Snap, Crackle, Bang!
Chapter 36
That morning, Kagome awoke to the sound of Mary's rambling.
"It's Monday already!" The brunette complained.
Kagome sat up straight, startling Mary, who grasped her chest. She looked around with a frown- sunlight was pouring in through the windows, lighting the room with it's gentle rays. She was confused- she'd always woken up before everybody else, and it took her a few minutes to get to her senses and realise that she'd woken up later than usual.
"Morning," Mary greeted her, "It's nice to see you came back from your walk this time."
"I just lost track of time," Kagome shrugged, pulling back the covers on her bed to get up, ignoring Kitsune's protesting 'meow's.
It was quite probable that the only thing keeping Kagome from falling asleep in History Of Magic was James' and Sirius' voices, discussing their Muggle Studies class. They weren't exactly being loud, but with most of the class being asleep, their voices were the only noise, apart from Professor Binns' continual monotonous speech going on at the front of the class.
"Why did we decide to do Muggle Studies?" James groaned, giving a piece of parchment in his hands what could only be described as a mildly distressed look. "And why the hell did we think Lily would help us?"
"Because we thought it would be easy," Sirius shrugged, "And come on, it can't be that hard- all we have to do is write about another 'muggle culture'. Or, just don't do it at all?"
"How about we don't do it and just get the detention? It's better than going to the library of all places." He suggested.
Remus sighed, "Or, how about you both do the homework?"
Sirius gasped, clutching his chest dramatically, "Who do you think I am?"
"It's not even that difficult, all you need to do is find somebody with a different culture and write down what they say- or just go to the library!" Remus continued.
"I'd rather do the detention than go to the library, if I'm honest." James huffed, "Taking it was such a bad idea!"
"I feel you, mate." Sirius sympathised, looking around the classroom to find that, as usual, most of the people in that class were asleep, their heads lying against their desks, the only indication that they were alive being the slow rise and fall of their chests. "A different culture, eh? Kagome?"
The Japanese Gryffindor sighed, turning around to face Sirius, "Yes?"
"Love, would you perhaps be interested in helping me with a bit of homework?"
Kagome raised an eyebrow at him, "Really?" She sounded sceptical, having just heard James say he would rather have detention than do work.
"Well, you see, we have to do a paper on a muggle culture. Tell me about Japan and help me pass?"
She laughed, her blue eyes sparkling with amusement, "What do you need to know?"
Lily rolled her eyes from next to Kagome, "I can't believe you've decided to help him."
"Oh, come on, Lils. I'm just answering some questions," She shrugged.
"Alright," Sirius grinned, pulling out an empty piece of parchment, "Religion? What's that like there?"
"I grew up on a shrine," Kagome started, "There are really two religions in Japan- Shintoism and Buddhism." She looked to Sirius, who was scribbling it down quickly, a wolfish grin plastered on his face, "Our shrine is a Shinto shrine, dedicated to the legend of the Shikon Jewel. Japan's pretty different from England, your customs here are strange. In Japan, it's like, a big thing where you avoid the number four. Because it sounds like our word for death, you just are supposed to try to avoid it, forty-nine is unlucky too, because it sounds like 'pain until death.' I guess it's kinda like English Muggles thinking the number thirteen is unlucky? We have two big gift exchange seasons, summer greetings and end of year greetings."
Lily looked at her, clearly interested, "Why?"
"It's polite," Kagome answered, "You're also supposed to give gifts whenever you visit a friend- the more extravagantly wrapped, the better."
Sirius paused in his writing, "How much are we supposed to write, mate?"
"A paragraph or so," James guessed, leaning back in his chair to talk to annoy Lily, who just huffed when his chair hit her desk- something she would usually scold him for.
"Alright- we're pretty much done then. Thanks, love."
Kagome nodded, "You're welcome."
"Do you miss Japan?" Lily asked, leaning forwards to look curiously at Kagome, trying to ignore James, who was tapping her desk obnoxiously to try to get her attention.
"A bit, I miss my family and my friends most of all, but I like it here, too," She answered, her mind taking her back to days she would walk for hours straight, side-by-side with the closest friends she had ever had, on a mission to complete the Shikon jewel.
"Can you stop?" Lily shoved James' chair forwards, much to his dismay.
"Hey! That wasn't nice, Evans," He grumbled, "Repay me with a date?"
"You wish!" The redhead snorted, crossing her arms over her chest.
Kagome rolled her eyes- she hadn't exactly been at Hogwarts long, but she was already getting used to the routine of cat-and-mouse that Lily and James played. He always asked, she always said no- when would it end? When he gave up or when she finally conceded and said yes?
