CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE
On the twenty-eighth of June, Jane was finally able to relax. She'd never been so happy to have her period come; it was like five hundred pounds of weights had been lifted off of her shoulders. She was finally ready to enjoy her summer properly, though she still missed Will terribly. However, in light of everything, it seemed slightly more bearable now.
Jane had eagerly written to Sarah and Sammy to tell them the good news. When Jane had gotten a letter back from them, Sirius had watched her run up the stairs, clutching the letter to her chest. Sirius had reached the bottom of the stairwell when Jane reached the top.
"What do you keep writing them about?" he had called after her curiously as she had refused to tell him or James, stating only that it was none of their business.
Of course, they had tried to figure it out anyway. They had looked very hard for her first letter, but she seemed to have hidden it well. Little did they know that Jane had been keeping the letter in her pocket ever since she first caught them snooping around her room, and of course, she was going to do the same with this new letter.
Eventually, the boys had stopped looking. Now, the three of them were mostly taking turns on Sirius' bike. Jane had definitely warmed up to it.
In the second week of July, James accidentally crashed the motorbike into a tree. Jane had seen the whole thing, and she stared at it in shock for a good five minutes. Then, she quickly informed James that she was not going to be the one to tell Sirius. As it turned out, no one had to. About that time, Sirius had come running out of the house, having heard the crash.
Jane had had to stifle a giggle when Sirius shouted that James couldn't be left alone with his bike ever again. However, when he said the same thing to her, it wasn't as funny. She had pouted for the rest of the day, trying to get him to change his mind. After all, James had wrecked the bike, not her.
However, once the bike was fixed again, Jane's spirits lifted when Sirius let James on the bike once again. She had run straight outside once she'd gotten wind of it.
"I can't believe you're letting him on first!" Jane said. "I should go first! I didn't wreck it!"
"Oh, quit you're whining," James said to her. "Why can't you go back to not liking the thing?"
Jane crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at him. James playfully imitated her in an exaggerated way, causing her to laugh.
"All right. Hop on."
James frowned to see that Sirius was still on the bike, patting the seat behind him where Jane's helmet usually resided, strapped to the bike until she had use for it. Jane let out a loud snort of laughter.
"You've got to be joking, Padfoot."
Sirius only shook his head.
"No way, mate. I said I'd let you on it. I didn't say you'd ever drive it again."
Jane couldn't stop laughing at the look on James' face, and James elbowed her as he walked past her.
"Shut up," he mumbled, and Jane just continued to laugh.
"You getting on?" Sirius asked, and James shot him a kind of reproachful look.
Jane looked back and forth between the two.
"I'll go!" she volunteered eagerly; she really did like that bike.
At this, James started walking towards the bike.
"No, you won't. It's still my turn," he said before half-reluctantly climbing onto the bike.
Jane rolled her eyes but smiled again as she looked at James who was obviously wondering what he was supposed to hold on to. She snatched her helmet off the ground and brushed off the dirt on it.
"Have fun, you two," she joked in a suggestive sort of way.
"I swear I'm gonna kill you," James said, giving her a deadly stare.
Once they took off, Jane dropped her helmet back onto the ground and ran back into the house. She looked around her room for her camera; she wanted to snap a picture when they got back to forever embarrass James with. She finally found it on top of one of her chest of drawers, hidden under one of her school skirts that she had meant to put in the closet the other day but never did.
Jane turned on her heel to see James' mum standing in the doorway of her room. Jane looked at her expectantly, and Mrs. Potter smiled and nodded to the camera in Jane's hands.
"Making memories?" she asked.
Jane grinned.
"Future blackmail," she said honestly, "but I suppose it counts as memory making."
Mrs. Potter laughed and walked into Jane's room. Stopping in front of Jane, she cupped the side of her face in a motherly way.
"You're all so grown up now," Mrs. Potter said before sighing as though remembering a fond memory. "You're such a beautiful young lady."
Jane always felt a little odd when people called her a young lady or woman. It made her think that she was supposed to be fully matured by now, like a blossoming adult who should be ready to take on the world. The truth was, she was about to start her last year at Hogwarts, and she couldn't have been more terrified of growing up.
"Come here; I want to give you something," Mrs. Potter told her, sitting on the foot of Jane's bed and lightly patting the spot beside her.
Jane sat her camera back on top of the chest of drawers and took a seat beside James' mum. She watched as Mrs. Potter pulled something out of her dress pocket. It was wrapped in a dark, silky fabric, and Jane's curiosity spiked. However, Mrs. Potter didn't unwrap it just yet; she just stared at it fondly.
"When I was thirteen, a very long time ago I might add, on my brother's seventeenth birthday, I noticed that my father gave him a pocket watch. Now, I, being of a slightly spoiled nature, demanded that I too receive a pocket watch because I thought they were awfully pretty.
"However, my father and mother explained to me that the reason that Magnus was getting a watch was because he had come of age and that it was a time-honoured tradition.
"So, naturally, I asked if I too would get such a gift when I became of age. That was when my mother informed me that only wizards got pocket watches. When I asked what witches got, there was no answer for me. Of course, all throughout the world's history, men have mostly been the ones to get the prizes while we women get much less. Even in the wizarding world, though we pretend to have a better viewpoint of equality than the Muggles, we still haven't quite perfected it."
