By May, everyone in the group was ready to take their apparition test. Everyone except Delilah. She wasn't allowed until after she turned seventeen which was after summer break. She was not too happy about it because she couldn't even do magic outside Hogwarts until July.
So, one weekend, instead of hanging out with her friends, she sat alone in the library and waited for them to join her after they finished their test.
"Are you reading?" Oliver startled her as she lost all concentration on her homework.
"Yes, why are you even here?" Delilah asked him.
"I passed my test a while ago, I took it much earlier" He shrugged.
"And you didn't tell us? What!?"
"What's there to tell? I'm 17, it's obvious" he took a seat next to her.
"It's a big deal" she turned to him.
"It really isn't. Plus you can't really apparate on school grounds anyways" Oliver's gaze moved to Delilah's notes, "is that potions?"
"Yeah.." She groaned out loud, "I hate potions! It's just so specific!"
"It's not that hard, you just find Snape intimidating" Oliver slid the book and notes in front of him as he tried his best to read through the scrawly handwriting, "You have terrible penmanship" he complained.
"It's fine!" Oliver gave her a questioning look, "Really then? is yours any better?" She asked rolling her eyes.
"Ofcourse!" He took a quill and placed in on top of the parchment and wrote her name. It was a neat and thing cursive, a little slanted and overall beautiful.
"Oh, wow, you do have really good handwriting" Delilah admitted as she peered over the paper. Oliver was smiling triumphantly until Delilah said, "Maybe you should write all my notes!" She chuckled and he shook his head, "no thanks!"
The two spent a rather long time trying to help Delilah understand potions but everything went in one ear and out the other. Sometimes she would zone out while Oliver was talking, just admiring his expression, sometimes she would think about dinner which made her especially hungry. Being hungry only meant one thing, Delilah was frustrated. Which meant she wouldn't pay any attention to potions.
Oliver wasn't a bad teacher, he was rather calm most of the time, sometimes he would completely lose it but it didn't affect Delilah a lot. She just joked around and he kept apologizing.
By the time the rest of the group was done, Delilah had forgotten everything Oliver had explained to her and their 'study date' had gone to waste. Well, not a complete waste because they spent more time together but it wasn't the most fun.
Exams. Delilah was freaking out about her exams. She wasn't a bad student but she wasn't the best either. Time management and pressure were two things she didn't handle well. All her frustration usually came out as rants to Jesse because he was always there to listen unlike her other friends who always commented on something.
"I just don't know if I'll pass! What if I fail? Will they hold me back? I can't believe sixth year is ending! That's a big deal! We are going to be giving NEWTS next year. I wonder if the tests this year are going to be easy to give us a break or harder to prepare us for them"
Percy's sister was taken into the the chamber of secrets and he almost had a heart attack. The boy instantly wrote to his parents about the situation as his idiot of a brother went into the chamber with Harry and that bloody teacher, Lockhart.
Out of all the people, Percy didn't expect Ginny to be the one getting in trouble this year, the twins? Definitely. Ron? Likely. Ginny? Questionable.
He was terrified and hyperventilating in his dorm thinking about what to do.
Delilah had never seen Oliver and Alexander that worried either. They paced around the room and thought of ridiculous solutions to the problem.
Dumbledore had told Percy that he couldn't do much which had made the situation worse. Percy liked being in control and he liked knowing what was happening around him and those were the exact two things that were not happening right now.
It was after a few hours that Percy skidded into the hospital wing to make sure his siblings were alright. Like his mother, he checked every part of their body and pestered Madame Pomfrey about them, though he would never truly say it, his siblings meant more than anything to him. He always wanted their love and support, and though he didn't receive much of it from his younger siblings, the parents and older ones always made him feel welcomed into a family where he felt like sort of an outsider. He had always vowed to do the same for the twins, Ron, and Ginny.
Delilah admired how Percy checked on his sister ever few hours to make sure she was alright. Percy was a lot like her own brother in someways. Matthew was always a nerd in school, always wanted to impress the parents and always looked after his younger sister.
Exams were cancelled and Delilah couldn't have been happier. She never scored bad, but that didn't mean she liked giving exams. With one week of freedom left, they could do anything they wanted. No exams and no stress. Out of all the people though, Delilah didn't expect James to be the happiest. He was a Ravenclaw after all, and maybe it was a bit stereotypical of her but James did actually study all the times.
"No exams! I'm so glad Ginny did this for us!" Delilah told Percy who hit her shoulder.
"She almost died! no jokes!" He was completely serious.
"I can't wait to go home!" Clarissa said excitedly.
"For now, we are going to Hogsmeade!" Delilah pulled Clarissa along with her as Percy, Delilah and Clarissa exited the common room. Outside stood the rest of them, waiting for the three.
"I missed Honeydukes"
"-And new quills"
"-And broom polish"
"-And butterbeer"
"-And the outside world"
They all made their way to the village with excitement and talked about everything and anything. Hogsmeade was always fun with all of them around but they had to stop by every shop. They all pooled their money together and bought hoards of candy and chocolate at Honeydukes to eat at the common room, later.
