Chapter Four
It's not cheating, I swear
Nothing compares to an Arithmacy lesson, it was the most stressful maths lesson that there possibly could be, there were so many calculations that couldn't be guessed, because a guess would mess up the entire equation.
It was times like this that I questioned my judgement in taking it. Who would willing subject themselves to this kind of torture? The answer to that question would be myself, Remus, Severus and a bunch of Ravenclaws. There were no Hufflepuffs in here, I don't know what that said about them.
I sighed as I got stuck once again, I was so close to giving up. Remus and I were sat together and I could see that he was a few questions ahead of me, if I could just peek over his arm. I froze in place as he looked at me, I smiled cheerfully at him and pretended to go back to work.
Once he looked away I tried again. Carefully edging a bit closer, I kept my eyes on him, hoping that he wouldn't catch me. That would be too embarrassing. I moved my chair a bit closer but I was too loud and it caught his attention.
"Yes Lily?" He asked, smiling a bit.
I knew I was caught so I grimaced. "Hey Remus, I was just wondering if you could help me." I motioned towards my parchment that was filled with crossing outs and scribbles.
"Sure." He lent over to check which question I was on. I caught a whiff of his scent, it was woodsy, like the forest. He smelt like nature and I actually lent in a bit closer to get more than a sniff. I snapped out of it when he turned to look at me.
"I can see where you're going wrong." He proceeded to help me with the rest of the question, making sure I understood what he was saying before starting on the next part. I was impressed, he would make a really good teacher one day.
"Thanks Remus, I'll try and do the next one by myself." I sat there in silence for the next twenty seconds before I gave up. "Remus..."
He turned back towards me with a sigh and a smile. He really was an angel, I had no idea why he chose to hang out with Potter and Black who were the opposite. They were the devil reincarnate. In two bodies.
Finally the bell rang and my torture was over, I packed up my stuff and headed towards the door after waiting for Remus. He also had a free period next.
"So for the homework?" I began.
"We have to complete the rest of the equations, would you like me to help you?" He asked, opening the door for me.
I smiled at him. "You're a lifesaver."
In the common room we worked for the rest of our free period, I helped him with Charms in return for his help with Arithmacy. This was something we did quite a lot and it worked well for the both of us.
Once the free period was over I met up with Alice who came up to get some different books for her lessons after lunch.
"Where's Marls?" I asked, following her up to the dormitory. "See you Remus!" I shouted after his retreating back, he turned back to wave and when he was gone Alice turned to me after opening the dormitory door.
"So are you and Remus...?" I gaped at her as she went to find her books.
"What? Me and Remus? No, no, no. We just help each other out with homework." I nodded to myself. Alice turned to give me a disbelieving looks.
"Really is that it? I was expecting some gossip Lils, help me out a bit here." She laughed. I rolled my eyes and picked up a few books that I would need and put them in my bag.
"Ready?" I asked, she stood up from where she was searching under her bed, having found the book she wanted and walked over to me.
"Let's go." She linked arms with me and we made our way down to the Great Hall, noticing that Marlene was seated at the Ravenclaw table, with her new 'friend'.
"That was fast." I commented as we sat down. I pulled some sandwiches towards me and started eating.
"Well you know what Marlene's like, when she likes someone she digs her claws in before anyone else can." I laughed at Alice's description, that sounded about right. We continued chatting away about everything and anything and as the conversation turned to Frank I knew that we would be on the subject for a while.
"He wants me to meet his mum." Alice spoke, fiddling with her knife and fork. "I do want to, but you remember what he said about her?" I nodded. "She's supposed to be like really strict and I don't know if she's going to like me.
I put my hand over hers. "Don't worry Alice, you're every parent's dream." She smiled at me before gushing about the last date she and Frank went on. I'd already heard this so I didn't feel too bad when I got distracted by the Professors table at the top of the hall. It reminded me that I had to go see Professor Dumbledore with Potter later this evening. I wondered what he wanted.
He caught my eye and raised his goblet towards me, I smiled back and tilted my own back at him. I averted my eyes quickly though, he may be the friendliest headmaster ever but he still exuded a feeling of power that made me feel a bit intimidated.
Alice was still going on about Frank so I tuned back in. "And then we went to a cute little bar down the road, I think I told you about it before."
I tuned her out again, umming and ahhing in all the right places. I did listen to her most of the time and I was really happy for her and Frank but sometimes I wanted to eat in silence and I would never admit to her this, but I was very happy when the bell rang and we went off to Defence Against the Dark Arts.
I hadn't noticed but Potter and his friends weren't at lunch. But I did notice when the entire seventh year Slytherins came in the Defence classroom covered in some sort of pink goo. I snorted, trying my best to cover a laugh, I didn't want Potter to think he was funny, and looked at Alice who was also trying not to laugh.
Looking around at the rest of the class who were already laughing it was clear that the Slytherins didn't know what everyone was laughing about and continued to sneer in that disrespecting way which made it all the more funnier.
I couldn't contain a slight chuckle, which drew the Slytherins attention towards me. Their sneers increased, which was actually quite impressive and they were about to say something but the Marauders entered the classroom.
