Disclaimer: Still own nothing. All things Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to Joss Whedon, while all things Harry Potter belong to one JK Rowling. Brick in the Wall is by Pink Floyd.
A.N: I had hoped to give everyone a Christmas present of the updating variety, but as usual my horrible job got in the way. Hope everyone had a wonderful festive season anyway. And I should warn you, this chapter heavily references the chapter 'Snape's Worst Memory' from Order of the Phoenix. It's not an exact replica, because that was too boring to do and I was too lazy anyway, but there are strong references to it and some parts are directly used. Of course I don't own them. Love you all! Only two chapters to go after this one! Enjoy! XX
PS- Sorry Kat- I had issues getting to work... note to self: don't try updating during planned maintenance times, life is good atm XX00
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Brick In The Wall
Thoughts are hazards in the classroom…
As OWLs loomed closer than ever, the fifth years began to react in different ways. Peter became even more jumpy and nervous than usual, he tried to study in the Library a few times but Lily persuaded Madam Pince to ban him because he kept knocking things over. Lily herself would sleep and eat in the Library if she could get away with it, and her usual load of books had quadrupled in size. James and Sirius were the polar opposite to Lily – they still openly ridiculed the idea of actually cracking a book for anything other than a prank. Despite the interruption of Dawn's family's visit, and a few days of grieving and moping after they left, she and Remus managed to stick to their study schedule pretty well. Most afternoons after classes the pair could be seen at a table in the Common Room, working steadily until it was time for dinner.
Dawn focused most of her energies on the first exam – the most daunting, for her – Charms. In her Career Advice meeting of months long past, Professor McGonagall had strongly recommended she pay particular attention to her weakest subject if she wanted to qualify for the NEWT classes to become an Auror, and she was determined to make it. she'd systematically run through Levitation Charms, Silencers, Loudeners, Locomotors, Repairers, Invisibilities, and Banishments (James had got the shock of his life when his smelly socks had been Banished to the other side of the Common Room with his feet still in them) and was now working on her Summoning Charm.
Her eyes roved the Common Room, searching for a target. She found one; her face twitched into a dangerous smirk.
"That look always worries me," Remus commented.
Dawn stared at him incredulously. He hadn't even glanced up from his Arithmancy text.
"How did you –"
"I just do, Kitten."
Dawn giggled, then returned her attention to her task. She ran through the spell's properties in her mind and took steady aim with her wand.
" Accio, chocolate frog!"
The chocolate frog that Sirius was raising to his lips flew out of his dumbstruck hand and into Dawn's. She smiled and raised it in mock salutation before taking a big bite.
"Oi!"
With a laughing James in tow, Sirius stormed across the Common Room to Dawn and Remus' table. He swooped down and ate the remaining frog's legs out of Dawn's hand, then pressed a quick kiss to her lips.
"Mmm- chocolate boyfriend," Dawn murmured.
"Kinky girl," Sirius whispered back.
"Eew, vomit," James groaned, flopping into a chair.
Remus just flipped his textbook shut. "I used to be studying."
"Come on, Moony," James said, punching his shoulder. "You've been studying for at least twenty minutes, you'll wear yourself out if you don't take a break."
Remus shook his head. James had propped his feet up on the desk, his dirty shoes right on top of Dawn's books but Dawn hadn't even noticed. She and Sirius were far too wrapped up in ideas of chocolate and kissing. The portrait squeaked open and Peter tumbled through, a cluster of books falling around him. Dawn and Sirius broke apart and looked around, and James hastily took his feet down and jumped up to help Peter before Dawn could belt him.
"Tigerlily get you booted from the Library again?" he asked sympathetically, pulling Peter out from under the book avalanche.
Peter nodded glumly. "Least she didn't throw anything at me this time."
"Ah well, Wormy, it's nearly time for dinner, anyway," Sirius consoled, pulling away from Dawn to try and steer Peter back out of the Common Room.
But Peter stepped back, staring at his feet. "I – I can't, Padfoot. I have to study."
James and Sirius both scoffed. Peter went very pink. He couldn't seem to tear his eyes from his shoes.
"I have to. I'm not – not like you lot… Smart, I mean. I'm going to fail," he whispered.
Sirius snorted at the concept of a Marauder being a failure. Peter would scrape through – he always had.
"You won't fail!" Dawn announced loudly. She glared at Sirius and James. "It's all right for you two smart arses who've never had to crack a book in your lives, but some of us really do have to try."
They both stood there in silence, properly chastised. Dawn went to Peter, who had looked up at last and was gaping open-mouthed at her.
