It's the last week before exams and Demi, Sirius, and Remus have been stumbling though detention after detention. While the other teachers pity the three, and tend to give them less homework, Pavor has been packing on the handouts. This next chapter begins while the three are serving one of their detentions: cleaning the castle.
"Is it just me, or are these detentions taking up my entire life?" Sirius asked, while polishing an award in the trophy room.
"Yeah, I feel like anytime that isn't spent in detention is a dream," Demi added, as she polished the floor with a hand-mop.
Sirius grunted as he placed the heavy bronze award back onto the shelf, 'Jeez Tom, what service did you provide that made the school give you a big-ass trophy?"
They continued to polish in silence until Remus asked what the time was. "Nearly 5," Sirius replied, "we ought to go to the library now, and finish up the last bit of the assignment."
Remus and Demi were shocked, "since when did you become so keen to finish assignments?" Demi asked, her mouth hanging open.
"Since I decided that we ought to show Pavor he's an old soot," Sirius replied, tossing his rag into the bucket on the other side of the room.
"5 points, from half court," Remus muttered, causing Demi to laugh.
"I didn't know you liked basketball Remus?" she asked, turning to face him.
"Oh, my parents used to send me to a muggle school, even though they knew I'd end up here. All the kids used to watch muggle sports, so I got into the habit. Even during the summer I watch the games," Remus replied. "I didn't know you knew about muggle sports Demi."
"Yeah, when I was in London, all the places that would take me in had televisions in 'em. So I would end up watching some games as well. Hey, isn't FIFA next summer?"
"Yeah, who are you supporting?" Remus asked.
"Oh, er West Germany, I guess. There was a time when I stayed in this little soup kitchen owned by this little German family. It was during one of the games, and they taught me the rules, the teams, and the members. Ever since staying with them I've been biased towards East Germany. It's the only team I really knew anything about," she replied.
"Wait, what's FIFA?" asked Sirius, looking at the pair curiously.
Remus and Demi exchanged looks of amusement, "You've never heard of FIFA? Jeez, Sirius."
"Hey, I'm sorry my mum didn't want to get the television fixed," he said sarcastically.
"FIFA, is the International Football Association. Every four years they hold a tournament in a different country and the countries of the world compete against each other until someone wins," Remus explained.
"So, all the countries have teams?" asked Sirius, turning the bucket over and sitting on top of it.
"No, some countries don't. But a majority of them do. Like Canada doesn't have a football team, but the United States do. It's like if Hufflepuff didn't have a Quidditch team, but the other houses did," Demi explained, as she sat down across from him.
"Oh, I get it. So there tournaments, are they big?" Sirius asked, beginning to get mildly interested.
"Well, yeah. I mean almost everyone in the muggle world has watched a FIFA game at some point in their life," Remus explained.
"Yeah, the last one happened when we were in our first year. But of course, we can't really watch the games here. Technology doesn't work here, and there are some students that may find this practice unorthodox" Demi added.
The three sat there in silence before Remus turned to Demi and asked, "Do you think Dumbledore might let us watch the games next year? I mean, it would be a cool way to bring everyone together, and introduce some muggle concepts to people like Sirius, that haven't been brought up with these forms of entertainment. If that doesn't work, we can ask the Muggle Studies teacher, since we're all taking it next year (in my version, they choose their electives in the fourth year, rather than third. It makes the different years all interesting, rather than having too much happen in one year, and a really boring year the next)."
"I can try. He'd be fine with it. Dad's always been a little curious about this stuff, and he'd love to see the school become closer. It's the rest of the staff that might be a little hard to convince, not to mention the Slytherins. They'd have a problem with this for sure," Demi explained.
"We should head to the library now, otherwise we might not get anytime to finish up the last part of our project. And believe me, we are going to need all the time we can get," Sirius said, as he stood up from his makeshirt chair. The trio shuffled out of the trophy room, and gave their cleaning supplies back to a grumpy Filch, and headed to the library for a last minute review.
"So, do you think Pavor will fail us if we do this?" asked Sirius, as they sat down amongst the shelves of books.
"No, we are technically doing what he asked us to do, but we're just – um" Remus began.
"We're going to step outside the box a little," Demi finished, as she pulled out a sheet of parchment.
"Well, I hope Pavor doesn't fail you. If you get thrown out, how can I ask you on another date again?" said a voice from along the aisle.
"Jeremiah, is that you" asked Demi, peering into the aisle.
"Yep," he said, turning into the aisle they were standing in. "Sorry to break the little 'skull- session' you lot were having, but may I borrow your beautiful Demitria for a moment?" he asked politely.
"Yeah, go ahead" Remus said, sounding somewhat annoyed. Demi and Jeremiah, however didn't notice his tone.
"I'll be back in a few minutes," she said, standing up and following Jeremiah out of the aisle. Remus and Sirius looked at each other for a moment.
"Ruddy pumpkin head, isn't he?" muttered Sirius, causing Remus to nod. "I mean, who does he think he is? Just waltzing in and sweeping her off her feet?"
"Sirius, I know this is completely off topic, but are you okay?" Remus asked, looking somewhat concerned.
"Yeah, m' fine" Sirius said.
"No well, it's just- um- I've noticed you haven't been calling Demi 'love.' Like you used to. I was just wondering. It's a little out of character," he wavered off.
"Eh it's just a little phase we've been going through. She got mad at me for something, and I thinks he still is a little mad, so I'm trying not to make her angry for the next couple of days," Sirius said quickly. "But enough about that, let's get started on this last bit, and we can all go to bed peacefully."
