II: Moony & Myra
The first day of classes went very quickly for Myra. First off was Herbology. She was pleased to see that Sirius and James were also in her class. After the OWL's classes were divided up by subject matter instead of houses since class sizes shrank considerably. Not everyone, after all, was clever enough to go on to get their NEWTs. A student would choose which subject interested them most and this would be their core subject. Under that core subject were three other subjects, making four subjects all together that students would take in their sixth and final years.
Myra was keen on potions, and was required to take Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures in addition to Potions. Fortunately, Transfiguration students (ahem, Sirius and James), were also required to take Herbology and Potions as well as Charms.
After Herbology (a quick review on safety equipment and precautions), there was a lunch break and then Defense against the Dark Arts with Remus, James, Sirius and most unfortunately, Severus Snape.
Snape had never really noticed Myra until their sixth year together when they had both taken Potions class together for the first time. Slytherin and Ravenclaw were never paired together during Potions, and Myra was her characteristically shy self in other classes, careful not to attract attention to herself. In Potions, however, she shone. Her potions were always made with the greatest of care and attention to detail. She was the only one in the class who had been able to make the very difficult Veritaserum on the first try. In short, she had impressed Severus greatly with her knowledge of potions, a subject he also excelled in.
Snape had a predicament though. While he greatly admired Myra for her knowledge and skill at potions, he recognized that she was muggle-born. While this small fact would not have mattered to most decent witches and wizards, Snape had been brought up to detest muggles and muggle-born witches and wizards.
When someone finds themselves in a morally conflicting situation, two things can happen. They can either change their morals to fit the situation, or they can change the situation to fit their morals. Suffice to say Snape did not change his morals. He did, however, change the way he felt about Myra. Instead of being attracted to her, as he might have been if she was a witch born to magic parents, he openly despised her. Of course this admiration still remained in his deep psyche, but to avoid moral conflict, it was converted to hatred for this beautiful, intelligent girl.
On this particular day they were reviewing hexes, curses and counter- curses. Between taking notes and looking up terms in the textbook, Severus didn't even notice that Myra was sitting at the back of the class. Myra breathed a sigh of relief when the class went by without Snape making one rude remark in her direction. As much as she hated to admit it, it bothered her that some witches and wizards never looked beyond her muggle parents to see her as an individual. She knew that she should have stood up for Snape in fifth and sixth year when the Marauders teased him relentlessly, but she couldn't help but feel a certain satisfaction that he was undergoing the same humiliation that she had been forced to endure by certain students all her years at Hogwarts.
After the class was over she hurried back to the Ravenclaw dormitory without looking back, afraid of the usual look of disgust from Snape that tore through her being. On her way to Ravenclaw tower she ran into Lily who was coming back from Arithmancy.
"Alright, Myra?" she called from across the hall.
Myra broke into a smile at the sight of her best friend.
"How were classes?" she asked her friend as they hooked arms.
Lily shrugged, "Oh, the same. How about you?"
"The same. Snape is in my Defense against the Dark Arts class, which means that he will also be in my potions class."
"Bad luck, My. You know he can't help it though, it's how-"
"He was raised," Myra finished. "I know, I know. But, I was also raised on brussel sprouts and you don't see me swallowing that rubbish!"
Lily laughed at her analogy.
"You busy tonight?"
Lily played with her hair distractedly, "Well, I, uh, sort of promised James..." she trailed off.
"That's okay," Myra said quickly, "Have a good time!"
"I'll talk to you later!" Lily called as Myra made her way up the stairs to the Ravenclaw tower.
"Yeah," Myra replied. She hoped that their entire seventh year wasn't going to be like this. She was so used to going to the library with Lily, going for dinner with Lily, going for walks with Lily. It was almost as if they were in the same house, even though they had been separated into different ones in their first year much to their dismay.
