CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-SEVEN
Almost a month had passed, and Jane, while she found it difficult, finally slipped into her normal school routines, pushing the war to the back of her mind. She had long since signed up for Dumbledore's group, though she still counted herself a coward because it wasn't like anybody else had cried about joining, that she knew of at least.
Jane had been hanging around Sirius a lot. She liked listening to him complain about how James was taking his Head Boy job too seriously and about how much time Lily Evans seemed to be hanging around them.
"It seems like she always there nowadays, doesn't it? I'll be trying to talk to Prongs, but he's always too busy worrying about what she's saying!" Sirius would rant.
Jane liked to tease him. She liked to say he was jealous of Lily, which he fervently denied.
"I'm not jealous; I'm just annoyed is all," he'd defend rather heatedly which always made Jane laugh.
She'd always just nod in a condescending sort of way which tended to make him pout more. However, he was right. Lily had been hanging around a lot lately. Jane wasn't sure if it was because Lily and James were both head students or because of the attack, but Lily had seemed okay this year with actually getting to know James and Sirius better. James couldn't have been happier; Sirius couldn't have been more jealous of her. Jane, Remus, and Peter, well, they couldn't have been more amused.
They were all currently sitting in the common room. Jane was pretending to work on her Healing Theory essay, but so far, no inspiration had struck to make her actually get started on it. She just sat there with her quill in her hand and her open book on the table in front of her. Remus and Peter were playing a game of Exploding Snap not too far away from her. James and Lily were chatting near the fireplace. Sirius had just come to sit down beside Jane.
"Would you look at him," he said. "Completely oblivious to anyone else. I'm only his best friend."
Jane smiled at him as he glared at James and Lily who were laughing at some joke James had said.
"And I told them that joke earlier," he added. "You think she laughed like that? Well, I can tell you that she did not."
"Oh, would you quit being such a child?" Jane said. "James' had a crush on her for forever. I'd think you'd be happy for your best mate."
"It's just, she's intruding on everything. He's already shown her the Map, and she knows about his Invisibility Cloak. Next, he'll be telling her about Remus' furry little problem," Sirius griped.
"I showed Will the Marauders Map when we were dating," Jane said. "And I told him about James' cloak."
Sirius looked at her in an astonished sort of way.
"What? Is nothing confidential anymore? That's top-secret Marauder information!"
Jane shrugged.
"I'm not a Marauder," she reminded him. "No thanks to you guys."
"Oh, get over it," Sirius said, waving her comment off. "And for the record, I don't recall liking Will very much either."
"You're saying you didn't like Will because I spent more time with him than with you guys?" Jane asked.
Sirius shrugged.
"Maybe it was because you were telling him trademark secrets," he suggested.
"Yeah, but you didn't know I told him," Jane pointed out.
Sirius pried his eyes away from the back of James and Lily's heads and smirked at Jane.
"Okay, maybe I was a little jealous he was spending so much time with you," he told her.
Jane laughed a little bit, looking back down at her book as a small blush crept onto her face.
"The point is," Sirius continued, "I'm bored. Don't you guys want to do anything besides sitting around the common room all day?"
"This is due tomorrow," Jane said, pointing at the blank piece of parchment in front of her.
"Have you ever turned in anything late?" Sirius asked. "It's a real game changer."
"Oh, like you've ever turned in a late assignment," Jane said. "Hypocrite," she added for good measure.
Sirius just leaned his chair back on two legs and smirked.
"I'm too smart to too ever need to turn in anything late."
Jane pulled a face and shoved him in the arm. Sirius flailed as he lost his balance and the chair he was sitting in fell backwards. He fell to the ground with a loud crash, and Jane clapped her hands over her mouth as the other students in the common room looked at them. Jane could hear Remus and Peter sniggering.
"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" Jane asked.
"You did that on purpose," Sirius groaned, grabbing his back.
"I swear, I didn't."
"Then, why are you laughing?" Sirius asked, sitting up.
"Because that was funny as hell to watch," she said truthfully.
