Lily Evans: A History

Chapter 47 - O.W.L.s
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It was Saturday. And usually Saturdays were busy at the Three Broomsticks. Madam Rosmerta, the owner, prided herself on having one of the best pubs in the area, so if it was anything but busy she would be worried. But the clinking of the door bell signalled another customer, so far from being worried, Madam Rosmerta looked up from the glass she was cleaning and smiled. A group of teenagers came through the door and Rosmerta raised her hand. "Take a seat anywhere!" she called to them. From the throng of students that followed, it became immediately apparent that the students from Hogwarts were allowed into the village today. It hadn't been a normally planned visit, but with finals coming up Rosmerta wasn't surprised that the students was allowed to come in and relax some.

The particular party included some of her regulars, including Peter Pettigrew. She wondered where Sirius Black and James Potter were, and just as she was coming towards the table to take orders one of those questions was answered. Sirius Black came running through the door and slid into the booth next to a pretty black haired girl.

"Good afternoon," she greeted, pulling out a piece of parchment and quill and placing it in the air next to her. "What can I get you?"

"Round of butter beers to start," a blond boy replied. He pulled out his money bag. "I've got the first round, then everyone else can start paying up."

There was a general murmur of agreement from the other kids at the table. The parchment in the air next to Madam Rosmerta scribbled down the order then zoomed across the room to a barman. Rosmerta smiled at the group. "Is it a special occasion?" she asked, eyeing the wrapped present sitting on the floor next to Peter.

"It's this beautiful witch's birthday," Sirius replied, putting his arm around the black haired girl next to him who was blushing madly.

Rosmerta laughed. "Who are your friends, Sirius?"

"Oh! Sorry! Rosmerta, this beautiful witch is my girlfriend Kassie and those ugly people are Will, Lily, Madison, Gabrielle, Kathleen and you know Pete."

"Of course," Rosmerta said, flashing a smile at Peter and nearly making him fall out of his seat. "How many years young are you, Kassie?"

"Sixteen," Kassie said, trying to conceal the fact that she was elbowing Sirius in the ribs to get him to stop squeezing her so hard.

"Oh, I remember sixteen," the pub owner said wistfully.

"That was only last year, right, Rosmerta?" Sirius said, winking. Kassie jabbed her elbow in his side a little harder.

Rosmerta rolled her eyes and took the floating tray that had appeared at her side. "He's a charmer, that one," she told Kassie, winking and placing the tray on the table. "Everyone ordering food?"

After Rosmerta had taken all the orders she sent the parchment back over to the bar. "Well, happy birthday, Kassie." She turned to head to the next set of customers, walked about two steps, then turned again. "Oh, and make sure you keep that one in line," added, pointing to Sirius, who grinned back.

"I will," Kassie promised.

Sirius raised his eyebrows at Kassie and said, "So, do we do presents now or wait until after we eat?"

Lily thought about the picture in her handbag that she still didn't have a frame for and said, "Later, I think. We should catch up since between studying and homework I don't think we've all sat down and had a decent conversation in weeks."

Everyone agreed on that, but unfortunately the subject chosen were the upcoming tests the fifth years were to take the week after next punctuated by Sirius making a huge point to cater to Kassie's every whim. It seemed he was pulling out all stops for his girlfriend, probably to make up for his forgetting her birthday. When the tray with the food arrived he made a big show of placing the tea towel over his arm and dishing out Kassie's food for her, making sure she didn't run out of butterbeer and anything else she might have even hinted at wanting.

After the food was gone Madam Rosmerta appeared with a birthday cake and sixteen candles. She placed it on the table and waved her hand over the cake, making all the candles jump to life. "Shall we sing?" she asked, grinning.

"No!" Kassie yelped, her face red.

"We have to!" Gabrielle insisted. "Come on, I'll start; Happy birthday to you!"

Kassie's face turned various shades of red as everyone at the table, and a few students from other tables joined in. Sirius was most definitely the loudest of the group. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR BEAUTIFUL, SWEET, WONDERFUL--"

Kassie slapped her hand over Sirius' mouth, looking highly embarrassed. She hissed something in his ear and the silence at end of the song was followed immediately by Sirius saying, "Do you promise?!" rather louder than he must have intended.

"Make a wish and blow them out!" Madison said before Kassie could murder Sirius.

Sirius mouthed a 'thank you' to Madison for distracting Kassie. Closing her eyes, Kassie was silent for a moment before she blew out every candle on the cake in one large breath. "What did you wish for?" Sirius asked, picking off one of the candles and licking the icing off of the end.

Kassie slapped his hand as he reached for a second. "I can't tell you or it won't come true."

Sirius huffed, puffed, pouted and whined, but Kassie refused to disclose her wish to him and instead started cutting the cake and handing out slices.

"No, no, I'll do it. You're the birthday girl," Lily said, taking the stack of plates from Madam Rosmerta who went to attend to another table after wishing Kassie a happy birthday once more. Lily dished out a slab of cake to everyone at the table while Sirius was trying to feed Kassie, who kept pushing his hand away and blushing red.

"Is it time for presents yet?" Peter asked.

"Can we eat first?" Will asked him, a mouth full of chocolate cake.

"Well, we could, but--"

Sirius suddenly stopped trying to force feed cake to Kassie and turned his head towards Peter. "You have it?"

"Well..." Peter muttered, looking down.

There was a box lying at his feet, several small holes in the side of it. But the strangest part was that as half of the table looked down at it, the box started moving. Sirius slid out from behind the table and picked the box up. "Trying to get away, are you?" he said to the box as if expecting it to answer. Behind him Kassie's eyes were huge and Gabrielle was trying to suppress a giggle unsuccessfully.

"Sirius Black, what is that?" Kassie asked when Sirius moved her plate and placed the wrapped - though hole filled - box in front of her. In response the box jumped a little and Kassie jumped as well.

Sirius looked slightly worried as a thin pink tongue started working its way through one of the air holes. "Eh, it may be hungry. What does it eat again?" he asked Peter, who shrugged.

