Chapter Twenty-Five
NEWTs

"I'm not mentally equipped to handle this." Ophelia groaned as she slid out of her chair and onto the floor of the library. They were all in the library studying for NEWTs which were looming over them. Well actually, Ophelia, Peter, Lily and Remus were studying. Sirius was flipping through a motorcycle magazine and James was playing catch and release with his pilfered snitch.

"Well if you had actually tried paying attention at any point in the pact seven years…" Remus didn't look up from his book as Ophelia's head popped up from under the table to glare at him.

"Screw you Remus." She said, and then sat back down on the floor. She ran her hands through her hair, trying to clear away the migraine that was settling in behind her eyes.

"I don't understand why you're trying so hard, it's not like it's going to effect what we do with our lives." Sirius said to his girlfriend, glancing up from the magazine.

"Because I'd like to make sure I pass." She answered. "And I'd like NEWTs that I can point at and say 'look I'm not as stupid as you all think I am'."

"Except you are."

"I'm going to murder you." Ophelia informed Remus as she climbed back up into her chair. "I really am." He'd been extra moody, just because of all the studying. He wanted to get the best grades possible, hoping maybe it would make up for the other thing he'd be forced to put on his application.

"Alright, come on" Sirius got up and walked over, sitting on Ophelia's lap. "If it gets us out of the library any faster, I will help you study." He kissed her head and leaned in close to talk to her without bugging the others. He did it because of the glare he'd seen Remus shoot him when he opened his mouth to speak, apparently not everyone wanted his sage words of wisdom when it came to studying.

"Your fat arse is squishing me." Ophelia informed him after about half an hour. He switched places with her, so she was on his lap, and they were back to they're studying. Peter was listening in, desperate for his own little tips and tricks. He was writing it all down as fast as he could, nearly knocking his inkwell over in his hurry to get it all down.

"Careful."Remus snapped at Peter, steadying the inkwell.

"Full moon already?" Sirius asked Remus's head snapped up. He didn't say anything, just gathered his stuff and walked out. Ophelia rolled her eyes.

"You're an idiot." She informed him. "You know why he's upset right now." She looked at him.

"Yeah well everyone else is stressed too and no one needs him snapping at everyone." Sirius answered. He was nervous for the NEWTs too. He wanted to do well on them, great. He needed to prove to himself that he was good at this, he wasn't useless like his parents always tried to make him believe. He usually didn't let them get to him, but once in a while, that seed of doubt crawled it's way into his brain and burrowed down until he managed to do something to prove to himself that they were wrong.

Usually it involved Ophelia, because he couldn't have gotten a girl like her if he was a loser, right?

Finally it was time for NEWTs. It was set up like the OWLs, with everyone sitting in desks, writing as fast as their hands would allow, the only sound coming in the form of a cry of pain as someone's hand cramped up. Ophelia pulled her hair back off her neck and leaned back over her paper, her attention fully on what she was doing, for a moment anyway. Then she noticed the stain on the back of Snape's robes, probably the result of some prank the Marauders had played on them. She kept looking up at it. It was shaped like a cow. Like a cow out grazing on the pasture. She pulled herself out of her head and went back to work. She had to concentrate.

It was difficult, and she could practically feel the burning heat coming off Remus's paper as he scratched away, even though he was tables away from her. Everyone was seated in alphabetical order, just to avoid talking and distractions. That left their groups scattered, the only ones anywhere near each other were Pettigrew and Potter, Opheila, as a Vander Wende, was of course in the back, closer to Vaisley and Zabini than anyone.

She glanced back up at the stain, she had named it Helga at this point, Helga had been forgotten out in the field when the farmer herded all the other cows into the barn. She had wandered off and been forgotten, but of course as the farmer put them all back into their pens, he'd realize Helga was missing and he'd go looking for her, tearing away her few moments of freedom-

Her thought was cut short when Severus turned around, feeling the eyes on his back. He glared at her and she looked back down at her paper. She hurried to scribble down a few more answers, getting done right as time was announced. She sighed in relief and sat back, rubbing her thumb into the middle of her palm, trying to massage away the pain

They all managed to get up out of their seats, their legs taking a bit of time to remember how to work as they all got the feeling back in their bums after sitting for so long. Ophelia managed to find Sirius, who was in the hall, biting his thumbnail. He brightened when he saw her.

"You survived!" He wrapped his arms around her. He pecked her lips and let her go.

"Barely, I think I did more concentrating on Snape's back than I did my paper." She sighed and leaned against him.

"Well it's over now; we are done with school for good!" Sirius picked her up and carried her over to the others, whooping and cheering. James joined him in the cheering and after a moment they all let loose, setting off a chain reaction of seventh years shouting and dancing in the halls, celebrating the completion of their Hogwarts education.