"Peter, you're not going to fail. None of us are. I don't care if you have to study with me and Remus twenty-four-seven between now and Monday, we'll make sure you get through."
He smiled a tiny smile, still not sure he was going to pass, but thrilled and determined to do his best because Dawn thought he could do it. She was beaming at him, her whole face alight with the smile.
"Shall we put in another half hour before we eat?" Remus proposed mildly.
Sirius groaned, seeing his prospects of having both an early meal and Dawn slipping away before his eyes. "How could this possibly get any worse?"
Dawn pointed her wand at his pocket without even looking around. "Accio, chocolate frogs!"
The last four of his stash flew into her hands and Dawn shared them between herself, Remus, Peter and a tiny, tiny first-year who happened to be walking past.
"Can't have study without a snack now, can we?" she grinned at her two study partners, still not even bothering to glance at her boyfriend.
Sirius was bowled over by Dawn's behaviour. James was watching him curiously, almost shrewdly as he waited to see how Sirius would react to this newer, more assertive version of his girlfriend. Then Sirius smirked and made his move.
Dawn felt him before she heard him coming. He stood behind her and crouched down, his body close and his breath warm on her neck. She shivered despite herself, and knew Sirius had felt it.
"You're so sexy when you're playing the Ice Princess, Summers. It makes me so hot," he breathed in her ear.
Dawn shivered again. She turned her head to look at Sirius at last, her face dead straight but the colour high in her cheeks. There was a gleam in her eye he'd never seen with quite so much intensity before.
"Go to dinner, Sirius."
He blinked in surprise. She hadn't been the one to melt. And for some reason, he loved it. Before she could protest, he stole a rough kiss from her lips and collected James to head out to dinner. Dawn refocused on Peter and Remus with some difficulty.
"So… Where do we begin?"
Remus smiled placidly. "You know something, Kitten? I think you and Padfoot were less disturbingly intense when you were just shagging each other senseless all the time."
Dawn flushed, but she couldn't disagree. The weekend passed in just the same fashion; nobody caught a glimpse of Lily during the Library's opening hours unless James went in to annoy her so much she had no alternative but to leave for an hour at lunchtime; James and Sirius' most academically-minded endeavour was to charm Snape's books to spontaneously combust or hurl themselves at his head at random intervals; the other Marauders kept to their rigorous study schedule.
Dawn found that tutoring Peter helped soothe her own nerves about the Charms exam – helping him made her realise how much she really did know her stuff. And 'helpful' didn't even begin to cover Remus' influence – even if he hated the thought of it, but he was a born teacher. On Sunday night, all the fifth-year Gryffindors congregated in the Common Room after dinner. There was not a trace of a textbook in sight, it was as if they all knew the time for study had passed. It was one of the rare occasions when Candice, Michelle and Lily all joined Dawn and the boys, they all tried their hardest to think about anything but OWLs, but all they could talk about was the troop of ancient-looking witches and wizards who had arrived shortly before dinner; the examiners.
"They looked mean," Peter fretted.
"They looked senile," James snorted. "Ten galleons says at least one of them croaks before the end of the week."
"I'll take that bet," Sirius piped up, and they shook on it.
"Honestly, Potter, how can you even suggest that the Ministry would send incompetent examiners?" Lily said, but it was with only a half-hearted snap before she went right back to chewing her nails.
Sirius grinned. "Good point, Tigerlily. They probably won't be incompetent, but I bet they could definitely be bribed."
"You think?" Peter asked, his ears perking up.
"All the Ministry bigwigs can be bought," Candice said wryly. "Half of them buy their way into the Wizengamot, my Grandfather's always full of stories about corruption and conspiracies at Christmas dinner."
Remus waved a hand. "Come on, you lot. None of us are going to need to bribe them, anyway. It's probably time we went and got some sleep, anyway."
"But Moony," James whined. "It's only ten-thirty. Five more minutes?"
Dawn giggled; Lily did her best not to. She, Candice and Michelle said goodnight and went upstairs, but Dawn hung back to say a proper goodnight to Sirius after the other boys had departed. He rested his hands in her shoulders, massaging them like a trainer warming up a fighter about to step into the ring.
"Get some rest, baby. You're ready for this, you'll be fine," he whispered.
Dawn nodded, but Sirius could tell she was worried. But before he could offer any more comfort, Dawn had kissed him, whispered that she loved him, and flitted upstairs. Sirius went to his own dorm and got ready for bed with the other three Marauders. They talked for a while, but half an hour later they turned the lamps down and disappeared behind the bed hangings. Sirius kept a small lamp burning at his side, he wasn't tired yet. He was propped up against the headboard, flicking through some of his favourite passages from the Shakespeare book Dawn had given him for Christmas.
