Mistake 3— Failing that Transfiguration Exam

Now most people love the start of the year feast. Me…not so much. I think it's because I don't really like trains, so all I feel like doing after the long, insufferable ride to Hogwarts is crawling into my bed and falling asleep. Instead, I'm forced to talk to my friends and other dormmates—Mary McDonald and Jasmine Springs. They are nice enough. Mary is the resident gossip of the Gryffindor tower and often doesn't know when to keep her mouth close.

The problem is Jasmine is Mary's best friend, and she talks nearly as much as Mary does. Their conversations give you a headache. Trust me. I've lived with hem for six, going on seven, years.

Mary is short, and she cut her hair into a bob over the summer while Jasmine is tall and willowy with almost black hair, "Lily—your hair is long now," Mary commented that evening as I took out my braid.

"Oh…er..thanks," I smiled, "Your hair looks nice short," I offered. I mean, I liked it well enough. Although her ears seemed to poke out a bit more now…

I mean…er…oh forget it.

"Lily," Selene opened my bed hangings. I didn't move, keeping the blankets wrapped tightly around me. If I refused to open my eyes then I was still kind of asleep.

"Lily's still asleep?" came Marlene's voice, "She's usually the first one up. Oy! Lily! We're going to be late for breakfast!"

That did get me out of bed. I was starved having not eaten nearly as much as the others the night before. Throwing on my uniform, I tied my hair up and pinned my badge on. Perfect. Well close enough anyway. Marlene grumbled all the way to breakfast. She's never been a morning person. While I had to help hand out schedules, my mates went and took their seats at the Gyrffindor table. I would've asked Potter to help me, but he was no where to be seen.

Typical.

After helping Professor McGonagall hand out the schedules, I dropped into my seat reaching for a muffin.

"So, what do we have first?" Selene asked, looking to her schedule.

"Transfiguration," I grumbled.

"Why did you take that class if you hate it so much?" Marlene asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, you could've just taken Ancient Runes with me. You were good at Ancient Runes."

Right. And I'm not good at Transfiguration. I know, "So you have Ancient Runes first?" I asked, ignoring her previous statement.

"Yeah…" she trailed off, "Then I have a break and then Herbology…"

"We don't have Charms or Potions until the end of the week," I said, frowning. Those were my favorite classes.

"Well, I'm not disappointed," Marlene said, pouring herself more coffee, "Potions is such a drag."

"You could've taken Care of Magical Creatures," Selene began, but she fell silent at Marlene's glare.

Mary and Jasmine plopped in front of me, both chattering excitedly, "Have you seen him?" Mary asked giddily.

"He's sooo taller," Jasmine confirmed.

"And his hair?"

"I want to run my fingers through—"

"I still think Sirius is yummier though," Mary finished, looking to the rest of us, "Good morning!" she said chirpily. Marlene shot them all glares, "So, we have Transfiguration first?" Mary asked, beaming at us. She was way too perky in the morning. I noticed Selene was now looking down the table, probably trying to see if his hair looked extra soft this morning. My mates are so weird.

"You're in Transfiguration?" Marlene asked, giving Mary a skeptic look. Mary just nodded happily as she poured herself juice.

"I'm not. I have Divination," Jasmine said, smiling brightly.

Divination? Really? I never will understand why people take that class.

"Hello Mary, Selene, have you seen James?" Emmeline asked stopping by.

"No…you have Transfiguration first, don't you?" Mary asked.

"Yes…" she was looked down the Gryffindor table, "I'll see you there I suppose…I need to find James…" she said heading off as quickly as she'd come. I watched her leave only to be elbowed by Selene.

"What?" I asked grouchily. I must've been glaring. I hadn't meant to glare. Oops.

"Why don't you like Emmeline anyway?" she pouted, "She's perfectly nice to you."

I have many legitimate reasons for not liking Emmeline.

1) She is better at Transfiguration than I am.

2) Her hair is way too straight.

3) She's dating James Potter.

4) She's really not as nice as she looks.

5) Did I mention that everyone loves her? They do. I still can't see why.

I am well aware that the above list may seem rather…er…bitchy? You would understand if you ever had to talk to Emmeline. It's enough to drive someone mad. Selene is still waiting for my answer.

"She just gets on my nerves," I said with a shrug, "And did I ever say I didn't like her?" I asked.

Marlene and Selene rolled their eyes, "You only glare holes in her back whenever she comes and says hello," Selene replied.

"Selene, she's hated her since third year because Emmeline made top of our class that year. Remember, Lils? You were green with envy," Marlene said gleefully.

She gets way too much pleasure out of this.

