[A/N: Hey all, We're updating! So, yeah, we wrote an uber-long chapter, so we decided to split it into two chapters. We'll have the next chapter up by Wed, since we just have to go over it and fix a few things. This chapter isn't as eventful as we had thought, since most of it is in the next part, but we hope you like it anyways!

Thanks to my faithful reviewers: cafin8dsodaa, ravenclawLupin11, SWaddict1986, Jaccalax, Paul, Fun-Sized Kirk. We really appreciate it.

Disclaimer: I don't own it. At all. Shame, right?

Chapter 21- Examinations and Exclamations

"Oh, but once we were young, and we were crass enough to care

But I guess you live and learn, we won't make that mistake again, no

Oh but surely just for one day, we could fight and we could win

And if only for a little while, we could insist on the impossible"

-Love Ire and Song by Frank Turner

"I'm going to the library to meet Josh," Allie told Kate. Kate looked up from where was lying in her bed, flipping through a Quidditch supply magazine.

"Right now?" she asked, an expression of horror on her face. "It's nine in the morning on a Saturday!"

"Yes," Allie agreed, "And exams are two weeks away."

"Please tell me you'll at least be doing a special kind of studying," Kate said, but she didn't look expectant.

Allie just rolled her eyes in response. "Kate! Exams are in two weeks! And Josh has NEWTS coming up. We'll be studying."

"Why aren't you a Ravenclaw? You're nerdy enough to be one," Kate mumbled.

"I'm not nerdy," Allie objected, earning a snort from her friend, "I just would like to get good scores."

"Whatever you say," Kate replied, turning back to her magazine. "I'm just happy to pass. And, no, that wasn't an invitation for you to tell me just how well I could do if I tried harder. I'm fine with scoring As and Es."

"You are a strange one, Katherine," Allie smiled. "Okay, well when Lily and Maia wake up, tell them where I am if they ask."

"Will do," Kate assured her friend. "Have fun. Don't study too hard."

Kate watched as Allie slung a full book bag over her shoulder and left the room. Really, she knew she should probably start studying, but she wasn't too worried. True, she wasn't like Sirius or James who could lead the class while barely cracking open a book, but she wasn't stupid. She wasn't like Lily, Allie, and Remus who put a good amount of time into extra studying, either, but she wasn't lazy. She did her homework on time and reviewed for tests the night before. And while she hadn't gotten nearly straight Os on the OWLs like some people, she was more than satisfied with the As and Es she'd accomplished.

It wasn't as though she didn't care about school. But she didn't aspire to have a prestigious Ministry job. And while she knew it was a silly and still nothing more than a dream, what she really wanted to do was spend as much of her life as she could playing Quidditch. There she shone.

She was always sad when the Quidditch season was over, especially when they didn't win the cup. Despite winning their last match against Slytherin, Gryffindor came in second. They had won by only ten points in a very dirty game, Angela being knocked off her broom right before she reached out for the snitch. Only thanks to Kate's amazing goal keeping and James' talent with the Quaffle had they scraped the win. None of the team had been more upset than she and James, but James was sure they'd be able to win next year. And Kate fully believed him.

After a few more minutes of staring blankly at the magazine and thinking about Quidditch, Kate looked up to the window. It was exceedingly pleasant weather outside and, again, she wondered how on earth Allie was planning on staying inside to study. Well, She thought, Allie can breathe in book dust all she wants, but I'm going to find Caleb and make him go flying with me.

"Lily?" Kate called over to her sleeping friend as she put on a Tornados jersey and a pair of old uniform pants.

"Mhm?" Lily responded and opened her eyes.

"I'm going to find my boyfriend and enjoy the sunshine with him. Allie is studying."

"Okay." Lily nodded. "When you think you'll be done enjoying vitamin D?"

"Probably around lunch."

"Okay, want to meet up in the Great Hall around noon?"

