The rest of the weekend was mildly uneventful. Olly and Rachel ran around on the grounds by the Black Lake for a bit with Sandy Finnigan, and the rest of the time Olly had spent in the Library. It was nothing special at all, but on Sunday night Remus had suggested they study together again. They stayed up, Sirius sometimes coming over to watch, until the early hours of the morning. The next morning at breakfast, Sirius slid into the seat next to Olly. She smirked at him, habitually tugging her sock upward.
"Can I help you?" she asked calmly, biting hungrily into a strip of bacon. She felt another presence and turned her head to see James stepping over the bench to her left. He plopped down and drowsily ruffled his hair, reaching over the table to grab a piece of toast. He was a bit tired and couldn't see where his hand was going as his glasses were a bit sideways, and ended up knocking over someone's goblet of pumpkin juice.
"Hey!" said the girl, grabbing the edge of the table cloth and wiping her robes with it. "Do you mind?" James adjusted his glasses and peered at the girl before leaning forward in a flirty manner. She had reddish-black hair that was cut short to her chin, and by first impression was probably Hispanic. She had a cute button nose and light brown eyes.
"Not really," James answered, flipping his hair to the side. Olly rolled her eyes and elbowed James in the side.
"Don't mind that idiot," she sighed, turning to face the girl and shoving her hand towards her. "Sorry about him. Name's Olly."
"Cielo," the Gryffindor replied, sticking out her hand as well and shaking Olly's hand. James cleared his throat and leaned farther over the table, showing all his pearly white teeth through a huge smile.
"James Potter," he introduced himself, winking. Olly and Cielo both glared at him, but for different reasons.
"Uh, I have a boyfriend." Cielo told him skeptically. James just wiggled his eyes and scooted forward even further so that he was practically laying on the table.
"Oh?" he asked. Olly breathed out loudly through her nose and glared at James. Cielo had a boyfriend, he had a girl he was obsessed with, and just about half the girls at the Gryffindor table were giving Cielo dirty looks as of right now, since she was getting special attention from James.
"It means she has a boyfriend, James." Olly stepped in, putting a hand over his face and pushing him off the table. As James turned to her, he realized she was digging in her bag for something. She pulled her arm out seconds later with a book in her hand. She slammed it down on the table and opened it to the marked page and began reading.
"Is that the charms book?" Cielo asked curiously, resting her elbows on the table as Rachel came over and sat down next to her. Olly grimaced and nodded her head, digging a quill out of her pants pocket.
"Unfortunately." she sighed, rubbing the feather from her quill on her cheek. "I was up so late studying with Remus that I forgot-"
"You know," Rachel interrupted teasingly, stroking her chin."You've been spending an awful lot of time with Remus lately." Sirius and James both leaned back and turned to the right in order to get a good look at the boy in question. He was awkwardly walking towards them, occasionally stumbling over his robes or his just from his abnormal stride. His lanky figure was clearly visible even from where they were sitting, and everyone's gazes followed him until he sat down next to James and across from Cielo. He hit the very top of his foot on part of the bench and almost face-planted into the syrup bowl, before finally sitting down safely at the table. By now everyone was laughing, including Remus.
"Nah," Olly said, laughing. "Not like that. He's just a great study buddy!" she chirped, before leaning backwards and slapping Remus on the back, reaching behind James to do so. "Right, Lupin?"
"Huh?" he asked, bringing his head around from his loaded plate. Rachel and Cielo began laughing again, Olly just rolling her eyes and patting Remus on the back jokingly.
"Never mind," she grinned at him. She turned her attention back to her charms notes, only to find they had all been filled in, and her quill was missing. "What-?" Suddenly she felt something wet on the side of her arm and turned to see her quill being held out to her, dripping ink. She followed the arm up and recognized the person holding the quill.
"You're welcome," James smirked, making a dramatic scene out of handing her the pill back.
"Potter!" Olly groaned, taking the quill back and wiping off the extra ink on the tip. "You probably got all the answers wrong! And too much ink is bad for the quill!" James stuck his tongue out at her childishly and rolled his eyes mockingly.
"But now you don't have to do the work." he told her.
"But you- argh. never mind." Olly rubbed a hand on her face and stuffed her quill, ink, parchment and book back in her bag before standing up and swinging her legs over the bench. "C'mon Rachel, we should be getting to Charms."
"Great!" James piped up, grabbing Remus and Sirius by their robes and jumping up to follow them. "We have Charms too!"
"We know..." Rachel laughed, following Olly out. Cielo stood up, confused, and walked over to the Hufflepuff table, where a boy was waiting for her. Olly glanced over for a second and saw that he had light brown skin, dark colored eyes and brown hair with a little clump in the front that was dyed blonde. She had seen him around a bit; she thought she remembered he was on the Quidditch team, but that was just a guess. The group was just exiting the Great Hall when a stumpy yellow haired boy tumbled through the huge doorway, his watery blue eyes scanning everywhere for his friends before finally spotting them right in front of him.
"Oh, hello!" he chirped, rushing to straighten his robes, along with his poor posture. "I woke up a little late! So sorry..." James pretended to think for a moment before turning to Peter seriously.
"I guess it's okay," he decided finally. "If you say..." he and Sirius exchanged glances and Sirius whispered something in James' ear, making him laugh. "If you say; I am a bumbling buffoon because Sirius and James are so much better than me." Sirius burst into fits of giggles -yes, giggles- and Peter sighed before opening his mouth to say the words.
