Everyone was talking excitedly as they put their socks and shoes back on and headed out of the room. Angelina and Lee were sitting on one of the tables that were pushed to the side, waiting for me to finish. I walked over to Nott, who was taking an extremely long time to knot his shoelaces.
I kneeled in front of him and looked up grinning. "Need help, Nott?"
"Not particularly." He knotted them in a second before leaning his head on his hands, his arms resting on his legs. "Maybe I just wanted to talk to you."
"And what did you want to talk about?"
"Hm, well." He clicked his tongue. "If I'm being honest. I was a little jealous that you had your arms wrapped around Potter like that. But don't you dare repeat those words, if someone would know I was jealous of Potter." He shuddered. I looked at him for a moment before I started laughing.
"Well, maybe you should volunteer next time then." I bit my lip as I grinned and pushed myself up. Nott followed my lead, and after pushing his wand in his back pocket, he tucked a lose lock of hair behind my ear.
"Maybe I will. See you next week, Lupin-Black."
"You know we have class together before the next meeting, don't you Nott?" I chuckled. Nott just grinned over his shoulder before disappearing out of the classroom, leaving me alone with Angelina and Lee.
"You did amazing." Remus smiled, giving me a side hug. "I'm so proud of you."
"Of me? Even with the charm, I kicked you in the..."
"That's part of my job." He chuckled. "I better get going and start on finishing grading the essays."
"Alright. I'm going over to the tower tonight, so I'll come in later."
"Have fun." He kissed the top of my head, and with a smile at Lee and Angelina he walked out of the room.
I pulled on my shoes and the three of us started to walk towards the Gryffindor tower. We walked in silence for a while, my head was stuck with the fact the twins weren't there, and there was just something in the pit of my stomach that I couldn't shake.
"You're alright?" Angelina asked, placing her hand on my shoulder that pulled me out of my daze.
"Yeah, fine." I gave her a feeble smile and I saw Lee and her exchange a look. "Do you think Alicia's coming around?"
"She is. She wanted to come to the meeting but since she didn't sign up, she didn't want to come unannounced."
"I'll speak to her then." I nodded. "She can come anytime."
"I'm sorry about Fred and George."
"Hm." I hummed as I looked forward, I already saw the replacement portrait of the knight coming into view. "If they didn't want to come, they should have just told me."
"They wanted to come." Lee said.
"Where were they then?" I raised an eyebrow, and neither could answer.
My thoughts were already drifting when Lee said the password and I climbed through the portrait hole after them. When I entered the room, my eyes found the ginger cat. His large yellow eyes followed me across the room, and when I sat down in the corner near the fireplace, the cat jumped off Hermione's lap and crawled into mine. Hermione looked from her cat to me with large brown eyes. She closed her book and walked over.
"Hey, Hermione. I hoped you liked the club." My fingers scratching the cat's ears.
"I did. You're a great teacher." She smiled wide. "You know, he's never done that." She pointed to her cat. "Crookshanks only lets me pet him, Harry on occasion. But sleeping in someone's lap..."
"Really?" I asked surprised as I stroked the cat, I could feel him purring underneath my fingertips. "Then why me?"
"Don't know." Hermione said, dropping down to the floor in front of me. "Do you have pets?" I shook my head. "So, no hidden treats?"
"No." I chuckled as I looked at the purring cat. Cats and dogs or wolfs usually don't mix, but maybe it was different with an Animagus.
"Maybe, the cat is an Animagus, and he's in love with you." Lee mused with a laugh. Hermione and I turned to look at Lee, who was sitting slightly higher on the chair.
"He's not an Animagus." Hermione scoffed.
"How do you know?"
"Because I checked." Hermione flushed. "Just to be sure. He doesn't act like a normal cat."
"How so-" I started but then the painting flew open, and the twins walked in laughing. Their grin was large as they walked over. And anger started to rise in me. I guess the cat felt it too, because he nudged his flat nose against my hand.
"Where have you been?" Angelina asked. The twins glanced to Hermione for a moment but shrugged and carried on.
"We've been pranking Filch." Fred rubbed his hands excitedly. "You should have seen it, it was brilliant, if I say so myself."
"You didn't do anything to the cat, did you?" Hermione's voice sharp.
"No, no, the old cat is fine." Fred assured.
"You didn't forget anything?" Lee said, not so subtly nudging his head towards me, but the twins didn't notice. They frowned a little as they thought it over.
"Can't seem to think of anything." Fred shrugged.
"But you guys should have seen Filch's-" George stopped as he saw me rise to my feet, I handed Crookshanks over to Hermione and turned to the others.
"I'm going to head back, long day."
"What? Why?" The twins pouted.
"Alec." Angelina tried, but I shook my head.
"Good night, I'll - I'll see you later, okay?" I didn't wait for an answer and walked out of the tower.
I hurried down the stairs, the castle already empty due to the late hour. I didn't want to see anyone, and I didn't want to go back to my chambers, so I strolled around the castle absently. I didn't care if I got busted at that point, I just needed to walk. My feet carried me to the dungeons, I saw the door of the potions' classroom ajar, and I glanced in. Professor Snape was sitting at his desk going over some of the potions students had made during class. I thought about backing away quietly and head to my room, but my hands did something else, and knocked on the door, while I pushed it open.
