Oki doke, chapter twenty one. Ya.
Despite how tiring it was, the rest of the week flew by in a rush, much quicker than they'd ever expected.
Sirius and Izzie sat at the hotel restaurant, early on Saturday morning, dressed in their best clothes and re-reading the letters they'd received the previous night, from Hogwarts, explaining which teacher would be coming to assess them.
"I can't believe I have Trelawney coming," groaned Sirius, straightening his tie.
"Ha, you loser," Izzie laughed, "I get Flitwick! Yay!"
"Lucky bitch," he moaned.
"Well, we'd better go, anyway, we don't wanna be late today. It's very important mate," she said, looking herself up and down. She wore a blue checkered pinafore, over a white blouse, and she'd somehow managed to make her hair lie flat.
"Alright, come on," he said, unhappily, as they left the hotel, Izzie's blue high heels clip-clopping on the marble floor.
*
Kathy and Remus sipped their coffee at the Leaky Cauldron, desperately dreading the teachers' visit.
"Who have you got again?" asked Kathy.
"Merrythoughts," muttered Remus, making sure his shirt was done up properly, "It sucks, 'cause I didn't even take Care of Magical Creatures. I doubt he even knows my name, you know,"
"Aww, never mind, you'll be fine. At least it's not Binns, he still doesn't know my name!" she cried.
"He doesn't know anybody's name," said Remus, "And we've been at this school for over five years,"
"Stupid old ghost. Wouldn't it be funny if he was going to see Sirius and Izzie at the ministry! The muggles would be so shocked to see a ghost floating around the tube station," she laughed.
"Yeah, that would be hilarious," chuckled Remus, looking at his watch, "Oh crap, we gotta go,"
They left the pub, waving goodbye to Tom the barman, who grinned toothlessly back at them.
"See you later," she said, running towards the bank in her black trousers, white shirt and black waistcoat, as Remus walked in the opposite direction.
*
James and Lily sat at the Gryffindor table, munching on their toast, in the almost empty Great Hall. It was far too early for most people to be awake, let alone fully-dressed and ready to go, like the two young 'workers'.
"Who's assessing you?" asked James, as they stood up and headed outside.
"Slughorn," grinned Lily, "He's a bit of an idiot, but hey, he seems to like me!"
"Me too," James frowned, "I'm not sure why. It's probably 'cause of my dad,"
"Your dad?"
"He's the minister for magic," James said, nervously, wincing at her startled expression.
"Oh my goodness!" she gasped, "Minister for MAGIC?!"
"Yeah," he mumbled, "So erm, I got Minnie assessing me. Could be fun,"
"Yeah it could," she nodded, still quite shocked, but amused at his sudden embarrassment.
"So, err, oh I forgot, it's a Hogsmeade weekend for the rest of the school, isn't it!" he exclaimed, looking around at the many students in "The Three Broomsticks is going to be packed!"
"Oh yeah, there'll be girls flooding in to the shop!" she groaned, "They chose today to come asses us!"
"Yeah I know, it's awful," he sighed as they entered the village of Hogsmeade, "Ok, I'll see you later,"
"See you," she waved, heading into the shop, where Professor Slughorn was chatting away to Andy, looking as though he might just burst into laughter.
"Ah, Miss Evans," he said, glad to see her, "How have you been getting along this week?"
"Just great, Professor," she smiled, "Andy let me go behind the counter yesterday, and I learned how to work this till, thingy,"
"Okay, you can do the counter again Lily," said Andy, levitating some new clothes onto the hangers.
Just then, a gaggle of giggling girls bustled into the shop, grabbing the clothes, and sorting through them happily.
Lily groaned inwardly, as they all rushed to the counter, bombarding her, as Slughorn watched in amusement.
--
Meanwhile, James stood nervously by the bar, awaiting Professor McGonagall's arrival. Suddenly, a figure emerged in an emerald green cloak and her grey hair up in a tight bun.
James rushed to the door, a menu in his hand, as she walked through the door, looking sternly at him.
"Good morning Professor," said James, "May I show you to a table?"
"Certainly, Mr. Potter," she said, trying to hide the smile that was threatening to materialize on her face.
Behaving like the perfect waiter, James delivered her usual gillywater, and served her a slice of chicken pie.
Minerva McGonagall left the restaurant feeling pleasantly surprised at his charm and grace.
Yeah, James tends to have that effect on people. Which explains why there were more teenage girls flooding the Three Broomsticks than any other shop in Hogsmeade.