He was just starting to get drowsy when he heard the soft click of the dorm room door being eased open, then closed again. A moment later his bed hangings parted and Dawn crawled up onto the mattress next to him. Her eyes were wide, fearful, and her face was ashen. Sirius put his book aside and smiled reassuringly at her.
"It's only OWLs, Kitten. You've faced worse before."
She nodded, but her eyes filled with tears and she sniffled. "I know. I just –"
"No," he cut her off. "I know you're worried, but no. If you get all worked up now, you'll never get a good night's sleep, and I'm not going to let you undo all that work now."
She laid her head against his shoulder. "You're too good to me."
"Not really," he chuckled. "I just refuse to let all that time you spent studying that I could've been doing naughty things to you go to waste."
That made Dawn giggle. She climbed under the covers with Sirius and, relaxing in his arms, fell into a restful sleep.
She wished she hadn't eaten so much breakfast. The four and a half mouthfuls of cereal Dawn had forced down were churning in her stomach, threatening to reappear at any moment. she and the rest of her classmates were loitering outside the Great Hall, waiting to be admitted to their first OWL exam. With them were the seventh-years due to start their NEWTs, Frank and Alice were standing with the Marauders, but nobody was making any effort to talk. A few feet away, Lily was so pale she looked as if she was about to faint. She swayed on her feet once, James grabbed hold of her elbow.
"All right, Evans?"
She stared at him for a moment as his words sank through the layers of spells and definitions clouding her brain.
"Fine, Potter, thank you." Her voice was slightly clipped, but from then on she appeared to be a little more together.
As the clock hit nine-thirty, McGonagall swept out of the Great Hall and ordered them in, class by class. Alice smiled brightly as the seventh-year Hufflepuffs were called, then squeezed Frank's hand and disappeared. A minute later, Frank was following her.
"Good luck," Dawn called.
"Don't sweat it, Summers," he returned. "You'll be brilliant."
"Thanks, Frankie," she smiled, but her stomach was still flip-flopping all over the place.
James threw an arm across her shoulders and grinned. "Just so you know, if you throw up in the Entrance Hall before the damn thing even begins, I will have to disown you."
"Thanks, James."
And then they were ushered in to the furthest row on the right. Dawn reluctantly stepped away from James and let go of Sirius' hand to take her seat with Michelle in front of her and Sirius behind. Hestia Jones was in the seat on her left, when Dawn realised this she almost groaned out loud. She would rather have been put next to a Slytherin – hell, even Bellatrix! – than a Ravenclaw in an exam. Everyone knew Ravenclaws were know-it-alls.
McGonagall went through the standard pre-test rituals – fill in the answers, get caught cheating and Merlin save you – and then the giant hourglass at the head of the room had been turned over; their two hours had begun.
Dawn was half way through her paper before she even paused for the first time. Whether it was all that study paying off, or just sheer dumb luck, she actually knew all the answers if she put her mind to the task. A couple of the questions had been really tricky for her, but she was pretty sure she'd scraped at least a couple of marks from them. She finished just as McGonagall announced there were only five minutes remaining, decided against rechecking her answers, and then had to spend the rest of the exam trying not to fidget too obviously. She was in the second seat from the front, so all her friends were behind her; she was dying to see how they were going but wasn't about to risk the wrath of McGonagall.
Finally, the last few grains of sand trickled through the hourglass and, once their parchments were collected, they were dismissed.
"Nailed it," was the first thing James said as soon as they had cleared the double doors.
Sirius and Remus nodded their agreement. Peter chewed his lip.
"I think I did… ok."
"I bet you did," Remus assured him. "With tutors like yours, you can't fail. Kitten, how'd you go? You looked pretty happy with yourself."
"I guess," Dawn shrugged. "I mean, no real dramas. I'm sure I didn't fail, but I don't know if I did good enough for…"
They all nodded; they knew she wanted to be an Auror almost as much as her brother did. Seeing Buffy again only seemed to further consolidate Dawn's ambition. All the other students were dispersing as there was still almost an hour until lunch so the Marauders went back to the Common Room to relax in preparation for the afternoon's practical test.
The House tables were back in place so the school could eat, and this time Dawn managed a whole sandwich and even a handful of fries before the fifth years were all herded into a little chamber beside the Great Hall. Then she wished she hadn't been such a pig; the feeling of being in a holding cell at an abattoir waiting to be herded onto the killing floor was making her insides squirm. They were called back into the Great Hall in groups of five, always in alphabetical order, and Dawn debated changing her name to Potter for the duration of the exams just so she wouldn't have to wait all alone once her friends had been called in.
