CHAPTER NINETY-EIGHT
"Oh, James, leave it alone! Madam Pomfrey says if you pick at it, it'll never heal properly," Jane said.
They were on the Hogwarts Express heading back to London, having successfully made it through the rest of the school year, though Jane was still worried about her O.W.L. grades for her History exam and her Charms practical.
James frowned at his reflection in the window as he continued to stare at the scabbed over cut on the side of his face. He heeded to Jane's words and stopped picking at it.
"Stupid, slimy git," James said, talking about Snape.
"Well, Evans' definitely not friends with him anymore if that cheers you up any, Prongs," Sirius said in a nonchalant way.
"Too bad she hates you more than ever though," Remus said to James.
"Oh, shut up, Moony," James said. "I don't know what her problem is. I'm not the one that called her—well, you know."
Jane had remembered the scene very well. She had been standing right behind James and Sirius, laughing with the rest of the crowd as the two tormented Snape after their written Defence Against the Dark Arts exam. Whilst James had been distracted by Lily yelling at him, Snape had managed to hit James with a curse. Jane remembered how she had gasped as blood spattered James' robes. But it was no matter; James and Sirius had dialled back in on Snape in an instant, leaving Lily to, once again, try and get them to stop, which they had until of course, Snape had called Lily a Mudblood.
At the current moment, Lily wasn't talking to Jane, as was usual after James or Sirius targeted Snape. Jane thought it was all very overdramatic. Why was Lily mad at her? All she had done was laugh along with everyone else. Besides, Snape was the one that had called her a Mudblood.
Jane reached into James' school bag and pulled out the container of poultice Madam Pomfrey had given James so that the cut wouldn't scar as bad. James cringed away from her.
"No," he said, as Jane went to apply some of it to his face, "I'll stop picking at it; I swear."
Jane rolled her eyes.
"James, Madam Pomfrey said you need to apply it twice a day, otherwise it's gonna leave a bad scar," Jane said.
Jane moved towards him once again, and James ducked away from her. Jane huffed in annoyance. The other three boys watched on in amusement, and Jane's owl, Asha, hooted at them from inside her cage. Jane finally managed to slap the poultice on his face, and he grimaced.
"Ugh, how long do I have to keep this on my face?" he asked.
"Well, that right there tells me that you haven't been using it at all since Madam Pomfrey gave it to you," Jane said.
"That's not true, Janie. I saw him put it on once before bed," Sirius said. "But then, he washed it off because he said it burned his face."
"Oh, you poor baby," Jane teased James, and he rolled his eyes at her.
"You need to keep it on there for at least fifteen minutes," she continued.
James groaned.
"Do you want a nasty scar down the side of your face?" she asked, putting the poultice back into his bag.
James mumbled something under his breath but stopped complaining. Jane smiled.
"Now, see, I knew you wouldn't want a scar on that pretty face of yours," she teased, pinching his uninjured cheek playfully.
Jane stood up to get back to her seat, but her path was blocked by Sirius who was trying to get something out of his suitcase on the luggage rack.
"Move," she said, poking him in the side.
"Hold on just a mo," he said, feeling around his suitcase.
Jane rolled her eyes and folded her arms impatiently. Sirius pulled his hand out of his suitcase.
"Got it," he said smiling and holding up his pack of Exploding Snap cards. "Who wants to play?"
"No one," Jane said, "it's a stupid game."
"Aw, someone's just a sore loser," Sirius said.
"Am not," Jane lied. "Now, move," she continued, giving him a little shove.
Sirius smirked.
"No, this has just become my favourite spot. I don't think I'll move."
Jane rolled her eyes and pushed him a little harder, but he didn't budge. He just chuckled at her.
"Hey, Jane, you're standing on my robes," James said.
Jane wasn't listening. She was too busy trying to get Sirius to move.
"Jane," James said, tugging on the bottom of his robes.
"move! I mean it," Jane said. "I'm serious."
"You're not Sirius; I am."
"Jane!" James said, still tugging at the portion if his robes that was under Jane's feet.
"That stopped being funny in first year," Jane said to Sirius, oblivious to James.
"On the contrary, once I realised it was starting to annoy you, it got three times funnier," Sirius replied.
James, getting rather annoyed with Jane, gave a massive tug on his robes, yanking the material out from under her feet. Jane gave a yelp of surprise as she lost her footing and began to fall. She grabbed desperately at Sirius to try and catch herself, but she only ended up dragging him down with her.
The two landed on the floor of the compartment with a loud thud. The other three sniggered a bit. Jane groaned under Sirius' body weight.
"Ugh, get off of me," she complained, shoving him a bit.