Sirius narrowed his eyes at her.
"You could at least help me up," he said, reaching his hand up to her.
As soon as Jane grabbed his hand to pull him up, Sirius yanked on her arm really hard, pulling her out of her own chair, sending her crashing to the ground as well, causing a couple of studying fifth years to gather their books up in an annoyed way and head to the library where it was much quieter.
"Ow," Jane groaned.
"Now, we're even," Sirius said as she sat up on the floor beside him.
"I didn't deserve that," Jane complained.
"Yeah, you did," Sirius said, smirking at her.
Jane looked at him and they both started laughing.
"Okay, maybe just a little," she said.
Sirius sighed, a smile still playing at his lips.
"I'm bored," he told her for the second time.
Jane shrugged.
"So, what the hell am I supposed to do about it?"
"I don't know. Let's go to Hogsmeade or something. Grab a couple of Butterbeers," he said, pushing his fallen chair away from him.
"My essay," Jane said pointing to the table.
"Bollocks to your essay. I want a Butterbeer," Sirius told her.
Jane rolled her eyes as he finally stood up.
"You're such a big baby, you know that?" she told him as he pulled her to her feet.
"So, is that a yes?" he asked, a smirk gracing his handsome features.
Jane sighed in a defeated sort of way.
"Yeah, sure. Why not?"
As the two of them made their way out of the common room, Remus and Peter watched them.
"You notice anything strange about them lately?" Remus asked.
Peter shrugged.
"I don't know. They were acting pretty weird on the train ride to school at the beginning of the term," Peter said.
"They've been spending a lot of time together," Remus said.
Peter shrugged.
"They're friends," Peter said. "They hang out with us too."
"Didn't invite us to go with them just now, did they?" Remus pointed out.
"Do you…you know—you think something's going on with them?" Peter asked.
Remus shrugged.
"I dunno. Maybe."
"You think James knows?"
Remus shook his head.
"Nah, he'd put a stop to that real fast if he thought something was up. I think he's too preoccupied with Lily to notice anything else. But I do know that if something is going on between them and James does find out, things might not turn out so good," Remus said.
"Hey, you said we were getting Butterbeers, not gallivanting through Hogsmeade," Jane told Sirius as he pulled her towards Zonko's.
"Please, if all I wanted was a Butterbeer, I would've went to the kitchens, and you would've went right back to your essay. Besides, it's more of a Firewhiskey kind of day which is why we'll be going to the Hog's Head later," Sirius told her as they entered the joke shop.
Jane groaned.
"I hate the Hog's Head; it's creepy. Why don't you just nick a bottle from the Three Broomsticks?" Jane asked.
"I would, but I think Rosmerta's getting a bit suspicious of me. Besides, the bartenders at the Hog's Head sell anything to anyone, including us Hogwarts students."
"I don't know, Sirius. I'm feeling it's more of a Butterbeer day," Jane argued.
"No, I definitely need some alcohol today," Sirius said, picking up a pack of Wet-Start No Heat Fireworks.
"God, please, don't make me go in there, Sirius."
"I can't believe you made me come in here," Jane said, looking around the pub.
"What? It's…cosy," Sirius said, looking around the small, dingy room.
"You can't even see out the windows," Jane said. "And does this place even have an actual floor?" Jane asked, looking down at the dirt under her feet.
Sirius looked down and dug in the dirt with his shoe, clearing a small spot that revealed the stone floor.
"Yeah, see? Just relax; James and I come here all the time," he told her.
"I'm not James," she told him.
"I know. You're much better; you haven't replaced me yet," he teased. "I'll go get us something to drink. Want anything to eat?"
Jane looked around the pub again with a semi-disgusted face and decided that she didn't want to eat anything that had been prepared there.
"Um, no thanks."
"Suit yourself. Go find us some seats," Sirius said before walking to the bar.
"Shouldn't be too hard since no one's here," Jane mumbled as she shook off her jacket.