Sirius, being a Black, was called in with the second group. He winked at Dawn, shoved past Bellatrix, and strutted right in for his practical test. Lily was next to go, then Remus, and when Peter and James got to head in together, Dawn went into a serious pout about the injustice of it all. And, to top it all off, she was in the same group as Severus Snape and his stupid little comments about the audacity of Mudbloods to suggest they were worthy of even sitting for OWLs. She debated telling James or Sirius, but they didn't seem to need any encouragement to pick on Snape, so she just hissed a, "Drop dead, Snivellus," at him and drew her wand pointedly as she passed.
McGonagall ushered her to the first available examiner, a witch with silver hair who looked kind of like a wrinkly sausage dog. She nodded curtly at Dawn as an appraisal form with Dawn's name already printed on it materialised before her.
"Summers?"
Dawn yipped, then blushed, and then nodded.
"Don't be nervous, Summers," the examiner said, but her clipped tones and rigid mannerisms didn't put Dawn even slightly at ease. "If you'll turn around and look towards the far end of the Hall, you'll see that there is a table holding five coloured batons. Can you see that?"
Dawn spun around to see, then turned back to nod.
"I'd like you to summon the red one."
Dawn took a deep breath. She'd rather summon chocolate, but she could summon this just as easily. Her eyes zeroed in on the red baton and her wand came up.
"Accio, red baton!"
it started out strong, but began to falter in the middle of its journey. Dawn could feel the sweat beginning to pepper her forehead, but held firm to her wand and willed the baton to make it. It dropped sharply a couple of feet away from her, but thanks to Dawn's reflexes she managed to snatch it up before it got anywhere near the floor. She turned and hastily put it on the examiner's table, hoping the old sausage dog witch couldn't see how badly she was sweating. But the sausage dog was as straight as ever in her seat, Dawn wondered if she would even blink if she had set fire to her baton instead of summoning it (which she was secretly very glad she had managed to avoid).
"You may go, Summers."
Dawn's jaw dropped a little. "That's it?"
"Yes."
She didn't need telling again. Dawn bolted from the Great Hall and collided with Remus, who happened to be waiting for her too close to the doors when she burst through them. They knocked heads and bounced backwards like wayward dodgem cars, both yowling in pain.
"Bloody hell, Kitten," Remus moaned. "It wasn't that bad, was it? Anyone would think you'd been tested by V-Voldemort himself."
"Don't say that," Dawn grumbled, her eyes still watering from the pain. "If you're not careful, you'll make me start to be grateful for the sausage dog lady."
"We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control," Lily sang to herself on Wednesday afternoon as she went through some last minute preparation for Thursday morning's Defence Against the Dark Arts exam. Wednesday was the Divination exam, which only Dawn, Sirius and James – er, Potter – took, but Lily had the Common Room to herself. Candice and Michelle were in the dorm, relaxing, and Lily had the distinct impression that Remus was doing his best to keep Peter out of her way. Maybe it wasn't fair for her to keep throwing things at him every time he made too much noise – at least when she threw things at Potter, he was quick enough to duck.
"Thoughts are hazards in the classroom…"
There was a loud fake gasp behind her.
"Lily Evans, you take that back this instant!" Dawn giggled, having stopped just inside the entrance to the Common Room.
'Brick in the Wall' had become the unofficial theme song for the fifth- and seventh- year Gryffindors during their study for OWLs and NEWTs, it had been playing in practically a continuous loop for days on end. It was only when James and Sirius had taken to bellowing, "Hey, teacher! Leave us kids alone!" at random Professors that Lily decided she should put that particular CD back in the bottom of her trunk.
"Hey," Lily grinned. "Didn't expect you to be back first."
Dawn shrugged and plopped down on the couch. "They can tell when you're not faking it, I guess. All they did after I read the crystal ball was flick through my Dream Journal for a bit and then they sent me away."
"And the other two?" Lily prompted.
"When I left they were still making up random crap about cheeseburgers and killer whales. Somehow I don't think either of them will be taking NEWT level Divination," she snorted.
"Looks like you'll be taking that class on your own next year, then."
Dawn bit her lip. "Actually, Lil, I was thinking I wouldn't take it at all."
Lily gasped and slammed her textbook shut. "But you're so good at it – you're bound to get an O. Why would you want to drop it, Dawn? I thought you knew better than to follow Sirius around like a brain-dead little puppy – you're far too smart for that!"
Dawn just waited patiently for Lily to finish her lecture. Interrupting Lily was almost as impossible as interrupting Professor McGonagall. Almost.