"We have DADA next, don't we?" Kagome interrupted Lily and James' bickering, making the former halt in what must have been a monologue about 'just how annoying and arrogant' James was.
"Yes, oh, it looks like the lesson's about to end," Lily said cheerily, "We're doing wandless magic now, it must be pretty hard if we've been made to wait until sixth year to try it."
James shrugged, "I wonder if we'll actually get taught how to do anything this year."
The redhead narrowed her eyes at him, "Of course we'll actually get taught something. Professor Dumbledore wouldn't hire Professor Lyons if he wasn't capable of doing the job."
"You say that, and yet he managed to fall asleep in our first lesson," James reminded her with a grin, "Doesn't sound to me like a great teacher."
"Let's get to DADA," Kagome held up her hand to stop Lily from firing back, reminding her that they did, in fact, have classes and that she couldn't stay in History of Magic arguing with James all day.
Lily waved her hand in the air, trying to get Professor Binns' attention, to no avail. James stood up, looking down at Lily, "He's not going to notice if we leave, anyway."
Kagome's wand was pointed at Lily, she frowned, desperately trying to be able to perform the non-verbal magic that was supposedly compulsory by seventh year. She sighed, "Why don't you have another go, Lils?"
The redhead nodded, pointing her wand at Kagome's torso and giving it a flick, her face scrunched up as she concentrated, "It's so hard!"
"Tell me about it," Kagome sighed, looking to her right to find that Kyle, the kind Ravenclaw boy that sat by her, had already managed to levitate his partner.
Lily focused on Kagome, trying to push her intent through the wand without commanding it verbally, like she was used to, "Your turn again."
Kagome kept her wand fixed on Lily. She had only been using her wand for a number of weeks, and she was finding it easier to channel her intent non-verbally, though she just couldn't figure out the exact way to do it. She had been commanding her spiritual energy mentally since that fateful day she was pulled down the Bone-Eater's well- she figured that if she used her magic the same way she did her energy it would have the same effect. She concentrated, willing Lily to float.
Slowly, Lily's feet started to lift off the ground, much to both her and Kagome's delight. She stopped only a few inches in the air, her feet barely off the ground. The Japanese girl squealed, a smile spreading across her face.
"Wow," Lily breathed, "Can you let me down?"
Kagome pointed her wand back at Lily, "I can try?" It took just a few seconds for Lily's feet to make contact with the ground again, as she gave her partner a hug, "You did it!"
Kagome laughed, "I did it!"
Lunchtime that day was rather uneventful. Alice had once again excused herself, to talk to Frank, it seemed like they were only going to be seeing less and less of her as the weeks went by. Mary was raving about how some Ravenclaw girl had gotten hexed by some Slytherins, and how all of her friends were planning to get revenge on them- though no such thing had happened yet.
"Honestly, I wish they would just hurry up and do it already, those snakes deserve it," Mary huffed, "Kagome, are you okay?"
She snapped out of her trance-like state, turning to Mary with a smile, "Oh, I'm fine, just a bit tired is all."
Mary nodded sympathetically, "Me too, have you done the History of Magic assignment yet?"
"The one about the Goblin Rebellions?" Kagome asked, "Nope, haven't started it yet, I might during free period, though."
"Same, it just seems like so much effort when half the class isn't going to do it anyway," Mary sighed, "We should hang out by the lake for a bit, it's too loud here." The brunette looped her arm around Kagome's, calling out to Lily and Dorci, "Come on, we're off."
"Hey!" Dorci protested, quickly grabbing as many snacks as she could from the table, before getting up. Lily followed after them, holding some of Dorci's 'nutritional snacks' for her.
Kagome looked at Mary, who was humming happily to herself, "Do you know what happened to Bellatrix after what happened in the hall?"
Mary nodded quickly, "Oh, I've heard from Leah Rade, you know, she's a Hufflepuff, was in our Potions a few years back?"
Dorci nodded, taking a bite of her cereal bar, "Yeah, yeah. She's nice."
"And anyway, William Flint was saying to some of his friends, they're seventh year Slytherins so they probably know Bellatrix, Leah overheard them talking about it. Minus fifty points, I think she got a few detentions, but it's with Slughorn so it won't be too bad for her- he is their head of house, after all."
"She deserved more than just a few detentions for what she did," Kagome sighed.
Please review, I really appreciate them. Chapters will be coming every Sunday and possibly on Wednesdays if I have time to write them in the week. Sorry updates are slowing down but I have to focus on school this year to be able to pass my GCSEs lol.