Serendipity (S. Black)

TWENTY-FOUR

"i'm not kidding when i say i am tired enough to sit on you"

*

The second half of the year welcomed the students back to Hogwarts with a fantastic feast and the usual inspirational speech from Professor Dumbledore. They returned to their common rooms tired, well-fed, and happy to be home. Almost immediately, though, the sixth years fell into despair, as their N.E.W.T. exams were in the not so distant future, and the teachers seemed intent on reminding them of this.

"I can't believe this," Sirius grumbled after he walked out of Muggle Studies their first week back. "1977 has an agenda. It wants to kill us all."

Marlene rolled her eyes at him, sarcasm dripping from her every move. "It's an essay, Sirius. And it's only January 4th. Relax about 1977, it's not out to get you."

"Two rolls of parchment on that Muggle World War due next week? There must be some obscure law against that."

Marlene rolled her eyes as she tried to precariously balance all of her schoolbooks in her arms. "Why did you even take Muggle Studies? It was an elective. You don't technically need it to become an Auror."

"Yeah, I know, but my parents had to buy textbooks on Muggles, which irritated them to all end, so I took the class."

"You're impossible, Black," she said, giggling. "Mitchell's told me all about Gryffindor's training schedule for Quidditch, since they're playing Slytherin in a few weeks. It's killer. I don't know how they're gonna survive."

Sirius laughed so loudly that half of the busy corridor turned to look at them. "I'll tell you how. Mental breakdowns, occasional screaming, and angsty shower songs."

Marlene looked troubled. "But Eva's really good at handling pressure."

"I wasn't talking about Eva."

*

As Marlene and Sirius argued in the hallway, Eva sat on the library floor, her back against a shelf. She found it easier to study in a comfortable position, and as long as Madam Pince couldn't see her, she knew she wouldn't get into any trouble for it. Her fingers tapped the pen against the parchment absentmindedly. Instead of the essay, her thoughts drifted to the upcoming match, the most highly anticipated one of the year: Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Her distraction, however, had another distraction. And its name was James Potter.

"I can't do this."

Eva did her very best not to roll her eyes. Her very best was nowhere near enough. "James Fleamont Potter, I swear-"

"I can't! What made me think I could take so many N.E.W.T.s?"

James couldn't stop pacing. He hadn't been to the school library in two years, which did nothing to help his steadily rising anxiety. When they arrived, Eva had piled a large stack of books on the floor before informing him that he would need every single one of them to complete his assignments. His glasses sat perched on the top of his messy black hair as he ranted (rather dramatically, at least in Eva's opinion) about his classes.

"Maybe your over-inflated ego convinced you to do it," she answered demurely, already diving back into her History of Magic essay. "When was the first Dementor attack in England?"