𝗷𝗮𝗻𝗲, harry potter

˗ˋ 30

CHAPTER THIRTY
✧
-: fourth year :-

── IN WHICH EARRINGS
ARE ADMIRED

. . .

Harry's focus remained on the ginger-haired girl stood across from him, the soft pillows of her bed propping him up. Time had turned, mattresses had been set up beside the bed frame and dinner had been eaten - perhaps one of the tastiest, actually homemade dinners that Harry had  been able to eat since the last time he was at the Burrow - and now their conversations were lit by several small glowing lamps, scented candles, fairylights and the moon hanging high above them, located almost directly above the window above Jane's bed. 

The Everleigh girl herself was stood in front of the painted cheval mirror, long hair tied back in a plait that Harry had done himself - he was admittedly rather proud of it, and heat flushed all the way to his fingertips when Jane mentioned how they seemed to stay in better than any she did herself. 

Her hands were past the ginger curls, fiddling with the glinting gold earrings that had caught Harry's eye on severral different occassions. Clunks could be heard as she set them down on the chest of drawers beside her, and although Harry was expecting for her to return to the position on the otherside of the Greek Mythology book open between them, she selected one of the decorative boxes and pulled it forward.

"How many earrings do you have?" Harry shot up from his position and reached her side, peering over her shoulder, eyes scanning over the velvet insides of the box. 

"A lot. I like to collect things, if you haven't noticed." Jane grinned, twisting around to face him, head tilting. "You have really long hair, you know?" 

"It's not that long." The Potter boy replied pointedly. "My aunt either shaves it off really short or doesn't go near it, so I haven't had it cut for a while." Petunia had rarely cut his hair since an incidence when he was younger and his magic has caused it to grow right back. He examined the girl's features as she reached out and curled strands around her fingers. "Let me guess, you can cut hair as well?"

"I used to help when it was hair cutting day at the Home." Jane shrugged. "Tomorrow can try.. it won't be the best but I think Angela could do pretty well at tidying it up - I would just ask her to help but she's going to be preparing for the party all day."

"Anything is better than Aunt Petunia." Harry nodded, a particular pair of earrings catching his eye and he peered over them. "You know my godfather - the one with the big dog - has his ears pierced, and the older brother of my friend Ron. I always thought they would look cool."

"My ears were pierced by some of the older kids at the home. We did it in the downstairs bathroom at midnight and..." Jane came to a stop, glancing down at the pair of earrings that Harry had been admiring. "How much do you trust me?"

"What?" The question caught Harry of guard. "You don't mean that you..?" He trailed off, not finishing his sentence. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the Everleigh girl, with her naturally persuading smile and wild glint in her eye, was asking him not only how much he trusted her, but whether or not he trusted her to pierce his ear.

"Do you?"

"Yes."

Ten minutes later and the pair were in the bathroom adjacent to Jane's room, the light above them flickering every so often and the girl sat on the counter to match his height. 

She had managed to find one of the piercing needles that the previous kids at the home had left her, carefully carried one of the candles through into the bathroom and borrowed rubbing alcohol and cotton wool from Angela's first aid case, the haul right beside the earrings on the counter. 

"There." Jane's forearms had been resting on his shoulder as she tied back the hair to keep it out of the way. "I'll keep these ones for when they're healed, I promise." She gestured to the moon and star pair. After agreeing, Jane had mentioned how she thought it would be better for him to start with a stud. 

And so, she had given Harry a couple of choices. She could seperate the moon and star pair, just a plain black one, a lightning bolt one (laughter had joined that suggestion) or a small silver ring that would hug his ear lobe. Whilst Harry had leaning for the lightning one just for the fun of it, he eventually chose the hoop. It would look coollest, and Sirius had one in the exact same place on his right ear.

"You ready?" Jane had scribbled out a small order of things to do and Harry kept glancing at it. "You know, if you really don't want to do it then we don't have to. I don't want you to think I'm pressuring you or.." 

"No. I want to do it." Harry nodded, looking up from the list once again when he felt Jane poke his thigh with her foot. "What, is something wrong?"

"No - you need to budge. I forget my pen." She replied, gently pushing him back by his shoulders and hopping off of the counter and disappearing out of the room for a second and returning with a black marker. 

Jane pushed herself back up onto the counter, arranging herself in front of the boy. "Okay, so left or right?"

"Right." Harry's reply was instantaneous.

"Okay, I'm just going to clean your ear and put a mark where it should go." Harry waited with baited breath as Jane used the rubbing alchohol to clean the area the earring was going to go, then lean back, closing one eye and fidgeting with the pen until she chose a place.

Then, pulling her hand away she twisted around to see Harry's face in the mirror, using the reflection to judge where the mark was as well. "Is that okay?" Harry nodded, watching as Jane picked up the needle and looked up at him. "Do you trust me?"

"Absolutely."

✧

a/n
i went crazy and
wrote like 5 chaps in
a row yesterday so happy
wednesday