Once they got a good look at their handiwork they high-fived one another, Potter looked in my direction and I covered all of my amusement. He looked a bit disappointed but turned his attention to his enemies.
"We always knew you were slimy." He began. "But you could have at least had a wash before coming out of your lair." He sniffed at them. "You've somehow become more disgusting." He waved his wand and finally they could see the pink goo. Malfoy looked the most embarrassed, his pale face had a tinge of pink that went well with the goo.
He drew out his wand which made the rest of the Slytherins follow his lead. "We'll get you for that one Potter." He was about to shout a spell but was interrupted by Professor Dew emerging from his office.
"Is there a problem there Mr Malfoy?" His eyes widened when he saw the goo, he sighed and turned to the Marauders. "Was this you four?" He already knew the answer but couldn't say anything because he didn't have any proof.
"Of course not Professor, this must be their natural look only they've forgotten that they had to come out in public today." Black sneered.
Professor Dew turned back to the Slytherins, waving his wand with his face expectant he obviously thought something was going to happen. With another wave his gave up. "Go back to your dormitories and clean up." He motioned for them to leave. "You're excused from today's lesson."
The Slytherins looked outraged that nothing more was being done. "But Professor!" Once they realised Dew wasn't going to do any more they all stomped out, it was actually quite funny to watch.
"You four go and sit down." The troublemakers grinned, knowing they had gotten away with it and walked to their seats at the back of the room. As Potter passed me he ran his hand over my shoulder, which elicited a small shudder from me. I shrugged it off and stared determinedly in front of me.
That did not happen.
The Professor then told us the basic format of our N.E.W.T examination. "There will be one two hour writing examination and one one hour practical test. Here are some examples of the written questions. You have the rest of the lesson, when you are finished please hand them in and I will mark them to be given back next lesson. You may begin."
One of the Hufflepuffs raised her hand. "Yes Miss Bones?"
"Are we allowed to work together?" She blinked up at him.
"Yes you may."
I grinned and turned to Alice and Marlene who had slipped in before the Slytherins and sat on the other side of me. "Okay guys, let's do this." She whispered, craning her neck to get a better look at the question. As soon as Dew had his back turned she began whispering about what had just happened. "I love how Dew couldn't get the goo off." She laughed quietly. "Must have been a spell only they could remove." I nodded and turned back to our assignment.
"Yes, yes, it was all very clever. Now back to the questions." I began scribbling down an answer to the first one, letting Alice and Marlene have a look before they copied it down.
"Yeah it was. If a Professor couldn't get rid of it, I'd hate to imagine how them scrubbing it off is going to work. I bet they come to dinner like it." Alice nodded her agreement.
"I bet they do to. I hope it stays on for a little while."
I rolled my eyes. "It probably will, you know what the Marauders are like. It'll probably stay on for a day or two."
"And you'd be correct Lily flower as always." I sighed as Potter interjected his unwanted opinion once again. Alice and Marlene immediately turned around to talk to him whereas I refused to. I felt his hand on my shoulder again and shrugged him off. Keep calm Lily, and carry on.
Ignoring him came easy to me, although he and Marlene and for some reason swapped seats. She got to sit next to Black and he got to sit next to me, it wasn't a surprise that they were both grinning like the cat who got the canary. "What do you want Potter?" I asked through gritted teeth, giving up with ignoring him as he kept poking me. I slapped his hand away as it came closer.
"What did you get for the first question?" He asked, leaning over to look at my paper. I knew it was a bit hypocritical to not let him look at my answers, seeing as it was what I'd been trying to do earlier with Remus, but this was Potter we were talking about. I wasn't about to help him.
"Why don't you try and work it out for yourself?" I huffed, moving onto question four and turning to Alice to discuss it.
The rest of the lesson moved in much this fashion, Potter tried to get my attention I would snap at him and then do the next question with Alice. When the bell rang I jumped up and handed my parchment to Dew before storming out. I had another free period now, so I decided to go and sit out by the lake.
"Alice do you have a free now?" I asked, Marlene had gone ahead with Sirius both of them were laughing happily. Whereas Potter, Remus and Pettigrew were trailing behind muttering to each other.
Alice fumbled with her bag, attempting to get her timetable out. "Umm, yeah I do. Where shall we go?"
"I'd like to go to the lake, finish up some of this homework." She laughed at me.
"Lily, didn't you do all of it with Remus earlier." I shook my head.
"I still have Potions to do." I argued. "We should go to the kitchens first, get some food for a picnic or something!" I got excited.
Alice chuckled. "We've just had lunch." But that didn't stop her stomach from rumbling at the mention of food.
I raised an eyebrow. "Oh alright then." She linked arms with me again and we walked down the stairs to the kitchens where we were immediately bombarded with house-elves.
"Would Miss Head girl like some food?" One of them tugged on my sleeve. I smiled down at the cute looking creature, it certainly wasn't the worse looking house elf I'd ever seen.
"Yes please, we'd like to have a picnic out by the lake. If it isn't too much trouble." They instantly started putting things into a basket for us, fruits, sandwiches, chocolates and pies all went in. I began to drool at the sight of it.
This place really spoiled us.