"It?" Kassie repeated back to him, eyeing the box distrustfully.

Sirius beamed at her. "Well, it's a girl, I think. At least, that's what the lady at the shop said...." His grin grew wider, if possible. "Open it!"

Every person at the table seemed to be holding their breath. Will had his fork halfway to this mouth, the chocolate cake sliding off it slowly. Without taking her eyes off the box, Lily reached over and moved his hand back down to the plate before he ended up wearing the cake. Throwing a suspicious look at Sirius, Kassie slowly unwrapped the box. Just as she reached to remove the lid the entire box gave an odd quiver and she jumped and looked at Sirius. "Go on, open it," he urged.

Thinking that the better option may be to leave well alone, Kassie tugged the lid off and peered inside the box to find... a custard coloured ball of fur. She blinked, tilting her head to the side in confusion. "What is it?" she whispered.

Sirius didn't look the least downhearted that his girlfriend had no idea what the gift was. Instead he reached into the box happily and lifted the ball of fur up, gave it a little rub and it start to purr. Kassie's eyes grew even larger just as Will said, "Hey! I know what that is! It's a Puffskein! But they are rather ex--perr--" Lily reached up and put her hand over Will's mouth, still watching the creature Kassie was now holding.

"Oh! It's so soft," she cooed, turning it around. "Eh-where's her face?"

Sirius scratched his head. "I don't know," he admitted. He looked at Peter, like maybe he would know better, but the blond wizard just shrugged. "Oh, wait, probably there," Sirius said, pointing to the backside of the ball of fur where a pink tongue had just came out and worked its way around the remaining piece of Kassie's cake. "I think she's hungry."

"We'll have to take her down to the magical creatures shop and see what she normally eats," Kassie said, grinning at the ball of fluff like it was the best present in the world. Lily was still eyeing it strangely, wondering exactly what Sirius was thinking getting it for Kassie to begin with. With Bast, Tabby and Darla (Kathleen and Gabrielle's cats) running around Gryffindor tower, the last thing they needed was a Puffskein.

Kathleen must have been thinking the same thing. "Er-what if the cats don't like it?" she wondered aloud.

Kassie looked at her intensely. "I didn't think about that."

"If they don't then you can keep it in my room," Sirius volunteered. "It'll give you more reason to come see me--ow! Woman, stop hitting me!"

Kassie clipped him around the ear one more time and then went back to cuddling the puffskein, causing it to purr. "Me next!" Gabrielle said, pushing forward a wrapped box.

Kassie handed the puffskein to Sirius while she continued to open presents. Lily felt herself growing slightly nervous as Kassie opened present after present until the only one she hadn't received was Lily's. Feeling like every eye was on her, Lily tried not to look at Kassie as she said, "Um, maybe I should wait and give you mine later."

"Nonsense," Kassie said, smiling, "I'm sure I'll love it."

Lily smiled nervously. She hadn't thought ahead when she decided to give Kassie the picture. But now that five other sets of eyes were watching, she wasn't sure this was such a great idea. But it was too late to think of that now. Hesitantly she handed an envelope to Kassie and held her breath.

Her best friend smiled encouragingly as she took the envelope, opened it and pulled out the picture. For what seemed an eternity Kassie stared at the picture, her smile painted on her face. Sirius peered over at it, and his jaw dropped and if Lily didn't know any better, she'd swear he blushed. "Where did you get this?" Kassie whispered.

Gabrielle, Kathleen and Peter was looking at each other in question and Lily felt herself swallowing more than was necessary. Kassie's smile was fading now and Sirius still hadn't moved. "Er-James took it. Well, James and I, actually. The night before Valentine's."

Ever so slowly Sirius' slack jaw closed and he looked up at Lily. "I'm going to kill James. But this-" he looked at the picture again, "is brilliant."

Kassie looked away from the picture in her hand and up at her boyfriend before allowing a smile to creep up on her face. "I second that opinion."

Lily hadn't known she was so on edge until she felt herself relax. Will smiled at her reassuringly and draped his arm around her shoulders. "You're not angry?" she asked.

"Merlin no! I love it! It needs a frame, though. Wow, do you realise, Sirius," Kassie said, looking at the picture thoughtfully, "this is the only picture we have of us?"

"We should get our picture taken, then," Sirius suggested. Kassie looked up at him, grinned and kissed his cheek.

"Awww, isn't that sickening?" Peter muttered.

Will glanced down the table. "Mate, you need a witch."

"So I've been told," Peter grumbled back.

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There was a silence in the Quidditch locker rooms that felt very thick with anticipation. Sirius pulled his robes on and plopped down next to James who was studying a piece of parchment as if his life depended on it. Sirius glanced over his best friend's shoulder and pulled a face. "Mate, why are you reading that? You know it like the back of your hand."

James shrugged, but didn't stop reading his notes for History of Magic. Sirius shook his head dejectedly and looked around the room. Will had just come in and was talking to Mark. He nodded to Sirius when he caught him watching and Sirius nodded back. James let out a slight growl. "What's your problem?"

"Nothing," James muttered, crushing the notes up in his hand and throwing them down. He stood up, pulled his robes out of his locker and began changing.

Sirius fetched their brooms and tossed James his. He jerked his head across the room where Will was standing. "What is your problem with him? Is it Lily?"

"No," James hissed, a slightly panicked look crossing his face. He glanced over at Will, but the blond hadn't noticed him. "I had a slight row with Lily."

"I know, Kassie told me."

James narrowed his eyes. "If you know, why aren't you lecturing me to death?"

Sirius shrugged and plopped down on the bench. "Because I think you are wrong and you don't want to hear it."

Lance Prewett and Patrick Mundame came in the locker room, laughing loudly. James waited until everyone had cleared out before he spoke again; "I am not wrong. It’s none of her business what I do."

"You and I both know you are only going out with all those witches because you are looking for someone just like Lily. But you aren't going to find it. I’m very much afraid, mate, that there is only one of those."

