Serendipity (S. Black)

FORTY-TWO

"you're someone else's star and because of that, my skies will always be empty."

*

Eva stared at her Herbology homework blankly as attempted to study. She didn't even remember the lesson. In between notes about healing plants, the paper was littered with Quidditch strategy and different combinations of players. Tryouts had been the week before, and she wanted to pick the right team so badly. The drive to prove herself was always strong, but at moments like these, it felt like a monster trying to overtake her. Not wanting to disappoint anyone, she took the tryouts very seriously.

To her surprise and delight, Marlene tried out for seeker since Mitchell had graduated. She was much better than anyone expected, and Eva loved the idea of another girl on the team. Most of the team would remain, but she needed to make sure she made the best decision possible.

"You look lonely."

Eva glanced up, smiling as sat across from her on the ground. "Hi Pete."

"Hi Eve." He pulled out a textbook and set it in front of him.

"Where's everyone?"

"Let's see." The short boy pretended to think before listing off all of his friends on his fingers. "Lily's tutoring, James and Marlene are playing Exploding Snap in the common room, Sirius is in detention with McGonagall, Remus and Kriss are on prefect duty. Oh, and you're sitting across from me." He gave her a small smile.

"You've really got roll call down pat." She began to doodle on the corner of her notes while scanning them. "Why's Sirius in detention with McGonagall this time?"

"Flirting to get out of homework," Peter answered mildly, flipping through his textbook. "She believes he needs to stop cheating on you with her to get out of essays."

Eva laughed. "Me versus McGonagall? Merlin, I don't stand a chance."

"She denies it, but she's gonna miss us," he claimed, grinning.

The two fell into a comfortable silence for a while, the only sound being an occasional flip of a page or the scratch of a quill. After a few minutes, Peter looked up, a frown on his face.

"You have a second?"

"Yeah, what's up?" She moved so that she was sitting next to him and scooted closer. He pointed to a spell in his Charms textbook.

"I can't get the hang of the color-changing one," he admitted. She lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Oh, no problem! I use that one all of the time! Its fun! It's how I switch the colors of my nails so often. I'm not patient enough to let them dry normally. " Her green eyes sparkled as she pointed her wand. "Okay, so when you say the incantation, you've got to flick your wrist just the slightest bit and think of the color you want at the same time."