The next morning Kylee and Rory were exhausted. Kylee fell asleep on her toast and Rory dozed off with her face in her syrup. Only after several pictures did their friends decide it was time to wake them. Marcus Thames and Jeff O'Malley wouldn't stop giving the two girls a hard time.
Marcus, the one who snapped the pictures of Snape while he dealt with the Attack of the Killer Mutant Mice, was a real trouble maker. Rory and Marcus had a thing for each other but both of they were too scared to say anything. Rory had been so close to asking him out at the beginning of term that she spent and hour and half talking to herself in her bathroom mirror. Kylee found this incredibly amusing. And fell on the floor laughing for several minutes after she walked in on Rory. Rory, however, practically had to cry to get Kylee to not tell Marcus. Rory only realized later that Kylee would never tell Marcus, she was just amused with the conversation Rory had been having with herself. Marcus was tall, not so dark, but most definitely handsome, in a boyish way. He had short brown blonde hair was really fine and soft; he liked having girls scratch his head. Rory and Kylee found this very strange. He had pretty eyes framed with soft lashes and a cute crooked smile.
No one called Jeff, 'Jeff'. It was always O'Malley; he was the silent but breathtakingly gorgeous. Always the one making jokes. Up until recently he had been sort of an outcast when it came to the sixth years. He was a little older than the most of them, but not by much. It was Kylee who brought him into the inner circle. She had done it at the beginning of the year after a really difficult break up with her ex-boyfriend Aaron Young, who was a sixth year Gryffindor. They never saw each other, they went to the same school and her barely even bothered to talk to her. Nor did Aaron even make an effort; Kylee didn't want to believe Rory when she said that Kylee shouldn't have to be the one tell him to find her. She finally, only after much persuasion from Rory and a smile (and possibly more) from, who else, but O'Malley, broke it off with Aaron. Who promptly, the next night, went over to April Vice's house? Yeah, right again, it was Aaron. Rory promised Kylee who, at the time, was very upset, that as soon as they could find a big enough envelope, they would send him a very nasty hex. That made Kylee laugh through her tears, but it really wasn't enough to heal her broken heart. Rory knew how it hurt, but only after really meeting the man who Kylee worked with at Flourish and Blotts on Diagon Alley over the summer, did Rory believe that Kylee had a chance with him.
"So Rory I hope that syrup was tasty," Marcus said as he smeared some more on her cheek. Rory tackled him. The sixth years all laughed.
"Shuttup," Rory said and poked a piece of bacon in his ear. He squealed like a little girl and fell off of the bench.
"I seriously hope you did that on purpose," Kylee said as Marcus picked himself off of the ground and dusted off his robes.
"O-Of course I did," he said, he was lying through his teeth, both Kylee and Rory could tell, but it looked as if he really was scared.
"Anyway, who's ready for the Transfig test for McGonagall's N.E.W.T. Class?" Rory asked as she shoveled a bit more pancake in her mouth as the bell rang.
There were mutters of , "Are you kidding?" and "Jeezus, no. I can barely read my notes!" and even "Bloody hell, that's today!" The last comment was from Jag. He didn't seem too perturbed about it. He was a damn genius and didn't even have to study to make good grades. He did refuse to do homework though, a problem that effected him more than his perfect test scores. Rory hated him for his raw intelligence but loved him from his knowledge of how the male mind functions.
The whole school made their way out of the hall books and bags in hand. Rory, Kylee and about five other Slytherin sixth years made their way to the dreaded Transfiguration Room on the first floor.
Hello, class welcome to Hell; Rory thought grimly as she took a seat in the Room. Kylee nudged her and thought; You can say that again. They smiled and gave each other hug for good luck. They were both going to need it...