A/N: I have a four part writing prompt up on my Tumblr page for this story that you guys might wanna check out. I mean, you technically don't have to, but if you wanted more of the story, then it's nice to read. URL's on my profile. And before you keep reading, can I just talk about all the new information we learned on Pottermore recently? James' parents were named Fleamont and Euphemia, and that just makes me giggle (ahaha Fleamont). We also learned that they died of Dragon Pox which is sad. But I, of course, already have a plan for our lovely Potter parents that doesn't include Dragon Pox, so I'll be taking some liberties with canon whenever that comes along. But that's enough from me. Enjoy the new chapter.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED THIRTY-NINE
The rest of the holidays were, for lack of a better word, strange. James had seemingly given his blessing Jane supposed, but everything after that day had been, well, painfully uncomfortable. The most Jane got out of Sirius the rest of the holidays was hand holding and chaste kisses. This was mostly due to the fact that James was always there. Always. Ironically, they'd been together more when James hadn't known about them.
Even more uncomfortable, if not slightly embarrassing, was the fact that all of Jane and Sirius' friends, outside of James, had already known about them. Jane had even found out that some of them (i.e.: Alice, Frank, Remus, and Peter) had even placed wagers on how and when she and Sirius would get found out. Apparently, their secret relationship hadn't been much of a secret after all.
"It was about time you two got caught," Alice had said to Jane. "I was sort of getting sick of watching you two think that you were getting away with anything. I'm honestly surprised that it took you this long to figure it out, Captain Oblivious," Alice had added to James, who had scowled at her in response.
"Oh, don't pick fun, Alice," Mary had said. "It's not all James' fault."
"Yeah, he was just distracted by his precious Lily," Marlene had teased, ruffling James' already untidy hair a bit.
"Though, you would think that he wouldn't be that blind," Frank had added, smiling a bit.
"Well, he does wear glasses," Remus had replied with a small smirk.
"Must be time for a new prescription, Prongs," Peter had said.
"That's it. I'm going up to bed," James had said, getting up from the couch in the common room.
"Oh, don't get all sore," Marlene had told him.
"Yeah, we were only poking a bit of fun, Prongs," Remus had added.
Alice and Lily had managed to talk James into staying and playing a game of Exploding Snap. They were all still sitting in the common room, laughing and talking as it grew rather late into the night. As Jane watched them play their games, she smiled at James, who was sitting next to Sirius almost as though nothing had changed at all.
She remembered the conversation she'd had with James the day he'd caught her and Sirius together:
After having their own conversation, Jane and Lily had decided to go check on the boys. Upon walking into the Potters' kitchen, Jane saw that the boys were a bit bruised and bloodied, but they had seemed to regain at least some of their playful air towards one another. She was just thankful they weren't trying to hurt each other anymore.
"Well, I see you're both still alive, so I'll take that as a good sign," Lily said.
James looked at Jane, who automatically looked down at her shoes. Sirius looked between them as silence filled the room.
"Well, we'll just let you two talk then," Sirius said before leaving the room and ushering Lily out with him; he tried to give Jane a reassuring smile, but she hadn't looked up from the floor yet.
Neither Jane or James said anything for a while. Jane had taken to looking around the kitchen, and James was just waiting for her to look at him.
Jane spotted James' glasses on the floor not too far away from her. She walked over to them and leaned down to pick them up. They were broken, so she pulled out her wand and muttered the incantation to repair them. She finally looked at James before hesitantly walking over to him and handing him his glasses.
James let out a small laugh.
"Think you could do that for my nose?" he half-joked causing Jane to smile for a fraction of a second.
"I've never actually done anything like that," she told him, "but I've read about it. I suppose I could give it a go. I can't make any promises though."
"I believe in you," he told her.
Jane hesitated before finally pointing her wand at James' nose. She'd never personally done this spell before, though she'd read about it and seen others do it.
"Episkey," she said, and James' crooked nose set itself straight right before her eyes, and Jane allowed herself to smile at this.
"Thanks," James said, touching his repaired nose before putting his glasses back on.
