The seats in the Charms class were arranged differently, in a large semicircle with the chalk board in the front center.
Matthew Stewart | Austin Brown
Rob Turner | Remus Lupin
Alice Davies | Lily Evans
Stefanie Rogers | Kristie Walker
Rebecca Smith | James Potter
Steven Hall | Sirius Black
Peter Pettigrew | Christine Abbot |Mellissa Collins | Cassidy Taylor
A/N: The desks are all connected in a semicircle, not one behind the other like the names are written. (The names in the right column are on the other side of the room not right beside [Sirius sits beside Cassidy])
Professor Flitwick had created a seating plan with floating name tags above each desk. They noticed quickly that Flitwick integrated the houses to sit together. Cassi took her seat next to Sirius, who grinned, and got her Charms text, quill and ink bottle along with the rest of the class.
Flitwick began the lesson with a quick introduction, and a note on a levitating charm. After they had finished copying the note, they began the practical. Using the papers that had been floating to mark their seats the students pointed their wands to make their first attempt.
"Now remember, swish and flick." Professor Flitwick said waving his wand. Looking hesitant the students practiced waving their wands. "Well go on then." Professor Flitwick urged them and each student began to say the spell.
Lily raised her wand and swished while she said the words, "Win-gar-dium Levi-o-sa." The paper raised in the air, above her head. A few seconds after, Cassi's paper flew into the air.
"Very good, Ms. Evans! And Ms. Taylor!" Flitwick praised as the girls smiled triumphantly to each other. Professor Flitwick walked to the other side of the class to help Peter, whose paper had begun smoking.
Sirius swished his wand and said the words but his paper only fluttered a few centimetres off the desk before landing. Again and again the paper barely left the desk.
"Uh, Sirius?" Cassi asked, barley hiding the smile on her face.
"What?" He said bitterly, as the paper's corner jerked upward, but nothing else happened.
"I just noticed that, um, well, your paper's barely twitching." Sirius' eyes narrowed as he looked at her. "I just think that you're stressing the wrong parts of the incantation." She bit her lip hesitantly.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you say 'Wingar-dium Levio-sa' and it should be Win-gar-dium Levi-o-sa."
"Oh, well I'll give it a try. Win-gar-dium Levi-o-sa" Instantly the paper flew into the air and Sirius smiled at Cassidy. "Thanks."
"No problem."
For the rest of the class they practiced levitating objects. Getting them higher and floating them longer, eventually practicing moving them across the room and back again, their main object of focus (after the slips of paper) was their Charms texts. Once the bell rang, the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs headed to the Great Hall for lunch. Cassi walked with Lily, Alice and Rebecca ahead of them, talking about the Charms and Transfiguration class they had and the homework. When they were nearing a turn in the corridor, Rob caught up to them, walking beside Cassi.
"Hey Cassi, Lily." Rob said.
"Oh hey Rob" Cassi said, something about the look on his face made her feel awkward, but special; she just wasn't used to the attention.
"I forgot to ask Alice something. See you later Rob" Lily said quickening her pace to catch up with Alice and Rebecca.
"So, what class do you have after Defence?" Cassi asked glancing at Rob, then quickly looking forward again.
"Uh, Charms with Slytherin, you?" Cassi suddenly became very aware of the boys walking behind her.
"Flying with Ravenclaw, should be fun."
"Yeah you guys are lucky, we don't have flying until tomorrow before lunch." They smiled at each other, and Sirius, behind them, felt anger flare within him at the look on Rob's face.
He didn't know why he cared, she wasn't his girlfriend, hell she wasn't even his friend. Sirius knew pretty much nothing about Cassidy, and yet he felt protective and coveted Rob's position, receiving Cassi's smile and the close proximity between them. He just couldn't help but feel jealous and a strange desire for Cassi to smile at him like that, to stand close to him and to be with her.
Sirius shook himself mentally, trying to get a handle on his emotions and calm down. He didn't need to get in a duel on his second day here. And what would he say when they asked him why he hexed Rob? That he was jealous of the way Rob and Cassi looked at each other? As if. No he would just have to get over it.