"I'm not acting like a brain-dead little puppy," she pouted. "Just because I'm dropping Divination at the same time as Sirius probably will, doesn't mean my decision's got anything to do with him. Or James, for that matter. I haven't even told them yet. But I owled Mom Potter when I was thinking about all this and she agrees with me – there's no point in taking Divination next year. I don't need some stupid class to tell me how to have prophetic dreams and if I want a shot at being an Auror, then I'll need more study time for the subjects that really matter."
"Oh." Lily looked down. She hadn't realised Dawn had put so much thought into her decision. She should have known better – Dawn had done a lot of soul-searching and a fair bit of thinking about the direction of her life in the past few weeks.
"Yeah," Dawn said, as if it was a conclusion. Then she smiled and nudged Lily's arm. "What do you care, anyway? According to you, Divination is about as useful as unicorn poo."
"Actually, the properties of unicorn faeces have been known to… Oh, ha, ha."
"So you're saying unicorn poo is more useful than Divination, then?" Dawn laughed.
Lily blushed. "No, it's not that! I mean, you had those dreams that warned us Voldem-mort was in the castle, and when… When Isabel was in danger… I'm not saying Divination is useless, Dawn, really. But Professor McGonagall says-"
"Silencio!"
Lily, silenced, glared at Dawn.
"Sorry, but I had to stop the motor-mouth somehow. Relax already, Lils, I'm just kidding. I think it's safe to say that any reference I make to unicorn poo is not meant to be taken seriously."
She lifted the Silencing Charm and Lily rolled her eyes. "Do you ever get the feeling that we're a bit odd?"
"Just a bit?" Dawn laughed. "Come on, let's check out a few more of those Defence Against the Dark Arts practice questions."
The girls worked steadily through the sets of questions they'd been given in class to help them review; the Professor had mentioned that they were a sample of questions based on previous OWL exams and would give them an idea of what to expect. They were heatedly debating the ideal sized tank for a fully grown Grindylow when James and Sirius returned at last. Dawn opened her mouth to ask them what had taken them so long, but didn't need to once she caught sight of their bulging pockets. Either Honeydukes or Zonko's (probably both) had had some unexpected business that afternoon. The Three Broomsticks, too, by the looks of it. Both boys were swigging from bottles of butterbeer.
"You're going to get caught one of these days, and I'm going to laugh," Lily said warningly.
James laughed. "Bet you dinner and a movie we last until the end of the term without getting caught."
"Not a chance," Lily muttered.
"Why?" James challenged, his hazel eyes sparkling. "Afraid you might actually have a little fun? Don't worry, Evans, a gentleman never tells."
Lily let the obvious shot about his claim to gentlemanliness slide, but tossed her hair over her shoulder and stared coolly at him. "No – but why in the world would I waste my time making plans when there's no way in the world I would ever follow through with them? And I thought you'd learned to control this little habit of yours," she said pointedly.
James felt the heat rise in his face. After Isabel's funeral, he'd sworn to Lily – hell, he'd sworn to himself! – that he would stop asking her out like this. He'd tried. He'd tried so hard to make himself give up, but it was just never going to happen.
"Some things can't be controlled, Evans," he said shortly. "No matter how hard you try."
A little embarrassed, and feeling that they shouldn't be listening in to this conversation, Dawn looked at Sirius.
"It's dangerous, running around Hogsmeade like that," she said softly. "You know it is."
He grinned and delved into his pocket, trying to buy her off with a heart-shaped Honeydukes chocolate. Dawn took it gratefully and kissed his cheek, but still fixed him with a look that demanded an explanation.
"We stick together, Kitten, I swear. Marauders' honour," he grabbed his left butt-cheek. "It's not like we're going to run into Voldemort strolling down Main Street in the middle of the afternoon, anyway."
"How do you know that? He might – Voldemort wants you on his side, Sirius. And James. And once you disappear through those passageways, you're not safe. The castle is the best place for us to be right now, where Dumbledore can protect us. And even here we're not a hundred per cent sure, it's too big a risk."
From the way Sirius was looking at her, Dawn realised she was nagging. Just a bit. She ducked her head sheepishly.
"I just worry."
"I know, baby. It's ok," he said, looping an arm around her shoulders.
Meanwhile, James and Lily were still arguing.
"What do you mean, 'some things can't be controlled'?" Lily demanded of James, hands on hips. "What a cop-out, Potter, that's just a pathetic excuse to try and get away with acting like a pig-headed git."