"No, Peter, don't say it." Olly said, who had slowed down so she and Rachel could walk in step with the boys. Sirius smirked and strutted over to her, leaning an elbow on her shoulder and leaning into her flirtatiously.
"And whyyyyy not?" he asked, winking. Olly scrunched up her nose and turned her head away a bit, shifting her bag in her arms.
"Because it's a mean thing to make a person say," Rachel answered for her friend, flicking Sirius between the eyes. She patted Peter on the shoulder and sent him a friendly smile, one which he gratefully returned. The sound of footsteps approaching made the group of six turn their heads to see Cielo walking past, holding hands with the dark haired boy from earlier.
"Merlin's pants!" said a voice behind them. They all turned around to see Fabian and Gideon. "That's Calum Lynch!"
"Who?" asked Peter, who was mildly confused. Rachel and the rest of the boys looked highly offended.
"Who, you ask?" Gideon gawked at the short boy. "Why, he's only the greatest Quidditch player Hogwarts has ever seen! He's already got offers from seven different teams! Uh, let's see... there's England, Sweden-"
"Bulgaria, obviously," Fabian interrupted his brother. "Scotland, Germany, I think-"
"France and... gah, what was the other one?" Sirius tugged on his curly hair, struggling to remember.
"Australia, was it?" James asked, adjusting his glasses and ruffling his hair.
"You mean Austria. Actually, make that nine different teams- I only just remembered about Hungary and Ireland." Gideon finished, amazed.
"Not to mention he's incredibly good looking for the ladies," Fabian put in, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Rachel grinned up at him and rolled her eyes, while Olly snorted unattractively.
"Please," she scoffed. "He might be good at Quidditch but he has a girlfriend. I don't like anyone anyways, I'm saving myself for someone special."
"Oh, you mean like James?" Rachel blurted before she could stop herself. Olly felt herself blush but she quickly hid it behind her hair and played it off with a loud laugh.
"As if I would like Potter." she lied snarkily. "If I ever tried to kiss him, he'd fall over because of that over-inflated head of his." James raised an eyebrow, stopping just outside of Professor Scrimgeor's classroom.
"I've kissed plenty of girls and that hasn't happened yet," James countered in a teasing voice. "I'll be sure to let you know when it happens though." He waved dramatically and entered the classroom with Peter, Sirius and Remus at his heels. Olly swore she heard a few high pitched sighs emit from the doorway as they entered, and she had to keep herself from gagging. Fabian, Gideon and Rachel were staring amused at her, so she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, hoping they hadn't noticed her awkward demeanor.
"Psh. Whatever." she played it off, before walking into the classroom herself. Her three friends followed, and they sat at the usual table at the back of the classroom. When they sat down, they noticed the teavher wasn't there.
"Where's Scrimgeor?" James asked loudly from his seat at the front of the classroom, kicking his feet up on his desk.
"He isn't here today... and Mr.Potter, please take your feet off the desk. This classroom is not a jungle gym." Professor McGonagall walked confidently into the classroom. She was a newer teacher and had only arrived a couple ago when Dumbledore became headmaster. She had sleek black hair pulled into a tight bun at the very tip of her head and a hard scowl set on her face with her judging gaze protected by a pair of rectangular glasses.
"Yeah... I can see that," James pointed out. "But where is he?"
"His wife has just given birth and he wanted to see his child." she said haughtily.
"Ooh, what's it's name?" asked Molly Prewett, obviously interested.
"Rufus, I believe." McGonagall stated matter-of-factly. "Rufus Scrimgeor."
"He sounds like a politician or something," Sirius whined. His father was a former Auror, so you never really know with that family.
"Or just someone associated with the Ministry in general." Lucius Malfoy added importantly. "I should know about Minist-"
"Can it, Malfoy," James hissed. "I've got better things to do than listen to you and your band of slimy speckling gits." Peter cackled with laughter as McGonagall shook her head in disappointment.
"We will not be listening to either of you talk today, for we are starting the lesson. I should hear no talking except mine and the spells!" she announced loudly. Olly leaned forward in her seat anxiously, while next to her Rachel and Molly both looked rather bored. "Today, we are learning the Sonorus charm. Can anybody tell me what exactly is it that the Sonorus charm does?" Three hands shot up, in three different parts of the classroom. The first was Olly, which was no surprise to anyone. The second was Lily Evans, which again, everybody had expected. But the third was Severus Snape, which was odd as he had never shown any interest in spells at all before, unless they were for defense. "Ahh... Miss Burlesque, if you will?"
"The Sonorus charm is used to make one's voice louder, kind of like a microphone in the Muggle world. It can only be used when the tip of your wand is pressed to the side of your neck, otherwise the spell can't amplify the vibrations of your vocal chords." Olly spouted out the almost completely accurate description she had memorized from one of the Library books. Giggles erupted all around the classroom as McGonagall nodded approvingly at her answer.
"That is correct. Now, we won't be doing a full-fledged Sonorus charm today, because it would disrupt other classes. We will simply practice pronouncing the spell today, then try it tomorrow out by the Black Lake." she looked around the classroom for any students who weren't paying attention, her hawk eyes spotting everything out of place. Her eyes finally landed on James and Sirius, who were leaning in towards each other, half sleeping, half having a whispered conversation. "Is that clear?" she added loudly, causing the two boys to jump in their seats.
"Yes!"
"No!" McGonagall glared at Sirius before turning back to the class.
"You may start practicing the spell now." she said, and the sounds of multiple people repeating "Sonorus" over and over again filled the classroom.