James threw Sirius a very nasty look, slammed his locker shut and stalked out of the room. Sirius sighed and followed him out onto the pitch where Emily was pacing back and forth, talking with Madam Hooch. When James and Sirius joined them she stopped pacing, glaring at them both. "It's about time," she said, then turned before they could reply. "Ok team, here's the deal; we need a keeper, a chaser and a captain." Emily nodded her head towards the benches where several students were sitting. "I've been given permission by Professor McGonagall to select who I want to take my place for captain, and then the new captain will be in charge of choosing the new members of the team. Usually this takes place at the beginning of the school year, but as I'm curious to know how the new captain will get on, Professor McGonagall agreed to let us do it this way."

"It sounds like she already knows who she is picking for captain," Sirius said to James, who ignored him.

"Everyone, mount your brooms!" Madam Hooch called, pulling open a box and letting the bludgers out. The snitch followed closely behind and the whistle was blown.

Sitting in the stands watching the try outs were Kassie, Lily, Madison, Remus, Peter and Genevieve Johnson. All except Genevieve had books with them. There wasn't a second to be lost to studying with O.W.L.s only a week away. Madison was quizzing Remus on Charms, Kassie was absorbed in History of Magic notes, occasionally watching the practice and Lily was trying very hard to help Peter with Care of Magical Creatures. Genevieve was sitting at the end of the row, biting her nails. "How can you all study instead of watching?"

"I'm watching," Kassie replied, turning a page in the book she had just opened. "Only I also need to study. You should try it sometime."

Genevieve glared down the way at Kassie, but stopped when she noticed Lily staring at her. She crossed her arms and without looking up, Kassie faked a yawn. "Don't bother, Genevieve, I don't care."

The brunette's jaw dropped and Lily stifled a snigger by clearing her throat roughly. Remus frowned at Kassie. "Saw that one coming?" Lily asked Kassie quietly.

"In more ways than one," Kassie replied, still not looking up. "But before we leave she'll say something. The girl is practically glowing with bad vibes."

The shrill sound of a whistle split the air and Emily screamed, "Black, what was that? Don't attack your own team mates!"

"Tell that to your other chaser!" Sirius retorted angrily.

Kassie looked up, her face puzzled. Will had flown off to the other end of the pitch and James was cursing loud enough for it to reach their ears. Remus stopped reading a question and frowned again. "What do you suppose that was about?"

"Lily's stupid boyfriend hit a bludger towards James, that's what," Genevieve grumbled just loud enough for them to hear.

Lily saw red for about three seconds before throwing her book to the side and standing up. "How could he when he doesn't have a bat?" she retorted. Beside her Kassie sighed and closed her book.

Genevieve sputtered then turned her back on all of them. Kassie pulled Lily back into her seat, but rather than continue studying, she began watching the try outs. Sure enough several minutes later a bludger went flying again; but it wasn't towards James, as Genevieve had claimed. It was towards Will. Lily gasped just as Mark knocked the bludger towards the other end of the pitch. Will spiralled off course, loosing his grasp on the quaffle and James caught it, making a goal. "What is James doing?" Lily muttered just loud enough for Kassie and Peter to hear.

Will seemed to realise that James had targeted him because he called for a time out. As they landed it was easy to see that James and Sirius were furious, but not more than Emily. Everyone in the stands stood up, trying to hear better. But as it turned out they needn't bothered; you'd have to be deaf to miss Emily. "IF YOU DON'T STOP ACTING LIKE TWO YEAR OLDS I'LL BE LOOKING FOR TWO MORE CHASERS AND A BEATER!"

"Hey! I didn't do anything!" Sirius retorted, jumping back on his broom. He looked at James, but the black haired wizard had his back to him. "And Will didn't either," he added. At that James turned and if looks could kill, Kassie could have sworn that Sirius would drop dead. Lily's fist was clutching at the railing in front of her so hard that the muscles in her arms were protesting and Remus was working his way down the aisle towards the stairs.

Emily looked ready to burst with anger, but she blew the whistle again and the team took off back to the skies. Lily and Kassie decided to follow everyone else down to the pitch except Genevieve, who looked mad enough to spit on one of them. When Lily passed she grumbled something unintelligible, but the redhead ignored her and went down the stairs.

By the time the practice had finished, tension was running so high that everyone looked ready to murder everyone else. Emily stomped up to the lot of them, her fist clenched. "Next Saturday we will try this again. I don't know what your problems are, but get them worked out or I will personally make sure that none of you are on the team next year. Dismissed!"

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Exactly what had happened on the pitch the day of the try-outs was a mystery to just about everyone. Will explained to Lily that he had no idea what had happened. For some reason the bludger was following James and James was following Will. When the bludger went after Will, James took the quaffle and scored a goal while the beaters tried to save Will's neck. Sirius was as angry with James as he had been with Kassie the previous year. It wasn't until the next night that Kassie finally got out of Sirius was the problem was, but for once Kassie didn't tell Lily. She had enough on her plate without worrying about James being so insanely jealous.

James, for his part, was determined not to talk to Sirius at all. Which made life interesting for Remus and Peter. After constant nagging about it, James finally told Remus what had happened between him and Lily, then Sirius' view on it. When Remus agreed with Sirius that James had overreacted, James refused to talk to him, too.

"And what about you, Wormtail?" James roared, giving Remus the look of death. "Whose side are you on?"

"Do I have to pick sides?" Peter muttered, looking uneasy.

"James, when you come to your senses, let me know," Remus said sternly. "This is stupid and you know it. Sirius gave you his opinion and getting angry with him isn't going to help or change it. The fact remains that you tried to hurt Will because he's Lily's boyfriend. Plain and simple."

James neither denied nor admitted this. Instead he said, "Sirius shouldn't have stuck up for him with Emily."

"What should he have done? Nothing? James, I know it's hard in all matters concerning Lily, but try to use your common sense."