Then again, Myra thought to herself, Maybe this will be for the best. I need to concentrate on my NEWTs and Lily does too. It will be good to take some time apart. She nodded to herself as she unrolled a fresh roll of parchment. The first day and already six feet of parchment to write. She sighed to herself, pulled out a quill and started writing.
A few days later Myra found herself in the library researching rare breeds of dragons for her Care of Magical Creatures class when someone sat down in front of her.
"This table's taken," she said irritably without looking up from her research.
"Oh, uh, sorry."
Myra looked up to see an embarrassed Remus Lupin getting up. Now it was her turn to be embarrassed.
"Sorry Remus, I didn't know it was you. Of course you can stay."
"Are you sure? I can find another table..." his voice trailed off as he scanned the library for tables.
"No, please. Sit down," Myra said firmly and pulled out the chair with a flick of her wand.
"Doing the essay on Swedish dragons?" Remus asked as he glanced at the books in front of her.
"Trying to," she sighed exasperatedly.
"Here," he held out his hand and Myra handed him the book she had just been trying to decipher. Between the Latin dragon species names and the Swedish wizard that had discovered each of them, she was getting quite confused. He quickly flipped the pages until he found what he was looking for.
"This might come in handy," he said with a small smile as he handed her back the book.
She saw that he had turned to a table with the fourteen varieties of Swedish dragons, each with its own coloured photograph that the dragon kept flying in and out of. Also included was a list of important properties such as habitat, diet and hibernation activity.
"Thanks," she said as she felt the colour rising to her cheeks. She felt like a complete idiot.
"No problem," he shrugged, "I did that homework yesterday. I have an affinity for magical creatures."
"I wish I did," she muttered. "Potions is really my strong suit. I can remember useful things like quantities of armadillo bile to use in a wit- sharpening potion, but the diet of a Western Swedish Horntail dragon seems a bit trivial to me."
"It's not trivial to the Western Swedish Horntail dragon," he said with a smile. "Potions is one of my worst subjects," he admitted, and motioned towards the books he had pulled out to help with the latest potions essay.
"Is that the essay on the properties of hellebore?" Myra asked, leaning over towards him. He nodded as he opened a book.
"Well, lets see then..."
Together they helped each other through their weaker subjects until they realized that it was getting quite late.
"I'll see you later then?" Myra asked as she was closing her books.
"Sure," Remus nodded. "I imagine I'm going to be here a fair bit this year."
Myra groaned in agreement. She was actually surprised she didn't see more upper year students in the library. Lily was usually in the library to keep her company but ever since she started seeing James late last year, her presence had been lacking. Myra tried not to be cross, but she missed her best friend. She had hardly seen Lily besides their Care of Magical Creatures class and even then she usually sat with James, leaving Myra to sit with Edith Shrew, who quite frankly smelled a bit like cabbage.
She was quite looking forward to the first Hogsmeade trip of the year coming up next weekend. Lily had promised that she would spend time with her, even if it meant skipping out on some Lily-James alone time.
Oh well, she thought to herself, It could be worse. James is a decent boy and he seems to make her happy. Then, as usual her thoughts drifted to her own love life or lack thereof. She thought of Sirius and the mystery of his lack of girlfriend lately. Usually he had one hanging off his arm every month or so. From what she had heard from Lily, it wasn't that he used the girls, it was more that they took away from his time with the Marauders. She smiled to herself as she made her way up the dormitory staircase to bed. Sirius, James, Remus and Peter were quite a group together. Last year they had dyed Severus' hair a bright shade of green while he was napping in the library. Although it could not be proven who had dyed his hair, everyone had a pretty good idea who had been responsible.
Myra wished she had their wild streak. She didn't have enough courage to go through with the many pranks that came into her mind at night, particularly after a long day of rude remarks from Snape.
"But that's why they're in Gryffindor," she said softly as she climbed into bed, wishing for a moment that she was crawling into a maroon and gold four- poster bed instead of a navy blue one.
