Chapter Six

Elves and Dragons

On Saturday night, Jane remembered that she had yet to show Ron and the twins the cloak.

"I've got something to show you," she said. "But it's got to wait until everyone else has gone to bed."

The boys looked appropriately intrigued. Jane could hardly wait until the common room emptied that night. However, because it was Saturday, it took quite a long time.

"You want to play chess?" Ron asked.

"I don't know how," Jane said. She only knew about chess because Dudley had received a set once from well-meaning acquaintance of Uncle Vernon's. He had never learned to play, though, so Jane had never been taught the rules.

"Oh, it's easy. You'll pick it up."

"I can help," Percy said, coming up to their table. "I may be no match for Ron, but maybe together, we'll have a fighting chance."

"Okay. That'll help." Jane scooted her chair over so Percy could pull one up. Ron rolled his eyes, but Percy didn't see.

"White moves first," Ron announced. "That's me." His pawn moved forward on its own.

"Wow!" This was nothing like the Muggle version. She supposed she should have expected that.

Ron grinned. "Just you wait," he said.

Despite Percy's explanation of how each piece could move, it didn't take long for Jane to lose a pawn to Ron. She didn't really mind, though, because it was fascinating to watch his knight drag it thrashing and struggling off the board.

Jane lost twice, but she was glad to have had the help. Maybe next time, she'd have a chance.

The most important thing, though, was that Jane's dismal performance apparently tired Percy out and he went to bed, leaving the common room vacant.

"Right," said Ron, shoving the board aside. "What did you want to show us?" The twins came over and Hermione laid her Charms homework aside.

"Hang on, I'll get it." Jane dashed up the girls' stairs and tiptoed into her dormitory, careful not to wake Lavender and Parvati. Then, she raced back down to the common room.

"Someone sent this to me at Christmas," she said. "It belonged to my father, but I don't know anything more than that." She unfurled the cloak. All three Weasleys' eyes went wide.

"Is that—" Fred started.

"—An invisibility cloak," breathed George.

"Wicked!" Ron exclaimed. "Let's see it."

Jane put it on and they all watched as she disappeared. It was still hard to get used to; she didn't feel invisible at all, but they were all gaping at her and she couldn't see her arms and legs.

"Excellent!" said George.

"You could go anywhere!" Ron said. "See anything in the castle."

Jane pushed the hood back. "Isn't it great?"

Fred stroked his chin thoughtfully. "This might come in handy one day."

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't even think about it, Fred. That's a priceless family heirloom for Jane. She doesn't have anything else from her father."

"But, Hermione," Fred said, "you could get into the Restricted Section. Books!"

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I'll think about it," Jane said, rolling the cloak back up. "Maybe if there's a really good opportunity."

A really good opportunity presented itself in February. It was days before the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match and tensions among the houses were running high. Or maybe that had just been Malfoy's excuse, because Neville could never be confused for a Quidditch player. Fred and George had found him on their way back from practice, trying to hop through the portrait hole with his legs locked. They brought him to Hermione for the countercurse and he told the five of them how he'd been ambushed outside the library.

"You've got to tell a teacher," Hermione told him.

"No," Jane said. "That won't help. When's it helped in the past? She'll take points, but Malfoy won't stop."

Hermione gave Jane a withering look.

"Stand up to him!" Ron said, gesturing with his quill. "Fight back. He's only going to keep coming after you if you don't fight back."

Neville gave him a mournful look. "I can't. What am I going to do? I'm rubbish at magic."

"Punch him?" suggested Fred.

"You're not rubbish," Hermione said. "You're brilliant at Herbology."

"Yeah," said Neville. "That's how I'll get back at Malfoy. Plants."

Hermione looked annoyed.

"We'll think of something," Ron assured him. Jane and the twins nodded.

Neville sighed. "Thanks, guys. Thanks, Hermione." They watched him make his way to the boys' staircase, still walking a bit stiffly.

