𝗷𝗮𝗻𝗲, harry potter

˗ˋ 20

CHAPTER TWENTY
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-: fourth year :-

── IN WHICH THEY ARRIVE 

. . .

Jane sat next to a window, pulling open the window. The countryside that seemed so vibrant in the sun as it flew past, blue skys, rolling fields of green and the odd field of crops a dulled-down gold. 

Harry watched her, and was truly trying his hardest to forget what he had seen just as he had left Little Whinging. But he couldn't. Dudley had seen him with Jane, and there was a high possibility that if he ended up telling Petunia and Vernon that he had seen the Potter boy on a bus that there would be no more days with Jane, no more views like the ones they had found and he would spend the rest of his summer in his box-like bedroom, dull beige walls staring back at him and no doubtedly the bars that had sat over his windows after his first year at Hogwarts returning.

But then again, his cousin wasn't the brightest. There was a high possibilty that Dudley could convince himself that he had just been seeing things - really, how could Harry of all people be sat next to a pretty girl on a bus out of Little Whinging. Considering Harry's lack of friends within the small town's population, it wasn't at all hard to imagine Dudley trying to figure out how Harry had managed to go that.

And if Harry just kept cool when he returned to the Dursley household, not letting any of them trip him up with stupidly-worded questions or try to insinuate anything, then he would be fine. He had lied to his aunt and uncle on many occassions, and this could just become another of those lies.

Rather suddenly, his gaze over the rolling fields of green was replaced with a swirling grey and wavy lines of ginger that reminded him of how Fred and George were growing out their hair. Blinking into focus, Harry was met with a rather inquisitive look written across Jane's pretty features. 

She reached up and push the bridge of his glasses further up his nose, head tilting. "What's up?" Jane asked, examining Harry's bewildered expression. "You were a bit.. funny with going on walks at the beginning - and I'm guessing you don't leave Little Whinging that often, huh?"

"No.. I don't." Harry confirmed, pushing his glasses up his nose even further. "Jane.. you're a little close." He muttered.

"Oh-" Jane's cheeks seemed to match the colour of the flowers twisted among her hair as she blushed, pulling away. "Sorry about that - you were lost in thought and staring out off the window. What's up?" She repeated, recovering in moments.

"It's just that I think my cousin Dudley saw me as we were leaving Little Whinging." Harry tried not to get too distracted by the ends of his far-too-long hair tickling against the back of his neck. "I'm worried about what the consequences of that could be."

"Oh.. I see." Jane chewed on her bottom lip. "Maybe we could get off a few stops earlier when we go back? Maybe even in the village nearby just in case? I saw a public footpath sign that would lead us along to the Manor and then back to Little Whinging." Forever able to come up with solutions to Harry's problems, the girl smiled. "We won't be at this place Flora's sent us too for long, a couple hours maximum." 

With that settled, Harry relaxed one more, laughing as he was hit with Jane's curls as she opened the window even further. He laughed a lot with her, even more so on that bus journey, which ended with Jane peering at the sign beside the stop, suddenly grabbing Harry's hand and dragging him towards the door, joining the last dregs of people as they disembarked.

The high street of the town was bustling with people and a multitude of colourful store fronts that sent Harry right back to when he saw Diagon Alley for the first time, but his suspicion that the woman Flora had sent them to see had her shop amongst them was way off, and still clutching his hand so that they didn't get lost in the crowd of people, Jane pulled him through several alleyways and curved cobbled roads until the reached an area that seemed to resemble Little Whinging.

"It's the old village area." Jane told him, finally letting go of his hand in the much calmer atomosphere and causing the tips of Harry's ears to turn pink. "I think it's just over that bridge there-" She pointed at the somewhat arched wooden bridge that covered the expanse of the stream running through the area. "But we have an hour and a bit until Flora said I should go in.. and I see a bookshop. Do you mind if we go in?" 

Harry couldn't help but grin as Jane once more returned to that ever-so-alluring love of books, nodding and letting the girl pull him over to the shop. 

For now, at least, his worries had been eased.

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