Friday was hectic for Lia because she had two big exams - one in dreaded Potions, the other in Ancient Runes. Ever since she'd started taking that class last year, she'd noticed how oddly frequent the exams were, also taking note, with a small bit of pride, of just how much work she devoted to studying for that class, often giving up her favorite activities in order to study.
The Potions exam went by horribly slowly, and when Lia was finally walking out of the Great Hall after lunch, reviewing her Ancient Runes notes, she could barely think properly what with the unfair questions and grueling practicals Snape had thrown at them.
The atmosphere in the fourth floor Ancient Runes classroom was thoroughly anxious and uncomfortable, and Lia noticed several students nervously chewing on their quills and muttering to themselves, as if willing answers to pop out of the quills' feathery tips. She herself felt mostly prepared, as she'd devoted most of the hours of the previous day, as well as the wee hours of the night, to studying. She and Nott had agreed to cancel Thursday evening's greenhouse session to prepare for the exam, in their separate common rooms of course. (Lia had offered a suggestion that they collaborate their efforts in the library, to which he had vehemently declined.)
The Professor passed out the exams, a hush immediately falling over the room. Lia filled her inkbottle and began, clearing any fleeting doubts or worries from her mind. After forty-five minutes time, she had finished. Glancing up around the room, she noticed to her surprise that nearly everyone was still hunched over their parchment, furiously scribbling away. Lia looked around at Nott, who had also finished early. He gave her a curt nod. She smiled, turning back around to proofread her parchment. Maybe their deciding to cancel Thursday night's drawing session had paid off, Lia thought, feeling satisfied as she went over her detailed answers.
When the Professor called time and the last of the students had left the room, Lia lingered at her desk, hoping to catch Nott before he too left the room - she wanted to make sure they were still meeting that night. Surprisingly, he also stayed behind, and when the distracted Professor hurried out of the room, they were alone, the door of the classroom swinging shut.
"I cannot believe how easy that was," said Lia, hurrying over to Nott's desk and tightening her scarf around her shoulders. "What was everyone so terrified about, anyway?"
"It was easy for us," he said, stuffing his books into his backpack and shrugging moodily. "I bet the others didn't stay up all night."
"You seem a touch moody," said Lia, raising an eyebrow. "What's up?"
Nott sighed glumly. "My Housemates are meddlesome fools, that's what. Parkinson is determined that I go to Hogsmeade with this other girl from our House. She fancies it'll be some sort of double-thing with her and Malfoy." Rework... Daphne's his GF!
"Oh, d'you mean Daphne Greengrass?" said Lia a little too quickly.
Nott looked at her curiously. "Yeah - I didn't think you knew her. She's in league with Parkinson - for some reason both of them have been cornering me in the common room whenever I'm there, dropping cryptic hints about the blasted Hogsmeade visit and what I'm to wear."
Lia chuckled and pulled on her mittens. "So...you are going with her, right?"
"I suppose I have no choice in the matter," said Nott, leaning against his desk and twirling a brightly hued, plushly feathered quill absently in his fingers. "What about you, are you going? I reckon the whole school will be, considering it's Valentine's Day and all." He wrinkled his nose.
Lia laughed. "Everyone in Hufflepuff is about to combust with excitement about this visit and whom everyone else is going with - it's quite sad, really," she said, shaking her head and adjusting her backpack on her shoulders. "But yeah, I'm going with Justin Finch-Fletchley." As she said this, she went a bit pink. "I can't imagine why he asked me, and I don't even really want -"
"You're going with whom?" said Nott, his quill falling to the floor with a loud crack.
"Oh, Justin - he's in my House and year," said Lia, peering at Nott, who wasn't bothering to pick up his quill. "He asked me - well, he sent someone else to ask me - and I didn't know what to say..." She bent and picked up his quill, handing it to him with a disapproving smile. "Didn't you say your father gave this to you on your birthday? Honestly, Nott, you should really take more care-"
"I'm gonna be late for Transfiguration," he said, and abruptly walked out the door of the classroom, leaving Lia standing there with his quill, utterly confused.
The rest of that day passed very slowly, especially since Lia had three more classes after Ancient Runes. During dinner in the Great Hall, Hermione Granger tapped her on the shoulder and said something in a low whisper.
"Lianna, I'm letting everyone know that there won't be any D.A. meetings for at least another two weeks. Ron's got Quidditch practice - there's some game or other coming up - and Harry's got another week's worth of detentions with Umbridge," she whispered, before nodding gravely and hurrying off towards the Ravenclaw table.
Lia was disappointed - the last D.A. meeting had been in January and she really wanted to learn some real Defense Against the Dark Arts, especially since there were ten Death Eaters running loose in the country. Why didn't everyone seem to realize the danger of this? The week after the Daily Prophet article about the escape, everyone had been very anxious and frightened indeed, but after a week this had seemed to dissipate and was replaced by the ever-present anxiousness about OWLs and NEWTs.
That evening in the greenhouse, Lia decided that she really ought to start on the painting of Caradoc Dearborne. She'd already completed the preliminary of the background and the plan of the overall painting, and decided that today she'd finish the charcoal drawing of Caradoc; tomorrow, she'd buy paintbrushes from Hogsmeade and begin work on the actual painting.
She set her things down on the bench and sat down, taking out her sketchbook and charcoals. Nott wasn't there yet, so she opened to the very last page of the sketchbook and glanced at the sketch of the forebodingly gray, desolate moors Caradoc was to appear in the foreground of. She peered at it, shaking her head and comparing it to the small photograph Dumbledore had given her as a model. She'd done a decent enough job, having carefully copied the exact outline of each grassy knoll, each fluttering leaf, and every gloomy cloud. But there was something missing, something that she hadn't quite captured while transcribing the image from the old photograph onto her sketchbook. She frowned at her sketch, trying to figure out what exactly she'd forgotten.
Ten minutes later, Nott still hadn't arrived. Lia glanced at her watch - it wasn't like him to be late...maybe he had another meeting with Snape or had been delayed at dinner. She put away her sketch and the photograph and turned to the first few pages of the sketchbook to her picture of Griselda, and set to work on the shading of the shimmering lake.
Close to an hour passed and Lia had finished about half of the lake shading. Where in the world was Nott?
She got up and walked over to the greenhouse wall directly facing the castle and gazed out of it, pressing her nose to the cool glass. The grounds were still and silent, the sky a deep black and decidedly cloudy; it felt like it would rain soon.
Sighing, she went back to the bench and sat down. Nott had seemed rather moody after the Ancient Runes exam - perhaps he hadn't done as well as he wanted to? Lia dismissed that thought quickly - he'd stayed up all night reviewing for the test and besides, he always seemed to do excellently on exams. Perhaps he thought that their meeting tonight was cancelled because the previous night's had been? No, there was no reason for it to be cancelled, as neither of them had any exams for two weeks. Suddenly, an idea crept into her mind, but she dismissed it as soon as she thought it: Nott had exited the Ancient Runes classroom strangely abruptly - right after she'd told him she was going into Hogsmeade with Justin on Valentine's Day - tomorrow. Could he have disagreed with this, or disapproved of it in some way? Lia couldn't imagine why. He never seemed to care before about whom she was friends with... She returned to her picture and set back to work on the shading of the lake, keeping her ear open for any sound of footsteps or the greenhouse door opening.
Two hours later, it was close to nine and Lia packed away her sketchbook and pastels dejectedly. She whispered the spell to cast the greenhouse back into darkness, shut the door, and trudged up the hill up to the castle, entirely gloomy and not looking forward to the next day at all.