CHAPTER NINETY
As it turns out, Jane wasn't the easiest person in the world to sleep with. She liked to move around a lot, which would've been fine if the bed had been made for more than one person. So, for the rest of the Christmas holidays, she slept in James' bed because Sirius didn't think he could handle another night of "let's see how close to the edge I can sleep without actually falling off."
The two friends spent the rest of the Christmas holidays together, Jane's desire to be alone having dissipated. During the times in which they ventured to Hogsmeade, Jane would look for the dog, but sadly, she never saw it again. She never said anything about it, but Sirius would catch her looking around as though expecting something to pop up. He always felt a tiny twinge of guilt at her brief looks of disappointment whenever she would stop looking.
On Christmas Eve, Jane had been able to nick a bottle of Firewhiskey from behind the bar at the Three Broomsticks as Sirius distracted Madam Rosmerta. After the feast on Christmas Day, she and Sirius snuck off to the Astronomy tower to drink and smoke and talk about nothing in particular. They had then stumbled back to the boys' dorm and passed out in the respective beds, waking up the next day with terrible hangovers.
On December thirty-first, they had their own little party of two up in the boys' dorm with more drinking and talking and laughing, counting down to the new year with Sirius' wristwatch.
James, Peter, and Remus came back on the fourth of January. They were very pleased to find that Jane was much happier compared to when they had left her. They were even more pleased with the fact that she hadn't killed Sirius over the holidays nor did she seem mad that he had stayed.
"I thought she would have at least hexed you," James had admitted to Sirius. "How'd you even get her to talk to you?"
"I have my ways," Sirius had said, smirking.
It was a pretty vague answer, but James didn't care. He was just happy that Jane was finally happy. Who cared how she got that way? Everything was going great.
However, on the seventeenth, Jane had trouble sleeping again. It wasn't that she was having nightmares about her mum or anything like that; it was just that she couldn't seem to go to sleep no matter how hard she tried. She thought over and over again about going to the boys' dorm, but she decided against it.
You can't go off and sleep in their room every time you have trouble sleeping, she thought to herself.
But as she lay in her bed, staring at the pale light that the full moon was casting on the floor in front of the window, Jane suddenly remembered something. Remus was in the Hospital Wing tonight. There'd be an open bed for her.
Jane jumped out of bed and walked over to the boys' dorm, telling herself that this would be the last time she would do this. She walked into the room and was surprised to find that the rest of the boys, save for Frank, were gone as well.
Jane frowned. They were off having fun without her? Why hadn't they asked her to come? Why were they leaving her out?
This sparked something inside of Jane, and the want of a good night's rest diminished into nothing in the wake of her own curiosity. Jane went back to her dorm and slipped on some shoes and a cloak before grabbing her wand and heading out of Gryffindor Tower.
Jane walked to the Hospital Wing first. Maybe they had went to visit Remus though she wasn't sure why they would. After all, they always visited him in the mornings to see how he was doing. She crept quietly into the Hospital Wing and checked around for the boys. They weren't there. However, that part didn't bother Jane as much as the fact that Remus was nowhere to be found either.
Why was it that they would invite Remus, who was supposed to be sick, to do whatever it was that they were doing, but they didn't invite her? It made no sense.
Jane walked around the castle, luckily dodging teachers and prefects as she went. She went to the kitchens, the Room of Requirement, and anywhere else that she could think of that the boys might be. She grew increasingly frustrated after searching five different places and all of them turning up empty.
The only other places that Jane could imagine that they'd be was the Quidditch pitch or Hogsmeade. However unlikely it was for Remus to play Quidditch when he was sick (or play it at all for that matter), Jane decided to check the Quidditch pitch first seeing as how it was a bit closer than Hogsmeade.
As she walked down to the pitch, an ominous feeling formed in Jane's gut. She had never roamed the school grounds by herself in the middle of the night, and the pitch was just so far away from the safety of the castle. About halfway there, she decided to turn back because even with the moon lighting her way, it was still dark and cold and scary.
As Jane reached the school, she saw a figure making its way around the castle. Realising that it was a teacher probably looking for students who were out of bed, Jane panicked. The teacher seemed to turn towards her, lit wand in their hand. Jane sprinted away, and without thinking, she darted into the Forbidden Forest. She ducked behind a very large, very old tree and tucked herself away in the large groove between its roots, her back pressed against the scratchy bark as she sat there.