"We have to do something," Fred said darkly. "Can't be letting that little twerp run roughshod over Gryffindor like that."

"Who does he even think he is?" said George.

"Got any ideas?" asked Jane.

"Well…" Fred looked thoughtful. "I was thinking I might inquire about borrowing that cloak of yours."

"What are you planning?" Hermione asked.

"Give him a taste of his own medicine?" asked George.

Fred nodded.

"You won't let them, will you, Jane?" Hermione asked.

Jane bit her lip. She really did want to use the cloak for something fun, and she remembered how nice it would have been to be able to stand up to those Muggle girls with magic…

"What did you have in mind?" she said.

Hermione gathered her books noisily. "I'm out of this," she said. "I don't want any part of it."

"Suit yourself." Fred took her chair. "Now. Here's what I had planned…"

Jane had half expected Hermione to get Percy, but she hadn't. She was sad that she'd made Hermione upset, but this didn't do anything to deter her from their plan. They needed to do this for Neville.

At first, the trouble was deciding who should go. All four of them wanted to, but only two of them would fit under the cloak.

"It was my idea," Fred said. "George and I should go."

"It's my cloak," Jane protested.

"And I've been wanting to get back at Malfoy since last term," said Ron. "Remember the Remembrall?"

"Here," said George, reaching for a scrap of parchment. "We'll draw lots. It'll be Jane and whoever draws the lot."

He won. Even though Jane had done the lots, she assumed he'd cheated.

They decided to do it the following night. When Jane finally went up to her dormitory, Hermione's bed curtains were drawn.

"Hermione," she hissed. "Hermione. Are you awake?"

There was no response. Jane sighed and crawled into bed, reaching for Crookshanks. Surely Hermione couldn't stay mad at her.

Hermione still wasn't speaking to her the next day. Jane hated that her best friend was put out, but she was also distracted by their plan for the night.

At eight o'clock, Jane and George left the common room. Jane had the cloak in her skirt pocket. George had a box under his arm.

"They're in there?" she asked, once they were away from the portrait hole.

"Yup." George turned the box over so she could see what was written on it. "Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks. A thing of beauty."

In front of the statue of Lachlan the Lanky, Jane threw the cloak over them both. She'd never been under it with somebody else, and especially given how much taller George was, they had to take extra care to make sure nobody's feet were showing. She was glad they hadn't tried to take three.

They had to walk in lockstep down seven flights of stairs, balancing the box between them.

"Are you sure about where their common room is?"

"Yeah," said George. "Positive."

They went down the stairs toward the Potions classroom, but they turned left instead of right, then right, then left again.

"You've already been," Jane said.

"No," said George. "Honest. I haven't. But I know where it is. Mostly." He frowned. "It should be around her somewhere, but I haven't seen a portrait. I'm positive this is the corridor, I memorized the—"

"Shh, someone's coming." They pressed themselves up against the wall. Warrington and Pucey were coming toward them.

"Snape is the best," said Pucey.

At first, Jane wondered why he was spouting random nonsense, but then she realized that the wall behind them had actually been a door. She and George stumbled backwards through it, into the common room, and she was almost sure that the toe of George's trainer had become visible. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the side, away from Pucey and Warrington.

George was grinning with undisguised glee. "We're in," he mouthed.

Jane grinned back.

The Slytherin common room could not have been more different from the Gryffindor common room. It was rectangular, instead of round, with a long, low ceiling with lamps hanging from it on chains. It gave the whole place a greenish cast. There were no windows, and the dominating feature of the room was a fireplace with intricate, ghoulish carvings, flanked by two enormous stone snakes with huge emerald eyes. In the absence of windows, the common room was covered with tapestries, depicting various unpleasant-looking people.

George elbowed her and pointed. Malfoy was in front of the fire, in a high-backed chair. Crabbe and Goyle were standing beside him like guards, and Parkinson, Davis, Greengrass, and Nott were sitting around him. Perfect.