When he looked back at Jane, her smile disappeared, and silence fell over them again for another moment.
"I'm sorry," she finally said.
James sighed and shook his head.
"You don't have to be," he said.
"Yes, I do," she replied. "I should've told you the moment it happened. I never meant for it to go this far without you knowing."
"Sirius has already told me why you didn't. Dumbest excuse ever, by the way," he said.
"Was it?" Jane asked. "All my past experiences with you pointed to one conclusion: overprotective rage."
James let out a small laugh.
"I never did understand why you were like that," Jane added as an afterthought.
James paused, thinking of how to respond.
"Do you remember when we first met?" he suddenly asked.
The question took Jane by surprise, but she answered anyway.
"Yeah. We were the same height back then," she recalled fondly, causing James to let out another small chuckle.
"Yeah, we were, weren't we?" he said. Then, he continued. "It was on the train when we first met. You were just standing in the corridor with your luggage, and do you know what my first thought about you was? It was, 'Hey, she's kind of cute.'"
Jane let out a laugh at that, causing James to laugh along as well at the memory.
"No lie, that was the first thought eleven-year-old me had of you," he said. "And I would've turned around and told Sirius, but I noticed that you were crying or that you had been. Of course, you, in typical Jane Hensworth fashion, vehemently denied it. So, I invited you to come sit with us."
"And then, you never got rid of me," Jane teased, and James smiled.
"No, I never did. Of course, I've never wanted to. But do you remember the conversation we had?" James said.
Jane shrugged.
"Some of it."
"You called yourself a—," he paused as though not wanting to say the word.
"A Mudblood," Jane finished for him. "I remember. Alecto Carrow had called me that, her and Priscilla Greengrass."
"Of course, you didn't know any better back then," James said, "but Merlin, it shocked the bloody hell out of me when you said that. And I don't know why exactly, but I thought, 'Well, here is a girl that could really use my help.'"
James and Jane both laughed at this as well before he continued.
"So, that's what I did. I tried to help you however I could. And I don't know; after that, I guess I just sort of saw you as my responsibility, someone I needed to look out for."
James paused.
"I guess that sometimes I forget that you aren't eleven anymore and that you can make your own decisions without my help, that you don't need me to protect you from the Avery's and Ashby's of the world anymore."
"Or the Sirius Black's?" she asked.
"Especially those," James teased.
"You know he'd never hurt me, right?" Jane said. "Not on purpose anyway."
"I know," James said after pondering it for a moment. "I guess I'm just having a hard time seeing Sirius treat a girl like a proper boyfriend should."
"I'm not the only one that grew up, James. We've all changed, Sirius included. You just have to give him a chance to show you that he has."
Jane was shaken out of the memory when Sirius sat on the side of the armchair she was in, playfully using her head as a prop for his elbow. Jane shook her head and swatted his elbow away.
"Quit the games so soon?"
"Hanson's cheating," Sirius said.
"I am not," Alice said. "I'm just better than you."
"Like I said," Sirius continued, "cheating."
Jane laughed, leaning her head against his side.
"So, are we finally gonna go on a proper date like you promised?" Jane asked.
"We are."
"When?"
"When the next Hogsmeade trip comes around," he assured her. "It's a shame we can't just go whenever we want anymore."
"It's your guys' fault for basically handing over the Map to Filch. You might has well had put a bow on it for him," Jane replied.
"What are you guys talking about?" James asked, and Jane fought really hard not to roll her eyes.
"Sirius had promised me that when everybody knew about us, he'd take me on a real date. You know, one where we don't have to sneak away, one where we aren't paranoid that someone's gonna catch us—"
"One that doesn't involve an old Hogwarts classroom," Sirius murmured, causing Jane to smile a bit.
"He's gonna take me to Hogsmeade," Jane said.
"Yeah, there's that new restaurant that's opened up; it's supposed to be real high-end or whatever. We can't stay out late anymore, but they don't open till half past four, so we were probably just gonna go for a late lunch or early dinner," he said.
"La Chimère d'Or? That sounds like a great idea, doesn't it, Lily?"