After a while, everyone split up to do their own thing. Connor and Alexander left together (to song probably), Percy found Penny, Oliver and Delilah, and Jesse and Clarissa were left together.
"Do you want to find Ava? You can go, I don't mind" Jesse told her awkwardly.
"No, I'll stay with you, you're my best friend! Friends before potential girlfriends, right?" She put her arm around his shoulder.
"No seriously Clare, you can go" Jesse told her but she didn't listen, "I haven't spent one on one time with you anyways, so I want to do this!" The girl led him through the streets of hogsmeade as they spent time together, just two best friends, right?
Oliver was grinning widely as they walked into the three broomsticks, "I love this weather! Its so..." He couldn't exactly think of words to describe it, "not cold!"
Delilah ordered two butterbeers and turned to Oliver, "I miss winter. You can sit by the fire, drink hot cocoa and Cuddle"
"We can cuddle anytime of the year" Oliver smirked and Delilah rolled her eyes at him.
The two grabbed their mugs and sat down on the table they found.
"What are you doing this summer?" Oliver asked her.
"Nothing special, just going to stay home" Delilah replied flatly. She wasn't too fond of anything this summer either.
"Well you are going to turn seventeen! That's a big deal right?" Oliver tried to lighten the mood.
"I guess" She shrugged. Delilah loved birthdays, anyone's birthdays. She was always more excited than the person who was actually born that day but last year she was mourning her mother and this year, she wasn't mourning anymore, but she didn't think it would be anything special. Matthew would probably work and it would just be her aunt, uncle and her.
"Why don't all of you come over to my place? I could ask my mum! We could party!" Oliver suggested, "though it would be a little crammed up but we can adjust" He grinned.
"I'll think about it.." she looked out of the window that they were sitting next to, "is that-" she didn't finish her sentence. Oliver followed her gaze and his eyes widened, "Jesse! Kissing someone!"
"No! No! That's not someone! That's Clarissa!" Delilah jumped up from her chair. Oliver and her stared out of the window trying to be sure that they saw it right. Unfortunately, they were right.
"I thought Clare liked Ava!" Delilah said and Oliver turned his head to the other side, "I think Ava thought so too.." Outside they saw Ava walking towards the three broomsticks. She looked rather upset, not angry, just upset.
Oliver and Delilah immediately sat down like the didn't see a thing. Ava reached a table where her other friends were sitting and laughing and started, as Delilah assumed, telling them what had happened.
It seemed as if Clarissa and Jesse hadn't noticed a thing apart from each other because they looked like they would never break apart.
"What should we do?" Oliver asked the raven haired girl.
"We provide emotional support to Clare and save Jesse from Death"
Delilah and Oliver sat in the common room waiting for Clarissa and Jesse to come back but Clarissa came back alone.
"Where's Jess?" Delilah asked promptly.
"Puff common room" Clarissa replied casually. They looked at the girl skeptically but Clarissa started towards her dorm.
"Clare, do you want to tell us something?" Oliver called out and Clarissa stopped in her steps, "tell you what?" She knew exactly what.
"You, Jesse, we saw you both, you didn't exactly hide it well" Delilah added. Clarissa made her way back to the two and sat down on the floor with the two.
"Okay, yes things happened but it was in the spur of the moment!" Clarissa confessed. Oliver and Delilah exchanged a look before looking back at her.
"Ava saw you, Clare, she was upset.." Oliver told her softly.
"I really messed up. It's not like we were dating but I liked her!"
"Do you like Jes? The same way?" Delilah asked.
"I don't know! I don't know why it happened! I don't know why I kissed him! He didn't even initiate it, I did!"
"Look, we'll talk to Jesse and you have all of summer to think" Oliver gave her consolation.
"Yeah but don't be like him and not write to the other person" Delilah taunted.
"I hate you" Oliver narrowed his eyes at Delilah.
"No you don't," She turned to Clarissa, "think about it and fix it"
The next two days were rather awkward. Jesse and Clarissa didn't talk, Connor and Alexander were confused, Percy always had Penelope around but she was starting to get rather annoying. Delilah found it funny how Oliver and Her were the most normal people in the group right now considering the amount of drama they go through.
The last day was school was spent packing. Delilah would just whip her want and everything would do itself but she liked packing. It was fun listening to music and pack. It gave her time to let go.
She neatly folded each item of clothing and placed it in her trunk. There was a sudden tap at her window from the Owl. It was Matthew's owl. She excitedly opened the window and took the letter from it, petting it as she read the letter.
Dear lil,
Before you read it in the papers, I think you should know. Dad is getting released from Azkaban.
Don't worry too much about it, we'll talk more at home. I didn't want you to read it in the paper and freak out.
See you at home.
Matt.
A/n
This chapter took a while to write! I've been so freaking busy with college Apps and school and just everything in general.
That's why most of my chapters aren't edited for any spelling or grammar mistakes. I just don't have the time.
I hope you liked this chapter though.
Thanks for reading!
<3
Aisla Wrenn