Jane didn't have a clue where Mrs. Potter was going with this story, but she was always eager to listen to her talk about her own childhood.
"My father," Mrs. Potter continued, "being the kind and loving person that he was, promised that when I turned seventeen, he'd get me my very own pocket watch. He was always the one to spoil me.
"Of course, as I grew older, I forgot all about his promise. Though, if I had remembered it, I wouldn't have thought much of it; I would've thought it was just something he'd said to avoid me throwing one of my horrific tantrums that I had been quite prone to as a child."
Jane smiled faintly as she imagined a much smaller version of Mrs. Potter stomping her feet and demanding a pocket watch.
"But sure enough, on my seventeenth birthday, my father pulled me aside, and he gave me this," Mrs. Potter said, unwrapping a silver, hunter-case pocket watch.
"I loved it very much," Mrs. Potter told her. "I took it almost everywhere I went."
Jane watched as Mrs. Potter held down the latch. The very ornate front cover sprung open, revealing the watch face. Jane was surprised to see that it had no clock hands, only numbers. In the centre of the clock face was a picture of a sleeping eagle.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, wake up," Mrs. Potter said, tapping on the crystal face.
The eagle awoke and seemed to give Mrs. Potter a kind of irritated look.
"Oh, you've had plenty of time for sleeping," Mrs. Potter told it. "He's a bit grumpy after waking up," she informed Jane.
Finally, the eagle stretched out one of its wings and pointed it just past the three. Then, it turned its beak up to the ten.
"Ah, there, see?" Ten sixteen in the morning," Mrs. Potter said.
She shut the cover and held out the watch for Jane. Jane carefully took the pocket watch in her hands, turning it over and running her fingers gently over the back. She turned it back over and opened it back up in time to see that the eagle had its back to her and had fallen asleep again. Jane smiled.
"It's an eagle and not a lion," Mrs. Potter said. "Of course, I myself was in Ravenclaw. However, if you're ever late for anything, he'll scream at you."
"Scream?" Jane asked, raising an eyebrow.
Mrs. Potter shrugged.
"Scream, screech, cry, et cetera. Whatever eagles do."
Jane noted the inscription inside the front cover and ran her fingers over it.
"The strongest of all warriors are these two—Time and Patience." – Leo Tolstoy
"It's from my favourite book," Mrs. Potter told her.
"War and Peace," Jane said, and Mrs. Potter nodded happily.
Jane had found the book a couple of weeks ago on Sirius' bookshelf, and she'd borrowed it. Jane closed the cover and held the watch back out for Mrs. Potter, but she only shook her head.
"You keep it. After all, we gave James and Sirius pocket watches when they turned seventeen. James has got his father's, and Sirius has got Magnus'. It seems only fitting that you should have mine. I did mean to give it to you earlier, but I'd forgotten where I'd put it. I found it wrapped up in a box at the very top of mine and Charles' closet."
Jane smiled down at the silver watch. However, thinking of the beautiful gifts James' parents had already given her for her birthday, Jane felt she didn't deserve this new gift, especially when it was obviously very important to Mrs. Potter. She shook her head.
"I can't take this," Jane said. "It's yours; your father gave it to you, and you've already given me so much as it is. I couldn't possibly keep this."
"Oh, but of course you can," Mrs. Potter told her, giving her a pat in the leg before standing up. "Besides, there's no one else I'd rather pass it on to."
Jane grinned broadly. Jumping up from her bed, she embraced Mrs. Potter tightly.
"Thank you," she mumbled into Mrs. Potter's hair.
Mrs. Potter smiled and rubbed Jane lightly on the back as they hugged.
"I'm so proud of the young woman you've become."
Suddenly, they were interrupted by the shrill cry of an eagle, and Jane just sort of stared at the pocket watch, not knowing what to do. Mrs. Potter laughed at the look of shock on Jane's face.
Mrs. Potter took out her wand and gave the watch a small, quick double-tap. The watch quieted down immediately.
"It seems that perhaps you're late for something," she informed Jane.
Jane stared at the watch with a confused expression. Then, she looked up and spotted her camera sitting on her chest of drawers.
"Oh, shoot!" she exclaimed, rushing towards the camera, and Mrs. Potter laughed as she watched Jane run out of the room.
As Jane ran down the stairs, she put the watch in her pocket and smiled again. The Potters had made her feel more than welcome since she'd moved there. Of course, Jane knew that they loved her like family, counted her as a part of them. However, and she couldn't really explain why, this gift made it feel official, like they had formally welcomed her as part of their wonderful family, and that made Jane feel a warmth on the inside that she felt had been missing from her life ever since her own mother's death two years ago.
By the time she was outside, the boys had already gotten back. James was already getting off the bike, so she didn't get to snap her picture. Sirius looked at her expectantly.
"Your turn?"
Jane sighed.
"What? I don't get to drive either?" she asked in a feigned disappointed way.
Sirius shook his head.
"Sorry, but Prongs ruined that for everyone."
"Way to go, Prongs," Jane teased, handing James her camera before putting her hair in a low ponytail.
James rolled his eyes at her as she strapped on her helmet and got on the bike.
"Smile!" James said, snapping a picture of Jane and Sirius.
Jane shook her head and smiled before she and Sirius took off through the yard.