The beginning of March brought a fresh wave of exam pressure, with teachers mentioning the upcoming O.W.L.s at least once every class, sometimes many more. It had become somewhat of a sport; Sirius had begun writing a tally for every time the term O.W.L.s was spoken. The current record was held by Professor Slughorn, with no less than fifty-two O.W.L. mentions in one lesson.
By the middle of April, the whole year level had started studying. Even James and Sirius, the kings of going into tests without studying, had opened their textbooks a few times. Grace even managed to drag them in to join one her now regular study sessions with Remus on the rare occasion.
"And then I had to hang onto my broom with one hand and throw the Quaffle through the hoop with the other, all whilst Ringgold was bashing Bludgers directly at my beautiful face," James recounted for the fifth time that afternoon. Ever since they had won the match against Ravenclaw for third place in the House Tournament the day before, he had felt the need to boast of his achievements to any student – or even teacher – who would listen. "Did you see her face when it went through?"
"Yes we did, Prongs. We were all there, remember?" Remus reminded him, looking up from the practise essay that he had been attempting to write.
James took no notice of Remus' comment. "She was absolutely gobsmacked. And then Caspar said that-"
A pile of books were slammed down onto the table beside Grace, cutting him off. "He finally asked me out!" Abbey announced, sitting down in the empty chair.
"Who, Caspar?" Peter asked.
"No, you idiot," Grace said, moving her things out of the way. "It was obviously Peeves."
"For the last time, he does not fancy me. He's a ghost!"
"A ghost who pranked you nine times in one day? He definitely fancies you," Sirius commented.
"Ew, no," Abbey replied, crinkling her nose in disgust. "Sam finally asked me to go out on a date with him."
Peter furrowed his eyebrows. "Finally? I thought you two went to Hogsmeade together the other week."
"That wasn't a date, though. We never called it a date. We just hung out in the Three Broomsticks."
"And ogled at each other for a solid three hours," James added, rolling his eyes.
"We did not! And Ely was there for most of the time anyway," Abbey continued. "But this time it's just going to be the two of us, having a picnic in the Astronomy Tower."
James made a gagging noise, earning a slap on the arm from Grace. "That is the most cliché Hogwarts date ever."
"They're not actually that bad," Sirius argued, before realising what he'd said and turning red. "Not that I've, uh... ever been on an Astronomy Tower date before."
"Sirius, your boyfriend is the biggest astronomy nerd in the school. Nobody's going to believe that," Grace retorted. "And besides, we all know that you are a hopeless romantic under that punk rock façade."
Sirius just groaned and covered his face.
"So when is it?"
"The date? Tuesday night," Abbey replied, giggling excitedly. "I don't even know what I'm going to wear!"
"Clothes, probably," Peter said, unhelpfully.
"Merlin, these study sessions are so productive, aren't they?" Remus commented.
"You're the one who invited us to join you," James reminded him.
"A decision which I'm beginning to regret."
"You say that as if you and Grace get so much when we're not here," Sirius added. "Five galleons that you just spend the whole time canoodling in the back corner."
"We do not canoodle," Remus insisted, his cheeks turning slightly pink. "I'll have you know that I was in the process of writing a wonderful practise essay for Transfiguration before you lot interrupted."
---
"Did you want to go the library?" Sam asked Ely as they made their inside the castle, their faces still smeared with dirt and mud after Quidditch training. It had been heavily raining the day before so the entire pitch had been turned into a mud bath.
"Like this?" Ely asked, holding up his arm where a lump of mud had solidified onto his shirt sleeve. "I need to have a year-long bath."
"It's not that bad. I was just going to have a shower after dinner."
"Well you're not the one who got pushed off their broom and landed face first into a puddle."
Sam chuckled. "Suit yourself, I'll see you at dinner."
Ely waved a goodbye as he turned around the corner and began to make his way towards the Prefects' Bathroom. He seldom used them because they were far too fancy and unnecessary and the combination of the heat and strong scents could make him quite dizzy, however, he felt that the situation called for it.
He swung by the Hufflepuff dormitories to pick up a spare change of clothes, a towel and some bather shorts before heading down the corridor towards the bathrooms.
"He was asking for it, really," came the grating voice of Evan Rosier as he came the opposite way, a small pack of Slytherins of various ages followed him, completely captivated by the story the sixth year was telling them.
Ely kept his head down and stayed to one side of the corridor as they approached. The last thing he needed right now was for them to-
"Where you headed, mudblood? Think we won't notice you?"
Ely continued walking forward, refusing to look up even as Avery blocked his path and forced him to stop walking.
"Snape here told us that you're going out with that blood-traitor Sirius Black. Is that true, Witten?"
Another student gave him a slight shove from behind, causing him to stumble forward, his eyes remaining glued to the ground.
"Just leave him, Rosier. He isn't worth our time," a voice spoke up. Severus.
"Yeah, he won't even put up a fight," a third year added. "Stupid little Hufflepuff."
The group slowly began to move on, so Ely finally raised his eyes to meet Snape's. He had never been overly fond of Lily's estranged greasy-haired friend, but he had never been cruel towards him either. They both tolerated each other and stayed out of each other's way.
A silent thank you was exchanged.
---
So I'm still alive, believe it or not. I've just been busy with exams, end of year program and orientation for my new school and then I was laptopless for a bit but I'm back now and hopefully will be updating a lot more regularly over the holidays.
I also feel like it'll take me awhile to get back into to writing (the chapter that I just wrote which is the one after this one is pretty shite) so I apologies for the poor quality of the next few chapters.
Thank you all so much for your patience!!
- Grace
YOU ARE READING
The Forest - R.L.
Fanfiction(Remus Lupin - Marauder's Era ) She was wandering through the forest when she saw it. A wolfish being, about as tall as herself, with scruffy grey-brown fur and a snarl forming on its lips. But she wasn't afraid. --- Grace Thorne is an eleven year o...