James grabbed his broom, threw the window open and took off out it. Remus threw his hands up. "I don't have time to baby-sit them, exams are next week."

Peter looked horrified. "Oh no, I need to study!"

Down in the common room, Sirius and Kassie were having a conversation about the same problem that Remus and Peter were dealing with upstairs. Sirius was sitting on the floor in front of the sofa Kassie was occupying, prodding a salamander in the fireplace with a stick. "Maybe if you tried talking to him," Kassie suggested lightly.

"No," Sirius replied, throwing the stick in the grate and leaning back. He closed his eyes and Kassie leaned forward and kissed his forehead. He smiled slightly at her, but didn't open his eyes. "He just needs time to realise I'm right."

Kassie rolled her eyes. Behind them Will was going out of the common room. He stalked quickly down the seven flights of stairs and out of the castle towards the Quidditch pitch. It was growing dark, but just enough light was shining though the clouds to illuminate a figure flying high above the Quidditch field. Will walked up through the gates, grabbed his broom and mounted it. He caught up with James easily, but when James noticed Will's presence, he sped up. "James, I want to talk to you!" Will called, trying to keep up.

"Then talk!" James yelled back, bending lower to his broom handle and zooming off. Will cursed under his breath and did the same. Soon both of them were zooming through the air at such high speeds that Will felt like the skin was going to peel off his face. After about twenty minutes of mimicking different dives and spirals, Will caught up with James and they landed. The black haired wizard walked to the broom cupboard, put his broom away and turned. "You fly well."

"Thanks," Will replied, his breathing slightly ragged from the intense flight. "So do you."

"What do you want?" James asked, cutting straight to the chase, crossing his arms over his chest.

Will stared at him a minute, trying to gather his thoughts. James looked very bored and started to walk away when Will said, "You like Lily, don't you?"

There was a moment of such intense silence that the air could have been cut with a knife. James glared at Will and Will meet his gaze straight on. Neither spoke for several seconds, then James said, "What is your point?"

"My point is that you are taking it out on me that I'm going out with her. But there is no need. She liked you, you know."

This was obviously news to James. He blinked stupidly for a moment and Will continued as if he hadn't noticed, "I was very surprised when she said yes when I asked her out. But she did. I can't blame you, mate, she's one of a kind. But she said yes to me."

James digested this as one would a particularly sour lemon. After several failed attempts at speaking, he finally managed to make his voice work again. "And?" It wasn't the word he was looking for, but it worked. Besides, punching Will seemed to not be a good idea. And cursing him was probably even less of one, though it was appealing after the conversation they had just had.

Will shrugged indifferently. "There's no need to loose good friends over it, that’s all." Will turned, apparently unaware of James' desire to curse him. "Good luck at the try-outs on Saturday."

James was so dumbfounded by Will's open trust that he wouldn't get cursed in the back that he forgot about his desire to do just that. For a minute he thought about getting back on his broom and practicing death spirals towards the ground, but instead he went back to the castle. No matter how much James hated (or envied, how ever one looked at it) Will at the moment, he was right. There was no need to loose friends over it all.

James quickly made his way back up to Gryffindor tower, surprisingly not running into Will once. When he came back in the common room it was fairly late and the room was mostly empty. But it was easy enough to spot Sirius as Kassie was in the room. And wherever Kassie was, Sirius was sure to be nearby.

As James approached the sofa, Kassie looked up at him, gathered her books and left. Sirius jumped up, looking confused until his eyes fell on James. Then he smirked. "Oh, it's you, is it?"

"It is," James said softly. Sirius' defensive mode was killed completely by James' lack of anger. "Look, before you say anything, you were right and I was wrong."

"I knew that," Sirius replied. James scowled at him.

"I'm sorry I got cross."

Sirius shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, well, it's hard to live with the fact that I'm right all the time."

"Padfoot?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

Sirius grinned. "Good to have you back, Prongs."

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The next week, like it or not, went by with a speed that was only surpassed by Lily's anxious feeling about her exams. With each day that ticked by the Gryffindor fifth years talked less, studied more and became more and more distraught. On Thursday a Hufflepuff girl had to be taken to the infirmary for collapsing in a corridor through lack of sleep, and several people claimed to have powder or potions that would make you smarter, or retain more information. These were promptly confiscated by the Prefects and Lily was very glad of this when Professor McClure told her that they contained mostly dragon dung.

Lily poured over every roll of notes she had taken, every text book and even past tests that she had taken. As nervous as she was, though, it was nothing compared to Peter. He looked on the verge of a mental breakdown. Despite the feeling that she wasn't up to par on Transfiguration (McGonagall's warning rang in her ears) Lily made sure to find time to help Peter. James, Sirius, Remus, Kassie and even a couple of older students had taken turns trying to test him on different subjects but honestly it looked hopeless. Lily prayed he'd at least get passing grades.

On the Sunday night before the exam season officially started, the pressure was building to breaking point. Kassie had snapped at Sirius when he had offered to rub her neck and shoulders and spent the following ten minutes trying to make it up to him. Lily was curled up in an armchair, clutching one hand on the edge of her robe and biting the nail on the index finger of the other. Every now and then Will, who was sitting in the floor in front of her chair doing homework, would reach up and swat at her hand. But Lily would unconsciously starting chewing on it again.

With the fifth and seventh years so on edge because of upcoming exams, it was hard to tell who would snap first when it came to unnecessary noise in the common room, the Prefects or the Head Boy. It was a toss up either way, so when a loud bang! echoed through the room on Sunday night all of the students present just about jumped out of their respective skins.

Lily snapped her book shut and turned around so abruptly that she nearly kicked Will in the head. "What was that?" she demanded.

Several students shrugged, but Lily had noticed Sirius slinking into the shadows just to the left of the boys’ staircase. She jumped up. "Sirius Black!"

"Yes?" Sirius replied sweetly.

