Disclaimer: (DIIIISCLAIMER Disclaimer disclaimer!) The following is brought to you by the wonderful minds of K and M. Well, the plot anyway. Most of the characters and the world they live in belong to JK Rowling.

Chapter Three: Nightmares and Activities

Flashes of smiling faces surround me. The large, full moon over looms me, Emma and Rhys, my two best friends embrace me as we play by a fire outside the small tent that we share.

"Race you to the clearing!" Rhys cries, speeding off, leaving his sister and me to rush after him.

"Last one there is old Filch!"

Ever since he returned from Hogwarts, Rhys hasn't talked about anything else. We can't wait to attend with him.

I stumble ahead of Rhys, overtaking both him and Emma, and trip over a high root just on the edge of the clearing… a dog appears teeth barred… Rhys pulls me up, "Run away." He flourishes his wand… we turn away…and then the air is pierced with screams.

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A high blood-curdling scream filled the Ravenclaw dorm room, shooting Emma strait up from her sleep.

"Merlin, Casey!" Emma exclaimed, rushing over to Casey. She was drenched in sweat and was breathing heavily. "What's wrong?"

"Th-there was a clearing..." She panted "And a dog, and Rhys, oh my God, Rhys, and so much blood, so much blood…" Hot tears poured down Casey's cheeks.

"Oh, no…" Emma covered her mouth with one hand and reached out and touched Casey's cheek with the other. "How…" Emma composed herself, and then moved closer to Casey. "It's going to be alright. It was only a dream.

"So much blood…"

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"Come in class. Come, file in. Don't be shy. We all know each other by now." Professor Slughorn urged the students into the dungeon classroom for the first potions class of the year. "Don't bother sitting down yet; I'll be assigning partners as there aren't too many of you."

The class consisted of 9 Ravenclaw, 5 Gryffindor, 4 Hufflepuff, and 6 Slytherin. Since the students were now advancing to NEWT level classes, having taken the OWLs the previous year, not everyone continued with potions.

"Alright who do we have here…? Let's see… I think we'll do groups of three…" Slughorn rambled as he tried to decide who would work with whom. "Miss Evans, Mr. Black, and Miss Oakland. Mr. Lupin, Miss Wright, and Mr. Edwards. Mr. Potter, Mr. Snape, and Miss Robinson." The three groups started to move towards each other, while Slughorn continued making the groups. Casey and Lily were ecstatic to be in the same group but a little unsettled by the mischief maker they also had to work with. Emma and Remus exchanged pleasantries along with the Hufflepuff assigned to work with them. James was furious upon being placed with his enemy, the slimy, elitist, Severus Snape; if he hadn't also been paired with the blonde, overachieving, friendly Caroline Robinson of Ravenclaw who hopefully could keep peace between the two boys, he would have immediately abandoned potions class.

When Emma looked around there was her group, Casey's group, James' group, a group with two Ravenclaws and a Slytherin, a Hufflepuff and two Slytherins, two Ravenclaws and a Gryffindor, a Ravenclaw and two Slytherins, and finally a Ravenclaw and two Hufflepuffs. Slughorn also looked around at the room full of students, happy with the group placements.

"Now keep in mind that you won't always work in your groups. Since this is NEWT level you will have to be able to pull your own weight as well. But for the first few weeks we'll be working in these groups, after all the real world of potions often requires people to collaborate to meet a goal. Today, we are going to brew the Elixir to Induce Euphoria which can be found on page 98. Seems like a happy way to start the year." Slughorn joyfully concluded his beginning of the year speech and returned to the front of the room. When he noticed nobody had moved, he reminded his students that they already knew where to find everything.

"NO! Black, don't put that in there! Are you trying to mess up the entire potion?! We are on step five; that is in step eight! Don't screw this up." Casey yelped swatting Sirius's hand away from the cauldron and preventing a disaster that would result in an Acceptable grade instead of Outstanding or at least Exceeds Expectations, after all a Ravenclaw could never risk losing perfection. Lily laughed at Casey as she returned to her work, ignoring Sirius as best as possible. However this was a very hard feat since Sirius was one of the Kings of Mischief.

"Oh, lighten up, Oakland. It's just a potion." Sirius said.

"To you it's just a potion; to me it's something that may be on the final exam." Casey replied, not missing a beat. "Lily, can you start cutting the roots into even pieces, please?"

"Sure thing!" Lily and Casey worked well together, much like a well oiled machine. They each knew all the tricks to potions and cooperated very well, obviously since they were best friends. They did, however, butt heads during individual work trying to be the best. Lily had a natural talent for the subject, and Casey's competitiveness elicited a desire to beat everyone.

Emma, however, struggled with her group. Remus was horrible at Potions by her standards, and Mathew Edwards seemed lost in the dungeons.

"Lupin, that's rosemary, not lavender! Honestly! Even a muggle could tell the difference!" She snapped.