She sat down at a table that seemed less dirty than the others and sighed. James and Sirius would come to a place like this to drink. Jane shook her head and rested it on her hand. Staring at Sirius' back as he placed their order, a small smile crept onto her face, and it was still there when Sirius sat down at the table with their drinks and a sandwich.
Sirius smiled a little.
"What?" he asked.
Jane shook her head, pulling her cup of Firewhiskey to her.
"Nothing, it's just, I think you're trying to replace James with me, and we both know that's not going to happen," she said with a smile still on her face. "You'll miss him eventually."
"What? I can't want to hang out with you?" Sirius asked in an offended sort of way.
"And this has nothing to do with the fact that you're jealous of Lily?" Jane asked after taking a sip of her drink.
"I'm not jealous of her," Sirius argued. "But maybe it does have something to do with Prongs being a lovesick idiot."
Jane laughed, and Sirius smiled.
"And maybe I just really like hanging out with you," he added.
Another smile involuntarily spread across Jane's face, and she took another sip of her Firewhiskey to try and hide the blush that crept onto her face as well. Sirius grinned even wider.
"I do think you're blushing there, Janie," he teased a bit.
Jane choked on her drink a bit and coughed a little.
"Yeah, drink must be hitting me pretty hard," she said, trying to excuse away the blush since she really had no reasoning for it.
"Uh-huh, right," he said under his breath before taking a sip of his own drink.
The two of them drank and talked and laughed. Jane had to admit that the Hog's Head wasn't such a bad place, once you warmed up to it a bit. Sure, it was small and dingy and hadn't been cleaned probably in years, but at least it was warm and quiet. Then again, maybe the Firewhiskey had changed Jane's perspective on it. Either way, she could see why Sirius and James didn't mind going there for a few drinks.
When a small group of guys walked in, however, Jane got an uneasy feeling. Having convinced Sirius that they should probably leave, they finished their drinks, and she was currently waiting by the door as Sirius made a quick run to the loo.
Jane actively avoided looking at the bar where the three men were sitting. Instead, she took to looking down at her feet, clearing a spot on the floor with her shoes. She could feel their eyes on her, and it made all the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
"Hey, sweetheart," called one of the men, Jane didn't know which because she refused to look at them; maybe if she ignored them, they'd lose interest and leave her be.
However, when it comes to men like this, they're always unrelenting.
"Hey, sweetheart, why don'tcha give us a smile, aye?" called the same guy, and Jane really wished Sirius would hurry it along.
She nudged closer to the door slightly and scowled at the man's remark, shoving her hands into her pockets and wrapping her fingers around her wand cautiously.
"Hey, sweetheart, we's talking to you," he continued.
Jane's heart began to pound in her chest as she prepared to either hex someone or make a run for it out the door, she hadn't yet decided.
"Come on, lovely, what's your name?" asked another one of the men.
"Well, I can tell you that it isn't 'lovely.'"
Jane breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Sirius' voice, her grip on her wand loosening. She looked up from the ground to see Sirius walking over to stand in front of her.
"Hows about you let her talk for herself, aye, mate?" said the first guy that had spoken to Jane.
"How about you leave her alone; how's that sound?" Sirius said.
"Come on, Sirius, let's just go already," Jane pleaded, tugging on the sleeve of his jacket.
"Who are you? Her boyfriend?" the man asked, narrowing his eyes at Sirius.
A dangerous glint flashed in Sirius' eyes.
"Why don't you come over here and find out who I am," he challenged.
Jane's heart went back to pounding inside her chest, and she grabbed onto Sirius' arm and started to pull on it.
"Let's go, Sirius. Now!" she pleaded.
"You best listen to your girlfriend, mate, lest you want your arse handed to you on a silver platter."
"Is that right?" Sirius retorted, pulling his arm away from Jane who inwardly groaned at how petty this was. "I could take all three of you easy."
Jane's eyes widened as he said this, and she started to pull on his arm again.
"Sirius, please, stop it! Let's go! Please!"
