Chapter 86: Exams Woes
"I hate exams!!" Sirius complained as he threw his Charms book aside and lied onto his bed.
"You're not the only one." James commented without looking up and continued flipping pages after pages of his Herbology book.
"Who likes exams??" Remus was the only one who was sitting upright reading on his desk. The other three Marauders were lying on their stomach either on the floor or on their beds.
"The girls."
"I don't think so."
"They always get good grades for tests and exams."
"Padfoot, in case you haven't notice, but Prongs and you are like the top students in our year."
"Eh, you are the third."
"But they love studying."
"We love practical lessons."
"What's our first paper??"
"Erm, Charms??"
"It's Herbology."
"When??"
"Next Monday."
"Ok, I better read up or plants."
"Padfoot, you better know your own schedule."
"I got you guys to tell me about it."
"We can't be here to inform you all the time."
"As long as you guys are here with me."
"That's such a mushy statement."
"Oh Moony, don't you know that I absolutely can't live without you??" Sirius said dramatically and gave Remus a seductive look.
"Padfoot, don't tell me you turned homosexual!!" Remus played along and added to the drama.
"Moony, run for your life!!" James called out.
"Oh, Prongsie Prongs." Sirius turned over to James.
"Do try anything." James warned, laughing at the seductive looking Sirius. "I'm heterosexual."
"Prongs, I know of your bisexuality." Sirius spoke in a higher pitch. "Ever since I slept with you."
"Hey, hey, hey, I never ever slept with you."
"Padfoot, are you ok??" Peter asked with concern.
"Oh wormytail, you are soooo concern about me." Sirius turned around towards Peter.
"Padfoot, noooo!!" Peter squeaked and all of them burst into laughters.
"Can someone entertain me??" Samantha spoke up. The four girls were all mugging their textbooks, which were stacked next to them.
"Sam, that's a great suggestion." Lily looked up from her Transfiguration book.
"But how??" Joey asked, closed her book for a short break since Samantha broke the silence.
"How about some food??" Stefanie suggested.
"We will get fat if we continue to eat as we mug."
"Sam, you're already very slim!!"
"Ok, majority rules."
"I go for food." Lily voted.
"I'm ok with the food too." Joey agreed.
"Then who's getting it??"
"I get it." Lily offered. "I need some movement for blood circulation."
"Thanks dear."
"You're welcome." Lily left her dormitory and went down the spiral staircase. In the common room, students clustered in groups of threes or fours were studying quietly with an occasional cough and mumbled.
The exam mood again. Lily shook her head and moved as silently as she could towards the exit. Can't wait for the holidays. She climbed out of the portrait hole as softly as possible. The corridors were practically emptied except for the Hogwarts ghosts who were floating around. Lily strolled towards the kitchens, a direction that she knew by heart.
Ccclasssshhhh!!
"Ouch!!" Lily rubbed her forehead, which had knocked onto something hard.
"Lils??"
"Eh, James, what are you doing here??"
"Just went to the kitchen to fetch some food. You??"
"Going to the kitchen to get some food."
"Taking a break, huh??"
"Yeah, all those mugging is driving me nuts."
"Wanna go for a walk??"
"Where can we walk to??"
"Hogsmeade??" James whispered to Lily's right ear.
"Sounds great." With the newfound entertainment, she had totally forgot all about heading to the kitchens to get food for her friends.
"Let's go." The duo moved briskly towards the statue, which had a tunnel that led to Honeydukes in Hogsmeade.
"It's so horribly silent here."
"I agree, but I have a horrifyingly noisy Sirius back in the dorm."
"Well, if he's not noisy, he's not Sirius."
"You're so right at that."
"Where's Prongs??" Remus asked suddenly, closing the book he just finished studying.
"That's a good point. He's gone for ages." Sirius looked up from his Herbology, which seemed like he was still at the first few page.
"He went to the kitchens." Peter said.
"But it's like an hour since he left us."
"Are you worried that he might get lost on his way to the kitchens??"
"Yeah, I'm worried that he might get kidnapped or something."
"Padfoot?!?"
"Just kidding."
"Is the map in the dorm??"
"Don't know."
"Check his trunk." Sirius began to search for the old looking parchment in James' trunk.
"Got it." Holding up their masterpiece of hardwork, Sirius tapped it with his wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The lines crawled along the old parchment and dots began to appear either moving or still.
"Hmm.." Remus joined Sirius to look for James in the map.
"This is our usual way to and fro from the kitchens." Peter pointed out their usual pathway from the Gryffindor tower to the kitchens.
"There's no sign of him." Sirius concluded.
