CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
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-: fourth year :-
── IN WHICH PLANS ARE MADE
. . .
The weather was somehow getting even hotter as the days passed in a sunny daze of walking, laying in the grass and pretending like that wall they were ever supposed and will do.
After Harry's visit to the Adley Manor, he had found himself much more open to conversation and trying his very hardest to openly discuss things about himself, and not just about his friends. And if he was being honest, he was rather happy that he was.
Jane was perhaps the, and for lack of a better word, nicest and kindest person that Harry had ever had the pleasure of knowing. She was so understanding, knew things so interesting that he could listen to her all day and always managed to know when a topic wasn't something that Harry wanted to talk about.
And now, Harry was dressed in the very same swimming trunks that he wore for the second task of the Triwizard tournament (he had sewed up the Grindylow tear at the bottom of them in his own clumsy stitching) and was laid on a blanket upon the rock by the hidden cove.
Following the discovery of the L.M Montgomery book in the library, they had settled down on the sofa and she had read to him. And when they were a few chapters in, the cats had woken up and were running all over the place. And so Jane had fetched her bag and shut the library door, the two of them sat side by side as Treacle and Clementine ran around.
And then, Jane had marked out the routes on the map, managing to remember her way to the place where they had fallen in the water, so they could return some day. After those few hot days of walking along the river and sitting in the shade of copses upon hills, the two of them had decided to return to the waterfall in the forest for the day.
Which had ultimately lead to this, Harry sitting on the rock surrounding it and watching as Jane swam around in one of Flora's old swimsuits - which was black and white checked and the bottom resembled a short skirt. According to a conversation that the pair had overheard between Angela and Flora on the day when they met the cats, the woman was having things picked out for the girl in a couple towns across, and for now Jane was just continuing to wear what she had and taking her pick from Florence's closet.
Harry had never been awfully fond of swimming, but it seemed as if Jane thrived on it, and after a while of swimming around the pool bathed in sunlight, she pulled herself out of the water, catching the towel Harry threw at her.
"What do you say about coming with me to get those clothes orders?" Jane could somehow read Harry's mind as she sat beside him, swaddled in the daisy printed material. "I'm not sure if you would want to go.. we'd have to go for the whole day and Flora's really busy with sorting the house out and I wanted to go so that she didn't have to worry herself."
The words were spilling out of her lips far too quickly for Harry to get a word in, and he had never seen the Everleigh girl so nervous. She had always been so confident in askinng him things, having asked for them to spend the summer together within the day of their meeting.
"And I know you might not be able to come because of your Uncle and Aunt and they would probably ask where you've been because of the time and everything.. but I thought it could be good to get out somewhere.. to go somewhere different where you aren't terrified of turning a street corner and seeing that Dudley guy." She continued, shaking her head as a smile graced her lips.
"My cousin Dudley, yes." Harry nodded, letting himself chuckle and his eyes wander to the pool of water bathed in sunlight, ripples appearing just by where the waterfall fell. "And I think... if we get back in time we could manage it?"
"Alright. I'll let Flora know and we can maybe go tomorrow.. in a couple days time or whenever they're ready." Jane nodded, following Harry's gaze to the pool, pulling the towel off of her shoulders. "Come on - you're no fun just sitting here. Come swim."
And Harry got up and let her pull him into the water, ignoring the blush and the smile that had appeared upon Jane's face when he had accepted.
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