Before Lily could say anything else there was one last bang!, the portrait hole opened and Professor McGonagall appeared and in her lowest, most deadly serious voice, demanded, "What is going on? Potter? Black?"

James came bounding down the stairs, holding a piece of parchment that he quickly stuffed in his pocket when he noticed his Head of House. Sirius came out of the shadows, grinning manically. Ignoring several shouts of outrage from fifth and seventh years, James walked purposefully up to Professor McGonagall and smiled brilliantly. "Yes, Professor?"

Professor McGonagall was wearing a tartan hair net and a dressing gown; obviously she had been in bed. She pointed a stern finger to the windows and everyone in the room turned their heads in unison. And that's when Lily noticed the multi-coloured fireworks in the sky. Several were exploding, sending red, green, blue and white sparks across the sky. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I'm ready for my exams, Professor," James answered promptly. "I've been trying to memorise events for History of Magic and I finally got them all. I was only celebrating."

Professor McGonagall looked as if she couldn't fault him for studying, and her mouth moved soundlessly for several seconds before she spluttered "Please celebrate with less disturbance to the rest of the castle from now on." And with those parting words she turned and headed out of the common room. As soon as the portrait was closed James pulled the parchment out of his pocket. "I got it!"

Sirius walked over curiously and peered at the parchment. His eyes lit up. "Does Moony know?"

"Yeah, he did it."

"Wicked," Sirius whispered, taking the parchment from James as if it was made of glass. "Come on, I want to give it a try." And up the stairs they went.

Lily looked over at Kassie, who was sitting on the sofa, her legs curled up under her and shook her head. Will looked at her inquiringly, but Lily only shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine." Will shrugged and Kassie frowned.

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The Great Hall was a great deal quieter than normal on 7 June. Everywhere you looked there were fifth and seventh years with books, parchment and quills set out all over the tables. Some students were in frenzies trying to get in last minute studying, some were biting their nails nervously or looking anxious. Very few was calm, but to nearly everyone's surprise, James Potter and Sirius Black were among those who were. Lily frantically flipped to the back of her Charms book and looked up a spell, then closed her eyes in an attempt to memorize it. Next to her, Kassie had her head in both her hands, her mouth moving but no sound coming out. Every now and then she would look down at her text book, pull a face and mutter some more. On the other side of Kassie, Sirius was eating his breakfast and looking around the room with very little interest.

Sirius' lack of studying, combined with the almost monotonous chewing of his food was getting on Kassie's nerves and the fifth years were waiting for her to explode at any second. Remus was testing Madison on Cheering Charms, Gabrielle was reading her notes and trying to eat, but kept missing her mouth, and Kathleen was ticking a mental list off her fingers, shaking her head and then starting over again. All in all, the Gryffindor fifth years looked like a very odd group. But at least no one had become hysterical since the previous evening when Rachel Bones had nearly had a breakdown in the library. The unforgiving librarian, Madam Pince, had nearly shooed her out when one of the Prefects from her house escorted Rachel out.

Peter came stumbling in the room, carrying half a dozen books. He slammed them down on the table, disappeared behind them and looked at Lily pleadingly. "You've got to help me. I can't remember anything."

Lily, Kassie, Sirius and James all looked at him like he had lost his mind. Finally James said, "Pete, how can you have forgotten it all? You do know it, you’re just nervous."

"No, no, I can't even remember how to make objects float. Watch," he said, taking his wand out and pointing it at his plate. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Nothing happened. Peter looked panicked.

"Peter, you're saying it wrong. Besides, we don't have the practical test until after lunch, so you can work on it then," Lily assured him gently.

"W-We don't? But, what do we have this morning?"

Sirius slapped his own forehead and went back to eating. Kassie glared at him and Lily said, "Theory of Charms."

"Oh," Peter said, looking slightly relieved. "Ok."

Breakfast ended a short time later and while everyone else rushed off to their classes the fifth and seventh years stayed behind in the entrance hall. The evening before several witches and wizards from the Ministry had arrived at the school. Several students panicked upon seeing them, but there was nothing to be done about it. Though Lily, and most of the other students, felt they weren't ready, the O.W.L.s were upon them.

At a quarter past nine the doors to the Great Hall reopened and the students were called in. Professor McGonagall was standing in front of the staff table. The four house tables were gone, standing in their place instead were many smaller tables, all facing the staff table. Lily took a seat and stared ahead unblinking. When everyone was seated, Professor McGonagall turned over a large hour glass. "You may begin."

Lily hesitantly turned over the exam paper on her desk and picked up her quill. Her eyes skimmed the questions and she realised with relief that this wasn't going to be nearly as bad as she had been imagining. Question one read: a) Give the incantation, and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly. That was easy enough. Lily dipped her quill in the ink and began to write feverishly.

Several hours later Lily had read and re-read all her answers and was very happy with them all. She glanced around the room. Two rows forward and four seats to her left Kassie was studying her parchment carefully. Two seats to the left and one back Sirius was watching Kassie and Lily was surprised at the open emotion on his face. He seemed unaware that anyone was watching him as he watched her. Lily continued to look around. James was five seats in front of Sirius, Remus was two rows over to the right of him, but Peter was nowhere to be found. Lily imagined he was most likely behind her, but she didn't want to turn around to find out and be accused of cheating.

"Quills down," Professor McGonagall suddenly said, making Lily jump. The scratch of quills stopped abruptly and Professor McGonagall walked to the first desk in the row next to her. "Everyone please remain seated while we collect the exam papers. Once I have all the papers you may go."

There was a rustle of paper as the exams were collected by the various professors and Ministry officials who had been invigilating in the Great Hall. When Professor McGonagall had taken possession of all scripts, the students cleared slowly out of the Hall. As soon as they re-entered the entrance hall Kassie reopened her questionnaire worksheet and turned to Lily anxiously. "What is the exact definition for colour change charms? I don't think I got it completely right..."

"To make an object change colour from it's pre-existing colour, to a colour not it's own," Lily recited.

