The Stars Aligned

Chapter 18

February 2, 1996

"I'm bored," Theo complained, his legs in the air and his head hanging upside down over the edge of the couch.

Pansy snorted. "When are you not?"

"No, seriously, I'm really bored."

"Don't you still have to do your Charms homework?" Draco asked from beside me, popping a piece of chocolate into his mouth, and I repressed my smile. He was eating without me telling him to now.

"Yeah, but I don't want to," Theo smacked his lips together. "I refuse to belittle myself with such an appalling assignment."

"By appalling you mean it takes more than ten minutes of your time," Pansy muttered, flicking him on the nose affectionately.

Theo smirked, scrunching his nose. "Exactly."

"I'm gonna have to agree with Theo on this one," Blaise piped in, puffing another breath from his cigarette, a habit I noticed all three boys had picked up. "This assignment is pretty rough. Took me three hours."

Pansy groaned, her head falling back. "That's just great. I don't want to do that."

"That's gonna be a hell no from me," Theo mumbled.

"That's true," I added reluctantly, "I did it a few days ago, and it took a while."

Pansy's head snapped up, her eyes gleaming. "Or..."

Theo turned to her, still upside down. "Yes?"

She wiggled her eyebrows at him, and his eyes widened in an understanding. He quickly threw his legs over the couch and sat upright, excitement clear on his face. "Yes, Pans. Yes."

I was completely lost. "What is it?"

Everyone else seemed to understand, because they all stood and headed to the door, talking eagerly under their breaths. Draco grabbed my arm and pulled me off the couch, his grey eyes glinting.  "Let's go."

I walked alongside him, a few feet behind the others. "Where are we going?"

Draco grinned, sharp toothed, his tongue running across the inside of his lower lip. "We're gonna show you some real fun."

We ran through the halls, Theo and Blaise releasing loud whoops that ricocheted off the castle walls, not bothering to be quiet even though it was past curfew.

Pansy burst through the door, giggling, and we were all standing in the center. I recognized the room immediately. "The Charms classroom?"

"We did something similar to this in second year, when we all had detention in here," Theo explained, pulling his ash-colored wand out of his pocket and twirling it around in his fingers. "Now, we figure that if the class is... let's say..." He threw his wand up in the air and caught it balancing on his middle finger. "An unfit workplace, he'll be so wound up that he won't collect our homework and we can have a free extension."

I raised my brow, fully curious now. "And how exactly will it be 'unfit'?"

Pansy's lips curved. "Just follow our lead."

Blaise walked over to the first row of desks on the right and muttered something under his breath, flicking his wand. After a few moments, the row of desks had been transfigured into small white feathers.

Theo went to the other side of the classroom and started doing the same. Pansy, however, conjured a feather out of thin air and began multiplying them rapidly.

I laughed out loud, placing a hand on my stomach. "Merlin! He won't know which feathers are real and which ones are the furniture!"

Draco chuckled, then gestured around the room. "You gonna help, Golden Girl?"