Chapter 4

"I still can't believe it!" Cynthia said. "I can't believe I did it!" It was lunchtime, and Cynthia was ecstatic over the fact that she had been able to successfully cast an Aguamenti Charm nonverbally.

"I don't see why you're so surprised," I said. "I mean, Charms is your best subject."

"I know, but still! I really didn't expect to get it this fast," she responded, taking a bite of her salad. Cynthia, to be honest, wasn't one of the smartest people, and it didn't help that her work habits weren't so great, either, but when it came to Charms, she definitely excelled. Lily had been the only one in class today who had been able to complete the nonverbal spell before Cynthia did.

"So," Cynthia began, "what was with Sirius in Potions today?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"You know, picking up your Potions book for you when you fell!"

"Oh," I said. I had completely forgotten about that. "What about it?"

"Come on Amy, how can you NOT know what I'm talking about?" she exclaimed, looking at me exasperatedly. "Sirius Black is like, the best-looking guy in our year, and not only did he TALK to you last night, but he picked up your book, and you don't even care?!"

"I don't know," I said, "I mean, I thought it was nice of him…"

"And then he asked if you were okay!" Cynthia went on, evidently not really paying attention to what I was saying. "This is Sirius Black, Amy! Do you know how many girls would like, have a heart attack if he even smiled at them?" Including you? I thought. "He isn't like all the other hot guys in our grade, he doesn't go around using his good looks so that he can talk to as many girls as he can!"

"Don't be stupid," I snapped. "He's not trying to flirt with me."

"Not yet, but who knows what might end up happening? You should be excited!"

I sighed, knowing she wasn't going to let this go, and ate a piece of my chicken. I really didn't understand why she was making such a big deal over it. I mean, I understood the fact that he's never really talked to me before now, but so what? It's not that I disliked him or anything, like Vesper did, but I just didn't see why Cynthia thought it was so significant.

After lunch, Cynthia and I went outside to go to Care of Magical Creatures. It was the one class I had with Cynthia that I didn't have with Vesper, who took Arithmancy instead.

"Hey Cynthia, why don't you grow some brain cells?" sneered Ryan Norris, a Ravenclaw boy in our year as we passed him walking out to the grounds. Ryan had gone out with Cynthia last year for a few months, but then he had cheated on her, so she dumped him. Ever since then, he never missed an opportunity to make rude comments to her, the majority of them being some way to call her stupid.

"Why don't you keep your mouth shut?" she retorted, glaring at him as he walked off in the opposite direction towards the castle. Her face was red with embarrassment and frustration. I knew she tried not to let his comments bother her, but she couldn't help it, since she's a highly sensitive person who always worries about how other people think.

"Don't worry about him," I said. "He's an ass. Just forget about it. Karma will screw him over eventually."

She sighed. "I hope so."

As we approached the area where our Care of Magical Creatures lessons took place, we sat down on the grass and waited for Professor Ackman and the rest of the class to arrive. Within the next few minutes, everyone in our class had made their way over to the grounds, and we all waited for the lesson to begin.

"Okay, everyone!" Professor Ackman said, motioning for everyone to gather around and we all walked towards her, listening intently. "Today, we will be studying Demiguises. Now, I'm asking you all to stay very still for the moment, please don't speak or make any movements." She turned around and started talking in a reassuring, soothing tone to what seemed like empty space. Cynthia gave me a look, as if to say What the hell is she doing?,and I gave her one back, hoping it would convey the message of How should I know? I'm sure Ackman will explain it. Many of the other students raised their eyebrows curiously, it was evident that they were in the same frame of mind as Cynthia. Not that I wasn't confused, but I was more excited to find out what the lesson was going to be about, since Care of Magical Creatures was my favorite subject, and the classes were always interesting and fun.

All of a sudden, someone gasped quietly. A large apelike creature had appeared out of nowhere, covered in silver fur that looked like it was very soft and silky. Turning back to us, Professor Ackman said, "Demiguises are very rare to come across, since they have the ability to turn themselves invisible whenever they feel threatened or afraid. It takes a skilled wizard to be able to track them down and find them, and that's what you guys are going to be doing today. The Demiguise will turn invisible and you will all have to try to find it, using the information you find in your book as well as your own knowledge of tracking abilities. I want you all to get into groups of two or three, and then we'll begin."

There was a flurry of motion as everyone in our class assembled into groups. Since there were only eleven people in our class, it didn't take very long. I stood next to Cynthia, who was in a group with me, and we waited for Professor Ackman to give us further instructions.

