Jean's Tale
By Rurple101
Chapter Five
Jean spent the majority of the train journey to Hogwarts, deep in thought.
She'd dressed into her school robes (the regular as she didn't know what house she was to be in yet) and had attempted to read her favourite book 'Hogwarts; A History.'
But she couldn't concentrate.
She kept having flashing images of Lily with Severus, giggling and laughing at what a fool Jean was. She could picture them now, Severus leaning closer than necessary to Lily, his deep eyes expressing his affection; a look he'd never given Jean.
She slammed her book shut with a snap. If they weren't going to apologise then she'd have to make new friends and move on.
Her insides clenched painfully at the thought of never speaking to Severus again. She thought she held some crush on him, but Lily was her best friend as well.
Sighing she chucked her book back into her truck.
But then a knock on the glass compartment door caught her attention. She turned around to see three boys; one with messy dark black hair which stuck up, one with light brown wispy hair combed over and one with long shaggy black hair. They opened the door and sat down with her without an invitation.
"Hi!" said the first boy excitedly, extending a hand and offering it to her. He sat directly in front of her and he wore round simple glasses. "I'm James, James Potter."
Before she could speak, another one of the boys; sat next to James, exclaimed almost more calmly than his friend "Sirius Black."
She looked at the boy who was sat closest to the door, next to Sirius. "Remus Lupin."
She must have looked like a deer caught in car headlights, but (to her embarrassment) blushed and stammered slightly. "Ni-nice to meet you."
She shook James's hand and smiled at the three of them. "I'm Jean."
They smiled back at her.
"Are all the other compartments full?" she asked tenderly.
Remus stiffened "Sorry, did we interrupt you? I've met these two only since we left London and they are a bit forward."
"None the less, I get the feeling that you three will be friends for a long time, maybe even you entire education at Hogwarts" she replied, still smiling. "I don't mind, I was getting quite…bored until you came in."
"Do you know what house you'll be in?" James burst out.
Jean smirked "Yes…I'm a seer" she said.
Remus understood her sarcasm, but Sirus and James looked surprised.
Jean rolled her eyes. "Either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, probably the latter."
"Why?" James asked.
"I'm a girl who loves her books and learning, although my frie-" she cringed. "I mean my family, think I might have a chance at Gryffindor."
"Well if you're in Gryffindor, and we're also there, you can help us with our homework!" James said cheerfully.
Jean chuckled. "Yes, well, we'll see won't we?"
After an hour and a half, according to Jean's wrist-watch, the compartment door slid open and Lily came inside, her face upset and distant.
Jean eyed her warily as Lily sat down next to her, her arms crossed in a defensive position.
"Hi Jean" she whispered. The boys stopped talking and turned to look at her.
"Nice hair" James noted, a tinge of blush appearing on his cheeks. Jean rolled her eyes and so did Lily.
"I'm not interested" she snapped.
"Ouch" muttered Sirius.
"Shut up!" hissed Jean.
She turned back to Lily "What do you want?"
Lily's face became upset and her eyes watered. "My sister…she hates me."
Jean rolled her eyes "It's Petunia; she's hardly a nice girl to hang around with Lily. Have you two had a fight?"
Lily stiffened. "Well, I think she was upset that she wasn't a witch, like me" she explained. "Then before we left the station, I asked her about her letter, which she'd sent to Professor Dumbledore, that Severus found in her bedroom."
"Why was Severus sneaking around her bedroom?" Jean asked curiously.
"He'd come round and Tunney was acting oddly. So we went upstairs and her letter was really upsetting to read. She sounded sad that she was going to be left all alone and that her sister was able to come, so why could she?"
"She was begging then?"
"Pretty much" Lily sighed. "But she yelled at me, called Severus and me…freaks."
Jean's eyes narrowed. "That little cow" she muttered "She's just jealous. You can't give a muggle the power to withhold magic, you just can't. If you did, then there wouldn't be any Squibs!"
Lily looked at jean "What are Squibs?"
"People who are born into a magical family, but don't possess the ability to perform magic. Like the opposite of a muggle-born." Jean answered clearly.
James, who had heard every word, asked Jean a different question. "How do you know about Squibs?"
Jean looked at him. "I told you, I love to read. I've already read all; our school books at least seven times! What harm could some other light reading do?"
Sirius and Remus looked bemused. "Are you muggle-born?" Remus asked, not accusingly.
"Technically I'm muggle-born, but my parents died when I was little and I was adopted by a witch when I was two years old. I've had the magical upbringing if that's what you're asking."
"I'm pure-blood and not even I know that much about Squibs" he said. "How many books have you read over the summer?"
Jean screwed up her face in concentration, counting mentally.
"Oh eck, it's gunna be loads if it's taking her this long!" Sirius muttered, stretching after a minute's silence.
"Maybe…I think I've read a total of 58 magic related texts over the past two weeks" Jean answered.
"Bloody hell!" James exclaimed.
"Watch your language James!" Remus glared at him.
Lily continued "I don't know where Severus is" she said.
"I don't care" Jean said bitterly, suddenly turning away and gazing out at the countryside passing by. "Do you know why I haven't been out lately?"
Lily shook her head. "Severus didn't really mention you, even when I asked why you were upset, he refused to tell me."
Jean's hands clenched into fists.
"He practically taunted, embarrassed and hurt me" she spat, surprised at her own hostile behaviour. "He wanted to know what was wrong and I was reading my book-"
"Big surprise there" Sirius muttered slyly.
Jean threw him a look of deep disgust, and then continued.
"-he got angry and held the book above my head, taunted me, then shoved me so I fell over backwards. He hurt me and I felt really betrayed by him" she said dejectly.
"I thought he was my friend" she whispered sadly. "But he's just a bully!"
Lily patted her on the back softly. "Sev is being an idiot. I won't talk to him until he apologises to you, how about that?"
She seemed to understand the influence she had on Severus, Jean noted bitterly.
She shook her head. "He had to realise it when I refuse to speak to him. But if we're in different houses, I'm going to the loneliest person ever to be educated at Hogwarts." Jean ended and felt her eyes tear up. "Excuse me."
She got up, opened the door and went out, down the carriage to the toilet. Once inside she burst into sobs.
AUTHOR NOTES: Hermione will not be returning to the original timeline she came from. From now, she is Jean Hermione (lol) Brown. She will also see herself as a muggle-born with a pure-blood upbringing, so she will either say she's half or pure blood, but only admitt her turn heritage to her friends like the Mauraders :)
