A school in northern Scotland had just released students from their afternoon classes, and as usual, chaos was breaking out among the students. But, unlike most schools in the country, this one had a rather unusual course of study. Other than this certain aspect, it was your average, run-of-the-mill, nice and normal school.
"Lily! Oh, I'm so glad I found you!" a girl called out as she hurried toward two other girls—one redhead, one brunette.
The redhead turned and asked, "What did you need, Alice?"
"I didn't understand the charm Flitwick was talking about at all," Alice said, nearly wailing.
"Protective charms? There's really nothing to it, especially after reading a bit of background," Lily explained.
"By all means," the brunette remarked teasingly, "go off to your little charms world and forget me."
Lily rolled her eyes. "I'll meet you in the common room, Pamina."
"I have to walk there by myself?" Pamina whined while shooting Alice a mock glare.
Alice laughed, "It's not my fault Lily's so good at Charms."
"It won't take long to get a book on it—I know where several good ones are," Lily said. "Besides, you're a big girl now and can find the common room on your own."
Pamina faked a look of shock, as the others headed for the library, Lily explaining some about the charm to an attentive Alice. Once they were gone, Pamina turned to head to Gryffindor tower and ended up several paces behind two of her classmates, the most notorious raven-haired boys the school had ever known.
"You've got to stop staring, mate," one of them told the other.
"Huh?" replied the one with glasses.
"You were staring, James."
"No…no, I wasn't," came the spacey reply.
The first boy sighed dramatically, "Denial."
"What are you talking about, Sirius?" James asked, finally looking at his friend.
Sirius laughed, "You couldn't take your eyes off her long enough to pay attention to what I was saying!"
James stayed silent.
"I never thought it would happen," Sirius continued, still laughing. "Imagine what people would say to James Potter liking L—"
"Shut it, Padfoot," James snapped. "I don't need you to rub it in."
"But it's funny," Sirius insisted.
"Not for me."
"I'm sure she doesn't hate you."
"How helpful," James scoffed.
"Come on, this is Evans we're talking about; she's bound to come around."
"Don't try being sensible, Sirius, it doesn't sound right."
"Well, excuse me for trying to help."
"I'm afraid that I can't take advice from someone who needs help himself."
"Ah, well, I can't argue that one," chuckled Sirius.
Just then, a girl jogged up beside Pamina, preventing her from hearing more of the conversation ahead of her.
"Mina," the girl gasped, "I need you to help me with Astronomy, I just don't understand it anymore!"
Pamina laughed, "Rina, you've never understood Astronomy fully."
"Well," came the defensive reply, "neither does Dina…and I don't think Monty did…in fact, you're the only one who understands the stars!"
"I'll just have to teach Gunth all I know, then, since the rest of you are worthless in my favorite field."
"We're not worthless, Pamina!"
"Then why did you say that Germont, yourself and Adina aren't good at it, Norina?"
"Because, sister dear, I was going for the humble approach. I thought it might get you to help me quicker…and I have Astronomy tonight, so I need help with it soon."
"Well," Pamina said cheerfully as they approached the portrait hole, "I'm glad you put it off to the last minute like a true Auster. Go grab your book and meet me in the common room."
Norina gave the password and scurried through and made a beeline up to her dorm. Pamina looked around for one of her friends—and found one sitting at a table in the far corner of the room.
Pamina dropped her books on the table and said, "Hullo, Judith. Getting a head start on homework today?"
"Just because you like to procrastinate, Pami," Judith replied without looking up, despite the noise, "doesn't mean the rest of us do."
"One day I'll convert you and Lily to my way of thinking," Pamina stated, sinking into a chair.
"If I were you, I'd just worry about converting Gunther and not worry about us."
"Hmm…you have a good point. A little brother is always easier to train than friends."
"It must be the ten year age difference," Judith remarked wryly.
"No, that can't be it—I think she brain washes the poor boy each summer," Lily remarked as she joined her friends. "Now, what are you teaching Gunth this time?"
"Procrastination and Astronomy."
"Astronomy?" Judith asked startled. "When did that come into it?"
"It's all my siblings fault for not being good at it—Norina brought it up, since she needs help today."
"She has class tonight, doesn't she?" Lily asked, almost rhetorically.
"How'd you know?"
"She's an Auster, and therefore a natural procrastinator."
"Yes, we do try," Pamina remarked smirking, "don't we, Rina?"
Norina, who had just appeared with her Astronomy book, looked at her sister in confusion before replying, "Ask me some other time, Mina, I'd prefer to work on one thing at a time."