"Bugger off," I mutter, standing up.

"Where are you going?" Marlene asked, frowning at me.

"I have to study," I say automatically as I turn away. ('She does realize we haven't started class yet...') Selene's voice carried after me as I stalked away. My mates were so annoying sometimes.

I was really, really early to Transfiguration,so I sat and flipped through the first chapter again. I usually prepared extra for this class, but it didn't seem to do much good. Human transfiguration was the worst. It was just so…complicated. I hated it. Eventually, a few more students entered, including Severus. I was extra careful to avoid his eye.

I suppose I should explain. Severus Snape used to be my best friend when we were younger. He was the one who told me I was a witch, and he helped me when I first got to Hogwarts. However, I was a Gryffindor and he was a Slytherin. Eventually, his Slytherin friends became more important. They didn't like the fact that he hung out with a mudblood.

Then there was a huge embarrassing scene in front of the lake where Severus called me a 'mudblood' in front of the entire school. Regardless, I still sort of miss him sometimes. He was my best friend for so long. Now don't get me wrong—I love Marlene and Selene, but Severus…well, he was Sev. It's hard to explain. My friends never did understand why I hung around with him. I suppose they would just have to know Sev like I used to. He's changed though.

We all change, I suppose.

"Lily," Marlene dropped into the seat beside me, "I'm sorry I was making fun of your third year jealousy against Vance. Don't be angry now, okay?"

"I'm not angry," I said exasperatedly.

"Well," Marlene shrugged, "You're known for some of your more…er…rash and illogical arguments. Sometimes you get upset over nothing, Lils."

"That's not true!" I cried.

"It's so true," Mary said, sitting on my other side, "Mind if I sit here?"

"Well—"

"Thanks!" she said, placing her stuff down, "Oh, so you know what I did this summer? My family and I went on this Greek cruise," Mary's family was muggleborn too, I remembered as she went on about some boy she met on the ship until Marlene butted in.

"Sounds fascinating Mary—have you told Emmeline about it yet?" Marlene said, pointing her to the left where the Ravenclaws sometimes sat.

"No—I told her I'd save her a seat though. The only other Ravenclaws in here are Garreth, Benjy and Benjy's new girlfriend, Nicolette. Did you know they were dating? Jasmine just told me this morning…" Marlene's eye twitched a little at that, but otherwise she just turned away from Mary deciding to ignore her.

Great. I thought about moving to the empty seats still left in the back, but that's where the Marauders sit. I'd take Emmeline over the Marauders any day.

Sure enough, three of the four entered, filing in the back soon followed by James and Emmeline. Emmeline came up front while James went by the rest of his mates.

"Hey," Emmeline said happily. Marlene just nodded, not paying much attention. I muttered a weak hey and faced the front of the classroom. Professor McGonagall seemed to realize everyone was here, so she stood up.

"I see we're all present. Well, because you will be taking your NEWTs at the end of this year, I need to make sure you are all sufficiently prepared. Therefore, I will be giving you a test today—"

Everyone groaned. Me included.

"Now, now, this is just so I can evaluate what to work on the most to keep all of you prepared for your NEWTs," she said, giving us all stern looks. When we all continued to give her looks of disbelief, she sighed, "It's not for a grade," she said grudgingly. I glanced at Marlene and was glad to see she looked relieved too.

She began handing us our exams, and I stared at it. My mind felt like it had suddenly been wiped blank. I had read through things over the summer, so why did all these words seem so foreign? I glanced up, looking around the room. Everyone else was already scribbling away. I looked back down feeling all confidence drain being slowly sucked out by the flimsy parchment in front of me.

Eventually, I picked up my quill, flipping through the pages and trying to answer the questions as well as I could. Well, it wasn't for a grade, right?

The bell rang, and we all turned in our exams.

"It went really well, don't you think?" Emmeline asked chirpily as well all shuffled out of the classroom. I looked to Marlene, and we rolled our eyes.

I felt like I should be nice, so I said, "Yeah…but I don't really fancy having exams when we first get back."

"Well, I'm sure Lily's studying paid off," Marlene said rolling her eyes and looking at me, "You're always studying."

"I'm not always studying," I began to argue.

"Of course your not," Emmeline agreed, "You're not a Ravenclaw. Well, I see some of my friends, bye!" she said, heading over to a few of her Ravenclaw friends. I frowned, trying to figure out if she was trying to insult me or not.

"I really, really don't like her," I said, frowning after her.

"She is annoying," Marlene agreed.

"You know, the two of you really shouldn't talk about her that way…especially around me," Selene argued. She seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. I was going to ask her how Ancient Runes went, but Marlene interrupted.

