Marlene
The first morning of NEWTs dawns dreary and overcast. Light rain falls from the ceiling as we eat, disappearing before it can reach us. We have Potions today - theory in the morning, practical in the afternoon.
I'm sitting at the Gryffindor table, trying to have a quiet breakfast with Lily. But as usual these days, time with Lily means time with James Potter and his trash fire.
Black's cracking jokes. They're utter shite, each worse than the last, and no one's laughing. How he can possibly think it's an appropriate time is beyond me.
Lily's got her head deep in a book. It rests on the table in front of her, her plate shoved off to the side. Every few minutes she remembers her food and grabs a bite, then promptly gets lost in her book again.
James peers over Lily's shoulder at her textbook, muttering to himself.
Across the table, Peter's scribbling furiously, his writing nearly illegible in his haste.
I don't know how they can concentrate. I'd love to get in some last minute revision myself, but Black just won't shut up. I fantasize about stabbing him and finally, finally getting some quiet. Lily would be pissed with me, unfortunately. Maybe if I glare intently enough, he'll get the hint.
He doesn't, but Remus does. When he notices me glaring, he nudges Black. "Hey, I think they're trying to study."
(Remus looks like he could use some of those himself, honestly. He's put a single piece of toast on his plate, but he isn't eating. Hasn't bothered to grab anything else. He's torn the toast into shreds, and is just sitting there, looking queasy.)
"Yeah, yeah. I don't know why. You've all been studying for weeks. We'll ace this, easy."
After that, Black cuts it out with the jokes, but now he's stealing Remus's toast shreds instead. He's still annoying as hell.
After breakfast, we head back to the Entrance Hall to wait with the rest of the fifth and seventh years. Lily banishes her book on the way, but she must be nervous, as her spellwork is off. As it flies away, the book smacks into a second year who's just left the Great Hall. Irritated, the girl rubs at the side of her head, where the book hit her. Lily doesn't notice; she's busy rattling off various ingredients and their properties, at no one in particular.
But I guess Black noticed, because now he's glaring at her. That's rich, coming from him. When has he ever cared about who he hurts? And Lily didn't mean to do anything. She's just anxious, that's all.
I grab her hand and squeeze it. "You're gonna do great."
She smiles back at me nervously.
Far too soon, we file back into the Great Hall. I look for a seat as far away from Black as possible, settling on one in the front row. If I want to do well, I'll need to be able to forget Black's existence entirely. If I can see him, he'll just annoy me out of my mind.
Lily looks a little hurt that I'm not sitting with her, but I smile and wave her away. "Good luck! See you on the other side."
The examiner hands out papers, and then… we're off. Our NEWTs have begun.