Remus rolled his eyes. "They both smell strong…"

"They're completely different!" she paused, and sighed. "Notice, the lavender has a purple tinge and is bubblier looking, see?" She pointed out the difference between the herbs.

Remus glared at her. "It all seems the same to me!"

"Time's up! Let's see how everyone did!" Slughorn announced. "Hmmm, yes, well done." Slughorn commented on a few of the groups' work. "Excellent! Miss Oakland, Miss Evans, brilliant work." He said peering into their cauldron which was the exact shade of blue described in the book.

"What about me, Professor?" Sirius nudged, reminding the man that he was also in the group.

"Mr. Black it seems as if you've weaseled your way into a good grade by merely following orders. You would make an excellent dog."

Sirius looked a little shocked by the comment, while Remus and James sniggered profusely.

"I applaud you for a good start to the year, class! Go ahead and clean up and then you're dismissed."

James clapped Sirius on the back as they left the classroom, "Padfoot, you would make an excellent dog! Don't you agree, Moony?"

"Sirius? A dog?" Remus paused for a moment pretending to be deep in thought. "Yeah, I can see it." He earned himself a punch in the arm for that remark.

"The way Sirius follows you around James, I'd say he already is half dog," Casey joked from behind the boys as she, Emma, and Lily burst into laughter.

"If you prefer, I'll follow you around, Oakland." Sirius replied suggestively, turning to face the girls.

"As if Case would want an imbecile like you stalking her every step," Emma remarked.

"That's harsh, Wright." James replied in defense of his best mate.

"With his big ego I'm sure he'll get over it quickly enough." Emma retorted.

"Oh no, I'm deeply hurt," Sirius said clutching his chest. "I may never recover. I'll be forever broken hearted. How...Will I... go on?" He said dramatically collapsing in the middle of the hallway.

"That sounds like a personal problem." Casey brushed past the boys followed by Emma and Lily.

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The wind felt great on Casey's face; it had been far too long since she last rode on her broom.

Casey was flying a few laps around the stadium to demonstrate basic flying ability, as was the first test the Ravenclaw quidditch captain had put all of the applicants through.

The captain was a seventh year boy, whom Casey had talked to on occasion. He was strong, well built, and agile, all of the characteristics of a Keeper. His girlfriend certainly loved the double meaning whenever she mentioned that her hottie boyfriend "sure was a keeper."

"Alright, everyone trying out for seeker, stand to my right," Captain Tyler Murphy called out, "Beaters to the left, and Chasers in front of me."

There was a great scuffle as everyone moved to stand amongst the others trying out for their desired positions. Murphy's eyes scanned the crowd landing on a slender brunette looking quite out of place surrounded by bulky, muscular teenage boys trying out for beater.

"Oakland, we've been over this, I'm not letting you try out for Beater. You're a brilliant quidditch player, but you're too fragile to be a beater. Chaser suits you better, which is why you'll be trying out there, again."

"Murphy you have to give me a chance! Your fragile excuse doesn't work anymore." She stomped up to him furious, standing eye to eye with him, almost taller by an inch or two. "Besides I'm stronger than half the boys in that group," she said indicating the second, third, and fourth year boys who looked rather shrimpy.

"Fine, but when you don't get chosen, you'll march your smart ass mouth over to the Chaser tryouts."

"Fine," Casey agreed with venom in her voice. I'll show you, she thought, walking back to the group of Beater wannabes.

"Beaters pair up and listen carefully." Murphy shouted.

He ran them all through the usual tryout procedure, quite pleased with the pool he had to choose from. He began dismissing students one by one as they failed to impress him. Eventually he was down to four people to choose from. Three blokes who looked the part of a Beater and to his surprise the stubborn Casey Oakland.

His final test for them was a question. "If another player is hurt, do you continue playing or rush to help them?"

"Continue, someone in the stands can help. We have a game to win!" Chaplin, the tallest of the three guys said.

"Check if he's critical, if not keep playing." Roberts concluded.

"Does it matter? The professors will stop the game anyways. They're too scared," Melvin quipped.

Murphy looked at Casey. "Help them. A teammate's safety is more important. Besides, you want to make sure they can play the next match as well."

"Thank you for trying out. Oakland, Roberts, you're on the team. Congrats." Murphy said rather dully as he walked away to put the chasers through their tryout routine.

"Hey, thanks for giving me a fair shot!" Casey said trotting after him.

"Yeah, turns out it's a good thing I did. You flew really well, and surprised me with how hard you could hit a bludger. Don't let me down."

"I wouldn't dream of it, Captain!" She said racing towards Emma to tell her the great news.

"Emma, Emma! I made the team!"

"That's nothing new, Case. You make the team every year." Emma drawled.

"But now he's letting me be a beater! It's about time too! Hey what are you doing tonight? Let's celebrate!"