"Yes," Lily laughed, "Nori is a true Auster." Judith joined Lily in laughing, while the two sisters watched them with regal smiles adorning their faces.
"Lils, when I'm done helping Rina, I want to tell you something I heard," Pamina said mysteriously before leaving the table.
Lily merely shrugged in response—Pamina was always hearing things she had to tell someone about.
***
When Pamina had finished helping Norina with the finer points of Astronomy, she returned to her two friends. Lily and Judith made no sign of realizing their missing friend had rejoined them and continued writing frantically.
"What are you two working on?" Pamina asked.
"Potions," Lily said, while Judith replied at the same time, "Transfiguration."
"Then I'm sure you won't mind setting your quills down to go to dinner, since those are horrid subjects anyway."
"I only need a few more lines—I'll meet you downstairs," Lily murmured.
Judith replied similarly with, "Give me a minute to finish this sentence."
Pamina rolled her eyes and decided to take action—after all, her stomach was growling with hunger.
Soon Lily and Judith were staring bemusedly at their hands.
"Er, that was odd," Judith said.
"Not to mention suspicious," Lily continued. "Now, Pami, did you happen to notice where our quills disappeared to?"
Pamina shook her head.
"Give it over," Judith stated.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Pamina replied with wide, overly innocent eyes.
"If you don't give us back our quills, we won't go to dinner at all," Lily threatened.
Pamina cocked her head to the side, as if considering what had been said. "Well," she said at last, "I suppose I'll give them back…." Lily and Judith held out their hands in expectation and Pamina finished childishly, "But only if you can catch me!"
With that, Pamina bolted from the room, waving the quills in the air. Judith and Lily bit out cries of frustration before racing off after her. After all, three sixteen year olds will have their moments of childishness—and will enjoy every minute of it.
The chase was, by the girls' accounts, very thrilling and exhilarating. Lily would consider it to be one of the best she had been in—Judith always disliked running too far but enjoyed short chases—and Pamina liked anything, as long as it caused some trouble along the way.
As Pamina came up behind a group of four boys—two of which were James and Sirius—she let out a high, grating cackle. It startled the boys, who instinctively turned to see what was going on.
This was followed by a shouted, "Pamina Auster! I dislike you!"
The remark earned another cackle. "Why don't you just summon it like Judi did?" Pamina taunted.
"Because," Lily replied irritated, "magic isn't allowed in the corridors. Besides, I'll catch you soon enough."
Pamina let out a little "eep!" and ran quickly past the four boys—each of which was staring at the spectacle—with Lily hot on her heels.
Not long after they had disappeared around the corner, Judith jogged up to the four boys.
"Hullo," she greeted cheerfully. "Did you happen to see two girls run through here? Perhaps they were just two black blurs, or a flash of brown and a flash of red."
"Er, yes," answered a brown haired boy. "They went that way," he added with a laugh.
"Thanks, Remus. I don't know what'll become of Pami this time."
"What'd she do?" Sirius asked curiously. It was a well-known fact in Gryffindor tower that Pamina did ridiculous things—especially to her friends.
Judith rolled her eyes and explained, "She thought it would be smart to steal our quills when Lily and I were in the middle of sentences."
The boys laughed. Then one of them, a boy with sandy hair, asked, "So, you have yours, don't you?"
"Yes, I do, Peter," Judith replied. "I didn't want to chase Pami to the entrance hall. Besides, she probably has taunted Lily with something by now, and will deserve getting caught."
"I think we heard the taunt," James said with evident amusement in his tone.
After conversing trivial subjects for a few minutes, the group came to the top of the marble staircase. The sight below them was a rather interesting one. Lily stood at the bottom, her recovered quill grasped in her hand, and she seemed to have just ended a tirade of words. Pamina was rubbing her left wrist and looking rather ashamed—therefore, whatever Lily said had worked, somewhat.
"Well?" Judith asked as she came down the stairs, with the boys trailing curiously behind her.
"She won," Pamina grudgingly replied.
"Caught her on the stairs," Lily remarked proudly.
"Only 'cause she won't tell me how to—"
"Oh, sure, as if I'll tell you how to do something that took me years to perfect," Lily said with a hint of sarcasm, cutting off Pamina. "Only when you need to get downstairs without being detected, can you truly appreciate the art."
"It's not my fault she's so nosey!" Pamina exclaimed somewhat sourly.
