On her back in the grass, with the hot May sun on her face, Ava lazily shot red sparks into the clear sky. Lara sat beside her under the shade of an oak tree, nervously pulling at the hem of her tee shirt. It was the first beautiful, rainless day that they had seen in three weeks, and it seemed that almost the entire school was outside enjoying it.
"We should be studying," Lara finally burst out, slapping her hand on the ground. "Exams are in six days, and you haven't even opened a text book!"
"I did open a text book, actually," Ava corrected, pushing up onto her elbows. "I opened my Charms one…"
"To show Peter the page he's missing in his," Lara cut in. "Face it, either you need to start studying this second, or you're going to fail the entire year."
Ava thought for a moment before dropping down on her back and sending green stars flaring up from her wand.
"Well I don't want to fail," Lara snapped, standing up and storming off. Ava watched her go with a cocked eyebrow.
"What's eating you?" she mumbled offhandedly, shoving her wand into her pocket and hoisting herself up from the ground. As much as she regretted to admit it, Lara had a point – if Ava didn't start studying now, she might as well kiss seventh year goodbye. She followed her twin's footsteps in the long grass up to the castle, watching the cloudless sky with longing. Ava would rather be anywhere but inside today. Maybe if she'd started earlier, like everyone else… But she hadn't, and that was her fault, and now she would deal with the consequences.
"Not outside today, Carlson?" A messy-haired boy fell into step beside her up the staircase.
"I was," Ava corrected, "but now I've got to start studying."
"I never study," he said carelessly, rubbing the back of his head. It was like a mindless habit to him.
"I know that, James. It's the reason you get such low marks and the reason you got so few OWLs."
"I got a fine number of OWLs. More than Sirius."
"Less than Remus," Ava countered. James rolled his eyes.
"I don't think anyone got as many as Moony. I'm busy with Quidditch all the time, anyway."
"Quidditch ended last month," Ava reminded him. "Last month, when you lost."
"Barely," James muttered crossly. Ava giggled. The Ravenclaw team had flattened Gryffindor for the Quidditch Cup, thanks to their Captain's superb Seeking skills, and Ava's amazing Keeping skills; that, and James' broom giving out and getting blown off course by heavy April winds, and their Seeker getting a concussion from a nasty Bludger.
"Have fun outside for me," Ava sighed, leaving James at the top of the stairs to go west, whilst he went north to find his friends.
*
The Ravenclaw common room was very nearly empty. A handful of seventh years were studying vigorously for their upcoming NEWTs, a fourth year was reading a book by the fire, and Lara was taking over a table near the door to the dormitories, her Potions notes spread out neatly over the entire table top. She looked up when Ava passed her and pushed open the door to the dormitories.
"Decided to study?" Lara asked smugly, as if she'd known this was going to happen and it was all thanks to her.
"No," Ava lied, shutting the door behind her and taking the stairs to the girls' dorms two at a time. She would have to study in there now, although Lara probably knew that her sister wasn't telling the truth. Ava always studied in the end, and always just passed because of it.
The sixth year girls' dorm was empty and held a heavy silence. No sound fluttered in through the cracks between the closed window and the stone wall. Ava pulled her book bag from under her bed and dumped its contents onto her four poster bed. She had five lessons to study for – one more than Lara – and, now that she had the studying mindset, planned on spending all day and all night until June first going over notes and reading through her books. She wanted to become a Mediwizard – "Sort of like a wizard paramedic," she'd explained to her Muggle father.
Ava began flipping through her Potions notes, and the study mood began to ebb away. For every sentence she read, she could hear Professor Slughorn's voice in her head, and it made her cringe. He was constantly trying to get Ava and Lara interested in his Slug Club, and also had a very annoying habit of reading the notes off the board instead of just letting the class copy them down silently. Not only that, but he also enjoyed commenting on Lara's potions every time he passed their table, and trying to engage them in conversation.
"I knew your mum," he would say every time. "Very bright young witch. Pity, pity what happened to her."
What happened to Ava and Lara's mom was that she began working at the Ministry, which apparently was a bad life choice in Slughorn's opinion.
"Oh, I can't do this," Ava sighed, leaving all her things spread out on her bed in favour of going back down to the common room. In the ten minutes she'd been gone, five more students – fellow sixth years – had joined the common room study session.
"Are you done already?" Lara asked angrily. "You're not going to get into any of the classes you want to if you pass them all with just A's, you know!"
"I'll do fine," Ava lied, faking confidence. "I've done so well this year, I know it all inside out and backwards."
"Okay, let's make a bet of sorts. I'll give you ten Galleons for every O you get. And for every O you don't get, you give me ten Galleons."
"Deal," Ava said, shaking her twin's hand. Her stomach clenched painfully; she didn't even have five Galleons to her name.
"No studying," Lara called to Ava, who was leaving the common room. Ava lazily threw up her hand to signal that she'd heard and agreed.
I'm so going to regret this, she thought desperately, slapping the pockets of her shorts out of nervous habit. The only good marks she'd gotten ever were on her OWLs, specifically so she could get into the courses she needed.
*
Ava flopped down on her butt under the shade of the oak tree by the lake beside a brown haired boy buried in a book.
"What's that?" Ava asked, peeking at the pages. He shut the book before she could read any and hid it in his book bag swiftly.
"It's nothing," he stated.
"It was something, Remus," Ava sing-songed, but she didn't pry. Remus often read books he was very secretive about. It was just his business.
"How did your studying go?" James asked, not looking up from his game of Exploding Snap with Sirius. Peter was watching eagerly out of beady, bright eyes.
"It went fantastically," Ava said, "besides the fact that I did none, and then made a bet with Lara that I could ace my exams without doing any."
"Oh, Carlson, you're so very clever," Sirius said sarcastically, slowly clapping a few times. Ava stuck her tongue out at his back.
"I'm just very sure of myself," she defended. "I know all of this, it's easy. I can do it."
"No you can't," Remus countered bluntly. Ava sighed.
"I can try," she said meekly. No one replied.
Ava was used to their lack of replies after the conversation died out. They weren't very close friends at all, but they did talk, and she often forced her company upon them when none of her close friends were available. Currently her friends were busy studying, something which she could no longer do.
"Anyone want to go for a swim?" she asked, a bit of a shot in the dark. Not many people swam with the Giant Squid, although he was relatively harmless if you stayed near the edge, and she just didn't think any of them would be up for it.
"Sure," Sirius Black said, making Ava's eyes go wide. He handed his cards over to Peter, who looked close to tears at being allowed to play with James. James grinned, although he seemed to be trying to hide it.
"Alright," Ava said happily, hopping up. He pulled off his tee shirt, and she took her wand out of her shorts pocket. "Watch this for me?" she asked Remus, laying it by his leg in the grass. He nodded, pulling the book he'd been reading earlier back out of his bag. Sirius took his wand out of his shorts, too, but gave it to James instead. James put it in his own pocket.
Ava and Sirius watched each other for a moment, then, in silent agreement, raced to the water's edge. They both took flying leaps, splashing the girls with their feet in the water. Sirius popped up a foot deeper than Ava, his black hair pasted to his face and neck.
"I win," he said, punching the air. Ava pushed her blonde bangs out of her face and scowled. She was so sure that she was going to go father, but alas… Maybe winning just wasn't in her blood this month.
"I'll beat you next time, Black," she threatened. Sirius just laughed, and then started in with a hacking cough when Ava splashed water at his face and into his mouth.