"Alright, I was just checking," Remus said. The two worked away in silence for a few minutes and looked up excitedly when Demi came back and sat down. "So what was that about?"
"Oh, just talking," she said absentmindedly. She picked up her abandoned parchment and pulled out one of the books they'd been consulting over the past few weeks. "Now, about his spell. We just got all the enchantments, but it's arranging them in a sequence that'll do what we need to do."
"We'll need hours of preparation for that!" Sirius exclaimed. "The presentation is tomorrow. In less than 24 hours."
"Well then, we'll have to get to work, won't we?" Remus said, picking up the parchment.
15 hours later . . .
"We have to wake 'em up," James said, leaning over the seemingly lifeless body of his sister.
"Alright, just be careful. Knowing her reflexes, she'll hit you in the face for startling her," Peter whispered.
"On three. One. Two. WAKE YOUR ASSES UP!" James yelled. An arm flung out and a wand was produced. In less than a second, Demi had managed to disarm and knock the two Gryffindor boys back. She flipped the two wands in the air, looking smug. The tiredness could be seen on her face, but her eyes were completely alert.
Sirius and Remus, however, had managed to slip of their chairs and crash into one another, landing in a tangled heap on the library floor. "Whaddid you do tha' for?" asked Sirius, rubbing his head where it had connected with the ground moments before. He brushed his silky black locks from his eyes before looking out of the window behind Demi. "What time is it?"
Remus rolled up his sleeve and glanced down at the face, "bloody hell. You're joking. It's eight o'clock! Charms just started and our presentation is in an hour!"
Sirius swore loudly and much of the chagrin of Madam Pince. "Why didn't you lot wake us up?"
"We thought you were going to come back to the tower yourself. We didn't want to disturb you guys. We knew you had a lot of work to do!" Peter exclaimed. One again it was James and his fault that the three others were going to be late for something.
"We might as well skive off Charms. We're just doing review for the exams," Sirius suggested. The others nodded their head while Remus and Demi looked at each other nervously.
"But guys, it's Charms. If anything that's got to be one of the toughest exams we'll have to write this year," Remus stated.
"And Flitwick said he'd give us a detailed view of what will be on the paper," Demi added.
The five looked at one another for a moment before bursting into bouts of laughter. They were at the top of the class (Peter needed a little help), and the thought of them potentially failing the Charms exam was the funniest thing ever. They took a moment to regulate their breathing before packing up their things and heading back to Gryffindor tower.
One they'd clambered through the portrait hole, Remus, Sirius and Demi headed off to their respective dormitories and freshened up. Twenty minutes later the three were sitting around one of the unoccupied study tables in the common room. The fifth and seventh years were studying feverishly for their OWLs and NEWTs.
"Alright, so we have that down, but are you sure you'll be able to produce one?" James asked, as he checked off a list that the three had made.
"Yeah, we've done it a bunch of times before, you've seen it. It shouldn't be too hard. And besides, it's not like it can kill anyone," Demi replied.
"Okay, so the last thing is; '3 reasons why werewolves are not harmful' list the all. But it doesn't have to be in order," Peter said.
"Okay," Remus began, "they are easily distracted."
"They are not immune to the binding spell or the immobilizing spell," Sirius said.
"They are harmless when surrounded by other animals," Demi finished, causing the group to smile.
"Alrighty, lets head on down to the Defence class, and see what happens," Remus said as they all stood up, grabbed their belongings and headed down to the class. "Oh, and make sure we go last. That way we can rebut any of the good statements that the other teams make."
They all nodded their heads at this. Slowly, because they knew they had extra time, they made their way to the classroom. Outside a small group of Ravenclaws stood, and one with long, whitish-blond hair broke away and walked over to the group.
"Hi Demitria, Remus," he said. The boy was dressed oddly. He had his robes on, but around his neck was a necklace with a butterbeer cork. From one of his ears hung a small, yet noticeable radish.
"Xeno, how many times have I asked you not to use my full name. I hate it," Demi said nicely.
"Hey Xeno, excited for the presentations?" Remus asked politely, following Demi's lead.
"Extremely. My group and I have been working on ours tirelessly from the first day, as is the Ravenclaw way," Xenophilius beamed.
"Hey Xeno, get your arse over 'ere now!" said a dreamy voice. They looked back to see a pretty, petite girl with startlingly big blue eyes.
"Coming Pandora," he said. He turned back to the five Gryffindors, "good luck." He hurried back to the other girl where the two began talking once more.
Remus and Demi were about to follow their lead before looking back at Sirius, James, and Peter. All of whom, were laughing at Xenophilius' attire. "Did you see that radish?" asked Sirius, trying to breathe through his laughter.
"Yeah, but I was too preoccupied with his necklace," James replied, causing the three to laugh loudly.
"Nah, it's the entire appearance. That's what really gets me!" Peter squeaked.
Demi looked at the trio in disgust, "hey, Xeno is a friend of mine. You might want to treat him with some respect. Just because he's a little different doesn't mean he's any less of a person than you lot are. Actually, now that I think about it, I'd rather be friends with him."
"Yeah, I'd want to be friends with him, too" James said, feigning interest.
"I know, he'd be a good laugh" Sirius added. Before Demi could open her mouth to scold him, the door of the Defence classroom flew open and they heard Pavor's voice from within, "you may enter."
The three boys immediately sobered up, and looked at one another, slightly worried. Demi turned back to Sirius, "I might be nice to you when it's our turn, but believe me I am so angry at you right now. I could honestly punch your head through a wall." She turned back to the door and walked in.
Sirius gulped and James whispered, "you're dead mate."
Sirius nodded and followed Demi in.