Jane and George moved together slowly, now quite used to having to having to walk in tandem.

"My father says there ought to be a test," Malfoy was saying. "Even if you're one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. It just dilutes the pool further to have the likes of Longbottoms and Weasleys here when they're clearly not up to snuff…"

George's jaw tightened. For a moment, Jane was afraid he might throw the cloak off and attack Malfoy.

She grabbed his elbow and pulled him behind Malfoy's chair. This was the perfect spot. They crouched down and opened the box. They grabbed as many fireworks as they could in one go and shoved them under the chair. Then, they snapped the box shut and ran, as fast as they dared with the cloak. Jane longed to look, but they couldn't chance being caught in all the chaos that was to follow.

They were halfway to the door when the Slytherins noticed the fireworks. Malfoy screamed, as he was thrown into the air, chair and all. Jane and George couldn't resist turning to admire the scene as the fireworks shot off the stone walls of the common room, a rainbow of chaos.

"Let's go," George hissed, as they just barely missed getting out of the way of Marcus Flint, who was running from the common room, probably to get Snape. They followed him through the door and Jane had to yank the cloak hard to keep it from being caught. She was sure they hadn't been seen, though. Surely no one had been looking their way. They ran down the corridor, until they'd gone far enough through the maze of the dungeons that it was safe to make noise. Jane pulled off the cloak and they burst out laughing.

"That was brilliant," said George. "Wish the others could have seen his face!"

Jane slumped against the wall, wheezing. Despite Hermione's misgivings, she was sure this had been an appropriate use of her dad's cloak.

The next day at breakfast, every single Slytherin was glaring at the Gryffindor table. Snape was looking right at Fred and George in particular.

"Just act natural," George told Jane. "They won't suspect a thing from you."

The twins seemed happy to take unspoken credit, though they didn't come close to saying anything explicitly. They seemed excited to have gotten the Slytherins riled up. At this point, Jane was more worried about Hermione.

As they were walking to Herbology, she pulled her aside in the entrance hall.

"We need to talk," she said.

"Yes," Hermione said. "We do." She looked stern.

"Hermione, please." Jane had vowed to keep it together, but she couldn't help her lower lip trembling. "Don't let a bit of rule-breaking ruin our friendship?"

Hermione's eyes went wide. "Oh, Jane." She hugged her. "It won't ruin our friendship. And besides," she whispered, "he did deserve it."

As winter passed into spring, it became increasingly clear that they had gotten away with it, despite the fact that Snape still cast suspicious looks at the twins. They seemed to enjoy this.

"So," Fred said, one day in late February, "what should our next caper be, Janie?" He dropped onto the couch next to her and Hermione. George came to stand behind them.

"I was thinking Hermione and I would take the cloak out," Jane said. "What do you think, Hermione?"

"I think that sounds lovely. What did you have planned?"

Jane looked over to where Ron was beating Seamus at chess. "It's going to be Ron's birthday soon. Can you tell us how to get into the kitchens?"

The twins exchanged glances. "And why should we do that?" George asked.

"Because." She took each of their hands. "You're very generous and you want to help your brother."

They looked skeptical of this.

"You want to help me?"

"You do understand," said George, "we want to maintain some mystery."

Jane thought for a moment. Negotiating with these two would obviously take a little bit more. "Cloak," she said. "If you'll do this for us, you can borrow the cloak later, for an errand of your choice."

Fred and George looked at each other.

"You know, George," said Fred, "we may not need it." He seemed to be attempting to communicate with George through eye movements.

"Cloak," said George firmly. He leaned down between Jane and Hermione. "Just go down the stairs where the Hufflepuff Common Room is, the one on the right. You'll see a painting of a bowl of fruit. Tickle the pear and go right in."

"Thanks, George!" said Jane brightly. Fred still looked annoyed, but she knew it wouldn't last. The lure of the cloak was too strong.

