Glory |A. Potter|

Sixty

The next day, the looks Jane and Albus exchanged were more frequent than usual, but with how often they had been glancing at each other anyway Scorpius and Ramona didn't notice anything. After all, they were too excited to see Jane acting more like her usual self to pay attention.

She told them some bits about her insecurities over breakfast before classes – needless to say, both of them told her exactly what Albus had the previous night. Jane put on a confident expression, never showed her worries to others, but the first crack had already been formed when she had fallen from the skies and it seemed as if she could no longer hide her insecurities, showing how she was lost in her head. Even the people who appeared the most confident, those one thought could do no wrong, were subject to their own critique, a judgement that sometimes was even worse than someone else's.

For now, though, Jane seemed to have been reassured and her friends, even though they kept an eye on her, put any thoughts of her insecurities hiding beneath the surface to rest in an effort to not trigger her in any manner. They would talk of this another day, perhaps. For now, they deemed she had enough on her plate.

Ramona was by Jane's side the whole day. First in Charms, then in Transfiguration, both of those times with Albus right beside them. It wasn't until after lunch, when the two of them had Arithmancy on their own that she managed to talk to her without him or Scorpius around. As it was usual, she started talking about what was happening with her, and of course, soon enough, she started talking about her boyfriend.

Jane listened, even though at some point Ramona kept on talking even during class, whispering under her breath while having a cardigan around her mouth and covering her nose in an attempt to convince the Professor she was cold so she wouldn't see her lips moving. Through the years, Ramona had managed the art of whispering, and as her best friend, Jane had mastered the art of understanding her whispered words. They had no problem communicating. The only time they stopped, was when Professor Vector wrote an assignment on the chalkboard for them to do.

The class fell quiet as they all focused on solving the exercise. It was rather difficult, as all lessons of Arithmancy were, but Jane was naturally gifted at it—the way she was with most things she did—and Ramona, having been her friend and sitting beside her for as long as they had been taking this class—which was almost four years now—had grown to learn some tricks from her. As a result, a while before they would have to deliver their exercise to the professor to be graded as an extra assignment, both of them had finished. With nothing left to do, Jane decided to speak up and share what Ramona didn't know about her personal life.

"Albus kissed me."

Ramona's eyes widened and for a moment, she almost squealed before she remembered she was in a class and had to maintain a civil front. It was a struggle to do it. She glanced around, green gaze wider than ever as she ensured no one had heard them before she hissed, "You told me now during class on purpose!"

Jane smiled slightly as Ramona glared at her. Her voice was a sharp but hardly heard whisper, "He kissed you?!"

"And then I kissed him."

Ramona thought she was going to cry – out of relief, happiness or frustration for not being able to express herself fully in the classroom she didn't know. All she was certain of was that she was so overwhelmed she felt like crying.

"I'm so happy for you," she croaked, being quick to slide closer towards her when she caught sight of Professor Vector raising an eyebrow over at the two of them, having heard her voice. She turned back to Jane. "When did it happen?"

"Last night," she admitted, "he confronted me about being distant."

"The way he did the last time," she piped in knowingly, "why do I feel like you would curse Scorpius and I if we tried to confront you like that?"