CHAPTER NINETY-THREE

"I need to talk to you," Jane said as she walked into the common room, knowing that the boys would be sitting in their usual places in front of the fireplace.

James stood up, still in his Quidditch robes, prepared to tell Jane how sorry he was about what he'd said about her father. However, as he opened his mouth, before he could say anything, Jane rolled her eyes and said:

"Shut up, James."

James sat back down, frowning a bit.

"In light of recent events, I have decided to speak to you again," Jane said.

"Do 'recent events' include the Hufflepuff game or MacGregor?" Sirius asked sarcastically.

Jane narrowed her eyes at him.

"Maybe it's a bit of both, but future events might include my fist and your face if you don't shut up and let me finish," Jane threatened.

Sirius rolled his eyes, settling back into the couch. However, he smiled a bit; it was the first time Jane had spoken to him in weeks.

"I have a few conditions though, because I'm still mad and hurt, and I probably will be for a while," Jane said. "You guys can't lie to me. You can't keep things from me. Friends don't do that. You can't leave me out of things and expect me to be okay with it because it doesn't work like that."

"Deal," James said. "No more secrets; we promise."

"No, see, I didn't ask you to speak," Jane said harshly, pointing at James. "You had absolutely no right to say what you did to me today. You don't know what goes on at my house. You don't know why my father doesn't talk to me. So, I ask you to keep quiet about things you know nothing about."

"I never meant to say it—"

"Well then, I ask that you don't say things that you don't mean. Once you say it, you can't take it back, and whether you meant it or not, it still hurt," Jane said truthfully. "Just learn to think before you speak."

"So, does this mean you're forgiving us?" Peter asked.

"A little," Jane said, "as long as you keep on my good side. Do you think you can manage that?"

James just nodded, glad that for once, Jane was talking to them and not yelling. Jane had to stop herself from cracking a smile at his overly enthusiastic head nod. After all, she didn't want them thinking that everything was completely fine. Not for a while at least.

Jane turned to walk up to her dormitory.

"Where are you going?" Sirius asked. "Sit with us."

"I said I'd talk to you again, not hang out with you in my spare time. Besides, I need to study."

Throughout the following week, Jane slowly warmed back up to the boys, sitting and talking with them during classes and at lunch. Quidditch practice was much more bearable now (which the entire team was more than thankful for).

Jane had to admit that she had missed being around the boys; life seemed boring without them. Of course, she never let them know that; Sirius would never let her hear the end of it if she did. However, people like Will and Lily noticed that Jane seemed a bit happier and more relaxed again.

The Hufflepuff game had been easy, as expected, and the "J-Team" was back on their feet again (or rather, their broomsticks), seeing as how Jane was no longer furious with James. And the aforementioned match had ended with a victory party in the Gryffindor common room. Jane had been pouring herself a cup of Firewhiskey when Will came up to her.

"Easy there. What is that? Your fifth cup?" he teased.

"If this was my fifth cup, I wouldn't still be standing," Jane said, smiling as she filled the cup.

"You were great out on the pitch today," Will complemented.

"You didn't do too bad yourself, Captain," Jane said, nudging him playfully in the arm.

Will smiled, and Jane took a sip of her drink. Two third years beside her were trying to get an old radio to work, cursing in frustration every time static met their ears. Will leaned over and tapped the radio with his wand, and it immediately picked up the Wizarding Wireless Network.

"Doesn't this thing get any other station?" Jane asked.

"Hey, WWN is a good station," Will defended. "Listen; this is The Hippogriffs. They're one of my favourite bands."

Jane listened for a while and nodded her head along with the song.

"They're okay," Jane said, "Zeppelin is better though."

"Who?"

"You don't know who Led Zeppelin is?" Jane asked in an astonished voice. "Where do you live? Under a rock? What about The Who or Thin Lizzy or David Bowie?"

Will just shook his head.

"You desperately need to be introduced to Muggle music," Jane said, turning to the radio. "Do you think this picks up Muggle networks?"

"I highly doubt it," Will said. "We're lucky it even picks up WWN."

Jane let out an overdramatic sigh that made Will laugh.

"I guess you'll never know good music," she teased.

Will scoffed playfully.

"I have impeccable taste in music! The Hippogriffs are a hit!"

Jane just laughed and continued to drink her Firewhiskey. She looked around the common room and smiled a bit when she saw James and Sirius playing a drinking game that they had made up last year which involved a deck of Exploding Snap cards.

"I never thanked you," Jane said.

"For what?"

"Stopping me from throwing away my friendships," she said, still smiling at James and Sirius, who now had a small crowd around them.

"That was all you," Will said. "I only told you that you needed to tolerate them for the game."

"Yeah, well, it helped, so thank you."

"No problem," Will replied, grinning a goofy grin that made Jane laugh.

"Well, I'm gonna go see if I can't stop them before they drink themselves to death," Jane said.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Will said, smirking before Jane walked away.

Jane sat herself in between James and Sirius on the couch.

"Janie!" Sirius said enthusiastically. "Come to join the game?"

"No, I've come to see how drunk you are."

"Only a little," Sirius said, hiccupping as he talked, causing Jane to giggle a bit.

"Why'd you stop talking to MacGregor?" James asked, slurring his words ever so slightly. "He fancies you, you know."

"The fact that you think that lets me know you've had one too many," Jane told him.

"No, it's true," Sirius said, draping an arm over her shoulders. "Why else do you think he talks to you all the time?"

Jane rolled her eyes.

"Because that's what nice people do, Sirius."

"No, he really does like you," James said, and Jane laughed at the sudden seriousness of his tone.

"Okay, I'll humour you. Why do you think he likes me?"

"A) it's painfully obvious. B) in third year I heard him call you pretty. And C) he's always asking James about you," Sirius said.

"He's always—? How come I'm just now finding out about it then?" Jane asked.

James shrugged.

"Well, I'm sure girls have asked about us, and you've never said anything," Sirius said, propping his feet up on the coffee table.

"That's because, by now, almost every girl in our year has asked about one of you at some point," Jane said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, how do you know that guys aren't always asking us about you?" James asked.

Jane looked at James curiously.

"Do they?" she asked.

Sirius gave a kind of snort of laughter.

"No," he said.

Jane scowled and thumped him in the forehead. She guessed it didn't matter though. She wasn't really looking for a relationship right now anyway. In fact, with everything that had been going on, a boyfriend was the last thing Jane needed to worry about. Will was a nice guy and all, and good-looking too, but she was already emotionally unstable as it was without adding a boy to the mix.