Jane and Hermione headed down to the kitchens the evening of Ron's birthday, while the twins and Neville were keeping him distracted.

"This is sort of fun," Hermione admitted as they crept down the stairs. "I mean, I still can't believe it's an actual invisibility cloak!"

"Isn't it brilliant?" Jane paused at the foot of the stairs, as George had taught her, to make sure Filch wasn't approaching.

"Yes. And this is really nice to do for Ron. I think he'll be happy to have a party after they had one for me."

Jane nodded. She wanted to do whatever she could to make her friends happy.

"Your birthday's in summer, right?"

"Yeah. Thirty-first of July."

"Well, then," Hermione said. "We'll have to do something. I guess your aunt and uncle wouldn't let you come to my house."

"Definitely not," Jane muttered.

"I'll come up with something," Hermione said, with conviction. Jane had no doubt that she would.

They were now walking down a corridor decorated with paintings of food. There weren't any rooms obviously leading off it, but Jane knew that one of the paintings was actually a door.

"There!" said Hermione, pointing. The bowl of fruit was right in front of them. Hermione reached a hand out from under the cloak and they had the odd experience of seeing Hermione's floating finger tickle the pear. It changed into a handle and they pulled the door open.

When Jane stepped into the kitchen, she realized they must be directly under the Great Hall, because the room was exactly the same size. It even had the four house tables and the staff table in the same spots they would be in the real Great Hall.

"It's enormous!" Hermione said. "There was nothing in Hogwarts: A History!"

Jane pulled the cloak off them and shoved it in her pocket. "All right, let's see where we can find some sweets. Fred and George didn't say anything about—" Jane stopped.

There were figures moving toward them, and they weren't human. They were about waist high, with huge bulging eyes and large floppy ears. Jane let out a terrified squeak.

"Jane Potter?" said one of them.

The murmur was taken up by the other creatures. "Jane Potter… Jane Potter…"

"Er, hi," said Jane.

They swarmed about her and Hermione, blinking silently.

"D'you think…" Jane began. "D'you think we could have some things for our friend's birthday?"

"At once, miss!" the one that seemed to be the leader said. They all turned and fell over each other to get to the pantry. When they came back, they were carrying all sorts of delicious things—cakes and pies and tarts.

"And a basket?" Hermione asked. "We could probably use a basket, or something."

"A basket!" one of the creatures exclaimed. "Nibby! A basket!"

Nibby scurried off and returned a moment later with a large wicker picnic basket. It must have been enchanted, because the little creatures packed the birthday feast, the dishes and large jugs of pumpkin juice all up with no trouble.

"Thanks," said Jane, still not knowing what exactly she was supposed to do.

Nibby clapped his hands to his mouth. "Jane Potter thanks house-elves?"

"Well, yeah."

The house-elves all bowed low, their long noses nearly scraping the stone floor.

"House-elves thank you Jane Potter," Nibby said. "If Jane Potter ever needs anything again she must come at once, miss! She must!"

"I'll keep that in mind." Jane waved. "Thanks."

That set off another wave of bowing and Jane and Hermione went out the door quickly.

"I've never heard of house-elves," Hermione said, pulling the cloak over them while Jane carried the basket. It didn't weigh nearly as much as it should have. "They aren't in Fantastic Beasts…"

Ron was excited to see what they'd brought for him.

"Where'd you manage to get all this?" he asked, as they dug in.

Jane turned to look at the twins. "It's a secret."

Apparently, Ron was too excited to even be annoyed by this. Jane vowed that she would ask Ron to come with her when it was Fred and George's birthday.

"So, how did you like the house-elves?" Fred said, as they all stood around eating.

"Yeah, thanks for telling us about those," Jane said.

George grinned. "What, and have you be prepared? They're brilliant, aren't they? They do everything around the castle."

"But what are they?" Hermione asked.

Fred shrugged. "Beats me. But they're happy to cook for us and clean up after us. That's just what they do."