"Yeah, if you want," Kate answered. "But you can go back to sleep, it's fine."

"No," Lily said, sitting up and stretching. "I should get up, too. I have studying to do this afternoon. I'll take a break for lunch with you though. You're more than welcome to study with me this afternoon."

"Nah, I'm good," Kate said with a smile. "I'll study tomorrow, maybe."

***

"I'm sick of studying!" Maia exclaimed later that afternoon as she sat with Lily, Peter, and Remus in the common room.

"Me too," Peter sighed. "How long have we been doing this?"

"An hour," Lily said, giving her friends an annoyed look.

"Only an hour?" Peter asked in exasperation. "I could've sworn it'd been longer."

"Nope," Remus grinned.

"This is so boring!" Peter said.

"I quit," Maia agreed.

"If you don't want to study, don't," Lily snapped as she closed her book and looked up at them. "But stop complaining. I would like to do well. And I'm sure Remus would, too."

"Why don't you guys go find Sirius and James?" Remus suggested. "I think they said something about joining Kate and Caleb for some Quidditch."

"Great idea!" Maia said enthusiastically. She stood up, hugged Remus and Lily, and turned to Peter. "You coming? You don't have to play if you don't want. Or you can. I suck too. And it's better than studying at any rate."

"Count me in," Peter said, closing his own book.

Remus and Lily watched as their friends left the common room.

"Lily, do you mind going over the charms material with me?" Remus asked.

"Not at all," Lily answered with a smile. She scooted closer to him on the couch and opened her book to the most recent chapter.

"Okay, Lily," Remus sighed nearly two hours later. "I don't think I can do any more charms revision."

"But we only got through fifth year!" Lily exclaimed.

"Yes," Remus agreed, "But you know as well as I do that you could do the charms work through fourth year in your sleep. We have two more weeks to go over this year and last year. It will be fine."

"But..." Lily started. She bit her lip and looked down at the pile of charms notes with furrowed eyebrows.

"Lily," Remus said, taking her small hands in his. "Listen to me. If I have learned anything from being friends with Sirius and James over the years, it is this. Sometimes it is better to not study so much. Sometimes it is better to recognize what you know and what you don't have to waste your time and energy on studying."

"That's fine for them," Lily said, her worried gaze becoming a glare. "They just don't ever do any work and come in at the top of the class. I'm not like that. I have to work this hard."

"They do work," Remus countered. "True, they don't study as much as I do. True, they don't have to. But if they know that they don't have something down, they'll work on it. Maybe not in the common room or the library – Merlin knows their egos couldn't take it – but they do work."

Lily opened her mouth to argue, to insist that they never went out of their way for anything, but she stopped herself. She remembered a conversation she'd had a couple months ago in the library.

"Evans," James sighed, "Look, I'm trying to write this essay. Could you please leave me alone to think? I have to work on this, Lily."

"Would you like some help?" James started and turned to stare at her. She continued, "I won't do it for you, but, you know, I could help you get started and give you some pointers. I'm not half bad at Potions, you know."

"No," James answered slowly, "You're the best in the class."

"Well, almost," Lily blushed, thinking of Severus. The thought made her stomach hurt, but the pain disappeared as soon as James smiled brightly at her.

"And you wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all," Lily answered, surprised to find that she was not lying. She pulled out a chair and sat down next to him, "and I promise I won't tell anybody that James Potter was actually studying."

"Lily?" Remus' voice jolted her out of her memories. "Are you alright?"

"What?" Lily asked, blinking a couple times. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just... remembering something. And, fine. You're right. They do work sometimes. But, still, that's not the way I have to do it. I have to work this hard. I have to."

"Why is that?" Remus asked. He was looking at her with a half concerned, half calculating look on his face. "I know you seem to think you have to. I've seen you every year around this time. You stop eating, you stop sleeping, you spend all your time down here or in the library studying. We've all noticed, not just James, all of us. Why is that?"