"No. Nor is it mine," Lily commented darkly.
Judith, afraid of what might happen if the conversation continued in this direction, decided to ask lightheartedly, "Have you two made up?"
"Yes, Judi," Pamina and Lily chorused.
"Good. Then let's eat," Judith replied. "Besides, wasn't that the whole point behind your theft, Pami?"
"Yes, but you see, when Lily grabbed my wrist—"
"I only did that because you had my quill!" Lily interrupted.
As Lily and Pamina continued their friendly banter, Judith turned to the boys and remarked, "Honestly, I don't know why they do this."
"Because it's fun!" Sirius exclaimed exuberantly.
"Yes. You should hear the four of us when we do that," James added.
"It's horrid when Sirius and James pick the opposite sides," Remus said ruefully.
Judith made a face, "Oohh…that must be!"
Peter nodded in agreement and said, "They stop using normal logic."
"They never have, really," Remus clarified, "but it does get worse."
"I think it'd be worse if they were on the same side," Judith whispered to Remus and Peter.
"It is," Peter replied.
"Luckily, it doesn't happen often," Remus added.
With a quick farewell and one last parting wave, Judith joined Lily and Pamina, while the boys headed further down the table.
***
It was long after dinner, when Lily and Judith had finished their homework and after Pamina had completed everything that was due the next day, that Pamina could tell what she had heard.
"I'll tell you what I was going to tell hours ago, but I kept getting interrupted…." Pamina began.
"If you'll kindly recall," Lily said mock-haughtily, "you caused the interruptions. You had to help your sister; you stole our quills to get us down to dinner faster. It's always you, isn't it?"
"Well," Pamina replied thoughtfully, "I really can't help the fact that I'm so wonderful."
Lily and Judith rolled their eyes—they heard such things from Pamina all the time, and it was not true in the least.
"You were going to tell us something, before you interrupted yourself again," Judith said pointedly.
"Oh! Right. Well, I thought it might interest Lily a bit more, since it was about her," Pamina began with a hint of mystery. "It all started on my way to the tower, after class…" She then proceeded to tell Lily and Judith the conversation she had overheard.
When she finished, Pamina looked at her friends to gage their reactions. Judith seemed slightly intrigued, but unable to determine how true the story was. Lily, on the other hand, had a very blank face and it was difficult to determine just what she thought of it.
Pamina decided to try something else to get a reaction from her passive friend. "I told you that he liked you."
"You'll forgive me, I hope," Lily said after a short pause, "if I don't automatically believe you, but you have had a tendency to slightly exaggerate things in the past, or bend them a bit to fit the angle you want them to be seen."
Pamina's mouth twitched a bit at this accusation, mainly because she had done as Lily described in the past, but she replied seriously, "This is one time that I haven't made 'with a twinge of dislike' into 'maliciously.'"
"I still don't think James Potter likes me," Lily said skeptically.
"Lils, he asks you out all the time," Judith added matter-of-factly.
Pamina caught this and continued by saying, "Most notably, in front of that crowd after our Defense O.W.L. last year."
Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head, "The only reason he asks is because I'm the one girl he can't get."
"That's not entirely true…" Judith began.
"You both liked him at one time—I didn't mean right now. I meant ever since we stepped foot in Hogwarts, I'm the one he could never charm and he doesn't like it."
"Lil, I think you're exaggerating a bit," Pamina said sensibly.
Lily cracked a smile, "Okay, I might be…but it doesn't change my opinion of him, or his motives, at all."
"And, er, what exactly is your opinion?" Pamina asked, her eyes slightly mischievous.
Lily gave Pamina an incredulous look, she couldn't believe Pamina was asking this, but decided to humor her friend. "I still think he feels his talents allow him to do as he pleases—thereby making him arrogant and a bully."
"He has cut back on random bullying, you know," Pamina said.
"And he's not completely arrogant all the time," Judith continued.
"Well, I have to judge by what I know," Lily said as she stood up. "Goodnight," she added before turning on her heal and heading upstairs.
Both Pamina and Judith were so shocked at their friend's sudden departure that they failed to notice that across the room, one boy's eyes followed Lily as she left.
*~*~*
Title comes from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
Thanks to everyone who reviewed "To Err is Human; To Forgive, Devine"! I'm attempting a sequel, but it's not working fully…and I have finals to worry about taking…so, I'll try to get it done early next year.
The second part of this will be up fairly soon…before Christmas, with any luck. It's written, but I just have to find time to post it.
~KAT:Megate~