Hermione seemed to accept this, though Jane could tell by now that she was thinking about something.

Jane did indeed bring Ron with her for the twins' birthday on the first of April and she was even more happy that they had been able to actually surprise them. They liked the feast, as well as the cards Jane had made for each of them, with more detailed individual drawings of them as Beaters.

Fred and George's party was well attended and it went on until past midnight, until Percy came down from his dormitory in his dressing gown.

"What are you all still doing up?" he cried in dismay. "It is a school night!"

"Don't blame us, Perce," said George, poking the Snitch someone had brought. "It's Mum's fault we were born on a school night."

The Snitch fluttered at Percy and he batted it away. "Go to bed," he said firmly, looking at all of them. "You're a bad influence on the first years."

Fred and George smiled at each other like this was the best birthday present ever.

One April afternoon, they went to visit Hagrid. When they knocked on his door, he seemed reluctant to let them in.

"Oh," he said, peering at them through the cracked door. "It's you lot. C'mon in." He stepped back to let them file in.

"Bloody hell, Hagrid." Ron tugged at the collar of his robes. "Think it's a little warm in here?"

Hagrid regarded them suspiciously. "Thought it was a bit cold meself." He went over and began stoking the fire.

"Hagrid, what's that?" Hermione was pointing to the fireplace. Sitting in the coals was a large black egg.

"Oh no," Ron moaned. "Tell me that's not what I think it is."

"Well," Hagrid said, "now that yeh've seen it, I guess I'd better tell yeh. It's a dragon egg."

Hermione gasped. "Hagrid, that's dangerous!"

"That's illegal!" said Ron.

"That's cool," said Jane. Despite her prior encounters with the acromantulas and the three-headed dog, she still wanted to see a dragon. It seemed to go right with unicorns.

"Where did you get it?" Hermione asked.

"Won it off a bloke down the Hog's Head," Hagrid said proudly. "Same place I got Fluffy."

"Who's Fluffy?" Ron asked.

Hagrid looked like he had perhaps said too much. "Dog," he said. They all looked down at Fang. "No, Fluffy's a bit bigger."

Jane could see the wheels in Hermione's head turning. "Hagrid, is Fluffy by any chance in the school?"

Hagrid's eyes lit up. "Oh, yeh've seen him! Isn't he brilliant? Such a sweetheart, too, goes righ' to sleep if there's a bit o' music playing."

"That thing's yours, too?" Ron asked incredulously, though Jane didn't know why he was surprised.

They left Hagrid's hut after tea and headed back up to the school in silence.

"You know we'll have to tell someone about the dragon," Hermione said. "He can't keep it. The acromantulas are one thing—" Ron twitched "—but the dragon could really be dangerous."

"Maybe Professor Kettleburn could help," Jane suggested. "I really don't want Hagrid to get into trouble."

"Right," Ron said. "We'll get Kettleburn when it hatches."

The note arrived at breakfast a few weeks later, carried by a barn owl. It's hatching.

As soon as they were out of Herbology, they decided to skip lunch and go right to Kettleburn. He was just finishing up with his fourth years and Jane, Hermione, and Ron waited for them to file past.

"Afternoon," Kettleburn said, with a nod in their direction. He had bandages on his legs and seemed to be walking with more of a limp. "How've you three been?"

"We're all right," Jane said. "But…" She took a deep breath. "There's something we've got to tell you." For a moment, felt a sudden panic. What if Kettleburn was going to get Hagrid in terrible trouble?

But no, Kettleburn was nice. He'd told Jane about the wizarding world and for that, she'd be forever grateful.

"It's about Hagrid."

"Oh?"

"He's…" Jane cast a nervous glance over her shoulder, but Kettleburn's students were all long gone. "He has a dragon egg hatching."

She had expected Kettleburn to react sternly, but quite the opposite happened. "Really?" he asked, eyes lighting up like Dudley's at Christmas when his pile of presents teetered even higher than the previous year's had. "What kind?"