"Good evening, Professor Snape."
"Miss Lupin-Black." He was a bit startled from my sudden appearance. "What are you doing here?"
"I didn't mean to interrupt. I was just walking around, clearing my head and found my way here."
"You know it's almost curfew, right?"
"I know, I'll just be going then." I said retreating from the door.
"Hold on." He said and I stopped and walked in closer. "How was the club meeting?"
"It went well. A bit tiring but that means I gave it my best."
"Hm." He nodded slowly. "Then why did you need to clear your head?"
"Just with everything that has happened. Sirius Black, the exam, the meeting, quidditch... And I don't know, but my feet just guided me here. I always brew when I need to clear my head, so that's probably the reason. But I don't want to bore you with this."
"You don't know your result for a few days, why don't you try to brew some of our NEWT's potions now. You have a few to catch up to when you start the class in January."
"I don't have anything with me, professor. Not my cauldron nor my book."
"Cupboard." He pointed to the cupboard in the corner as he looked back down. "Just be silent."
"Yes, sir." I nodded and walked to the cupboard with a grin. I opened the cupboard, and took out a cauldron with utensils in it, a seventh year book, and gloves before taking a place at one of the desks.
"You already know how to make Wolfsbane, so start with Veritaserum." Snape said without looking up.
I flipped the book open to the right page, before headed to the cupboard filled with ingredients. My arms laden with ingredients, I walked back to my station and started to work in silence. Over an hour had passed with only the sound of me crunching my ingredients or stirring in my cauldron. Snape was dead silent save from the occasional huff at one of the really bad potions. I was nearly done with my potion, and I was stirring my potions clockwise, when the door creaked open and none other than Emmett Nott walked in.
"Professor, I cleaned all the bedpans for Madam Pomfrey." He said, and he turned to me in surprise when he heard me chuckle.
"Good. Nott, remember detention Wednesday night."
"Yes, sir." He nodded at the professor and looked back at me. When Snape noticed that the boy didn't move, he looked up. He glanced from Nott to me.
"Miss Lupin-Black, are you nearly finished?"
"Yes, sir. Just need to put the freezing charm on it."
"Then mister Nott can escort you back to the main hall." He stood up from his desk and let the potions fly off to his filing cabinet. "Mister Nott, you can help her clean it up."
"Yes, sir." Nott said politely. Snape looked between me and Nott again as I put a freezing charm on it and walked to the door.
"Leave the potion on my desk." And with that he was gone. I bottled the potion without looking at Nott, but I knew he was leaning against the desk, his eyes curious.
"So, you had detention too? Maybe he can stick us together next time."
I pushed the cork on top of the vial and walked over to his desk. When I turned again, Nott's eyes were on me. "I didn't have detention."
"Then why-"
"Because I was wandering around, and he let me practice in case I pass the exam."
"Which you will. Too bad though, that you aren't in detention, would be fun to spend it with you."
"Hm, if I stay here any longer, that possibility grows." I said as I started to vanish the leftovers to the right pots. Nott helped me clean up my station and within minutes we were done.
"Even though I would like to spend my detention with you, let's get you upstairs before you get busted."
"Why did you get detention anyway?" I asked as we walked the eerie corridor.
"Caught stealing something from Snape's classroom." He said, and I looked at him with large eyes. "What? It was a dare." He grinned.
"Oh, are those the kind of things that happens in the Slytherin common room?" I chuckled. "Do I want to know what the worst dare is you had to do."
"The worst? Hm." He frowned as he thought it over. We were walking back up the stairs when he finally had an answer for me. "That was when my little brother dared me to kiss Pansy Parkinson." He shuddered, and I laughed at his reaction.
"What did you do?"
"There are a lot of things that I dare to do, but kissing Pansy isn't one of them. So, because I declined, much to the dismay of Pansy I might add." And I rolled my eyes. "I had to do three shots in a row, I was a goner not soon after."
"Does Draco play?"
"Sometimes." He shrugged. "Are you still mad at him?"
"Yeah." I frowned, looking down when we reached the ground floor. "I hate it when he acts like an entitled little brat. From what I heard the Hippogriff barely touched him. Hagrid shouldn't be sacked, and the creature should be free."
"We all know Draco can be a bit dramatic." I raised a brow. "Alright, a lot. But you don't take Hagrid's classes, the creatures he presents to us... They're dangerous."
"It's his first year, give him time to learn."
"Your uncle doesn't need time to learn. Even if they don't say it, the Slytherins all like his teachings."
"That's sweet." I smiled. "But he had practice, trust me." I looked around the empty hallway. "I should head back, and so should you."
"Yeah, you're probably right. I'll see you tomorrow." He said as a promise and leaned down to kiss my cheek. When he pulled back, his Slytherin smirk was in place as he saw the light flush on my cheeks. And with a last wink, he headed back down the stairs.