It was odd, they had a party to celebrate the finale of the NEWTs, and there, everyone began to realize it was over. They were no longer separated by houses. They weren't Slytherins and Gryffindors anymore. They had no reason to really hate each other, as they were no longer part of a house rivalry. It led to, easily, the wildest party they'd ever had in their Hogwarts experience.

The only person who didn't seem to be having any fun was Severus.

But he rarely had fun

Lily danced with James, close to where Ophelia and Sirius were dancing. The room was packed full of people, all of them dancing and partying and just having fun.

"This is it, we're no longer students." Lily yelled over the music.

"It's almost like we're real adults." Ophelia nodded.

"Never!"

"Never give in, Never grow up!" Sirius shouted. They laughed and went back to dancing. Towards the end of the night, the six of them stumbled out of the hot, crowded dungeon they were using for the party.

"Okay, question." Ophelia looked at the boys. "Did you four throw the masquerade party in our fifth year? I already know Sirius was the one I danced with."

"We didn't throw it." Sirius shook his head. "I know we got all the credit, but we had nothing to do with it. We just showed up in costume, I tricked you into dancing with me and then we left when the teachers broke it up. Though we were put on clean up duty, turns out the faculty didn't believe that we were innocent."

"So whoever did to it didn't get credit, but they didn't have to clean up, sounds like a deal to me." James nodded.

"Okay, did you really throw Peter into the lake as a sacrifice for the squid?" Lily asked.

"That we did do." Sirius nodded. "But the squid wouldn't take him. Sorry mate, better luck next time." He grinned at Peter, who blushed.

"Oh come on, Peter isn't bad." Ophelia insisted.

"Yeah, out of the four of you he's the nicest." Lily agreed.

"You know, I wonder why we're with the dolts we're with, when we could have Peter." Ophelia looked at Lily, who nodded.

"You're right, I say we give them up and trade in for a better model."

"What do you say Peter, are you man enough for the both of us?" Ophelia asked. Peter went from pink to red and he stuttered.

"I-I um…"

"Alright, maybe next time." Ophelia smiled and ruffled his hair.

"If you left me for Wormtail I would never forgive you." Sirius informed her. "Ever."

"Well now you're just trying to push me into his arms." She grinned. He made a face and she kissed him.

"You're a mean drunk."

"I'm not drunk."

"Maybe you should be." Sirius responded. They spent another thirty minutes or so, asking questions about each other, about things the four of them supposedly did, questions about the girls. The question of Lily and Severus's relationship came up and she told the truth, they had grown up in the same area, they became friends when they were kids, much to her sister's chagrin, and then when they got to school and were sorted into different houses, they grew apart, especially as he grew nasty and angry. And of course, it only got worse when she'd agreed to date James, apparently Snape had spent a good deal of winter break trying to convince her to dump the boy.

James didn't seem thrilled with that, but Lily calmed him down, reminding him that it didn't work, the two of them were still together.

"Okay, I have a question." Sirius asked, turning to look at his girlfriend.

"What?" She asked.

"What is it with you and werewolves?"

"Huh?"

"Everyone says that you were attacked by a wolf when you were a kid. The way you freaked out when we went to the shrieking shack and all that. So what's the truth? What is it with you and werewolves?"

"It's a family thing." She shrugged. "Vander Wendes and werewolves don't get along." Remus frowned at that, he had never had serious problems with anyone in her family, but they, for the most part, didn't know about what he was.

"Why?" Remus asked, he was curious.

"You all never did anything epic." Ophelia changed the subject. "You said you wanted to do something huge and shocking and you didn't." Remus frowned again, he wanted to know what the deal was, but before he could bring it back to that, he was interrupted.

"You're right, we didn't." Sirius looked at James.

"Well I have something in mind." James said thoughtfully, a small smile on his face, happy that this had been brought up without him having to steer it that way himself.

"What's that?" Remus asked, wary." James reached into his pocket and pulled out the little ring box, dropping to one knee in front of Lily, they all froze in shock.

"Lily Evans, will you marry me?" he asked. Lily stared at him a moment then grinned, nodding.

"Yes, yes I will." She nodded faster. He smiled and slipped the ring onto her finger. He stood up and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to hold back tears.

"Okay, I was wrong; you did something huge and shocking." Ophelia amended.

Yay! They're done with school! I actually wrote this instead of watching Hoarders, just to make sure I could get this up tomorrow

If you knew how much I liked Hoarders you know how big a sacrifce this is (I'm kidding of course)

Anyway, this story is no where near done. I still have... seventeen? Chapters to go? Anyway, yeah. I hope you all are enjoying this.

Reviews make my long days bearable

Issy