James shoved a hand through his hair, leaving the already messy strands even more jumbled. "That's not what I meant, Evans, and you know it. I just meant I can't help myself when I'm around you. Merlin, Evans, you have to've figured that out by now. It's just you."
James looked remarkably calm (though very red-faced) for what he'd just decided to spill. Lily's hands shook; in contrast to James she looked very ashen.
"Don't you dare blame me," she hissed. "Don't you dare tell me it's my fault you can't control yourself. Grow up, Potter. I'm going to dinner, are you coming Isa-"
Lily tossed her head to the side and choked on the name. For a moment, things had seemed so normal that she expected Isabel to be right by her side. She'd forgotten… Dawn and the boys were staring at her. They looked shocked, even a little scared.
Lily gathered her dignity, straightened her shoulders and met all their gazes head-on. "I'll see you at dinner," she said and walked out of the Common Room.
She was quiet and withdrawn all through dinner, and it was the first evening in well over a month that she didn't spend hitting the books in the Common Room until most of the House had gone to bed. She disappeared up to the dorm as soon as she had eaten, not that she had actually eaten much at all. Dawn followed soon after. She left the boys downstairs (reminding James that a stag climbing the girls' stairs while the whole House was still up and about would be way too conspicuous) and went straight over to Lily's bed.
Lily had left her shoes on and the bed-hangings open, her red hair was splayed messily across the pillow as she stared up at nothing, her gaze not quite focused on anything in this world. Dawn plopped down next to her and waited to see if Lily would react. She didn't. For a long time the girls just lay in heavy silence, then Dawn squeezed Lily's hand.
"What's going on, Lil?"
Lily shook her head, when Dawn glanced at her face she realised the Prefect looked disgusted with herself. Her green eyes were murky with self-loathing. Dawn's brain scrambled for something to say, but she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. When her Mom had died, Tara had given her a little talk about how nobody would know exactly what was going on inside her head, but that didn't mean nobody understood. There was just something about grief no matter how it manifested itself – it would always be personal, and it would always be universal.
"It doesn't make you a bad person, you know," she finally said. "Whatever you were thinking, it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you."
"I forgot," Lily said, the word escaping her lips as a growl from deep in her throat. "She was my best friend, and she died, and I forgot. What kind of person could do that?"
"A person who cares," Dawn whispered. She'd lost count of all the people she'd lost, and the amount of times she'd opened her mouth to speak to someone who was no longer there. "When you said her name today, it wasn't about forgetting, it was about remembering."
"How do you figure that?" Lily said dully.
Dawn sat up, squeezed Lily's hand one last time, and slid off the bed. "Because it means she's still with you."
She walked away, leaving Lily to think it over.
They were assigned different seats for their Defence Against the Dark Arts exam; the Gryffindors were scattered through the middle section of the Hall, near the back exit. Dawn grinned, she was sitting next to James this time, Peter was somewhere behind her and Sirius was four seats back from James. Sirius winked at Dawn as they sat, and a couple of seats diagonally beyond him, Remus grinned.
Professor Flitwick was supervising this time – they could barely see him in amongst the sea of desks as he squeaked that they could begin and used his wand to turn the large hourglass over. It was the easiest exam they had taken so far, a mix of questions about dark creatures and recognising curses or the theory of counter-curses, hexes and jinxes. But it wasn't as technical as the Charms, Transfiguration and Potions exams needed to be, nor was it as mind-numbingly dull as a History of Magic exam.
Dawn and James finished at the same time. Dawn spent a few minutes revising but quickly gave it up, she was confident with her answers. She grinned at James, who was doodling on a scrap of parchment he'd produced from Merlin-knew-where (knowing him, he'd torn it off the edge of his exam paper or something), by the time Flitwick called out a five-minute warning he'd almost finished a picture of a Snitch. Flitwick moved away from their section and as soon as it was safe, Dawn and James shared another smile and looked over their shoulders. Sirius, leaning his chair back on only two legs, shot them the thumbs-up and they turned back to the front before Flitwick could catch them out. James went back to his drawing, Dawn fiddled with the feathered end of her quill and pretended not to watch him as he finished off his Snitch and scribbled a certain pair of initials, which he began to decorate elaborately. Dawn bit her lip, feeling for her foster brother. She knew he was worried about Lily, and she knew he didn't know what to do about it, and she hoped against hope that it wouldn't be something completely stupid that would put even more of a strain between the pair.
Then Flitwick was calling for quills down and when he used "Accio!" to collect the exam papers, the force of over a hundred rolls of parchment colliding with his outstretched arms knocked him flat on his back. James started to laugh, but choked it back quickly. Dawn had her not-amused face on, her wand was already drawn and pointed straight at him. When they were dismissed, the Marauders congregated around James and Dawn's desks before pushing out towards the Entrance Hall.