Cassi and Rob reached the Great Hall seconds after the other Gryffindor girls, and seconds before the Gryffindor boys. She said goodbye to Rob and joined her friends walking over to their house table.
"Gee, Lily thanks for ditching me!" Cassi said in a hushed whisper.
"He wanted to talk to you alone! Come on Cassi he's cute." Lily defended her decision.
"Yeah, he could be your boyfriend. He could take you to Hogsmeade and you could go for tea and-" Alice was rambling excitedly.
"Alice, leave her alone!" Rebecca said rolling her eyes. "Maybe she doesn't want to date Rob. Maybe she'd rather date someone like Sirius Black." Becca said humour glinting in her eyes.
"What is with you guys?" Cassi said quite loudly, then in a lower hushed tone, "And I don't want Sirius Black to be my boyfriend!" She almost hissed the last word, glaring at her friends.
Unfortunately for Cassidy, sound travels. In this particular case, the words Sirius Black and boyfriend were the only ones that carried. And as luck would have it, Sirius Black (the other Gryffindor 1st year boys included) heard those words and, of course, they only intensified his curiosity.
James nudged him in the side grinning and wagging his eyebrows as if to say: "Nice one, mate." Remus looked a bit awkward and knew that they were not supposed to hear what was said. Peter smiled, looking between each of his friends. Sirius, however, didn't smile; he would be thrilled if she was saying that she wanted Sirius to be her boyfriend. But, then what if she was saying that she would hate to have him as her boyfriend, that she didn't want him as her boyfriend? Regardless of the rest of the sentence, James thought he did well, and Remus didn't approve of eavesdropping, and Peter was a mystery.
The boys sat down at the Gryffindor table and began eating without further mention of what they had heard. The girls were chatting amicably while they ate and when they finished they began to make their way to the Tower so they could exchange their books.
"Hey Alice, where you guys going?" Remus asked as Alice (the first of the girls) walked past him.
"The dorms, we've got to get our Defence books. Don't you guys?"
"Yeah, what time is it?" Rebecca glanced at her watch, since none of the other girls ever wore watches, they relied on Becca, and it was only the first day.
"Uh, about 12"
"Isn't that a bit early?" James asked
"Well, we don't want to be late-or practically late-like some people." Cassi responded with a challenging smirk. "Anyway, we'll see you in class…if you find your way there." Lily smiled as they turned away and walked toward the Entrance Hall.
Back at the Gryffindor table the boys looked at each other. "You know their right, right? We'll probably be late again." Remus said
"Hey we weren't late last time. But, maybe we should go get our stuff…" Sirius said. They all got up and followed the girls out of the Hall.
Walking quickly the boys managed to catch up to the girls. Lily glanced back at the sound of footsteps, she glared at James momentarily, and then turned back to her friends where she told them who was behind them. Cassi turned around next.
"So you actually decided to go to class on time? I'm impressed." Cassi mocked as Sirius scowled good naturedly.
"You should be this is quite a feat for them." Remus said smiling as James and Sirius looked at him surprised.
After a few minutes, each group talking amongst themselves, they reached the portrait hole and gave the password. Cassi and Sirius were last through the portrait hole, the rest of the Gryffindors were heading up the stairs and Sirius and Cassi lingered a bit to let the rest of their friends up first. When everyone else had gone up to their respective dorms, Sirius and Cassi walked up to the stairs and were on the landing that separated the boys' and girls' staircases.
"Walk you to Defence?" Sirius asked hopefully, but his smile faltered when Cassi scoffed at him.
"I can walk myself thanks, I'm very capable."
"I didn't mean it like that."
"You know, I should be the one offering to walk you, make sure you don't take a 'shortcut' or anything…"
"I'm never going to live that down; it was a mistake, okay? And I was just wondering if you wanted to walk together, you know, for company."
"Then sure I'll walk with you to Defence." Sirius smiled and the two parted ways to get their books.
A/N: Please take part in the poll on my profile! I would love to know what you think.