"Everyone, come over here, and I want you to close your eyes and I'll count for thirty seconds so that the Demiguise can turn itself invisible and wander around without any of you watching, so none of you will have an advantage. And if any of you open your eyes in an attempt to cheat, I'll notice," she said, looking at all of us sternly. "Okay, eyes closed!" She began counting, and I made sure to keep my eyes closed, despite my curiosity. Professor Ackman was one of my favorite teachers, but she could be pretty strict, so I knew it wouldn't be smart to test out whether or not she was really paying attention.

"Twenty-eight….twenty-nine…thirty. Okay," Professor Ackman said, and I opened my eyes. Looking around me, I saw no signs of the Demiguise. "Now, the Demiguise is peaceful, so you don't have to worry about being attacked. That doesn't mean it'll make it any easier to find, though….and not only do you have to find it, you have to get it to materialize. You can all begin now."

I took out my textbook and flipped through it to the section on Demiguises. "Well, it says that a Demiguise is a herbivore, and that it lives in tropical regions of the far East, so maybe it'll be under the trees," I said to Cynthia. "Should we go look over there?"

She shrugged. "Okay." I could tell she really didn't have much interest in the lesson and was pretty much willing to do whatever I suggested. We walked over to the trees and I tried to stay as quiet as possible, listening closely for any sounds of movement that would reveal the Demiguise's whereabouts.

"Can we just like, walk around and pretend we're looking for the Demiguise?" Cynthia whined.

"No," I said, looking at her sharply. "If we do that and Ackman notices, she'll kill us. Come on, let's just stay quiet and see if we can find it."

"It's not like we're going to find it anyway," she grumbled, but she stayed silent after that as she walked next to me. I felt bad because I knew I'd sounded bitchy, but I didn't want to lose House points or have my grade drop in this class, especially since my marks in this class tended to be pretty high. Also, the lesson we were doing today was pretty easy, compared to some of the other ones we've had.

All of a sudden, I thought I heard a faint rustling sound nearby. I froze.

"What is it?" Cynthia asked.

"Shhh!" I hissed. "Sorry, it's just that I think I hear something," I explained in a soft whisper.

Cynthia rolled her eyes, but said "Where's it coming from?"

"Somewhere to the right of us." I stayed quiet again, and listened carefully, wondering if it was actually the Demiguise I was hearing and not just someone else walking, or even worse, if it was my overactive imagination playing tricks on me. All of a sudden, I heard the rustling sound again. Cynthia and I looked at each other and I knew she'd heard it too.

"I think it's over there," I said, pointing somewhere right below a large oak tree, "but I'm not a hundred percent sure…"

"Well, we won't find out by just standing around," Cynthia said matter-of-factly. "Let's go see."

Slowly and cautiously, we walked over to the area where I predicted the Demiguise to be, when my ears picked up a new sound. I froze. It was the sound of a creature's breathing. "It's here," I whispered to Cynthia, as quietly as I could, hoping I wouldn't scare it away.

"What do we do now?"

"We have to get it to materialize."

"How the bloody hell do you expect to get it to do that?"

"Um…" To be honest, I had no idea. "Talk to it, I guess," I said, thinking about what Professor Ackman did at the beginning of class.

"So…do it," she said indifferently.

Tentatively, I stared at the space where I had heard its breathing. "It's okay," I said in what I hoped was a calm, soothing tone. "We're not going to hurt you. You're safe here. You don't need to hide…" I continued this, part of me wondering if I was making any progress at all. "You don't have to stay invisible, we're not going to do anything to you…"

Just when I was debating whether or not this was worth continuing, the Demiguise materialized right in front of me, with just a few inches of space between us. I hadn't realized how close we were to it.

"Hey," I said, looking up at its large, black eyes that were barely visible beneath its silver fur. "Thanks. I was almost about to give up." It blinked at me as if it understood.

"Should I go tell Ackman that we found it?" asked Cynthia. I nodded, and she ran off.

I reached out my hand slowly toward the Demiguise. When it didn't react, I touched its silky fur and stroked it, and it made a soft, murmuring noise in response.

"Nice job, girls!" Professor Ackman came running up with Cynthia and the rest of the class following her. "So, what did you do in order to find it and get it to materialize?"

"Well," I began, "in the textbook it says that Demiguises live in tropical regions, we figured it'd be under the trees, since in tropical places it's hot and sunny so most animals would probably spend time under the trees in order to try and stay cool." Professor Ackman nodded, as if telling me to continue.

"Then," I went on, "we kept on walking by these trees, until we thought we heard something, so we approached it, and we knew it was there when we heard its breathing. After that, we just talked to it like you did at the beginning of class, hoping we could get it to materialize."

Professor Ackman smiled approvingly. "Well done, girls. Ten points to Gryffindor."

