THE WOLVES | R.L.

Chapter 14

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter World belongs to J.K. Rowling.

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Chapter 14

Exam week was crazy.

There was havoc all around the castle, and the Seventh Years rushed around the corridors, attending exam after exam, gathering books from the library and studying endlessly.

Ardelle was not an exception.

Perhaps the only part of the Seventh Years that weren't stressed were James and Sirius.

"How do you not need to study?" Ardelle asked them as she frantically dug through her bag to find her textbook for some last minute studying right before their Potions NEWT exam.

Remus, who sat beside her, glanced up from his book and ruffled Ardelle's hair, "Don't stress about them, Ardie."

"You two are too cute," Lily gushed, "Are you dating yet?"

Ardelle disregarded the blush that rose to her cheeks as she replied, "Um..."

"No," Remus answered for her, and Ardelle gave him a grateful look, "But maybe..." He glanced at Ardelle hopefully.

"Soon," Ardelle promised him with a smile.

"They might not be dating yet, but they've been acting like it since they first met," James rolled his eyes, "Makes me feel hurt, you know. Because my little sis Ardie never hangs out with me anymore."

James put an arm around Lily's shoulders and Lily grinned.

Ardelle retorted, "It's because you're married to Sirius already, Jamesie, dear little brother."

James frowned as Lily, Remus and Ardelle burst into a fit of laughter.

"That's not funny," Sirius scoffed, casting a mock offended glare in James, Ardelle, Remus and Lily's direction, "I've got nothing to do with that Potter boy."

"Oi, Sirius, mate!" James exclaimed, "That's mean!"

"Meanie, Sirius," Ardelle tsked, "Meanie, meanie."

Sirius rolled his eyes and Remus and Lily laughed.

Marlene, who had rushed to join them from where she stood with Alice and Mary, with a book tucked under her arm, said, "What are you all laughing about?"

She glanced between them, and Ardelle, Lily and Remus shared a glance before they burst into laughter again.

Marlene sighed in exasperation, "I know that laugh. Are you making fun of Sirius and James again?"

"What do you think?" Sirius asked, pouting jokingly as he pulled Marlene into a hug, "Make me feel better, Marls."

Marlene sighed, "Grow up, Sirius."

Sirius gaped at her as she turned away from him without another word to talk about something with Ardelle.

Between the three boys, there was a moment of silence.

Sirius asked, "She cares, right?"

"Probably," Remus shrugged, "I mean...if she didn't care, why would she date you?"

"True," Sirius said after a moment.

"Hey...Peter is...with the Slytherins?" James asked in a low voice.

He nodded subtly towards Peter Pettigrew, who was indeed having some sort of serious conversation with one Lucius Malfoy.

Sirius rolled his eyes, "He's a rat. What makes him think he can hang out with the snakes?"

"Yeah," Remus agreed quietly, "Snakes eat rats."

"Well, Peter obviously doesn't know that." James said with a sigh, "We should just leave him alone. He'll come around."

At that exact moment, Peter came skittering towards them.

"Hi," Peter said quietly. "What are you guys up to?"

"Wormtail...you should really stay away from the snakes," James suggested in a low voice, "They're cruel people."

"They were threatening me," Peter defended, and for some reason it didn't seem like Peter was lying.

There was a moment of silence.

"Fine, okay," Sirius said, "Just...don't expect us to be all warm and fuzzy to you when those snakes succeed in their hunt."

Peter paled, but he still nodded, and they didn't utter the word 'Snakes' for the rest of the conversation.

***

Ardelle watched as Marlene pulled out her reading glasses from her bag and slipped them on.

"Why're you wearing your glasses?" Lily asked, "We're not going into the exam for another ten minutes."

"I don't know," Marlene said with a shrug, "Maybe I'll do some studying right now."

"Go ahead," Ardelle said, but then she added, "Though we all know that that's not going to happen—not with Lils and I around."

Marlene laughed, "Yeah, maybe not. Maybe not."

Marlene tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear, and blinked her wide blue eyes as she said, "Last exam?"

"Yes!" Ardelle exclaimed, "Last exam for LIFE!"

Lily, always the logical one, said, "Actually, maybe not for life, because you see—,"

"Whatever, whatever," Ardelle waved her off, cutting Lily off, "You're too smart for us, Lils."

"Let's just accept that everybody who studies hard and works hard can grow to become smart," Lily said.

"Yeah," Marlene agreed with a grin, "I mean, I certainly wasn't smart before this week."

Lily smacked Marlene over the head with her book, "MARLENE! That's not what I meant!"

"I know, I know, Lils, calm down," Marlene said, raising her arms in surrender as she adjusted her glasses.

They had fallen askew, and she blew a strand of her hair out of her face.

"Alright, well, we've studied a lot, for the past seven years," Ardelle said after a moment, with an encouraging grin, "We can do this, right?"

"We can do this!" Marlene agreed enthusiastically, and Lily rolled her eyes, but she still nodded.

"Of course we can. We can do this." Lily said with a smile.

Author's Note: 

Thanks for reading this chapter! Check out my other works and do vote and comment to let me know your thoughts ;)

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