Her heart pounded in her chest as the light from the teacher's wand grew closer. Jane moved her feet closer to her, trying desperately to sink into the tree. She could hear the teacher's footsteps now. However, they seemed to stop, and the light from their wand seemed to scan the area, flashing quickly over the tree that Jane was just on the other side of.
Jane held her breath and listened quietly. Finally, the footsteps retreated back up towards the castle, and Jane let out a sigh of relief. However, she refused to move from the spot. She wanted to wait until the teacher was far away from her before she came out of her hiding spot.
After about fifteen minutes of sitting there, Jane decided she'd go back up to the castle. She had almost gotten caught out of bed, and in the Dark Forest, no less. Her fingers were numb because it was so cold outside. And she was so scared, her own shadow might give her a heart attack at this point. Who cared what the boys were doing anymore? She could ask them about it later.
Jane stood up, brushing dirt and dead leaves from the back of her pyjama bottoms. She walked around the tree, flicking her wand to light it, and she immediately stopped in her tracks.
Jane was looking into the face of the scariest creature that she had ever seen. It seemed to be some kind of horse, but it was black and skeletal looking with large bat-like wings. Its face almost looked reptilian and its eyes were a glimmering white, and they were pupil-less.
Jane started to tremble. The creature stared at her almost curiously. Jane took a step back, almost tripping over a tree root. In turn, the sinister looking horse took a step towards her, and Jane took off, not caring that she was running further into the forest; she just wanted to get away from that thing.
Jane ran and ran, jumping over roots and fallen trees, ducking under low hanging branches. She wasn't sure if it was following her or not, but she was too scared to look behind her, and she definitely wasn't about to stop running and find out that way.
Finally, Jane's leg got tangled up in a briar patch. She lost her balance as the thorns dug into her ankle, and she fell to the ground. Jane carefully untangled her foot from the thorns and clamped her hand around it, hissing in pain. Then, she looked around, and though the creature was nowhere in sight, Jane started to panic.
Jane didn't know where she was. She was lost inside a forest full of creatures and things that she never wanted to encounter. And she was alone and cold and scared. Her breathing became uneasy, and she almost started to cry. She had turned and weaved through so many things while running that she didn't know which way was the way out anymore.
Jane just stood there with her wand held out in front of her, turning in a circle, trying to determine which way would lead her back to the castle and which led further into the forest. Suddenly, Jane heard a snap from somewhere behind her, as though someone had stepped on a twig. Jane whirled around and nearly collapsed.
Jane had only ever seen pictures of this beast, and they alone had been enough to frighten her. Never did she expect to ever be staring into the eyes of an actual werewolf.
A vicious snarl ripped through the air, and Jane couldn't even scream because her throat seemed to have closed up. Suddenly, something big jumped in between Jane and the werewolf. Jane watched, frozen with fear, as a stag kicked and bucked at the werewolf, making it retreat somewhat.
Jane heard another growl, and she recognised the black dog that she had first seen in Hogsmeade. However, it looked angry, and it scared her. It stepped towards her, growling and barking at her.
Run, Jane thought. Move! Do something! You're going to die!
But Jane was frozen, rooted to the spot by fear. She couldn't breathe. She was having a panic attack, and she didn't know what to do.
With a loud growl, the dog leapt at Jane and a scream finally broke through her lips as its teeth sank into her arm. The dog pulled painfully on her arm, dragging her away from the werewolf and the stag, which were still fighting with each other.
The black dog dragged Jane through the trees, and she tripped and stumbled along the way, trying hopelessly to get her arm out of the dog's mouth. Finally, when Jane could see edge of the forest, the dog seemed to loosen its grip on her arm. Jane fell onto the ground after yanking her bleeding arm away. She rolled onto her back and kicked the dog in its side.
Its growls seemed to turn into whimpers as it stumbled away from her. Jane scrambled away from the dog, and it ran back into the forest. Jane felt something scramble over her foot, and she yelped at the rat that was crawling beside her.
Is that my wand? Does it have my wand? Jane thought as she saw the stick the rat seemed to hold in its mouth and knowing that she had dropped her wand when she had been attacked by the black dog.
However, this wasn't the what startled Jane the most. No, what made her almost faint was watching the rat turn into Peter.
"Come on!" Peter said, shoving her wand at her.
Jane was flabbergasted, and couldn't seem to form words as Peter helped her off the ground.
"But—you just—you were— How did you—?" Jane choked out as Peter quickly led her up to the castle.
"I'll explain later," was all Peter said, ushering her into the castle, looking around anxiously for teachers or prefects that might see them.
As Jane clutched her bleeding arm, Peter dragged her away to the dorm.