"I have to do well," Lily answered quietly.

"But you'd do well enough if you took it a bit easier."

"Well enough isn't where I want my grades; It isn't where I need them to be," Lily said quietly, her hard glare softening as she continued to stare at the notes. "I know it's silly. The girls tell me it's silly all the time. But I feel I need to prove myself, to prove that I'm good enough to be here, to prove that I'm magical enough to be a witch. After six years, I still can't believe it sometimes. I still... I still think that maybe Petunia is right. Maybe I am just a freak and it was all a mistake." Lily pulled her hands out of Remus' grasp and wiped quickly at her eyes in an attempt to brush away the forming tears.

"Lily," Remus said quietly, turning her face towards his. "Lily, you don't have to prove yourself. There's nothing wrong with being muggleborn. It doesn't make you inferior. It doesn't mean you have to prove yourself. You're an excellent witch and an amazing person. And being muggleborn, in the larger scheme of things, isn't as bad as other things you could be. Trust me, I know."

Lily looked at him with an expression of mixed gratitude and curiosity. Her own worries forgotten, she opened her mouth to ask how he knew.

"Don't ask, Lily," Remus said, recognizing the look in her eyes. "I know you aren't just curious, that you actually care, but it's not important. What I'm trying to say is that, again, through being friends with Sirius and James, and Peter too, I've come to realise that it's not what your birth certificate or other official forms say you are that matters, it's who you grow to become and the actions you choose to make. Anybody who you would want as a friend, anybody who really matters, won't care."

"Thanks, Remus," Lily said, a small smile forming on her lips. "Thanks. The girls have told me this, but hearing it from you... Maybe it's because you're not my best friend. It seems more authentic."

"Best friend no," Remus said, returning the smile. "But friends? Definitely."

"Good. I'm glad," Lily answered. She looked back at the pile of books on the table. "Well... since you said no more charms... How about revising a bit for Defense? That way you can help me with your best subject."

"Excellent," Remus said as he flicked his wand, causing Practical Uses of Advanced Defensive Spells to rise to the top of the stack.

***

"I don't understand this!" Lily cried, throwing her Transfiguration book down on the table.

It was the night before their first day of exams and all the students of Hogwarts (except the fifth and seventh years who had just completed their standardized tests) were attempting to cram the last bits of information into their heads.

Even though Lily had taken Remus' advice, or tried to, she was still a mess. She had been too nervous the past couple of days to really sleep properly and had kept waking up in the middle of the night needing to check some spell she'd dreamt she'd done incorrectly. Allie wasn't doing much better. She, too, had circles under her eyes and was beginning to look rather strained and peckish. Maia and Kate, who had just began to study a couple days previously, were looking extremely disheveled and in utter shock at the amount of knowledge they'd have to know.

"I can try to explain it to you again," Allie said wearily. "It's really not that complicated."

"Saying it isn't complicated is not helping, Allie," Lily said as she let her head fall back in exasperation.

"Well, I don't know what else to tell you," Allie answered. "I've tried explaining it. I don't know how to explain it any better."

"Kate, Maia," Lily tried, "Do either of you understand this?"

"Nope," Kate answered.

"Not a chance," Maia said. "Which is unfortunate, since I have that exam tomorrow."

"We all have that exam tomorrow!" Lily exclaimed.

"Well, we kind of gave up on that," Kate said. "We're working on Divination now. Sorry."

"I'm going to fail," Lily moaned.

"Lils," Allie countered, "You know everything else for this exam. I know you do. We have revised for it all day. One concept won't make you fail. Let's work on potions."

"I hate transfiguration!" Lily said. "And I don't need to revise potions and neither do you. We did all day yesterday with the boys. We're fine."

"The boys?" Maia asked. "Why don't you ask James if he can explain the Transfiguration if you're so worried about it?"

Lily looked across the room to where Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter sat studying. Well, where Peter and Remus sat studying while Sirius and James flipped lazily through their books.