Kassie looked like she had perhaps had a cheering charm applied to her. "Oh, good. I thought it was right, but I kept thinking the colour had to match the object." She shook her head. "Oh, I'm exhausted. This is worse than I thought."

"I thought it wasn't so bad," Lily said, shrugging.

"You would, oh Charms Master," James said. His voice was neither sarcastic or joking, but Lily still turned to him with a start. It was the first words he had spoken to her since their row. She regarded him with cool indifference but didn't reply, after all, that was far from an apology.

Lunch turned out to be no different then any other day. The house tables reappeared and the fifth years anxiously started practicing different charms, unsure of what the practical exam would entail. Lily wasn't very worried about this; in fact it was the first time she could see the bright side of the fact that she could charm anything to do just about anything.

After lunch the fifth and seventh years returned to the entrance hall. This time they would wait there until their name was called to come in and be tested on the practical exam. Lily had never wished more in her life that her last name wasn't so close to the front of the alphabet. Hardly any time had passed before Professor Flitwick came to the door and said, "Dobbs, Celeste - Evans, Lily - Greene, Madison."

Kassie nodded to Lily in what she supposed was to be an encouraging way and then Lily followed Madison through the doors of the Great Hall. Several students were still being tested. Professor Flitwick was standing inside the door, "Miss Evans you will be tested by Professor Marchbanks. Miss Greene, Professor Tofty is free..."

Lily approached a desk of a tiny witch with a very wrinkled face. She smiled warmly at Lily when she approached and peered at her anxiously. "Lily Evans? I've heard some good things about you. Let's see if they are correct, shall we? Now, first just a basic levitation charm. That's it..."

Lily was so nervous that she may mess this up that she forgot to say the incantation. Not that it mattered; the feather quill laying on the desk rose into the air just the same as she flicked and swished her wand. "Wingardium Leviosa!" she added as an after thought.

Professor Marchbanks peered at her again, making her feel like the tiny woman was trying to see through her and read her soul. Lily swallowed. She made a mark on a clip board, crossed her arms over the mark so Lily couldn't read it and said, "Now, change this rat's colour." Her eyes lightened up a bit. "An extra point if you can manage without saying the incantation."

Lily felt a smile tugging at the corner of her lip, but suppressed it. Without a sound she flipped her wand and the rat turned a shocking pink colour. Professor Marchbanks looked very impressed.

After her exam Lily waited anxiously in the common room with Sirius for everyone else to finish and return. Remus emerged through the portrait hole next, looking as though he were a cross between relived and nervous and twenty minutes later James, Kassie and Peter came in. Kassie walked straight up to Lily, beaming, "You are all Professor Marchbanks can talk of! You must have put on quite a show for her!" Lily felt herself blush and she imagined her face must have matched her hair.

Just because exams for that day were over and therefore one less thing to worry about, the fifth years weren't allowing themselves a break. That night found them in the common room studying for Transfiguration and Kassie ended up telling half of the Marauders off for "practicing" for their practical exam by transfiguring half of the furniture in the common room into plant life so that it resembled a jungle more than a living space.

When Kassie had finished she flopped down on the only remaining piece of furniture (a hard backed chair) and proceeded to begin re-reading her notes for the tenth time. Sirius let out a low whistle and Lily shook her head. "Crikey, you should have been a prefect," Lily told her in amazement.

The next morning they sat their Transfiguration exam, then after lunch went in for the practical element. Lily felt only slightly discouraged that her tea pot still had spots (though different colours) than the turtle had had before. Especially when next to her Madison had transfigured her turtle into a pair of mittens.

The following day was Herbology, which went extremely well considering Lily had been dreading it almost as much as potions. She thought she had misnamed at least two plants and one of her bouncing bulbs had bounced straight up into the examiners face. Thursday was Defence Against the Dark Arts which Lily knew without a doubt she did well in both the theory and practical. The Voldemort scare had insured that Defence Against the Dark Arts was taken seriously, quite apart from the fact that Lily had been engrossed in the subject since her second year. On Friday, Lily and Kassie didn't have any exams to sit, while James, Sirius, Peter and Remus sat Muggle Studies. That afternoon at dinner Sirius bored them to death with talk of nothing but how well he had done on the question about muggle transportation.

Most of the fifth years were planning on having a study free weekend, but as it turned out that wasn't to be. After sitting for two hours around the lake, Will relented and allowed Lily to drag him back inside to study. After all, all she was talking about were the different subjects she needed to revise. Peter had talked Remus into helping him study and Madison was on a mad frenzy trying to work out how her turtle had become mittens. Even though the exam was over, she claimed she had to find out for her own mental stability. Kathleen and Gabrielle had no problems whatsoever with not studying and spent most of the weekend on the Quidditch pitch watching the Gryffindor try-outs.

On Saturday evening, the Gryffindor team re-entered the common room looking worn out. Emily was happy enough, so it was easy to see that the positions had been filled. Will sat down in the floor in front of Lily and laid his head on her leg. "I'm so tired I could sleep for a week."

"Who made the team?" Lily asked, prying herself away from One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and peering down at her boyfriend.

Will yawned hugely and rubbed his hand over his face tiredly. "Iden Butler made chaser and Jolene Howell is going to be seeker so Patrick can do keeping."

Lily raised an eyebrow and reached down, pushing hair of Will's forehead. "And captain?"

"WOOHOO!"

Every face in the common room turned towards the portrait hole as James Potter appeared, holding a butterbeer tightly in one hand and waving the other around like a raving lunatic. "WOOHOO!"

"Never mind," Lily said shortly, opening her book again. "I can guess."

"He is an excellent leader," Will pointed out in James' defence, though Lily couldn't fathom why he would be. "I know it was hard for Emily, but I think he'll do well."

Lily snorted, not exactly sure why she couldn't feel happy for James. It wasn't as if he hadn't tried to be nice to her in the past week because he had. It was probably his lack of a proper apology. Lily had a feeling she had better not hold her breath on getting one, though. James seemed content to simply try to bury the past. Will slowly got to his feet, placed one hand on each side of the chair Lily was sitting in and bent down to kiss her. "Cheer up. I hate to see you unhappy."