Sirius lifted himself up a bit and looked down at her, smirking in an amused way.
"Now, I can honestly say that no girl has ever said that to me before."
"They couldn't with you squishing them. Now, get off, you arse."
"Now, that wasn't very nice," Sirius joked.
"Please, get off, you arse," Jane said, trying to push him off.
James nudged Sirius with his foot.
"Oy, that's enough, Padfoot."
Sirius only grinned wider, and suddenly, he stopped holding himself up and let himself fall, dead weight, onto Jane. She let out a tiny oomph as, once more, she was crushed under his full body weight.
Jane turned her face and bit the side of his very hard.
"AH!" Sirius yelped, jumping up from her. "She bit me!"
"I told you to get off," Jane said, standing up and taking her seat.
"But you bit me!" Sirius said, looking at his reflection in the window, examining the bite marks on his right cheek.
"Consider it repayment," Jane said viciously, having been very annoyed by this point.
Sirius' eyes flashed to the white scars on her arm, and he felt the small pang of guilt that he always felt whenever he noticed them. Jane, whenever she was annoyed, still liked to bring it up. He wished she wouldn't.
As soon as Jane got home, she headed straight for the Charlton Lakes where she was greeted very warmly by Sammy and Sarah, or at least they seemed happier to see her than her father was.
"So, how was school?" Sammy asked, passing her a cigarette.
Jane shrugged as she lit it up.
"It was okay. Exams were rough, but I think I managed pretty well," she said. "So, what are we up to tonight?"
"Well, there's nothing really to do tonight, but Sean Bresson's parents went to Wolverhampton last night; I think his aunt is sick or something, but yeah, he says they won't be back for a couple of days. I think he's having a bonfire party at his place tomorrow night, out on Church Lane," Sammy said.
"Why is there always a party?" Jane asked in a somewhat amused voice.
"Please, Jane, when you live in towns as boring as Romsey, Stockbridge, and Andover, there's literally nothing to do but party," Sammy said.
Jane smiled and shook her head as she puffed on the cigarette and thought:
Well, at least it's not in Southampton, and they actually know the person throwing it this time.
Suddenly, Jane remembered the name.
"Sean?" Jane asked. "What's he been up to?"
Sarah shrugged.
"Same as us I guess," she said.
"Sarah wouldn't know," Sammy said. "Sean still holds a grudge; he doesn't talk to her."
"Why? What'd you do?" Jane asked Sarah.
Sarah sighed and put out her cigarette butt.
"All right, well in our third year at Test Valley, Sean and I started dating and everything, sometime in October I think," Sarah started, lighting up another cigarette.
"Anyway, everything was great, you know. He was cute, he was funny, he was—well, you met him," Sarah said to Jane, "you know how he was."
"So, what was the problem?" Jane asked, lying back onto the bridge and blowing smoke rings up towards the darkening sky.
"Well, nothing right then," Sarah said, "but months went by, and I just got bored; you know how I get with boys."
Sammy rolled her eyes.
"Long story short: she led him on for a whole year before she dumped him," Sammy told Jane.
"Christ, Sarah! A year?" Jane asked, propping herself back up to look at her friend.
"Well, I meant to do it sooner, but he was always so nice, and I never wanted to hurt his feelings, and I put it off until it finally all just came out," Sarah explained.
"What she's not telling you is that she broke up with him in the middle of lunch with half of the school listening," Sammy said.
"Sarah!" Jane said in a shocked tone.
"I just snapped," Sarah said. "You don't understand. I get bored with these boys so easily, and I don't know why. I wish I didn't, but I do, and I can't help it."
"So, who's the boy of choice this summer?" Jane asked.
"Oh! You're in for a big shocker. Are you ready for this one?" Sammy said.
Jane nodded.
"She hasn't got one," Sammy finished. "Sarah Camden does not have a boyfriend."
"What?" Jane asked in mock astonishment, a smile tugging at her lips.
Sarah smiled and hit Jane in the arm playfully.
"Oh, shut up," Sarah said, laughing a bit.
"So, if Sean still holds a grudge, what's he gonna say when we show up?" Jane asked.
"He'll probably just ignore us. It's not like he'll cause a scene," Sarah said.
"So, nothing tonight?" Jane asked. "We just sit and talk?"
"No," Sammy said, as though the idea of doing nothing offended her. "I have some grass. I say we blaze it, and when my parents are asleep, we'll take Dad's car for a little midnight drive on the back roads."
Jane smiled a mischievous smile.
"Sounds like a plan," she said, happy to be hanging out with Sammy and Sarah again even if they were a bit reckless.