"Did you guys notice something??" Remus asked smiling away.
"Erm, Prongs isn't in the map??" Sirius replied with a question.
"That meant that he's not in Hogwarts."
"And where could he be??"
"There's only one place he could be if he's not in Hogwarts."
"That's Hogsmeade."
"You guys still haven't noticed it yet."
"Notice what??"
"Look at the girls' dormitory." The three slightly moving dots in the sixth-year girls' dormitory labeled Stefanie, Joey and Samantha.
"Where's Lily??" Sirius asked quizzically.
"Lily and James, both missing in Hogwarts." Remus said finally.
"They went Hogsmeade together." Peter added.
"Ooh, now I get you!! They both are out dating!!" Sirius said with a jolt of realization.
"Finally."
"But I want my food!!" Sirius muttered.
"What's taking Lily??" Joey asked after a while of more studying.
"Now that you said, she had gone for quite some time."
"Maybe she got distracted??"
"By what??"
"More of by whom."
"Who have the power to distract her??"
"James." Stefanie said, grinning away.
"How you know??"
"Just guessing."
"Do you wanna go further than this??" Lily asked suddenly. The duo was walking along the streets of Hogsmeade, passing many shops and only entering those they needed to.
"Where do you suggest??"
"I don't know, since we can apparate."
"Somewhere different would be nice."
"Like??"
"I really don't know."
"How about the forest??"
"What forest??"
"The Forbidden Forest?? I haven't really been in before."
"It's full of danger."
"But-"
"No buts, I won't expose you to such danger."
"Hey."
"Let's go to Zonkos."
"Fine."
"Shall we write a letter to Bell??" Stefanie said suddenly. "It had been quite some time since we last heard from her."
"Good idea."
"Lily's not here though."
"Well, she wouldn't mind." Stefanie got her stationery ready and Samantha and Joey went to join her.
Dear Bell,
How are you doing?? It had been sometime since we last heard from you. We miss you loads and it's just so different without you around in Hogwarts. I know we can meet up soon together in the summer holidays, but it's just not the same as having you around us all the time.
Exams are around the corner and we absolutely miss studying with you around. And you are like our hairstylist sometimes, playing our hair with colours and style. And the end of year is around the corner, we're going to play makeover again, and it's just so strange only having the four of us.
Do owl us more often. And we hope you can join us at the end-of-year feast. It's like our last second end-of-year feast. Time flies so quickly and I already start missing the times in Hogwarts although we still have one more year to go.
Lots of Love,
Jo, Sam and Stef.
P.S.: Lily is out dating James somewhere now, that's why the letter is so much shorter.
Arabella laughed upon reading the newly delivered letter from her old friends cum ex-dormitory mates. She re-read the letter again before getting her pen and paper and start writing back. Stefanie's owl was still standing next to her beside the windowsill, waiting patiently as she wrote.
Dear Jo, Sam, Stef, and Lils,
You don't know how much it meant to me to receive a letter from you. Not that I'm not doing well or anything like that, but it's just that I miss you all so much!! I guess it around exams time right now, still hasn't lost touch completely with Hogwarts yet.
So who are Jo and Sam dating now?? I know Stef is with Remus and of course, Lils and James. Do keep me updated okie?? I do wish that I could join you all at the end-of-year feast, but I'm not sure if I could. I might write to Dumbledore to request. It's not nice to always make use of his kindness especially since he had always been so easy with us no matter what wrong we had done.
We really should meet up to do some catching up during the summer break, it had been donkey years since I last seen you guys. Well, I gotta go get the kids for dinner now, can't wait to hear from you soon, and Lils too.
Hugs and Kisses,
Bell
"It's getting late."
"The night is still young." Lily groaned.
"The sun had already set."
"Oh great, the moon is rising."
"Luckily it's not full moon." James muttered to himself.
"What??"
"Nothing."
"Ok."
"I think we better get moving back."
"What time does Honeydukes closes??"
"No clue."
"I thought you frequent Hogsmeade??"
"But we never bother about what time it closes because there's always an alternative route back."
"Which – oh ya, the shack."
"Uh huh."
"I prefer Honeydukes."
"Definitely, don't enjoy dealing with the whooping tree."
"Eh, Honeydukes is at the other direction." Lily pointed backwards.
"I know, just going to get some butterbeers first."
"For the guys??"
"Yeah, I was supposed to get some food for them from the kitchen about three hours ago."
"Oh shucks!!" Lily suddenly remembered what she was supposed to do. "I think let's get to Three Broomsticks quickly." She started brisk-walking towards the popular hangout in Hogsmeade Village.