"I'm stressed, not unhappy," Lily pointed out.

"Smile for me?"

Lily awkwardly realised that half of the common room was watching them. She gave a small smile and Will kissed her forehead. "I'm going to bed. Love you."

"Love you," Lily replied, watching him walk semi-stiffly up the stairs. Across the room James finished his butterbeer in one swig, chucked the bottle into the rubbish bin and glared at Will's retreating back. Lily didn’t notice.

James looked at his watch and gave into a second of panic before grabbing the front of Sirius' robes. Kassie looked up, mildly curious as James and Sirius ran out of the common room as fast as they had came in. Madison, who was sitting beside Kassie, blinked. "Where'd they go?"

"Probably after more butterbeer," Kassie replied vaguely and continued reading as if she hadn't been interrupted.

Madison looked around the room, looking as though she had only just realised who was and wasn’t there. "Have you seen Remus and Peter?"

There was a slightly irritated snap to Kassie's voice when she replied; "Peter asked Remus to help him study. They are probably in their room."

Madison nodded and went back to studying, but Lily, who had been listening with half an ear, had an odd feeling that if they were to check, the fifth year boy's dormitories would be empty. With no time to worry about it, though, she went back to studying.

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Lily had never fully appreciated what a wonderful Potions master the school had until she took her exam. She felt very confident she would make a passing, if not above passing grade in the subject. Her Swelling Solution had the desired effects and with another of her least favourite subjects behind her, Lily spent Monday night studying for Care of Magical Creatures.

On Tuesday afternoon the fifth years gathered at the end of the forest in a large clearing, armed with nothing but their wands. There was a walk through course set up and at each station an examiner sat, waiting to test each student on their ability to properly identify a knarl, demonstrate how to correctly handle a bowtruckle, feed a firecrab without getting seriously burnt and use a niffler to obtain no more than five hidden coins.

Lily managed fairly well, outside of the burn she sustained from the firecrab. Obviously it wasn't very hungry. When Lily had tried to feed it, it burnt her. Then again, she may have picked out the wrong food. She couldn't recall if it ate meat or was vegetation.

Wednesday morning brought Astronomy theory but since the practical test wouldn't be given until that night, Lily, Kassie and Madison had Divination while the Marauders were free. Lily was half scared that she might have a real vision, and half scared she wouldn't. When it came time for her to peer inside the crystal ball she was so nervous she nearly fell off her chair. Professor Marchbanks, a great deal stronger than she looked, quickly hauled Lily up before she hit the ground and nodded to the crystal ball. "Just tell me if you see anything."

This was a loaded question, in Lily's mind, as all she could definitely see was the ball and a cloud of white mist inside it. But as for actually seeing the future, well, that was another matter altogether. After five minutes of arguing with herself over whether she even cared if she got this O.W.L. or not, Lily admitted that she had Seen nothing. Professor Marchbanks made a mark then held her hand out for Lily to read. At the table next to Lily, Kassie had just informed her examiner that he would marry a dark black dog and Lily collapsed into such a fit of giggles that she couldn't manage to even properly identify Professor Marchbanks’ lifeline.

When it came time for her to read the tea leaves, however, Lily was astonished she even remembered half the symbols. And even more astonished that when she predicted that Professor Marchbanks would be taking a long trip soon and her husband was ill, that the woman stared at her for a full minute before making a mark. Lily was dismissed without actually finding out if she was right; but something must have hit for the examiner to have acted so strangely.

At eleven o'clock that night the fifth years dragged themselves up to the Astronomy tower for their practical tests. Everyone found a telescope along with a blank star chart. Lily found most of the constellations easily enough and was very happy when the examiners announced that they were finished.

Finally Friday arrived. The last exam, History of Magic, wasn't to take place until the afternoon and Lily, along with the other fifth years, took advantage of the free morning by sleeping until nearly lunch time. When the redhead finally stumbled out of bed and showered it was to find the common room almost completely empty. Almost, save for James Potter and Remus Lupin, who were playing chess by an open window. "Good morning sleepy head," James greeted when he noticed Lily.

"Morning," Lily replied carefully. James had yet to apologize, but Lily found it harder and harder to ignore him. She hadn't ever been one to hold a grudge - well, Petunia was the one exception to nearly every rule - so if he so obviously wanted to bury their row, she might as well let him.

Remus let out a huge yawn and checked his watch. "Lunch time. Check mate."

The look on James' face was priceless. "C-Check mate? Check mate? What do you mean, check mate?"

"It means, dear James, that I have beaten you. Again. Let's go and drag Padfoot's sorry arse out of the bed and get some food."

Again Lily was struck with how odd the nicknames the Marauders had taken were. But asking was pointless, as they always laughed or ignored the question completely. So instead of wasting her breath she continued through the common room and out of the portrait hole in search of food.

At two o'clock the final exam began. Without a doubt this was the exam Lily was dreading most of all. The questions were as boring as the Professor who taught the class and Lily found it difficult to concentrate. When at last the exam was completed and the scripts collected, there was a huge roar of cheers as the fifth years filed out of the Great Hall and outside onto the grounds without so much as dropping their bags off at their various common rooms. For the first time in two weeks it was easy to breathe and enjoy the warm sun beating down on the grounds. The giant squid was just under the surface of the lake water, sunning itself, Hagrid was walking around his cabin with an animal skin of some sort thrown over his shoulder, whistling happily. Everyone and everything just looked better with O.W.L.s finally behind them.

Lily had just laid her bag down on the grass and plopped down at the water's edge to soak her feet when Sirius came out of the castle, Kassie on his back and laughing loudly at something he was saying. A few minutes later Will emerged and once he spotted Lily rushed over to her and sat down. "How'd it go?"