Sirius looked away from the men long enough to look down at Jane who was begging him with her eyes to please not do this. He sighed and shook his head.
"You're right. Come on, let's go," he told her, and he put an arm around her shoulders and opened the door.
Jane could hear the men jeering at Sirius, and when he turned back to look at them, she nearly slapped herself on the forehead in exasperation.
"Oh, and one more thing," Sirius said.
Before the men could do anything, Sirius had hit one of them with a curse that made his head swell to roughly the size of a watermelon. Jane's jaw dropped, and before she could think properly, Sirius was pulling on her arm and telling her to run.
The two of them ran up the winding side street. Jane could hear the two other men following them. Sirius was a lot faster than her, and he easily took the lead as Jane struggled to keep up. She saw him disappear behind a sharp bend in the road, and when she herself rounded the bend, something reached out and grabbed her.
Jane yelped as she was pulled into a dark, narrow alleyway between two shops. She panicked for a split second at the hand covering her mouth until she looked up and her eyes met Sirius'. He put a finger up to his mouth, signalling her to be quiet before slowly removing his hand from her mouth.
As she stood there, silently gasping for breath, she became aware of the close proximity between the two of them. She could feel his hot breath on her cold, wind-chapped face. She swallowed hard, and moved a bit to the side.
They watched from the shadows of the alley as the two men rounded the bend in the road and kept going. Sirius turned to Jane and shot her a grin.
Finally, they both burst into fits of laughter as they still tried to catch their breath. It had been kind of fun. Jane hadn't had a good adrenaline rush like that in what felt like ages, and she welcomed the feeling like an old friend.
When the coast was clear, the two emerged from the alleyway, still laughing and smiling, walking down toward the residential areas of Hogsmeade. They walked and walked over the rolling hills until they came to the ruins of the Lyles' cottage. Sitting on the floor of the little broken house around the spot that once used to be a fireplace, they smoked their cigarettes and talked for hours on end, always finding something to laugh at as they reminisced through their early school days.
They had stayed out rather late. Twilight had long since passed by the time they made it back up to the castle, and the moon was hanging high above the treetops of the Forbidden Forest. The common room was empty when they finally made it up to Gryffindor Tower and said their goodnights.
"I, uh, I had a good time," Jane told Sirius. "Didn't get my essay done, but I had a good time."
"Yeah, it was fun, wasn't it?" Sirius agreed, and Jane let out a little laugh.
She turned to go up to bed but stopped and turned back to him.
"Hey, thanks."
Sirius gave her a questioning look.
"For what?"
"It's not been easy getting the war out of my head, but you've really helped a lot," she told him. "So…thanks."
Sirius smiled, and he walked over and gave Jane a warm hug.
When he pulled away and looked down at her, there was a very brief moment where Jane thought that he might kiss her. And there was an even briefer moment where Jane thought she might actually want him to.
Jane cleared her throat and quickly backtracked towards the stairs to the girls' dorms, a little confused on the inside.
"Goodnight," she said before disappearing up the staircase.
"There you are," Lily started as soon as Jane walked through the door to the seventh year girls' dorm. "Do you have any clue what time it is? You know, James was worried sick about you, and Sirius. We didn't have any clue where you'd wandered off to…"
Lily trailed off, and Jane just fell onto her bed and stared at the canopy for a while, trying to sort out what it was she was feeling.
Meanwhile, Sirius was getting an earful from James in the boys' dorms.
"…searched all over, and then, Remus finally told us that you'd taken off to Hogsmeade without us, and then, you didn't get back until just now!"
"Relax, Prongs, would ya? We only went to Hogsmeade, it's not like we skipped the country," Sirius said, pulling off his shirt.
"What were you doing there for so long anyway?" James asked in a semi-suspicious tone.
"Nothing, we were just hanging out," Sirius said truthfully. "Would've invited you, but you were too busy with Evans."
James immediately let the subject go, feeling kind of bad for ignoring his best friend. And Sirius fell back onto his bed, and when James turned the lights out, Sirius couldn't stop himself from smiling.