/𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒\ [𝒔. 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌]

𝟏.𝟡.𝟤

"every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad." ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

~march 1972~ (continued)

On the first warm day of the year, Remus and Sirius sat outside under a beech tree by the Black Lake to study for their upcoming Charms exam. They'd both tried hard to get the others to join them, but everyone seemed to have better things to do. The girls had all turned them down immediately, claiming to have 'important business' in their dormitory, but Remus knew for a fact Mary hadn't even woken up yet. James was about to join Remus and Sirius, but bailed the second he heard they were studying. Sirius wanted to bail too and go down to the quidditch pitch to watch the Gryffindor team practice before the first match of the season that afternoon, but he couldn't say no to Remus. Instead, Artemis and Marlene accompanied James to the pitch, something everyone was in consensus over being a recipe for disaster. At the lake, Sirius laid out on the dewy grass at the water's edge and stared up at the bare branches above. "I wish the leaves would grow," he murmured, reaching one hand up towards the sky.

"But last fall you said you couldn't wait for them to change colors and fall," said Remus. He opened up his notebook and started reading over his notes, brandishing his wand to practice some of the charms he still had trouble with.

Sirius frowned and rolled over onto his side. "Yeah, I was excited for that then. Now I want the leaves back."

Remus gave Sirius a fleeting look of judgement and then threw his textbook at him. It caught Sirius in the chest and he doubled over, groaning. "Ooooh, sorry," Remus said, simultaneously feeling bad and suppressing laughter. "That looked like it hurt."

"It did," Sirius groaned, sitting up and reaching out a foot to kick Remus in the leg.

Remus dodged and flipped a page in his notebook. "Alright then... severing charms..."

"I'm bored."

"Sirius, we just started!"

"And I'm bored."

Remus sighed and ignored him. "Okay, here- I'll quiz you. Where did the severing charm originate?"

"Mmmm, America," Sirius said vaguely, and then laughed at his own halfhearted joke. Remus leaned against the trunk of the tree and the corner of his mouth twitched up slightly, but he refused to laugh. Sirius let out a dramatic sigh and gave Remus a relenting look. "Fine. Quiz me, and if I get them all right, we go hang out with the others at the pitch." He crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at Remus, challenging him.

Remus rolled his eyes, but flipped through his notebook to find the most difficult questions he could. "Who invented the wand extinguishing charm in the 18th century?"

"Levina Monkstanley," Sirius said lazily.

"Who invented the wand lighting charm?"

"Same answer."

"Ummm..." Remus thought for a moment, "Where... is the knockback jinx mainly used?"

Sirius laid back on the grass again, staring up at the trees as his hand rested lazily on his chest. "It's used by the Statute of Secrecy Force to knockback creatures that were guarding Confoundables."

"How did you know that? We haven't even gotten to knockback jinxes yet!"

Sirius turned his head to gaze at Remus. "How did you know it?"