"Did you like question ten, Moony?" Sirius asked, smiling knowingly.
"Loved it," Remus said, all business. "'Give five signs that identify the werewolf.' Excellent question."
James widened his eyes for effect. "D'you think you managed to get all the signs?"
Remus considered the question gravely. "Think I did. One: he's sitting in my chair. Two: he's wearing my clothes. Three: his name's Remus Lupin…"
James and Sirius joined in the laughter Remus couldn't hold back any longer and Dawn, smiling broadly, squeezed his arm. After everything, it was nice to see him trying to accept himself again; it was only a small joke, but it meant a lot to Dawn. Peter hadn't laughed, he was chewing his thumbnail.
"I got the snout shape, the pupils of the eyes and the tufted tail, but I couldn't think what else-"
James rolled his eyes. "How thick are you, Wormtail? You run round with a werewolf once a month-"
"Keep your voice down," Remus hissed, Dawn and Sirius both thumped James in the arm.
"Fine then," James grumbled, turning on Dawn. "How about you, then, Miss Kitten-With-Her-Claws-Out? What was your favourite question, as if we couldn't already guess?"
Dawn smirked. Her favourite had been the last question, an eight-inch short essay on any particular dark creature or band of dark creatures. "I just hope I did the Order of Aurelius justice in only eight inches," she quipped as they hit the open air of the castle's front steps.
"I did Giants," Peter piped up.
"Chimaera," Sirius threw in.
"Grindylows," Remus admitted, surprising them all by not going with the obvious choice for him.
"Snivellus," James said casually.
The others looked at him.
"Well, he is a dark creature," James insisted.
Sirius let out a bark of laughter. Dawn let out a long-suffering sigh that sounded something like 'boys', but as they reached the grass she realised that she'd left her Transfiguration notes in her dorm. She stopped and pulled her hand out of Sirius'.
"I'll catch up with you," she said. "I've just got to get my stuff from the dorm."
"Want me to come with you?" Sirius offered hopefully, spying an opportunity for some impromptu 'alone time', but Dawn shook her head.
"I won't be long," she called.
She got a few steps away before whirling back to kiss Sirius' cheek, then headed back to Gryffindor tower alone. There were a few seventh-years in the Common Room studying and Dawn stopped to spend a minute catching up with Frank before she went to grab her notes for Transfiguration. It was well into Spring, and quite warm, so she didn't hurry back to the grounds.
When she reached the stone steps once more, she could see a cluster of people around the Beech tree the Marauders usually liked to hang out beneath; it looked as if most of the year had flocked there. The sounds of laughter and cheering reached her ears and Dawn smiled as she began to cross the lawn.
"Wonder what they're up to this time," she murmured affectionately.
Then the sound of shouting filtered back to her.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
Dawn paused. That was Lily's voice, she didn't even have to think to know who the Prefect was shouting at… And she'd bet the farm she could guess what it was about, too. Dawn's eyes frosted over and she marched determinedly forwards to add to whatever rant Lily had launched into. Random shouted words in James and Lily's voices echoed back to her as she approached.
There was a yelped "NEVER," from James, followed eventually by a "SICK," from Lily, and finally a futile "Hey, EVANS!" as Lily stormed off.
The two girls crossed paths a little ways beyond the remainder of the crowd around the boys. Lily's cheeks were flaming and her eyes were still flashing dangerously.
"I don't know why I bother sometimes!" she said shrilly.
Behind her there was a bang and a flash of light: Snape was hanging upside down in mid-air, his robes falling around his head and showing a pair of the oldest, rattiest, greyest underpants Dawn had ever had the misfortune to see. Her eyes narrowed and she patted Lily's arm absently.
"I'll take care of this," she snarled, pushing into the crowd as Lily continued back towards the castle.
"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?" James called.
"What the hell is going on here?" Dawn screeched.
There was instant silence. James and Sirius wiped the smiles from their faces and ducked their heads sheepishly. With a hasty flick of James' wand, Snape crumpled back to the hard ground. He staggered to his feet.
"One day, Potter," he hissed.
"Get gone!" Dawn snapped without even looking around. She was still glaring very hard between James and Sirius.
Snape gathered his things and slunk away, the crowd finally disintegrating in his wake. Sirius chanced a look up at Dawn, but quickly looked away when he caught the hard fury in her eyes. The boys braced themselves for the onslaught, but the three words she came out with hit them harder than if she had screamed at them for an hour.