Lily looked at James, and she shook her head to tell him, "No," but he had already said it:
"We should go on a double date."
Jane's stomach twisted at the words. She nudged Sirius, silently begging him to do something about it. But Sirius had been treading lightly on things where James was concerned, not wanting to get on his bad side.
"That-that sounds fine, mate," Sirius finally said in a semi-defeated sort of voice.
"Good," James said, standing up and stretching. "I'm going up to bed. It's getting late, and I'm tired."
As soon as James was gone, Jane shoved Sirius off the arm of the chair.
"What?" Sirius exclaimed. "Was I supposed to tell him that he couldn't come?"
"Yes!" Jane said.
"Well, I didn't hear you saying anything," Sirius said. "And what about you," he added, quickly turning on Lily.
"He's not gonna listen to me," she said.
"You could always pretend to be sick that day," Remus said to Lily after some thought.
"I'd hate to say it, but he'd probably still go," Lily said.
"Well, sucks for you guys," Alice teased, very amused at these new happenings. "Let us know how that works out for you."
Sirius shot Alice a disdainful look, and Jane let out a groan of frustration.
Three weeks had passed, and on the twenty-second of April, Jane was preparing for her date. James had already taken the liberty of making reservations via owl post, as Lily had failed to talk him out of this stupid double date idea.
"You know, he's only doing it so he can keep an eye on Sirius," Jane ranted to Mary and Marlene as she put one of her earrings in. "He thinks—well, I don't know what he thinks. He mental!"
"Your shocked tone implies that you didn't already know that," Mary teased as she flipped through a Witch Weekly.
"Honestly, it's ridiculous. And Sirius is too worried about getting on his bad side to say anything."
"Oh, just suffer through it. James'll lighten up eventually," Marlene told her.
"Yeah, he's just making sure that Sirius is a gentleman," Mary said.
"But Sirius isn't a gentleman," Jane exclaimed. "He's sarcastic and a smart-arse and handsy—very handsy, and after half a bloody year, I kinda like that about him."
"Jane Hensworth, have you two—" Mary started.
"No," Jane interrupted. "Well, not yet anyway."
"Wow, that's got to be a record for him," Marlene commented.
Jane rolled her eyes and turned towards the mirror, primping her hair. Lily came out of the bathroom.
"Which shoes? The white ones or the blue?"
"Blue," Jane told her. "It'll match the colour of my suffocating relationship."
Lily rolled her eyes.
"Oh, would you quit your sulking? You're about to go to one of the nicest restaurants in Hogsmeade; at least cheer up a little bit," she told Jane.
Jane sighed.
"Let's just get this over with."
Jane walked down to the common room, where she found Sirius already waiting for her. She smiled a little.
"Well, look at you in your white collar shirt," she said. "You look very nice."
"Well, obviously," Sirius said, flipping his hair out of his face.
Jane rolled her eyes but continued smiling nonetheless.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want a compliment as well?" Sirius teased; he pulled her closer to him and looked her up and down. "You look very foxy in that dress."
Jane smiled, and he pulled her into a hug before whispering into her ear:
"But you'd look better with it off."
"Oh, shut up, you prat," Jane said, laughing and blushing.
Someone cleared their throat from somewhere near them. Jane pursed her lips in an irritated way before pulling away from Sirius.
"Are we ready to leave?" James asked.
"We're waiting on your date," Jane said.
"Here I am," came Lily's voice as she ran down the staircase, fixing a bracelet onto her wrist.
Jane gave James a reproachful look as he placed a small kiss on Lily's cheek. Then, the four set off to Hogsmeade, making the occasional small talk, which was strained because Jane and Sirius were very irritated with James' intrusion on their date. James, while not oblivious to this, didn't seem to let it bother him or discourage him from his idea in the slightest.
However upset Jane was with James, walking into La Chimère d'Or took her mind off of it for a moment. The first thing she noticed was the large fountain—a stately, golden Chimaera with water streaming from its open mouth. Ornate, crystal chandeliers, lit up by tiny dancing fairies, adorned the ceiling. A pink flamed candle, along with a small vase of red and white dahlia flowers, decorated each table beautifully. A large aquarium filled with exotic fishes made up part of the back wall. It was all very elegant.