"Professor, I have a question," said Katherine Gabriel, a Ravenclaw girl in our class.

"Yes, Miss Gabriel?"

"What exactly was the point of this lesson?" she said, and a few other students gasped and stared at her in shock, surprised that she had dared to ask such a question. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound rude, but I really don't understand why we did this, since we didn't even need to use magic."

"The point of this lesson, Miss Gabriel," Professor Ackman said, looking at her someone sharply, "was to experiment in tracking creatures that are difficult to find, and in tracking, other skills are required besides simply using magic, as these girls have demonstrated." Katherine blushed, evidently embarrassed that she had said anything in the first place.

Professor Ackman led our class back to the open field, where she assigned us our homework, and then let us go, because class was over.

"Ugh, I can't believe we have to write an essay about Demiguises!" Cynthia complained as we made our way back up to the castle. "And we have Defense Against the Dark Arts next, I'm sure Lennox'll give us a bunch." She went off on a tangent about the amount of work we have this year and about how hard all her classes were. Although I did somewhat share her feelings, I didn't have the energy to contribute anything to the conversation, since I was still incredibly tired from my lack of sleep last night. She didn't really seem to mind the fact that I was barely responding to her, anyway.

"I don't know how you and Vesper do it," Cynthia rambled on, as we made our way down the corridor to get to Defense Against the Dark Arts. "You guys each take six classes, and they aren't easy ones, either! I can barely stand it with the four that I take."

"Yeah…" I was barely paying attention to what she was saying at this point, because I was suddenly feeling slightly dizzy, and was more concerned with trying to focus on getting to class. However, while I was trying to pull myself together, I didn't notice the textbook on the floor in front of me, and a split second later, I went flying. I cringed, expecting to crash to the ground, but I never did. It took me a few seconds to realize that someone had caught me and was trying to help me get back up on my feet. In a daze, I held onto him gratefully as I stood up and, fortunately, I wasn't quite as dizzy as before, although I still did feel a little lightheaded. I turned to the student to thank him, and a jolt of surprise rushed through me as I recognized Sirius.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his expression seeming as if he was genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. "Thanks, though."

"Don't worry about it," he said, then "Hey, this is the second time today you've fallen…are you sure you're all right?" I was surprised by this question, especially since I had already told him I was okay, but at the same time, I made a mental note to inform Vesper about this incident the next time she made a comment about Sirius being arrogant and not caring at all about other people.

"I'm okay, really," I replied. "I'm just kind of tired right now, so I-I'm a little out of it."

He nodded, as if to show he understood. "Yeah, I know the feeling." He paused for a moment, and then said "You really should get to sleep earlier, though."

"Yeah," I said, feeling stupid for saying Yeah again, but not really sure how else to respond.

"Anyway, I'll see you around," he said.

"Next class," Cynthia, who had said nothing throughout this whole exchange, suddenly broke in.

He looked at her confusedly. "What?"

"You'll see her in your next class," Cynthia clarified. "We have Defense Against the Dark Arts together."

"Oh," he said, his confused expression clearing up. "Yeah, I know."

"Speaking of class," I said, "we should hurry up so we won't be late."

Cynthia nodded in agreement, then turned to Sirius. "Coming?"

He looked at her, somewhat surprised, and then spoke. "Sorry, I promised James I'd wait for him here. I'll see you both later, though…well, next class," he said, grinning.

Cynthia giggled, almost flirtatiously, and I gave him a quick smile before we rushed off to Defense, hoping we'd make it on time. Fortunately, as we reached the classroom, Professor Lennox hadn't arrived yet. We went into the room and sat down at our usual desks.

"Oh my god, Amy," Cynthia squealed excitedly, "Sirius is like, so into you!"

I stared at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, how can you not see it? This is the second time today he's helped you out when you've fallen…" I blushed at this point, realizing how clumsy and uncoordinated I must have appeared to him, "and he's been so nice to you! I don't see how you can be thick enough not to notice."

"I'm not being thick!" I protested. "I just think you're overreacting. Not that he hasn't been nice and everything, but he hardly knows me. I hardly know him. We hardly know each other." I was aware of the fact that I'd just repeated myself, but I tended to do that when trying to make a point.

"Yeah, well…all I'm saying is, you never know."

I rolled my eyes. I didn't understand why Cynthia was making such a big deal out of all of this. Sirius was just being friendly by helping me out, and it would be stupid to assume he meant anything more by it. Still, though, part of me couldn't help but be excited about the prospect of getting to know him better, and wonder why, after five years of barely interacting at all, we had suddenly spoken so much to each other within just one day.