The first day of classes went very quickly for Myra. First off was Herbology. She was pleased to see that Sirius and James were also in her class. After the OWL's classes were divided up by subject matter instead of houses since class sizes shrank considerably. Not everyone, after all, was clever enough to go on to get their NEWTs. A student would choose which subject interested them most and this would be their core subject. Under that core subject were three other subjects, making four subjects all together that students would take in their sixth and final years.
Myra was keen on potions, and was required to take Herbology, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Care of Magical Creatures in addition to Potions. Fortunately, Transfiguration students (ahem, Sirius and James), were also required to take Herbology and Potions as well as Charms.
After Herbology (a quick review on safety equipment and precautions), there was a lunch break and then Defense against the Dark Arts with Remus, James, Sirius and most unfortunately, Severus Snape.
Snape had never really noticed Myra until their sixth year together when they had both taken Potions class together for the first time. Slytherin and Ravenclaw were never paired together during Potions, and Myra was her characteristically shy self in other classes, careful not to attract attention to herself. In Potions, however, she shone. Her potions were always made with the greatest of care and attention to detail. She was the only one in the class who had been able to make the very difficult Veritaserum on the first try. In short, she had impressed Severus greatly with her knowledge of potions, a subject he also excelled in.
Snape had a predicament though. While he greatly admired Myra for her knowledge and skill at potions, he recognized that she was muggle-born. While this small fact would not have mattered to most decent witches and wizards, Snape had been brought up to detest muggles and muggle-born witches and wizards.
When someone finds themselves in a morally conflicting situation, two things can happen. They can either change their morals to fit the situation, or they can change the situation to fit their morals. Suffice to say Snape did not change his morals. He did, however, change the way he felt about Myra. Instead of being attracted to her, as he might have been if she was a witch born to magic parents, he openly despised her. Of course this admiration still remained in his deep psyche, but to avoid moral conflict, it was converted to hatred for this beautiful, intelligent girl.
On this particular day they were reviewing hexes, curses and counter- curses. Between taking notes and looking up terms in the textbook, Severus didn't even notice that Myra was sitting at the back of the class. Myra breathed a sigh of relief when the class went by without Snape making one rude remark in her direction. As much as she hated to admit it, it bothered her that some witches and wizards never looked beyond her muggle parents to see her as an individual. She knew that she should have stood up for Snape in fifth and sixth year when the Marauders teased him relentlessly, but she couldn't help but feel a certain satisfaction that he was undergoing the same humiliation that she had been forced to endure by certain students all her years at Hogwarts.
After the class was over she hurried back to the Ravenclaw dormitory without looking back, afraid of the usual look of disgust from Snape that tore through her being. On her way to Ravenclaw tower she ran into Lily who was coming back from Arithmancy.
"Alright, Myra?" she called from across the hall.
Myra broke into a smile at the sight of her best friend.
"How were classes?" she asked her friend as they hooked arms.
Lily shrugged, "Oh, the same. How about you?"
"The same. Snape is in my Defense against the Dark Arts class, which means that he will also be in my potions class."
"Bad luck, My. You know he can't help it though, it's how-"
"He was raised," Myra finished. "I know, I know. But, I was also raised on brussel sprouts and you don't see me swallowing that rubbish!"
Lily laughed at her analogy.
"You busy tonight?"
Lily played with her hair distractedly, "Well, I, uh, sort of promised James..." she trailed off.
"That's okay," Myra said quickly, "Have a good time!"
"I'll talk to you later!" Lily called as Myra made her way up the stairs to the Ravenclaw tower.
"Yeah," Myra replied. She hoped that their entire seventh year wasn't going to be like this. She was so used to going to the library with Lily, going for dinner with Lily, going for walks with Lily. It was almost as if they were in the same house, even though they had been separated into different ones in their first year much to their dismay.