Ron scratched the back of his neck. "Norwegian Ridgeback, I think."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Kettleburn strode off across the lawn. "Still hatching, you say? We don't want to miss this, kids. You'll tell your grandchildren about it."

The three of them followed him.

The egg was rocking on Hagrid's table and there was already a large crack in it. "Professor!" Hagrid said in surprise when Kettleburn entered.

"Don't worry," he said, putting his hand up, when Hagrid looked up. "Not here to turn you in. I want to watch as much as you do."

Hagrid smiled happily, pleased to have a kindred spirit. They all crowded around the table. The shell had been split by a great crack. There was a snuffling sound and Jane watched with bated breath. The egg rolled over and split, sending the baby dragon flopping out onto the table.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid said, patting the dragon's head with his enormous fingers. The dragon snapped at him and Ron took a step back.

"She," Kettleburn corrected, stroking the dragon's back. "This is a female."

"Aww," Hagrid cooed. "My lil girl."

The dragon gave a smoky sneeze. Jane wanted to pet her, but one look at Hermione's face told her this wasn't wise.

"But you can't keep him, Hagrid," she said. "Right, Professor? He can't keep him."

"Miss Granger's right." Kettleburn looked sad, despite himself. "The dragon will have to go to preserve when she's big enough."

"How big is big enough?" Jane asked.

"A week more, maybe two," Kettleburn explained. "Weasley." He fixed his gaze on Ron. "Where does your brother work again? Romania, is it?"

"Yeah."

Kettleburn nodded thoughtfully. "I'll get in touch with him. Old favorite of mine; it was a shame to see him go."

"All right, kids. What have you been up to?"

Jane, Ron, and Hermione jumped as Fred and George came up to their table in the common room.

"Nothing," said Ron, picking up his A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration. It was upside down.

"We can tell," Fred said, leaning down over Jane's left shoulder.

"We are the masters of being up to something," George said, looming over Ron. "We can tell."

Jane and Ron both looked frantically at Hermione.

"If we tell you, you can't tell anyone," she said. "It's being taken care of, but Hagrid could still get in trouble."

The twins crossed their hearts. "Gryffindor's honor," they said together.

"Do you want to come see?" Jane asked.

They both nodded vigorously.

Well, she supposed Fred hadn't had a chance with the cloak yet…

It didn't seem fair to send them alone without telling Hagrid, so Jane went with them. She didn't take up much space, and without a box of fireworks or a picnic basket, it was easier to fit three people.

Cramped, though.

It was still light out when they stole across the grounds and knocked on the door of Hagrid's hut. There was a great crash from inside.

"I'm comin'" Hagrid called. There was a sound like crockery breaking and Fang howled. Hagrid swung the door open.

"Who is it?"

Jane pulled the cloak off them. "It's us, Hagrid. D'you mind if Fred and George see… her?"

Hagrid's eyes lit up. "Come in, come in! Watch yer fingers, though, Berta bites."

It was a tight fit with all of them. Berta was twice as big as she'd been on the day she'd hatched and at this rate, she'd be too big to fit in Hagrid's house by Tuesday.

"I'd offer you kids tea," Hagrid said, "but I'm running out of dishes."

"Where did you get it?" Fred asked reverently.

Hagrid patted Berta fondly on the head, as he related the story to them. Jane listened, a second time, as he explained about Fluffy.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her.

"Did you tell this man about Fluffy and the music?" she asked.

Hagrid stroked his singed beard thoughtfully. "I might've. Don't remember."

Jane was about to say something else, but she forgot what it was when Berta wagged her tail, whacking her in the shin. She stumbled and George caught her.

"Watch ou—ow!"

Berta had her teeth in George's arm, looking very satisfied.

"It bit me!" he cried. He looked at Jane and Fred, scandalized. "Little blighter bit me!"

