Stargazing

The library was silent save for the scritch-scratching of quills along parchment or the occasional rustling of pages as a student flipped through a book. A look from Madam Pince was all it took for the offending student to bow their head and carefully move each page.

Lacie entered the library and looked around. There were students of all years hunched over under the lamp lights. She soon spotted Remus at one of the smaller tables and made her way over to him, holding her hand up in a silent hello. He returned the greeting and they shared a grin and Lacie tilted her head towards the strict librarian who was seated at her desk.

She hung her bag on the back of the wooden chair and slid into the seat across from the brown haired boy. Taking out the notes she had gotten from her two friends she handed Remus the History of Magic ones while she began on Transfiguration. Lily had a tendency to slant certain letters when she wrote, but was otherwise very readable. Marlene on the other hand had very straight writing but had a tendency to keep her words close together so there wasn’t much space between words.

Lacie and Remus worked diligently to transcribe the notes. Lacie whispered in the lowest tone she could muster, “I’m finished with these. Take your time though.”

Shortly thereafter Remus too, was finished and they swapped. He had a frown on his face and Lacie leaned over to see what he was looking at. Remus pointed at a word and made a confused motion with his hands. Lacie tried to decipher the writing upside down but gave up. She pulled his parchment closer to write the word down, however, she misjudged the distance and caused a thin line of ink to be dragged down through a few lines of writing. Remus raised an eyebrow causing Lacie to put her face in her hands before mouthing an apology. He chuckled silently.

They were just finishing up their respective parchments when there came a thud and the yelp of a student. Madam Pince came from around the corner with a frightened looking Hufflepuff. The head librarian was scowling at the Hufflepuff who had been trying to climb the shelf to reach a book.

Most of the others’ in the library had all looked up, save for a few who seemed to be doing everything but looking at the scene. The student was docked a few points before they were told to leave the library for the evening.

Lacie and Remus shared a glance before, quietly, packing up their work; she made sure her friends’ notes were in order so they could be returned later. As they stepped outside the large doors Lacie asked, “That didn’t take us very long. Do you want to get in some spellwork practice?”

“Sure,” Remus agreed easily.

They made their way to an unused classroom designated for student practice. This room only had a few chairs alongside a desk at the front for a professor. It was on the smaller side, although it didn’t make much of a difference for what they were going to do.

“Is there anything you want to work on?” Lacie pulled her wand from her robe and twisted it between her fingers. The wand handle was primarily smooth save for a few engravings and carved etchings that were tactile.

“Potions and herbology, how about you?”

“I feel you on potions, I can probably help with herbology though. I could brush up on some Defense Against The Dark Arts. I should be okay, but it never hurts to keep practicing.” While not particularly weak in the subject Lacie found that she wanted more than just proficiency in her practicals. After all, the older they got the more magic would play a part in everything they did.

“You’re in luck,” came a voice from the doorway. Lacie turned to watch the shaggy black-haired boy, hands in his pockets, stroll in. “Remus and I do very well in Defence.”

“You are joining us? To study?” Lacie blinked and stared before collecting herself, “Okay, well, what should we start with?”

As it turned out, Sirius wasn’t lying. Remus and Sirius demonstrated a number of the spells and charms they learned. They were quick with their casts and rarely needed a second attempt to get it right. Lacie wasn’t half bad either, although they had given her a few points on the specific angle of her wand on a handful of spells; more of a flick here and a sharper downwards motion over there.

With only the desk at the front, they opted to sit in a small circle on the floor for a break.

“I’m surprised your other two friends aren’t here,” Lacie glanced around to double check. It was rare to see the four Gryffindor friends apart for long and when they were it was usually part of some prank they were planning. Lacie had learned to keep to the sides of the corridors if she heard them up ahead as they waited for some poor unsuspecting student.

“I believe James had some quidditch meet up,” Remus said.

Sirius nodded in agreement, “It’s their last meeting for the year and they are saying goodbyes to the seventh year’s and celebrating again for the win this year.”

“Still not enough points to overtake Ravenclaw for the House Cup though.”

“Too bad,” Lacie said, “at least it wasn’t a clean sweep to Ravenclaw.”

“At least we don’t have to share with Slytherin.”

In their first year, despite Gryffindor winning the House Cup, Slytherin had won the Inter-House Quidditch Cup. While Lacie didn’t care to ever play the sport, she did find enjoyment in flying. The first year flying course was thrilling as she had rarely been on a broom before that.

“How about you?” Sirius turned to Lacie. “Where are your friends? I would have expected you to be studying with them.”

“Lily is hanging out with Severus, she’s been with him quite frequently this past week and Marlene was going to do some studying alone.”

Sirius made a face and muttered something under his breath. Lacie didn’t quite catch what he said but it was something about slimy Slytherins.

Lacie dragged her bag closer and took out her herbology book. Both boy’s grimaced at the Herbology textbook as she flipped through some of the pages and mentally noted which ones she thought they’d need to go over. “What do you want to review?”

“Any of it, I don’t think I’ll ever be very good at herbology,” Remus admitted.

“It’s not too bad. You just need to believe,” Lacie encouraged.

A stifled laugh came from the side. “Be-leaf.”

Lacie shook her head, “Unbe-leaf-able.”

“I knew I liked this one,” Sirius said to Remus.

Remus shook his head at the antics but continued to say, “Oak-ay, shall we get started?”