Glory |A. Potter|

Seven

The Quaffle passed through the hoop and Jane cheered. Her goal signalled the end of the game she had been playing with her teammates for about an hour now and the end of their training and at this point, she couldn't wait to leave the pitch so she could continue with her busy day. She took off her protective helmet as she reached the ground and exchanged smiles and high-fives with the rest of her teammembers. She helped them gather all the Quidditch balls and then, with a wave at them, she got on her broom once more and pushed against the ground, rising in the air. She flew over to Hogwarts.

Jane refused to leave her broomstick in one of the broom closets. She had spent all the money she had gathered while she had been working on this broomstick, money she had had a difficulty gathering and it had been years since she had been able to buy a broomstick of her own. She wasn't just about to leave it in a broom closet where anything could happen to it. She took good care of her things, especially if they were as important to her as this broomstick was.

Her broomstick was her ticket to freedom. On her broom, she felt weightless, as if she could go anywhere without anyone putting barriers on the world. She had yet to feel anything that could top such a feeling and she didn't think she would find something similar any time soon.

Jane flew in through an open window and landed in the middle of the corridor. With her broomstick at hand, she made her way to the common room. She muttered the password as she got inside and without looking at the people sitting around the fire, she headed in her dormitory. When she got inside, Charlotte and Annabeth were there, whispering among themselves, but the moment they saw her, they stopped. Jane sent them a brief smile as she closed the door behind her and moved to her bed, placing her broomstick on the wall beside it.

"How was Quidditch practice?" Charlotte asked her as Jane started gathering her clothes.

"Fine," she replied shortly as she headed to the bathroom. "I need to take a shower and hurry to the frog choir meeting."

"Of course," Annabeth muttered. Jane thought she detected a hint of irony in her tone but didn't say a word. She got in the bathroom and started her shower.

She forced herself to be quick and with the aid of magic, she managed to shower and get ready—which included drying and styling that mane of hers she called hair—in about fifteen minutes and then she was hurrying out of the dormitory to the frog choir meeting. The meeting passed quicker than she could have anticipated and soon enough, she was heading back to her common room.

Jane stopped by the entrance as her name was called and headed over to the fireplace with a smile as she noticed Ramona. She walked over at once as her friend patted the space beside her.

"Why don't you sit?"

"In a moment," she smiled, "I'm just going to get a book and then I'll be right back."

Ramona nodded, her eyes following Jane as she left. She turned back to the fire in front of her, her long, red nails tapping against the armrest before a cat jumped on the couch and headed for her lap. Ramona smiled as the brown cat with the black stripes jumped on her lap and she instantly started scratching the back of her ears.

"Hello, Cleo," she purred as the cat made herself comfortable on her lap. It was then Jane returned, her lips curling into a smile as she noticed Cleo before she sat down next to Ramona.

"I see she found you. She won't be here for long, though, this is the time she has her dinner."

"I remember," Ramona nodded as she turned to face her, her eyes falling on the book she was holding. "You're going to study now, in the middle of the common room?"

"Well, not now since you're here but I plan on studying while everyone else is at dinner," Jane shrugged, "then it'll be quiet."

"Are you not hungry?"