"No way," she said, "I'm not asking Potter for help. He'd just get all arrogant and cocky and I don't want to deal with that."

"You never know," Maia retorted. "He asked you for help plenty while you all were revising for potions."

Lily looked over at the boys again, then at her transfiguration text, then at Allie who had moved on to Arithmancy, and then back at the boys. With a sigh she gathered up her books and walked over to James.

"Potter?" She asked reluctantly when she'd reached them.

"Back to last names, are we?" James asked, looking up from his transfiguration book.

Lily exhaled loudly and crossed her arms.

"I'm just teasing, Lily," James laughed. "What's up?"

Lily closed her eyes and pushing aside her pride, took a deep breath. "I was wondering if, maybe, you could try to explain this bit of the transfiguration text to me."

James blinked a couple times in shock. Was Lily really asking him for help? Sure, he'd sucked up his own pride and asked for hers several times this year, but this was the first time she'd approached him.

"Yeah, sure," James said cautiously. "What is it you're having trouble with?"

Lily opened her book and, handing it to him, sat down next to him on the couch. Again, he was surprised. Even yesterday when they'd all been studying together she seemed to have made a point to not sit next to him. James ran his hand through his hair absentmindedly and took a deep breath.

Don't make any more of this than you should, he thought to himself. C'mon, Prongs. This doesn't mean anything other than that she's finally realised that you're not just arrogant – that you actually do know what you're doing when it comes to transfiguration.

"Oh, this?" James asked after skimming the page briefly.

"Yes," Lily said tensely. "And, please, don't make fun of me. We can't all be perfect at this subject."

"No," James answered slowly, "I wasn't going to suggest that. I was actually going to say that this is mildly complicated compared to everything else we've done this year. I had to read it a couple times myself."

Lily was shocked. Though, she knew she shouldn't be, not really. He had proven that he wasn't completely arrogant several times this year. But then why was it still a shock? Why did it not make her want to scream when he ran his hand through his hair? Why did she find herself suddenly relaxed around him?

"Well," she said, shaking away her non-tranfiguration-related confusion, "Do you think you could explain?"

"Of course," James said.

Remus looked up at his two friends and smiled. Only Lily would be able to get that kind of attentiveness from James when it came to schoolwork. He sighed and looked at Sirius who had given up even any pretense of studying and was now not even bother to flip through his book as he stared at his boyfriend.

"Hey, Padfoot," Remus said quietly, putting down his book. "What do you say to coming to the library with me to pick up a book?"

"The library?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

"Or something…" Remus answered, a sly smile on his face. He stood up and grabbed Sirius' hand, pulling him up from his own armchair, across the room, and through the portrait hole.

Once they were in the hallway, Remus pushed Sirius up against the wall and kissed him hard. After a moment of shock, Sirius returned the kiss, pushing his tongue into his boyfriend's mouth and running it across his teeth. He wrapped one arm around the shorter boy's back and put his other hand in the sandy brown hair, pulling him closer. Any space between the two of them was too much.

"Shouldn't… you… be… studying?" Sirius asked as Remus took his lips off Sirius' mouth and began kissing down his jaw line and onto his neck.

"I'm practicing what I preached to Lily and taking a well earned break," Remus answered between kisses.

Sirius answered by bringing Remus' lips back to his own, this time kissing them softly, savouring the sandpaper texture of Remus' cheek against his as he nibbled on his lover's lower lip. Remus let him explore his mouth, memorizing the feel of Sirius' lips on his. After a few more blissful minutes, they broke apart. Breathing heavily, the two boys sank down against the wall.

"This is much better than the library," Remus said, leaning into Sirius as his boyfriend wrapped his strong arms around him.

"This from you?" Sirius said, smiling into Remus' hair. "And I thought you'd give me up if you were offered enough books."