Jane tried to prise Berta's jaws open, but she wasn't budging. Only when she became fed up with Jane's finger up her nostril did she snap at her. She would have taken a finger if Fred hadn't pulled Jane back.

"I think you three had better go," Hagrid said. "You'll scare her." Berta hissed at them, flapping her wings terrifyingly.

"Who's scaring who?" Fred muttered. "Come on, you need Madam Pomfrey. Good thing she doesn't ask questions."

As they helped George under the cloak, Jane completely forgot what she had meant to ask Hagrid next.

When Jane, Ron, and Hermione were next able to visit Hagrid, on Friday afternoon, Berta was gone.

Hagrid's eyes were red-rimmed and he blew his nose on a handkerchief the size of a tablecloth. "She's gone," he moaned. "Little Berta's gone off to Romania."

"But she's happier there, isn't she?" Jane asked. "With other dragons?" She knew George would be happy to hear it. His arm was still in a sling.

"Oh, she is. Look." Hagrid got up and led them over to the fireplace, which was crowded with moving wizard photographs. "Charlie sent me a picture already." He sounded wistful as he handed the framed photo to Jane. Little Berta looked three times as big as she'd been when she'd last seen her and she was tussling with two slightly bigger dragons.

"She's havin' the time o' her life," Hagrid said. "And all without Mummy."

"They do grow up fast," said Hermione. She looked over Jane's shoulder at the photograph, but Jane's attention was drawn back to the fireplace, to one of the other pictures.

"Hagrid," she said, reaching for it and setting Berta down. "Who are those people?"

The picture showed a girl and boy, probably in their seventh year. It had once been bigger; she could see where the edge had been torn and there was someone's hand around the boy's shoulder who was no longer in the photo.

The girl looked just like her.

"Oh, Janie!" Hagrid looked surprised. "Tha's yer mum and dad. You haven't seen a picture o' them?"

She couldn't stop staring, taking in more details. Her parents were laughing. They'd been Head Boy and Head Girl and were in Gryffindor.

"You really do look like her," Hermione said.

"Except for the eyes," Ron observed. "You've got your dad's eyes."

It was true. Her father had messy black hair and glasses, but his eyes were hazel, just like Jane's. Her mother's eyes were a striking green, but they had the same face, the same dark red hair. She hoped she'd have a smile like that when she was in seventh year.

"They were really nice kids, were Lily and James," Hagrid said, dabbing at his eyes again. "Jus' gettin' started in life."

Jane turned the picture over. In Hagrid's messy hand was written June 1978. In two years, they would have a baby—her. In three, they'd be dead. Jane swallowed hard.

"Keep that," Hagrid told her.

"But it's yours! You knew them."

Hagrid shook his head and clapped his hand on her shoulder, nearly bringing her down. "No, Janie. I can see 'em in my mind's eye whenever I want to. You keep that."

Jane blinked back tears. "Thank you, Hagrid," she whispered.

They had a quiet tea. Jane kept stealing glances at the picture of her parents sitting by her plate. She suddenly felt a fresh wave of resentment for the Dursleys. Did Aunt Petunia have a picture somewhere that she'd never shown Jane, or had she wiped all traces of her sister from her life?

"Hagrid," Hermione said suddenly, as they were picking at rock cakes. "How long is Fluffy going to be in the castle? Til the end of term?"

Hagrid dropped a heaping spoonful of sugar into his cup. "Hard to say. Don't know how long the Headmaster's supposed to hang on to the Philosopher's Stone for."

Ron looked quizzical but Hermione was smiling triumphantly. "Thanks for tea, Hagrid, we have to go to the library." She slid out of her chair and all but grabbed Jane and Ron.

They'd nearly got to the door before Hagrid stood up. "Now, Hermione, I didn't say anything about the… you know. All right?"

Hermione smiled. "Of course not, Hagrid."

"An' you three won't be doing anything too dangerous, will yeh?"

"Us, dangerous?" Ron looked at the girls. "Wouldn't dream of it."