𝗷𝗮𝗻𝗲, harry potter

˗ˋ 77

CHAPTER SEVENTY SEVEN
✧
-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH SHE LEARNS
OF THE STAG, BLACK DOG,
WEREWOLF AND RAT

. . .

Breakfast, as always, was a noisy affair - and as it was every morning following that. But finally, after they ate the variety of food (mostly the deconstructed parts of a full English dotted around with pastries, fruit and toast), Harry found everyone splitting off to do various activities including both cleaning and homework, and he took the chance to pull Jane away.

Once again, they were seat upon her now-neatly made bed - Kreacher, despite his faults, did obey every shouted command sent his way - but instead of finding himself weary and instantly able to fall asleep right there and there, Harry was strikingly awake, retrieving his wand from the bedside table, tapping it on his crossed knee caps as though it was a drumstick.

"Right.. so I got to the end of second year? Stabbing Tom Riddle's diary with the Basilisk fang that had given me that?" Jane was already locating the scar that remained even after Madam Pomfrey's constant care around the clock following he and Ginny being saved from the Chamber of Secrets. There was one thing that magic couldn't do, and it was erase the past. 

However from the story that Jane was about to hear, the past could just as easily be altered. 

"Right. The Basilisk thing. You know, I've heard about them in some of my European mythology books." A frown flickered across her face. "Just how big was it exactly?"

"Too big to describe." Harry shook his head, feeling a slight twinge in his scar as he thought about it. "Anyways.. I started this year off by blowing up my aunt - but it wasn't on purpose.. you would hate her - and she was saying stuff about my parents and you know magic is uncontrollable sometimes so I really didn't mean to do it.."

And so Harry told her about the promised Hogsmeade form signature from Uncle Vernon, about how he had run away after blowing up his nasty Aunt Marge and the beginnings of him seeing a big black dog everywhere, a sight which quickly disappeared once the Knight Bus arrived. It was then which he first found out about Sirius Black, and after he got off and was thankfully not expelled by Cornelius Fudge (who Jane was rather surprised to hear had been nice once), would later hear about yet again when overhearing a conversation between Mr and Mrs Weasley, and Harry found out that Sirius Black was looking to avenge Voldemort's death by 'finishing what he started'.

Jane's face was somewhat priceless. "You've got to hear the full thing." Harry watched as conflicted emotions shone in her eyes. "I promise you - Sirius wasn't after me, per se, and he didn't kill twelve muggles either." 

With a hesitant nod, Harry went on to inform her about the Dementors on the train, inducing an uncomfortable shiver running down the poor girl's back when she remembered her own memories with the creatures, and then followed it with the meeting of Remus Lupin, who was teaching their Defense Against the Dark Arts classes that year. And as it turned out, Remus was the best teacher of them all. Hagrid wasn't necessarily so good, but he did his best and it wasn't his fault that after Harry had ridden Buckbeak Draco Malfoy had proceeded to go against every piece of his advice. Trelawney wasn't a great teacher either, seeing as she predicted Harry's death within minutes of meeting her, but the Potter refrained from voicing his distaste for her subject due to the look of interest in Jane's eyes, who, once asked, muttered something about tea leaves.

But Remus's capabilities as a teacher were only proven further on the day of the Hogsmeade visit, when Harry found himself friendless for the day and invited him into his office for a friendly discussion. However that Halloween didn't end so well when it was discovered that Sirius Black had attempted to break into Gryffindor Tower. A week later and Harry was falling many many feet from the sky as a result of the Dementor attack on the Quidditch pitch whilst Gryffindor was playing Hufflepuff.

He continued to be plagued by the Dementors, Lupin approaching him with the idea of learning how to defend himself against them after Christmas, to which he agreed. And after Harry snuck into Hogsmeade and found the truth of Sirius Black and James Potter's friendship, thanks to Fred and George's first-year thievery and his dad and his best friends being notorious pranksters and thus created the Marauders' Map, Christmas came and went and the lessons began. 

He didn't think mentioning several things would be worth it. As much as he would very much enjoy to see it, Jane finding out that Lucius Malfoy had ensured that Buckbeak would go to trial because of something his son did would not be something quiet. Besides, it didn't really matter until later on, considering he was in a room on the floor above them. He also didn't mention the Firebolt, seeing as that wouldn't mean so much to her as it would to someone like Ron.

By the end of February, Harry had recieved his broomstick back and attended several sessions with Lupin and was attempting to produce a patronus. It was also in a Quidditch match early in February that Malfoy attempted to sabotage Harry by dressing up as Dementors and it was that same night that Ron awoke to Sirius Black stood above him with a knife. 

But from then, everything was rather quiet until the beginnings of their exams - which again, weren't all that exciting until Harry's very last exam, in which he witnessed Professor Trelawney make a prediction that he would never forget.

It was complicated to explain what had happened the evening following, but after attempting to follow some sort of linear narrative without drawing in any added details, he had managed to reach the ending of Sirius flying away on the definitely not executed Hippogriff, and Harry being left by his newfound Godfather once more.

"So you're telling me Mr Lupin had to leave because he was a werewolf?" Jane's eyes had widened in horror. "Why? It wasn't his fault that he was one, and if there's a potion thats been created to stop him from being dangerous then I don't see the problem."

Harry stared at her for a moment. If only there were more people at Hogwarts like that, then perhaps he wouldn't have so much as a problem. 

"That's what you took away from that?" Harry's eyebrows darted upwards in surprise. "Not that I travelled back in time.. managed to save Buckbeak and Sirius, knocked out my Potions professor and found out that it was Pettigrew who killed all those people and sold my parents to Voldemort and then hid as my best friend's rat?" 

"Well.. that's a good point." Jane smiled. "Sorry.. it just sprang to my mind. But I'm glad that it was Pettigrew who sold your parents out and not Sirius. It's good that you have some family. Because they don't have to be blood-related, you know. Legally, I am Flora's daughter but I'm not at all related to her. And you have Mr Lupin as well." 

"I do. I do have them." Harry nodded, feeling his throat become thick. Words stuck there, he forced tears not to come at the idea of it. Sometimes it was hard for him to think of the friendship he knew existed between his dad and the two men downstairs. "And - and.. I have you." He added.

Jane just smiled.

✧

a/n
heavenly by cigarettes after
sex fit so well for them. anyways
i just want to apologise for the 
slightly boring chapters, i just need
to make sure that jane knows everything
from harry before moving on, okay?

also harry getting upset over the marauders
friendship is me lol