"Sirius," Remus said, turning his head to look into the grey eyes without leaving the safe and firm arms that were holding him. "Sirius, I'd never give you up."

"So… you want to continue with this study break or what?" Sirius smirked, linking his fingers through Remus' belt loops and pulling him closer. "Perhaps in our dorm? James seemed rather occupied and Peter is still having trouble with his Charms."

"Mmm," Remus sighed, pressing his lips against Sirius again. "The dorms are so far away. I'm not that patient, besides, I think I spot a nice empty classroom, complete with a large desk."

"That works too," Sirius grinned broadly and pulled his boyfriend into the empty classroom, never letting their bodies stop touching.

***

Finals week was a blur for everybody. Sirius and James had finished each of their tests first and would spend the remainder of the allotted exam time passing notes on spare bits of parchment, much to the annoyance of the professors. Allie would usually finish next and spend the remaining time speed reading through her notes for whatever exam she had next. The rest of the Gryffindors, however, took nearly the entire time on the exams, Lily and Remus double and triple checking all their answers, Peter, Maia, and Kate usually struggling to come up with any answer at all for the most challenging questions.

"We're done!" James said in relief as the eight sixth years walked into the castle after their Herbology final, all covered in dragon dung and most bearing at least one nasty gash.

"Speak for yourself," Peter whined. "Kate and I still have Muggle Studies."

"And we still have Ancient Runes," Lily added.

"Okay," James said, rolling his eyes. "Sirius and I are done."

"What a relief!" Sirius exclaimed. "We made it! And I don't think we have too much to worry about, do you, mate?"

"Nah," James answered with a smile, "I figure that we did exceedingly well, as per usual."

"You two could stop rubbing it in, you know," murmured Kate with a glare at the two dark-haired boys.

"I don't mind," shrugged Maia.

"Yeah, but you're also done with your finals!" Remus pointed out. "Come on, let's go get some lunch."

"You guys coming?" Lily asked of Sirius and James who had lagged behind the group and were talking quietly amongst themselves.

"No, I don't think so," James said with a nod at his best friend. "You guys go ahead. We have some stuff we have to take care of."

"Oh," Lily said, trying to keep the unwarranted disappointment out of her voice. "Well, have a nice afternoon then."

"Bye, Evans!" Sirius called and the two of them turned away from the Great Hall and towards the staircase leading to Gryffindor Tower.

"Did you see that?" James asked as the two of them walked quickly up the stairs.

"See what?" Sirius asked, jumping the trick step.

"Lily wasn't completely repulsed by me. She wanted to know if we were eating lunch with them. And this is after coming over to ask me questions last week," James rambled.

"Mate, I think you're a little obsessed with that studying deal," Sirius said with a laugh.

"It's a big deal!" James countered. "You know it's a big deal. She asked me for help and I wasn't a complete ass. I think I've made progress this year. I really think I have."

"And I think you are way too obsessed with Evans," Sirius smirked. "But I've been saying that for years. It just shows how good of a friend I am that I put up with you."

"Oh, shut it," James answered. They reached the portrait hole and James stopped. "What's the password again?"

"I cannot tell you that," the Fat Lady answered.

"Wulgelsprout?" Sirius offered. The Fat Lady nodded and opened. The two boys went through.

"But, really," Sirius continued, "If I had a galleon for every time we talked about Lily, I wouldn't need any of the Black money."

"And if I had a galleon for each time you told me to forget about Lily, I could buy the Black family," James answered.

"True enough," Sirius barked. "Okay, run and get the map and cloak. We only have until the end of this exam to get to Hogsmeade and back."

"So... three hours?" James asked laughing as he headed towards the stairs leading to the dormitory.

"Yup! But, Prongsie boy, we have quite the end of term party to prepare for."

[A/N: Lots of wonderful words start with S: Sirius, , Snake, Severus Snape (if you like him), Superman, Sexy, Sandpaper, Skype aaaaand SREVIEW!]