Glory |A. Potter|

Forty-Four

From the moment she had been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy, Jane had realised the summer holidays would be the toughest part of her year. Six years later, the thought still prevailed.

A month into her vacation, Jane had mowed the lawn in front of her house twice, helped their closest neighbour—that was five minutes away on foot—paint their house and had occasionally babysat the little children of another neighbour living five minutes to the opposite side of the other. If she had had the books she would be needing the next year, there would be no chance she wouldn't have read through them by now, but without any reading material, all she had left to do in order to not die of boredom was do any kind of household chores. Needless to say, the house was spotless every single day and not thanks to her mother.

Susan stayed mainly in her room, coming out when it was absolutely necessary or if she needed to leave for work—she was a hairdresser—although somehow, when Jane was to use magic to practice or help herself do things easier, or when Albus and Scorpius came over to pick her up—they had pestered her every day for a week before she let them know the location of her house and showed it to them so they could apparate in and out of it—she was always near to see such a display and pull a displeased face Jane normally ignored. Her mother's displeasure with magic was obvious. Jane didn't care enough to stop.

Ramona, as she had expected she would, started texted Jane in the first week, and so Jane had bothered herself with the old cellphone with the little buttons her mother had bought her when she had been ten to reply on time. Then, Ramona seemed to have realised they actually spoke more and learnt more about each other if they sent letters instead of texts and started sending her letters.

Susan had been displeased yet again when she had peeked through Jane's forgotten open door to see an owl standing on her desk while she was writing something beside it. She had complained the feathers would get everywhere, then cursed Cleopatra laying on Jane's bed for not doing her job and not hunting down the owl, which had made Jane in return point out that this owl was too large for Cleo and that she was well fed anyway, and their argument had ended with Susan muttering under her breath about people with magic and how they didn't make sense at all. Jane had only rolled her eyes.

The argument didn't end there, of course, because the owls only kept coming from this point on. Scorpius and Albus sent her a letter about every other day, almost always asking to meet up either at their house or the other's, their efforts usually coordinated. Jane had insisted they never met up at her house, even though both of them knew where it was and they had been unfortunate enough to see her mother. Susan hadn't even pretended to be pleased with the sight of the two boys in her daughter's room, and when Jane had come back, there was yet another argument.

The first thing Albus had told her when they had been away from the house was that she didn't look like her mother at all, with Scorpius agreeing, and Jane, for whatever reason, couldn't help but feel relieved at their observance. She didn't want to be associated with her mother. Not at all.

And so a month and a few weeks passed, a time of Jane working hard in an attempt to get some money she could buy her school items with when the time came, taking up any chore in the area the way she usually did, spending the rest of her time at home, attempting to not collide with her mother, or at Albus's or Scorpius's house. Draco Malfoy always seemed happy to see her and she made sure to return his enthusiasm, while the Potters were more reserved – anyone but Ginny, it seemed.

A few days after the end of July, Jane found herself sitting on the grass in the backyard of the Potter household, eyes wide open as she watched Lily and James a few ways away riding on their broomstick, passing a Quaffle back and forth. She imagined they weren't trying to be cruel but ever since they had gotten outside, she hadn't been able to look away. Albus and Scorpius sitting nearby had soon realised they didn't have her attention, although there was nothing they could do, except scoot closer and let her know they were still here to support her. Jane noticed, she appreciated it. Still, she didn't look away, until she heard a cough and looked in front of her to see Ginny holding a broomstick, smiling at her gently.