*
Kathy sat at her usual desk in the back room of Gringotts, surrounded by busy workers writing complicated equations into the bank records. And at the front of the room, the ghost of Professor Binns was talking animatedly to Gornuk, the goblin.
She groaned to herself, as the two seemed to be getting along very well, much to the annoyance of the other workers. Binns laughed loudly at the stories that Gornuk was telling, the first time that Kathy had ever seen him show any emotion, other than boredom.
As she scribbled down all her work, she wondered how Remus was getting along in The Daily Prophet Office.
--
As a matter of fact, Remus was sitting at the end of Rita Skeeter's desk, re-writing her article, removing the bias and exaggeration, much to her dismay.
"No, no, no, no!" Rita exclaimed, "You can't take out the bit about his abysmally large ears!"
"But Miss Skeeter, Nicholas Flammel doesn't have abysmally large ears!" he protested.
"Tiny details, tiny details," she said, flapping her hands.
"Ah come on!" he muttered under his breath, just as Professor Merrythoughts entered the room, a broad grin on his bearded face.
"Mr, err... Ludo?" he asked, scratching his chin.
"Lupin," Remus sighed, shaking the professor's hand, "Remus Lupin,"
"Alright, so how've you been doing this week?"
"Quite well, I guess," Remus nodded.
"Excellent, excellent," nodded the Professor, trying to ignore Rita as she looked poor Remus up and down.
Remus sighed in frustration and sat back down at the desk, on the edge of his seat, as far away as possible from Rita Skeeter.
*
Sirius sat perched on the end of Gabrielle Taylor's desk, twiddling his quill, and waiting for professor Trelawney with baited breath.
All of a sudden, the door flew open dramatically and a lady with mad hair and oversize specs was standing in the doorframe, followed by a highly amused Gabrielle.
"Sirius Black," she exclaimed, "You haven't come back to Divination this year!"
"Err, I kinda failed it professor," he said, sheepishly.
"Ah well, I thought you might have," she nodded wisely, "You do not possess the inner eye, my friend!"
"Too right," he muttered, and Gabrielle suppressed a laugh, and began to talk to Trelawney about Sirius' progress, helping her make notes on her clipboard.
Sirius rolled his eyes grumpily, and went to go get a peppermint imp from the cafeteria.
"Hey Sirius," called Izzie, as he walked into the large marble room.
"Hey," he nodded, "Trelawney's upstairs, chatting away to your poor mother,"
"Sucks for her," she grinned, "Flitwick hasn't turned up yet. Maybe he'll be there when I get back,"
And indeed, when she returned to the Department of Magical Games and Sports, Filius Flitwick was looking around in amazement, clearly fascinated by all the broomsticks and sports equipment.
"Ah, Miss Taylor," he squeaked, "Excellent to see you here! How's this Work Experience Course treating you?"
"It's ok professor," she shrugged, "I'm kinda looking forward to going back to Hogwarts,"
"Ah, missing all your homework, I'm sure," he chuckled.
Izzie laughed and sat down at a desk amongst the busy people, running in and out of the department.
*
"Ah that's it! We don't have to go to work, ever again!" screamed James, dancing around the common room, on Saturday evening, much to the joy of many on-looking girls.
"Calm down James!" laughed Lily, "And we will eventually have to work, someday. That's what work experience was preparing us for,"
"Oh yeah, 'cause when I'm older, I wanna work in a restaurant!" he scoffed.
"It improves your social skills, your manners and – " she began but James wasn't listening to her; he had already jumped on the table and started singing, out-of-tune and loud enough for the whole common room to hear, and cover their ears with their hands.
"NO MORE WORKIIIIIIING!" he screeched, "NO MORE WORKIIIIIIING FOR JAMESIEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Lily, control him!" exclaimed Frank, as Alice looked as though she may throw up.
"JAMES, YOU ARE DISRUPTING THE COMMON ROOM!" she yelled, and James fell silent.
"Ever so sorry ladies and gentlemen," he grinned, "I'll be back tomorrow, along with the musical stylings of Sirius Black!"
Everyone groaned and sighed at the thought of James and Sirius singing to them all.
"They're all coming back tomorrow," said Lily, trying to distract him.
"Ugh, we're not going to go meet them, are we?" he asked.
"Nah, I've had enough Hogsmeade to last me a lifetime," she sighed.