"Yeah well—ooh, watch out, Sirius Black is headed our way!" she said, gasping dramatically and pointing down the corridor.

"What?" she panicked, "Where?"

Marlene burst into laughter, and I rolled my eyes while Selene flushed.

"That was not funny, Marlene!"

"I don't know what you see in him anyway, he's a prat."

"He's a good looking prat," I offered in Selene's defense, "Selene just wants eye candy."

"I do not," Selene argued, "Maybe you two should get to know him a little better. He can be perfectly nice—"

"Are we talking about the same person?" I ask, laughing.

"Yeah…and since when do you talk to him anyway?" Marlene asked, "You need to pluck up some Gryffindor courage and go have an actual conversation with him."

"Are you kidding?" Selene asked, frowning at us, "He would never date me. He's Sirius Black, remember? The only reason he talks to you Marlene is because you two play Quidditch together. We're not popular enough—"

"I still think he's a git," I said, cutting into Selene's ramble, "And he's spoken to you before."

"When?" snorted Marlene. I shot her a look. Couldn't she just be nice for once? Selene was obviously getting upset.

"I know," Selene mumbled, "It's okay. My crush on Sirius has never been practical anyway," she said, "I'll meet you guys in Herbology," she muttered, leaving as quickly as she'd come.

"Smooth," I said, frowning at Marlene, "I don't like him either, but you could be nice about it!"

"I'm just being honest," Marlene said with a shrug, "She's going to get her hopes up, and then she'll be really heartbroken…oh come on, you know you were thinking the same thing, Lily!"

So?

"I was not," I said, frowning, "Just give Selene a break, okay?"

"Fine," Marlene agreed grudgingly.

"Good. Now let's go find Selene," I said. I pulled Marlene by the arms as we went in search of our mate. By the time we found her, it was time for Herbology, so we headed down to the greenhouses.

Classes went by relatively fast, and I was starved by dinner time. I realized I was going to have to find Potter eventually since we would have to do rounds…urgh…but before I even made it to the Great Hall, I was stopped by Professor McGonagall.

"Miss Evans? Do you mind stepping into my office with me for a moment?"

Marlene and Selene hung back, exchanging glances, "Do you want us to wait?" Selene asked.

"No it's fine…I'll meet you at dinner," I said, before following Professor McGonagall to her office.

"Hello Professor," I said politely as I took a seat. I suppose she's giving me Head directions. What if she's demoting me? I mean, I guess that would make sense. Maybe Emmeline told her I was too mean to be a Head Girl, and that she would make a better choice.

Well, that would be bollocks, wouldn't it?

"Miss Evans," Professor McGonagall began, "I have looked over the exams from class earlier today, and I was surprised to find so many blank answers on yours," she gave me a pointed look, "Would you like to explain?"

What was there to explain? I thought it spoke pretty clearly for itself. I was rubbish at Transfiguration.

"I wasn't…er…prepared for the exam," I explained, "I just need more time to study and—"

"Miss Evans, you failed the exam," Professor McGonagall continued in her business like tone, "Now you scrapped by last year with an 'Acceptable' in your final exams, but this is not the work of a NEWT level class. You will be taking your NEWT exam this year, and I would hate to see one of my star pupils do poorly."

I don't know why, but Human Transfiguration was impossible for me. I'd never been very good at it. Previously, I hadn't been terrible at Transfiguration. I'd gotten an 'E' on my OWL (my only E by the way).

So now I just stared at Professor McGonagall, willing myself not to cry. I was failing Transfiguration? I had never actually failed before. "That," she began, "is why I've assigned you a tutor until you bring your grade back up."

A tutor? Well…I could work with that.

"Okay," I said, grinning, "That sounds perfect."

"Now," she shuffled through her papers, "I was actually considering assigning James Potter—"

What?

You had to be kidding me.

"But I know about the disagreements between the two of you. Besides, he has Head Duties and Quidditch, so I decided to give the responsibility to a Prefect."

"Oh, thank you, Professor," I said gratefully. Anyone was better than James Potter.

Professor McGonagall smiled, "Yes, well, Miss Vance has already agreed to tutor you. I spoke with her just a moment ago."

Vance?

"Er—you mean, Emmeline Vance?" I asked in a-would-be innocent voice.

"Yes, of course," she gave me a stern look, "Is that a problem, Miss Evans?"

"No," I managed meekly, "Not at all.

I should have never failed human Transfiguration. Crap.

A/N: I know, there hasn't been too much L/J yet, and it might take a little while. He will make an appearance in the next chapter (even if relatively small). :)