"Reservation for Potter," James said to the hostess, snapping Jane out of her reverie.
"Follow the menus, please," the hostess told them.
She flicked her wand, and four menus floated through the air, dodging waiters and other tables gracefully before landing on the designated table. When Jane had made it to the table, she had to stifle a snort of laughter at the fact that Sirius had pulled her chair out for her (no doubt only because he'd seen James do it for Lily).
"Trying to impress James, are you?" Jane whispered to him in a teasing voice before sitting down.
Sirius smiled, but in retaliation for her jibe, he pushed her chair a little too far up, knocking her into the table.
"Comfy?" he asked with a slight smirk on his face before sitting down across from her; she rolled her eyes, pushing herself away from the table just a bit, shaking her head, and smiling.
Jane pulled a very long wine list from her menu.
"Are we getting wine?" she asked, looking down at all the different selections. "Merlin, how do you even begin to pick?" she added, more to herself than to anyone else.
"Oh, give me that," Sirius said, snatching the list out of her hands. "Just stick to ordering something to eat."
"Oh, like you know anything about wine," Jane teased, opening her menu.
"I happen to know much more than you give me credit for," he said, scanning over the list. "And since you're so intimidated by choices, might I suggest sticking to the prix fixe menu. Much less to choose from," he joked.
Jane rolled her eyes before reading over her menu.
All in all, Jane supposed the date wasn't too terrible. After she'd gotten over the fact that her first real date with Sirius had been forcefully turned into a double date so that James could babysit them, the mood had lightened considerably. The food and wine had been excellent. Conversation had been all right. Jane had, admittedly, been entertained by Sirius, who she could tell was a little on edge. He had even offered to order for her when their waiter arrived which made her laugh; though, for the sake of amusing him, she'd let him.
They were currently walking back to the castle, and Sirius was complaining about how they needed to get the Map back from Filch, to which he and Lily were arguing about.
"You should be more worried about your N.E.W.T.s," had been her rebuttal.
"So, does he get the James Potter Seal of Approval?" Jane teased in a low whisper to James.
"I don't have a clue what you're talking about," James said.
"Oh, come off it, James. That's the only reason you came," she said. "You didn't follow me on my first date with Will."
"I did with Ashby though."
"You what?" Jane laughed and shook her head. "That actually shouldn't surprise me."
"He was a wanker," James said, and Jane nodded.
"Yeah, he was. But Sirius isn't Ashby. You don't have to babysit him," she told James.
James sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"I know. It's just weird," he said for what seemed like the thousandth time.
"You'll get over it," she assured him. "You have to. Especially since, after graduation, he's getting a flat in London, and I'm moving in with him."
"What?" James groaned.
"Oh, don't be like that," Jane said.
"Don't you just think it's a little soon for that?" James countered.
"I think you forget that we've been dating longer than you and Lily have. Also, I've known Sirius for about seven years now," Jane said, and then, she added, "Not to mention, joining the war effort has really helped put a lot of things into perspective. I want to at least live a little bit."
James frowned.
"Don't say that like you're planning to die or something."
"I'm not planning on dying," she said. "I'm just acknowledging that it is a possibility."
"No, it's not."
"You realise that denying things doesn't make them untrue. It just means you're in denial."
"I'm serious, Jane, stop talking about it," James said a bit louder than he'd anticipated, snapping Lily and Sirius out of their argument just long enough for them to give him strange glances.
Lily and Sirius slowly went back to their own conversation, and James sighed, deciding to change the subject.
"You're really gonna leave me all alone with my mum and dad?" he said to Jane, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
Jane allowed herself a small smile.
"We'll be over on Sundays for lunch," she assured him.
"Fine," James said, "but you better invite me over."
"I just assumed you'd pop over unannounced," Jane teased.
"Well, I will, but an invitation would still be nice," he said, grinning.
Jane laughed and elbowed him in the arm playfully before he threw an arm over her shoulders as they finished their walk back up to the castle.