"You disgust me."
She walked away, heading around the side of the castle to a deserted courtyard. Still fuming, she huffed and plopped down on a low stone wall to cool down. Her bag fell to the ground, the forgotten Transfiguration notes poking out of the opening. She groaned and rubbed her temples. Why did she have to get so mad at them? Why did they have to be such jerks? She knew it was only natural for Gryffindors and Slytherins to fight (hell, she'd had more than her own fair share of rounds with Bellatrix), it was like cats and dogs, Angel and Spike, Anya and normal people. But that didn't give the boys the right to pick on Snape when he was practically defenceless.
Dawn had been sitting alone, thinking, for a few minutes when a pair of shoes scuffling against the cobblestones warned her of someone's approach. It was Sirius. He stopped in front of her, scrounged up as much courage as he could, and looked at her face. She crossed her arms and gazed coolly back.
"I'm sorry, Dawn," he began. "I know you're disappointed in us, but I hate it when you're mad at me. I'm really sorry."
"Technically, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," Dawn replied evenly.
Sirius' whole face screwed up like he'd swallowed a lemon at the implication that he owed Severus Snape an apology. Dawn's lip quirked, but she managed to bite back the smile. Sirius sighed.
"Come on, Dawn. we both know I can be a right git, but there's got to be something I can do to make it up to you. I'd do anything to make you smile at me. I'll… Want me to kiss your feet? I'll kiss your feet if you want," he offered hopefully.
Dawn arched an eyebrow. "Whatever."
He dropped to his knees on the hard cobblestones and pulled the shoe and sock off her right foot. She tried to look disinterested, but had to smile to herself as he took her foot in both his hands and kissed his way along the topside. After a minute, he paused to gauge her reaction.
"You like that?"
"I don't see how this is making up for what you did," Dawn said in a breathy voice.
"You love it," Sirius decided, grinning and returning to his work.
Dawn didn't say anything. She was still mad, but that didn't mean she was about to lie so she couldn't contradict Sirius' statement.
When Sirius figured he was off the hook, he stretched up to kiss Dawn's mouth, but she folded her arms and looked pointedly away.
"Still mad at you," she said shortly.
Sirius frowned. "Hmm," he muttered. "I can see you're going to make me work for it this time."
He sank back down to the ground and took her foot up once more, but this time he didn't stop there. His lips tickled her ankle and his hands massaged her calf muscles when his mouth began to travel up her shin. Dawn couldn't help but giggle, but it quickly dropped into a moan when he reached her thighs, running his hands up the outsides of her legs. Running on instinct, she leaned back and braced her hands against the stone wall to lift her hips slightly. Still kissing her thigh, Sirius began to peel her underwear off, agonisingly slow.
Click, click, click…
They both froze at the sound of concise footsteps tapping their way. Panicked, Dawn pushed Sirius away and sat up, blushing. Her underwear was still midway down her legs, she pulled her skirt down hastily to cover them, but Sirius was still sprawled at her feet when Professor McGonagall arrived on the scene, looking as stern and scholarly as ever with her arms laden with scrolls.
Dawn whimpered as the Deputy Headmistress peered down her nose at them. "What are you two doing here? You should be heading to the Great Hall, lunch is about to start."
"Oh, um…" Sirius scrambled to his feet, trying to look as if there was nothing out of the ordinary about him having been on the ground in the first place.
"Miss Summers, why is your shoe off?"
"Uh… Bug bite!" Dawn yelped.
Then she cringed as McGonagall stepped even closer to study her foot and hastily tucked her skirt in around her legs. Behind the Professors back, Sirius winked at Dawn, who glared back.
"I don't see any bug bites here," McGonagall said, a suspicious edge creeping into her voice.
"No," Dawn squeaked. "I thought it was a bug bite, but when Sirius took a look just now, he said it was only a pebble and threw it away."
"I see. Well, get down to the Great Hall, the both of you. You have your practical exams right after lunch, and Merlin help you if you're late for that, bug bite or not."
The Professor swept away without another word, when he was sure she was out of earshot Sirius burst out laughing. Dawn huffed and hurriedly redressed herself. She did not look even faintly amused, the colour was high in her cheeks and her eyes were flashing with frustration.
"Come on, baby," Sirius chuckled, reaching out a hand to her. "You've got to admit, that was pretty funny."
Dawn just hitched up her underwear, snatched up her bag, and shoved Sirius away from her as hard as she could.
"Now I'm really mad at you," she snapped, stalking away.
"We can finish this later," he called hopefully to her retreating form.
A.N: Yes, I am evil. How did you know? XX Anoron
