- Eternal Curse -

0.2 Chapter Thirty One

Thirty One

"Wands and creatures at the ready please!" Squeaked Professor Flitwick who was instructing the class from his podium. Charms class was the first lesson they had that week and since the kiss they had shared the night before, the two hadn't said a word to each other. She was rather glad her friends were seated on the other side of the room from her as the recent snogging session was all they could talk about and it was driving her up the wall. Annie was seated to the right of James and Sirius, to her dismay, as it was one of the many classes she found herself falling behind on and it was impossible to get any work done around them.

"Now if you would repeat after me, please. Point your wand in the direction of your specimen and state clearly, co-lo-va-ree-ah!" There was a chorus of the colour change charm being performed then a few groans of failure following. James nudged her in the shoulder and whispered something not-so-discreetly in her ear,

"So, how was it?" There was a smirk plastered on his face that in no way reflected the confusion on hers.

"How was what?" She asked, flustered, desperately trying to focus on Flitwick's instructions.

"You know... the kiss." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Annie sighed, scribbling notes down on some spare parchment.

"Oh not you too, I don't really want to talk about my romantic life with you, Prongs. No offence."

"Oh come on! We tried prying it out of Remus but he wouldn't go into too much detail either. We're just excited aren't we mate?" James looked over at Sirius expectantly.

"Oh yeah, I'm positively thrilled," Sirius replied dully, waving his wand in a lacklustre fashion at the small (and now purple) finch darting around its enclosure. Annie shot a puzzled look towards James about Sirius' behaviour but James simply gave a nervous laugh before continuing.

"Well anyways, are you two an item now?" Sirius flinched at this and turned away fully, hiding his face. The question took Annie by surprise. She slowly lowered her wand thinking of an answer. She went to speak before stopping herself before the first syllable was able to roll off of her tongue and she began again.

"I- I haven't thought about it. It didn't really mean anything, I was just trying to prove a point."

"Prove the point that you love him?" James said, emphasizing on the 'love' so he sounded like a corny game show host. Annie went to laugh but stopped herself.

"What? No! I don't love him, now could you please let me focus or else I'm going to be behind by another lesson."

"Fine, fine." They went back to working on their caged animals sat before them in silence and unlike Annie, James was doing a perfect job at turning his dove deep indigo. Whereas her mouse sat like a grey, fat lump, half asleep and not yet the vivid emerald she had hoped for.

"Well, are you going to kiss him again?" James broke the silence abruptly, causing Annie to jump. She thwacked his arm away lightly, a stern look on her face now that was usually a cause for concern.

"No, okay? And if you ask me again I'll use this charm to turn your face a sickly yellow for a week."

"I'd like to see you try." James grinned. Annie huffed and turned away to face her parchment in hopes of conjuring up even a little bit information to put into practice.

The rest of the lesson went quite smoothly and in a flash, Annie was already walking to potions with no more knowledge on charms then she did a few hours prior. Luckily, potions was one of the classes she excelled in, being dare she say a teacher's pet. Well, not as bad as Lily anyway. The best option for her if she were to get a job in the future would be a healer, even if it did mean she'd have to work harder of her charms and defence against the dark arts, it required less combat, something far from what she was capable of. That being said, she didn't even know if she wanted a big job such as that. Perhaps a gardener would suit her best.

"Hey, Lily!" She called, catching up to her on their way down a flight of stairs to the dungeons. "Still up for partnering with me today?" Lily looked Annie in the eyes and shook her head sadly.

"Is it okay if I partner up with Sev this week? I feel like I've been neglecting him a bit and it's only fair I spend more time with him. I'm really sorry Ann'. You understand right?" When Lily mentioned Severus she felt a chill go down her spine, remembering the cold look in his eyes down the corridor, not even considering to help her as she was tortured with no remorse. There was no point telling Lily what happened as she didn't want anyone else to know what the others did that day and even if she did try to tell her, she would insist it was a mistake and he didn't mean it. In Annie's eyes, it was best to let it go.

"Yeah, of course! No problem. I'll just find someone else, don't sweat it." She put on her kindest smile to mask the pang of hurt in her chest. Her words put Lily at ease and you could visibly see the weight lift off her shoulders.

"You're the best thank you! I owe you one." She swung her arms around Annie's neck in a quick hug before scurrying off to catch up with the group of Slytherins ahead. It's okay, she assured herself, taking a deep breath. This has happened plenty of times, Lily Evans is not the only person in the world.

She piled in with the others through the open doors to potions class. Professor Slughorn gave a wide smile and papers floated over from the neat pile at his desk to tables where people had begun to sit down.

"Welcome, welcome everyone! Be prepared to get back your evaluation quiz you completed last week." Annie looked around for a spare seat when someone lightly touched her shoulder. She instinctively grabbed the hand and spun around only to see it was Remus. She went scarlet and let go instantly.

"Do you want to sit with me?" He asked, looking over to one of the front rows with two seats to spare. She nodded her head, looking relieved as they headed over to the free space.

Over in the opposite corner, the other boys watched the two sit themselves down. James pulling an awful face of what only could be because of second-hand embarrassment.

"That was the most cringe-worthy interaction I've ever witnessed. And I've seen some shit."

"Tell me about it," Peter replied, leaning to the side to get a better view of the awkward duo. Sirius just grunted in response, looking down at his quiz results. James sighed and elbowed Sirius harshly in the ribs.

"Oi, you git!" He perked up suddenly, rubbing the side of his torso with the same foul look on his face he had earlier, just slightly more aggravated.

"I've been trying to make excuses and cover your arse for you all day, it would be nice if you actually told me what's going on in that big brain of yours. At this point, I can't tell who you're jealous of; Annie or Moony!"

"Would you shut up? I'm not Jealous of anyone, okay? Just leave it Prongs."

"Sure man. You're not jealous of anyone," James simpered, nodding towards Annie. "Not even little old Annie, the first girl to ever get over you and move on. Who incidentally is the same girl you can't stop looking at every time we hang out!"

"That is not true!" He snapped, breaking his gaze from her hastily, pretending he had never done such a thing in the first place.

"You just keep telling yourself that." James laughed, looking back at his own work, leaving Sirius once again wondering if all the things he thought he knew were just in his head. For someone usually so unproblematic, there was always something with that girl.