"Oh. My. Goodness. That's amazing, I'm so proud of you! You're brilliant. Oh, and I can't celebrate tonight. Astronomy Club meeting. It's the first of the year, and Professor Frank is announcing who won last year's ballot."

"Oh alright, that's cool! Good luck! I'm going to go shower. I'll meet you in the Great Hall later for dinner, sound good?"

"Perfect. Bye."

Casey was walking into the Entrance Hall when she was tackled by a mass of black fabric and curly hair.

"Ow! Black, what the hell?" Casey cried out shoving him off of herself.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't see you there." Sirius said jumping up and starting to smooth out his robes. "I was running away from Filch—oh here he comes. Quick!" He grabbed Casey's wrist and pulled her up and started to run. He opened a portrait and rushed inside still pulling Casey along. Then he stopped abruptly causing Casey to run into him and fall to the floor again.

"Black! This is utter nonsense!" she shouted.

"Shush. Keep your voice down. You don't want to get caught do you?"

"But I didn't do anything wrong!" she protested as he offered his hand to help her up.

"But you're an accessory to my crime now. Besides, do you really want people finding us together in such a confined space?" He said noticing that Casey only stood a few inches away. "Someone might think we're… up to something." He commented suggestively.

Casey froze. It definitely wouldn't look good to be caught this close to Sirius.

"They would make up rumors about us, dear. And it would be quite dull if all of the rumors were false," Sirius said batting his eyelashes dramatically.

"OI! Sirius! Filch is gone." James said swinging the portrait open to find his partner in crime very close to Casey who jumped away. "Oh, hey Oakland. I heard you're going to be a beater for the Ravenclaw quidditch team. Is that true?"

"Yeah, I am." She replied looking at the boys admiring faces.

"That takes some real talent, sweetheart." Sirius said placing his arm around her waist.

"And power, darling." She said too sweetly as she moved her hand along his arm only to pull it off of herself and twist it about as hard as she could.

Sirius cried out in pain and leapt away from her.

"Don't touch me again, Black." She said as she stalked off.

"Oh, but how I want to," he muttered under his breath.

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As night began to fall, Emma waved goodbye to her friends and proceeded to climb the long winding staircase of the Astronomy tower. She couldn't wait for the results of the ballot. Last term, Emma had decided to run for club President. She was very nervous while giving her speech but hoped to gain votes from her friends and fellow club members. Tonight she would find out if her speech had done just that. As she approached the door at the top of the tower she took a deep breath and walked forward ready to hear the outcome that she had been looking forward to for three months.

"Emma!" Henry Conrad exclaimed as he wrapped his arms around her in greeting.

"Hello, Henry," her voice was muffled by his chest. "Can you let me go now?"

"Yeah, sorry," Henry laughed, releasing her and stepping back. "How was your summer? Anything eventful happen? Or did you just stare at the sky the whole time?"

"No, I stared at some books too. It's like you don't even know me."

"Apparently not, huh? Anyone who knew you would know that all you care about is stars and books."

"I know, right? People are just a nuisance."

"Got that right, Wright. See what I did there?" he teased, while a huge grin spread across his face.

Emma rolled her eyes. "You think you're so punny!"

At that moment, Professor Frank called the nocturnal portion of Hogwarts' students into order to begin the meeting.

"Now," He began, "Normally the Club's President would begin the meeting, but we as of yet don't have one. I pity the new President, really. It's such a dreary task." Most of the club was at the edge of their seats. Professor Frank had fun toying with the nerd's anxieties. He babbled on for a long while, talking about the history of Astronomy and the Hogwarts club, and mentioned a few stories about the naming of some of the bright shining stars.

"Professor!" One of the students interrupted after about a half hour (they were normally polite little nerds, so it was quite a surprise that someone called out. One is only left to guess that even the most patient, respectful of people get over-worked under great amounts of tension.)

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Professor Frank fake realized. "We have yet to announce the winners of the ballot." The whole class exhaled. "Your new club historian is Henry Conrad." Henry smiled wide, and Emma gave him a hug. "The Vice President is Matthew Lewis." A tall, lanky boy stood in recognition of the applause that he received; he was a very good looking nerd. "And lastly your President is," Emma crossed her fingers and closed her eyes, "Emma Wright." A significant amount of applause followed.

"Hey, you should give a speech!" Henry commanded Emma. The whole group joined in the relentless chant of "Speech! Speech! Speech!"

Emma shook her head. "No way," she said; the students weren't having any of it (typical of nerds, really). "Um… stars! Look up; you can see a whole bunch of them! That's why we're here, really, to observe the night sky. What we aren't here to do is to listen to me babble." Emma paused. "Let regular club goings-on commence."

And that's just what they did. Hordes of telescopes appeared and scrolls of sky charts buzzed around the night sky at the tip of the Astronomy tower.

A/N: M- Notice anyone? ;)

K- Girl Power! Way to show them who a real beater is, Case! Please Review!