Then again, Myra thought to herself, Maybe this will be for the best. I need to concentrate on my NEWTs and Lily does too. It will be good to take some time apart. She nodded to herself as she unrolled a fresh roll of parchment. The first day and already six feet of parchment to write. She sighed to herself, pulled out a quill and started writing.
A few days later Myra found herself in the library researching rare breeds of dragons for her Care of Magical Creatures class when someone sat down in front of her.
"This table's taken," she said irritably without looking up from her research.
"Oh, uh, sorry."
Myra looked up to see an embarrassed Remus Lupin getting up. Now it was her turn to be embarrassed.
"Sorry Remus, I didn't know it was you. Of course you can stay."
"Are you sure? I can find another table..." his voice trailed off as he scanned the library for tables.
"No, please. Sit down," Myra said firmly and pulled out the chair with a flick of her wand.
"Doing the essay on Swedish dragons?" Remus asked as he glanced at the books in front of her.
"Trying to," she sighed exasperatedly.
"Here," he held out his hand and Myra handed him the book she had just been trying to decipher. Between the Latin dragon species names and the Swedish wizard that had discovered each of them, she was getting quite confused. He quickly flipped the pages until he found what he was looking for.
"This might come in handy," he said with a small smile as he handed her back the book.
She saw that he had turned to a table with the fourteen varieties of Swedish dragons, each with its own coloured photograph that the dragon kept flying in and out of. Also included was a list of important properties such as habitat, diet and hibernation activity.
"Thanks," she said as she felt the colour rising to her cheeks. She felt like a complete idiot.
"No problem," he shrugged, "I did that homework yesterday. I have an affinity for magical creatures."
"I wish I did," she muttered. "Potions is really my strong suit. I can remember useful things like quantities of armadillo bile to use in a wit- sharpening potion, but the diet of a Western Swedish Horntail dragon seems a bit trivial to me."
"It's not trivial to the Western Swedish Horntail dragon," he said with a smile. "Potions is one of my worst subjects," he admitted, and motioned towards the books he had pulled out to help with the latest potions essay.
"Is that the essay on the properties of hellebore?" Myra asked, leaning over towards him. He nodded as he opened a book.
"Well, lets see then..."
Together they helped each other through their weaker subjects until they realized that it was getting quite late.
"I'll see you later then?" Myra asked as she was closing her books.
"Sure," Remus nodded. "I imagine I'm going to be here a fair bit this year."
Myra groaned in agreement. She was actually surprised she didn't see more upper year students in the library. Lily was usually in the library to keep her company but ever since she started seeing James late last year, her presence had been lacking. Myra tried not to be cross, but she missed her best friend. She had hardly seen Lily besides their Care of Magical Creatures class and even then she usually sat with James, leaving Myra to sit with Edith Shrew, who quite frankly smelled a bit like cabbage.
She was quite looking forward to the first Hogsmeade trip of the year coming up next weekend. Lily had promised that she would spend time with her, even if it meant skipping out on some Lily-James alone time.
Oh well, she thought to herself, It could be worse. James is a decent boy and he seems to make her happy. Then, as usual her thoughts drifted to her own love life or lack thereof. She thought of Sirius and the mystery of his lack of girlfriend lately. Usually he had one hanging off his arm every month or so. From what she had heard from Lily, it wasn't that he used the girls, it was more that they took away from his time with the Marauders. She smiled to herself as she made her way up the dormitory staircase to bed. Sirius, James, Remus and Peter were quite a group together. Last year they had dyed Severus' hair a bright shade of green while he was napping in the library. Although it could not be proven who had dyed his hair, everyone had a pretty good idea who had been responsible.
Myra wished she had their wild streak. She didn't have enough courage to go through with the many pranks that came into her mind at night, particularly after a long day of rude remarks from Snape.
"But that's why they're in Gryffindor," she said softly as she climbed into bed, wishing for a moment that she was crawling into a maroon and gold four- poster bed instead of a navy blue one.