A week later, Mary and Luke became swamped with the amount of homework that each of their classes required them to do. Even Madam Pomfrey piled her up with making potions she needed to get back into stock for the winter months.
With the sun shining they decided to take a picnic and study in the field they found to be perfect for baseball. Mary received the food from the kitchens and Luke gathered their homework, then together they made their way across the grounds to their field. Luke spread the stereotypical red and white checkered blanket on the ground and drops his book bag onto it. Mary set the basket the House Elves packed for her in the middle and kneels on the blanket to start removing the food from it.
The elves had packed a plate of different types of sandwiches, a couple of bottles of pumpkin juice and butterbeer, and even included a bunch of mini lemon pies.
After sticking a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich in her mouth she pulls Luke's bag closer to her and takes out her Charms book, parchment, her quill, and a small bottle of ink. Luke opened one of the pumpkin juices before taking out his Transfigurations book and such to work on his own homework. For a while they did homework and talked small talk until the sun started to set. By the end of the day Mary was in Luke's arms and they were watching the sky silently.
"Is Sirius ever going to come back to Defense against the Dark Arts?" Luke asks out of the blue as he absentmindedly plays with Mary's hair.
"Hmm… Yeah, after we are done with the curses." She replies quietly.
"But wouldn't his grade be hard to get back up?"
"I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. James owled his parents and they in turn owled McGonagall and got Sirius out for a while. He just has to write an essay that explains the curses and says he understands each of them." She states and looks up at him. "Plus he and James skip class all the time in the last six years and somehow manage to stay in the top three of our year, just behind Lily."
"Yeah, I guess you are right."
"Aren't I always?" she says smugly and downs the rest of her butterbeer.
He laughs and leans down to kiss her before stopping midway to look toward the forest. "Hey, Mar? Isn't that Erik?"
Mary shifts to sit upright and looks in the direction he was. Sure enough Erik Mulciber was walking out of the tree line. His hair was a mess and he was pulling down his left sleeve over something black but they were too far away for her to see what it was exactly. Erik's face looked more angry than usual, which actually made him seem scary. He stops in his steps when he sees them watching him, then like a startled animal he walked at a fast pace to the castle.
"Looks like he has a secret girlfriend," Luke states nodding back to the trees.
"No. Looks like they just broke up," Mary says observing the Gryffindor girl who walked out of the forest at the same spot Erik had. She recognized the Gryffindor as seventh year Marianna Vasilova. Mari was a quiet girl and was almost always hiding away in the forest. Mary had never spoken to her, but she knew that Mari was a muggleborn which didn't really add up to why Erik was with her. When Mari saw them sitting on the ground she turned around and walked back into the forest.
Luke looks up at the sky before standing and holding out a hand to his girlfriend. "We better get back. Looks like curfew is soon and we don't want James to catch us out of the common room."
All thoughts of Mulciber and Vasilova left her mind as she giggles at the thought of James giving her detention and accepts Luke's hand. With a wave of her wand, everything from the picnic was packed away into the basket and she picks it up. Luke picks up his bag before they head back to the castle themselves, hand in hand.