"At this point I couldn't care less," Lily replied, grinning at him. "It's over with and I want to bask in that joy before I worry about the results."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Kassie giggled as she jumped off Sirius' back and he yanked her up in his arms. She threw one arm around his neck and held the other one out. "I feel like I could fly." She kicked her feet for effect.

"That can be arranged," Sirius told her. Lily dug in her bag for her camera and snapped a picture of them. "Come on, we'll grab my broom."

"Oh no, Mister Black, you won't be getting me on a broom," Kassie told him, wagging a finger. "What have I told you about that?"

"Come on, you're not afraid of the stands, why are you afraid of brooms? Besides, you know I wouldn't let anything happen to you. I won't even go very fast." He gave her his best puppy dog look, which was very impressive, actually, but Kassie refused to relent.

Will threw his arm around Lily's shoulder. "I could take you up on my broom," he whispered in her ear.

"Only if you could force me onto it. I'm with Kassie where heights are concerned."

Will gave Lily a very thoughtful look, stood up and suddenly bent down, picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. "Just remember you said you would if I get you on the broom."

Sirius barked out a laugh and a scream escapoed from Kassie as she found herself thrown over Sirius' shoulder like nothing more than a sack of dragon dung fertilizer. She pointed an accusing finger at Lily, who was half heartedly beating her fists in Will's back. "This is your fault."

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Lily and Kassie both emerged unscathed from their afternoon on broomsticks. Will and Sirius were another matter entirely. Will swore up and down to anyone who would listen that Lily had been trying to strangle him and Sirius swore Kassie had strangled him. Kassie crossed her arms over her chest indignantly. "How could I have strangled you when I had my arms around your chest so tightly I couldn't feel my fingers?" she demanded.

"But I liked that part," Sirius replied and Kassie slapped his arm.

If the exams had gone by as quickly as the following two weeks did, then they would have been a breeze. Long before they knew it, the end of the school year was upon them. Lily was anxious for the year to end so she could spend her first ever Petunia free summer with her parents. And even though that meant she wouldn't see Will every day, she knew her parents would have no problems with him visiting. Kassie and Sirius, on the other hand, were not so sure about Kassie's aunt, who seemed to not like the Black family in general. And even though Sirius swore he had convinced her he wasn't like them, her letters to Kassie weren't very encouraging about the time the couple would spend together.

Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup and the house cup. There was a party to rival all parties in Gryffindor tower the night before the Hogwarts Express was to leave for London. It was halfway into this party that Sirius had noticed his girlfriend's absence.

"Mate, where you going?" James asked from where he was perched on the arm of the sofa, flirting with Gabrielle, who was telling him under no circumstances would she even consider going out with him.

"To find Kassie," Sirius replied, jerking his head towards the staircases.

"Good luck," James told him, thinking that any moment they would all be witness to Sirius' weekly slide down the girls staircase. Instead Sirius headed up the boys side and out of sight.

He climbed to the top of the tower, took his wand out and prodded a small crack near the ceiling. There was a groan like the wind hitting the side of a particularly weak building and then the wall slide open to reveal a door. Sirius pushed on it gently so that it made little noise.

Kassie had her arms crossed, staring up at the night sky. The moonlight cast shadows across her face and Sirius found himself staring at her profile. The light wind made small strands of hair move gently away from her face, and as quietly as he could Sirius moved up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She stiffened and gasped. "Shh, it's just me. I didn't mean to startle you."

Kassie almost at once melted into his embrace, but didn't turn around. She continued to stare at the sky, finding the different constellations almost without realising she was doing so. Sirius rested his chin on her shoulder and nuzzled her neck. "I love you."

Kassie smiled and placed her hands over his, but didn't reply. Sirius, pouting slightly from her lack of response, gently placed his lips on her jaw. "I said I love you...." he told her softly, tighten his arms around her waist. "And you are suppose to say 'I love you, too, you big handsome man, you,'" he mimicked in a high pitched voice.

Kassie laughed out loud and turned around to face him. "Not conceited, are you?"

"No, I just have a healthy self image."

"Obviously."

Sirius kissed her then. Not because he had been meaning to, but because he was so close and his body had a tendency to do what his heart wanted without asking his mind for permission. Kassie obediently wrapped her arms around his neck, one hand playing with the hair at the base of his neck. Sirius chuckled into her lips. "That tickles."

"Something’s never change," Kassie replied. She looked like she was striving for cheerfulness but loosing the battle. Sirius nuzzled her neck again and Kassie felt an overwhelming urge to push him away. "Sirius, we need to talk."

He stopped. Nothing he had ever wanted to hear in his life had started with those words and without really having reason, his heart start beating faster. "About what?" he said in the most cool tone he could muster.

Kassie still had her arms around his neck, though her grip wasn't as tight as it had been the previous minute. She chewed on her bottom lip and Sirius felt his heart drop. Any time Kassie had bad news she chewed on her lip. Just when Sirius thought he'd scream from the tension, Kassie looked him straight in the eye and for the first time he noticed how tired she looked. And worried.

"My Aunt Wanda said that she doesn't want you hanging about the house all summer. In fact," Kassie swallowed and anger replaced the weariness her face had held a moment ago, "she said she had hoped we would have split up before the term ended. So that I wouldn't be asking to see you."

Sirius' grip on Kassie's waist tightened. "I am not ever loosing you," he said, his voice so firm and commanding that Kassie peered into his eyes with surprise. "We'll find a way. You can go to Lily's, or James', or anywhere. I don't care if I have to go to the ends of the Earth to see you."

Kassie swallowed and hugged him, laying her head on his shoulder and allowing herself to enjoy how it felt to be held by him. Playing quidditch for two years had really developed his muscles so that when his arms were tight around her as they were now she felt like nothing on Earth could hurt her. But reality would crash in soon, she knew. And Aunt Wanda was a wonderful person, but past events had made her bitter. There was no doubt in Kassie's mind that this summer would be the longest in her life.

As it turned out, she had no idea just how much so.

--End chapter 47.