"Agreed," he nodded, "I think I'm gonna go do some homework or something,"
He stood up and made for the dormitories, while Lily stared at him suspiciously.
"You're doing homework!" she exclaimed, "Is this just a way of hiding the fact that you're tired, and you wanna go to sleep?"
He turned around and grinned at her sheepishly.
"You caught me," he laughed, holding his hands out, "I'm shattered!"
"Me too," she nodded, "I'm always tired these days,"
"You know, err – I have a potion to stop you being tired! It's in my dorm, follow me!" he said, grinning wickedly, beckoning her to follow him to the boys' dormitory.
"So where is it?" she asked sceptically, as they entered the unusually neat room.
"I lied," he chuckled, "I have no such potion,"
"You filthy sleazebag," she gasped, laughing slightly, "So what am I doing here, then?"
"Whatever you want to be doing here," he said, seductively, "Or whoever, may I add,"
"Oh shut up," she groaned, sitting cross-legged on Sirius' bed.
"You shut up, missy," he teased, pulling an old t-shirt over his head.
"Don't call me missy, mister," she exclaimed.
"Ooh, mister! I like it," he grinned, and she sighed in exasperation.
"How I managed to survive an entire week with you is beyond me," she said, shaking her head.
"Hey! I am so – " he started, but Lily shushed him with a wave of her hand.
"Do you hear something?" she whispered, and he cocked his ear, only to hear a soft giggling coming from outside the door.
Angry to be interrupted, he marched over and yanked the door open, revealing a bunch of fourth-year girls, who burst into giggles at the sight of him.
"Can I help you?" he asked, tiredly.
"Well we were just wondering," said one girl, smirking with her friends, "Seeing as you're all by yourself, would you wanna come sleep in our dorm?"
"Err..." grinned James, as Lily came up behind him, "I don't really think I – "
"He's fine by himself, thanks," snapped Lily and the girls looked quite disappointed, as they traipsed off to their own dormitory.
"I hate being so amazing," chuckled James, and she glared at him.
"Alright whatever, I'm going back to my own room," she said, "Night Potter,"
"Night Lily," he called after her, closing the door, disappointedly.
Lily smiled to herself, as she walked up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. After a quick shower, she changed from her white blouse and green pencil skirt into her comfiest pyjamas, grabbed a box of Honeydukes' chocolates and her favourite book of horror stories and settled into bed, propped up by every pillow she could find in the dorm.
Enjoying the rare silence, she began to read, for hours and hours, into the night, the room lit only by the light from a candle on her bedside table.
In the early hours of the morning, her eyes were wide with anticipation, as she came to a climax scene in her book. Trembling slightly, she shoved the last chocolate into her mouth and turned the page.
All of a sudden, the dormitory door burst open, and a terrified figure stood in the doorway, his face white and his hair sticking up on end. He looked like he'd just seen a ghost, and not the Nearly-Headless-Nick kind. More like the Moaning Myrtle kind.
Lily screamed, drawing her duvet up to her face.
"Lily, I'm scared," mumbled James, and she groaned, pulling down the duvet.
"Tell me about it, you scared me half to death!" she exclaimed, as he closed the door and sat on Izzie's bed, quivering.
Then she softened slightly, looking at his expression.
"Alright, what is it?" she asked, reluctantly.
"I – I – I – " he stuttered.
"Spit it out,"
"I had a nightmare!" he began, and Lily gestured for him to carry on, "It was about – err – S-Sirius, h-he was t-trying to eat m-me!"
"Oh my god," sighed Lily, "Is that it?!"
"No wait," he shook his head, "That's not the scary bit. Well, when I woke up right, I heard all these noises. It was like... giggling. Little girly giggling, and it was coming from my room! So I ran away and came here,"
Lily suppressed a laugh and shrugged at him.
"What d'you want me to do about it?" she asked.
"Chase them away?" he said hopefully.
"No way, I am not getting out of bed!" she said firmly, and he looked down dejectedly, "Alright, well you go to sleep. No, not in my bed, in Izzie's bed. And don't make a sound or I will kill you,"
"Ok," he said nervously, still shaking slightly, "Night, night,"
"Night, night," she repeated, chuckling to herself.
Ok you guys, now I've given you a chapter, I gotta ask, don't you guys think it's a little cliche if I make Sirius and Izzie get together? I mean, it's so tacky and stuff. Isn't it more realistic if they're just good friends. Iuno, gimme your opinions :S
Ah man, I'm tired.
Night fandomers.
Ash x