𝗷𝗮𝗻𝗲, harry potter

˗ˋ 08

CHAPTER EIGHT
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-: fourth year :-

── IN WHICH THEY WALK

. . .

The pair had been walking all morning, yet neither of them felt at all tired, walking casually down the trodden grass path alongside the calm river, that glinted attractively in the hot sun. 

Neither seemed to mind the lapses of silence that fell between them, focusing on the walking and just generally glad to have the company of someone other than the people they lived with - who really seemed to be the only people they knew in the town.

For Jane, that was expected. She had moved there not too long before, and had barely even left the house until the previous day. And for Harry - well Jane had found herself a little more surprised that he had no other friends in Little Whinging.

She wasn't going to pry, but considering he went to boarding school and hated his uncle, aunt and cousin - it sounded rather like he had lived here for quite some time. And had somehow not managed to have any other friends.

Either way, it seemed that they were just glad to have an excuse to leave their houses, get away from what they would deem as a lonely life.

"So this boarding school of yours." Jane spoke up, blades of grass lapping at her ankles as she strayed off the path, taking her eyes away from where she was walking as she looked over to Harry.

The green-eyed boy shrugged. "What about it?" He asked, glasses glinting in the light. Now, Harry wasn't exactly a skilled liar - he had his fair share of incidents where a little white lie had saved him and sometimes at school it was needed. But it seemed, with Jane, now that she had heard a little something about his school and seen his History of Magic book, lies would have to be told.

"What exactly do you study there? Because from what I've heard so far - and all that is is the lack of Shakespeare involved in your curriculum - it doesn't seem like your average high school." Jane rose her eyebrows, questioning him.

"You can say that again." Harry began, pausing as he tried to think of how exactly he could explain it without giving too much away. "It's... different. I wouldn't compare it to a normal mu-.. secondary school. But there's your usual things, Maths, History - Chemistry is a big thing there."

"History? History is fun.. I can't say I've ever been good at Maths or Chemistry." Jane mused, shrugging as she smiled. "I suppose it wouldn't be much of a surprise for you if I told you English is my favourite subject."

"It wouldn't." Harry's memory flickered back to the hours they spent together the previous lunch, watching as ginger hair fell over her eyes, head bent down over the book in her hands. He, on the other hand, had been a lot lazier with his reading, eyes flickering over the words but rarely taking them in. 

"That Shakespeare book of yours." Harry continued, watching as Jane began to look aroud for a place for them to sit down and eat. "Were they your notes in the margins?"

"Huh?" Jane's head twisted from a patch of grass beneath a tree over to the boy. "Is there?" Her eyes wide, she swung the bag from over her shoulder to her front, digging out the copy of Romeo and Juliet, opening it and flicking through the pages. "..So there is." 

"Did you write them for school?" Harry asked. Jane paused, glancing over at him. 

"Do you not do any analysing at school either?" She replied. "Either way, no, not that copy. That one is the copy I got from the Home." 

"The Home?" Harry pushed it just slightly, surprised to find himself hating how the question caused the corners of Jane's lips to tilt downwards.

She didn't have sour memories of the house that she had spent so much time in. In fact she loved the place. Just now that she was stepping away, the realisation of how much she hated living there, hated being unwanted.

"You don't have to answer - I shouldn't have asked." Harry quickly told her, relief clearing that sudden shadow that had passed over.

"I think that we could eat over there?" Jane brushed over it like he hadn't even mentioned it, pointing out the grassy area that she had been looking at. "It's shadowed and I'm not sure about you but I completely forgot suncream - I should ask Florence for some, you wouldn't happen to need some would you?"

"Er - possibly, yes." Harry couldn't even imagine raiding Aunt Petunia's bathroom cabinets for some sun cream, and whilst he wasn't exactly enjoying the idea that the Everleigh girl was somehow fixing all of his problems without even trying to - well, he had to accept.

You couldn't spend a summer outside with someone without it. 

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