs. Potter said before walking away.
"What'd you do last time?" Jane asked.
"Oh, nothing bad," James said. "It was really a good laugh once everybody's hair went back to normal."
Jane arched an eyebrow. She opened her mouth to say something, but was cut short when someone walked out of the fireplace.
Jane stared at the woman who was wearing a hat with a stuffed vulture on it.
"Ah," she said, spotting the three fifteen-year-olds. "Hello, James. I hope your mother won't mind, but I like to arrive early."
"I'm sure she'll be delighted to see you, Mrs. Longbottom," James said in a voice so polite that it sounded unnatural coming from him.
Mrs. Longbottom shoved her red handbag and cloak into Sirius' arms as though he were the butler and promptly walked away to find James' mum. Jane giggled a little as Sirius looked down at her things.
"Sorry about that," said Frank, who had appeared just after his mother. "She's a bit overbearing sometimes."
Frank took the things from Sirius' hands.
"I'll just go put these away," he said, walking toward the coat closet.
"Oh, servant boy, I fancy a drink," Jane teased Sirius.
He scowled at her.
"Shut up."
By the time dinner rolled around, everyone had shown up. Even Alice had come with her family.
"I usually don't let my parents drag me to these things," she had told Jane, "but I heard the Longbottoms were gonna be here, and well, why would I pass up an opportunity to talk to Frank? Of course, Blake couldn't come. He's so worried about his O.W.L.s that he stayed at Hogwarts."
That was okay with Jane. Ever since that embarrassing scene in her first year, she had actively avoided any kind of contact with Blake Hanson. Besides, Jane was pretty sure he had a girlfriend now anyway.
At dinner time, there were fancy notecards with people's names on them, showing them where to sit. Jane was between Alice and James at a smaller table off to the right of the main table.
"You pull one tiny prank, and you're doomed to the children's table forever," James had said in an annoyed tone. "I mean, we're fifteen. We're basically adults."
"I'm fine with the children's table," Alice had said. "We get ice cream after the meal."
After dinner, instead of being forced to mingle with people, the five fourth years snuck out through the back garden. Alice ripped the hem of her dress robes when they were hopping over the little stone wall, but she just shrugged and kept going.
The sun had gone down, surrounding them in darkness as they made their way to the pond. It was much easier to see around the pond; the moonlight reflecting in the water seemed to light up the surrounding area.
James suddenly began to take off his shoes, then he began to loosen his tie. Sirius followed suit.
"What are you doing?" Jane asked as the two boys took their shirts off.
"Going for a swim," James said, tossing his nice cloak onto the boulder beside the pond.
"Are you kidding me? That water's got to be freezing!" Jane said.
James only smirked, and Jane immediately averted her eyes when he began to tug off his trousers, leaving him only in his undergarments.
"James! Sirius!" Jane said loudly, her face reddening in embarrassment as she continued to look the opposite direction. "Put your clothes back on! Have you no shame?"
"With a body this good looking? No way," Sirius said.
It was a stupid question on her behalf. James and Sirius were embarrassed by nothing. They were shameless.
Frank laughed and began to follow their example. And while Jane could hardly glance at the boys without her whole face going red, Alice seemed very amused by the sight.
Jane glanced over to see James standing on the dock.
"James Potter, don't you get in that water!" Jane implored. "You'll die of hypothermia!"
James only grinned, placed his glasses on the deck, and jumped off the dock. Sirius and Frank followed.
Jane's mouth dropped open, and Alice laughed.
"Don't worry, Janie," Sirius said. "It's quite warm. Feel."
Jane jumped a little when he splashed water near where she was standing. Alice walked to the dock and touched the water with her hand.
"It is warm," she said. "Perfect temperature actually."
"Had my dad put a Heating Charm on it yesterday," James explained.
"Come on!" Sirius said. "Jump on in!"
Jane gave him an incredulous look, but Alice smiled recklessly. Jane watched as she kicked off her shoes.
"Alice!"
"What?" Alice asked as she began to reach for the zipper on her dress robes.
"You're not serious, are you?" Jane said, lowering her voice so only Alice could hear. "You can't just strip naked in front of a bunch of guys."
Alice smirked.
"I won't be naked," she said.
"But still!"
"Oh, come on, Jane. Don't be such a prude. It's no worse than a swim suit," Alice said.
Jane watched in incredulity as Alice shed her dress robes and jumped into the water, somewhat secretly envious of her bravery and boldness.
Jane stood there with her mouth open, half laughing at the silliness of the situation. Alice's head popped back up from the water, and she smiled at Jane.
"Come on, Jane!" she said. "Your turn!"
"I think not," Jane said.
"You're no fun!" Alice responded.
"And you're mental!" Jane said.
"Janie, either you get in this water, or I'm gonna throw you in, dress robes and all," Sirius threatened, a smirk on his face and a mischievous glimmer in his eyes.
"Come on, Jane!" James said, splashing at her a bit.
Jane tried hopelessly to refuse as they all started yelling for her to get in the water.
"Don't be such a sissy!" Sirius called. "You're in Gryffindor for Merlin's sake!"
Jane almost walked away twice, trying to decide on what to do.
"You think too much," Alice said. "Just do it!"
Jane let out a laugh. Part of her wished that she was like Alice. Alice was fearless and wild, and she was never embarrassed about anything; she could be a lot like James and Sirius sometimes. But the other part of Jane, the part that was still reserved and shy, kept her from being like Alice.
Jane could hear Sirius' jeering voice ringing in her head:
Don't be such a sissy!
Jane hated when he did that. But he had a point. What was the point of being a Gryffindor if you were afraid of taking any risks?
"You can't look," she said finally as she kicked her shoes off.
And while they laughed, the boys turned to face the opposite direction. Though, Sirius, mostly for the purpose of defying her orders and being an arse, snuck peaks over his shoulder.
Jane unzipped her dress robes and slowly let the pink fabric fall to the dock, leaving her in her undergarments like everybody else. The chilly night air nipped at her bare flesh, covering her body in goose pimples. She tentatively stepped to the edge of the dock and looked down at her reflection in the water.
I must be going mad to be doing this, she thought right before she jumped in.
The warm water felt nice in contrast to the cool air as it engulfed her body. Jane couldn't help but feel as though it were a little freeing in a way. She shot up through the water and resurfaced, wiping her wet hair from her face and smiling.
"See? Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Sirius teased as he swam in a circle around her.
Jane splashed at him, but he swam away. Suddenly, something wrapped around both of her ankles and pulled her under. However, before Jane even had time to panic, she was released, and she resurfaced along with Alice who was grinning.
"Alice: one. Jane: zero," James said.
Jane smirked, determined to even the score as she lunged at Alice. And it was suddenly every person for him/herself as they all started to fight playfully, dunking and splashing and pulling each other under while shouting happily and laughing.
This went on for a good bit before Frank and Alice decided they should get back to the house before the party ended and their parents came looking for them. So they got out and used Drying Spells to the best of their abilities before getting dressed, Jane, once again, making the boys turn around, and Sirius, once again, being an arsehole and looking anyway. However, James spotted him this time and punched him in the arm.
The five of them walked back to the house and Alice and Frank said their goodbyes as they went to find their parents.
Mrs. Potter spotted them and saw that James was smiling.
"See, this party wasn't so bad, now was it?" she said, patting him on the shoulder.
"It was definitely one of the more fun ones," he said truthfully before he, Sirius, and Jane walked upstairs to play a few games of Exploding Snap (none of which Jane won of course).